President-elect Joe Biden holds a press conference and calls on Donald Trump to “demand an end to this siege.” Trump has asked his supporters inside the Capitol (a.k.a. domestic terrorists) to stop harming law enforcement, but he has not asked them to leave.
A few minutes later, Vice President Mike Pence calls Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller. He tells Miller that the Capitol is still not secure two hours after terrorists entered the building. He demands that the building be cleared.
At 4:17 p.m., as talks of the 25th Amendment and impeachment surge online and in Washington, Trump posts a video on social media telling his terrorists to go home. He also tells them that he loves them, that they’re “very special,” and that they’re right to be angry because the election was stolen.
I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election. Everyone know it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt. It’s a very tough period of time. There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened, where they could take it away from all of us — from me, from you, from our country.
This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You’ve seen the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel, but go home, and go home in peace.
Donald Trump, video censored for election disinformation and for the same propaganda and conspiracies that motivated the attack
At this time, Acting Defense Sec. Christopher Miller, Army Sec. Ryan McCarthy, Mark Milley (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), and Daniel Hokanson (Chief of the National Guard Bureau) discuss sending out-of-state forces to the Capitol. Maryland and Virginia guardsmen are already activated and ready for deployment. Secretary Miller verbally authorizes movement of out-of-state forces to DC.
By 4:20 p.m., tear gas deployed by police covers the steps at the west side of the Capitol building. Six minutes later, Trump supporter Rosanne Boyland is trampled to death as terrorists attack police at an entrance to the Capitol tunnels.
At 4:32 p.m., Miller authorizes McCarthy and the Army to deploy the D.C. National Guard to clear the Capitol. Instead, the Army delays for over half an hour and doesn’t inform D.C. National Guard Chief William Walker that troops can start moving until after 5 p.m. — three hours after guardsmen were loaded on buses to wait for authorization.
Some but not all of the terrorists begin to leave the Capitol. Outside, Trump supporter Jacob Chansley tells reporters that he was following Trump’s orders and that the terrorists won.
Donald Trump asked everybody to go home. He just said, just put out a tweet. It’s a minute long. He asked everybody to go home… We won the fucking day! We fucking won! We won by sending a message to the Senators and the Congressmen. We won by sending a message to Pence that if they don’t do as they–their oath to do, if they don’t uphold the Constitution, then we will remove them from office one way or another… Donald Trump is still our president.
Jacob Chansley
External Sources
Trending Politics – Walker Testimony
YouTube – Chansley
Sources cited on Wikipedia’s timeline
Sources cited in Trump File’s original post
Photo: Brent Stirton/Getty Images via NYDN