During questioning as part of the Senate’s investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a Washington, a member of the National Guard and a Pentagon official disagreed on the speed of response to the incident.
Appearing before a joint hearing of the Senate homeland security and rules committees, Maj. Gen. William Walker of the District of Columbia National Guard and Pentagon official Robert Salesses presented differing timelines for when Walker received approval to deploy the National Guard in response to radical supporters of former President Donald Trump who forced their way into the Capitol building. Walker testified that it took more than 3 hours to authorize the deployment of troops in response to the insurrection. Were it not for the additional restrictions, Walker said he would have “immediately pulled all the guardsmen that were supporting the Metropolitan Police Department.”
However Salesses presented a different timeline from Walker, saying that after a call with military officials, McCarthy assessed what the National Guard’s mission would be and visited the headquarters of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department before securing final approval from acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller at 4:32 p.m.
The first part of the committees’ investigation occurred last week when the panel heard testimony from four law enforcement and security officials, including U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund.
Editorial credit: Thomas Hengge / Shutterstock.com