On the morning of January 5, then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sent an email saying the National Guard was on standby to “protect pro Trump people,” seemingly expecting violence on the U.S. Capitol the next day, Politico reported Sunday night.
The email, which part of a trove of documents Meadows shared with the bipartisan House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, was highlighted as “of high interest to congressional investigators probing whether Trump played a role in the three-hour delay between the Capitol Police’s urgent request for Guard support and their ultimate arrival at the Capitol, which had been overrun by pro-Trump rioters.”
The revelation came after the Committee announced in a 51-page document it will seek to hold Meadows in criminal contempt of Congress.
“Mr. Meadows sent an email to an individual about the events on January 6 and said that the National Guard would be present to ‘protect pro Trump people’ and that many more would be available on standby,” are the exact words from the Jan. 6 Committee’s report, according to Politico.
“The comment also aligns with testimony from former Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, who said that in a Jan. 3 conversation with Trump, the then-president told him to ‘do whatever was necessary to protect the demonstrators that were executing their constitutionally protected rights,'” Politico added.
Politico also noted that the Committee shows it is trying to draw a direct line from Trump to the coup itself.
Here’s how legal experts reacted to the news:
“In the House 1/6 committee’s just-released report, we hear some of the most troubling words ever uttered by a government official: Mark Meadows sent an email saying National Guard troops would “protect pro Trump people.” The corollary? They would not protect anti Trump people,” tweeted former federal prosecutor and NBC News/MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner.
Others were more direct, accusing Trump and Republicans of orchestrating a coup.
Raise you hand if you always knew this was an “inside jo involving the Trump, White House Admin, Republicans in the House and Senate, Pentagon Officials and POLICE! 🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️
— Third Coast (@ThirdCoast2020) December 13, 2021
So much evidence.
Where is Merrick Garland? pic.twitter.com/ZKyF7Qj2Qr
— TheSadTruth💙 (@ReportsDaNews) December 13, 2021
How he’d know that in advance…is quite the question.
Didn’t the report say that Meadows worked with Treason MVP (2017-2020) Kash Patel all day long on the 6th of January? Let’s ask that guy!
Oh and Mike Flynn’s brother who got six stars from Trump the last week of November.
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 13, 2021
Hiring a non-Trump appointed @FBI director seems like the lowest of low hanging fruit here.
— csd (@csd) December 13, 2021
INSANE: According to his contempt report, Former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows sent an email from his personal account saying that the National Guard would “protect pro-Trump people” re January 6th.
Who else thinks this should be a much bigger story? 🤚
— Really American 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican1) December 13, 2021
BREAKING – Mark Meadows email from January 6 says DC National Guard was on standby to “protect pro Trump people.”
Last I checked, I don’t recall the National Guard having a mission of protecting insurrectionists who were assaulting and killing police.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) December 13, 2021
My heart is broken for this country. I sure hope things are happening behind closed doors to bring major charges against these people. They’re committing blatant crimes before our eyes and we’re still, a year later, “investigating”? Indictments, please, @DOJgov.
— Bernadette Williamson (@Bernade88359301) December 13, 2021
Not to protect the capital or the people inside. Not to protect Senators or Representatives of both sides, or their staffs. But to protect “pro Trump people?” In other words, to protect the insurrection. https://t.co/4vpx8DZeGS
— Doug Stowe (@DougStowe) December 13, 2021
The more we learn the worse it gets. We knew it was bad—but hearing about it is appalling.
A coup is a coup. #GOPTraitors https://t.co/BdaOKD9CrO
— TPBlue (@TPBlue4) December 13, 2021
I may not be a constitutional scholar, but I’m pretty sure that commandeering the National Guard to protect the insurrectionists who are staging a deadly coup at the behest of a fascist sociopath who is trying to crown himself King of America is treason.https://t.co/xkhOpzlTM4
— The USA Singers (@TheUSASingers) December 13, 2021
Merrick Garland,
Mark Meadows sent an email from his personal account saying Nat. Guard will “protect pro Trump people” during Jan. 6 Insurrection.
IT. WAS. A. FUCKING. COUP. #TREASON!
If you don’t indict Trump, you’re facilitating it — you’re part of it! #StandAgainstFascism— Dr. Jack Brown (@DrGJackBrown) December 13, 2021
