Did Donald Trump request National Guard troops to protect the Capitol Building on January 6th? That claim has been a point of contention for years, with figures like Liz Cheney steadfastly claiming no evidence exists to support it. Now, newly unearthed testimony, allegedly suppressed by the January 6th committee for years, is telling a different story. 

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According to The Federalist, which obtained the transcript in question, then-Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornato testified under oath that he heard then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows make the request. 

Former Rep. Liz Cheney’s January 6 Committee suppressed evidence that President Donald Trump pushed for 10,000 National Guard troops to protect the nation’s capital, a previously hidden transcript obtained by The Federalist shows. 

Cheney and her committee falsely claimed they had “no evidence” to support Trump officials’ claims the White House had communicated its desire for 10,000 National Guard troops. In fact, an early transcribed interview conducted by the committee included precisely that evidence from a key source. The interview, which Cheney attended and personally participated in, was suppressed from public release until now.

Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornato’s first transcribed interview with the committee was conducted on January 28, 2022. In it, he told Cheney and her investigators that he overheard White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows push Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to request as many National Guard troops as she needed to protect the city.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser was the official with the authority to allow National Guard troops in the city. Ornato also told the January 6th committee, including Cheney (who was present for his deposition), that Trump thought 10,000 troops would be necessary given the size of the protests expected. Bowser reportedly denied the offer for a large force, though, and instead put strict limits on the few hundred troops that were allowed to be present in the area. 

None of these details comport with Cheney's claim in the committee's final report that Trump never requested National Guard troops to help secure the grounds. That would explain why the January 6th committee, which was only interested in placing blame on the former president, did not release this testimony and instead kept it locked away. It is only being released now as part of a Republican House investigation into the matter. 

There appears to have been an official narrative, decided on by Cheney and others on the committee, and anything that countered it was not to be made public. No legitimate reason existed to keep this information hidden away. This was a political decision, meant to ensure that the final report centered on Trump's supposed culpability, with the idea being that he openly sabotaged efforts to secure the Capitol. 

Given the amount of testimony that still hasn't been released, more evidence showing malfeasance by the January 6th committee may be coming. What seems to be not in dispute at this point is that what happened on that day was complicated and fast-moving, with the cartoon-villain version Cheney and her cohorts told not being a true representation.