Page:Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/764

 am pleading,'" Chief Contee said. Col. Matthews, listening in beside Major General Walker, said of Chief Sund: "His voice was cracking. He was almost crying."

According to Chief Contee, the reaction to his pleas was "tepid." "It was a very sluggish response," Chief Contee said. "I remember just, you know, with all that was going on, not hearing a 'yes,' you know, just . . . what I would in my mind qualify as, like, excuses and not decisive action . . . I was hearing, like, all the reasons, you know, why we shouldn't be doing this." Director Rodriguez called it a "kind of bureaucratic" response in the midst of "a rapidly evolving situation where literally the Capitol was being overrun." He added: "I don't want to use the word disinterested, but more just, 'let's just hold on. Let's just wait. Let's just kind of calm down for a second while literally Rome is burning.' "

For his part, General Flynn depicted General Piatt—the main interlocutor—as "the calming voice in an otherwise chaotic situation." General McConville agreed: "I talked to some of my staff, and they said that General Piatt did an incredible job. He was like the—you know, in a very calm [voice], just saying, 'let's just settle . . . .' "

But Major General Walker said he "just couldn't believe nobody was saying: 'Hey, go.' " He asked the generals on the other line, "'Aren't you watching the news? Can't you see what's going on? We need to get there.' And [I was] cognizant of the fact that I'm talking to senior . . . people, but I could see what was happening . . . ." Chief Sund was "perplexed" and "dumbfounded." "It wasn't what I expected of, yeah, the cavalry's coming. It was a bunch of, round-the-house, oh, hey, let's do this, let's do that," he said. "I was borderline getting pretty pissed off."

Many participants on the call say General Piatt's stated concern was the optics of sending troops to the site of a democratic process.

"[T]he infamous talk about optics. That came up again. There was talk about boots on the ground again. You know, that's not good optics, having boots on the ground," Chief Contee said. He recalled how Secretary McCarthy had vocalized the same hesitance during the five-day deliberation preceding January 6th.

Director Rodriguez believed General Piatt replied to the request by saying, "[W]e don't like the optics of having military personnel at the Capitol against peaceful protesters."

He recalls Chief Contee replying bluntly, "[W]ell, they're not peaceful anymore."

Major General Walker heard one of the Army generals say it "wouldn't be their best military advice or guidance to suggest to the Secretary that we