Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, spoke Feb. 10 as House Democrats made their case for why the Senate should convict former President Donald Trump on a charge of inciting insurrection during the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump was impeached by the House in January, while he was still in office.
Castro criticized Trump for ignoring pleas to deploy the National Guard to aid Capitol Police officers responding to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. According to news reports, the acting defense secretary spoke to multiple Congressional leaders as well as Vice President Mike Pence before activating the National Guard a few hours later, but Trump was not involved in the decision, and was reportedly “disengaged in discussions with Pentagon leaders about deploying the National Guard to aid the overwhelmed.”
Even when the National Guard was deployed, Castro continued, Trump did not say anything about it. “Think about that. The bloodiest attack we’ve seen in our capital since 1812, and our president couldn’t be bothered to even mention that help was on its way.”
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