The Pentagon placed significant restrictions on the District of Columbia Guard ahead of pro-Trump protests this week, putting the District's military force in a back-seat role ahead of events that resulted in an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
In memos issued on Jan. 4 and 5, the Pentagon prohibited the District's guardsmen from receiving ammunition or riot gear, interacting with protesters unless necessary for self-defense, sharing equipment with local law enforcement or using Guard surveillance and air assets without the defense secretary's explicit sign-off, according to officials familiar with the orders.
The District Guard was also told it would be allowed to deploy a Quick Reaction Force only as a measure of last resort, the officials said.
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The Defense Department was able to restrict the District Guard because the military force answers to the president rather than the mayor, as the District is not a state.
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Guard units arrived roughly 2.5 hours after the chief of the Capitol Police made the emergency request, even though a Quick Reaction Force had been put on standby outside the city limits.
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Officials said the restrictions on the District Guard were put in place in part because city and Pentagon leadership didn't want a large military presence after Trump ordered a mass military response to racial justice protests in the nation's capital this summer, prompting a public outcry when military helicopters flew low over protesters, surveillance assets hovered above the city and residents were left with a sense that the District was being occupied or was under siege.
Stripes
And because this crowd was white?
The official said that when the mission changed on Wednesday afternoon, the Pentagon provided more forces than were requested, bringing in Guard units from outside states and loosening the restrictions.
But the initial restrictions and the unique command structure of the District Guard may have made it more difficult for authorities to quickly send the guardsmen to aid Capitol Police.
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On Thursday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said he received a call from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who said he was in a secure location with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer.
"I was actually on the phone with Leader Hoyer who was pleading with us to send the guard," Hogan said. "He was yelling across the room to Schumer and they were back and forth saying we do have the authorization and I'm saying, 'I'm telling you we do not have the authorization.' "
Hogan said Maj. Gen. Timothy Gowen, the Adjutant General of the Maryland National Guard, was repeatedly rebuffed by the Pentagon.
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Ninety minutes later, Hogan said, he received a call "out of the blue, not from the Secretary of Defense, not through what would be normal channels," but from Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, who asked if the Maryland guardsmen could "come as soon as possible."
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Clark Mercer, chief of staff to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, said he received a call from his counterpart in [DC Mayor] Bowser's office, who suggested the Defense Department wasn't moving fast enough and asked for Virginia to send in its own state Guard - an extraordinary request that laid bare the difficulty Bowser faced in having to rely on federal officials at the Pentagon answerable to the president to command the District's military force.
Virginia sent in its Guard and state troopers after Northam received a panicked call from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi asking for help.
Once the Pentagon signed off, the Guard mounted a vast response.
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Thousands of additional National Guard forces were moving into the area on Thursday, as their commander said authorities had not imagined "in their wildest dreams" that supporters of President Trump could storm the seat of American democracy.
Their commander should be relieved of duty. The insurrectionists had been telegraphing their intent for weeks.
"With respect to the posture leading in the way, we receive our intelligence from law enforcement agencies," he said at a news briefing alongside Bowser.
That will surely be in the investigative audit of what happened., bas he never seen a Trump rally? Or heard Trump encouraging them to do violence, telling them Congress was letting the election be stolen from them and they needed to fight to keep him in power?
McCarthy said officials approached their preparations for Wednesday assuming it would be similar to other recent protests and didn't in their "wildest imagination" envision rioters breaching Capitol grounds.
I guess he didn't notice the very weak barriers and lack of policing them. Or the myriad posts on social media the insurrectionists were placing. Their wildest dreams included that fear from BLM, thus "military helicopters flew low over protesters, surveillance assets hovered above the city and residents were left with a sense that the District was being occupied or was under siege."
Ahead of Wednesday's events, far-right forums on digital platforms including Telegram, Parler and thedonald.win made reference to violence and urged people to come armed to the planned protest seeking to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election.
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The chaotic and violent outcome, which claimed four lives including a rioter who was shot by U.S. Capitol Police, came shortly after Trump egged on supporters in an address outside the White House, falsely insisting the election was fraudulent and urging the crowd to fight to keep him in office.
[T]he rampage that shocked the world and left the country on edge prompted lawmakers to launch a congressional review of the U.S. Capitol Police's failure to stop the the breach and is forcing a broader reckoning over Trump's tenure in office and what comes next for a torn nation.
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Pelosi and Schumer called for invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to force Trump from office before Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20. In fact, Schumer said he and Pelosi tried to call Vice President Mike Pence early Thursday to discuss that option but were unable to connect with him.
Stars and Stripes
Hmmm. Why is that, I wonder.
Meanwhile, other Republicans who echoed Trump's false claims of a fraudulent election, including rising stars and some party leaders, faced angry, unsettled peers — but also those cheering them on.
With tensions high, the Capitol shuttered and lawmakers not scheduled to return until the inauguration, an uneasy feeling of stalemate settled over a main seat of national power as Trump remained holed up at the White House.
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Urged on by Trump during a rally near the White House earlier in the day Wednesday to head to Capitol Hill, protesters swiftly broke through police barriers, smashed windows and paraded through the halls, sending lawmakers into hiding.
The protesters ransacked the place, taking over the House and Senate chambers and waving Trump, American and Confederate flags. Outside, they scaled the walls and balconies in their breach of the building.
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The head of the U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund faced pressure from Schumer, Pelosi and others in Congress to resign. The sergeants at arms of the House and Senate that oversee the police and security at the complex were expected to be removed.
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Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who is the chairman of a subcommittee that oversees the Capitol police budget, announced the new review and suggested there would be leadership changes on the force.
"I think it's pretty clear that there's going to be a number of people who are going to be without employment very, very soon because this is an embarrassment," he said.
In fact, Sund did resign.
In his first public comment on the mayhem, Sund said in a statement that rioters attacked Capitol police and other law enforcement officers with metal pipes, discharged chemical irritants and "took up other weapons against our officers."
It was "unlike any I have ever experienced in my 30 years in law enforcement here in Washington, D.C.," said Sund, a former city police officer.
But Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called the police response "a failure."
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