Fact check: Did Nancy Pelosi decline National Guard for January 6th

1. Summary of the results

The claim that Nancy Pelosi declined National Guard support for January 6th is definitively false. Multiple independent sources confirm that:

• Pelosi did not and could not have declined National Guard support, as she had no authority to do so ^[1]
• Only the president, defense secretary, and Army secretary have the authority to activate the National Guard ^[1]
• Records show Pelosi actually approved a request to seek National Guard support and pushed for their deployment when delays occurred ^[1]

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

Several crucial pieces of context are often omitted from this discussion:

• The Capitol Police Board, not Congress, makes decisions about National Guard deployment ^[2]
• The DC National Guard reports exclusively to the President ^[3]
• Pelosi was actually a target during the January 6th attack ^[2]
• When the attack occurred, both Pelosi and Chuck Schumer actively appealed to military leaders to deploy the National Guard ^[2]
• Pelosi "immediately signaled her support" when presented with the recommendation for National Guard deployment ^[4]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The circulation of this false narrative serves specific political interests:

• The claim attempts to shift responsibility for the security failures of January 6th onto Democratic leadership
• It deliberately misrepresents the chain of command and authority structure for National Guard deployment
• The Associated Press has explicitly rated this claim as "False" ^[2]
• The narrative ignores documented evidence that Pelosi and other Democratic leaders actively sought National Guard assistance during the crisis ^[2]

This misinformation benefits those seeking to:

1. Deflect attention from those actually responsible for security decisions that day

2. Create a false narrative about Democratic leadership's role in the events

3. Minimize the severity and nature of the January 6th attack by suggesting it could have been prevented by different decisions from Democratic leadership