The Associated Press is reporting that it obtained a copy of an internal memo at the Pentagon, detailing the timeline and fleshing out the severity of the event. Mike Pence called the Pentagon from a safe room and demanded that they “Clear the Capitol” while Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, also in secured areas, made similar demands. The only top government leader who was uninvolved in rising to the crisis was the man who started it, Donald Trump. He was too busy watching it all go down on television.
At the Pentagon, officials were discussing media reports that the mayhem was not confined to Washington and that other state capitals were facing similar violence in what had the makings of a national insurrection. […]
These new details about the deadly riot are contained in a previously undisclosed document prepared by the Pentagon for internal use that was obtained by The Associated Press and vetted by current and former government officials.
The timeline adds another layer of understanding about the state of fear and panic while the insurrection played out, and lays bare the inaction by then-President Donald Trump and how that void contributed to a slowed response by the military and law enforcement. It shows that the intelligence missteps, tactical errors and bureaucratic delays were eclipsed by the government’s failure to comprehend the scale and intensity of a violent uprising by its own citizens.
With Trump not engaged, it fell to Pentagon officials, a handful of senior White House aides, the leaders of Congress and the vice president holed up in a secure bunker to manage the chaos.
While the timeline helps to crystalize the frantic character of the crisis, the document, along with hours of sworn testimony, provides only an incomplete picture about how the insurrection could have advanced with such swift and lethal force, interrupting the congressional certification of Joe Biden as president and delaying the peaceful transfer of power, the hallmark of American democracy.
Frantic is a good descriptor, but to this day, as well you know, Trump says that his supporters were “peaceful” and “hugging and kissing” the policemen. Riot? What riot? It was a garden party, according to Trump. What’s a few gallows, broken glass, smashed-in doors, dead bodies and such, among friends?
The timeline fills in some gaps with previously unknown detail.
At 4:08 p.m. on Jan. 6, as the rioters roamed the Capitol and after they had menacingly called out for Pelosi, D-Calif., and yelled for Pence to be hanged, the vice president was in a secure location, phoning Christopher Miller, the acting defense secretary, and demanding answers. […]
Pence’s call to Miller lasted only a minute. Pence said the Capitol was not secure and he asked military leaders for a deadline for securing the building, according to the document.
By this point it had already been two hours since the mob overwhelmed Capitol Police unprepared for an insurrection. Rioters broke into the building, seized the Senate and paraded to the House. In their path, they left destruction and debris. Dozens of officers were wounded, some gravely.
The National Guard’s role was limited to traffic intersections and checkpoints around the city, largely because Trump did not want a heavy military presence because tensions were still elevated from the National Guard presence, characterized as heavy-handed, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing.
“There was a lot of things that happened in the spring that the department was criticized for,” Robert Salesses, who is serving as the assistant defense secretary for homeland defense and global security, said at a congressional hearing last month. […]
By the morning of Jan. 6, crowds started gathering at the Ellipse before Trump’s speech. According to the Pentagon’s plans, the acting defense secretary would only be notified if the crowd swelled beyond 20,000.
Before long it was clear that the crowd was far more in control of events than the troops and law enforcement there to maintain order.
Trump, just before noon, was giving his speech and he told supporters to march to the Capitol. The crowd at the rally was at least 10,000. By 1:15 p.m., the procession was well on its way there.
As protesters reached the Capitol grounds, some immediately became violent, busting through weak police barriers in front of the building and beating up officers who stood in their way.
At 1:49 p.m., as the violence escalated, then- Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund called Maj. Gen. William Walker, commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, to request assistance.
Sund’s voice was “cracking with emotion,” Walker later told a Senate committee. Walker immediately called Army leaders to inform them of the request.
This was the turning point. About twenty minutes later, at 2:10 p.m., the rioters had breached the doors and windows of the Senate. That’s when they began their taunting cries, “Where are you, Nancy?” as the shouts of “fuck Mike Pence” and “hang Mike Pence” continued outside. Alarms went off and a lockdown was announced. That’s when lawmakers started running and things at the Pentagon heated up.
On the Pentagon’s third floor E Ring, senior Army leaders were huddled around the phone for what they described as a “panicked” call from the D.C. Guard. As the gravity of the situation became clear, McCarthy bolted from the meeting, sprinting down the hall to Miller’s office and breaking into a meeting.
As minutes ticked by, rioters breached additional entrances in the Capitol and made their way to the House. They broke glass in doors that led to the chamber and tried to gain entry as a group of lawmakers was still trapped inside.
At 2:25 p.m., McCarthy told his staff to prepare to move the emergency reaction force to the Capitol. The force could be ready to move in 20 minutes.
At 2:44 p.m., Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to climb through a window that led to the House floor.
Shortly after 3 p.m., McCarthy provided “verbal approval” of the activation of 1,100 National Guard troops to support the D.C. police and the development of a plan for the troops’ deployment duties, locations and unit sizes.
Minutes later the Guard’s emergency reaction force left Joint Base Andrews for the D.C. Armory. There, they would prepare to head to the Capitol once Miller, the acting defense secretary, gave final approval.
Civil insurrection was taking place in the nation’s capitol and the sitting president was incommunicado. He was too busy watching TV. Things got worse then Chuck Schumer came up with the logical answer.
By 3:37 p.m., the Pentagon sent its own security forces to guard the homes of defense leaders. No troops had yet reached the Capitol.
By 3:44 p.m., the congressional leaders escalated their pleas.
“Tell POTUS to tweet everyone should leave,” Schumer implored the officials, using the acronym for the president of the United States. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., asked about calling up active duty military.
At 3:48 p.m., frustrated that the D.C. Guard hadn’t fully developed a plan to link up with police, the Army secretary dashed from the Pentagon to D.C. police headquarters to help coordinate with law enforcement.
Trump broke his silence at 4:17 p.m., tweeting to his followers to “go home and go in peace.”
That’s when Trump told his followers how they were “wonderful” and “special people” a sentiment that was echoed by daughter Ivanka, who rapidly took her tweet down when social media went ballistics, and Princess Tone Deaf became Queen Comatose.
Now here’s an interesting section of the timeline.
At about 4:40 p.m. Pelosi and Schumer were again on the phone with Milley and the Pentagon leadership, asking Miller to secure the perimeter.
But the acrimony was becoming obvious.
The congressional leadership on the call “accuses the National Security apparatus of knowing that protestors planned to conduct an assault on the Capitol,” the timeline said.
The call lasts 30 minutes. Pelosi’s spokesman acknowledges there was a brief discussion of the obvious intelligence failures that led to the insurrection.
It would be another hour before the first contingent of 155 Guard members were at the Capitol. Dressed in riot gear, they began arriving at 5:20 p.m.
They started moving out the rioters, but there were few, if any, arrests. by police.
At 8 p.m. the Capitol was declared secure.
This will unquestionably be discussed in a few days when the inspector general of the Capitol Police speaks to Congress. Amy Klobuchar said last month, “Any minute that we lost, I need to know why.” Klobuchar chairs the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which is investigating the siege.
And Donald Trump is still watching TV and drinking Diet Coke, just not on the taxpayer’s dime, as this investigation into the nadir of democracy in America continues.
Hypocrisy & greed…our golden calves.
1. Why weren’t any of those kooks arrested that very day?
2. Somewhere sometime we’re going to find out just what tRump’s chumps that he installed in the Pentagon were really there for. What’s taking so long?
There were many televised views of the carnage in real time … the question is, what is the priority of protections at the Capitol and why didn’t some sharp-eyed viewers, located near the top offices, throw together a first-wave surge into those hot spots with shields, non-lethal rubber bullets stun sticks/guns and water cannons … the only reason the chaos was so complete and deadly was the time delays that occurred because they were waiting for the orange faced shitgibbon to call off his sewer rats …
This whole bizarre circus could have been quickly reduced in intensity with armored vehicle water hose blasting, high intensity sound attacks, sharpshooter rubber bullets and flash-bangs … the real bad leaders were making their way in over the railings and through doors and windows if they were doing that, as far as I’m concerned, they were targets for self defense troops …
Wreckage, damage, injuries, fatalities, fear and horror – Drump’s ides of “hugging and kissing”? Sounds about right. Let out the pot-smokers and jaywalkers and make room for ALL of ’em!