Army initially pushed to deny District's request for National Guard before Jan. 6

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

The Army initially pushed to reject the D.C. government’s request for a modest National Guard presence ahead of the Jan. 6 rally that led to the Capitol riot, underscoring the deep reluctance of some higher-ups at the Pentagon to involve the military in security arrangements that day. In an internal draft memo obtained by The Washington Post, the Army said the U.S. military shouldn’t be needed to help police with traffic and crowd management, as city officials had requested, unless more than 100,000 demonstrators were expected.

The draft memo also said the request should be denied because a federal agency hadn’t been identified to run the preparations and on-the-day operations; the resources of other federal agencies hadn’t been exhausted; and law enforcement was “far better suited” for the task. The Army leadership made its position clear in deliberations at the Pentagon the weekend before the event, citing those reasons among others, according to four people familiar with the discussions, who like others in this report spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal Defense Department matters.

The Army ultimately relented after facing pressure from acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, and realizing that District officials weren’t going to turn to the Justice Department for help instead, as the Army had wanted, the people said. Army Secretary Ryan D. McCarthy agreed to support the request, so long as a lead agency was identified and all other federal agencies “exhausted their assets to support these events,” according to the recommendation he gave in a revised final memo to Miller, who approved the request.

Still, the Army’s initial impulse to consider refusing military involvement in the security arrangements — even though the Guard is trained to assist law enforcement during large-scale protests and has done so regularly for decades in the District — shows the extraordinary steps officials at the Pentagon were taking to stay away from what was shaping up to be a politically toxic and volatile moment for the nation.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/capitol-riot-dc-national-guard-memo/2021/03/16/80949750-82de-11eb-bb5a-ad9a91faa4ef_story.html

[tanyev]

1. Was Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn part of that decision too?

Washington (CNN)

The Army is now acknowledging that Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, the brother of President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn, was in the room for one of the key January 6 phone calls in which DC government and US Capitol Police were asking for National Guard troops to quell the unfolding violence at the US Capitol.

The decision-making has come under scrutiny as city and Capitol Police officials have alleged that the Pentagon was slow to respond, while the Pentagon and Army maintain they never denied or delayed requests for the National Guard.

In official timelines released by the Department of Defense in the wake of the riot, Charles Flynn, the deputy chief of staff of the Army, was not listed as participating in any of the calls that day about mobilizing the National Guard to respond to the riot.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/21/politics/michael-flynn-brother-capitol-hill-riot/index.html

[BumRushDaShow]

2. When I watched one of the Senate hearings regarding the National Guard deployments and DOD

Gen. William Walker (who is the Commander of the D.C. National Guard) testified and repeatedly mentioned Flynn's name as being the principle in the decision, and he even attributed it to the "wrong" Flynn (Mike initially) and later corrected himself to say it was "Charles".

And then I found out that the 2 Flynns are brothers

All KINDS of in order here.

[tanyev]

3. There are several other Flynn siblings participating in the family project.

I wish this article specifically named which three. I also recall reading that Michael's son is a big Q hero.

In the weeks before the Capitol siege, Trump’s former national security adviser went on a far-right media blitz to promote wild conspiracy theories.

By Nick Robins-Early
02/21/2021 08:00 am ET

Michael Flynn stood in front of a cheering crowd of QAnon believers, far-right extremists and other Trump supporters, and told them he was absolutely certain Donald Trump would remain the president. It was Dec. 12 and Trump had already lost the election, but at a “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C., Flynn proclaimed “a spiritual battle for the heart and soul of this country” that would end with Trump’s victory.

As three of his siblings applauded behind him, Flynn vowed that the election was not over and that “courts aren’t gonna decide who the next president of the United States is gonna be.” Flynn said Trump trusted his supporters to “not allow what’s happening to happen in our country” and called on them to “fight back” against an alleged plot involving groundless conspiracy theories of election fraud and rigged voting machines.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michael-flynn-qanon-trump-capitol-riot_n_6026e076c5b680717ee79b5c

[BumRushDaShow]

5. I have seen quite a bit about his son

but yikes about more and more of his family.

Quick search indicates he has 4 brothers and 4 sisters. He has a younger brother Joseph who seems to be the "mouthpiece" on social media - https://www.newsweek.com/michael-flynn-qanon-pardon-trump-1550493

The other 2 brothers William and John don't seem to be bubbling up as signals above the noise of the rest of the family.

So I expect the "3" are Michael, Charles, and Joseph.

ETA - seems to be a family feud going on too about what is going on with the nonsensical QAnon crap - https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-flynns-family-is-at-war-with-each-other-over-qanon

[tanyev]

6. That's interesting.

I'm assuming Joseph and Barbara were two of the siblings in the Huffington Post article. The fact that they don't specifically name all three siblings attending the rally really makes me wonder if Lt. Gen. Charles was the third.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Found this article

https://www.salon.com/2020/07/06/mike-flynn-swears-allegiance-to-qanon-in-fourth-of-july-video/

President Donald Trump's first national security adviser Mike Flynn tweeted a video on Independence Day in which he administers an oath of allegiance to the QAnon conspiracy theory to a small group of family and friends.

In the video, Flynn, at the center of a group gathered around a suburban backyard fire pit, reads the U.S. oath of office from his phone screen. The group repeats the lines after him, each holding a hand in the air.

At the end of the constitutional oath, Flynn adds the QAnon slogan, "Where we go one we go all," which the group repeats. "God Bless America!" they all cheer as they pump their fists.

Flynn tagged the tweet "#TakeTheOath," an online challenge to join the QAnon movement. He also tagged his wife Lori Andrade, his brothers Jack Joseph (sic), his sisters Barbara Redgate and Mary O'Neill, his attorneys Sidney Powell and Molly McCann, as well as The Journey Home — a veterans advocacy group founded by Charlie Daniels of the Charlie Daniels Band.

Daniels died two days later, Monday, July 6, of a hemorrhagic stroke. He was 83 years old.

(the article appeared to be missing a comma between "Jack" and "Joseph" because he does have 2 brothers by those names, the "Jack" being "John P. Flynn" )

I have a feeling Charles might not have been there because he was deep in the fray of executing whatever "insurrection support" that needed to be done "from the inside".

[tanyev]

13. My first inclination was also that it was not Charles because surely

an active military officer at an event like that would have rated a mention in the article. But with the state of journalism these days, who knows? It does look like there’s no shortage of other family members willing to jump on the sedition train. It’s a family tradition....

[UpInArms]

4. I still want to know who these people worked for

in Portland

[IronLionZion]

9. It's time for lawmakers to require law enforcement officers to identify themselves

to avoid the unidentified officers tossing people into unmarked vans problem where people don't know if they're being kidnapped by terrorists. People should also be read their rights and told they're being arrested, not just grabbed off the street.

There are so many opportunities for reform

[bullimiami]

7. were there over 100000 protesters at the BLM?

[George II]

10. "the request should be denied because a federal agency hadn't been identified to run....

....the preparations and on-the-day operations...."

Another reason for statehood.

[Hekate]

11. KnR

[Evolve Dammit]

12. a "modest National Guard presence" may have made all the difference and kept it from happening.