Newly released video HBO provided to congressional investigators shows former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claiming responsibility for the lack of police preparedness on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C., while she was fleeing the Capitol.
The video, shot by Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra, shows an irate Pelosi complaining about a lack of accountability for the incident.
“We have responsibility, Terry! We did not have any accountability for what was going on there, and we should have. This is ridiculous!” Pelosi exclaimed.
🚨 Since January 6, 2021, Nancy Pelosi spent 3+ years and nearly $20 million creating a narrative to blame Donald Trump.
NEW FOOTAGE shows on January 6, Pelosi ADMITTED:
“I take responsibility.”
WATCH: pic.twitter.com/95a0totTWB
— Oversight Subcommittee (@OversightAdmn) June 10, 2024
She then expressed contempt for what she appeared to feel was a late request for National Guard troops to help quell the situation.
“You’re gonna ask me in the middle of the thing, when they’ve already breached the inaugural stuff, ‘should we call the Capitol Police?’ I mean the National Guard. Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?”
“They thought that they had sufficient resources …” her Chief of Staff Terri McCullough answered, before Pelosi interjected. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Demand Comms Between Cassidy Hutchinson, Fani Willis’ Office For J6 Investigation)
“It’s not a question of how they had … they don’t know! They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more,” Pelosi concluded.
HBO released 45 minutes of footage to congressional investigators after a House Administration subcommittee requested it, according to Politico.
Congressional leaders, including Pelosi, chose not to deploy the National Guard early over concerns of “optics” amid 2020’s Black Lives Matter riots, according to a 2022 GOP report.
Additionally, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley’s fear former President Trump would commandeer the military for political reasons allegedly influenced the delay of deploying the National Guard, D.C. National Guard witnesses testified in April.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security had information beforehand that would suggest impending chaos and violence at the Capitol, but they failed to warn about or recognize it, according to a 2022 Senate report. They also allegedly ignored or downplayed a “massive amount” of intelligence.
“Throughout 2020, the FBI and DHS disseminated written documents detailing the potential for increased violent extremist activity at lawful protests and targeting of law enforcement and government facilities and personnel,” the report read.
“Despite online calls for violence at the Capitol, neither the FBI nor DHS issued a threat assessment or intelligence bulletin warning law enforcement entities in the National Capital Region of the potential for violence,” the report stated.