WASHINGTON – As the House investigative committee on January 6 used a hearing on Thursday to document President Donald J. Trump’s lack of strong response to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol. Sir, it once again raised one of the enduring mysteries of the day: Why did the National Guard deployment take so long?
The hearing did not fully answer the question, but it did shed light on Mr. Trump’s refusal to order the military to assist police officers who were being overwhelmed by an angry mob determined to block election certification. presidential election 2020.
The mobilization and deployment of National Guard troops from an arsenal just two miles from the Capitol has been stalled by confusion, communication problems and concerns about the wisdom of troop deployments. armed to quell the riots.
It took more than four hours from the time the Capitol sheriff called for assistance until the arrival of the DC National Guard troops, a void that remains the subject of hand-to-handle and finger-pointing stories.
Hearing with testimony from Matthew Pottinger, the White House’s deputy national security adviser, who resigned in protest on the day of the attack. That day, Mr. Pottinger had an urgent discussion with the White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, about why National Guard troops were not deployed to the Capitol.
Mr. Pottinger was alerted by a former colleague, Charles Kupperman, who was contacted by someone looking to help the mayor’s office in Washington as they desperately sought help from the White House. Kellyanne Conway, a former White House adviser, also received a call from someone trying to help Mayor Muriel Bowser find anyone in the West Wing willing to treat the situation as an emergency.
Mr. Trump falsely claimed that he had told his aides he wanted 10,000 National Guard troops and that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had turned down the request. The president has told advisers in the days leading up to January 6, 2021, that he wants a National Guard presence, but it appears he wants the military to provide extra protection for his supporters. , his aides have privately admitted.
The House committee said in December that Mr Meadows had “sent an individual email about the events of January 6 and said the National Guard would be on hand to ‘protect Trump supporters'”. and more will be available on stand close.”
Multiple government investigations have determined that law enforcement agencies severely misjudged the threat that the January 6 protests could turn violent. They also came to a consensus on one fact: Law enforcement and military officials planning January 6 thought it was a bad idea to actively mobilize the National Guard. They believe the image of armed troops surrounding the Capitol is inappropriate for a ceremony consolidating a peaceful transfer of power.
For some officials, the memory of Mr. Trump essentially fooled the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff join him in June 2020 in a past march Lafayette Park to take pictures amid widespread protests against police brutality are still fresh.
Key revelations from the January 6 hearing
General James C. McConville, Army Chief of Staff, told a Department of Defense inspector general investigation in November 2021 that “many people have talked about the optics of having the military on the Capitol. What will that look like, how will that affect even some of the protesters or the protesters.”
Christopher C. Miller, acting Secretary of Defense, was more blunt, saying there was “absolutely no way” he would bring US forces into the Capitol. He told the inspector general the investigation, and that having troops on Capitol Hill could raise suspicions that he was trying to support a coup.
“If we put U.S. troops on the Capitol,” Mr. Miller said, “I would create perhaps the biggest constitutional crisis since the Civil War. “
Two days before January 6, he authorized the Secretary of the Army to use the National Guard’s backup rapid-reaction force, but “as a last resort in response to a request from an agency that appropriate civil service,” said the Department of Defense’s inspector general.
But accounts of the actions – and inactions – of top officials after rioters breached the security encirclement set up by the Capitol Police and forced them into the building has been wildly scattered. in many government investigations, public testimony and news reports.
Most of them seem to agree that Mr. Trump barely felt a presence that afternoon. During the committee’s first hearing on January 6, Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, said Trump “has not called on any element of the United States government to direct that the Capitol be guard.”
Officials say it was Vice President Mike Pence who was crucial in trying to move forces to the Capitol.
“There were two or three calls with Vice President Pence. He was very talkative, and he gave very clear, very direct, clear commands. No question about that. And I can give you exact quotes from some of our records somewhere,” General Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House committee in a statement. interview. “But he was very talkative, very direct, very firm with Secretary Miller. Get the army down here, send the guards down here. Let’s get rid of this situation, and so on. “
By contrast, Mr. Milley said, the call he received from Mr. Meadows was about preserving Mr. Trump’s image. He recalled that Mr. Meadows said something that worked: “We have to kill the narrative that the vice president is making all the decisions. You know, we need to establish the narrative that the president is still in power and things are settling down or settling down.”
The inspector general’s report clarifies top Pentagon officials of any misconduct over their response to the January 6 attack. But a former DC National Guard official harshly criticized the report, accusing top Army officials of thwarting efforts to deploy the National Guard and lying about their actions to agents. investigator.
Colonel Earl Matthews, who holds the post of top attorney for the DC National Guard, singled out two generals – Charles A. Flynn and Walter E. Piatt – for continuing to oppose the deployment even after the deployment. when Sheriff Steven A. Sund of the Capitol. made an emergency call for backup.
General Flynn is the brother of Michael T. Flynn, who served as Trump’s first national security adviser and later played an active role in seeking to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election.
Adding to the implementation delay is that competing jurisdictions and jurisdictions have different measures of accountability for bringing order on January 6. For example, for Sheriff Sund to arrest When he first requested the DC National Guard troops on the Capitol, he needed the approval of a little-known organization called the Capitol Police Council, a group made up of House and Senate sergeants and strangely, is the architect of the Capitol.
Sheriff Sund testified that valuable time was lost as he waited for the board’s approval, and that he was unaware of the conspiracies on his level.
And, in the midst of the chaos, it seems that the group understands very little about their vital role in protecting the Capitol.
As one Senate Report of the attacks found, “none of the members of the Capitol Police Council on January 6 were able to explain in full detail the statutory requirements to request the assistance of the National Guard. National Guard,” which added to the delay in getting troops to the Capitol.
Luke Broadwater contribution report.
