Good for Don Winslow. He does find jewels from time to time and posts them on Twitter. Here is one such specimen. Hopefully, this has found its way to the January 6 Committee (it was sent and they have requested that Americans with information step forward and provide it.) If anything needs to be introduced into evidence and discussed this should qualify.
Holy shit
— Djones (@Djones95953537) July 11, 2022
Take a look at it, although admittedly it’s not the most readable thing you’re going to see today. Without Bill Barr and Chris Miller, who signed the document, approving the National Guard’s actions, they could do nothing. It flat out says so in black and white. “Without my subsequent, personal authorization, the DCNG is not authorized the following. [sic]” (should be “to do” the following?) Grammar or not, the meaning is clear. You don’t do squat unless I say so.
On May 12 2021, Reuters published an article, “Trump wanted troops to protect his supporters at Jan. 6 rally.” That later reporting undermined claims Miller’s memo did not intend to hamper or disrupt DC National Guard response ahead of January 5-6 2021.
Reuters quoted and paraphrased Miller on the topic of the January 4 2021 memo:
President Donald Trump wanted National Guard troops in Washington to protect his supporters at a Jan. 6 [2021] rally that ended with them attacking the U.S. Capitol, leaving five dead, Trump’s former Pentagon chief testified on Wednesday [May 12 2021].
Former Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller told a House of Representatives panel that he spoke with Trump on Jan. 3 [2021], three days before the now-former president’s fiery speech that preceded the violence and led to his second impeachment.
According to Miller’s testimony, Trump asked during that meeting whether the District of Columbia’s mayor had requested National Guard troops for Jan. 6 [2021], the day Congress was to ratify Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.
Trump told Miller to “fill” the request, the former defense secretary testified. Miller said Trump told him: “Do whatever is necessary to protect demonstrators that were executing their constitutionally protected rights.”
Subsequently, the story reported:
Miller testified that the U.S. military was deliberately restrained that day …
Trump’s direction to Miller on January 3 2021 appeared in a transcript [PDF] of Miller’s May 2021 testimony:
Mr. DONALDS … A couple of questions. Mr. Miller, I know that you said earlier that you were in contact with—or you received a request from Mayor Bowser with respect to National Guard troops. When did you receive that request from Mayor Bowser?
Mr. MILLER. December 31, 2020. I spent the weekend going over it to finalize the plan with the D.C. National Guard and the Department of the Army and Army staff.
Mr. DONALDS. At what point did you and President Trump actually have a discussion on this request from Mayor Bowser?
Mr. MILLER. I had a meeting with President Trump on the 3d of January concerning some international threats, and at the very end, he asked if there were any requests for National Guard support, and I informed him of Mayor Bowser’s request.
Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Miller, to clarify that point, did you tell the President about the Mayor’s request, or did President Trump ask if there were requests?
Mr. MILLER. He asked if there were requests.
Mr. DONALDS. What was the President’s response to you with regard to the request made by Mayor Bowser?
Mr. MILLER. Fill it and do whatever was necessary to protect the demonstrators and that were executing their constitutionally protected rights.
In December 2021, it was difficult to apply the same lens of ambiguity that was applied to Miller’s memo when it was first leaked in late January 2021. Extensive reporting on the PowerPoint document (which was shared via Twitter by Fox News personality Lara Logan on January 5 2021) organized a more robust timeline of events leading up to January 6 2021.
A December 10 2021 Guardian article about the document’s contents reported on some of the strategies it outlined, all of which were aimed at disrupting the certification of the 2020 election. It further indicated that lawmakers and other involved individuals engaged in planning and preparation on January 3 and 4 2021 — around the time Miller’s memo was issued.
Luke Broadwater is a New York Times reporter, a “congressional correspondent.” He shared the memo on Twitter January 28.
Here’s the Jan. 4 memo from former acting Defense Secretary requiring “personal authorization” for DC National Guard to employ riot control agents & other tactics at Jan. 6 “March for Trump.” This same day Capitol police knew of a “strong potential” for violence against Congress. pic.twitter.com/imPfrBC6SF
— Luke Broadwater☀️ (@lukebroadwater) January 28, 2021
This has been around for a while. Seems to me it’s a smoking gun. Patient Zero is certainly an apt description. Let’s see if this gets introduced into evidence or at least mentioned by the January 6 Committee.
Two thoughts: One, this blows Sean Hannity’s cock and bull story about how Trump wanted to send 20,000 troops to the Capitol but Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer wouldn’t let him all out of the water. Two, Trump was only worried about his supporters. The Capitol Police, the members of congress, the actual Capitol building itself that was put in danger — bupkis. Because this was all “legitimate political discourse” as Ronna McDaniel later characterized it, right?
I can’t wait for Tuesday’s hearing and the one after it
Cigarettes & blindfolds all around. Traitors.
Miller was a piece of work. He openly said he had the job. He was along the same lines as Jeffrey Clark, somebody who Trump was using because he couldn’t deal with legitimate people.
From the article:
It flat out says so in black and white. “Without my subsequent, personal authorization, the DCNG is not authorized the following. [sic]” (should be “to do” the following?) Grammar or not, the meaning is clear. You don’t do squat unless I say so.
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Ursula, I think that grammatically it’s fine as written. It may seem to sound wrong but, from a legalese perspective, “the following” establishes a list. “Is not authorized” is a passive voice construction but it’s still a verb and, according to formal grammar, you cannot follow a verb with a colon mark (:) in order to create a list (eg, you’re violating rules of grammar if you write “Things to do:”). Since all the items in the list begin with an infinitive phrase, writing it out as “is not authorized to do the following” would just “double the infinitive.”
Granted, most people would simply “double the infinitive” in standard speech but, then again, most people tend to say “ATM machine” and “UPC code” and “PIN number.”
I wish the biggest issue under consideration here was grammar, rather than the horror that there are forces in this country determined to make this a fascist regime.