Rep. Liz Cheney during her primary election night party in Jackson, Wyoming, on Aug. 16, 2022. (Reuters/David Stubbs)
The committee, which included seven Democrats and two now-former Republican Congress members, Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, concluded that it found "no evidence" that the Trump administration called for 10,000 National Guard members to Washington, D.C., to protect the Capitol.
Trump has long claimed that he requested the National Guard but that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., failed to act on the request. Amid and following the congressional committee’s investigation, media outlets such as the Washington Post "debunked" Trump’s comments, repeatedly awarding him "Four Pinocchios."
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Loudermilk on Friday released a transcript of Ornato’s interview with the committee detailing that he overheard then-White House hief of staff Mark Meadows asking D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to request as much protection for D.C. as she needed.
"When it comes to the National Guard statement about having 10,000 troops or any other number of troops, do you recall any discussion prior to the 6th about whether and how many National Guard troops to deploy on January 6th?" a staffer with the committee asked Ornato.
Former President Donald Trump arrives for an election-night watch party at Mar-a-Lago on March 5, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Bowser ultimately asked for just over 300 National Guard members, who she requested would not be armed and only work to assist the local police department.
Ornato said in his interview with the committee that after Bowser refused additional National Guard members, the White House requested the Defense Department have a "quick reaction force" on hand.
"The only thing I remember with DOD and the National Guard was even though the mayor didn’t want any more National Guard in D.C., that a request was made to have kind of a, lack of better term, a quick reaction force out at Joint Base Andrews being that it was a military installation," Ornato said in his interview, according to the transcript.
"I remember Chief Meadows talking to DOD about that, I believe. I remember Chief Meadows letting me know that, ‘Hey, there was going to be National Guard that’s going to be at Joint Base Andrews in case they’re going to need some more, we’re going to – the Mayor would need any, we’re going to make sure they’re out there.'"
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Cheney’s spokesman Jeremy Adler told Fox News Digital on Sunday morning that the Federalist’s report is "flatly false."
"The Federalist report is flatly false. No transcripts were destroyed, and as this letter (which has long been public) describes in detail, the Committee adhered to its obligations to allow the Secret Service to protect sensitive security information for interviews of its agents before preserving that testimony in the archives," Adler said in a statement.
"Also, relevant content of the Secret Service transcripts was summarized in multiple places in the report… This is all a continuation of efforts to lie about and cover up Donald Trump’s culpability for January 6th," he added, providing links to summarized Secret Service transcripts.
Cheney also took to X this weekend and referred to the report as "BS" while responding to a tweet posted by Mark Levin.
Meadows was reportedly worried about the crowd size ahead of Jan. 6, including from left-wing protesters, according to the Federalist’s report, which pointed to Ornato’s transcript detailing members of the Trump administration wanted to ensure there were enough troops on the streets.
"And, again, the crowd sizes were, you know, the organizers were saying, you know, there may be 50,000 here. So that’s where it started, I think, to scare the chief a little bit of how many people were coming in for this event, and wanted to make sure that they would be able to bring in National Guard if needed for this size of this many people inside D.C.," Ornato said.
When supporters of former President Trump ultimately breached the Capitol, Ornato said in his interview that the White House called on acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to deploy assistance.
"So then I remember the chief saying, ‘Hey, I’m calling secretary of defense to get that [quick reaction force] in here,'" Ornato said.
"[T]he constant was, you know, where is the National Guard? Why isn’t – you know, we’ve got to get control of this," Ornato added.
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Liz Cheney took to X this weekend and referred to the report as "BS" while responding to a tweet posted by Mark Levin. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
The Jan. 6 report detailed that Gen. Mark Milley said Vice President Mike Pence had called acting Secretary Miller at least two times calling for National Guard presence, while Meadows had allegedly called to "kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions."
"In contrast, according to General Milley, Chief of Staff Meadows called and said, ‘We have to kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions. We need to establish the narrative, you know, that the President is still in charge and that things are steady or stable,’ or words to that effect. I immediately interpreted that as politics, politics, politics,’" the report states.
The report states Trump did not personally make a call.
Just days before Jan. 6, 2021, an op-ed penned by former defense secretaries, including Liz Cheney’s father Dick Cheney, argued against involving the military in election disputes. Hemingway cited a report in her piece that Liz Cheney "organized" the op-ed and had allegedly "‘secretly orchestrated’ a pressure campaign to prevent the Defense Department from deploying resources on January 6, 2021."
Trump has meanwhile previously claimed that Cheney "deleted" evidence that his administration wanted a greater presence of National Guard members.
A new article from The Atlantic warned that House Democrats may vote against certifying former President Trump's election if the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't rule whether he is eligible for office before. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
"Why did American Disaster Liz Cheney … ILLEGALLY DELETE & DESTROY most of the evidence, and related items, from the January 6th Committee of Political Thugs and Misfits. THIS ACT OF EXTREME SABOTAGE MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR MY LAWYERS TO PROPERLY PREPARE FOR, AND PRESENT, A PROPER DEFENSE OF THEIR CLIENT, ME. All of the information on Crazy Nancy Pelosi turning down 10,000 soldiers that I offered to to [sic] guard the Capitol Building, and beyond, is gone," Trump posted on Truth Social on Jan. 1, 2024.
The committee's final report determined that Trump "never gave any order to deploy the National Guard."
TRUMP SAYS FILES DELETED BY JAN 6 COMMITTEE ‘EXONERATED ME COMPLETELY’
"President Trump had authority and responsibility to direct deployment of the National Guard in the District of Columbia, but never gave any order to deploy the National Guard on January 6th or on any other day. Nor did he instruct any Federal law enforcement agency to assist. Because the authority to deploy the National Guard had been delegated to the Department of Defense, the Secretary of Defense could, and ultimately did deploy the Guard," the report states.
In his Friday statement and transcript release, Loudermilk claimed the committee "hid" Ornato’s testimony. Loudermilk is chairman of the House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight, which is looking into the Jan. 6 committee’s handling of the investigation.
"This is just one example of important information the former Select Committee hid from the public because it contradicted what they wanted the American people to believe. And, this is exactly why my investigation is committed to uncovering all the facts, no matter the outcome," Loudermilk said in his statement.
Fox News Digital reached out to Bowser, Loudermilk and the Trump campaign for additional comment on the matter, but did not immediately receive responses.
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