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- Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, said Thursday he had attempted to deploy his state’s National Guard to help Washington, DC, but was thwarted.
- Hogan said he was told “on several occasions” that he was not authorized to deploy troops, The Washington Post reported.
- According to the New York Times, the decision to authorize National Guard deployments ultimately came from Vice President Mike Pence, marking an apparent break with the chain of command.
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As besieged lawmakers pleaded for help, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said he was told “on several occasions” that he did not have the authority to deploy his State National Guard to help quell the pro-Trump insurgency on Capitol Hill.
According to the Washington Post, Hogan was urged to deploy the troops by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“I was actually on the phone with Chief Hoyer begging us to send the guard,” Hogan said, The Post reported. “He was yelling across the room at Schumer and they would come and go saying we had permission and I said, ‘I’m telling you we don’t have permission.'”
As rioters smashed windows and forced lawmakers into hiding, the Maryland National Guard chief learned he couldn’t come to the aid of the U.S. Capitol Police, according to Hogan.
Ninety minutes later, according to Hogan, Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy called him to request the deployment.
Typically, these calls come from the US Secretary of Defense. It wasn’t the only apparent breach in the chain of command on Wednesday. The order to deploy the National Guard did not come from the Commander-in-Chief, President Donald Trump, but rather from Vice President Mike Pence, according to the New York Times.
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