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Right-wing media revive the false claim that Trump authorized 10,000 National Guard troops for January 6

Written by Jacina Hollins-Borges

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Right-wing media have revived false claims that Donald Trump ordered 10,000 National Guard troops to protect the Capitol on January 6, 2021, this time suggesting that members of the House January 6 committee, specifically former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), hid testimony exonerating the disgraced former president. The committee’s 2022 report concludes that Trump did not communicate an official authorization, as shown by former Secretary of Defense Chris Miller’s testimony that Trump never ordered him to have National Guard troops ready.

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  • False claims that Trump authorized the National Guard emerged in the weeks after January 6

    • On February 7, 2021, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows appeared on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures to claim National Guard troops were offered repeatedly to protect the Capitol on Trump’s orders. He said that “help was offered multiple times” over the summer of 2020 and in the lead-up to January 6, but “every time was rebuked.” He went on to say, “As many as 10,000 National Guard troops were told to be on the ready by the secretary of defense. That was a direct order from President Trump.” [Fox News, Sunday Morning Futures, 2/7/21]
    • On February 28, 2021, Trump said on Fox News that the White House relayed to the Department of Defense that it would need 10,000 National Guard troops to protect the Capitol on January 6. He claimed his authorization was then rejected by D.C. officials and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). [Fox News Digital, 3/1/21]
    • Former Department of Defense official Kash Patel has repeatedly claimed that Trump explicitly authorized 10-20,000 National Guard troops to protect the Capitol in an early January meeting, and that this offer was rejected by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. [Fox News, Hannity, 1/6/22; Media Matters, 7/27/22] 
    • The Washington Post’s Fact Checker has debunked this claim multiple times, writing that the mention of 10,000 troops “appears to have been an offhand remark” rather than a direct order, as Meadows and Patel claimed, and that the comment never made it past the Department of Defense. [The Washington Post, 3/2/21; 12/15/21]

  • Right-wing media now allege that the January 6 committee intentionally hid evidence that Trump called for the National Guard to protect the Capitol on January 6

    • On March 8, The Federalist published a piece arguing that the committee intentionally hid definitive evidence that Trump ordered the National Guard on January 6, largely blaming Cheney. Fox News contributor and Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway cited testimony from former Secret Service official Anthony Ornato as proof that Trump tried to protect the Capitol. She also argued that the January 6 committee “suppressed the transcript from public review” to serve preconceived conclusions blaming Trump for January 6. [The Federalist, 3/8/24]
    • The Washington Times wrote: “Jan. 6 committee kept a lid on testimony Trump pushed for extra troops at Capitol.” Citing Ornato’s testimony, the March 11 article claimed, “The Democrat-run House Jan. 6 committee suppressed testimony about President Trump pushing for National Guard troops to protect the U.S. Capitol on the day of the riot.” [The Washington Times, 3/11/24]
    • Fox News focused on a statement from Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), who is leading a counter-investigation into the January 6 committee and released transcript from Ornato’s testimony claiming that it was intentionally hidden. Loudermilk wrote, “This is just one example of important information the former Select Committee hid from the public because it contradicted what they wanted the American people to believe. And, this is exactly why my investigation is committed to uncovering all the facts, no matter the outcome.” [Fox News Digital, 3/10/24; Committee on House Administration, 3/8/24]
    • In a March 11 interview on Newsmax host Greg Kelly’s radio show, Patel claimed the testimony was never made public because “the deep state” is trying to prevent Trump from regaining the presidency. Calling Ornato an “apolitical senior Secret Service officer” despite his time working as Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff, Patel claimed that his testimony “was buried by none other than Liz Cheney and the entire January 6 Committee. They hid the evidence from the American public, that’s the breaking news.” [WABC, The Greg Kelly Show, 3/11/24; Media Matters, 6/10/22; CBS News, 11/29/22]
    • On The Glenn Beck Program, Patel celebrated that the testimony confirms his account, calling it “the exculpatory evidence that Liz Cheney and company have buried for two years to achieve political gain.” [TheBlaze, The Glenn Beck Program, 3/11/24]

  • Cheney and others have debunked these claims, pointing to the January 6 committee’s official report

    • Fact-checkers quickly noted multiple falsehoods and misleading claims in Hemingway’s March 8 Federalist article. A post at Just Security found repeated errors in the story, concluding, “Ornato testified in Jan. 2022 that he was not aware of any ‘order’ to deploy the National Guard on Jan. 6, 2021. Both Loudermilk and Hemingway ignored or otherwise failed to mention this part of Ornato’s testimony, which is entirely consistent with the January 6th Committee’s finding.” [Just Security, 3/12/24]
    • Cheney and others pushed back on X (formerly Twitter), pointing to Miller’s testimony that Trump never gave him an order for 10,000 National Guard troops and a November 2023 ruling that Patel is “not a credible witness.” In the wake of the new accusations, others have made similar points. [Twitter/X, 3/9/24, 3/10/24, 3/10/24]
    • Ornato’s testimony was not initially made public because it was part of a set of Secret Service testimonies that were not released as part of a deal with the Department of Homeland Security to protect sensitive information. [Politico, 1/26/24]
    • The New York Times also reported at the time of Ornato’s interview that some members of the committee expressed concern that he was not being fully honest with the panel. [The New York Times, 11/28/22]