A new video from the committee's interview with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley reveals that then-Vice President Mike Pence was the one who ordered National Guard troops to respond to the violence on Jan. 6, 2021.
According to the committee interview video presented by Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice-chair of the Jan 6. committee, Milley was told by the White House to claim that past US President Donald Trump made the order.
Per a CNN report, Milley said in the video: "Vice President Pence - there were two or three calls with Vice President Pence. He was very animated and issued very explicit, direct unambiguous orders. There was no question about that."
He referred to Pence as" very animated, very direct, very firm to Secretary Miller."
Killing The Narrative
Milley also described his interactions with Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, that day, drawing a stark contrast between those conversations with Pence.
"He 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," Milley discloses in the video, in reference to what Meadows said in their conversation.
"I immediately interpreted that as politics. Politics. Politics. Red flag for me, personally. No action. But I remember it distinctly," he said.
The video of Milley's testimony, currently the top US military officer in the Biden administration, discusses how the committee will focus on the truth of Trump's actions as the riot went out of control.
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Vice President Mike Pence appeared to be acting as a shadow president at times - he was the one who called the National Guard, not Trump. According to Cheney's opening statement, during the US capital riot, Trump implied that the rioters got the right idea when they chanted that Pence should be hanged.
The hearing's major focus was on the chaos and violence on January 6, 2021, per CBS News Report.
Capitol Police Officer Recalls Day of Carnage
Caroline Edwards, a Capitol Police officer who suffered a traumatic brain injury from the incident, testified about the attack on Jan. 6, calling it "carnage" and "chaos." No one sought to rescue Edwards when she went unconscious after being hit with a bike rack and slamming her head on the stairwell.
"I saw - I can just remember my breath catching in my throat because what I saw was just a war scene. It was something like what I had seen in the movies. I couldn't believe my eyes," the police officer said, Daily Mail reported.
While defending the United States, Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards recalled "slipping in blood" and rioters calling her "Nancy Pelosi's dog" while protecting The Capitol Building on January 6.
Her testimony was among the bulk heard for the first time by the committee, which has questioned over 1,000 people over the previous 17 months, including Trump advisors, law officers, and rioters, and examined hours of footage from January 6.
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