WASHINGTON – The head of the DC National Guard told Congress on Wednesday that he was “shocked” when military leaders refused desperate calls to send troops to contain the January 6 riots on Capitol Hill.
Even after the Capitol was breached, Pentagon officials in the Trump administration postponed sending reinforcements for three hours and 19 minutes while citing a concern about “optics,” General William Walker, commander of the DC National Guard, told the Senate Rules and Administration.
Walker said former President Donald Trump’s interim defense secretary, Christopher Miller, lifted “unusual” restrictions the day before the riots that required Walker to seek permission from Miller to move troops or allow members of a rapid-response unit to arm themselves or put on helmets or body armor.
The DC National Guard had 340 soldiers deployed or ready to deploy to help DC police deal with traffic around the city that day. Walker said he could have 155 National Guard soldiers on Capitol Hill within 20 minutes of receiving the order.
Instead, these troops would spend hours waiting for permission to help the Capitol Police, which had been irreparably oppressed by rioters.
Walker said he received a “frantic” call from Capitol Police then Steven Sund at 1:49 pm to request reinforcements. “Chief Sund, his voice choked with emotion, indicated that there was a terrible emergency on the Capitol and he requested the immediate help of as many national guards available as I could muster,” said Walker.
Senior military leaders were then included in the call. But, according to Walker, senior defense officials Charles Flynn and Walter Piatt said that “it would not be your best military council to have uniformed guards at the Capitol.” Walker said they cited concerns about the prospect of sending soldiers to the Capitol, as well as the risk of “inflaming” the crowd.
Walker said this was different from protests against racial justice last year after George Floyd’s death, during which the National Guard received immediate approval to assist local officials.
For hours, crowds stormed the Capitol live on TV while National Guard troops waited for permission to deploy. At one point, Walker said he loaded troops onto buses without permission, predicting they would receive OK any minute.
This green light was not given until 5:08 pm, three hours and 19 minutes after the first desperate cry for help had arrived. Miller, in his role as acting secretary of defense, gave the order at 4:32 pm, acting assistant Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses said, but for some reason that direction was not relayed to the National Guard for another half hour. No explanation was given for this delay.
“This is a problem. There were decisions being made, there were communications that needed to happen and there were actions that needed to happen, ”said Salesses.
Once the go-ahead was given, National Guard troops arrived at the Capitol in 18 minutes, Walker said.
Salesses was not on the 1:49 pm call to Sund, but said he spoke to Defense officials who were, including Flynn and Piatt, who denied using the word “optics”. Walker insisted that he heard that word and those arguments.
“There were people in the room with me on that call who heard what they heard,” he said.
This is not the first time that security officials have made contradictory statements about the lapses that allowed the riots to happen.
But one thing that Walker and Salesses witnessed is that acting Defense Secretary Miller wanted DC police, rather than federal troops, to be sent to control the Trump supporters who besieged the Capitol.
About 40 minutes after the aid application arrived at 2:30 pm, senior defense officials met to discuss the request. Miller’s first move, at 3:04 pm, was to authorize the National Guard to reinforce the DC police in the city to allow them to concentrate on the Capitol, according to Salesses. Walker also said that the initial focus was on supporting the DC police, rather than getting directly involved.
Salesses testified that “after reviewing the missions, equipment and responsibilities of the DC National Guard forces to be performed at the Capitol Complex,” Miller gave the order to send troops to the Capitol at 4:32 pm to the then Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy. Salesses did not explain why this order was only passed on to the National Guard at 5:08 pm.