To gain a ‘front-row’ insight to what was happening behind the walls of the US Department of Defense during the final days of the Donald Trump administration, a reporter for Vanity Fair gained permission to become ‘embedded’ with the outgoing acting defence secretary, Christopher Miller.
Just two days before the chaotic events at the US Capitol in Washington DD, on 4 January, a Vanity Fair reporter reached out to Pentagon officials for permission to be granted continuous, real-time access to a Trump cabinet member during the final days of the president’s tenure.
In this Sept. 24, 2020, file photo, National Counterterrorism Center Director Christopher Miller testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Donald Trump says he has fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper and has replaced him with Miller.
Adam Ciralsky thus became embedded with the outgoing acting defense secretary, Christopher Miller, who has since been succeeded by then-Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist, while also securing face time with his two closest aides, known to be staunch Trump loyalists: Kashyap Patel, Miller’s chief of staff, and Ezra Cohen, the under-secretary of defense for intelligence (USDI).
Accordingly, the reporter, who had previously worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and later as an attorney for the CIA, joined Miller’s entourage, and was afforded insight into the events that occurred before and after the Capitol chaos.
5 January
On the evening of 5 January, the night before the mob stormed Capitol Hill during the certification by Congress of Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election win, and unleashed chaos that resulted in five people dying, the acting secretary of defense, Christopher Miller, was at the White House with his chief of staff, Kash Patel, writes the outlet.
They were meeting with President Trump on “an Iran issue,” according to Miller, when suddenly the POTUS reportedly asked how many troops the Pentagon planned to provide for the following day.
He then proceeded to say:
As for why the number was so huge, the acting defense secretary suggested that Trump had anticipated a million people in the street, while initial reports on the forecast crowd size were anywhere from 5,000 to 40,000.
6 January
On the morning of 6 January, Miller recounted, according to Vanity Fair, hopes of an uneventful day were shattered as intelligence started ‘cycling in’, and the situation escalated to “a current op”.
Supporters of President Donald Trump climb the west wall of the the US Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington
In response to criticism that the Pentagon had dragged its feet in calling in reinforcements, Miller was quoted as saying:
According to Miller and Patel, they did not try to contact the president on 6 January, as they had already gotten approval to deploy forces.
A supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump stands at the Lincoln Memorial, a day after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, U.S., January 7, 2021.
However, another defense official was reported to have said in reference to Trump:
Miller disputed reports that vice president Mike Pence was the one who summoned the National Guard, stating that while he conferred with Pence at a secure location on Capitol Hill, he had provided the VP with a situation report.
Pence reportedly told Miller:
However, Ezra Cohen, the under secretary of defense for intelligence, said:
Waning Tenure
Amid the turmoil in the wake of the Capitol riot and the following days, when talk of impeachment gained momentum, the Vanity Fair reporter continued to shadow Miller and his team as they went about their last days in office, through 12 January to 19 January, with all three men wearing lapel microphones during the conversations.
At 8 a.m. on 11 January Christopher Miller’s C-32, the military version of a Boeing 757, flew from Joint Base Andrews, with Patel on board together with a retinue of bodyguards and specialists, stopping in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
The visit was reportedly to assess the viability of America’s nuclear arsenal. At the time, President Trump was en route to Alamo, Texas, to check out the wall flanking the Mexico border.
U.S. President Donald Trump walks to the stage to speak during a visit at the U.S.-Mexico border wall, in Alamo, Texas, U.S., January 12, 2021
In Washington, however, there were already warnings of armed protests planned in all 50 state capitals.
During a meeting with members of the Tennessee National Guard in Smyrna, Miller was approached by a military aide after which, says the reporter, the acting defense secretary gave the order to arm the National Guardsmen protecting the Capitol and members of Congress.
On 12 January Miller and Patel flew to STRATCOM, at Offutt Air Force Base, as the House was beginning to debate articles of impeachment.
At one point, says the reporter, Miller lauded Trump for moving to end what had become “forever wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq, while acknowledging his diverse shortcomings.
Soon the news came in that the US commander in chief had been impeached a second time.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) shows the article of impeachment against U.S. President Donald Trump after signing it in an engrossment ceremony, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington January 13, 2021.
When asking Miller to share his feelings upon receiving the news, the reporter says that the official responded by saying she remained ‘focused’.
On Friday evening Miller explained that he and Patel had been to the Oval Office a few hours before. At the time CNN and other news outlets were noting the number of officials resigning and painted a bleak picture of the outgoing president as isolated and despondent.
Miller, however, insisted Donald Trump had been in good spirits.
U.S. President Donald Trump plays golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 28, 2020.
At the end of his conversation with Christopher Miller, the reported quotes the official’s wife, Kate Miller, as voicing her fears for her husband’s reputation in the wake of the events.
“His reputation is all that we have. And I am very concerned that he’s being exploited right now. He’s done a very good job. Nobody gives a sh*t. I think we need to just put a line under it and say, ‘We’re done.’”
Sourse: sputniknews.com
