Trump Reportedly Pressured Secret Service To Plan Route For Him To Accompany Supporters On March To Capitol On Jan. 6

Topline

Then-President Donald Trump pressured the Secret Service for two weeks to come up with a plan for him to join his supporters on a march toward the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the Washington Post reported Tuesday, days before a House committee is set to unveil findings from a months-long investigation into the Capitol riot.

Key Facts

A spokeswoman for the deputy mayor of Washington, D.C., who oversees the police department told the Post the Secret Service asked police to assist with a presidential motorcade on the day of the insurrection, but “the response was no.”

After Trump told a crowd of supporters, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol,” Secret Service agents reached out to D.C. police about securing intersections for a presidential motorcade, witnesses told the House January 6 committee, according to the Post.

Police rebuffed the request as they were preoccupied with monitoring Capitol protests, while a senior law enforcement official told the Post the head of the president’s detail intervened to cancel any such plans because of the safety risk.

Secret Service Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi confirmed to Forbes that White House staff made proposals to bring the president down to the Capitol on January 6, but the Secret Service communicated such a plan was not feasible and “never produced any operational plan” for Trump to do so.

Transportation agents made “preliminary phone calls” to D.C. police on January 6 in case Trump insisted on joining protesters, Guglielmi said, adding the Secret Service has made every employee available to the January 6 committee and remains “cooperative and supportive of their work.”

Crucial Quote

“I wanted to go,” Trump told the Post in April in a wide-ranging interview in which he shared regrets about not joining his supporters at the march on January 6. “I wanted to go so badly. Secret Service says you can’t go. I would have gone there in a minute.”

Key Background

Trump aides first told Tony Ornato, a Secret Service official, in December 2020 that Trump wanted to ride in a motorcade next to protesters marching to the Capitol on January 6, the Post reported, citing witnesses and a senior law enforcement official. Secret Service officials were doubtful they could safely move Trump to the Capitol and Trump’s detail leader ultimately nixed the plan. But agents were confused when Trump announced on January 6 he would “walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” and go to the Capitol with his supporters, and scrambled to make calls to see if they could secure a route, according to the Post. Trump has continued to deny his role in the Capitol attack, including in an April interview with the Post in which he shifted blame to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) and the mayor of D.C. who he claimed were “in charge” of the building. He also said he had no regrets about calling on his supporters to come to the capital in a tweet saying it would “be wild.”

What To Watch For

The news could be included as a part of broader evidence and witness testimony the January 6 committee plans to unveil in its first public hearing Thursday.

Further Reading

Trump call on Jan. 6 to ‘walk down to the Capitol’ prompted Secret Service scramble (Washington Post)

Trump deflects blame for Jan. 6 silence, says he wanted to march to Capitol (Washington Post)

Jan. 6 Committee Will Release ‘Previously Unseen Material’ In Hearing Next Week (Forbes)