When the commander of the Washington, D.C. National Guard testified before the House Oversight committee back on March 3, he had a lot to say about former Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller. According to Major General William Walker, it was Miller who placed a long line of restrictions on what the National Guard could and could not do in response to the Donald Trump rally on Jan. 6, and Miller was a major roadblock in providing a response—much to the frustration of Walker.

To make his position very clear, Miller issued a letter to the secretary of the Army on Jan. 4 that put explicit—and unprecedented—restrictions on Guard activity. This included forbidding National Guard members from wearing protective gear like helmets, not to share either equipment or intelligence with law enforcement, and not to be “physically interactive with” the Trump supporters at the rally.

Further testimony from Pentagon official Robert Salesses made it clear that Miller “wanted to take personal control” of the situation involving the National Guard and potential responses to both the scheduled rally, and the events that unfolded after that rally took place. 

Now, after all this discussion about Miller’s motivations and extraordinary actions, it’s his turn to testify.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 · 3:03:22 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Miller blames “the media” for Jan. 6.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 · 3:21:30 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

CNN reporting on the questions that House Republicans are asking, and how they are framing responses. 

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            Wednesday, May 12, 2021 ·  3:56:00 PM +00:00

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            Wednesday, May 12, 2021 ·  4:34:00 PM +00:00

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    Rosen has admitted that he had a White House meeting with Trump on January 3, but has refused to answer questions about the content of that meeting, including whether or not Trump attempted to get him to help overturn the election.

  
  
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            Wednesday, May 12, 2021 ·  4:37:26 PM +00:00

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    If the dialog between Lynch and Miller is confusing, this line was in the written version of Miller’s opening statement, submitted this morning:  “I stand by my prior observation that I personally believe his comments encouraged the protesters that day.”

But when Miller actually spoke, he left that out. Miller then went on to say that he had “reassessed” his view.

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            Wednesday, May 12, 2021 ·  5:07:53 PM +00:00

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The most obvious piece of evidence when it comes to how Miller hamstrung the National Guard on Jan. 6 is that letter to the secretary of the Army. It was issued in response to a direct request for National Guard resources on Jan. 6, and at a time when intelligence had already made it clear that the crowd coming to Washington, D.C. on that date included many members of the Proud Boys and other white supremacist militia groups who were expected to be armed, and expected to cause trouble.

That the National Guard was going to be needed to do more than direct traffic didn’t require top secret clearance. On Jan. 2, The Washington Post reported:

However, as CNN reports, Miller is expected to say that he was concerned that sending troops to the Capitol would have inflamed the situation. In particular, Miller seemed to be concerned that visible National Guard forces would make the Trump supporters believe that a “military coup” was underway. “I was also cognizant of the fears promulgated by many about the prior use of the military in the June 2020 response to protests near the White House and fears that the President would invoke the Insurrection Act to politicize the military in an anti-democratic manner,” writes Miller in his prepared remarks.

So Miller seems prepared to testify that he was so concerned about upsetting the Trump supporters with what they might mistake for a coup that he had to allow them to have a coup … to show there was no coup. 

Also speaking on Wednesday will be former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. Rosen would be the same man who Trump plotted to replace with a sycophant who promised to block the vote on Jan. 6. Rosen supposedly refused to leave quietly and was ultimately saved by the release of statements from Georgia showing Trump’s efforts to manipulate state officials. 

If Rosen is prepared to testify to Trump’s efforts to replace him with Jeffrey Clark, and Clark’s overt play to overthrow the election, that could turn out to be the most compelling testimony of the day.

Miller’s letter constraining the actions of the National Guard prior to Jan. 6.