As riot raged, Pence pleaded with the military to ‘clear the Capitol’
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About two hours after a pro-Trump mob shattered windows and smashed doors to enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, then-Vice President Mike Pence called the acting defense secretary urgently seeking help to secure the federal building, according to newly revealed documents.
“Clear the Capitol,” Pence said to Christopher Miller while holed up in a secure facility, according to the previously undisclosed document prepared by the Pentagon and obtained by the Associated Press.
Pence asked Miller for a deadline for the building to be secure.
But it would be hours before order was restored, according to the timeline of events contained in the document.
The rioters attacked the Capitol as a joint-session of Congress met to certify the 2020 Electoral College vote for President Biden.
Former President Donald Trump, who addressed his supporters earlier in the day at the Ellipse about his claims of election fraud, was in the White House.
Around 2:10 p.m., the first rioters started breaking through the doors and windows of the Senate.
Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund called Maj. Gen. William Walker, commanding general of the DC National Guard, and asked for at least 200 guard members.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy discussed the request over the next 20 minutes with the mayor and Pentagon leaders — while senators scrambled to safety and the rioters broke into the chamber.
Just after 3 p.m., McCarthy gave “verbal approval” for 1,100 Guard troops to be activated to support the DC police, and an emergency reaction force left Joint Base Andrews for DC — but still needed final approval from Miller.
About 20 minutes later, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer were on the phone seeking help from the Guard and the military, the documents show.
“We need help,” Schumer said.
They were told the Guard had been OKed. But in reality, military and police officials were struggling to put the plan into action — the Guard troops were only prepared for traffic duties, and needed more preparation before going into the violent siege.
By 3:44 p.m., Schumer was pleading again.
“Tell POTUS to tweet everyone should leave,” he told officials.
Pence made his one-minute call to Miller at 4:08 p.m.
Around 10 minutes later, Trump tweeted to his followers to “go home and go in peace.”
By 4:30 p.m., Walker had approval to send the Guard to the Capitol. Ten minutes later, Pelosi and Schumer were on the phone with Pentagon leadership, asking for the perimeter to be secured.
The congressional leaders on the 30-minute call accused “the National Security apparatus of knowing that protestors planned to conduct an assault on the Capitol,” the documents said, per the AP.
The first of 155 Guard members finally began arriving at the Capitol at 5:20 p.m. and order wasn’t restored to the Capitol until 8 p.m.
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