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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNever Forget That Trump Purged the Pentagon Leadership Between the Election and January 6
One of the relatively unexamined pieces of the January 6 disaster is the delayed deployment of the D.C. National Guard to the Capitol. Politico had a look on Monday at some explosive allegations from former D.C. National Guard official Colonel Earl Matthews, "who held high-level National Security Council and Pentagon roles during the Trump administration." Matthews sent a memo to the House committee looking into the events of January 6 in which he offered detailed recollections of what happened inside the security apparatus that day. In it, he said the Pentagon's inspector general assembled a report on the Department of Defense's response to the attack on the Capitol that was riddled with errors and, in Politico's words, "protects a top Army official who argued against sending the National Guard to the Capitol on Jan. 6, delaying the insurrection response for hours."
The main takeaway seems to be that two top Pentagon officials, General Charles Flynnwho happens to be the brother of Trumpist fanatic Mike Flynn, though Matthews' memo does not seem to cast aspersions on this frontand Lieutenant General Walter Piatt, opposed deploying the Guard on conference calls that afternoon. That included a 2:30 p.m. call in which then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund "pleaded" for the National Guard to be deployed in order to aid his officers under attack. In Matthews' telling, both Flynn and Piatt said on the call that they opposed the move because "the optics of having uniformed military personnel deployed to the U.S. Capitol would not be good."
These "optics" were not a concern during the George Floyd protests the previous summer, when the Guard was frequently deployed alongside police. It's absurd on its face. What worse "optics" are there in a democracy than people storming your seat of government in pursuit of elected officials, hoping to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power? "Optics" has been the party line throughout, but there's reason to believe this is all a sideshow. Check out what else Politico found.
In addition to Matthews memo, POLITICO also obtained a document produced by a D.C. Guard official and dated Jan. 7 that lays out a timeline of Jan. 6. The D.C. Guard timeline, a separate document whose author took notes during the call, also said that Piatt and Flynn at 2:37 p.m. recommended for DC Guard to standby, rather than immediately deploying to the Capitol during the riot.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a38439573/january-6-national-guard-delayed-trump-pentagon-officials/
mahina
(17,665 posts)Pachamama
(16,887 posts)It was all planned
marble falls
(57,102 posts)world wide wally
(21,744 posts)brush
(53,785 posts)He put in people he knew would be complicit when his attempted coup came about.
It didn't work because the actual patriots in Congress, Democrats and handful of republicans, insisted on staying, despite the attack on the building, to finish certifying the election results.
doc03
(35,345 posts)back then it looked like WWIII had started there were tanks, armored personnel carriers and 2 1/2 ton trucks
lined up on Columbia Pike. If there were BLM protesters on Jan 6th DC would have looked like an armed rebellion
was taking place and there would have been dead bodies on the steps of the capital. If there were a handful of
foreign terrorists attacking the capital there would have been a thousand troops there within minutes.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,002 posts)doc03
(35,345 posts)were supposed to protect the capital.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)did not want National Guard troops on the steps because of earlier protests where troops were lined up like storm troopers.
Of course, if troops were there, the Capitol wouldnt have been breached and trumps rubes wouldnt have been exposed.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,002 posts)Lonestarblue
(10,011 posts)Determine whether they are Trumpists and willing to support a future coup. If so, get them out of the military. We all know that Republicans will try to instate Trump as president even if he loses the vote in 2024 and theyre unable to kick out enough ballots to make it appear legal. Republican attempts to disqualify votes will certainly result in court cases.
Perhaps Im borrowing trouble, but I think Democratic voters will not just stay home and say Oh, well if we believe Republicans have thrown out legitimate votes, which we know they are likely to do, especially in states like Georgia and Wisconsin where theyre replacing election officials with Trump loyalists.
We can expect multiple lawsuits, but I do not trust the Supreme Court to rule against Republican cheating. Unrest could erupt in the streets, and we know that most of the police are Republicans and would not necessarily protect Democratic protesters. The military might be the only option to prevent civil war, and we sure do not need Trump lovers like Flynn directing action.
Corgigal
(9,291 posts)also sabotaged the emergency radio frequencies for law enforcement. I remembered reading an article about this a few months back. This is where Flynn and his brother came in, in theory.
Escurumbele
(3,395 posts)And then we, who complain about the delay in prosecution, are told to have patience.
If these thugs are not made accountable very soon, and I mean in the next three months, more thugs are going to come out from under their rocks and things will get very ugly.
Eliminate the "Electoral College", add more judges to the Supreme Court, finish the investigation and throw the criminals behind bars. Enough already!
Hekate
(90,714 posts)
just praying, begging, for the National Guard to show up.
Optics?! Theres your optics!
Optics my rosy Irish ass.
Evolve Dammit
(16,736 posts)ancianita
(36,066 posts)Where in the article is a timeline of who was purged from the Pentagon and replaced?
Where are the names of the purged?
This is simply a rehash of Politico's look at the Matthews memo, "optics" lingo, and the Piatt/Flynn behavior.
Here I was expecting to see a timeline of Trump purges of "Pentagon Leadership" between election day and Jan 6.
DownriverDem
(6,228 posts)that trump was putting his loyalists into place many of whom had no experience for their positions. They were to do trump's bidding.