Former President Donald Trump's vow on January 6 to "walk down to the Capitol" with his supporters led to a last-minute scramble to see if the president could indeed go to the Capitol where lawmakers were beginning the process of confirming his election loss, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The Post reported that Trump's pledge led to the Secret Service contacting DC police in an effort to have key street intersections blocked off at the last minute. But local police declined the frantic request, saying they were already overwhelmed with protests unfolding throughout the city. The DC police would later assist in the retaking of the US Capitol after rioters delayed the certification for hours.
It was previously known that Trump made efforts to fulfill his promise to march with his supporters, but more details are coming out about the extent to which those around the president tried to accommodate him. Trump pressed the Secret Service to make a plan for him to visit the Capitol for almost two weeks leading up to January 6, the Post reported. Trump made it clear that his goal was to pressure Republican lawmakers who did not support his efforts to object to the certification of a handful of closely contested states.
Politico reporter Betsy Woodruff Swan reported on Tuesday that the committee interviewed multiple Secret Service agents, including Robert Engel, the most senior agent on Trump's detail on January 6.
Trump has previously said the Secret Service squashed his plans to go to the Capitol on January 6.
"Secret Service wouldn't let me," he told the Post in April. "I wanted to go. I wanted to go so badly. Secret Service says you can't go. I would have gone there in a minute."
Trump's security officials were surprised when Trump announced during his speech at the Ellipse that "we are going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue ... and we are going to the Capitol."
If Trump had arrived at the Capitol, it would have put him near Vice President Mike Pence, who on January 6 made it clear that he would not follow Trump's demands and would not unilaterally object or delay the certification of the results. Instead, Trump stayed at the White House while some of his supporters ransacked the Capitol and shouted that they wanted to "hang" Pence.
Tuesday's news comes just days before the House January 6 committee begins its public hearings. Lawmakers on the bipartisan panel have promised that the hearings will reveal new information about what led to the insurrection.
Spokespeople for Trump and the DC police department did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.