Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted that she was responsible for the National Guard’s unpreparedness to deal with the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
The explosive admission comes nearly three and a half years after the riot. Republicans say the never-before-seen video undermines Democrats’ claims that Trump was solely responsible for the Jan. 6 security failures.
In a video filmed by Pelosi’s daughter Alexandria as the couple escaped from the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the former president can be seen saying, “Why wasn’t the National Guard there to begin with?”
“They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them prepared for more,” Pelosi told her chief of staff, Terri McCullough.
The video was posted on X by Republicans who head the House Administration Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee on Monday.
The clip shows Pelosi in the back seat of a car driving quickly through what appears to be a Capitol complex parking lot.
As the car quickly maneuvers through the structure, a frustrated Pelosi can be seen voicing questions about how the riot escalated quickly.
“This is ridiculous,” the exasperated Democrat tells her employee in the video.
‘You’re going to ask me, in the middle of it, when they’ve already violated the inaugural material: ‘Should we call the Capitol Police?’ I mean the National Guard.”
According to the now-defunct select committee’s findings on Jan. 6, Pelosi, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other lawmakers were guided by security personnel to Fort McNair in southwest Washington , DC. , while the protest continued.
“Pelosi’s J6 Select Committee spent taxpayer money pursuing false political narratives and using Hollywood producers for their ‘investigation,'” the subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., wrote on Monday.
“His admission of responsibility directly contradicts his own narrative.”
Previously, the Democratic-led Jan. 6 committee had sought to paint Trump as an insurrectionist for delaying or inhibiting a National Guard response.
But, according to the video reviewed by politicalPelosi attempted to coordinate a military response to the riots with then-Vice President Mike Pence, telling him “we are disappointed that it took (the Secretary of Defense) this long to approve the National Guard.”
As the riot was taking place, he told Pence that the National Guard was already at the Capitol but did not yet have permission to confront the rioters.
That day Pelosi also questioned why the Capitol Police had not adequately planned for the large protest to turn violent and that those security officials should have been more forthcoming about what could happen on January 6.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she “takes responsibility” for not having the National Guard “prepared for more” on the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Supporters of US President Donald Trump wander under the Capitol Rotunda after invading the Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
The January 6 rioters are shown above standing outside the House chamber.
US President Donald Trump speaks at the “Save America March” rally in Washington DC, the United States, on January 6, 2021, just before the riot at the Capitol.
Still, despite the new video, the National Guard is jointly supervised by the U.S. Army and Air Force, which report to the president, not the Speaker of the House.
The Capitol Police, however, does inform the spokesperson. Although they denied having requested additional National Guard troops.
But Pelosi’s critics say she was responsible for the miscommunication that led to the National Guard’s delayed response to the riot.
“For years, I testified under oath, in the media and everywhere that Nancy Pelosi was responsible for not activating the National Guard on January 6 after President Trump constitutionally AUTHORIZED the guard and provided the receipts,” the former said. Trump advisor Kash Patel. he told DailyMail.com.
Patel has said he has been smeared for his claim that Trump authorized the Guard to respond three days before the Jan. 3 riot.
The Trump adviser and former National Security Council official was at a Jan. 3 meeting where he claims Trump gave approval for defense officials to communicate with Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and then-House Speaker of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who were authorized to deploy the National Army. Guards the District and the US Capitol building amid threats of violence that day.
He previously told DailyMail.com that the Capitol Police and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser denied the offer of an armed National Guard presence.
Patel said that “we deployed DOD leadership to Bowser and Pelosi and the Capitol Police that day” to inform them that they were able to deploy the National Guard to help protect the Capitol and the District.
Patel was an official on the US National Security Council under Trump. He testified before the Jan. 6 panel about the Oval Office meeting where Trump authorized the deployment of the National Guard to DC.
Kash Patel says the smear campaign against her is dead after a newly discovered and suppressed transcript by the panel from Jan. 6 corroborates her testimony that Donald Trump authorized 10,000 National Guard troops.
But he claims that “they said no.”
“Now, Pelosi’s own footage from January 6 shows that she blamed herself for not doing more,” Patel said in a statement Monday.
“The lie was spread by almost every media outlet and once again the American people were deprived of the truth for political expediency,” his statement continued.