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broader brush than I did.
Q So we understand that Ms. Pierson may have met with President Trump and Max Miller on January 4th at the White House where the President discussed the need for 10,000 National Guard troops for the rally on January the 6th.
Are you familiar with that meeting?
A No.
Q Did you ever talk to the President about having National Guard troops at -- on standby or available for January 6th?
A No. And the reason I say no is I was thinking rally hard, . In the entire 5 years, we had never had a need for extra police or National Guard at any rallies we'd had had in 5 years. We never had a single issue with a rally in 5 years. So there was no reason for me to have said that because I had never seen that needed.
Q So, as somebody who works in the National Security space and with the National Security Council, if there were going to be troops present or called up for a rally in Washington, D.C., for example, is that something that you would have been aware of?
A Yeah, I would have.
Q But you weren't aware before January 6th about the need for any troops at the Capitol.
A Well, I wouldn't have seen. And if I had been—no. And if I had been asked, then I would have said, what's the threat assessment? To me, as a national security guy, before you do something like that, you make an assumption. Well, why are you asking that question? Why do you need these troops? What's it for?
So that never came up because the first thing I would have thought of was, well, why? We've never needed this before. The only time I saw us have a need for a National Guard was during the Black Lives Matter riots.
