Jan. 6 committee allegedly suppressed testimony showing Trump admin pushed for National Guard presence: Report

11 minutes, 29 seconds Read

[ad_1]

Join Fox News for entry to this content material

Plus particular entry to pick articles and different premium content material together with your account – freed from cost.

Please enter a legitimate e mail deal with.

The Jan. 6 congressional committee allegedly falsely claimed it didn’t have proof showing former President Donald Trump’s administration requested National Guard help, in response to a report detailing a “hidden transcript” that was lately launched. 

“The former J6 Select Committee apparently withheld Mr. Ornato’s critical witness testimony from the American people because it contradicted their pre-determined narrative. Mr. Ornato’s testimony proves what Mr. Meadows has said all along: President Trump did in fact offer 10,000 National Guard troops to secure the U.S. Capitol, which was turned down,” Georgia Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk mentioned in an announcement on Friday. 

Loudermilk launched a transcript of former White House deputy chief of workers Anthony Ornato’s interview with the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6 on Friday, following the Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway, additionally a Fox News contributor, reporting, “Former Rep. Liz Cheney’s January 6 Committee suppressed evidence” that the Trump administration pushed for 10,000 National Guard members to be on the streets. 

Ornato’s interview was carried out in January 2022, and attended by Cheney, amongst different members on the committee. In addition to serving as deputy chief of workers underneath Trump, Ornato served within the Secret Service for many years. 

LIZ CHENEY CALLS SPEAKER JOHNSON ‘DANGEROUS’ FOR HELPING TRUMP ‘UNDERMINE OUR REPUBLIC’

Liz Cheney

Rep. Liz Cheney during her primary election night party in Jackson, Wyoming, on Aug. 16, 2022. (Reuters/David Stubbs)

The committee, which included seven Democrats and two now-former Republican Congress members, Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, concluded that it found “no evidence” that the Trump administration called for 10,000 National Guard members to Washington, D.C., to protect the Capitol. 

Trump has long claimed that he requested the National Guard but that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., failed to act on the request. Amid and following the congressional committee’s investigation, media retailers such because the Washington Post “debunked” Trump’s feedback, repeatedly awarding him “Four Pinocchios.”

HOUSE JAN. 6 COMMITTEE DELETED MORE THAN 100 ENCRYPTED FILES DAYS BEFORE GOP TOOK MAJORITY: SOURCES

Loudermilk on Friday launched a transcript of Ornato’s interview with the committee detailing that he overheard then-White House  hief of workers Mark Meadows asking D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to request as a lot safety for D.C. as she wanted. 

“When it comes to the National Guard statement about having 10,000 troops or any other number of troops, do you recall any discussion prior to the 6th about whether and how many National Guard troops to deploy on January 6th?” a staffer with the committee requested Ornato. 

Protesters outside of the Capitol

Trump supporters occupy the West Front of the Capitol and the inauguration stands on Jan. 6, 2021. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc through Getty Images)

(*6*) Ornato responded, in response to the transcript reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

Ornato went on to quote the “10,000” guardsmen quantity, in response to the transcript, arguing Trump needed “to make sure that you have enough.”

“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 thing not in the law enforcement capacity at the time. And then that’s the only thing I recall with that number 10,000 National Guard guardsmen,” he continued. 

HOUSE INVESTIGATION INTO ‘WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ON JANUARY 6’ ENTERING ‘NEW PHASE’ WITH SPEAKER JOHNSON SUPPORT

Trump Mar-a-Lago

Former President Donald Trump arrives for an election-night watch occasion at Mar-a-Lago on March 5, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Bowser finally requested for simply over 300 National Guard members, who she requested wouldn’t be armed and solely work to help the native police division. 

Ornato mentioned in his interview with the committee that after Bowser refused further National Guard members, the White House requested the Defense Department have a “quick reaction force” available. 

“The only thing I remember with DOD and the National Guard was even though the mayor didn’t want any more National Guard in D.C., that a request was made to have kind of a, lack of better term, a quick reaction force out at Joint Base Andrews being that it was a military installation,” Ornato mentioned in his interview, in response to the transcript. 

“I remember Chief Meadows talking to DOD about that, I believe. I remember Chief Meadows letting me know that, ‘Hey, there was going to be National Guard that’s going to be at Joint Base Andrews in case they’re going to need some more, we’re going to – the Mayor would need any, we’re going to make sure they’re out there.'”

LIZ CHENEY ADDRESSES CRITICISM OF HER CRITIQUES OF TRUMP AND BIDEN

Cheney’s spokesman Jeremy Adler instructed Fox News Digital on Sunday morning that the Federalist’s report is “flatly false.” 

“The Federalist report is flatly false. No transcripts were destroyed, and as this letter (which has long been public) describes in detail, the Committee adhered to its obligations to allow the Secret Service to protect sensitive security information for interviews of its agents before preserving that testimony in the archives,” Adler mentioned in an announcement. 

“Also, relevant content of the Secret Service transcripts was summarized in multiple places in the report… This is all a continuation of efforts to lie about and cover up Donald Trump’s culpability for January 6th,” he added, offering hyperlinks to summarized Secret Service transcripts. 

Cheney additionally took to X this weekend and referred to the report as “BS” whereas responding to a tweet posted by Mark Levin. 

Meadows was reportedly apprehensive concerning the crowd dimension forward of Jan. 6, together with from left-wing protesters, in response to the Federalist’s report, which pointed to Ornato’s transcript detailing members of the Trump administration needed to make sure there have been sufficient troops on the streets. 

“And, again, the crowd sizes were, you know, the organizers were saying, you know, there may be 50,000 here. So that’s where it started, I think, to scare the chief a little bit of how many people were coming in for this event, and wanted to make sure that they would be able to bring in National Guard if needed for this size of this many people inside D.C.,” Ornato mentioned.

When supporters of former President Trump finally breached the Capitol, Ornato mentioned in his interview that the White House known as on performing Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to deploy help. 

“So then I remember the chief saying, ‘Hey, I’m calling secretary of defense to get that [quick reaction force] in here,'” Ornato mentioned. 

“[T]he constant was, you know, where is the National Guard? Why isn’t – you know, we’ve got to get control of this,” Ornato added.

GRAHAM DISMISSES LIZ CHENEY’S TRUMP WARNING, SAYS ‘WORLD WILL BE TRULY ON FIRE’ IF BIDEN RE-ELECTED

Bennie Thompson, Liz Cheney

Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney speaks throughout a gathering of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, Dec. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“But, you know, [Meadows] understood the urgency, that’s for sure. And he kept, you know, getting Miller on the phone, wanting to know where they were, why aren’t they there yet,” he later added. 

Hemingway detailed in her report that Ornato’s testimony matched what former Trump administration aide Kash Patel mentioned throughout testimony amid Colorado’s failed efforts besides Trump from the poll over claims his 2024 presidential run violates the 14th Amendment. 

“Mayor Bowser wrote a letter herself on approximately Jan. 4.… declining further requests for National Guard services outside of the 346 National Guardsmen already authorized,” Patel mentioned late final 12 months in testimony. 

“The authorization came in beforehand. It was relayed to the appropriate officials in D.C. and the Capitol Police. It was declined, and we acted when their request finally came in on January 6,” he continued.

The decide within the Colorado case decided Patel was not a reputable witness. 

REP. LOUDERMILK BLASTS JANUARY 6 COMMITTEE FOR TARGETING HIM: ‘THERE IS A WAR ON THE TRUTH IN THIS COUNTRY’

Last 12 months, a bunch of Colorado voters introduced a lawsuit arguing Trump ought to be deemed ineligible from holding political workplace underneath a Civil War-era riot clause and that his identify ought to thus be barred from showing on the 2024 poll. The group mentioned Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters breached the U.S. Capitol, violated a clause within the 14th Amendment that forestalls officers of the United States, members of Congress or state legislatures who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” towards the Constitution from holding political workplace.

The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which unanimously dominated in Trump’s favor, permitting him to stay on the Colorado poll and squelching different states’ efforts to take away the previous president from their ballots. 

Ornato mentioned the Trump White House on Jan. 6 frequently requested, “What’s taking so long?” to deploy help to the town, however the rollout was allegedly riddled with hangups. 

“Every time [Meadows] would ask, ‘What’s taking so long?’ It would be, like, you know, ‘This isn’t just start the car and we’re there. We have to muster them up, we have to’ – so it was constant excuses coming of – not excuses, but what they were actually doing to get them there,” he mentioned. “So, you already know, ‘We only have so many here right now. They’re given an hour to prepare.’ So there’s, like, all these timelines that was being defined to the chief. And he relayed that, like, you already know – he’s like, ‘I don’t care, simply get them right here,’ you already know, and ‘Get them to the Capitol, not to the White House.'”

Liz Cheney at Jan. 6 hearing

Liz Cheney took to X this weekend and referred to the report as “BS” while responding to a tweet posted by Mark Levin. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The Jan. 6 report detailed that Gen. Mark Milley said Vice President Mike Pence had called acting Secretary Miller at least two times calling for National Guard presence, while Meadows had allegedly called to “kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions.”

“In contrast, according to General Milley, Chief of Staff Meadows called and said, ‘We have to kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions. We need to establish the narrative, you know, that the President is still in charge and that things are steady or stable,’ or phrases to that impact. I instantly interpreted that as politics, politics, politics,’” the report states. 

The report states Trump didn’t personally make a name. 

Just days earlier than Jan. 6, 2021, an op-ed penned by former protection secretaries, together with Liz Cheney’s father Dick Cheney, argued towards involving the army in election disputes. Hemingway cited a report in her piece that Liz Cheney “organized” the op-ed and had allegedly “‘secretly orchestrated’ a pressure campaign to prevent the Defense Department from deploying resources on January 6, 2021.”

Trump has in the meantime beforehand claimed that Cheney “deleted” proof that his administration needed a higher presence of National Guard members. 

Donald Trump wearing a red make america great again hat

A brand new article from The Atlantic warned that House Democrats might vote towards certifying former President Trump’s election if the U.S. Supreme Court would not rule whether or not he’s eligible for workplace earlier than. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

“Why did American Disaster Liz Cheney … ILLEGALLY DELETE & DESTROY most of the evidence, and related items, from the January 6th Committee of Political Thugs and Misfits. THIS ACT OF EXTREME SABOTAGE MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR MY LAWYERS TO PROPERLY PREPARE FOR, AND PRESENT, A PROPER DEFENSE OF THEIR CLIENT, ME. All of the information on Crazy Nancy Pelosi turning down 10,000 soldiers that I offered to to [sic] guard the Capitol Building, and beyond, is gone,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Jan. 1, 2024. 

The committee’s ultimate report decided that Trump “never gave any order to deploy the National Guard.” 

TRUMP SAYS FILES DELETED BY JAN 6 COMMITTEE ‘EXONERATED ME COMPLETELY’

“President Trump had authority and responsibility to direct deployment of the National Guard in the District of Columbia, but never gave any order to deploy the National Guard on January 6th or on any other day. Nor did he instruct any Federal law enforcement agency to assist. Because the authority to deploy the National Guard had been delegated to the Department of Defense, the Secretary of Defense could, and ultimately did deploy the Guard,” the report states. 

In his Friday assertion and transcript launch, Loudermilk claimed the committee “hid” Ornato’s testimony. Loudermilk is chairman of the House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight, which is trying into the Jan. 6 committee’s dealing with of the investigation. 

“This is just one example of important information the former Select Committee hid from the public because it contradicted what they wanted the American people to believe. And, this is exactly why my investigation is committed to uncovering all the facts, no matter the outcome,” Loudermilk mentioned in his assertion. 

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital reached out to Bowser, Loudermilk and the Trump marketing campaign for further touch upon the matter, however didn’t instantly obtain responses.

[ad_2]

Source hyperlink

Similar Posts