Page:Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/766

 Chief Contee then addressed the Army generals: "'Are you guys honoring his request?' I asked them that. And they didn't say 'no,' but they also didn't say 'yes.' " Chief Sund recalled it the same way.

General Piatt said he was "clear in my response, 'I don't have any authority to deny or approve. The Secretary is getting approval.' "

"[T]he third time when they said, 'You're denying our request,' they also said, 'And we're going to go to the media,'" General Piatt said. "[W]e were desperate. Everyone was desperate. So I'm not angry at that, but I just knew it wasn't helpful, so we told that to Secretary McCarthy."

As for the threat to go public, Major General Walker said, "I remember that very clearly." According to him, after the generals would not say yes or no, "Chief Contee says: 'I'm going to call the mayor and ask her to have a press conference saying that the Army is not going to allow the DC Guard to come and support.' " General Piatt reportedly replied, "Please don't do that. I don't have the authority to authorize the National Guard to go. So please don't do that. Please don't hold the press conference." Chief Contee doesn't recall saying that. Mayor Bowser doesn't know if she was still on the line when the remark was made, but "it was certainly going to be something that I would do."

In the end, "the call sort of ended very abruptly, . . . ." The DC head of homeland security and emergency management left the call thinking "that help was not coming, and—at least [not] from the National Guard." That was Chief Sund's belief, too. "[I]f a general says his troops are not coming, his troops aren't coming," he said.

Before the call ended, General Flynn set up a video-conferencing bridge. General Piatt explained to the Select Committee that this was meant "to get the principals and the team together to start making a plan." But Major General Walker—under whom "it was actually written . . . would maintain control of National Guard forces"—said he was not privy to any planning while on the call.

"We were just told to hold," he said.

How long did Major General Walker hold?

"Three hours and 19 minutes," he said.

Major General Walker told the Select Committee regarding what occurred during this time. "[W]e all thought, it's in a minute, we're going to be told to go, in a minute. Then 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes. We kept thinking, any minute now, somebody is going to say 'go,' " he said. "And then an hour went by, then more time went by . . . . But we never thought it would take that long." Col. Matthews confirmed that there were periods on the call when no one was talking. At times, there was talk of securing buildings other than the Capitol. He called the open channel essentially "a general officer chat line."