Trump Defense Secretary Says He Never Received ‘Direction or Order’ to Deploy National Guard on Jan. 6
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The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol shot down a right-wing talking point on Tuesday by releasing a video deposition of former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller saying there was no order to have military personal ready ahead of Jan. 6.
“I was never given any direction or order or knew of any plans of that nature,” Miller said in the clip shared by the committee on Twitter.
“To remove any doubt: Not only did Donald Trump fail to contact his Secretary of Defense on January 6th (as shown in our hearing), Trump also failed to give any order prior to January 6 to deploy the military to protect the Capitol,” the committee wrote, adding, “Here is Secretary Miller’s testimony.”
To remove any doubt: Not only did Donald Trump fail to contact his Secretary of Defense on January 6th (as shown in our hearing), Trump also failed to give any order prior to January 6 to deploy the military to protect the Capitol.
Here is Secretary Miller’s testimony— pic.twitter.com/joucnUHvBB
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) July 26, 2022
The idea that Trump ordered troops to secure Washington, D.C. ahead of the attack on the Capitol has circulated on the right for months and has been used by some to suggest House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in fact to blame for the attack.
“And on January 4th in that room, Donald Trump authorized the use of up to 20,000 National Guard troops knowing that there was going to be a large crowd coming to the nation’s capital, that they would be marching on the Capitol,” said Sean Hannity on Fox News in February.
Hannity was repeating claims by acting Pentagon chief-of-staff Kash Patel who told him that Trump “unequivocally authorized up to 20,000 National Guardsmen and women for us to utilize should the second part of the law, the requests come in, but those requests never did.” Hannity, however, glossed over the second part of Patel’s statement.
Hannity has also pushed the unfounded narrative that Pelosi blocked the National Guard from being deployed on Jan. 6.
“Nancy Pelosi refused President Trump’s multiple requests to have the National Guard at the Capitol,” wrote Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on Twitter, adding, “She should be in jail.”
Nancy Pelosi refused President Trump’s multiple requests to have the National Guard at the Capitol.
She should be in jail.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) July 22, 2022
While there have been reports of a meeting in the days prior to Jan. 6th, in which Trump raised the prospect of needing “10,000” troops in Washington, D.C. no order was given to the Pentagon.
“There was no direct, there was no order from the President,” said Miller who ran the Pentagon during Trump’s last days in office. “We have no record of such an order being given,” said Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby in December of 2021.
“We obviously had plans for activating more folks, but that was not anything more than contingency planning,” Miller added. “There was no official message traffic or anything of that nature.”
Trump himself has pushed this debunked claim, saying a June 9th statement that he “suggested & offered” up to 20,000 National Guard troops be called to Washington, DC, as he believed “that the crowd was going to be very large” on Jan. 6.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley also told committee that Trump never spoke to him or gave him orders regarding troop movements on Jan. 6, even as the attack was unfolding.
