‘Totally failed:’ Pelosi admitted in secret video she should have sought National Guard for J6
“We’ll have failed completely.” In a video shot by her child, Pelosi is heard saying “We’ve got some responsibility.”
Just the News obtained video footage of Nancy Pelosi, the then-House speaker, as she fled the U.S. Capitol building during the Jan. 6, riot. She made it clear that she didn’t want to evacuate the structure and expressed regret about the National Guard not being pre-positioned for protection of Congress before the contentious certification 2020 election results.
“We’re calling up the National Guard right now?” “They should have started out here,” Pelosi is heard saying in a video taken by her daughter Alexandra for an HBO movie on Jan. 6, 2021.
Pelosi expressed her personal regrets in the documentary, but they were not aired fully. They were only recently given to Barry Loudermilk of the House Administration Oversight Subcommittee. He took charge of the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 security failures after Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives in January 2023.
|
The latest footage provided to Congress is a stark contrast with Pelosi’s public assertion that she was not responsible for security arrangements on Jan. 6, even though Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving reported to her.
Pelosi is seen in the video demanding Irving’s resignation immediately. She acknowledged that she had been repeatedly asked by her colleagues to provide adequate security for the Jan. 6 event.
How many times have members asked if we are prepared? Are we prepared? Pelosi said on tape: “We’re not ready for the worst.”
She added later: “We’ll have failed completely.” We have to accept some responsibility.”
Just the News reported that two years ago, President Donald Trump’s departing Pentagon leadership team refused to offer the National Guard via the Capitol Police to Congress four days before the January 6 crisis.
Capitol Police created a timeline to reflect on security failures. The Capitol Police recorded the offer and the rejection of Deputy Police Chief Sean Gallagher.
The timeline for Saturday, January 2, 2021 stated that “Carol Corbin, (DOD), texts USCP Deputy chief Sean Gallagher to see if USCP will consider a request for National Guard troops for the event on January 6, 2021.”
On the following morning’s timeline, it states: “Gallagher replies via text to DOD that a request of National Guard support is not forthcoming at this point after consulting with COP Sund.”
The Capitol Police Department was changing its assessment at the time, and recognizing the possibility of violence in the planned Jan. 6, 2020, massive Trump rally protesting the results of the November 2020 elections.
Police records indicate that earlier analyses indicated such violence would be unlikely. The event on Jan. 6 was expected to “be similar to the previous Million MAGA March rally in November and Decembre,” according to police records.
Capitol Police documents and emails show that by the end of December, there was information circulating about groups who were expected to attend on Jan. 6, talking in social media or fringe sites about tactics such as blocking tunnels leading to Capitol.
Steven Sund, the former chief of the Capitol Police, testified in a bombshell last year that he had asked for the National Guard before Jan. 6, but the top security officials who reported to Pelosi or the incoming Senate leader Chuck Schumer denied him permission to do so.
He testified that “on January 3, I requested assistance from the National Guard in order to support my perimeter, and was denied by two Sergeants at Arms due to concerns about politics and optics.”
The new footage that Congress received also shows Pelosi plotting to get revenge on Trump as she exited the building for holding the rally on the same day as vote certification.
The then-speaker was heard saying, “I feel sick over what he has done to the Capitol and to the country today,” as she drove away in her SUV once order had been restored. She returned to the Capitol for the certification of the vote. “He has to pay for that.”
Pelosi had made it clear during the initial evacuation that her opposition to leaving the Capitol stemmed from a desire to have Biden confirmed as president, and not allow the protesters to prevail.
She said, “First, I do not agree with that, and it’s taking me out of my chair.” “But, if they stop proceedings, they’ll have to be successful in stopping the validity of the President of the United States.”