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Former White House Chief of Staff Mark MeadowsFox News / YouTube

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WASHINGTON, D.C., February 10, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The most serious and specific claim related to the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, that he delayed sending military assistance to Capitol Hill Police overwhelmed by the rioters who stormed Congress on January 6, is simply not true, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows argued Sunday.

During an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo (full interview below; relevant portion begins at 2:41), Meadows asserted that Trump repeatedly offered additional National Guard assistance to the nation’s capital, which was one of the cities set ablaze by Black Lives Matter rioters last year, but was repeatedly rebuffed by D.C.’s Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser.

“Help was offered multiple times, not just in January, but throughout the summer, with the D.C. mayor, saying that the president stood by willing to offer National Guard assistance, other assistance, and often, in fact, every time, was rebuked and said, no, we can go it alone,” Meadows said.

“The president was very vocal in making sure that we had plenty of National Guard, plenty of additional support, because he supports our rule of law and supports our law enforcement and offered additional help,” he continued. “Even in January, that was a given, as many as 10,000 National Guard troops were told to be on the ready by the Secretary of Defense. 

“That was a direct order from President Trump, and yet here what we see is, all kinds of blame going around but yet not a whole lot of accountability,” Meadows lamented.

The impeachment that began this week concerns the protesters who broke into the U.S. Capitol building on January 6 after the “March to Save America” rally, where Trump said supporters would march “over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” where “we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen-and-women” who would formally object to certifying electoral votes from a handful of states over alleged election fraud.

Viral videos showed protesters engaging in physical altercations with police, pushing against security barricades, breaking through a window, trespassing in congressional offices, and climbing on walls, causing the vote certification to be suspended and lawmakers to be evacuated from the chambers. While many were let in by police and simply walked the halls after the initial breach, there were several deaths, including a protester shot by police, a protester trampled by other protesters, a police officer whose cause of death remains unknown, and others due to unspecified “medical emergencies.”

The march on the Capitol was a pre-planned part of the rally, and the violence was started by people who either left Trump’s speech early or skipped it entirely, but House Democrats quickly moved to impeach Trump for supposedly “inciting” the violence.

Notably, while Trump’s foes have repeatedly accused Trump of failing to mobilize assistance in a timely manner that day, and are likely to repeat the charge throughout the impeachment trial, it is not listed in the formal article of impeachment against him.

Following debate on the constitutionality of impeaching a president who no longer holds office, 56 senators voted Tuesday to proceed with the trial, including six Republican defectors. But the trial itself is not expected to yield the 67 votes necessary to convict Trump and disqualify him from future office.