POLITICO
Members of the D.C. National Guard were watching traffic as a riot unfolded blocks away.
Trump supporters stormed the halls of the capitol on Jan. 6. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo
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As pro-Trump rioters besieged the Capitol complex last week, leading to five deaths and scores of injuries, hundreds of members of the D.C. National Guard with easy access to body armor, shields and helmets sat on the sidelines around the city, unable to act.
In conversations with POLITICO on Monday, five of the National Guardsmen on duty last week expressed frustration and disbelief with how the events unfolded, emphasizing that they were ready and willing to support the Capitol Police before they were overwhelmed by a mob armed with metal pipes, fire extinguishers, and American flags.
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By
Paul McLeary on January 07, 2021 at 5:23 PM
Lloyd Austin after being nominated by President-elect Joe Biden in Delaware on Dec. 9
WASHINGTON: The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Lloyd Austin, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for Secretary of Defense, on Jan. 19 one day before Biden and VP Kamala Harris take the oath of office on the very steps where Trump insurrectionists swarmed yesterday.
That should mean Austin would be able to move into the Pentagon soon after Biden is sworn in, depending on Congressional approval. The SASC hearing was announced late this afternoon by incoming chairman Sen. Jack Reed, who will take over the gavel now that Democrats won control of the Senate.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reached out to the US military about taking away President Trump’s nuclear authority, an ask that may seem reasonable on the surface, given the violence at the Capitol this week.
But she’s playing a dangerous game with America’s national security.
In a letter to House Democrats Friday, Pelosi told her colleagues that she’d just spoken to the Pentagon about ways to prevent an “unstable” President Donald Trump from launching a nuclear weapon in his remaining days in office.
“This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike,” Pelosi wrote.