Pelosi shockingly 'takes responsibility' for National Guard delay

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi admitted that she was responsible for the National Guard not being ready to deal with the January 6 Capitol riot. The bombshell admission comes nearly 3.5 years after the riot. Republicans say that the never-seen-before video undermines Democrats' claims that Trump was solely responsible for the security failures on January 6.

In a video shot by Pelosi's daughter, Alexandria, while the pair were escaping from the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the former speaker can be seen saying 'Why weren't the National Guard there to begin with?' 'They clearly didn't know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepared for more,' Pelosi said to her chief of staff Terri McCullough.

The video was published on X by Republicans leading the Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Oversight on Monday. The clip shows Pelosi in the back seat of a car driving speedily through what appears to be a Capitol complex parking garage.

As the car swiftly maneuvers through the structure, a frustrated Pelosi can be seen airing questions about how the riot quickly escalated. 'This is ridiculous,' the exacerbated Democrat tells her staffer in the video. 'You're going to ask me — in the middle of the thing when they've already breached the inaugural stuff — 'should we call the Capitol Police? I mean the National Guard.''

According to findings from the now defunct January 6 select committee, Pelosi, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other lawmakers were all shepherded by security personnel to Fort McNair in southwest Washington, D.C., as the protest raged on. 'Pelosi’s J6 Select Committee spent taxpayer’s money chasing false political narratives and using Hollywood producers for their ‘investigation,'' the subcommittee's chairman Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., wrote on X Monday. 'Her admission of responsibility directly contradicts their own narrative.'

Previously, the Democrat-led January 6th committee had sought to paint Trump as an insurrectionist for delaying or inhibiting a response from the National Guard. But, according to video reviewed by Politico, Pelosi attempted to coordinate a military response to the riots with then-Vice President Mike Pence, telling him 'we're disappointed that the [Secretary of Defense] took so long to approve the National Guard.' She told Pence while the riot was ensuing that the National Guard was already at the Capitol but did not yet have permission to engage the protestors.

That day Pelosi also questioned why Capitol Police had not appropriately planned for the large protest to turn violent and that those security officials should have been more forthcoming about what could happen on January 6. Still, despite the new video, the National Guard is jointly overseen by the U.S. Army and Air Force, which report to the president - not the Speaker of the House. The Capitol Police, however, do report to the speaker. Though they denied requesting additional National Guard troops.

But Pelosi critics say that she was in charge of the miscommunication leading to the National Guard's delayed response to the riot. 'For years- I testified under oath, in the media, and everywhere in between that Nancy Pelosi was responsible for not activating the National Guard on January 6 after President Trump constitutionally AUTHORIZED the guard- and provided the receipts,' former Trump advisor Kash Patel told DailyMail.com. Patel has said that he has been smeared for his claim that Trump authorized The Guard to respond three days before the riot on January 3.

The Trump advisor and former National Security Council official was in a January 3 meeting where he claims Trump gave his approval for defense officials to communicate to Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that they were authorized to deploy the National Guard to the District and the U.S. Capitol building amid threats of violence that day. He told DailyMail.com previously that the Capitol Police and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser both denied the offer for an armed National Guard presence.

Patel said 'we deployed the DOD leadership to Bowser and Pelosi and to Capitol Police that day' to inform them that they were able to deploy National Guard to help protect the Capitol and District. But he claims 'they said no.' 'Now, footage from Pelosi herself on Jan 6 shows she blamed herself for not doing more,' Patel said in a statement Monday. 'The lie was peddled by most all in the media and the American people were once again robbed of the truth for political expediency,' his statement continued.

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