Feb. 03, 2021. Departure ceremony for the ashes of Capitol Hill Officer Brian Sicknick at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday. He lay in honor in the Rotunda of the Capitol last night through this morning. Officer Sicknick died from injuries he sustained protecting the Capitol from the mob assault on Jan. 6, 2020.

Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU

The U.S. Capitol Police department is investigating 35 of its own officers for their actions during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Six of those officers have been suspended with pay.

A spokesperson with the agency told DCist/WAMU in a statement on Friday that its office of professional responsibility was responsible for the investigation, and said in a statement that “Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman has directed that any member of her department whose behavior is not in keeping with the Department’s Rules of Conduct will face appropriate discipline.”

FOX 5 first reported the news.

One of the suspended officers allegedly took a selfie with the rioters while another wore a MAGA hat and helped guide the mob around the building, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) said in January, when word of an internal investigation and “several” suspensions first came out.

Other reports of USCP appearing sympathetic to the mob have trickled out over the last month. A YouTube video of a Capitol Police officer wearing a MAGA hat during the attack sparked debate online as some say he did so to appeal to the mob. The video, posted in mid-January, shows a group of Trump supporters escorting him into the building and then leaving with about a dozen officers — some commenters praise the officer, while others call him a “traitor” for cooperating with the insurrectionists.

Two men arrested in association with the mob’s attack told the FBI that an officer shook their hand when they breached the Capitol building and told them, “It’s your house now.”

Earlier this month, Pittman issued a video statement saying the department was conducting an internal review of its policies and general security measures on the Capitol grounds. She added that her top priority was to prevent an event like the Capitol riots from happening again.

The USCP has faced scrutiny for its major budget and lack of accountability over the past 15 years with little change. The union that represents the Capitol Police officers made a vote of no confidence in its leadership this month, highlighting a reckoning within the agency’s ranks.

Gus Papathanasiou, the union’s chairman, has outwardly criticized the USCP leadership, telling DCist/WAMU in an emailed statement last month: “The continued systemic failures ‎of this Department is unacceptable and the congressional community as well as the officers that put their lives on the line every day deserve better than being led by inept chiefs of police.”

Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund resigned following the attacks, and Pittman testified to Congress in late January to outline her concerns about the department’s mishandling of the mob.

Two Capitol Police officers died by suicide following the insurrection, though officers have said the mental, physical, and monetary toll has impacted the entire department. Acting D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee expressed frustration with the federal government’s response to the Jan. 6 events and said the attack would cost D.C. tax payers at least $8.8 million.

Contee has said he wants to investigate his own department for traces of extremist views, telling the Washington Post that he’d support background checks on existing officers.

“We have to do a top-to-bottom look for everything,” Contee told the Post. “MPD is a microcosm of the society that we live in. We have to identify those things and root them out immediately.”

Debbie Truong contributed reporting.