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Stunning New Transcripts Regarding Jan. 6 Further Vindicate Trump

By CONGRESS

Several interviews that were conducted following the January 6th, 2021, Capitol breach have provided fresh insights into former President Donald Trump’s actions regarding the response to the unrest. Testimony released by Congressman Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) on Thursday reveals that Trump had initially requested additional support from the National Guard or active-duty troops to manage the situation and protect lawmakers during the certification of the 2020 election results, but his request was denied.

The disclosure came while investigators questioned now-retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who confirmed to the Pentagon inspector general in 2021 that Trump had pre-approved the deployment in an Oval Office meeting. Rep. Loudermilk shared these findings from the House GOP’s ongoing investigation with Just The News.



“The President just says, ‘Hey look at this. It’s going to be a large amount of protesters come in here on the 6th, and make sure that you have sufficient National Guard or Soldiers to make sure it’s a safe event,’” Milley told the inspector general during the Pentagon’s J6 investigation. He added that then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller assured Trump that the Pentagon had protocol in place to keep the peace in Washington, D.C. that day. “Miller responds by saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a plan, and we’ve got it covered.’ And that’s about it,” Milley recalled.

“‘Just be sure it’s safe,’” Milley claims Trump told his team. “It was just what I just described, which was, ‘Hey, I don’t care if you use Guard, or soldiers, active-duty soldiers, do whatever you have to do.’” Milley participated in two interviews in 2021, one on April 8th and another on April 16th. Loudermilk obtained the transcripts of these interviews as part of a GOP-led investigation. House Speaker Mike Johnson and his allies argue that the Nancy Pelosi-selected House committee behind the investigation was politically motivated and aimed to place blame squarely on Trump.

According to Milley, the interagency plan involved placing National Guardsmen on the streets to direct traffic rather than to guard the Capitol building. This plan was approved by Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Just the News noted. “The operational plan was this, let’s take the D.C. National Guard, keep them away from the Capitol. Let’s put — the request, it wasn’t my request, Bowser and her Metropolitan Police Department were like ‘Let’s put D.C. National Guard on traffic control points and at the Metro stations to free up credentialed law-enforcement officers that can go out and arrest people,’” Milley explained, admitting there was a “political calculation” to keep troops away from Congress.

“I hate to use the word optics because it’s been used and so prejudicially and negatively. It wasn’t the optics. It was like there was… would have been huge political consequences for that, because that’s what I got paid to do. I had to factor in the politics of this, and that was my concern, is the situation does not warrant at this time U.S. military forces,” the former Chairman noted.

In a related interview, former District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee recalled that Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy resisted his request to station troops around the Capitol, Just the News reported. “I received a call directly from the Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy and at that time — at that point he had reviewed our request for the support of D.C. National Guard, and what he relayed to me on this phone call was not what I initially thought that he would say,” Contee recounted in his interview. “He did not initially say, ‘Yes, you get the National Guard responding and they’re going to handle this traffic and crowd management that you asked for, that they’re going to be responding to handle it.’”

“That was not what was stated. What was stated to me was that he was not inclined to fulfill the request with Guardsmen simply because the optics of it was bad,” Conte added. “He said that he did not want to have boots on the ground on the — he didn’t want to have boots on the ground anywhere near the Capitol is what was stated.”

In a social media post, Rep. Loudermilk expressed concern that political considerations might have influenced high-ranking military officials, like Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, in their decision to deny requests for additional police protection around the Capitol building. “President Trump directed senior DoD leaders to ensure events on J6 be safe. They ignored his guidance, prioritized optics concerns over security, and pushed a flawed narrative in their IG report,” he wrote on X last week. “The American people deserve the full truth.”





Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.