After the coup plot by Donald Trump and his GOP henchmen failed on Jan. 6, House Republicans needed a scapegoat. Naturally, they settled on Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi—their go-to boogeyman for over a decade.
Their blasphemous charge was that Pelosi delayed the deployment of the National Guard, which, on its face, is ridiculous since she doesn't actually have any authority over the guard. That decision belongs to the Capitol Police Board, which consists of the House Sergeant at Arms, the Senate Sergeant at Arms, and the Architect of the Capitol. Only the House Sergeant of Arms reports to Pelosi, and no one in the chain of command indicated at any point that Pelosi had hesitated, as multiple fact-checkers have pointed out.
But fresh video evidence released last week by the select committee investigating Jan. 6 shows exactly the opposite was true.
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In fact, Pelosi and then-Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urgently sought out reinforcements after they were informed that House members were on the floor donning their gas masks in preparation for a breach of the lower chamber. Video shows the two Democratic leaders reached out to the Acting Secretary of Defense (a Trump appointee), the Secretary of the Army, the acting Attorney General of the United States, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. They also coordinated with Vice President Mike Pence throughout the attack.
At roughly 3:45 pm on Jan. 6, Pelosi, Schumer, and Majority Whip Steny Hoyer are seen on video huddled around a phone call with the National Guard as then-Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, GOP Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise look on. And far from hesitant to call in the National Guard, Pelosi sounds like a general urgently plotting their intervention.
"Just pretend for a moment that it were the Pentagon, or the White House, or some other entity that was under siege," Pelosi said, hoping to underscore how dire the situation was.
Then Pelosi went a step further, offering up actual strategy in case the commanders weren't yet in creative thinking mode.
"And let me say, you can logistically get people there as you make the plan," Pelosi explained, referring to the troops.
But back in 2021 and even as recently as this summer, House Republicans latched on to their fanciful version of events, repeatedly suggesting that Pelosi was somehow directly in command of the National Guard and delayed their deployment—charges that they had no evidence of then and still don't to this day. Almost of them, except Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, used qualifying language such as "it's been suggested," "it looks like," and "according to press reports." Stefanik just brazenly lied outright.
- Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who refused to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 panel, in June 2021: "According to press reports, it looks like on Jan. 6, she hesitated before she called up the national guard. Now why was that? That's a fundamental question we need answered."
- Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, July 2021, with no evidence, doesn't even couch her baseless lie: "On Jan. 6, Nancy Pelosi was passed a note by the House Sergeant at Arms—her political appointee—asking for her permission to bring in the National. She hesitated."
- Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, June 2022, posits a question with zero underlying evidence: “Was Speaker Pelosi involved in the decision to delay National Guard assistance on Jan. 6?”
- Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, June 2022, who can be seen watching Pelosi in action on Jan. 6 and clearly knew better, but joined his colleagues in elevating the baseless lie: “Jim Banks just raised some very serious questions that should be answered by the January 6th commission. But they're not. And they're not for a very specific reason, and that's because Nancy Pelosi doesn't want those questions to be answered."
Naturally, Republicans are still lying about Pelosi's involvement with no factual evidence to back it up. The Washington Post's Aaron Blake writes:
Banks tweeted his own timeline Friday, but it’s misleading. For one, he says Pelosi “finally” approved the request at 2:10 p.m., but that’s actually the point when Irving told Sund that request had been approved — not necessarily when Pelosi herself approved it. Banks’s tweet also refers to Irving as “Pelosi’s staff,” but it’s a position nominated by the speaker that serves the whole House (and which the whole House votes to approve). And there remains no evidence that she dithered when Irving actually approached her; nor is there evidence she was approached earlier.
These people are shameless. They all pushed Trump's Big Lie that the election was stolen. Some participated in coup plotting meetings and knew exactly the intent of the insurrection. Jordan, Stefanik, Banks, and Scalise all joined 143 other congressional Republicans in voting against 2020 certification even after the deadly insurrection.
And when these Republicans needed to deflect attention away from their traitorous actions, they fingered Pelosi, who actually worked diligently to save lives that day, including theirs.
Despicable.
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