'Absolute liars': Ex-D.C. Guard official says generals lied to Congress about Jan. 6

..Matthews' memo levels major accusations: that Flynn and Piatt lied to Congress about their response to pleas for the D.C. Guard to quickly be deployed on Jan. 6; that the Pentagon inspector general's November report on Army leadership's response to the attack was "replete with factual inaccuracies"; and that the Army has created its own closely held revisionist document about the Capitol riot that's "worthy of the best Stalinist or North Korea propagandist."
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Matthews' memo begins by focusing on a 2:30 p.m. conference call on Jan. 6 that included senior military and law enforcement officials, himself and Walker among them. Then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund "pleaded" on the call for the immediate deployment of the National Guard to the Capitol, Matthews recalled, saying that rioters had breached the building's perimeter. Walker has also told Congress that Sund made that plea then. According to Matthews, Flynn and Piatt both opposed the move.
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In addition to Matthews' memo, POLITICO also obtained a document produced by a D.C. Guard official and dated Jan. 7 that lays out a timeline of Jan. 6. The D.C. Guard timeline, a separate document whose author took notes during the call, also said that Piatt and Flynn at 2:37 p.m. "recommended for DC Guard to standby," rather than immediately deploying to the Capitol during the riot.

Four minutes later, according to that Guard timeline, Flynn again "advised D.C. National Guard to standby until the request has been routed" to then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and then-acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller.

Everyone on the call was "astounded" except Piatt and Flynn, Matthews wrote.

Both men, however, later denied to Congress that they had said the Guard shouldn't deploy to the Capitol.

That statement, Matthews says in his memo, is "false and misleading."

Walker also testified to Congress in March that Piatt and Flynn expressed concerns about "optics."

Further, Flynn told Maloney that he "never expressed a concern about the visuals, image, or public perception of" sending Guardsmen to the Capitol.

That answer, Matthews says in his memo, is "outright perjury."

Matthews wrote that he and Walker "heard Flynn identify himself and unmistakably heard him say that optics of a National Guard presence on Capitol Hill was an issue for him. That it would not look good. Either Piatt or Flynn mentioned peaceful protestors.'"

Flynn's brother, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, promulgated a host of conspiracy theories in the lead-up to Jan. 6 and called for former President Donald Trump to impose martial law. Matthews' memo does not insinuate that Gen. Charles Flynn's actions on Jan. 6 were shaped by his brother, who has been subpoenaed by the select committee, and does not mention Michael Flynn.

The two generals told the House oversight committee that the Guard wasn't ready to respond to the chaos that day, and Flynn testified to the House Oversight Committee in June that a "team of over 40 officers and non-commissioned officers immediately worked to recall the 154 D.C. National Guard personnel from their current missions, reorganize them, re-equip them, and begin to redeploy them to the Capitol."

Matthews says that assertion "constituted the willful deception of Congress."
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