Donald Trump’s own acting Secretary of Defense just dealt him a blow
Immediately after Donald Trump was declared the loser of the 2020 election, he fired his Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and replaced him with acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller. Miller remained on the job through the end of Trump’s term, including during the January 6th insurrection.
Now Miller is flat out admitting that Trump incited the insurrection, in a new interview with Vice. Of course we all already know this. But it’s striking for Trump’s own acting Secretary of Defense, who was running the Pentagon at the time, to publicly admit it. This is a big deal for a couple reasons.
First, this is a blow to any reasonable doubt defense that Trump might be planning to make at trial if he’s criminally charged for the insurrection. In fact Miller’s words could make it easier for prosecutors to bring charges against Trump for the insurrection in the first place.
Second, it’s been widely reported that high level officials at the Pentagon delayed a National Guard request for hours while the Capitol was being held under siege. This happened on Christopher Miller’s watch. There will certainly be a federal criminal investigation into what really happened at the Pentagon that day. Miller seems to be positioning himself to work with prosecutors. If he were planning to stonewall, he’d likely be trying to downplay the severity of the insurrection.
