Ranking Member Morelle Opening Remarks at D.C. National Guard Hearing
Washington, D.C. —Committee on House Administration Ranking Member Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) delivered the following opening remarks at a hearing on the D.C. National Guard response on January 6th:
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for your careers of distinguished service.
“The D.C. National Guardsmen are known as the Capitol Guardians, and we as members are only able to do our jobs in the days and months that followed January 6th because you stood guard over us as you did, and for that and for all of your long service, we owe you enormous debt of gratitude.
“So thank you. I want to be clear, we're here today for a single reason, an unpatriotic, cynical, power hungry man incited a deadly insurrection as part of his months long effort to overturn a free and fair American election.
“We're here because of his lies about the 2020 election.
“It's hard to believe, it's frankly even hard to say, but it doesn't make it any less true, yet many cannot bring themselves to acknowledge it many in this room.
“As a result, we're here because of the majority's 15 month quixotic mission to find malfeasance from the January 6th Select Committee who investigated the insurrection where no malfeasance exists, and frankly, just as a question of jurisdiction should be raised, if this hearing is about the chain of command and or communication between the various elements of the defense apparatus of the United States, then it falls to the House Armed Services Committee to do that investigation.
“They should be doing it. I do agree, but this is clearly not the venue for this to happen. I do want to address something at the outset. There is a notion that persists that President Trump ordered or pushed for 10,000 National Guard troops ahead of January 6th.
“It's been debunked repeatedly, and it's also a red herring and here's why, as the Chair has stated, a 1969 executive order delegated authority of the D.C. National Guard to the Secretary of Defense, who in turn delegated that authority to the Secretary of the Army, but the President of the United States ultimately sits atop the chain of command.
“What he did with the National Guard before January 6th doesn't matter compared to his actions, or I should say inactions on the 6th of January itself.
“And what he never did on the sixth was call the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army or the D.C. National Guard itself to find out why they were not on the scene or to order them to the Capitol for that three hour and 19-minute delay.
“So, I want to quickly dispense with the claim once and all that he'd ordered 10,000 troops. As he has said, acting Secretary of Defense, Christopher Miller, was asked the following questions and provided the following answers under penalty of perjury.
“First question, ‘the 10,000 troops, did you take that as a request for you or an order for you to deploy 10,000 troops?’
“His answer and I quote, ‘no, absolutely not. I interpret it as a bit of Presidential banner or President Trump banner that you're all familiar with and in no way, shape or form did I interpret that as an order or direction.’
“He was also asked in February of 2021, Mark Meadows said on Fox News that, ‘even in January that was a given, as many as 10,000 National Guard troops were told to be on the ready by the Secretary Defense. Is there any accuracy to that statement?’
“Mr. Meadow's answer, ‘Not from my perspective. I was never given any direction or order or knew of any plans of that nature. So no, there was, obviously we had plans for activating more folks, but there was not anything more than contingency planning.’
“And then a few questions later, ‘to be crystal clear’, the question was ‘there was no direct order from President Trump to put 10,000 troops to be on the ready for January 6th. Is that correct?’
“His answer? ‘That's correct. There was no direct order. There was no order from the President.’
“I think that's all you need to know.
“Under oath, the Secretary of Defense said it never happened.
“Here's the bottom line: The President of the United States manipulated his followers into believing the election was stolen from him, summoned an armed mob to Washington, and then unleashed them on the United States Capitol and then did absolutely nothing to stop what unfolded.
“People died. We almost lost our democracy.
“We could have a hundred hearings to deflect blame, but the facts are not going to change.
“President Truman famously had a sign on his desk that said, ‘the buck stops here.’
“President Trump's sign, on the other hand, would read ‘the buck stops anywhere but here.’
“He lit the fire, he fanned the flames, the Defense Department delayed the troops, and he wants everyone else to take the blame.
“Frankly, I find it pathetic. I agree with Senator Mitch McConnell who said ‘former President Trump's actions preceding the riot were disgraceful, disgraceful, dereliction of duty.
“Former Speaker, Kevin McCarthy said ‘Trump bears responsibility for his actions. No if ands or buts.’
“And I agree with Senator Lindsey Graham who said, ‘all I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.’
“I only wish that they and the rest of the Republican party agreed with their prior versions of themselves.
“And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.”
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