Lieutenant General Walter Piatt, the Director of the Army Staff, on Monday disputed the report by former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund about how and when the National Guard was deployed to assist in the Capitol riots on Wednesday, saying he will not recoiled from calls for commitment.
The senior army official contradicted what Sund said The Washington Post took place during a conference call between officials. Piatt said that “once” army secretary Ryan McCarthyRyan McCarthy Outgoing Chief of Police of Capitol Accuses House and Senate Security Officials of Interfering with National Guard Efforts: WaPo 25 Investigates Domestic Terrorism After Attack on Capitol DC Mayor Asks DHS For Increased Security Measures Around The inauguration MORE received a request from the Capitol Police to deploy the National Guard, “he ran to the office of the acting Secretary of Defense to seek approval.”
The former Capitol police chief had said that Piatt had told him he couldn’t immediately recommend McCarthy approve the stake when pro-Trump rioters stormed the building.
Citing Sund and four officials on the call, the Post reported that Piatt had said he did not like “the image of the National Guard standing a police line with the Capitol in the background.”
“I have not made the statement or comments similar to what Chief Sund attributed to me in the Washington Post article – but I would like to note that even in his story he makes it clear that neither I nor anyone else is from [the Department of Defense], denied the deployment of requested personnel, ”said Piatt in his statement Monday.
Instead, Piatt said he stayed on the phone while McCarthy met with acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller “and made it clear to participants in the conference call that I was not the approval authority, but that Secretary McCarthy was working on the approval.”
Piatt said he was working with the call participants to develop a deployment plan.
This included options to relieve law enforcement across the city so that those resources could aid in law enforcement operations in the Capitol, or using the National Guard to create a perimeter at the Capitol to provide a safe environment for law enforcement. in which they could perform clearing operations, ”he said. “Ultimately, the National Guard was deployed to define the outline of the Capitol.”
Piatt said the permission to activate the National Guard came “about forty minutes after that call started,” although the first National Guard personnel did not arrive until 5:40 PM, after four out of five were killed in the riot. had already taken place.
Sund, who resigned under pressure from the legislator The day after the riots had told the Post that Piatt had said he would have preferred the National Guard to take posts near DC to have DC police in the Capitol respond.
The newspaper said four other officials, including DC Mayor Muriel Bowser
Muriel Bowser25 Investigation Into Domestic Terrorism Opens After Attack On Capitol Capitol Police Warned By FBI, NYPD Of Risk Of Violence At Capitol: DC Mayor Report Asks DHS For Increased Security Measures Around Inauguration MORE (D), supported Sund’s account of the call.
Bowser told the Post that Sund ‘had made it perfectly clear that they needed extraordinary help, including the National Guard. There was some concern from the military about what it would look like if there were armed military personnel on the Capitol grounds. “
The disagreement over the National Guard’s call and consent comes as lawmakers and others try to find out what happened on Wednesday before and during the Capitol riots, which were intended to disrupt Congressional confirmation of the president-elect. Joe Biden
Joe Biden Outgoing Chief of Capitol Police Accuses House, Senate Security Officials of Obstructing Attempts to Enlist National Guard: WaPo PGA Announces Plans to Move 2022 Championship From Property to Trump Former Democratic Senator: Biden Justice Department May 6 research speakers for incitement MORE‘s victory.
During his Post interview, Sund said his attempt to involve the National Guard before Wednesday had been hindered by House and Senate security officials including House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger. , both of whom resigned in the aftermath.