Army Stopped National Guard From Rescuing Congress. What's 3 Hours And 19 Minutes When You're Under Attack?

We need answers, and we might need prosecutions.

There may be a Trump terrorist attack today at the Capitol.

That's according to a bulletin from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security sent to law enforcement warning that there's been chatter from domestic terrorist cells about "plans to take control of the U.S. Capitol and remove Democratic lawmakers," either today or somewhere around today. Meanwhile, NBC News reports that the Capitol Police have intel that says there's a "possible plot to breach the Capitol by an identified militia group" today.

And if there is another attack, it will have been incited yet again by Donald Trump, because here's what's motivating the terrorists:

[The bulletin] states that domestic violent extremists have a continued "perception of election fraud and other conspiracy theories associated with the presidential transition, which may contribute to (Domestic Violent Extremists) mobilizing to violence with little or no warning."

Yep, they're still mainlining Trump's fascist Big Lie about the presidential election their big boy lost in a landslide.

So that's why the House was up late voting last night and isn't around today. For their own safety. Hooray, America!

What's the significance of today, March 4? Because that's the day America used to inaugurate presidents, and a long-running QAnon prophecy — it's at least several months old! — says somehow today is the day the REAL president Donald Trump is going to re-seize power and reveal himself as their one and true messiah, or something. We question their policework on that, but for some reason the Trump hotel in DC has kept its rates jacked way up around $1,300 a night, but just for last night and tonight . As Rachel Maddow reported last night, they checked yesterday, and the rates go right back down after tonight, and there's zero reason for hotel rates to be jacked up in DC right now. You know, unless they know something we don't about what's going on today.

So keep your eyes on the news, we guess! Oh right, that's what we're for.

Yesterday, the Senate heard testimony from Pentagon officials about the last Trump terrorist attack on the US Capitol, and we sure did learn some things, specifically from the testimony of Maj. Gen. William Walker, who commands the DC National Guard.

In his opening statement, we learn that the DC National Guard wrote to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy on January 1 asking for support for the upcoming demonstrations. Walker got approval for most of what he asked for on January 5, with the distinct exception of a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) that would be "postured to quickly respond to an urgent and immediate need for assistance by civilian authorities." McCarthy also said any plans for him to use the QRF would have to be submitted to him for special approval. Walker thought that was weird, that he'd have to get special permission from the Army secretary to use the QRF. Walker also thought it was weird that McCarthy was requiring him "to seek approval to move Guardsmen supporting [DC's Metropolitan Police Department] to move from one traffic control point to another."

Then January 6 came. At 1: 49 p.m., Steven Sund, who was the chief of the Capitol Police, called Walker freaking out, "his voice cracking with emotion." The Capitol was under attack. Please send help, right now. Walker got in touch with Army leadership, and they got right on the task of approving that help — THREE HOURS AND 19 MINUTES LATER.

During the ensuing time, as we all know, people were dying, the vice president's life was in danger, members of Congress's lives were in danger, terrorists were screaming that they were looking for the vice president and the speaker of the House, to kill them, in an attempt to steal democracy for One Ugly Orange Shitbag they all worship as their Dear Leader.

Walker had already put guardsmen on buses, thinking approval would be coming any minute now, so when he finally got approval — THREE HOURS AND 19 MINUTES LATER — they were ready to go. They got there in less than 20 minutes.

During questioning, we learned a lot more about what all that delay was about. You see, Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn — brother of disgraced seditionist mouthbreather Michael Flynn, who had spent the preceding weeks flapping his treason-yap, filling Donald Trump's small brain with fantasies of declaring martial law to steal the election — was part of the Army leadership making decisions that day, serving as the Army's deputy chief of staff for operations. And poor thing was just really worried about the "optics" of sending in the National Guard, right in the middle of a Trump-inspired terrorist attack. That's right, the "optics."

Gen. Walker just testified that Gen. Charles Flynn and Gen. Piatt were the ones worried about "optics." WATCH Bac… https: //t.co/y8G2swHNF6

— Adam Klasfeld (@Adam Klasfeld) 1614788112.0 

The Pentagon originally  lied    about whether the other Flynn was involved in that decision-making. Turns out he was very, very involved, along with Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt. 

What, praytell, kind of "optics" were they waiting for, that would have made it OK for the National Guard to come in and help in stopping a terrorist attack on the Capitol? Did elected officials, including maybe the vice president, need to actually get assassinated? Did they need to literally "hang Mike Pence"? Were they waiting for things to get bad enough for Trump to declare martial law, like Michael Flynn had been saying?

Pretty sure we want to hear from Charles Flynn under oath, from Ryan McCarthy, and from then-acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller — really, all the moron stooges Trump shoved in at the Pentagon after he lost the election. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee plans to reach out to Miller and McCarthy very soon, committee chair Senator Gary Peters said yesterday. Have fun hiding from congressional subpoenas now that the Trump Justice Department has been run out of town and Merrick Garland's about to be confirmed!

Just after the election, we wondered aloud what Trump's Pentagon moves were all about, asking specifically if he was entertaining masturbatory daydreams about getting a troupe of asslickers into Pentagon leadership craven and un-American enough to help him pull off his coup. "Maybe the president is indulging himself in grandiose fantasies of using the military to attack the American people in order to stay in power," we wrote. Or maybe the idea was that the military would not intervene when Trump's terrorists really started showing their asses.

We wrote that on November 11. Just under two months later, January 6 happened.

As Dana Milbank wrote yesterday:

At best, this was a catastrophic failure of government. At worst, political appointees and Trump loyalists at the Defense Department deliberately prevented the National Guard from defending the Capitol against a seditious mob.

We need fucking answers, and we probably are going to need prosecutions.

For more on yesterday's hearing, check out the Washington Post . We'll just be over here hoping and praying there isn't another Trump terrorist attack on the Capitol today.

[ NBC News ]

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