Trump never ordered troops to defend the US Capitol on January 6, his former defense secretary said.
Former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had claimed Trump ordered the deployment of 10,000 troops.
"I was never given any director or order or knew of any plans of that nature," Christopher Miller testified.
By Charles R. Davis
On Fox News, prime-time personality Sean Hannity falsely insisted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, not former President Donald Trump, was to blame for the violence at the US Capitol.
"Don't forget, President Trump requested increased National Guard support in the days leading up to January 6," Hannity claimed last December, asserting that the request was rejected by the Democratic Speaker of the House. And his guest, former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, eagerly joined in, claiming the former president had actually wanted "10,000 National Guard troops" to "make sure that everything was safe and secure."
The committee investigating January 6 has already heard testimony that Trump watched the violence at the Capitol unfold on television — on Fox News — and never made a call for the military to quell the violence.
But in testimony before the committee that was released Tuesday, former Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller confirmed that no request was made before January 6, either.
"I was never given any director or order or knew of any plans of that nature, so I was surprised by seeing that publicly," Miller said when asked about the claims on cable news.
"Obviously we had plans for acting more folks, but that was 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 2020 to the end of Trump's term in January 2021, was asked to be precise.
"Just so we're clear," an investigator asked him,
"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," Miller responded.
"The answer to your question is no. That was not part of my plan or the department of defense's plan."
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