Former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell on Sunday questioned if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., personally attended security briefings ahead of the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol siege.
In an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Grenell suggested it is often staff members who attend such meetings and then relay the data to lawmakers.
“I think that there's a real question right now and whether or not Nancy Pelosi attended the intelligence briefing. Did she know anything or did her staff know and did the staff get briefed instead of the Speaker,” he said.
“I think you've got to go down to all of the chairmen and chairwomen of the committee,” Grenell said. “Are you getting the briefing or are you pushing this off to the staff? … Is the staff is incredibly powerful? They are the ones that are usually doing the heavy lifting and the work and partisanship and letting the boss know a couple of the priorities.”
Grenell said it’s important to find out “what did Nancy Pelosi know” and why House Democrats backed down from wanting to bring her in as a witness at the Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.
“They are blaming President Trump but they were briefed or at least they were supposed to be briefed or at least their staff was briefed” ahead of the siege, Grenell said.
“We really cannot understand who was briefed and what was briefed until the intelligence community leadership comes before the House or the Senate and opens up and tells us what did you know and who did you tell and who didn't react.
“I could see that the staff were briefed and didn't share it with their leaders, their boss, and so the people like Nancy Pelosi and [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell [R-Ky.] decided that they didn't want to increase [National Guard] troop presence or have the National Guard come because they didn't see the information as crucial as it was.”
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