The Committee on House Administration has released transcripts confirming that former President Donald Trump explicitly ordered the Pentagon to secure the U.S. Capitol ahead of Jan. 6, 2021. These transcripts, conducted by the Department of Defense (DOD) inspector general’s office, reveal that Trump gave clear directives to keep the protests around the Jan. 6 certification of the electoral vote peaceful, which were allegedly ignored by senior military leaders.
Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight Chairman Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) published the full transcripts, which include testimony from Gen. Mark Milley, the then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley confirmed that Trump pre-approved the use of National Guard troops or active-duty military to maintain peace in Washington, D.C., during a Jan. 3 meeting.
A press release from the Committee on House Administration shows that Trump gave senior Pentagon leadership directives, contradicting the conclusion in the IG’s report regarding the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
“Pentagon leadership prioritized concerns of optics over their duty to protect lives,” said Chairman Loudermilk. “President Trump met with senior Pentagon leaders and directed them to ensure that any events on January 6, 2021 were safe. It is very concerning that these senior Pentagon officials ignored President Trump’s guidance and misled Congressional leaders to believe they were doing their job when they were not. The DoD IG’s report is fundamentally flawed. It does not draw conclusions from the interviews they conducted but pushes a narrative to keep their hands clean. We have many questions for them, and we will continue to dig until we are satisfied the American people know the truth.”
Click here or look below to see the key excerpts highlighted by the committee:
The committee’s finding includes a full breakdown of the senior Pentagon leadership’s conscious decision to disregard Trump’s commands:
Days before January 6, 2021, President Trump met with senior Pentagon leaders urging them to do their jobs to protect lives and property. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley, recalls a conversation between the Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, and President Trump:
Milley: “The President just says, ‘Hey, look at this. There’s going to be a large amount of protestors here on the 6th, make sure that you have sufficient National Guard or Soldiers to make sure it’s a safe event.’… [POTUS said] I don’t care if you use Guard, or Soldiers, active duty Soldiers, do whatever you have to do. Just make sure it’s safe.’ [SecDef] Miller responds by saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a plan, and we’ve got it covered.’”
On January 5, the Secretary of the Army, Ryan McCarthy, placed unprecedented restrictions on DCNG Commander Major General William Walker to prevent any movement to the Capitol without Secretary McCarthy’s explicit permission on January 6 and 7.
On January 6, 2021, the outer perimeter on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol was breached by rioters at 12:53pm. The DCNG arrived five hours later. Click here to view the timeline.
These transcripts prove President Trump’s senior Pentagon leaders were focused on OPTICS, instead of doing their job, as the Capitol was breached:
Miller: “There was absolutely – there is absolutely no way I was putting U.S. military forces at the Capitol, period.”Director of the Army Staff, Lieutenant General Walter Piatt: “Was optics a concern for us as we prepared to use soldiers downtown in Washington D.C? Absolutely.”
As “optics” concerns were being discussed and Secretary McCarthy claims he was ‘developing a plan’, the DCNG was ready to move, less than 2 miles from the Capitol – awaiting Secretary McCarthy’s authorization.
Walker’s General Counsel, Colonel Earl Matthews: “We were seeing the Congress of the United States being overrun, and the Guard – and the Capitol Police, the MPD, they need help. We had people at the D.C. Armory who are able to help, and they’re not moving. They’re not allowed to move.”
DCNG Command Sergeant Major Michael Brooks: “They were ready to go, and they just couldn’t understand why they were still sitting there. Literally sitting on a bus, just waiting to drive to the Capitol and do the best they could do to support Capitol Police.”
At 3:04pm, Miller provided verbal approval to Secretary McCarthy for immediate deployment of the DCNG. What was Secretary McCarthy doing between receiving this approval, and 5:08pm, when the order eventually reaches the D.C. National Guard? Why didn’t he communicate this approval for a full two hours?
At 3:18pm, Secretary McCarthy told Congressional Democrat Leadership that the DC National Guard had the “green light” and “is moving”. Two hours would pass before Secretary McCarthy’s deployment order would ACTUALLY be communicated to the DCNG.
In these vital hours, the DCNG had been trying but was unable to reach Secretary McCarthy.
DCNG Adjutant General Aaron Dean: “[Walker] tried to call Secretary McCarthy three times between 2:30 and 5pm. He said, ‘I haven’t heard from him all day.‘ When he tried to call his cell phone, it went straight to voicemail.”
These revelations challenge the conclusions of the original DOD IG’s report on Jan. 6, disclosing that Trump’s orders to ensure security were deliberately disregarded by Pentagon leadership and prove he took steps to prevent violence on that day.
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