A4 The BulleTin • Monday, april 12, 2021
Capitol
DEAR ABBY
Dear Abby: My ex-hus-
band was the product of an
extramarital, interracial rela-
tionship. Both of the parents
who raised him are white,
and he has always denied he
was biracial despite the obvi-
ous physical characteristics
that say otherwise.
Our two beautiful teen-
age children were raised to
believe they are white. We
recently took ancestry tests,
and what I believed to be true
has been confirmed. My chil-
dren have 25% African DNA.
For this reason, since our
divorce, my children have
been raised to be open-
minded on the subject of
race. Because of this, I don’t
believe they will struggle with
the new information. How-
ever, I am concerned about
the questions they will ask,
how much information to
give them about their grand-
mother’s choices and how to
deal with their father, who I
know will be furious when he
finds out. Please help.
— The Truth in the Midwest
Dear Truth: If your chil-
dren have questions, answer
them honestly. Do not jump
the gun and render any opin-
ions about their grandmother
and her choices. I’m sure you
had your reasons for testing
your children’s DNA. As to
how to deal with your ex’s
reaction to the fact that you
did, let it be HIS problem.
Do not allow him to make it
yours.
Dear Abby: My husband
and I have been married
for 20 years. I have used my
maiden name since we were
married. His daughter still
insists on addressing mail to
me using my husband’s last
name, even though I have
never used it and have signed
documents for her using my
correct name.
I have asked him to remind
his daughter what my name
is. He is very sensitive to any-
thing construed as criticism
of his daughter, so I need to
know of a diplomatic way to
ask again.
— Not My Name in the West
Dear Not My Name: Do
not ask your husband to do
what you need to do. Are
you at all close to his daugh-
ter? The time has come to
do something you should
have done well over a de-
cade ago. Talk with her and
ask why she persists in doing
something she knows an-
noys you. Is she intellectually
challenged? Forgetful? From
where I sit, it seems like a
passive-aggressive attempt to
get your goat.
Dear Abby: I am five years
sober after 35-plus years of
drinking. I have recently got-
ten married and plan a small
celebration once COVID-19
slows some more. I’m not
comfortable serving alcohol
at my wedding since most
of my friends are in the AA
fellowship. But I am also
around people who drink re-
sponsibly, including my new
wife. Any help is appreciated.
— Serving Alcohol
Dear Serving: If the major-
ity of your guests will be mem-
bers of the AA fellowship, I see
no reason why you can’t have a
sober celebration. If the num-
ber is about equal, however, it
would be gracious to have al-
cohol for those who indulge,
while providing a generous ar-
ray of alternatives for yourself
and your AA friends.
YOUR HOROSCOPE
GOP rift widens at
Trump donor meeting
Continued from A1
Write to Dear Abby online at dearabby.com
or by mail at P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069
By Madalyn Aslan
Stars show the kind of day you’ll have
DYNAMIC | POSITIVE | AVERAGE | SO-SO | DIFFICULT
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR MONDAY, APRIL 12, 2021: Lively, ef-
fusive and vibrant, your wide-open heart wins you an assortment of friends.
This year, you are inspired by being part of a group devoted to helping
others. Your earnings will be stable, and if you avoid frivolous purchases, you
can splurge on a well-deserved vacation. If single, give a shy and quiet type
a chance. If attached, your partner will encourage you to shine. LIBRA wants
to please you.
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
Extra energy makes you even more friendly than usual. Make an
overture to someone you haven’t spoken to in some time. Fill a relative in on
your latest news. Your contagious joy makes people smile. Tonight: Create a
jaw-dropping meal.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
You’ve got your life together more than you think. Identify your
doubts, then cast them away. Spending time alone will calm your nerves.
Take a long walk, go for a run, or take a bike ride. Tonight: Epsom salts soak.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
Gather with an online group. A team project at work or a community
cleanup could use your inspired energy. Introduce yourself to fresh faces. A
new acquaintance could become important to you in the near future. To-
night: Practice a meditation technique.
CANCER (June 21-July 22)
Expect recognition from someone you want to impress. Show some-
one how proud you are of what you’ve done. Ask a boss or another authority
figure to nurture your talents by giving you more to do. Tonight: Whip up a
dessert.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
Start making plans for your next vacation. You have a strong urge to
expand your horizons, and plenty of ideas about how to do it. Someone in a
class you take will encourage you. Tonight: Text or email an overseas pal.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Listen to your inner voice. You mysteriously know what someone
is thinking, and that insight will guide how you approach them. Stepping
back instead of freely offering opinions will strengthen a loving relationship.
Tonight: Get in the mood for love.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Go out of your way to give others positive feedback. Don’t be afraid
to ask them in return how you are doing. Show how gracious you can be, and
drink in the compliments. Your confidence will soar. Tonight: Work out with
weights.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Healthy eating can keep up the energy levels you need. Treat yourself
to fresh fruits and veggies rather than heavy meats and starch. Commune
with nature. Walk in the park or work in a garden. Tonight: Breathe and
stretch.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Revive a creative hobby or start a new one. Pour your heart into
crafts or a do-it-yourself home project. Marvel at the fruits of your labor.
Hang around with children who crack up at your jokes. Tonight: Romantic
comedy time.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
If you leave the house for work or errands, you might keep thinking
about chores you left half-done. They will wait. Some items are better left to
experts. Make calls and get the help you need. Tonight: Get a back rub.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Get in touch with a sibling, cousin or old roommate. Reminiscing
about the past puts a smile on your face and makes you laugh out loud. With
patience and persistence, a confounding computer glitch will be solved.
Tonight: Plan a dinner party.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
A surprising source of income will leave you feeling flush. Treat
yourself to something that is still within your budget and set aside any left-
over funds. It never hurts to hold on to a financial cushion. Tonight: Start a
dream journal.
Find it all online
bendbulletin.com
It shows that the intelli-
gence missteps, tactical errors
and bureaucratic delays were
eclipsed by the government’s
failure to comprehend the scale
and intensity of a violent upris-
ing by its own citizens.
With Trump not engaged,
it fell to Pentagon officials, a
handful of senior White House
aides, the leaders of Congress
and the vice president holed up
in a secure bunker to manage
the chaos.
While the timeline helps to
crystalize the frantic character of
the crisis, the document, along
with hours of sworn testimony,
provides only an incomplete
picture about how the insurrec-
tion could have advanced with
such swift and lethal force, inter-
rupting the congressional cer-
tification of Joe Biden as presi-
dent and delaying the peaceful
transfer of power, the hallmark
of American democracy.
Lawmakers, protected to this
day by National Guard troops,
will hear from the inspector
general of the Capitol Police
this week.
“Any minute that we lost, I
need to know why,” Sen. Amy
Klobuchar, D-Minn., chair of
the Senate Rules and Admin-
istration Committee, which is
investigating the siege, said last
month.
The timeline fills in some of
those gaps.
At 4:08 p.m. on Jan. 6, as
the rioters roamed the Capitol
and after they had menacingly
called out for Pelosi, D-Ca-
lif., and yelled for Pence to be
hanged, the vice president was
in a secure location, phoning
Christopher Miller, the act-
ing defense secretary, and de-
manding answers.
Pence’s minute-long call
There had been a highly
public rift between Trump and
Pence, with Trump furious that
his vice president refused to
halt the Electoral College cer-
tification. Interfering with that
process was an act that Pence
considered unconstitutional.
The Constitution makes clear
that the vice president’s role in
this joint session of Congress is
largely ceremonial.
Pence’s call to Miller lasted
only a minute. Pence said the
Capitol was not secure and
he asked military leaders for a
deadline for securing the build-
ing, according to the document.
By this point it had already
been two hours since the mob
overwhelmed Capitol Police
unprepared for an insurrec-
tion. Rioters broke into the
building, seized the Senate and
paraded to the House. In their
path, they left destruction and
debris. Dozens of officers were
wounded, some gravely.
Just three days earlier, gov-
ernment leaders had talked
about the use of the National
Guard. On the afternoon of
Jan. 3, as lawmakers were
sworn in for the new session
of Congress, Miller and Milley
gathered with Cabinet mem-
bers to discuss Jan. 6. They also
met with Trump.
In that meeting at the White
House, Trump approved the
activation of the D.C. National
Guard and also told the acting
defense secretary to take what-
ever action needed as events
unfolded, according to the in-
formation obtained by the AP.
The next day, Jan. 4, the de-
fense officials spoke by phone
with Cabinet members, includ-
ing the acting attorney gen-
eral, and finalized details of the
Guard deployment.
The Guard’s role was lim-
ited to traffic intersections and
checkpoints around the city,
based in part on strict restric-
tions mandated by district of-
ficials. Miller also authorized
Army Secretary Ryan McCa-
rthy to deploy, if needed, the
D.C. Guard’s emergency re-
action force stationed at Joint
Base Andrews.
The Trump administration
and the Pentagon were wary
of a heavy military presence,
in part because of criticism of-
ficials faced for the seemingly
heavy-handed National Guard
and law enforcement efforts to
counter civil unrest in the af-
termath of the police killing of
George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In particular, the D.C.
Guard’s use of helicopters to
hover over crowds in down-
town Washington during those
demonstrations drew wide-
spread criticism. That unau-
thorized move prompted the
Pentagon to more closely con-
Patrick Semansky/AP
Mike Pence, then the vice president, listens during a coronavirus task
force briefing at the White House with then-President Donald Trump
last April. The two reportedly did not speak for days after the Jan. 6 riot.
trol the D.C. Guard.
“There was a lot of things that
happened in the spring that the
department was criticized for,”
Robert Salesses, who is serving
as the assistant defense secre-
tary for homeland defense and
global security, said at a congres-
sional hearing last month.
On the eve of Trump’s rally
Jan. 6 near the White House,
the first 255 National Guard
troops arrived in the district,
and Mayor Muriel Bowser
confirmed in a letter to the ad-
ministration that no other mil-
itary support was needed.
By the morning of Jan. 6,
crowds started gathering at the
Ellipse before Trump’s speech.
According to the Pentagon’s
plans, the acting defense sec-
retary would only be notified
if the crowd swelled beyond
20,000.
Before long it was clear that
the crowd was far more in con-
trol of events than the troops
and law enforcement there to
maintain order.
Trump, just before noon,
was giving his speech and he
told supporters to march to
the Capitol. The crowd at the
rally was at least 10,000. By
1:15 p.m., the procession was
well on its way there.
As protesters reached the
Capitol grounds, some imme-
diately became violent, busting
through weak police barriers
in front of the building and
beating up officers who stood
in their way.
At 1:49 p.m., as the violence
escalated, then- Capitol Police
Chief Steven Sund called Maj.
Gen. William Walker, com-
manding general of the D.C.
National Guard, to request as-
sistance.
Sund’s voice was “cracking
with emotion,” Walker later told
a Senate committee. Walker im-
mediately called Army leaders
to inform them of the request.
Twenty minutes later,
around 2:10 p.m., the first ri-
oters were beginning to break
through the doors and win-
dows of the Senate. They then
started a march through the
marbled halls in search of the
lawmakers who were counting
the electoral votes. Alarms in-
side the building announced a
lockdown.
Sund frantically called Walker
again and asked for at least 200
guard members “and to send
more if they are available.”
But even with the advance
Cabinet-level preparation, no
help was immediately on the
way.
Over the next 20 minutes, as
senators ran to safety and the
rioters broke into the cham-
ber and rifled through their
desks, Army Secretary McCa-
rthy spoke with the mayor and
Pentagon leaders about Sund’s
request.
On the Pentagon’s third floor
E Ring, senior Army lead-
ers were huddled around the
phone for what they described
as a “panicked” call from the
D.C. Guard. As the gravity of
the situation became clear, Mc-
Carthy bolted from the meet-
ing, sprinting down the hall
to Miller’s office and breaking
into a meeting.
Breaching the Capitol
As minutes ticked by, rioters
breached additional entrances
in the Capitol and made their
way to the House. They broke
glass in doors that led to the
chamber and tried to gain en-
try as a group of lawmakers
was still trapped inside.
At 2:25 p.m., McCarthy told
his staff to prepare to move the
emergency reaction force to
the Capitol. The force could be
ready to move in 20 minutes.
At 2:44 p.m., Trump sup-
porter Ashli Babbitt was fatally
shot by a Capitol officer as she
tried to climb through a win-
dow that led to the House floor.
Shortly after 3 p.m., McCar-
thy provided “verbal approval”
of the activation of 1,100 Na-
tional Guard troops to sup-
port the D.C. police and the
development of a plan for the
troops’ deployment duties, lo-
cations and unit sizes.
Minutes later, the Guard’s
emergency reaction force left
Joint Base Andrews for the D.C.
Armory. There, they would pre-
pare to head to the Capitol once
Miller, the acting defense secre-
tary, gave final approval.
Meanwhile, the Joint Staff set
up a video teleconference call
that stayed open until about
10 p.m. that night, allowing staff
to communicate any updates
quickly to military leaders.
At 3:19 p.m., Pelosi and
Schumer were calling the Pen-
tagon for help and were told
the National Guard had been
approved.
But military and law en-
forcement leaders struggled
over the next 90 minutes to ex-
ecute the plan as the Army and
Guard called all troops in from
their checkpoints, issued them
new gear, laid out a new plan
for their mission and briefed
them on their duties.
The Guard troops had been
prepared only for traffic du-
ties. Army leaders argued that
sending them into a volatile
combat situation required ad-
ditional instruction to keep
both them and the public safe.
By 3:37 p.m., the Pentagon
sent its own security forces to
guard the homes of defense
leaders. No troops had yet
reached the Capitol.
By 3:44 p.m., the congressio-
It was supposed to be a
unifying weekend for a Re-
publican Party at war with
itself over former President
Donald Trump’s divisive
leadership. But Trump him-
self shattered two days of
relative peace in his closing
remarks to the GOP’s top do-
nors when he insulted the
party’s Senate leader.
Ahead of the invita-
tion-only speech at Trump’s
new home inside his Mar-a-
Lago resort in Florida, Trump’s
advisers said he would em-
phasize his commitment to
his party and Republican
unity. But Trump veered
sharply from prepared re-
marks Saturday night and
instead slammed Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McCo-
nnell as a “stone-cold loser”
and mocked McConnell’s wife,
Elaine Chao, who was Trump’s
transportation secretary.
Trump also said he was
“disappointed” in his vice
president, Mike Pence.
Trump’s words left some
attendees feeling uncom-
fortable.
Former House Speaker
Newt Gingrich did not de-
fend Trump as he left Palm
Beach on Sunday. “We are
much better off if we keep
focusing on the Democrats.
Period,” Gingrich said.
— Associated Press
nal leaders escalated their pleas.
“Tell POTUS to tweet ev-
eryone should leave,” Schumer
implored the officials, using
the acronym for the president
of the United States. House
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer,
D-Md., asked about calling up
active duty military.
At 3:48 p.m., frustrated that
the D.C. Guard hadn’t fully
developed a plan to link up
with police, the Army secre-
tary dashed from the Pentagon
to D.C. police headquarters to
help coordinate with law en-
forcement.
Trump broke his silence at
4:17 p.m., tweeting to his fol-
lowers to “go home and go in
peace.”
By about 4:30 p.m., the
military plan was finalized
and Walker had approval to
send the Guard to the Capi-
tol. The reports of state capi-
tals breached in other places
turned out to be bogus.
At about 4:40 p.m. Pelosi
and Schumer were again on
the phone with Milley and the
Pentagon leadership, asking
Miller to secure the perimeter.
But the acrimony was be-
coming obvious.
The congressional leadership
on the call “accuses the National
Security apparatus of knowing
that protestors planned to con-
duct an assault on the Capitol,”
the timeline said.
The call lasts 30 minutes. Pe-
losi’s spokesman acknowledges
there was a brief discussion of
the obvious intelligence failures
that led to the insurrection.
It would be another hour
before the first contingent of
155 Guard members were at
the Capitol. Dressed in riot
gear, they began arriving at
5:20 p.m.
They started moving out the
rioters, but there were few, if
any, arrests by police.
At 8 p.m. the Capitol was de-
clared secure.
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