‘Clear the Capitol,’ Pence pleaded during riot
Timeline of Jan. 6 event shows sluggish reaction
WASHINGTON – From a secure room in the Capitol on Jan. 6, as rioters overran police and vandalized the building, Vice President Mike Pence tried to assert control. In an urgent phone call to the acting defense secretary, he issued a startling demand.
“Clear the Capitol,” Pence said. Elsewhere in the building, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were making a similarly dire appeal to military leaders.
“We need help,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said in desperation, more than an hour after the Senate chamber had been breached.
At the Pentagon, officials were discussing media reports that the mayhem was not confined to Washington and that other state capitals were facing similar violence in what had the makings of a national insurrection.
“We must establish order,” Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a call with Pentagon leaders.
But order would not be restored for hours.
These new details from the deadly riot of Jan. 6 during the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s election victory are contained in a previously undisclosed document prepared by the Pentagon for internal use. It was obtained by the Associated Press and vetted by current and former government officials.
The timeline adds another layer of understanding about the state of fear and panic while the insurrection played out, and lays bare the inaction by former President Donald Trump and how that void contributed to a slowed response
Smoke fills the walkway outside the Senate Chamber on Jan. 6 as supporters of President Donald Trump are confronted by Capitol Police. by the military and law enforcement. It showed that the intelligence missteps, tactical errors and bureaucratic delays were eclipsed by government’s failure to comprehend the scale and intensity of a violent uprising by its citizens.
With Trump not engaged, it fell to Pentagon officials, a handful of senior White House aides, the leaders of Congress and the vice president, holed up in a secure bunker, to manage the chaos.
At 4:08 p.m. on Jan. 6, as the rioters roamed the Capitol, the vice president was in a protected location, calling Christopher Miller, the acting defense secretary, and demanding answers.
The call lasted a minute. Pence said the Capitol was not secure, and he asked military leaders for a deadline for securing the building, according to the document.
Government leaders had talked about the use of the National Guard just three days earlier. On the afternoon of Jan. 3, Miller and Milley gathered with other Cabinet members to talk about Jan. 6. They also met with Trump. In that meeting, Trump approved the activation of the D.C. National Guard and told the acting defense secretary to take whatever action needed as events unfolded, according to the information obtained by the AP.