Hogan: ‘We Were Repeatedly Denied Approval’ to Send National Guard to Capitol

During a press conference on Thursday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said that approval to send the Maryland National Guard to the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday was “repeatedly denied” and it took an hour and a half before they received approval to send the Guard.

Hogan said, “[L]eaders of Congress were pleading with me, as the governor of Maryland, for assistance from Maryland’s National Guard and State Police. I informed [Leader] Hoyer and the other leaders that a force of specially trained riot police, equipped to respond to civil disturbances, along with members of allied and local law enforcement agencies were already en route to the Capitol. I also told them that I authorized the mobilization of the Maryland National Guard and that I was ready, willing, and able to immediately deploy them to the Capitol.”

He continued, “However, we were repeatedly denied approval to do so. Under federal law, the mayor of the District of Columbia does not have authority over the Guard, and we must receive approval from the secretary of Defense before we’re able to send our Maryland National Guard across the border into the federal city, into the District of Columbia. So, we had a little back and forth trying to get that authorization. In the meantime, we did not hesitate, we continued to mobilize and get ready so that, if and when we finally got that approval, we could immediately move. Approximately an hour and a half later, I got a call on my cell phone from the Secretary of the Army, Ryan McCarthy, who gave us the authority that we needed to be able to move into the city.”

(h/t Washington Post)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett