DC National Guard chief says Pentagon prevented immediate response to Capitol riot

The Washington, DC National Guard Chief said on Wednesday that the Pentagon prevented him from pursuing an immediate response to the pro-Trump riot on Capitol Hill on Jan 6, The Hill reports.

"I would have sent them there immediately as soon as I hung up," Commanding Gen. William Walker said before a Senate hearing. "My next call would have been to my subordinate commanders, to get every single guardsman in this building and everybody that's helping the Metropolitan Police... to the Capitol, without delay."

Walker further described an unusual letter he received from acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller a day before the riot. The letter prevented him from deploying the Quick Reaction Force to the Capitol without approval from the Pentagon.

He claimed that he could have had 150 troops deployed to the Capitol within 20 minutes had he not faced restrictions from the Pentagon.

"I had restrictions on me I hadn't had in the past," he said.

The Pentagon ultimately approved the deployment of the National Guard hours after the riot began, but took another half hour to inform Walker of the decision even as the violence continued.

Walker also discussed a conversation he had with Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who resigned in the wake of the riot.

"I asked him, 'Are you going to request DC National Guard help? And if you do I need it in writing. It has to be formal because the Secretary of Defense has to approve it.' He told me he was not allowed to request a support, and I asked him if he wanted me to share that and he said, 'No, I can't even ask you for the score.' That's what he told me," Walker claimed.

Sund has previously stated that he wanted to request National Guard deployment as early as Jan 4, but that his request was rejected by House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving. Irving told a different version of the story, however, stating that the request was worded as an "offer," and that intelligence at the time did not justify a National Guard presence.

Lawmakers from both parties have expressed outrage with the mismanagement of the Capitol riot which resulted in the deaths of four protesters. A Capitol police officer, Brian Sicknick, also died the next day under unclear circumstances, and it is disputed whether his death was a result of the riot.

The riot began as pro-Trump protesters marched on the US Capitol in protest of the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election. Then-President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed and continues to claim that Biden only won the election due to widespread electoral and voter fraud.

The National Guard has maintained a presence in Washington DC since the riot.