Former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller cannot be trusted. That was a given when he was appointed. In the recently released video of his deposition he contradicted Trump’s lie that Trump had ordered the thousands of National Guard troops to be deployed:
"I was never given any direction or order or knew of any plans of that nature," Miller said in the video.
Miller later said in the video definitively, "There was no direct, there was no order from the President."
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/politics/chris-miller-house-select-committee/
Miller also made some self-serving comments that he was never, ever given any command to do anything by Trump. The thrust of the disclosed video in the media was that it contradicted a Trump lie. But there was more to it that deserves attention.
But since when has it been only the President of the United States who can direct security for the Capitol?
Specifically, as I watched the events on J6 unfold live on television I was stunned at the obviously insufficient level of security for that day’s events: both Houses of Congress in session, the Vice President presiding, and the certification of electors. During the latter part of the riot a retired Capitol Police officer, a Captain I believe, in from Louisiana was interviewed, on CNN I think, and shared his professional opinion he was floored by the under-deployment of security and the total absence of any contingencies or reinforcements from any other of the many security agencies that had to have been involved in the security planning for that day.
Which brings me back to Miller’s deposition, and specifically this comment he made:
"We obviously had plans for activating more folks, but that was not anything more than contingency planning," Miller added. "There was no official message traffic or anything of that nature."
Which begs the question: Miller states there were “obviously plans for activating more folks”, but if that was so, then where the hell was it that day? And what, or who, prevented the Acting Secretary of Defense from ordering troops to protect the Capitol and its occupants?
Did Miller’s contingency planning make it clear that only the President of the United States could direct reinforcements when “it will be wild” becomes real, that only the President can direct security for the Capitol? Is that how DHS has structured their security planning for the Capitol and its grounds: wait for orders from the President no matter how much hell breaks loose? That is their contingency?
If the J6 Committee has Miller’s contingency planning they need to share it with the nation. Why has this not already been done?
Because the lack of security was deliberate.
Because the absence of contingencies was deliberate.
Because the leaders of every agency involved in the security planning of that day understood what was expected of them: to do nothing.
The Secret Service was directly involved in security planning, and their texts go missing. DHS was in charge of coordinating all of the agencies involved in security planning, and now their leader’s text messages have also been disappeared.
This was not just Trump’s coup attempt.
The leadership of every security agency with responsibilities for Capitol security planning and deployment deliberately planned to leave the Capitol Police twisting in the wind. They were a critical element in the coup attempt, and they are covering their tracks.
That is just a fact, and that fact is equal, if not worse, than what Trump did, because most all of them are still in their jobs, and still covering up to protect their asses more than Trump’s.
Miller or the J6 Committee need to produce the security plans, including contingency plans, immediately. Make Miller produce the plans he “obviously” had. If he won’t, or can’t, it because he was lying in his deposition.
