About two hours after a pro-Trump crowd slammed windows and doors to enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, then-Vice President Mike Pence called the acting secretary of defense urgently for help securing the federal building, according to new disclosed documents.
“Clear the Capitol,” Pence told Christopher Miller while locked in a secure facility, according to the previously undisclosed document prepared by the Pentagon and obtained by the Associated Press.
Pence asked Miller for a deadline by which the building should be safe.
But it would take hours to restore order, according to the timeline of events in the document.
The rioters attacked the Capitol when a joint meeting of Congress convened to certify the 2020 electoral college vote for President Biden.
Former President Donald Trump, who spoke to his supporters earlier in the day in The Ellipse about his allegations of electoral fraud, was in the White House.
At around 2.10 p.m., the first rioters began breaking through the doors and windows of the Senate.
Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund called Major General William Walker, Commanding General of the DC National Guard, asking for at least 200 guards.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy discussed the request with the mayor and Pentagon leaders over the next 20 minutes – as senators rushed to safety and the rioters forced their way into the room.
Just after 3:00 PM, McCarthy gave “verbal approval” for 1,100 Guard troops to be activated to support DC Police, and an emergency response force left Joint Base Andrews for DC – but still needed Miller final approval.
About 20 minutes later, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Chuck Schumer were on the phone seeking help from the Guard and Army, the documents show.
“We need help,” said Schumer.
They were told the guard had been cleared. But in reality, army and police officials struggled to carry out the plan – the Guard troops were only prepared for traffic services and needed more preparation before entering the violent siege.
By 3:44 pm Schumer pleaded again.
“Tell POTUS to tweet that everyone has to leave,” he told officials.
Pence called Miller at 4:08 PM
About 10 minutes later, Trump tweeted to his followers to “go home and go in peace.”
At 4:30 PM, Walker had permission to send the Guard to the Capitol. Ten minutes later, Pelosi and Schumer were on the line with the Pentagon leadership and asked to secure the perimeter.
Congress leaders on the 30-minute call accused “the national security apparatus of knowing that protesters were planning to attack the Capitol,” the documents said, according to the AP.
The first of 155 Guard members finally arrived at the Capitol at 5:20 PM, and order was not restored at the Capitol until 8:00 PM.