Pentagon officials put measures in place that slowed down the response needed on Jan. 6, when former President Donald Trump sent his heavily-armed supporters to Capitol Hill where they attacked Congress to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election, Maj. Gen. William J. Walker, the commanding general of D.C. National Guard, told The Washington Post. Williams detailed how he was essentially disempowered to act that day due to a muddy chain of command.

The alarming quotes raise further questions about how complicit government officials around Trump were in allowing the attack on the Capitol Building to continue for hours despite the danger to members of Congress and the damage done to the building.

“All military commanders normally have immediate response authority to protect property, life, and in my case, federal functions — federal property and life. But in this instance I did not have that authority,” Walker said.

Ahead of the attack, Walker said the Pentagon took the power to activate forces away from him and forced him to get approval from senior officials before taking action.

The newspaper obtained memos from Jan. 5 showing that former Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy banned Walker from being able to use a "quick reaction force" of 40 National Guards members. The day before, McCarthy himself was restricted from being able to call upon National Guard soldiers who had access to riot gear, weapons and helmets.

The Washington Post noted that commanders are generally allowed to act in situations when there is not enough time to get approval from upper command, but the Pentagon stripped him of that power.

Walker said even as he received emergency calls from desperate Capitol Police officers saying the rioters had broken into the Capitol Building, he could do nothing to help them.

Five people died during the attack, including a Capitol Police officer, and the Justice Department filed court documents this week saying 81 U.S. Capitol Police officers and 58 Metropolitan Police officers were injured.

Dozens of people arrested since the attack made assassination threats against specific members of Congress and came prepared to take people hostage with pepper spray, pipe bombs, zip-tie handcuffs and other weapons.

The quick thinking of one Capitol Police officer, Eugene Goodman, helped divert the violent mob away from the doors of the Senate floor two minutes before senators were evacuated. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who the Trump supporters sought to hang with a noose, fled just a minute before Goodman used himself as bait and led the domestic terrorists away from the Senate doors.

The Pentagon defended its actions in a statement to The Washington Post, noting that they were forced to change the rules of engagement after they were criticized for their actions during the summer of 2020 when Trump ordered them to tear gas Black Lives Matter protesters for an embarrassing photo shoot in front of a Washington, D.C. church.

“After June, the authorities were pulled back up to the secretary of defense’s office. Any time we would employ troops and guardsmen in the city, you had to go through a rigorous process. As you recall, there were events in the summer that got a lot of attention, and that was part of this,” McCarthy told the newspaper.

McCarthy and Walker are preparing to testify in front of Congress this week as investigations into what happened on Jan. 6 begin to take shape. Before leaving office last week, Trump was impeached a second time for his role in the Capitol attack. He gave a speech to the crowd ahead of the domestic terrorist riot, urging his followers to violently attack Congress and stop the election results from being certified.

The military has also deflected blame onto Washington, D.C., leaders who they said waited too long to call for help and didn't initially ask for forces to be ready for a potential riot.

But Walker had to wait for a response from McCarthy and controversial Christopher Miller, the acting defense secretary, according to The Washington Post.

Miller recently caused controversy in an interview with Vanity Fair, where he said Trump came to him on Jan. 5 and said that they would need a lot of soldiers in advance of the attack on Congress, implying he already knew his supporters would be violent and would do something dangerous.

“We’re like, ‘We’re going to provide any National Guard support that the District requests.’ And [Trump] goes, ‘You’re going to need 10,000 people.’ No, I’m not talking bullshit. He said that. And we’re like, ‘Maybe. But you know, someone’s going to have to ask for it,’” Miller told the news outlet, adding that Trump said, “‘You do what you need to do. You do what you need to do.’ He said, ‘You’re going to need 10,000.’ That’s what he said. Swear to God.”

“The president’s sometimes hyperbolic, as you’ve noticed. There were gonna be a million people in the street, I think was his expectation. Park Police — everybody’s so hesitant to give numbers. So I think that was what was driving the president,” Miller added in the candid interview, where he denied that Pentagon officials were intentionally slow to respond and said they were tracking the situation throughout the day.

Miller's comments raised even further questions because it took hours for the National Guard and Army to show up, prompting inquiries about why they waited so long if they were in fact watching the violent situation unfold like everyone else.

Walker said in his interview that a "quick reaction force" of about 40 National Guard soldiers was available on standby but he had been denied approval to use it in the Jan. 5 memo obtained by The Washington Post. Walker reiterated that if he had been given the right to activate the forces himself, they could have arrived in minutes.

“With all deliberate speed — I mean, they’re right down the street,” he said. Walker also fired off criticism at Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who has since resigned for his actions during the Capitol Building attack.

“All he said was, ‘If I call you, will you be able to help?’ And I said, ‘Yes, but I need permission. So send a formal request,’ and I never got it, until after the fact,” Walker said of Sund, who only requested help at 1:49 p.m. on Jan. 6 as the rioters were making their way to the doors of the building.

“I told him I had to get permission from the secretary of the Army and I would send him all available guardsmen but as soon as I got permission to do so. I sent a message to the leadership of the Army, letting them know the request that I had received from Chief Sund,” Walker told The Washington Post, adding that it took the Pentagon more than an hour to approve his request.

“There was some talk about optics, but I can’t assign that to one person. From the Army leadership, there were quite a few people on the call. … It’s clear that somebody talked about the optics. Who said that? I’m not sure,” Walker said about Army Staff Director Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt, who has been accused of allegedly saying he didn't "like the optics" of the National Guard being at the Capitol Building.

The Justice Department has charged hundreds of people for what happened on Jan. 6 but caused controversy this week when they implied they may not charge everyone who broke into the Capitol Building.

Walker said that despite his reservations about what happened, he had a duty to simply follow orders.

“Do I wish I could have got there sooner? Of course. I mean, I think everybody does. I absolutely wish I could have got there sooner. But, you know, I follow orders, and those making the decision went through a decision-making process.”

D.C.-National-Guard

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