Page:CTRL0000034600 - Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021).pdf/157

157 the city council, exercising authority independent from the main Federal Government.

So I want to jump ahead to that evening. You spoke at length about that January 3rd 6:00 p.m. meeting at the White House.

According to the Army official timeline, Secretary Miller and Milley have just met with President Trump. In fact, you said you saw General Milley that evening.

Yes.

Did former President Trump mention the activation of the D.C. National Guard at any time during the White House meeting that you were present at, or was it solely about election matters?

No, it was solely about the change in leadership at the Department, or the potential change in leadership. Nothing about January 6th was discussed in the Oval Office when I was there.

Now, according to Secretary McCarthy, after that meeting that General Milley had on the 3rd, the White House designated DOJ as the lead Federal agency. Was this designation mentioned to you at all by anyone from the White House?

No. At no time prior to January 6th did I or, to my knowledge, anyone else at DOJ receive information that we had been designated as a lead Federal agency.

And more so, when we had the conversation on the 4th with General Milley and Secretary Miller and Secretary McCarthy and we told them we would not be the lead Federal agency, no one came back and said, "But the White House has already designated you as such." So it doesn't make any sense.

Before—

Mr. Andres. Which isn't to say that on January 6th you were the lead Federal agency either.

Mr. Donoghue. Right. Exactly. I mean, things change on January 6th and we