I was threatened by the January 6 committee into staying silent, Trump's acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller claims

Donald Trump's former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller claims the January 6 committee threatened to 'make his life hell' if he kept claiming his former boss authorized National Guard deployment during the Capitol riot.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, the former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center said he became 'fearful' of aggressive tactics by members of the Democrat-led panel who tried to stop him speaking publicly about a narrative that didn't align with their final report.

Miller's bombshell claims follow a report by Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk that reveals the committee withheld a transcript from an interview with a top White House official where he told Vice Chair Liz Cheney and other staffers that Trump did want to deploy troops.

Cheney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether she or any other members of the Select Committee corresponded with witnesses in a way that could be interpreted as threatening.

Trump appointed Miller as the Pentagon chief in November 2020 after he fired Mark Esper amid attempts to overturn Joe Biden's presidential election victory.

He was only in the job for two months, but was thrust in front of the committee during their probe into the events that unfolded on the day the electoral college votes were certified.

Miller claims the members intimidated him, and warned they would repeatedly bring him in for 'hours' of additional testimony if he kept going on TV and defending the former president's actions.

Former Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller said he felt 'threatened' by the January 6 Select Committee to stay silent about his experiences surrounding the Capitol riot 

Miller claims former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.), who was vice chair of the Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, was 'running the show.' He speculated, 'I'm sure that Cheney was looking at the optics and was like these people are a serious threat to my narrative'

At the time, Miller said, he did not have the 'resources to continue to battle' the committee and didn't want to face more depositions for speaking to media outlets about his experiences.

It was a Sean Hannity segment on June 6, 2022 featuring Miller and Trump national security official Kash Patel that seemed to 'hit a nerve,' according to the former DOD head.

'The two of us were on [the Fox News show] and the next day my lawyer got a call from the Jan. 6 staff director – I forgot exactly who it was – but basically saying, very legalistic: 'Well, if your client has additional information he wants to share, we'd be happy to have him re-interviewed,'' Miller recalled.

He continued: 'It was more that latent threat of: 'If you want to keep going on TV, we're gonna drag you in here again for additional hours of hearing testimony.' So that was the nature of that whole thing.'

'It was the latent threat of the government continuing to intrude into my life.'

Republican communications strategist Erica Knight told DailyMail.com: 'Knowing how other witnesses close to me were treated, it wouldn't surprise me if people in media were also threatened by the committee to stop discussing this issue.' 

It's unclear if any other witnesses or individuals felt they were 'threatened' by the committee, but Miller said there was 'fear' instilled in him that any discussion of the events that day with others would cause him to be called in for another interview with the panel.

So instead, he kept to himself and didn't discuss his uneasy feelings about the panel with others – until now.

'I didn't talk about it with anybody else because of the fear or the concern,' Miller told DailyMail.com. 'I wasn't communicating with anybody, because I knew any interactions I had on it would result in me having to… acknowledge that I'd been in communications with other people. And then that just sort of opens up a whole can of worms with the investigators that I just didn't want to do.'

'It was much easier just to not be involved with anybody or talk to anybody about this stuff because it was going to cause conflict and difficulties with the investigating team,' he added. 

'So I didn't talk to other people, quite simply.'

Sean Hannity speaks with Miller (right) and Trump-era national security official Kash Patel (center) to discuss the Jan. 3, 2021 Oval Office meeting where they claim Trump authorized deployment of the National Guard for Jan. 6

Rioters clash with law enforcement as they storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021

Miller said it was clear to him that former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) was the one running the show with the January 6 investigation. He claims the committee's vice chair was specifically upset that the 'optics' of his public appearances would go against the narrative that Trump was complicit in insurgency.

'That piece Kash and I did, it hit a nerve,' Miller told DailyMail.com in an interview. 'It was like, d***, that sure got some attention.'

'I'm sure that Cheney was looking at the optics and was like these people are a serious threat to my narrative that she tried to establish,' the former Acting Secretary of Defense speculated.

Both Kash and Miller were present at an Oval Office meeting where then-President Trump verbally authorized the Pentagon chief to mobilize the National Guard for deployment to Washington, D.C. amid threats of violence and protests of the 2020 presidential election results.

The former Trump officials' testimonies to the January 6 panel included recalling this meeting on January 3, 2021.

Kash and Miller's sworn testimonies were buried or discredited by the Select Committee as they claimed the two men were politically aligned with the former president.

Miller said he 'definitely interpreted' the panel would 'make my life hell' if he kept going on TV.

'Now, you know, they'll say, 'No, that wasn't it at all. We just wanted to make sure that we understood all the nuance and complexity.' But I definitely interpreted it as… don't fight city hall type thing,' he explained.

A review of the panel's investigation by the House Administration Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight revealed that longtime Secret Service official Tony Ornato, who was in charge of Trump's security detail on January 6, 2021, corroborated Kash and Miller's testimonies.

The Subcommittee's Chairman Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) released earlier this month the transcribed interview the panel held with Ornato in November 2022.

Previously, Ornato's testimony was suppressed by the Jan. 6 panel and only briefly mentioned in their final report. 

Patel told DailyMail.com in an interview last week that the transcript of Ornato's interview with the Select Committee was withheld from the public because proof that Trump authorized the National Guard deployment 'defeats their insurrection claim.'

Christopher Miller (right) watches with Kash Patel (second from right), Sen. Lindsey Graham (center) and former White House Social Media director Dan Scavino (left) as Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Room on October 27, 2019

The panel's taped interview with Miller plays at a January 6 Committee hearing on June 23, 2022 at the U.S. Capitol

Miller and Patel were in the Oval Office meeting with Trump on January 3, 2021 when he said Defense officials had the authority to approve mobilization and deployment of 10,000 National Guard troops during the Capitol riot.

Also in the meeting were then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and then- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.

Asked about Miller's claims Rep. Cheney was really in charge of the investigation, a person familiar with Loudermilk's review said they could confirm the Wyoming Republican took an 'abnormally active role' in the proceedings.

'She attended almost every single transcribed interview and her questions almost always focused on framing Donald Trump,' they added.

It's unusual for a member of Congress to play as large a role as Cheney did while interviewing witnesses. Typically lawyers and council conduct interviews and members are briefed or read-up afterwards.

'[Cheney] didn't have a job actually by that point, right? She'd been removed from all her committee assignments. This is the only thing she did,' Miller said in reference to the congresswoman zeroing-in on her role with the panel.

'But it was pretty clear she was very active and involved in the running of the thing,' he added. 'I have no idea about the other guy [Chairman Bennie Thompson]. I mean, I have no idea what his role was other than, I saw him on TV. I never saw him doing the day to day stuff.'

Miller said he knows Cheney and other members of the panel will downplay his claims they tried to threaten him to stop speaking out about his story and said it speaks to his naivety that he thought it would not be 'biased.' 

'I think by now, as we look at the totality of Liz Cheney's hearings, we realize it was political theater,' the former Acting Defense Secretary claimed. 

'And I actually was naive enough to think that it was going to be a serious investigation.'