Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley’s fretting former president Donald Trump would commandeer the military for political reasons, warning of a “Reichstag moment,” influenced senior Army leaders to delay deploying the National Guard to quell the Jan. 6 riots, a witness told Congress during a hearing Wednesday.
Four current and former leaders of the Washington, D.C. National Guard testified to a panel from the House Committee on Administration, alleging two senior Army general lied about their failure to give an order rushing National Guard troops to secure the capitol grounds as rioting escalated.
Retired Col. Earl Matthews, then chief legal adviser to the D.C. National Guard, accused Milley of “impeding the ability of the president” with disparaging comments heralding a potential coup attempt that influenced key Army leaders against ordering troops close to the capitol.
