The National Guard and state forces responded in the Capitol on Wednesday after pro-Trump rioters captured the building during the Electoral College vote.
According to Pentagon chief spokesman Jonathan Hoffman, the Washington DC National Guard force of about 1,100 was mobilized to help federal law enforcement stop the insurgency. The Justice Department will lead federal law enforcement response, Hoffman said.
Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller said he was working with Vice President Mike Pence and Congressional leaders to activate the National Guard and assist officers in taking back the Capitol. He did not mention any contact with President Donald Trump.
“We are ready to provide additional support where needed and appropriate as requested by local authorities,” he said in a statement Wednesday. “Our people are sworn to defend the constitution and our democratic form of government and will act accordingly.”
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam also said he would send his state’s National Guard along with 200 state troops to the Capitol. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan added that he told the Maryland National Guard to send a force to the federal legislature.
Both Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office asked the National Guard to respond, two sources told NBC.
Trump supporters stand on the U.S. Capitol Police’s armored vehicle while others take the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress works to certify electoral college votes.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Earlier in the week, Miller approved a request from Bowser to deploy 340 National Guard troops in the city to support local authorities during pro-Trump demonstrations planned in the nation’s capital, Hoffman said. The Miller mission approved directed unarmed members of the National Guard to help direct traffic and assist local police in controlling crowds.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the guard was on the road Wednesday afternoon “along with other federal protective services”. Representative Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., Told NBC News she was speaking with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley. She said that by sending the National Guard, the government is striving to “bring the Capitol complex back under control with as little bloodshed as possible.”
Protesters, spurred by Trump’s call to reverse the 2020 presidential election, entered the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon with relative ease, despite attempts by the U.S. Capitol Police to stop a wave to the floors of legislatures. Photos of Capitol reporters at one point showed agents in an armed standoff behind a barricade as rioters attempted to enter the room of the House.
The breach forced lawmakers, some of whom had to wear gas masks to travel through clouds of tear gas, to evacuate to safe locations. As the government tried to take back control of the Capitol, an FBI swat team was among the troops that entered the building, according to an NBC News video.
The rupture of the Capitol halted the formal congressional count of President-elect Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump. Dozens of Republicans in Congress, backed by the president, began to challenge the state results based on baseless allegations of widespread fraud.
Trump spoke to his supporters on Wednesday, lying again that he won the election before they descend to the Capitol. As rioters swarmed through the building, Trump tweeted, “No violence!”
He later told his supporters to “go home” – even as he reiterated the election wings that led them to besiege the Capitol in the first place.
Democrats and many Republicans had urged Trump to end the siege.
“I call on this crowd to withdraw and let the work of democracy move forward,” Biden said Wednesday afternoon.
In a joint statement, Democratic House Chairman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., called on Trump “to demand that all protesters leave the Capitol and Capitol Grounds immediately.”
Former law enforcement and defense officials also wondered how Trump supporters broke into the Capitol building when the federal government knew for weeks that rioters could descend on Washington.
“I think it is the most shocking security failure imaginable to physically endanger the United States Congress in an occupied congressional room because they were not prepared for it,” Ret. Gene. Barry McCaffrey said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”
On Sunday, the 10 surviving secretaries of Defense wrote an ominous warning that the US military should play no role in determining the outcome of the US election.
“Each of us has sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. We have not sworn it to any person or party,” write Defense Secretaries Mark Esper, James Mattis, Ash Carter , Chuck Hagel, Leon. Panetta, Dick Cheney, William Cohen, Robert Gates, William Perry and Donald Rumsfeld in an op-ed published Sunday in The Washington Post.
Former Defense Secretaries, who have been collective leadership of the US armed forces for nearly 50 years, argued that “the time to question the results” of the US presidential election is over.
“Our elections have taken place. Recounts and audits have been conducted. The courts have addressed appropriate challenges. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time to question the results is over; the time for the formal count.” The votes of the electoral college, as prescribed in the constitution and statute, have arrived, ” wrote the former defense secretaries, including two who served under Trump.
The secretaries called on Trump’s Acting Secretary of Defense Miller and political appointees and officials to “refrain from any political action that would undermine the election results or hinder the success of the new team.”
– CNBC’s Kevin Stankiewicz contributed to this report
This story develops. Please check again for updates.
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