Opinion | The author's opinion does not necessarily reflect Sarah Palin's view.
Interviews conducted after the Capitol breach on January 6th showed that former President Trump’s efforts to obtain extra security, such as National Guard assistance, were mostly overlooked.
Congressman Barry Loudermilk disclosed that Trump requested troops to ensure safety, but was met with resistance from military leaders who prioritized political optics over security.
General Mark Milley confirmed Trump’s request for troop deployment, while then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller noted that the military’s response was delayed due to concerns about the public perception of having troops near the Capitol.
Gen. Mark Milley said, “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.’”
“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.’ 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,’” Miller explained.
“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,” he added.
Ultimately, the Pentagon’s actions were criticized for being slow, with additional troops deployed only after violence escalated.
The testimonies also highlighted the strained relationship between Trump and military officials, with some expressing disdain for his leadership style.
Former District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said, “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. 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.”
