For over 3½ years, the radical left has blamed Donald Trump for the security failures at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But newly released video footage shows then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi taking responsibility for not calling in the National Guard that day.

On June 10, House Republicans released a video shot by Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandria, as they fled the Capitol on January 6. In the video, Pelosi grills her chief of staff, Terri McCullough, about why there was not enough security to control protesters:

We have responsibility, Terri. We did not have any accountability for what was going on there, and we should have. This is ridiculous. You’re going to ask me in the middle of the thing, when they’ve already breached the inaugural stuff, that, Should we call the Capitol Police? I mean, the National Guard? Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?

When McCullough tried explaining, saying, “They thought that they had sufficient resources,” Pelosi interrupted and shot back:

No, that is not a question of how they had. They don’t know. They clearly didn’t know. And I take responsibility for not having them just prepared for more.

Blame Trump

Trump’s opponents have continually blamed him for the disorder of January 6. They accuse him of inciting a violent riot, failing to send in security forces, and delaying the deployment of the National Guard.

In an interview with Fox News on Feb. 28, 2021, Trump told Steve Hilton he had recommended that 10,000 national guardsmen be stationed at the Capitol ahead of the inauguration, but the request was denied:

I said, “Look, this rally is going to be bigger than anyone thinks,” because everyone I’d see says, “We’re going to be at the rally, we’re going to be at the rally.” … And I said, “I think you should have 10,000”—I think I gave the number. I definitely gave the number of 10,000 national guardsmen. “I think you should have 10,000 of the National Guard ready.” They took that number, from what I understand. They gave it to the people at the Capitol, which is controlled by Pelosi, and I heard they rejected it because they didn’t think it would look good.

In May 2021, former Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and Kash Patel, one of Trump’s top advisers, both testified before the House of Representatives confirming Trump’s statement.

Miller said that in a meeting on January 3, three days before the inauguration, he informed Trump of a request for the National Guard from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. Trump told Miller, “Do whatever is necessary to protect demonstrators that were executing their constitutionally protected rights.”

Patel said in his testimony that Trump gave both Mayor Bowser and Speaker Pelosi the authorization to deploy the National Guard.

Several other witnesses also verified Trump’s claim, such as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Secret Service Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornato.

Silence Witnesses

However, the January 6 Select Committee tried to suppress the witnesses’ testimonies. Ornato was interviewed in January 2022, but the transcripts were not released until March 2024.

The former J6 Select Committee apparently withheld Mr. Ornato’s critical witness testimony from the American people because it contradicted their predetermined 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. 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.
—Barry Loudermilk, chairman of the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight

In an interview with the Daily Mail the same month, Miller said members of the January 6 Committee threatened him to prevent him from telling the truth. After he affirmed in a June 2022 Fox News interview that Trump called for the National Guard, his lawyer received a phone call from the January 6 staff director. Miller explained:

I forgot exactly who it was, but basically [he said], very legalistic: “Well, if your client has additional information he wants to share, we’d be happy to have him re-interviewed.” It was more that latent threat of, “If you want to keep going on tv, we’re gonna drag you in here again for additional hours of hearing testimony.” So that was the nature of that whole thing. It was the latent threat of the government continuing to intrude into my life.

In July 2022, the committee released audio of an interview with Miller, claiming it proved Trump failed to deploy the military. When asked if “10,000 National Guard troops were told to be on the ready by the secretary of defense,” Miller said he was unaware of any such order.

Many in the media claimed this contradicted Miller’s previous testimony. However, Miller never stated an official order was given, just that Trump had authorized the deployment of the Guard.

Patel was also discredited. In September 2021, Patel was subpoenaed by the January 6 Committee and required to conduct several interviews. The committee told him there was “substantial reason to believe” he was essential to their investigation. But after the interviews, they said his testimonies did not align with their findings and claimed he was not a credible witness.

When Patel testified before the Colorado court in the case to remove Trump from the state’s ballot for allegedly instigating an insurrection, he was again dismissed as a witness.

The court finds that Mr. Patel was not a credible witness. His testimony regarding Trump authorizing 10,000 to 20,000 national guardsmen is not only illogical … but completely devoid of any evidence in the record.
—Sarah Wallace, judge

In a 51-page document released in December 2021, the January 6 Committee stated that Meadows sent an e-mail to an unknown source on January 5 indicating that the National Guard would be present at the Capitol to “protect pro-Trump people.” Rather than proving that the National Guard was requested, the committee used the information to accuse Meadows of helping Trump instigate a violent insurrection.

Deny What You Said

After the footage of Pelosi was released, she gave an interview on msnbc and downplayed her involvement. She again accused Trump and “his toadies” of not wanting to “face the facts.”

However, the footage is clear. Pelosi explicitly stated, “We did not have any accountability for what was going on there, and we should have.” She told her chief of staff, “They did not know. [The National Guard] clearly didn’t know. And I take responsibility for not having them just prepared for more.”

Whatever happened on January 6, communication between top officials and security forces was somehow ruptured.

In August 2023, former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund stated in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that multiple federal agents were imbedded into the crowd at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The trouble was, Capitol Police were not informed of this. In his article “January 6 Was a Setup,” Trumpet executive editor Stephen Flurry wrote:

Sund said it is standard police procedure to station federal agents at a planned demonstration, but it is nowhere near standard procedure to block such information from Capitol Police. Why would the [Federal Bureau of Investigation] keep Capitol Police officers in the dark at such an important event? They are on the same side: They are both supposed to secure law and order! When the violence began, Sund begged the National Guard for assistance during the riot, but his request was declined for hours.

Sund said the situation has led him to believe that intelligence officials in power were aware of a plan to disrupt and cause violence, and that rather than preventing it, with or without the help of Capitol Police, they hid the information the police needed and allowed it to happen.

Trump’s opponents will do anything to make him the villain. Their goal is to take Trump out, even if that means lying about January 6. To learn more, read “January 6 Was a Setup.”