by WorldTribune Staff, September 29, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
Days before Jan. 6, 2021, President Donald Trump instructed the Pentagon to “do whatever it takes” to keep the U.S. Capitol safe, including deploying National Guard or active-duty troops.
But top Pentagon brass did not comply due to political concerns, according to transcripts of interviews conducted by the Defense Department’s chief watchdog.
Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff, confirmed to the Pentagon inspector general three years ago that during a Jan. 3, 2021, Oval Office meeting Trump pre-approved the use of National Guard or active duty troops to keep peace in the nation’s capital on the day Congress was to certify the results of the 2020 election.
Milley’s interviews were among several key transcripts obtained by House Administration Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk, which were shared with Just the News this week.
“The President just says, ‘Hey look at this. It’s going to be a large amount of protesters come in here on the 6th, and make sure that you have sufficient National Guard or Soldiers to make sure it’s a safe event,’” Milley told the inspector general in one of two interviews he did in spring 2021 during a probe of the Pentagon’s response to Jan. 6.
Milley said then-Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, himself a former general, assured Trump there was an adequate safety plan for Pentagon assistance to Washington, D.C. “Miller responds by saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a plan, and we’ve got it covered.’ And that’s about it,” Milley recalled.
Trump said in a statement in response to the revelations:
“SHOCKING BREAKING NEWS: As exposed by the Great John Solomon, a REAL Journalist who cares about the TRUTH, and the GREAT work of Congressman Barry Loudermilk and Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, the Deep State chose to disregard my direct authorization of at least 10,000 National Guard Troops to ensure that Washington, D.C., was safe and secure on January 6, 2021. These Deep State subversives disobeyed the President’s directives, which would have prevented any unrest that day - January 6th, as it is known, would never have taken place.
“These revelations END the Sham J6 Civil Hoaxes and the lawless D.C. Case brought by Deranged Jack Smith, which has already been demolished by the United States Supreme Court’s Historic Immunity and Fischer Decisions. I called for everyone to act PEACEFULLY and PATRIOTICALLY, and demanded that D.C. be PROTECTED. The Deep State, and Crazy Nancy Pelosi, who admitted to her daughter on videotape that she was “responsible,” have to be held to account, including for the damages, wasted resources, and time spent defending the Witch Hunts and Hoaxes. We have to SAVE our broken Justice System!”
Milley confirmed a second time during the interviews that Trump was clear about securing the Capitol on J6: “It was just what I just described, which was, ‘Hey, 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.”
The transcripts of Milley’s April 8, 2021, and April 16, 2021, interviews confirm reporting by Just the News two years ago that Trump wanted troops to keep the capital city safe.
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Other transcripts obtained by Loudermilk during his subcommittee’s ongoing investigation of Jan. 6 security failures show civilian leaders at the Pentagon said they would not comply with Trump’s instructions, with some saying they did not like the optics of armed soldiers or Guardsmen roaming the Capitol with weapons during what was supposed to be a peaceful transition of power.
“There was absolutely — there is absolutely no way I was putting U.S. military forces at the Capitol, period,” Miller told the inspector general during his March 2021 interview.
Miller said officials instead used an interagency process to devise an alternative plan that would put some DC National Guard troops on the ground to direct traffic but not to guard the Capitol, a plan that District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser suggested.
“The operational plan was this, let’s take the D.C. National Guard, keep them away from the Capitol. Let’s put — the request, it wasn’t my request, Bowser and her Metropolitan Police Department were like ‘Let’s put D.C. National Guard on traffic control points and at the Metro stations to free up credentialed law-enforcement officers that can go out and arrest people,’” Miller explained.
Miller admitted there was a political calculus to his decision not to deploy troops near or at the Capitol ahead of time for preventative security.
“I hate to use the word optics because it’s been used and so prejudicially and negatively. It wasn’t the optics. It was like there was would have been huge political consequences that, because that’s what I got paid to do. Is I had the factor in the politics of this and that was my concern is the situation does not warrant at this time U.S. military forces,” he explained,
Human Events editor Jack Posobiec noted: “The transcripts prove President Trump ordered the National Guard to deploy days before J6. This explains why he didn't make the order on J6, which the media loves to ask about - he had already made it. The Pentagon ignored him.”
Meanwhile Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz continued the Biden-Harris DOJ's strategy of stonewalling on J6. In testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on Wednesday, Horowitz did not deny federal government “human sources” from the FBI were present at the Capitol on J6 but refused to reveal how many there were.
Horowitz, who provided few substantive remarks, urged the committee to wait and see his upcoming report on the matter which he vowed will be a comprehensive assessment of how the DOJ responded to the events of J6.
In response to queries about the punishment of its members, Horowitz replied that he had "not made such a finding."
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie attempted asked Horowitz: "Do you have evidence of the number of confidential human sources that were operating on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6?"
Horowitz responded: "Our report will include the information in that regard,"
When Massie asked “how many” FBI informants were present and asked if the number was “more than 100,” Horowitz refused to say.
"I’m not in a position to say that, both because it is in draft form, and we have not gone through the classification review," Horowitz said. "And so I need to be careful."
Horowitz said his report would be available for Congress and the public to peruse in “the next couple of months. I doubt it would be done in time for the election,” he said, adding that he hopes the report will be issued before the next Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, 2025.
“What we do know is you’re going to expose that there were confidential human sources at the Capitol," Massie said. "Can you tell us today how many went into the Capitol?" Again, Horowitz disappointed the congressman: "I’ll have that information in the report."
