Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Monday, March 18, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Lawmakers Grill Trump Officials on Delays in Response to Capitol Riot

Members of a House panel pressed two former Trump administration officials on the federal response to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

WASHINGTON (CN) — Partisan divides were on display during a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday, where Arizona Republican Paul Gosar described those who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January as “peaceful patriots.”

As former President Donald Trump fomented protesters with his rhetoric during a “Save America Rally” on the morning of Jan. 6, groups marched from that speech to the U.S. Capitol, where a violent insurrectionist attack ensued. More than four hours later, lawmakers reconvened after sheltering in place to count certified electors and confirm President Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.

A Capitol Police officer died from his injuries in the riot and two others died by suicide in the wake of the attack. One pro-Trump protester, Ashli Babbitt, was fatally shot while trying to infiltrate the Speaker’s Lobby, where lawmakers had initially been housed as rioters broke through doors to the House floor.

Gosar took time Wednesday to highlight that Babbitt was unarmed and “wrapped in a U.S. flag.”

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., listens during a House Oversight and Reform Committee regarding the on Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP)

“My constituents demand answers but the truth is being censored and covered up,” Gosar said. “As a result, the DOJ is harassing peaceful patriots across the country. Without accurate answers, conspiracies continue to form.”

But Wednesday’s hearing to examine the federal response to the Capitol attack focused more on the delay from Trump officials to react to the threat. Two of them testified before lawmakers -- Jeffrey Rosen, former acting attorney general, and Christopher Miller, former acting defense secretary. The committee also heard from Robert Contee, chief of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, outlined the official Department of Defense timeline for requests for assistance. At 1:34 p.m., about eight minutes after the Capitol complex was ordered evacuated, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser made first contact with Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy.

According to Miller’s written testimony, he was aware rioters had reached the Capitol sometime between 1 and 1:30 p.m., but an hour and a half later is when he determined National Guard assistance was necessary to fortify other law enforcement positions.

Ocasio-Cortez said that assertion contradicted the Defense Department’s record of the situation. According to that timeline, Miller authorized National Guard forces to clear the Capitol at 4:32 p.m. That delay was reportedly due to the Defense Department awaiting an action plan from William Walker, the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard. At about 4:08 p.m., Vice President Mike Pence had a conversation with Miller on the plan to clear the Capitol.

“So, it took 90 minutes to plan to send the National Guard to the Capitol,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Now, Major General Walker testified that it actually wasn’t until 5:08 p.m. that he received authorization to deploy his forces to the Capitol. Mr. Miller, do you have any reason to doubt Major General Walker’s recollection of the events that day?”

“I do not have any reason to doubt,” Miller said. "But...there was so much going on, so I can understand there’s an inconsistency and perhaps a disagreement.”

Rosen, meanwhile, testified that he is “proud of the role DOJ played in helping to restore order.”

“I will leave it to others to assess why the security at the Capitol was not sufficient to protect the building that afternoon in the first instance, but the assistance that was provided after the breach occurred is something that deserves appreciation,” he said.

A handful of Republicans, like Gosar, downplayed the actions of those arrested for storming the Capitol. Wisconsin Congressman Glenn Grothman characterized protesters as “milling around” the Capitol after they shattered windows and broke through doors to gain access. Georgia Congressman Andrew Clyde called it a “bold-faced lie” to say the attack was an insurrection.  

Kentucky Congressman Jake LaTurner accused Democrats of politicizing the events of Jan. 6 and of “making gross attempts to link the concerns of tens of millions of Americans about the last election and the peaceful actions of their elected representatives to the violent acts of Jan. 6.”

On Wednesday morning, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, was removed from her position as chairwoman of the House GOP Caucus after condemning the insurrectionists and Trump's baseless claims that the election was stolen from him. In a floor speech Tuesday night, she said there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

House Republicans replaced Cheney by a voice vote during a closed caucus meeting. Elise Stefanik, who was a staunch defender of Trump during the president’s first impeachment trial, is a frontrunner to replace Cheney.

Categories / Government, National, Politics

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...