Capitol PD's outgoing Chief is calling out House and Senate security officials ... claiming they turned a deaf ear to his requests for backup in the days before the attempted coup.
Steven Sund -- who was severely criticized, and resigned after the Capitol riot -- is naming names on his way out the door. He told the Washington Post he was concerned about President Trump's planned rally on January 6, and voiced those concerns to the Sergeants at Arms for the Senate and for the House of Representatives.
Sund says he asked them to approve putting National Guard troops on standby in the days leading up to the Trump protest -- but says he was rejected each time. The reason? Sund claims the Sergeants told him it would be bad "optics" to fortify the Capitol that way ahead of the election verification vote.
Worth noting, both Sgts at Arms have since resigned their posts, just as Sund did after Congressional leaders -- including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- criticized the police response to the insurrectionists.
Despite being told the National Guard was off the table -- soldiers were finally called in late Wednesday -- Sund still did not have all hands on deck from his own force. Capitol PD sources told TMZ ... only 500 officers, out of 2,200, were on duty Wednesday.