The January 6th Committee suppressed a transcript that vindicates Donald Trump’s claim that he called for 10,000 National Guard troops to be present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Former U.S. Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) falsely claimed the committee had “no evidence” to support Trump officials’ claims that the administration desired 10,000 National Guard troops.
The Federalist obtained a previously suppressed transcript that describes Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornato’s first transcribed interview from January 28, 2022.
“In it, he told Cheney and her investigators that he overheard White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows push Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to request as many National Guard troops as she needed to protect the city,” the outlet wrote.
“When it comes to the National Guard statement about having 10,000 troops or any other number of troops, do you recall any discussion prior to the 6th about whether and how many National Guard troops to deploy on January 6th?” a staffer asked Ornato.
“I remember he had – he was on the phone with [Bowser], and we – I had walked in for something, and I was there, and he was on the phone with her and wanted to make sure she had everything that she needed. Because I think it was the concern of anti and pro groups clashing is what I recall. And not anywhere near the Capitol, this was just out on the mall area or at the event; and wanted to know if she needed any more guardsmen,” Ornato responded, according to the transcript.
Ornato added that Trump suggested 10,000 troops would be needed to keep the peace during protests.
“And I remember the number 10,000 coming up of, you know, the President 16 wants to make sure that you have enough. You know, he is willing to ask for 10,000. I remember that number. Now that you said it, it reminded me of it,” he continued. “And that she was all set. She had, I think it was like 350 or so for intersection control and those types of thing not in the law enforcement capacity at the time. And then that’s the only thing I recall with that number 10,000 National Guard guardsmen.”
According to The Federalist, the committee suppressed the transcript and instead pushed stories critical of Ornato.
While Cheney claimed to have published hundreds of pages of transcripts, fewer than half of the interviews were shared. It remains unknown what other information may be suppressed.
Chairman of the House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) said in a statement, “The former J6 Select Committee apparently withheld Mr. Ornato’s critical witness testimony from the American people because it contradicted their pre-determined narrative. Mr. Ornato’s testimony proves what Mr. Meadows has said all along, President Trump did in fact offer 10,000 National Guard troops to secure the U.S. Capitol, which was turned down.”
“This is just one example of important information the former Select Committee hid from the public because it contradicted what they wanted the American people to believe. And, this is exactly why my investigation is committed to uncovering all the facts, no matter the outcome.”
Loudermilk previously told conservative outlet Just the News that videos of witness interviews relating to the January 6 Capitol event have gone missing.
“All of the videotapes of all depositions are gone,” he said.
“We found out about this early in the investigation when I received a call from someone who was looking for some information off one of the videotapes, and we started searching, and we had none,” Loudermilk stated. “I wrote a letter to Bennie Thompson [D-MS] asking for them. And he confirmed that they did not preserve those types. He didn’t feel that they had to.”
