The commander of the D.C. National Guard recently said that the Department of Defense restricted his authority, making it significantly more difficult to respond to the January 6th violence by an armed, pro-Trump mob at the U.S. Capitol building, according to a new report by The Washington Post.
The report claims that Major General William J. Walker says that the Pentagon forced him to seek higher level sign-off to send in troops to control the pro-Trump riots that saw five people murdered, including two Capitol Police officers:
“All military commanders normally have immediate response authority to protect property, life, and in my case, federal functions — federal property and life. But in this instance I did not have that authority.”
Ryan McCarthy, former Army secretary, blamed the new restrictions on Black Lives Matter protests from the summer, saying they were put in place after the Defense Department received criticism for using heavy handed tactics to control the protests, including flying helicopters low near protestors:
“After June, the authorities were pulled back up to the secretary of defense’s office. Any time we would employ troops and guardsmen in the city, you had to go through a rigorous process. As you recall, there were events in the summer that got a lot of attention, and that was part of this.”
In the days leading up to the riots at the Capitol, the Pentagon approved the activation of 340 D.C. National Guard troops, including a quick reaction force of around 40 members staged at Joint Base Andrews, according to the DoD.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
On Jan. 4, then-acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller sent a memo to McCarthy telling him that he needed the defense secretary’s approval to send in Guard troops with weapons, armor, and/or riot gear. McCarthy retained authority to send in the force, but “only as a last resort.”
On Jan. 5, McCarthy sent a memo to Walker prohibiting him from deploying the quick reaction force without his approval:
“All he said was, ‘If I call you, will you be able to help? And I said, ‘Yes, but I need permission. So send a formal request,’ and I never got it, until after the fact.”
A new video has surfaced that is making a dramatic impact and a strong case that Donald Trump incited his followers into storming the Capitol to try and stop Joe Biden from being certified as the next president of the United States.
The video features Trump’s own words and rioters who say that they were convinced that they were only following Trump’s direct orders to breach the Capitol building.
The video was posted by Just Security and is approximately 10 minutes long. Just Security is an online forum hosted by the Reiss Center on Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. The video features a compilation of scenes, some of which came from far-right extremist posts on the social media site Parler.
“The videos, along with other information in the public record, provide strong evidence of a causal link between Trump’s messages to his supporters and their dangerous, illegal conduct,” Just Security wrote in a statement on its website.
They also demonstrate that “Trump placed the life of Vice President Mike Pence, among others, in grave danger,” the statement added.
Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, were killed in the Jan. 6 attack. The attack took place right after Trump addressed his supporters at the “Stop the Steal” rally.
“President Trump said we are not giving up the White House. He said we are going to fight,” one supporter states in the video. “We’re here to take our country back,” she adds. “We’re not messing around.”
Last week, Trump was impeached for a second by the House for “incitement of insurrection.” He is the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice.
The articles of impeachment were forwarded to the Senate on Monday and a Senate impeachment trial will take place the second week of February.
Reportedly, Democratic lawmakers are studying the Just Security video to aid them in their trial strategy to help them highlight Trump’s incendiary comments.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) shockingly stated recently that Trump “provoked” the mob that moved on the Capitol with his words and his lies about the presidential election.
The last time that Donald Trump was impeached Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republican party within the Senate stood in the way. Things are very different this time around.
The last time articles of impeachment reached the Senate, McConnell stated that “everything I do during this I’m coordinating with the White House counsel—there will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this.”
McConnell would go on to state that there was “absolutely “no chance” that the Senate would vote to convict Trump. McConnell called on his Republican colleagues to acquit Trump on both articles of the impeachment. Everyone in the Senate GOP listened to McConnell, except for one rogue senator…Mitt Romney.
But now as the House prepares to vote to impeach Trump for the second time, and oh how the tables have turned,
With an entirely new impeachable offense on the table, Mitch McConnell is said to be happy to cast his vote to impeach Trump this time around.
Several Republican senators have spoken out against impeaching Trump increasing his chances of acquittal.
