The former head of the District of Columbia National Guard is demanding that the Department of Defense inspector general amend the report on the events leading up to and during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
William Walker, now retired from the military and serving as the House sergeant-at-arms, has taken exception with one part of the Office of Inspector General’s report that alleges Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy called him at 4:35 p.m. notifying him that the D.C. National Guard had been approved to deploy to the Capitol.
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Inspector General Sean O’Donnell concluded that Walker was notified then and again at 5:08 p.m., though the former National Guard chief has said the latter time was when he was first informed that he could dispatch the National Guard.
Walker told the Washington Post that the inspector general’s investigation was “incomplete,” “inaccurate,” and “sloppy work.”
The Capitol was breached at 1:50 p.m., demonstrating how long it took for the D.C. National Guard to get approval to assist.
“Every minute mattered. You have to understand: These are my friends here,” Walker said.
The Office of Inspector General interviewed more than 44 witnesses, including Walker, and it concluded that the military’s response was “reasonable in light of the circumstances and that Pentagon officials were within their purview in not approving military assistance immediately.”
Every witness “had an opportunity to provide information they believe was relevant to our review,” Megan Reed, a spokeswoman for the inspector general, told the Washington Post. “Our independent and impartial report presents Maj. Gen. Walker’s statements to us and his testimony to Congress, as well as information and statements provided by other witnesses.”
There have been conflicting reports about when exactly Walker was notified.
Robert Salesses, a top Pentagon official who testified on Capitol Hill with Walker earlier this year, said the Pentagon informed the D.C. National Guard it could move forward at 4:32 p.m., but he later walked that back.
“In fairness to Gen. Walker, too, that’s when the [acting] secretary of defense made the decision — at 4:32,” Salesses said. “As Gen. Walker has pointed out, because I’ve seen all the timelines, he was not told that until 5:08.”
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But the director of the Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt, said in June that McCarthy notified Walker at 4:35 p.m.
On the morning of Jan. 6, thousands of Trump supporters flocked to the nation’s Capitol to hear then-President Donald Trump speak. At the time, and to this day, Trump has maintained that he was the rightful winner of the election, and he encouraged his supporters to go to Capitol Hill on that day while Congress affirmed Joe Biden’s presidential victory to express their displeasure.
The protest turned violent, with some participants attacking police officers, and there have been hundreds of arrests as well as a handful of deaths as a result of the actions on Jan. 6.
