Select Committee Chair Bennie Thompson: Pelosi never rejected National Guard on Jan. 6

Rep. Bennie Thompson speaks to reporters on US Capitol Grounds. Photo: Matt Laslo

Who?

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) — Ranking Member, Committee on Homeland Security

LISTEN: Laslo & Thompson

Ask a Pol asks:

What do you think about House Majority Leader Steve Scalise saying that the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol would have gone differently if then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi hadn’t rejected the National Guard?

Key Thompson: 

“I’m not aware she rejected the National Guard,” Rep. Bennie Thompson exclusively tells Ask a Pol politics. 

ICYMI — Laslo’s full reporting on Trump’s J6 claim in debate

This interview was first included in Matt Laslo’s Raw Story feature, 'Hugely offensive': Dems blast 'crazy' Trump's new J6 debate claims

Caught our ear: 

“When did that happen? You know, at that point, the Guard has to get permission to come on the Capitol grounds,” Thompson tells us. 

Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), slightly edited for clarity.

TRANSCRIPT: Rep. Bennie Thompson

SCENE: Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo waits in the wings with a young journalist as Rep. Bennie Thompson greets and poses for some pics with visitors on the US Capitol’s steps. His kind colleague lets him ask his question first. Cheers, new friend!

Matt Laslo: “This young lady needs you, but I just gotta tell you what Mr. [Majority Leader Steve] Scalise told me.”

Bennie Thompson: “Uh-huh.”

ML: “He says, and I quote, ‘The Capitol would have been secured in a completely different way if [then-Speaker Nancy] Pelosi didn’t do what she did in rejecting National Guard.’”

BT: “I’m not aware she rejected the National Guard.”

ML: “That’s what I thought, right?”

Thompson laughs.

BT: “Yeah, when did that happen? You know, at that point, the Guard has to get permission to come on the Capitol grounds.”

ML: “Yeah? So they’re just recreating history?”

BT: “Revisionist history.”

ML: “‘Revisionist history’?”

Thompson nods.

ML: “I’m gonna leave you to my colleague. Have a good one, sir.”

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