Pentagon officials initially claimed that Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, brother of former disgraced National Security Advisor under Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, was not present on U.S. Army conference calls discussing the deployment of the National Guard during January 6 storming of the Capitol building. Charles Flynn has now told The Washington Post that he actually was present on those calls.
The Army initially denied the request for troops before later approving them.
It is unclear why Pentagon officials did not acknowledge Flynn’s involvement in the calls. Flynn is the deputy chief of staff for operations for the U.S. Army meaning that he would regularly be on calls relating to deployment. On Jan. 6., the Capitol Police were frantically requesting troop to as they were being outmanned by protesters.
Flynn’s brother Michael Flynn appeared days before the riots in a Newsmax interview suggesting Trump should declare martial law and overturn the election results. This has led many to believe the Pentagon’s decision to say Charles Flynn was not on the calls was an attempt to distance the military from the increasingly radical former National Security Advisor.
A Pentagon official initially told The Post on January 12 that Charles Flynn “was not present in any of the meetings.”
Since the claim has been debunked, the Pentagon has been unwilling to comment on the inconsistency. “Thank you for the opportunity to comment, however, we have nothing further to add,” the Army said.
