A detailed timeline of events leading to the Jan. 6 mass break-in at the Capitol, published in the Washington Post on Sunday Jan. 17 and involving the work of 20 reporters, served to demonstrate how completely the paper fabricated its “reporting” on Jan. 8, that President Donald Trump had countermanded the Pentagon’s use of the National Guard to protect the Capitol until the riot was underway. It also showed how detached that riot initially was, from the combined rallies against election corruption at the Ellipse and the President’s speech to it.
The timeline, detailed from Dec. 19 through Jan. 6, appears to establish that the only approval for National Guard troops to be deployed in Washington Jan. 5-6, was in fact given by President Trump, on Jan. 3. This meeting, with Defense Secretary Chris Miller and JCS head General Mark Milley, resulted in the Guard’s deployment for traffic control at street blockages, the only thing requested.
D.C. officials beyond the mayor – Police Chief Richard Contee III, D.C. AG Karl Racine, D.C. Homeland Security Director Christopher Rodriguez – did not want federal troop deployments in Washington again, after they had been deployed in June 2020. Thus the much-claimed “differential treatment” of mostly white Trump supporters compared to diverse BLM demonstrators, was what was wanted by D.C. officials.
Capitol Police officials and Congressional Sergeants-at-Arms resisted elevating security at the Capitol over a period of weeks, right up until the afternoon of Jan. 6. Even that morning, a grand total of 1,400 Capitol Police reported for duty and were the entire protection, as those coming off the night shift were sent home – not the practice in past such situations.
