Slingshot News can exclusively confirm tonight that a man was arrested at the Capitol building for the possession of a firearm, which he attempted to carry into President Donald Trump’s Joint Congressional Address, on the night of March 4th, 2025.
This incident, which the Capitol Police have recorded on their website, which lists all arrests on the Capitol grounds, has largely gone unreported by other major news outlets. Slingshot News has also obtained information from exclusive sources, both former and current members of Capitol Police, that reveal a troubling pattern of unprecedented security failures that have endangered the President’s life on both occasions he has appeared in the building during his Presidency.
Tarik Johnson, a former Capitol officer who resigned his post after the events of January 6th, 2021, while speaking to Slingshot News, confirmed that multiple current Capitol police officers have sounded the alarm over the apparent failure in security that occurred on March 4th during the President’s remarks on Capitol Hill.
The report by the Capitol police describes the event as follows. The Suspect reportedly places a backpack through the X-ray screening post in a House Office Building ADA Door. Officers at that door then reportedly discovered a handbag on the X-ray monitor. Upon their discovery, the officers allegedly detained the suspect and conducted a physical search of the backpack, and discovered a handgun with a 15-round capacity magazine loaded with 13 rounds of ammunition.
The suspect was then placed under arrest and transported to Headquarters for processing. CSS responded to process the scene. CIS was notified and conducted an inquiry with MPD Gun Registration Unit, which revealed the Suspect has an active Concealed Carry License for the District of Columbia, and the firearm has a valid registration.
Ultimately, the scene painted by Capitol Police within their report on the incident sounds troubling but affirms that Capitol police effectively did their duties of protecting the President. The Capitol Police are one of the rare entities entrusted with protecting the President of the United States at any given point, as the Secret Service yields to the Capitol police when the President in on Capitol grounds.
Unlike many other government agencies, members of the Capitol Police are not protected by traditional ‘whistleblower’ protections afforded to nearly every other federal employee. These laws, essential to reforming corruption and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse committed in various government departments, often prevent Capitol police officers from speaking out against injustices they witness while on duty.
That’s why Tarik Johnson, a former Capitol police officer who resigned after the events of January 6th, 2021, has become such an important figure in the effort to expose glaring security failures at the United States Capitol, events the former lieutenant told Slingshot News have increased tremendously in their frequency since Thomas Manger became chief of the Capitol police in July of 2021.
Man Arrested With Gun During Trump’s Joint Congressional Address Entered Inauguration With Firearm, Sources Say
Sources within the Capitol police apparatus have confirmed to former Lt. Tarik Johnson that the same individual arrested with a firearm and high-capacity magazine during President Donald Trump’s Joint Congressional Address was able to carry a firearm into the Inauguration of President Donald Trump.
It is suspected that the individual who carried this weapon into both of Trump’s speeches at the Capitol is a Congressional staffer and most likely a former or current law enforcement. Still, Johnson assured Slingshot News, “nobody” is allowed to carry a gun near the President, other than Capitol police, or Secret Service.
Any member of either Capitol police or Secret Service that is authorized to carry a gun around the President of the United States receives a ‘LE’ or ‘Law Enforcement’ badge that allows them to continue to carry their firearm near the Commander-In-Chief.
Johnson assured Slingshot News that the individual arrested at the Capitol on March 4th was not authorized to carry the firearm anywhere near the President, and did so anyway during the inauguration, which was held in the Capitol rotunda.
The former Capitol officer revealed to our outlet that the individual arrested on March 4th was allowed to bypass security measures during the Inauguration at the direction of Ashan Benedict, the Assistant Chief for Standards & Training Operations.
Benedict was appointed to his current position in 2023 by Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, who Johnson told Slingshot News is the most ‘politically biased’ chief of Capitol Police that he and the fellow officers he used to work with have ever had.
🚨Emergency Update!!!!!!!
— Tarik Johnson (@elleonCEOTK) March 8, 2025
I was going to wait until Monday for this but things are developing rapidly so I must inform the public now in a series of tweets. Here is what’s happening:
On Tuesday (SOTU) a House staffer gained entry into one of the House office buildings that… https://t.co/dHgVUDKwA2
Manger has made a number of statements against President Donald Trump in the past, particularly recently after the President pardoned some 1,500 individuals for the events of January 6th, 2021.
Capitol Police Chief Has A History Of Criticizing Trump Publicly
One of the more troubling aspects of the security failure that occurred on Inauguration Day, January 20th, 2025, outlined by Tarik Johnson, is that Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger has a storied history of criticizing President Donald Trump.
“We never had security breaches of this magnitude with other Chiefs who weren’t as outwardly political,” Johnson told Slingshot News. When asked if he could recall any incident similar to the lapse in security that occurred on Inauguration Day, Johnson’s answer was simple: “Never.”
A thorough investigation into Manger’s past comments did reveal that Manger has routinely criticized President Donald Trump. Most recently, just one month ago, Manger appeared on CBS News to lament the pardon of those imprisoned over the events of January 6th.
In a separate interview that Manger granted to MSNBC just days before the January 6th Committee was set to commence under Nancy Pelosi’s control of the House of Representatives, Manger claimed the sole reason he exited retirement was January 6th. See the interview below,
Capitol Police Chief’s Wife Jacqueline Manger Is Prominent Anti-Trump Democrat In Maryland
Adding to the validity of Johnson and other officers’ claims that Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger is conducting the duties of his office with a political bent, Slingshot News has also discovered, and can exclusively confirm, that Thomas Manger’s wife is a Democrat politician in Maryland.
Jacqueline Manger is a Managing Director at the Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets Faculty. She also unsuccessfully ran for County Council in Montgomery County in 2022.
Capitol Police chief Thomas Manger has even appeared in photographs on his wife’s campaign Facebook page. In one post, Manger claims that her husband is ‘by her side’ at every step of her campaign.
Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger Was Registered Lobbyist For Organization Propped Up By Defense Contractors
While conducting an investigation of the campaign finance database for information on donors to the Jacqueline Manger campaign for County Council, Slingshot News discovered a company by the name of Manger Group LLC.
Manger Group LLC is described online as an organization that consults and provides training programs in police leadership and management issues, including executive development, crisis communication, and community policing and trust-building.
From 2019 to 2020, Manger Group LLC was a registered lobbyist in Washington D.C. for the Major City Chiefs Association. An investigation into the Major City Chiefs Association by Slingshot News revealed that their largest sponsors include many military defense contractors that enjoyed tremendous benefits under the previous Democrat Administration.
Manger’s Company Lobbied For A Group Funded By L3Harris, Who Received Over $2.3 Billion From Democrat President Joe Biden
L3Harris, for one, is a 4-Star Sponsor of the outfit. President Joe Biden’s Military handed L3Harris nearly $2 billion just in 2024 based on two contracts they were awarded. One contract in June of 2024 contracted Harris to supply M762A1 and M767A1 Electronic-Time Fuzes over a five-year period. That deal is worth up to $871 million.
Another contract, signed in the final months of the Biden Administration, was awarded from the U.S. Navy valued at up to $999 million for Multifunctional Information Distribution System Joint Tactical Radio System Terminals over five years.
Finally, in a deal that was formerly announced by Trump’s chief political opposition in the Senate, Democrat Senator from New York Chuck Schumer, just days after Trump was sworn into office, L3Harris was also awarded a $300 million order for thousands of HMS radios.
Capitol Police Chief’s Company Lobbied For Organization Funded By Drone Company Favored By Biden In Ukraine and Israel Wars
Among the largest funders of the Major City Chiefs Association is an American defense contractor that largely produces drone technology called Skydio.
During the conflicts that arose during his term in both Israel and Ukraine, President Joe Biden and his administration used Skydio, a Utah-based defense company, to manufacture the drones. Following the start of the war in Israel on October 7th, 2023, Skydio delivered over 100 drones to the Israel Defense Force (IDF).
The Biden Administration awarded Skydio a production agreement for the U.S. Army’s SRR Program Tranche 1, with an initial value of $20.2 million and a potential total of $99.8 million over five years in February of 2022.
The company is a top-tier sponsor of the Major City Chiefs Association, making the cut of ‘Capstone Sponsors’ an elite tier reserved for the top contributors to the organization.
Capitol Police Chief’s Political Ties, Lobbying History, And Security Failures Raise Serious Questions
When combining the failures of security upon the President’s arrival not once, but twice, with the fact that Capitol police Chief Thomas Manger’s company lobbied for a company that was propped up by defense contractors who profited billions of dollars from the last Democrat President is highly questionable.
The fact that Manger’s wife is also a prominent Democrat politician in the State of Maryland raises even more questions.
Why was a man, unvetted and unchecked, allowed to bypass security on Inauguration Day with a firearm? More importantly, why did it take until the next time the President entered the Capitol building, and the individual tried to enter the building a second time, for this person to be apprehended?
Tarik Johnson assured Slingshot News that Capitol officers are asking the exact same questions, as serious doubts about the competency of leadership continue to grow.
