Capitol insurrection: Former DC National Guard head testifies to House Committee

One of the questions surrounding the Capitol insurrection was the delayed response of other law enforcement authorities to the siege that occurred. Following the damning evidence turned over by Mark Meadows to the House Committee, former DC National Guard leader William Walker was revealed to testify before the panel this week.

CNN reports that Walker met with the committee to address the questions regarding their delayed deployment to stop the insurrection. Walker was reportedly spotted going into the Committee hearing room Monday and later confirmed that he testified before the committee on what he knew about the insurrection. Walker became the House Sergeant-at-Arms back in April but led the National Guard in DC on January 6.

“I’m not really supposed to talk about it. It was all about January 6,” said Walker. This follows one of the emails Meadows turned over to the panel, revealing that the then-White House chief of staff requested the National Guard to protect the twice-impeached former president’s supporters.

Back in March, Walker told the Senate Committee investigating the insurrection that even if he did not need instructions from the leadership at the Pentagon to get troops to respond to the riots, a memo received on January 5 told him to seek approval from the Army and Defense Secretaries before getting troops to respond to a civil disturbance. Walker described the memo as “unusual. Walker also noted that it took three hours for officials to allow him to send his troops to the insurrection.

Meanwhile, House Committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson hinted which lawmakers sent the damning text messages to Meadows on January 6. Aside from text messages coming from Fox News personalities Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade, and Laura Ingraham, and even Donald Trump Jr, the committee’s vice-chair Rep. Liz Cheney also noted that the panel has text messages sent to Meadows by sitting members of Congress.

“There won’t be any surprises as to who they are,” Thompson told NBC News. Less than 10 text messages from lawmakers to Meadows were obtained by the panel.

Reports on social media claimed that Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, Paul Gosar, Jody Hice, Lauren Boebert, Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Scott Perry, Andy Biggs, and Madison Cawthorn are included in the text messages. However, the lawmakers involved have yet to be confirmed.