Liz Cheney and her committee falsely claimed they had ‘no evidence’ to support Trump officials’ claims the White House had asked for 10,000 National Guard troops.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney’s January 6 Committee suppressed
evidence that President Donald Trump pushed for 10,000 National Guard troops to
protect the nation’s capital, a previously hidden transcript obtained by The
Federalist shows.
Cheney and her committee falsely claimed they had “no
evidence” to support Trump officials’ claims the White House had communicated
its desire for 10,000 National Guard troops. In fact, an early transcribed
interview conducted by the committee included precisely that evidence from a
key source. The interview, which Cheney attended and personally participated
in, was suppressed from public release until now.
Not only did the committee not accurately characterize the
interview, they suppressed the transcript from public review. On top of that,
committee allies began publishing critical stories and even conspiracy theories
about Ornato ahead of follow-up interviews with him. Ornato was a career Secret
Service official who had been detailed to the security position in the White
House.
Top Takeaways:
A January 6 committee staffer asked Ornato, “When it comes
to the National Guard statement about having 10,000 troops or any other number
of troops, do you recall any discussion before the 6th about whether and how
many National Guard troops to deploy on January 6th?” Ornato surprised the
committee by noting he did recall a conversation between Meadows and Bowser: “He
was on the phone with her and wanted to make sure she had everything that she
needed,” Ornato told investigators.
Meadows “wanted to know if she need any more guardsmen,” Ornato testified. “And I remember the number 10,000 coming up of, you know, ‘The president wants to make sure that you have enough.’ You know, ‘He is willing to ask for 10,000.’ I remember that number. Now that you said it, it reminded me of it. And that she was all set. She had, I think it was like 350 or so for intersection control, and those types of things not in the law enforcement capacity at the time.” Ornato was correct. Bowser declined the offer, asking only for a few hundred National Guard and requiring them to serve in a very limited capacity.
Bowser’s decision to decline help from the White House did not end the Trump team’s efforts to secure troops ahead of the protest. When the D.C. mayor declined Trump’s offer of 10,000 troops, Ornato said the White House requested a “quick reaction force” out of the Defense Department in case it was needed.
Once the Capitol was breached, the Trump White House pushed for immediate help from Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller and grew frustrated at the slow deployment of that help, according to the testimony. “So then I remember the chief saying, ‘Hey, I’m calling secretary of defense to get that [quick reaction force] in here,” Ornato said. Later he said, “And then I remember the chief telling Miller, ‘Get them in here, get them in here to secure the Capitol now.'”
Cheney and her committee falsely claimed they had “no evidence” to support Trump officials’ claims the White House had communicated its desire for 10,000 National Guard troops. In fact, an early transcribed interview conducted by the committee included precisely that evidence from a key source. The interview, which Cheney attended and personally participated in, was suppressed from public release until now.
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