Questions about the National Guard at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, have come back into the spotlight this week, as new video filmed by Representative Nancy Pelosi’s daughter shows the former House speaker blaming herself for not doing more that day.
“Why wasn’t the National Guard there from the beginning?” Pelosi asked an exasperated voice. “They obviously didn’t know. I take responsibility for not making them more prepared.”
Of course, after the video was released, Pelosi, along with MSNBC, condemned the footage as “revisionist history” by Trump supporters.
BREAKING: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims newly released footage that shows her taking responsibility for the massive security failures on January 6th is “revisionist history.”
Fact check: This is literally Pelosi saying on camera, “I will take responsibility.” pic.twitter.com/RkHuF0Klgc
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) June 11, 2024
I was the Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense on January 6, 2021, and it was my job to ensure that the law and the military chain of command were followed. The deployment of the National Guard requires Presidential approval, which President Trump did in the Oval Office a few days before January 6, with me in attendance. It also requires requests from local authorities, including Mayor Bowser in Washington, DC, who reports to the Speaker of the House, and the Capitol Police.
Notably, after the Capitol Police and Mayor Bowser finally made the lawful request for the National Guard, President Trump’s Department of Defense executed the fastest cold start of the National Guard since World War II.
For years, I have testified under oath, in the media, and everywhere in between that Pelosi and Bowser are responsible for not calling in the National Guard on January 6th, even though President Trump had the Constitution authorizing it. We presented the best evidence to the partisan January 6th Commission: their own written denials. They left the letters and timeline out of the record, even though we agreed to include them.
“Watching Pelosi on video, we see her blaming herself for not doing more. Not only did she create the illegal and unconstitutional January 6th Committee, she hid evidence directly relevant to the Congressional investigation, lied to the world, and then decided to spend January 6th filming her own movie. That hubris is outweighed by her sinister desire to destroy the movement to root out corruption.”
The history of the January 6th committee should be fully documented so that it is never repeated. It is not surprising that Speaker Pelosi’s committee at the time used the same tactics to manipulate the entire system. They suppressed evidence that exonerated Trump of the “insurrection” allegation.
During my testimony, I put direct evidence on the record. The Committee agreed to include it in its report, but I purposely did not include it in the report (the Bowser letter, the Capitol Police timeline, the Biden Defense Department Inspector General’s report denying any wrongdoing by the Trump Defense Department). I also did not include information showing that the only person who delayed the deployment of the National Guard was then-Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, who took it upon himself to subvert the chain of command after the order to deploy the National Guard was given. Instead, he spoke to the media.
Anthony Ornato, Trump’s former White House deputy chief of staff, testified, “I remember Meadows wanted to know if we needed more National Guard troops, and the number 10,000 came up to the effect that, ‘The president wants to make sure we have enough.’ He said, ‘The president is prepared to ask for 10,000.'”
This testimony directly corroborates my account and was suspiciously ignored and left out of the record until March 2024, when Chairman Barry Loudermilk released new, highly relevant information.
My initial testimony to the Committee has been consistent in all interviews and court appearances, emphasizing that “approval was made in advance and communicated to the appropriate officials in Washington, D.C. and the Capitol Police. It was denied, and we acted only when their request finally came on January 6th,” and that “Trump authorized the deployment of 10,000 to 20,000 National Guard troops to assist law enforcement at multiple meetings.”
This is a tragic act of blatant constitutional theft and dereliction of duty in order to achieve a Machiavellian political end.
Deep State manipulation did not stop with January 6th. We have witnessed a relentless smear campaign against Trump and his supporters aimed at undermining our democracy and silencing the voice of the American people. From illegal surveillance to baseless impeachment, their tactics are straight out of a dystopian textbook.
The corporate media has colluded with these political operatives to turn journalism into propaganda, undermine public trust, and suppress the truth. This fight is not about one man. It’s about the future of our country and the protection of our constitutional freedoms. The stakes have never been higher, and the American people have a right to know the truth.
Kash Patel is a former Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense and author of “Government Gangsters.”
