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Jul 26, 2022 - Politics & Policy

Ex-defense secretary denies Trump ordered troops to protect Capitol on Jan. 6

Shawna Chen

Christopher Miller, former acting Defense secretary, attends a House Freedom Caucus news conference outside the U.S. Capitol in February. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

Former President Trump never gave an order to deploy 10,000 troops deployed to protect the Capitol on Jan. 6, former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller testified in a video released by the Jan. 6 select committee on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Trump previously said he requested up to 20,000 National Guard troops ahead of Jan. 6 because he had a feeling "the crowd was going to be very large." Miller's testimony contradicts that claim.

What he's saying: "I was never given any direction or order or knew of any plans of that nature," Miller says in the video.

  • "There was no direct, there was no order from the president."
  • "We obviously had plans for activating more folks, but that was not anything more than contingency planning," Miller adds. "There was no official message traffic or anything of that nature."

The big picture: The Jan. 6 committee previously revealed both General Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Mike Pence's former national security adviser Keith Kellogg testified that Trump did not request a law enforcement response prior to the day of the insurrection.

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