Former President Donald Trump continued his assaults on the 2020 election, which he claims was rigged, in a statement issued Tuesday. He did, however, divert his gaze to his former vice president this time. If Republicans retake the House in November, Trump wants them to concentrate their efforts on investigating Vice President Mike Pence and why he declined to reverse the election.
“It’s so pitiful to watch the Unselect Committee of political hacks, liars, and traitors work so hard to change the Electoral College Act so that a Vice President cannot guarantee the honest outcomes of an election,” Trump stated via his spokeswoman.
Trump believes that since Democrats want to strengthen election security in case someone tries to steal the election again, the election results on Jan. 6 may have been tampered with.
“After so much fraud and irregularities were discovered, the Vice President did have this right or, more specifically, could have sent the votes back to various legislators for reassessment,” said Trump, who failed to find enough fraud and irregularities to get court action from his own appointed judges. “There would have been no ‘January 6’ as we know it if it had been sent back to the lawmakers, or if Nancy Pelosi, who is in charge of Capitol security, had adopted my proposal and dramatically strengthened security!”
Trump’s argument that adequate security would have prevented the bloodshed on Jan. 6 effectively concedes that the violence was so severe that it necessitated greater protection. Trump requested and received the National Guard ahead of Jan. 6, and they were mostly stationed around the Ellipse, where Trump conducted his rally.
“District of Columbia authorities were aware of the planned protests and had sought assistance when the ‘First Amendment demonstrations’ were scheduled for January 5 and 6,” Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said in a telephone interview. “Officials sent 340 National Guardsmen to assist as a result of this request… At the same time, authorities were rounding up Guardsmen at traffic intersections and Metro stations and bringing them to the D.C. Armory to be re-equipped for a crowd control mission, according to the secretary. Their goal was to assist the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and the Capitol Hill Police Department.”
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According to the Military Times, it was the Capitol Police that talked to the Guard and informed them that they would not be requesting the Guard in the Capitol. It is for this reason that the Capitol Police Chief resigned after January 6.
Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, stated in his book that Trump wanted the National Guard to defend his supporters from anti-Trump demonstrators who didn’t show up on Jan. 6.
Trump’s remarks also implied that the committee should look into Pelosi’s failure to guard the Capitol, clearly acknowledging that his supporters deserved more protection. One major concern is that if the armed National Guard had been stationed at the Capitol, it may have resulted in a gunfight, given how many members of Trump’s entourage arrived in Washington armed.
The unusual combination of government authorities in Washington, D.C. generated even more complications. The local administration of DC, the Capitol, and the federal park service are all there.
According to the Military Times, “the Capitol’s request for Guard back-up went beyond what Bowser had previously gotten authorized, therefore it required a fresh sign-off.”
If Trump claims that National Guard forces should have been stationed at the Capitol, it will be shown that he was aware of an impending assault on the structure before time.