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A former top-ranking Defense Department official in the Trump administration claims that Democrats are losing their hold on the “narrative” surrounding the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.
According to The Epoch Times, Kash Patel, a former national security adviser to the previous president who testified before the Jan. 6 House select committee that was hand-picked by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), stated that the Democratic claim that the event was an “insurrection” is losing support.
Patel testified that before Trump’s Jan. 6 speech, the then-president authorized the deployment of National Guard troops. However, the committee’s final report doubted the claim and Patel’s credibility.
“Meanwhile, earlier this month, former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller said that he was threatened by the panel to keep quiet after giving interviews with media outlets saying that the Guard troops were authorized by the former president,” the outlet reported.
Late last month, Patel told the Daily Mail that the attempt to prevent information about Trump’s apparent move to authorize the troops is primarily aimed at influencing public opinion.
“The whole point is it defeats their insurrection claim,” he said.
He added that if Trump “did not authorize the National Guard before Jan. 6, then how is it factually possible for Bowser and Pelosi to have rejected it, in writing. It’s impossible,” he said, referencing Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser as well.
A former Secret Service official named Tony Ornato testified that the Democrat Mayor of Washington, D.C. declined an offer for National Guard troops prior to the January 6th Capitol riot. Ornato revealed that Bowser refused the offer, claiming that she had enough help. The day before the riot, Bowser wrote a letter to the Department of Defense officials denying their offer to send Guard forces.
“So, they lose the narrative in the public sphere. Now, they’re losing it in the courts with all the litigation,” Patel said.
Asked about his conversation regarding Guard troops at the time, Patel said, quoting Trump: “Just in case there’s any security issues in D.C. or any other major city, I know you need my authorization, so I’m giving it to you. Don’t come back to me. You have it [authorization]. Don’t waste time if a governor asks for troops—you have it.”
Also last month, former President Trump did not mince words when he learned about recent findings by Republican investigators in the House involving the former Jan. 6 Committee.
Trump leveled fresh criticism at former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and the rest of the committee, which she co-chaired with Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), over omissions and misrepresentations by the panel that led to false narratives about him and false allegations against him.
“She should go to jail along with the rest of the Unselect Committee!” he wrote in response to a report from Just the News.
Trump’s comment came in response to a Just the News report indicating that Cheney attended the deposition of a Secret Service agent who provided a firsthand account of Trump’s presence in the limousine leaving the Stop the Steal rally on January 6. Instead of heading to the Capitol as promised to his supporters, the limousine took Trump to the White House.
Former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson, who was brought before the House Jan. 6 select committee at the behest of Cheney to speak out against Trump, alleged that she overheard Secret Service agents discussing an altercation involving Trump attempting to seize control of the presidential limousine’s steering wheel from the back seat.
“The driver testified that he specifically refuted the version of events as recounted by Hutchinson,” the report released by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chair of the House Administration subcommittee on Jan. 6, noted. “The driver of the SUV testified that he ‘did not see him reach [redacted]. [President Trump] never grabbed the steering wheel.
“I didn’t see him, you know, lunge to try to get into the front seat at all,’” the agent testified, refuting Hutchinson’s account.
