Per Politico, Mark Meadows sent an email on Jan 5th about having National Guard on standby to protect "pro-Trump" people. Per previous reporting by the WAPO, some Pentagon leaders feared Trump would misuse the National Guard. Others feared the Guard would be baited into violence
Per the WAPO report, Top Brass even changed the chain of command for ordering deployment of the National Guard, which, reportedly, may have led to a delay on January 6th. washingtonpost.com/politics/inter…
Also per the WAPO, on 1/3, the Capitol Police Chief requested National Guard be stationed at the Capitol. He was rebuffed. Mayor Bowser was also worried about the Guard abandoning their posts on Jan 6 (being pro-Trump). Others, in military & in Congress, cited optics concerns
So what's going on here? Why did Meadows feel he had the Guard on standby to protect pro-Trumpers? Had he actually gotten assurances from the military? Or were military leaders, as they've intimated, hesitant about a preemptive guard presence?
The "keep general peace" excuse doesn't work in terms of Meadows' email. 1st of all, he specified Pro-Trump Protection. Also, Mayor Bowser was having different convos about the Guard: fearing they would turn on the gov't. Finally, the Cap Police requested the Guard & were denied
It's important to know what was going on w/ the military. Military involvement is what turns a soft-coup hard. If the military was at odds w/ each other, that's also a dangerous situation. If some military were at odds w/ the POTUS & others aligned w/ him, that's also dangerous
No matter what, if this Meadows email is real, that's a huge scandal. The President's CoS said the Guard was on standby to protect a specific group of "protesters" who were intent on overthrowing the results of an election, all while the CoS himself plotted to delay certification
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