Michael Stenger, the Senate Sergeant at Arms who was in charge of Senate security on January 6th, has died. Michael Stenger is dead: On January 6, 2021, for more than an hour during the violent storming of the Capitol, Sgt.-at-Arms Stenger repeatedly refused to request the assistance of the National Guard. He then resigned as the Senate sergeant-at-arms, along with others.
The cause of his death is not immediately clear. Stenger held the post from 2018 to 2021 and stepped down the day after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Stenger graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and was a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps before joining the U.S. Secret Service.
“There is an opportunity to learn lessons from the events of January 6th. Investigations should be considered as to funding and travel of what appears to be professional agitators. First Amendment rights should always be considered in conjunction with professional investigations,” he said in an opening statement before a Senate committee last year.
Stenger had joined the team for the Senate sergeant at arms in 2011 following a multi-decade career at the Secret Service. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell nominated him as Senate sergeant at arms and he was confirmed unanimously.
Opening statement from Former Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger on January 6th U.S. Capitol Attack pic.twitter.com/jnb5pEVj1W
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 23, 2021
Stanger worked in the Secret Service for 35 years, serving as Deputy Director of the Office of Investigations and Deputy Director of the Office of Conservation Research. In 2008, he became deputy director of the USSS Office of Government and Public Affairs, which coordinates with groups such as the U.S. Congress. In 2011, he joined the U.S. Senate Office of the Uniformed as Assistant Sergeant Major, Office of Protective Services and Continuity, becoming Assistant Sergeant Major in May 2014 and Chief of Staff in January 2015 .
On April 16, 2018, following the retirement of Army Sergeant Frank J. Larkin, Michael C. Stenger was arrested under Senate Resolution 465 introduced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Nominated as the 41st Army Sergeant. The resolution was sent to the Senate, debated and passed unanimously without amendment.
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