Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently stated that she was “begging” the Trump administration’s Defense Department to send the National Guard to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but the troops did not arrive until hours later.
What she said may well be true, but that’s only half the story.
The truth is — based on the testimony of former chief of the Capitol Police Steven Sund and members of the Trump administration, including President Donald Trump himself — the offer of National Guard troops was made days in advance of Jan. 6, but the House sergeant at arms, who works directly for Pelosi, declined the offer, citing bad “optics.”
In an ABC News interview earlier this month, Pelosi said, “Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell and I were begging the administration to send the National Guard” during the Capitol incursion.
“We spoke to the Army — the secretary of the Army. ‘Well, I don’t know. It takes time and I have to talk to my boss about it’ — his boss being the acting secretary of defense,” she added. “So it took hours.”
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Sund, who later resigned at Pelosi’s demand, told The Washington Post that his requests to have the National Guard on call were denied in the days leading up to the Capitol incursion.
“House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving said he wasn’t comfortable with the ‘optics’ of formally declaring an emergency ahead of the demonstration, Sund said,” according to the Post.
Based on an official timeline compiled by the Capitol Police, a Pentagon official reached out to the Capitol Police on Jan. 2, 2021, asking whether they wanted National Guard troops deployed on Jan. 6.
The Capitol Police responded the next day saying no request would be forthcoming, presumably because Irving had turned them down.
Kash Patel — who served as chief of staff to then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller — told Just the News in June 2022, “The Capitol Police timeline shows what we have been saying for the last year — that DOD support via the National Guard was refused by the House and Senate sergeant at arms, who report to Pelosi.”
In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in August 2022, Trump stated that he had offered Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser between 10,000 and 20,000 troops ahead of Jan. 6 “because I thought the crowd was going to be very, very large.”
“And they turned it down,” Trump continued. “And Kash Patel is a witness … but we have many other witnesses to that.”
“Had they not turned it down, you wouldn’t have had Jan. 6 as we know it,” he said.
Bowser sent “a preemptive letter [on Jan. 5] to Miller and other Pentagon and Justice Department officials asking that troops not be deployed unless the Metropolitan Police Department approved, citing an incident in summer 2020, when troops were deployed at Lafayette Park near the White House during civil disobedience,” Just the News reported.
In September 2023, Sund testified to the Committee on House Administration, “On Jan. 3, I requested the assistance of the National Guard to support our perimeter and was denied by the two [sergeants] at arms over the concern for politics and optics.”
Sund said he still met resistance to bringing in the Guard on Jan. 6.
He called House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving just before 1 p.m. to report that his officers had been attacked and asked for the National Guard to be deployed.
“Let me run it up the chain and I will get back to you” was the response Sund said he received. “It would be 71 minutes before that approval would finally come … at 2:09 p.m.”
Sund explained that he understood “up the chain” to mean that Irving ultimately needed Pelosi’s approval. The former police chief said he called Irving 11 times before finally getting the green light.
Why would the sergeant at arms be so reluctant to bring in the Guard?
Sund told Fox News in March 2023, “His concern for the optics, I believe, goes back to Pelosi’s statement that she referred to federal agents and National Guard on the streets of America as ‘stormtroopers.’”
On July 17, 2020, Pelosi criticized federal agents responding to rioting in Portland, Oregon. “Trump & his stormtroopers must be stopped,” she posted on Twitter.
Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti.
These are not the actions of a democratic republic.@DHSgov’s actions in Portland undermine its mission.
Trump & his stormtroopers must be stopped.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 18, 2020
In a June 2020 letter to then-President Trump, Pelosi wrote that she was concerned about the “militarization” of the capital after National Guard troops and other federal agents were deployed to clear out protesters, some of whom had turned violent, at Lafayette Park across from the White House.
“It is alarming that here in our nation’s capital, the thousands who have turned out peacefully have been confronted with the deployment of various security officers from multiple jurisdictions, including unidentified federal law enforcement personnel,” Pelosi said in her letter.
As Americans across the country peacefully protest to demand an end to racial injustice and police brutality, we have seen a shocking deployment of various security officers from multiple jurisdictions to our nation’s capital. Today, I wrote to the President seeking answers. pic.twitter.com/tANprwPH2S
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) June 4, 2020
Sund believes the reason he was never asked to publicly testify before the Jan. 6 committee, established by Pelosi, is that the lawmakers did not want her decision-making scrutinized.
“Ask yourself why the Jan. 6 committee never requested that I come and publicly testify. Think about that — I’m the chief of the Capitol Police,” he told Fox News.
“I think they were concerned it would begin to show what went on on the 6th, what went on in the days leading up the 6th, and what was the involvement of political leadership and their appointees,” he added.
Prosecute Nancy Pelosi,
Chief Capital Police Steven Sund “Ask your self why the Jan 6 Committee never requested that I come in publicly testify?. Think about that, I am the Chief Capital Police.” pic.twitter.com/SNjxj3S0Jz
— 🇺🇸RealRobert🇺🇸 (@Real_RobN) March 8, 2023
Pelosi, in fact, blocked Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana from serving on the committee after they had raised questions about the Capitol’s security on Jan. 6.
Pelosi’s claim that she begged for National Guard support on Jan. 6 is a half-truth.
She conveniently leaves out the decision made by the House sergeant at arms, who reports directly to her, to turn down Sund’s request for National Guard troops on Jan. 3.
The Jan. 6 committee’s refusal to call either Sund or Pelosi to testify publicly suggests the entire purpose of the panel was to politically damage Trump and protect Pelosi.
Meanwhile, the American people were denied vital information they deserved to know to determine what led to the security failures of Jan. 6, 2021.
