Trump, who proved last year that he was eager to send the National Guard when violence broke out, initially resisted doing so on Capitol Hill on Wednesday when a crowd of his supporters broke into the building, according to a known source. Pence played a key role in coordinating with the Pentagon on their deployment and urged them to move faster than before.
The news raises questions about who was serving as commander-in-chief on one of America’s darkest days, which saw the country’s legislature invaded for the first time since the British attacked and burned the building in August 1814.
The Trump administration earlier this week said that civil law enforcement would be tasked with protecting federal facilities, but the Defense Department received requests for additional support from the National Guard on Wednesday as the situation became increasingly dangerous. , a senior defense officer told CNN.
As chaos unfolded, doubts arose as to whether Trump would order the DC National Guard to respond due to the slow response. Public statements by acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and other senior officials suggested that it was Pence who ultimately approved the decision. Miller’s statement on Wednesday appears to indicate that he did not even speak to Trump, discussing the matter with his deputy, as sources told CNN that the president was reluctant to even denounce the violence being carried out on his behalf.
Republican minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, avoided questions on Wednesday night about whether Pence, not Trump, ordered the DC National Guard to be activated, but suggested that the vice president approved the decision.
Asked by Fox News about the news that Pence, not the president, approved the activation, McCarthy objected, but finally said: “I know that the vice president is in constant contact with us and also with security within the Capitol, I communicated with the vice president from the beginning. It was about bringing the National Guard there. He said he will call now. “
The comments appeared to conflict with what White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a tweet hours earlier, when she said Trump “ordered” the National Guard to respond to the situation.
Pence spoke to the secretary of defense and the main general
Miller also confirmed that he and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, spoke to Pence, not Trump, on Wednesday afternoon. He also said that he is in contact with the main legislators of Congress.
“President Milley and I have just spoken separately to Vice President and President Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Senator Schumer and Representative Hoyer about the situation on the United States Capitol. We have fully activated the DC National Guard to help the federal and local police while they work to peacefully resolve the situation, “he said in a statement.
“We are prepared to provide additional support as needed and appropriate, as requested by local authorities. Our people have vowed to defend the constitution and our democratic form of government and will act accordingly,” he said.
The National Guard was not fully activated until hours after the violent crowd invaded the capital.
Under that agreement, National Guard forces were not ordered to provide protection for federal facilities. Top military commanders, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were determined to keep the active military out of this effort and to limit the role of the national guard, several defense officials said.
The Pentagon’s long-standing focus has been on showing that civil law enforcement and state-activated national guard are sufficient to control civil unrest.
‘A little confusion’
In a statement late on Wednesday, Pentagon chief spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said that earlier in the week, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser “requested that approximately 340 DC national guards assist the DC police in preparing for possible protests today. ”
“This request was approved. Today, the mayor requested the full activation of the DC Guard to support local and federal authorities in responding to the situation on Capitol Hill. This request was approved. There were no other requests from the DC government,” he said.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy acknowledged that there was “a little confusion” over the additional request.
“But while we were working on it, we finally made the decision about half an hour after mobilizing the entire DC National Guard. So that was incredibly fluid. But I have to go through the Secretary of Defense to get the final approval to mobilize personnel, as well as to conduct operations in cooperation, in coordination with local authorities, ”he said.
A source familiar with the situation said White House officials were “horrified” by the violence on Capitol Hill and feared there would be more problems on the streets on Wednesday night.
“He doesn’t want to” do more than what he’s doing now, said the adviser.
“If we could play it for the angry crowd, now we would play it for the angry crowd,” said the adviser.
CNN’s Pamela Brown contributed to this report.