President Donald Trump distorts how he reacted to the chaos at the Capitol this week and falsely states that he acted immediately to bring in the National Guard.
How does his statement compare with the facts:
TRUMP: “I immediately deployed the national guard and federal law enforcement to secure the building and drive out the intruders.” video released Thursday night.
THE FACTS: That is not at all what happened. While Trump was involved in the days before the riot on Wednesday over the reaction of the national guard, he was not part of the decision-making on that day. Defense officials said they did not speak to Trump on Wednesday.
In addition, Trump was not involved in law enforcement decisions.
The Justice Department called Capitol police and offered FBI agents while the mob was coming down, but police turned down the offer. Justice called back a second time and help was accepted. According to two people familiar with the discussions, Trump was not involved and was not authorized to speak in public and The Associated Press spoke on condition of anonymity.
National Guard troops had already been activated that day and deployed to checkpoints in the city, before the violence began. When the riots began, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser asked for more guard assistance on behalf of the Capitol police. The request was addressed to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, who then went to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, who approved it.
The Pentagon said Miller approved the request without speaking to the White House because he had been instructed by the president days before to do what he deemed necessary with the Guard.
However, the Guard’s response was not immediate either.
It took more than two and a half hours before the Guard troops reported to the DC Armory, got an information session and their riot gear and started moving to the Capitol to help the defeated law enforcers.
Army leaders believe that the delay in the movement of the guard troops to the Capitol was because the initial agreement limited the forces to a large extent to checkpoints and metro stations and stipulated that they would not go to the Capitol. As a result, authorities had to get approval for the new mission, then call guard members to the armor, inform them and get their riot gear, and then send them to the Capitol.
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NOTE FROM THE EDITOR – A Look At The Truth Of Claims By Political Figures.