The former defense secretary and former Trump attorney general defended their actions against the assault on the Capitol

Both insisted to the members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee Representatives who were prepared and therefore responded adequately to the attack that left 5 dead

Photo: EFE / EFE

On Wednesday, two former Trump administration officials sought to defend their response to the attack on Capitol Hill of the United States on January 6, insisting that they were prepared and responded adequately to the insurrection that left five people dead. , reported POLITICAL .

Former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and former Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller said at a House Oversight Committee hearing that had no interaction with Trump during the riot.

“I didn’t require it,” Rosen said when questioned by committee chair Carolyn Maloney (DN.Y.) “I didn’t require any authority that the department didn’t already have.”

Rosen said he was “proud” d and response to attack on the Capitol on January 6 , and said it displayed more than FBI and ATF agents and US Marshals to “assist in restoring order to the Capitol.”

Miller repeated the same message. “He had all the authority he needed and he knew what had to happen,” said the former defense official, adding that Trump had given him that authority in the days leading up to the riot.

Christopher Miller told the members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee that supported “all the decisions I made that day,” including not immediately deploying troops to the Capitol.

Miller testified that was concerned that sending troops to the Capitol would stoke fears of a military coup.

The former acting chief of the Pentagon said the mayor of Washington DC Muriel Bowser requested the support of the National Guard at 1 : 30 pm ET, shortly after the siege began.

Miller said it approved the full deployment of the National Guard at 3 p.m. and that the first troops arrived at the Capitol about two hours later. Criticisms of that response, Miller said, “reflect inexperience or lack of understanding of the nature of military operations, or worse, it is simply the result of politics.”

And despite the harsh criticism Miller received from Democrats, seemed to break with Republicans who They sought to minimize the events of January 6. “I agree that it was an act of terrorism,” said.

Both Rosen and Miller testified that they were not in communication with then-President Donald Trump on January 6, even after the violent mob stormed the Capitol.

The representative Carolyn Maloney , Democrat of New York and chair of the panel, said that it is clear that the previous administration did not prepare adequately for the attack to the Capitol despite the promotion of a Trump rally for weeks to protest the certification of the election.

“The federal government was not prepared for this insurrection, even though it was planned in full view on social media for the world to see”, Maloney said in his opening remarks. “Security collapsed before the crowd, and reinforcements were delayed for hours when the Capitol was invaded.”

The Republican lawmakers who began questioning at the hearing seemed determined to minimize the seriousness of events on Capitol Hill.

Several Democrats attempted to refute the Republican position by citing the harsh reprimand he gave Trump in January for stoking the attack on the Capitol, the then Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell .