Trump ‘Never’ Ordered Deployment of 10,000 Troops to Tackle Capitol Breach: Ex-Pentagon Chief

Last week, the House select committee revealed that both General Mark Milley, chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former Vice President Mike Pence's national security adviser Keith Kellogg testified that Donald Trump hadn't requested a law enforcement response prior to the Capitol breach on January 6, 2021.

Former President Donald Trump didn’t give an order to deploy 10,000 National Guard troops to protect the US Capitol in early January last year, according to testimony by former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller.

In a video released by the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 Capitol breach on Tuesday, the former Pentagon chief testified that he was “never given any direction or order or knew of any plans of that nature.”

“There was no direct, there was no order from the president. We obviously had plans for activating more folks, but that as not anything more than contingency planning. There was no official message traffic or anything of that nature,” Miller, who served as defense secretary from November 9, 2020 to January 20, 2021, added.

An investigator then asked the ex-Pentagon boss to be precise, saying, "just so we're clear, you did not have 10,000 troops, quote, 'to be on the ready,' prior to January 6th”.

“A nonmilitary person probably could have some sort of weird interpretation, but no. The answer to your question is no. That was not part of my plan or the Department of Defense's plan,” Miller replied.

The remarks echoed those made by General Mark Milley, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told the House Jan.6 committee in last week’s testimony that he had never received a call from Trump to deploy 10,000 National Guard troops to protect the Capitol.

This was preceded by the testimony of former Vice President Mike Pence's national security adviser, Keith Kellogg, who insisted that he never heard of Trump asking for a National Guard or law enforcement response. Kellogg argued that if troops were called up to help defend the Capitol, he would have heard of that.

Nick Luna, an aide to Trump, also said in recorded testimony that he was unaware of any troop deployment-related requests the 45th US president made to the National Guard, Pentagon, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security, the Service Service or Capitol Police.

Jan.6 committee vice chair Liz Cheney previously said that White House chief of staff Mark Meadows argued in February 2021 that 10,000 National Guard troops were told to be "on the ready" by Miller, something that has repeatedly been touted by Trump.

In a post from on the social platform Truth Social in June, Trump wrote, “Why didn't they use the 10,000 troops that I offered up on January 3rd? There would have been no January 6th?”

Capitol Breach

On January 6, 2021, a mob, including scores of Trump supporters, breached the US Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the results of what the 45th president slammed as "the most corrupt election" in American history. Five people died during the unrest, and dozens more were injured, including at least 138 police officers.

Trump held a rally on 6 January outside the White House, where he made a pledge to his supporters that he would not allow the election to be "stolen" from him.

Using his now-suspended Twitter account, the 45th president later urged his supporters "to stay peaceful" and "go home", recording a video address on 7 January condemning the violence. Trump was impeached for an unprecedented second time over accusations of "incitement of insurrection", but was then acquitted in the Senate.