Page:CTRL0000034600 - Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021).pdf/171

171 I know Mike Sherwin did. And I can't speak for the other agencies. You'd have to ask them directly.

Do you know who Mike Sherwin was in touch with specifically from Capitol Police?

I don't. I don't know if he was talking to Chief Sund. I don't know if Dave Bowdich was talking to Chief Sund. I spoke to Chief Sund on the 6th, but I did not speak to him before that. I know that they were sitting at the same command centers together, and things of that sort.

Before we wrap up January 4th, let me just go through this email that evening, exhibit 39. This would be the acting AG, Mr. Rosen, approved the Secretary of the Army's plan to approve D.C. National Guard in support of Mayor Bowser's request.

Are you familiar with that?

Right. I am. I'm familiar with the process because, unlike a governor, the Mayor of D.C. doesn't have the authority to call out the National Guard. That authority is with the President. The President has delegated that authority to the Secretary of Defense.

So when the D.C. Mayor wants to use the National Guard, they put in a request. It goes up the DOD chain of command. DOD asks DOJ about the legality of it.

And this is clearly a situation where it's perfectly legal to use the D.C. National Guard to back up local law enforcement. So they just formalized that with an opinion that says, yes, it's legal to use D.C. National Guard in this way.

It's not approving a plan or not, or anything like. It's simply saying, as a legal matter, you can use the Guard this way.

In other words, DOJ didn't review any of the requests the Mayor had concerning the D.C. National Guard?