WASHINGTON: Shortly after 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy received the first of several calls from Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington, DC. Trump supporters were breaking the Capitol, overwhelming police offensives, and Mrs. Bowser wanted DC National Guard soldiers to receive reinforcements.
Pentagon officials called for clarification, saying they needed a request based on capabilities rather than the number of forces, defense officials said. “What do you want to do with them?” asked a U.S. official. “There was a certain sense of urgency, but not a sense of panic. We wanted these guys to move. “
It took about 90 minutes to address these needs, and Mr. McCarthy approved the relocation of 200 troops already to traffic checkpoints and city subway stations. It took longer before the soldiers recovered protective equipment and arrived at the Capitol.
In those hours, the crowd revolted in the corridors and offices of Congress, in the first siege of the building by American citizens. Five people were killed, including a woman shot by police as she climbed through a shattered glass door outside the chamber and a police officer mortally wounded after being hit in the head with a fire extinguisher.
As the riots stormed the Capitol, the numerous federal and local agencies policing the nation’s capital produced a flood of urgent communications, but struggled to order the lines of command and coordinate a forceful response to the assault that was out control.