Christopher Miller On January 6 And Democracy

Miller Halted Cooperation With The Biden Administration After The 2020 Election

Miller Ordered The Pentagon To Stop Cooperating With The Incoming Biden Administration After The 2020 Election

Miller Ordered The Pentagon To Stop Cooperating With The Incoming Biden Administration After The 2020 Election. According to Axios, “Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller ordered a Pentagon-wide halt to cooperation with the transition of President-elect Biden, shocking officials across the Defense Department, senior administration officials tell Axios.” [Axios, 12/18/20]

Miller Said It Was A “Mutually-Agreed Upon Holiday” Break, Which The Incoming Biden Administration Disagreed With

Miller Said It Was A “Mutually-Agreed Upon Holiday.” According to Axios, “Miller had said in a statement following the publication of this story: ‘At no time has the Department canceled or declined any interview. … After the mutually-agreed upon holiday, which begins tomorrow, we will continue with the transition and rescheduled meetings from today.’” [Axios, 12/18/20]

The Incoming Biden Administration Said, “There Was No Mutually Agreed Upon Holiday Break.” According to Axios, “The latest: Biden transition director Yohannes Abraham contradicted the Pentagon’s official response to this story on Friday afternoon, telling reporters, ‘Let me be clear: there was no mutually agreed upon holiday break.’” [Axios, 12/18/20]

Miller Delayed The National Guard’s Response On January 6

Miller Ignored Warnings To Have Troops Ready for The January 6 Insurrection

January 5, 2021: Miller Ignored A Request To Have Troops At The Ready For January 6. According to Defense One, “Miller’s testimony, a copy of which was obtained in advance by Defense One, is the first from President Donald Trump’s former top defense official on the government’s response to the riots. In it, Miller confirms that Trump warned him one day prior to the planned political rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, that he would need to have 10,000 troops at the ready, which the acting defense secretary did not take as a serious comment or instruction.” [Defense One, 5/11/21]

Miller Delayed The National Guard’s Response On January 6

Miller Did Not Give The Verbal Order For The Mobilization Of The National Guard Until An Hour And 15 Minutes After The Initial Calls For Help. According to the Intercept, “At 3:04 p.m., Miller gave a verbal order for the mobilization of the D.C. Guard. It was an hour-and-a-quarter since the Capitol Police’s first plea for help, but it would take more than two additional hours for the troops to get there.” [Intercept, 3/11/23]

Miller Did Not Approve The Operational Order To Deploy The National Guard On January 6 Until More Than Three Hours After The Initial Breach Of The Capitol. According to ABC News, “But in response to questioning from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Miller admitted that he did not approve an operational plan to deploy the National Guard to the Capitol until 4:32 p.m., more than three hours after he first learned that demonstrators had breached the Capitol perimeter. The National Guard did not arrive at the Capitol for another hour, at nearly 5:30 p.m.” [ABC News, 5/12/21]

There Was A Four-Hour Delay After The Storming Of The Capitol Until National Guard Troops Arrived. According to the Intercept, “Just as the Watergate scandal had its 18-minute gap, there’s a now-infamous gap of more than four hours between the storming of the Capitol and the arrival of National Guard troops around 5:30 p.m. Miller is at the center of the controversy because the singular status of the District of Columbia means the Pentagon controls its National Guard — and Miller was the Pentagon boss on January 6.” [Intercept, 3/11/23]

Miller Claimed He Did Not Know Why The Troop Response Was So Delayed On January 6

When Asked By The January 6 Committee Why There Was Such A Delay In Troops Being Issued, Miller Responded, “Beats Me.” According to the Intercept, “Toward the end of his testimony to the January 6 committee, Miller was asked why Walker had not scrambled his troops sooner. ‘Why didn’t he launch them?’ Miller replied. ‘I’d love to know. That’s a question I was hoping you’d find out. … Beats me.’” [Intercept, 3/11/23]

Miller Said He Only Would Deploy Troops On January 6 As A Last Resort

Miller Said He Wanted To Delay The National Guard On January 6 Until “All Other Assets Had Been Expended.” According to ABC News, “Former Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller testified Wednesday that he was concerned in the days before the Jan. 6 insurrection that sending troops to the Capitol would fan fears of a military coup or fuel conspiracies that advisers to the president were advocating martial law. […] ‘Historically military responses to domestic protests have resulted in violations of American civil rights, and even in the case of the Kent State protests of the Vietnam War tragic deaths,’ he said. ‘I fervently believe the military should not be utilized in such scenarios, other than as a last resort, and only when all other assets had been expended on Jan. 6.’” [ABC News, 5/12/21]

Miller Falsely Claimed That Congressional Leaders Were Hysterical In Their Pleas To Send Troops On January 6

Miller Falsely Claimed That Congressional Leaders Were Panicked In Calls To Him On January 6

Miller Described Congressional Leaders As “Hyperventilating” During Their Call To Him On January 6

Miller Claimed That Congressional Leaders Were “Hyperventilating Into The Phone” During January 6 Phone Call With Him. According to the Intercept, “Miller was the one to know, which is why he was on the phone with Nancy Pelosi at 3:44 p.m. ‘I was sitting at my desk in the Pentagon holding a phone six inches away from my ear, trying my best to make sense of the incoherent shrieking blasting out of the receiver,’ he writes on the first page of his book. ‘House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on the line, and she was in a state of total nuclear meltdown. To be fair, the other members of congressional leadership on the call weren’t exactly composed either. Every time Pelosi paused to catch her breath, Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Chuck Schumer, and Congressman Steny Hoyer took turns hyperventilating into the phone.’” [Intercept, 3/11/23]

In The Introduction To Miller’s Book He Mocked Congressional Leaders On January 6, Calling Them “Frightened Children.” According to the Intercept, “’I had never seen anyone — not even the greenest, pimple-faced 19-year-old Army private — panic like our nation’s elder statesmen did on January 6 and in the months that followed,’ Miller wrote. ‘For the American people, and for our enemies watching overseas, the events of that day undeniably laid bare the true character of our ruling class. Here were the most powerful men and women in the world — the leaders of the legislative branch of the mightiest nation in history — cowering like frightened children for all the world to see.’ Except they weren’t cowering. They had been evacuated by security guards to Fort McNair because a mob of thousands had broken into the Capitol screaming ‘Where’s Nancy?’ and ‘Hang Pence!’” [Intercept, 3/11/23]

Video Showed That Congressional Leaders Were Calm, But Urgent During The Described Scene In Miller’s Book

Video Released To The January 6 Committee Showed Congressional Leaders Urgent But Calm And Begging Miller To Send Troops To Control The January 6 Riot. According to the Intercept, “Wonkette described Miller’s account as ‘verifiably false’ and pointed its readers to a video released by the January 6 committee showing Pelosi and other congressional leaders speaking in urgent but calm voices with Miller. They asked him to send troops immediately and demanded to know why it was taking so long. Pelosi is intense but not melting down; McConnell, Schumer, and Hoyer are not hyperventilating.” [Intercept, 3/11/23]

Video Showed That The Scene Described In Miller’s Book About January 6 Was Fabricated. According to the Intercept, “What this means is that the phone call Miller described in his book almost certainly is the one Wonkette pointed to and did not occur the way Miller describes, unless there is an incriminating portion of the video we have not seen, which is what Miller claims. Yet that seems unlikely because there is no mention, in the multitude of testimonies and articles about that day, of Pelosi melting down at any moment. And that makes another passage in Miller’s introduction problematic too.” [Intercept, 3/11/23]