Incredible video footage turned over this week to House Republican investigators show then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fleeing the U.S. Capitol during the January 6th riots. In the video, obtained by Just the News, Pelosi made it clear she did not want to evacuate the building and expressed regret that the National Guard had not been pre-positioned to protect Congress ahead of the contentious certification of the 2020 election results.
“We’re calling the National Guard now? They should have been here to start out,” Pelosi can be heard saying as she flees through a tunnel under the Capitol.
The footage given to Congress provides a contrast to Pelosi’s public insistence at the time that she had no responsibility for security arrangements for Jan. 6. However, the top House security officer, Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, reported to her.
In the footage, Pelosi can be seen pressing for Irving to resign immediately. And she acknowledged that her fellow lawmakers had repeatedly pressed her ahead of Jan. 6 to ensure there was adequate security.
“How many times did members ask, are we prepared? Are we prepared? We’re not prepared for the worst,” Pelosi stated on the tape.
In the new footage Pelosi says: “We’re calling the National Guard now? They should have been here to start out,” Pelosi can be heard saying as she flees through a tunnel under the Capitol on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021. Her daughter Alexandra was videotaping her for an eventual HBO movie.
Just the News notes Pelosi’s expressions of personal regret were not fully aired in that documentary and only recently were turned over to House Administration Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk, who took over the congressional investigation of Jan. 6 security failures when Republican came into control of the House in January 2023.
In bombshell testimony last year, ex-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told Congress he wanted the National Guard in advance of Jan. 6 but was denied permission to ask for them by the top security officials reporting to Pelosi and incoming Senate Leader Chuck Schumer.
“On January 3, I requested the assistance of the National Guard to support my perimeter and was denied by the two Sergeants at Arms over the concerns for politics and optics,” he testified.
The new footage turned over to Congress also shows that Pelosi was already plotting even as she was exiting the building to exact political revenge on Trump for staging the rally the same day as the vote certification.
“I just feel sick about what he did to the Capitol and the country today,” the then-speaker could be heard saying as she left in an SUV after order was restored and she returned to the Capitol to certify the vote. “He’s got to pay a price for that.”
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