Trump and the Pentagon in coup attempt

Make no mistake about it: Trump and the Pentagon played key roles in the Jan. 6 coup attempt at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

The Pentagon was deeply involved. Members of the U.S. military, both active and veterans, as well as from numerous police forces across the country, were leading participants. But that fact is being quickly covered up.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) recognized it: “We can’t have a democracy if too many members of our police and our military are acting to overturn it and undermine it,” Sherrill said in a video posted on Facebook. 

Sherrill knows the military. She was a U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander serving at the U.S. Navy command center in Europe before she became a Congress member. 

Sherrill also said that Congress members gave “reconnaissance” tours” the day before the Capitol raid. “I was told later that members of that mob had zip ties, were wearing body armor and were looking to take prisoners … members of Congress.”

Many at the scene observed the military character of the assault on the Capitol.

A Black officer in the U.S. Capitol Police who was on duty during the attack told BuzzFeed News:

“That was a heavily trained group of militia terrorists that attacked us. They had radios, we found them, they had two-way communicators and earpieces. They had bear spray. They had flash bangs … They were prepared. They strategically put two IEDs, pipe bombs, in two different locations. These guys were military trained. A lot of them were former military,” the officer said.

The Appeal reports that least 28 sworn members of U.S. law enforcement agencies from at least 11 states have been identified by law enforcement agencies and local reporting as attendees of the Jan. 6 rally.” 

The “Insurrection Timeline – First the Coup and Then the Cover-Up,” published at “Moyers on Democracy,” details the central role played by Donald Trump and his new Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller. 

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser asked Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy — who reports to Miller — for more federal help to deal with the mob that had broken into the Capitol. McCarthy and Miller denied the mayor’s request and blocked deployment of the National Guard until hours later, after the insurrection had already been put down.

From the “Insurrection Timeline”: “Who is Christopher Miller?

“By Nov. 9, every news organization declared that former Vice President Joe Biden had won the election. On that day, Trump fired Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and replaced him with Miller, an Army retiree who worked for a defense contractor until Trump tapped him as his assistant in 2018. 

“Miller’s promotion began a departmental regime change that embedded three fierce Trump loyalists as top Defense Department officials: Kash Patel (former aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA)), retired army Gen. Anthony Tata (pro-Trump Fox News pundit) and Ezra Cohen-Watnick (former assistant to Trump’s first national security adviser, Mike Flynn).

“At such a late date in Trump’s presidency, many asked why the shake-up at the Department of Defense? We may be learning the answer.”