Reprinted from hartmannreport.com
So, which was it?
Because of the diligent work from the January 6th Select Committee in the House of Representatives, we're learning that "stop the steal" was first planned for when Trump lost the 2016 election, except they had to put it on the shelf for four years because he unexpectedly won.
We're also learning that at least ten members of the House of Representatives, and perhaps a few Senators, were in on at least some of the planning to commit sedition and/or treason by overthrowing a clean and lawful election for president while assassinating the Vice President and Speaker of the House. And they appear to have dragged the wife of a Supreme Court Justice into it all.
What we don't really know much about is why there was no military or significant police interaction during the more-than-three-hours the building was being ransacked as assassins looked for Pence and Pelosi and a militia group searched room-by-room with meticulous military discipline for the Electoral College ballots.
Did the Pentagon hold back because they were hoping the Vice President and Speaker would be "neutralized" so Trump could declare a state of insurrection or emergency and impose martial law, as his advisor General Flynn appears to have recommended?
Or was it because the Pentagon was afraid that once National Guard troops showed up at the Capitol their presence, in and of itself, would provide Trump with the necessary pretext to declare that state of martial law - and they were working to deny him that opportunity?
Were they traitors or saviors?
Or just bunglers trying to avoid "bad optics," as General Flynn's brother asserted when he participated in the phone call to deny immediate deployment of troops?
And, if that was the case, why did the Pentagon repeatedly lie about Flynn's brother being on the call until that lie no longer held up?
After Senate-confirmed Secretary of Defense Mark Esper refused to follow Trump's instructions to order troops to shoot at people protesting George Floyd's murder, Trump broke/ignored the law and replaced him with Christopher Miller, a man Trump believed would take his orders.
Acting Defense Secretary Miller, in the effective role of commander of our entire military just one step below the Commander-in-Chief (on who is behalf he acted), then issued a memo on January 4th (at the bottom of this rant) specifically directing the National Guard:
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Not to be issued weapons, ammunition, bayonets, batons, or ballistic protection equipment such as helmets and body armor.
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Not to interact physically with protestors, except when necessary in self-defense or defense of others, consistent with the DCNG Rules for the Use of Force.
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