Mike Pence forced to send National Guard to U.S. Capitol after Donald Trump refused

| 6:41 pm EST January 6, 2021
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One of the many lingering questions from today’s domestic terrorist attack against the U.S. Capitol: why did it take hours for a badly overmatched Capitol Police to receive reinforcements? Now that answer is starting to become more clear, and it naturally leads back to Donald Trump.

The New York Times is reporting that after Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser asked the Pentagon to send the DC National Guard into the Capitol Building, Donald Trump refused to sign off on it – and Vice President Mike Pence ultimately had to sign off on it instead. It’s not yet clear how much of a delay this created. But given how long the Capitol Police were hung out to dry, it appears that Trump dragged out the process for hours.

Trump’s decision to delay things means that he intervened to protect his own supporters during their terrorist attack, making him criminally complicit in it. Pence’s subsequent ability to override Trump suggests that Trump is completely in the weeds. This comes even as Pence faces increasing pressure tonight – including from some Republican leaning groups – to invoke the 25th Amendment.