The Defense Department used a Friday night “urgent” background briefing to lay out a response timeline to the Wednesday siege of the Capitol by rioters that downplayed the importance of delaying authorization for Maryland National Guard members to help.
“You’re down a rabbit hole,” a senior defense official told the Washington Examiner when asked why authorization for the Maryland National Guard to enter the district was delayed by an hour and a half.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday that he was “repeatedly denied” authorization to provide Maryland Guard members to help retake the Capitol.
Hogan also said his authorization was delayed by 90 minutes, a claim the Defense Department disputed throughout Friday. Ultimately, the Capitol was not declared secure until 8 p.m.
“Nothing with regard to a phone call from the secretary of Army or paperwork from DOD in any way inhibited that timeline,” the defense official added. “They were moving in a parallel track. The approvals were moving. They entered the D.C. and were on station in a timeline that is no different than if they had gotten the approvals the first second.”
But the head of the Maryland National Guard told the Washington Examiner on a Friday afternoon media call that he did not receive the authorization that he needed to enter the district until 5:30 p.m.
“I’m in charge of Maryland National Guard. I received it at 1730,” said Maryland National Guard Adjutant General Army Maj. Gen. Timothy Gowen. “At 1730, we finally received official notification from the secretary of defense that we can move our guys into D.C. on 502(f) orders, and that’s what we needed.”
The senior defense official said having that authorization did not matter.
“You’re looking at the signing of a piece of paper that ensures funding for that movement,” he said. “He was given a verbal authorization from the secretary of the army at 1640.”
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, however, told the Washington Examiner on Friday morning, “I don’t remember,” when asked if Hogan asked him for the authorization on his 4:40 p.m. phone call.
“I remember thanking him, ‘please get them here quickly. I’ll take good care of them.’ It was a more of a professional courtesy,” McCarthy added, noting the Hogan call occurred “way after” Miller authorized the Maryland National Guard to enter Washington.
McCarthy told Pentagon journalists Miller’s authorization for the D.C. National Guard and other states came at 3 p.m.
“That was 3 o’clock when the decision was made,” McCarthy said early Friday. “We were literally running down the hall to SecDef’s office. We’re watching the TV in his office, green light, go. Move all the Guard, other states.”
The Friday morning authorization timeline was also walked back Friday night by the senior defense official.
“The further point to make is [they] did not arrive until 10 a.m. the next morning, and that is from when they started their initial movement till 10 a.m. the next morning,” he said. “That was 14 hours after the Capitol was secured. So, the conversation about Maryland, Virginia, or Maryland, in particular, is I think gone down a rabbit hole.”
