Chief Contee then addressed the Army generals: "'Are you guys honoring his request?' I asked them that. And they didn't say 'no,' but they also didn't say 'yes.' "[239] Chief Sund recalled it the same way.[240]
General Piatt said he was "clear in my response, 'I don't have any authority to deny or approve. The Secretary is getting approval.' "[241]
"[T]he third time when they said, 'You're denying our request,' they also said, 'And we're going to go to the media,'" General Piatt said.[242] "[W]e were desperate. Everyone was desperate. So I'm not angry at that, but I just knew it wasn't helpful, so we told that to Secretary McCarthy."[243]
As for the threat to go public, Major General Walker said, "I remember that very clearly."[244] According to him, after the generals would not say yes or no, "Chief Contee says: 'I'm going to call the mayor and ask her to have a press conference saying that the Army is not going to allow the DC Guard to come and support.' "[245] General Piatt reportedly replied, "Please don't do that. I don't have the authority to authorize the National Guard to go. So please don't do that. Please don't hold the press conference."[246] Chief Contee doesn't recall saying that.[247] Mayor Bowser doesn't know if she was still on the line when the remark was made, but "it was certainly going to be something that I would do."[248]
In the end, "the call sort of ended very abruptly, . . . ."[249] The DC head of homeland security and emergency management left the call thinking "that help was not coming, and—at least [not] from the National Guard."[250] That was Chief Sund's belief, too. "[I]f a general says his troops are not coming, his troops aren't coming," he said.[251]
Before the call ended, General Flynn set up a video-conferencing bridge. General Piatt explained to the Select Committee that this was meant "to get the principals and the team together to start making a plan."[252] But Major General Walker—under whom "it was actually written . . . would maintain control of National Guard forces"[253]—said he was not privy to any planning while on the call.
"We were just told to hold," he said.[254]
How long did Major General Walker hold?
"Three hours and 19 minutes," he said.[255]
Major General Walker told the Select Committee regarding what occurred during this time. "[W]e all thought, it's in a minute, we're going to be told to go, in a minute. Then 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes. We kept thinking, any minute now, somebody is going to say 'go,' " he said.[256] "And then an hour went by, then more time went by . . . . But we never thought it would take that long."[257] Col. Matthews confirmed that there were periods on the call when no one was talking.[258] At times, there was talk of securing buildings other than the Capitol.[259] He called the open channel essentially "a general officer chat line."[260]
