by John Solomon
As she fled the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear she did not want to evacuate the building and expressed regret that the National Guard had not been deployed earlier to protect Congress before the controversial certification of the 2020 election results, according to a video released this week to House Republican investigators and obtained by Only news.
“We’re calling in the National Guard now? They should have been here to begin with,” Pelosi can be heard saying as she flees through a tunnel under the Capitol on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021, as her daughter Alexandra recorded her for a later HBO film.
Pelosi’s personal expressions of regret were not fully captured in the document and were only recently conveyed to House Administrative Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk, who took over the congressional investigation into the January 6 security failures when Republicans took control of the House in January 2023.
The latest recordings released to Congress stand in stark contrast to Pelosi’s public claims that she had no responsibility for the security arrangements on January 6, even though the House’s chief security officer, Sergeant Paul Irving, reported to her.
The video shows Pelosi pressing Irving to resign immediately, and she acknowledged that her fellow lawmakers had repeatedly pressured her before Jan. 6 to provide adequate security.
“How many times have members asked, ‘Are we prepared? Are we prepared? We are not prepared for the worst,'” Pelosi said on the tape.
She later added: “It will be a total failure. And we have to take some responsibility.”
Only news Two years ago, it was reported that President Donald Trump’s outgoing Pentagon leadership team proposed to Congress to create a National Guard through the Capitol Police four days before the January 6 crisis, but his proposal was rejected.
The offer and its rejection by Deputy Police Chief Sean Gallagher were included in a follow-up schedule prepared by the Capitol Police to review security lapses.
“Carol Corbin (DOD) texts USCP Deputy Chief Sean Gallagher, Protective Service Bureau, to determine if USCP is considering a request to send National Guard troops to the January 6, 2021 event,” the schedule said in the only entry provided for Saturday, January 2, 2021.
The next morning the timeline shows that “Gallagher responds to U.S. Department of Defense via text message that the request for National Guard support will not be considered at this time, pending consultation with COP Sund.”
The rejection comes as the Capitol Police Department begins to reverse its assessment that Trump’s mass rally against the November 2020 election results, scheduled for January 6, 2021, could pose a risk of violence.
Previous analyses suggested such violence was unlikely and the Jan. 6 event would likely be “similar to previous Million MAGA March rallies in November and December,” police documents show.
But in slow December, internal Capitol Police emails and documents show, information began to emerge that some groups expected to attend the Jan. 6 event were talking on social media or niche websites about tactics like blocking tunnels leading to the Capitol.
IN (*6*)shocking testimonies from last yearFormer Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told Congress he wanted to send in the National Guard before Jan. 6, but top security officials reporting to Pelosi and up-to-date Senate leader Chuck Schumer have rebuffed him.
“On January 3, I asked the National Guard to help secure my perimeter, but two sergeants refused because of political and image concerns.” (*6*)he testified.
The up-to-date recording released to Congress also shows that Pelosi was already planning political revenge against Trump as she left the building for holding a rally on the day the vote was certified.
“I just feel sick about what he did to the Capitol and to the country today,” the then-speaker could be heard saying as she drove away in an SUV after restoring order and returned to the Capitol to certify the vote. “He has to pay the price for that.”
Earlier during the initial evacuation, Pelosi made clear that her resistance to leaving the Capitol was out of a desire to validate Biden’s presidential nomination and prevent protesters from winning.
“First of all, I don’t agree that this is unseating me,” she said. “But if they stop the proceedings, they have to stop the validation of the president of the United States.”
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John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist, author and digital media entrepreneur who serves as CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Just the News.
Background photo “Capitol Breach” by Brett Davis.CC BY-NC 2.0.
