Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted she was responsible for the National Guard not being ready to handle the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
The confession comes almost 3.5 years after the riot. Republicans say the never-before-seen video undermines Democrats’ claims that Trump was solely responsible for the Jan. 6 security failures.
In a video taken by Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandria, as the couple escaped the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the former speaker says, “Why wasn’t the National Guard there to begin with?”
“They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not just preparing them for more,” Pelosi told her chief of staff, Terri McCullough.
The video was published on X on Monday by Republicans leading the Oversight Subcommittee of the Committee on House Administration.
The clip shows Pelosi in the backseat of a car speeding through a parking garage of the Capitol complex.
As the car quickly maneuvers through the structure, a frustrated Pelosi is seen asking questions about how the riot quickly escalated.
“This is ridiculous,” the aggravated Democrat tells her aide in the video.
“You’re going to ask me — in the middle of this, when they’ve already breached the inaugural — ‘should we call the Capitol Police? I mean the National Guard. ”
According to findings from the now-defunct Jan. 6 committee, Pelosi, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other lawmakers were all led by security personnel to Fort McNair in southwest Washington, DC. , as the protest continued.
“Pelosi’s J6 Select Committee spent taxpayers’ money pursuing false political narratives and using Hollywood producers for their ‘research,’” wrote the subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., on X Monday.
“Her admission of responsibility directly contradicts their own story.”
Previously, the Democratic-led Jan. 6 committee had sought to portray Trump as an insurrectionist for delaying or blocking a National Guard response.
But according to the video reviewed by PoliticsPelosi tried to coordinate a military response to the riots with then-Vice President Mike Pence, telling him “we are disappointed that the [Secretary of Defense] It took so long for the National Guard to be approved.”
As the riot ensued, she told Pence that the National Guard was already in the Capitol but not yet authorized to attack the protesters.
That day, Pelosi also questioned why Capitol Police had not properly planned for the large protest to turn violent and that those security officials should have been more open about what could happen on January 6.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she “takes responsibility” for not “preparing” the National Guard for more on the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot
Supporters of US President Donald Trump roam beneath the Capitol Rotunda after invading the Capitol building on January 6, 2021
January 6 rioters, pictured above, stand outside the House chamber
US President Donald Trump speaks during the ‘Save America March’ rally in Washington DC, United States on January 6, 2021, just before the Capitol riot
Despite the new video, however, the National Guard is under joint supervision of the U.S. Army and Air Force, which report to the president — not the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
However, the Capitol Police do report to the speaker. Although they denied requesting additional National Guard troops.
But Pelosi critics say she was responsible for the miscommunication that led to the National Guard’s delayed response to the riot.
“For years I have testified under oath, in the media and everywhere in between, that Nancy Pelosi was responsible for failing to activate the National Guard on January 6 after President Trump constitutionally AUTHORIZED the Guard and provided the receipts,” former Trump said advisor Kash Patel. told DailyMail.com.
Patel has said he has been smeared for his claim that Trump authorized The Guard to respond three days before the Jan. 3 riot.
The Trump adviser and former National Security Council official attended a Jan. 3 meeting where he claims Trump authorized defense officials to ask Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. to indicate that they were authorized to deploy the National Security Council. Guard the precinct and the U.S. Capitol building amid threats of violence that day.
He previously told DailyMail.com that the Capitol Police and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser had both rejected offers for an armed National Guard presence.
Patel said “we deployed Defense Department leadership to Bowser and Pelosi and to the Capitol Police that day” to inform them that they could deploy the National Guard to help protect the Capitol and the precinct.
Patel was an official of the US National Security Council under Trump. He testified before the Jan. 6 panel about the Oval Office meeting where Trump authorized the deployment of the National Guard to D.C.
Kash Patel says the smear campaign against him is dead after newly unearthed transcript, suppressed by Jan. 6 panel, corroborates his testimony that Donald Trump authorized 10,000 National Guard troops
But he claims that “they said no.”
“Image of Pelosi herself on January 6 shows she blamed herself for not doing more,” Patel said in a statement Monday.
“The lie was spread by virtually everyone in the media and the American people were once again robbed of the truth for political reasons,” his statement continued.