The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, events at the U.S. Capitol said in its final report the Pentagon did not intentionally delay deploying the National Guard.
The committee's final report blamed former President Donald Trump for not deploying the National Guard and said "a likely miscommunication between members of the civilian leadership in the Department of Defense [impacted] the timing of deployment."
It took more than four hours for the D.C. National Guard to be deployed to the Capitol; and by the time they arrived at around 5:30 p.m., most of the rioting had ended.
"President Trump had authority and responsibility to direct deployment of the National Guard in the District of Columbia, but never gave any order to deploy the National Guard on Jan. 6 or on any other day," the committee wrote. "Nor did he instruct any federal law enforcement agency to assist."
The committee said some people in the Defense Department were cautious to deploy National Guard troops because they were worried Trump might use them to support his efforts to overturn the election.
Trump has claimed he offered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to deploy National Guard troops to D.C. for that day, but they turned him down.
"Had they not turned it down, you would not have Jan. 6 as we know it," Trump said in August during the Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Texas.
But the House committee determined Trump "did not order the National Guard to protect the U.S. Capitol or to secure the joint session proceedings" to certify the election results.
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