President Donald Trump revealed in an interview that he had requested the deployment of 10,000 National Guard troops to the United States Capitol in the days prior to the massive protests on January 6th, only for his request to be ignored, according to Fox News.
The 45th president made the revelation in an interview Sunday night with Steve Hilton on Fox News, where he said that his White House had sent a message to the Department of Defense formally requesting the 10,000 troops just days before January 6th, as they expected the crowds to be even larger than anticipated. President Trump then said that the message had been passed on to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who rejected the request because she and other congressional leaders apparently did not like the “optics” of so many armed troops stationed at the Capitol, which President Trump referred to as “a big mistake.”
Trump’s statements further confirm what his former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said in an earlier Fox appearance; in February, Meadows said on Maria Bartiromo’s show that President Trump had issued “a direct order” to have 10,000 National Guard ready on January 6th.
President Trump also said that he “hated” watching the protests unfold, but pointed out the “double standard” between the media coverage of the Capitol protests, which were mostly peaceful, and the violent race riots that burned many American cities, caused over $2 billion in damage nationwide, and killed over 25 Americans over the course of last summer.
Various members of Congress have stated their support for an investigation into the protests along the same lines as the 9/11 commission. While Pelosi and other Democrats have used such a talking point to falsely describe the Capitol protests as “domestic terrorism,” Republicans have said that such an investigation may unearth evidence that Democratic leaders such as Pelosi had plenty of prior warning about possible unrest, but deliberately refused to do anything to adequately prepare.