Then-House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tried to immediately blame former President Donald Trump for the January 6 incident instead of taking responsibility as Speaker of the House, according to newly released redacted HBO footage from the House Committee on Administration.
The video supports claims by former President Donald Trump that Pelosi was responsible for failing to prepare sufficient security ahead of the protest.
The redacted footage, published by Politico on Wednesday, shows Pelosi being rushed off the House floor by Capitol Police to her SUV. Pelosi asked if then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had approved a request for the National Guard, the video shows. McConnell had approved it, according to a reply in the video.
Trump offered the National Guard in the days before January 6, but it was refused. “Trump was later faulted by critics for not intervening quickly to send the Guard during the riot,” as Joel Pollak reported in June.
“How many times did the members ask, ‘Are we prepared? Are we prepared?’ We’re not prepared for the worst,” Pelosi said in the video. “We’re calling the National Guard now? It should’ve been here to start out. I just don’t understand it. Why do we empower people this way by not being ready?”
The comments build upon comments from previous HBO footage released in June that revealed Pelosi admitting responsibility for not having the National Guard protect the Capitol building.
On January 7, Pelosi began plans to blame Trump for the incident instead of calling for the resignation of Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, Politico reported. “I think our focus has to be on the president. Let’s not divert ourselves,” Pelosi said. “I don’t want to have it on a par with the insurrection and impeachment and all of that.”
Politico reported on Pelosi’s public relations strategy to deflect any responsibility from herself:
Pelosi said she had spoken to Sund on Jan. 6 and that “he was throwing his own people under the bus.” As they discussed how sharply to criticize Sund for the Capitol Police’s failures, Pelosi urged aides to “soften” the language, describing a broad “failure of leadership at the top of the Capitol Police.”
The discussion then turned to the fate of the House’s top security official, Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving. The group discussed whether to keep Irving around to manage security for the upcoming inauguration.
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Pelosi wrapped up the conversation by asking for a list of Trump’s Cabinet so she could call them out by name when she urged them to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove the president from office. She also said she intended to describe Trump as “a domestic enemy in the White House.”
“Let’s not mince words about this,” Pelosi said.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.