Because Donald Trump knew that many of his supporters would be in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, he asked the Pentagon to call out the National Guard to provide added security. The Pentagon failed to act despite known threats. And today, we learned that, over at the Capitol, Nancy Pelosi was behind a security plan that denied the Capitol police the resources they needed to ensure the Capitol was safe in the event people headed its way.

Republican representatives Rodney Davis, Jim Banks, Troy Nehls, Jim Jordan, and Kelly Armstrong released a report today with the results from the investigations they conducted on subjects that the January 6 committee resolutely ignored. Among other things, the Republicans looked at what was happening among Democrat leadership in the days leading to the planned rally.

Just the News summarizes a key takeaway from the report, which is that Nancy Pelosi, with backing from other top Democrats, was the point person who decided not to bring more security to the Capitol:

Image: Nancy Pelosi. YouTube screen grab.

The report concludes the Capitol was left vulnerable on Jan. 6 as a result of failures by the Democratic leadership in the House and law enforcement leaders in the Capitol Police who allowed concerns about the “optics” of having armed officers and National Guardsmen visible to the public to override the need for enhanced security.

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“Prior to that day, the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) had obtained sufficient information from an array of channels to anticipate and prepare for the violence that occurred,” the report noted.

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But its most explosive revelations involved text and email messages showing that two key staffers in Pelosi’s office attended regular meetings to discuss the security plan for Jan. 6 dating back to early December 2020 and that Pelosi’s top aide even edited some of the plans. Most of those discussions and meetings excluded Republican lawmakers in the House, the report noted.

“Then-House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving—who served on the Capitol Police Board by virtue of his position—succumbed to political pressures from the Office of Speaker Pelosi and House Democrat leadership leading up to January 6, 2021,” the report said. “He coordinated closely with the Speaker and her staff and left Republicans out of important discussions related to security.”

While this was happening at the Capitol, it’s important to remember that Donald Trump was worried that having so many people descend on D.C. could cause problems. To that end, he asked the Pentagon to call in the National Guard to provide extra security. The Pentagon refused.

The Republican report holds that optics drove Pelosi to make the fatal decision to leave the Capitol relatively unsecured. I have a more conspiratorial turn of mind.

When I put the pieces together—the Pentagon’s and Pelosi’s refusal to provide more security despite known risks and the obvious professionals removing fences and warning signs before herding people into the Capitol—let’s just say that I think that one can make a reasoned argument that more was going on than just optics. It's never seemed coincidental to me that, from the very first news reports, when every media figure had the word “insurrection” on his or her lips, Democrats have successfully weaponized January 6.