Nancy Pelosi Blames Herself for Lack of National Guard Troops at Capitol on Jan 6

Newly released video footage shows former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi taking responsibility for the lack of National Guard troops at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. In the video, Pelosi acknowledges a lapse in security planning on that critical day.

Video Footage and Admission by Nancy Pelosi

The footage, captured by Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra for an HBO documentary, was released by House Republicans. In the video, Pelosi is heard expressing her frustration over the security failures during Donald Trump’s ‘Stop The Steal’ rally.

Statements By Pelosi Grabbing Headlines in US Politics:

“We have responsibility, Terry,” Pelosi tells her chief of staff, Terri McCullough, as they drive away from the Capitol. “We did not have any accountability for what was going on there, and we should have. This is ridiculous.”

Pelosi then criticizes McCullough for questioning whether the National Guard should have been called earlier. “You’re gonna 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. Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?”

McCullough explains that the security team believed they had sufficient resources. “It’s not a question of how they had … they don’t know! They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more,” Pelosi responds.

After Nancy Pelosi’s Statement,  Context and Reactions:

This conversation is part of a 45-minute footage submitted to the GOP-controlled House Administration oversight subcommittee. A previous report by House Republicans in 2022 suggested that Democratic leaders were concerned about the optics of deploying National Guard troops at the Capitol following the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. In the days following the January 6 riot, the House and Senate Sergeant at Arms and the chief of Capitol Police resigned.

A spokesperson for Pelosi dismissed the footage released by House Republicans, accusing them of attempting to “whitewash” the events of January 6. “Numerous independent fact-checkers have confirmed that Speaker Pelosi did not plan her own assassination,” Aaron Bennett wrote on X. “Cherry-picked out-of-context clips don’t change that.”

“Three years later, House Republicans are still trying to whitewash January 6th,” Bennett added. “It’s shameful, unpatriotic & pathetic.”