Newly released video footage shows former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressing regret over the lack of National Guard presence during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Despite this, she resisted calls to evacuate the building.
The video, which was recently handed over to House Republican investigators and obtained by Just the News, provides new perspective on Pelosi’s actions and remarks on the day when Congress was scheduled to certify the 2020 election results.
Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra, captured the footage for a forthcoming HBO documentary. It shows the former Speaker expressing frustration as she departed the Capitol through an underground tunnel.
“We’re calling the National Guard now? They should have been here from the beginning,” Pelosi is heard saying, indicating her disappointment that the National Guard was not deployed in advance to safeguard Congress as tensions escalated during the certification process.
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The recently released footage contradicts Pelosi’s public assertion that she was not responsible for the security preparations on January 6, despite the House Sergeant at Arms, Paul Irving, being under her direct authority.
In the video, Pelosi is seen urging Irving to resign and acknowledging that fellow lawmakers had repeatedly questioned the preparedness for that day. “How many times did members ask, are we prepared? Are we prepared? We’re not prepared for the worst,” Pelosi stated in the footage.
She further admitted, “We will have totally failed. And we’ve got to take some responsibility.”
The release of this footage coincides with the ongoing investigations led by Chairman Barry Loudermilk, who now heads the House Administration Oversight Subcommittee following the Republican takeover of the House in January 2023.
The video presents a striking contrast to Pelosi’s previous public statements and adds a new layer to the narrative surrounding the events leading up to and during the January 6 riot.
Further insight is provided by a report from Just the News two years ago, which revealed that President Donald Trump’s outgoing Pentagon leadership had offered National Guard assistance to Congress four days before the January 6 crisis.
This offer was reportedly declined by Deputy Police Chief Sean Gallagher after consulting with Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund. According to a Capitol Police after-action timeline, Gallagher informed the Department of Defense on January 3 that “a request for National Guard support [was] not forthcoming at this time.”
At that juncture, Capitol Police were reevaluating the potential for violence at the January 6 rally. Previous assessments had anticipated that the event would resemble previous “Million MAGA March” rallies, where violence had been minimal.
However, by late December, internal Capitol Police communications indicated that some groups planning to attend were discussing disruptive tactics such as blocking tunnels leading to the Capitol.
During his testimony before Congress last year, former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund stated that he had sought National Guard assistance on January 3, but his request was rejected by senior security officials who reported to Speaker Pelosi and incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“On January 3, I requested the assistance of the National Guard to support my perimeter and was denied by the two Sergeants at Arms over the concerns for politics and optics,” Sund testified.
Further footage handed over to Congress also shows Pelosi, after order had been restored, plotting her response to what she viewed as then-President Trump’s role in the day’s events.
As she left the Capitol in an SUV, she was heard saying, “I just feel sick about what he did to the Capitol and the country today. He’s got to pay a price for that.”
Earlier, during the initial evacuation, Pelosi made it clear that her resistance to leaving the Capitol was driven by a determination to proceed with the certification of Joe Biden’s presidency, stating, “First of all, I don’t agree with this, taking me out of the chair. But if they stop the proceedings, they will have to succeed in stopping the validation of the president of the United States.”
The ongoing revelations further illuminate the intricate decision-making and internal conflicts experienced by key officials during the January 6 Capitol riot, providing additional details that aid in the ongoing investigation and public comprehension of the events of that day.
