Transcripts recently released by the House Administration Committee confirm that Pentagon officials ignored President Trump’s requests for a National Guard presence at the Capitol on January 6th.
Subcommittee on Oversight Chairman Barry Loudermilk (GA-11) revealed that days before January 6, 2021, President Trump met with senior Pentagon leaders urging them to do their jobs to protect lives and property. The transcripts released show Trump gave senior Pentagon leadership directives to keep January 6 peaceful - including using the National Guard - which the Pentagon leaders ignored. This revelation directly contradicts the conclusions drawn in the flawed DoD IG report on the January 6, 2021 incident.
In response to these revelations, Chairman Loudermilk released the following statement:
“Pentagon leadership prioritized concerns of optics over their duty to protect lives. President Trump met with senior Pentagon leaders and directed them to make sure 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."
Specifically, Gen. Mark Milley, was directed by President Trump on January 3rd to “make sure you have sufficient National Guard or soldiers to make sure it’s a safe event.” Later, Trump told Milley they would need “10,000 troops” at the Capitol to keep it safe. Milley, however, refused to comply out of concern Trump would “invoke the Insurrection Act to politicize the military in an anti-democratic manner,” referencing a Washington Post op-ed from 10 former secretaries of defense warning that such a thing might occur.
Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy then sent a memo to the commander of the D.C. National Guard, prohibiting them from deploying to the Capitol without an explicit order from him. The day of the riot multiple officials, including U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, testified that McCarthy dismissed their requests for assistance over the “optics” of having the National Guard at the Capitol, and subsequently were unable to reach him at all.
The commander of the DC National Guard testified that he attempted to call McCarthy three times between 2:30p and 5:00p, but that the phone went straight to voicemail.
All clear evidence that President Trump did not nor was not involved with the protest at the Capital Building which got out of control. Based on this released information there is no foundation for the indictment against President Trump for committing the act of insurrection.
What the evidence does show is that General Milly and Secretary of the Army McCarthy committed treason for failure to comply with a lawful order from their Commander-in-Chief.
So, will we see any indictments against these two individuals?
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