Kash Patel claims he was smeared by the January 6 committee for backing Trump's claims he authorized the National Guard

Kash Patel has faced a years-long smear campaign aimed at discrediting his testimony to the Select Committee investigating January 6 that he claims proves Donald Trump did not engage in insurrection.

Central to the panel's argument that Trump incited the Capitol riot and is an 'insurrectionist' is their finding that he did not 'deploy' the National Guard to Washington, D.C. as his supporters descended on the Capitol.

But Patel testified, and reiterated to DailyMail.com in an interview, that Trump did verbally authorize National Guard deployment during an Oval Office meeting on January 3, 2021 – three days before the now infamous riot.

The Trump advisor and former National Security Council official was in the meeting where he claims Trump gave his approval for Defense officials to communicate to Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that they were authorized to deploy the National Guard to the District and the U.S. Capitol building amid threats of violence that day.

Anthony Ornato, who was in charge of chief executive's Secret Service security detail from January 2019 until Trump left office, said that the president was 'willing to ask for 10,000' National Guard troops for deployment to Washington, D.C. on January 6.

'I remember the number 10,000 coming up of, you know, 'The president wants to make sure that you have enough,' Ornato testified to the committee in a transcript unearthed this month by the Republicans reviewing the January 6 Committee's investigation. 

Kash Patel says that smear campaign against him is dead after newly unearthed transcription suppressed by the January 6 panel corroborates his testimony that Donald Trump did authorize 10,000 National Guard troops 

Testimony from Anthony Ornato, who was in charge of Trump's security detail before and during Jan. 6, 2021, said the president authorized deployment of the National Guard. The January 6 Committee previously suppressed a transcript of Ornato's testimony and it was released this month

The Select Committee on the January 6 Capitol Attack did all they could to discredit Patels' testimony and label him a Trump lackey who would say anything to protect the former president, the former national security official claimed.

The disregard for Patel's testimony in the congressional probe was used as a way for a Colorado court to also claim Patel was not provide credible testimony in the case trying to remove the former president from the state's ballot for allegedly participating in an insurrection.

'The Court finds that Mr. Patel was not a credible witness,' a finding reads from the November 2023 ruling by Colorado Judge Sarah Wallace. 'His testimony regarding Trump authorizing 10,000-20,000 National Guardsmen is not only illogically… but completely devoid if any evidence in the record.'

Ornato said, according to the newly released testimony, that Bowser declined the offer for troops, claiming she had enough help with National Guard members mobilized to act in a limited capacity under Metro Police Department direction.

The testimony from Ornato was first reported by The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway and was later released in full by House Administration's Subcommittee on Oversight Chairman Rep. Barry Loudermilk earlier this month. 

Bowser wrote a letter to Trump's Pentagon officials on January 5, 2021 denying the offer of additional National Guardsmen outside of the 'unarmed members of the DC National Guard' she brought in to act as glorified traffic cops to give support with 'traffic control and crowd management.'

U.S. Capitol Police, who report to the Speaker of the House, also denied the offer for troops.

'The whole point is it defeats their insurrection claim,' Patel said. 'If Trump did not authorize the National Guard before Jan. 6, then how is it factually possible for Bowser and Pelosi to have rejected it, in writing. It's impossible.'

'So, they lose the narrative in the public sphere. Now, they're losing it in the courts with all the litigation,' he added.

Rioters at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 clash with law enforcement

Patel said in his December 9, 2021 deposition before the panel that Trump did authorize the 10,000 National Guard for deployment.

Trump's administration, Ornato confirmed, requested a 'quick reaction force' out of the Defense Department in case it was needed after both Bowser and Pelosi denied the additional support.

When Former Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller reiterated Patel's recollection of the meeting regarding the president's authorization in his testimony to the panel, it was sold to the public as a way for Trump to have troops in the area to protect his supporters.

Newly unearthed transcripts from Tony Ornato, the man who was in charge of Trump's Secret Service security detail, reveal that he corroborated Patel's claims that Trump did want the National Guard in D.C. on January 6.

Asked about preemptively authorizing deployment in the January 3 meeting, Patel said Trump's thinking was along the lines of: 'Just in case there's any security issues in D.C. or any other major city, I know you need my authorization, so I'm giving it to you.'

'Don't come back to me. You have it [authorization]. Don't waste time if a governor asks for troops – you have it,' he added.

Patel said 'we deployed the DOD leadership to Bowser and Pelosi and to Capitol Police that day' to inform them that they were able to deploy National Guard to help protect the Capitol and District.

But he claims 'they said no.'

Patel told DailyMail.com that the reason Democrat officials did not take up Trump's authorization of 10,000 troops to the District was because they 'wanted' the images of his supporters descending on the Capitol.

Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (left) and U.S. Capitol Police, which was at the time reporting to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (right), denied Trump's offer for National Guard troops 

Mayor Bowser sent a letter to Trump's Defense officials on January 5, 2021 denying the president's offer of additional National Guard support in the District 

One of the key arguments of the January 6 Committee's report alleging Trump engaged in insurrection is the claim he failed to deploy the National Guard because he didn't want his supporters stopped from reaching the Capitol and protesting the 2020 election results.

Since the District of Columbia does not have a governor, the D.C. National Guard is under the authority of the president. While the mayor can have them sworn in as 'special [police] privates' to act under MPD, the president's authority is needed for their full deployment.

'President Trump had authority and responsibility to direct deployment of the National Guard in the District of Columbia, but never gave any order to deploy the National Guard on January 6th or on any other day,' the January 6 panel wrote in its final report. 'Nor did he instruct any Federal law enforcement agency to assist.'

The nine-member panel, including seven Democratic lawmakers and two Republicans, decided Patel's testimony claiming Trump did authorize the National Guard was not compelling. And a Colorado judge in the now defunct case trying to remove Trump from the ballot said Patel is 'not a credible' witness.

'Colorado got reversed because there is no insurrection with this new testimony,' Patel insisted in reference to the Supreme Court overturning the Colorado case attempting to say Trump couldn't be on the ballot because he engaged in 'insurrection.'

'I was the lead witness [in Colorado],' he said. 'It was a clown show. And what they're doing now is personal attacks.'

The testimony from Ornato was previously suppressed by the Jan. 6 panel and only referenced in part in their final report.

But Rep. Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of the House Administration Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight, is reviewing the January 6 panel's investigation and disclosed earlier this month the transcript of Ornato's testimony.

'This is one example we've uncovered of the former J6 Select Committee intentionally suppressing critical information because it did not support their narrative,' the chairman told DailyMail.com of Ornato's testimony.

He added: 'Our Initial Findings Report is just the beginning, and our investigation will continue in our efforts to get to the truth.'

A staffer for the panel asked Ornato during his November 2022 deposition: 'When it comes to the National Guard statement about having 10,000 troops or any other number of troops, do you recall any discussion prior to the 6th about whether and how many National Guard troops to deploy on January 6th?'

Patel was a U.S. National Security Council official under Trump. He testified to the January 6 panel about the Oval Office meeting where Trump authorized deployment of the National Guard to D.C. 

Ornato then recalled a conversations he heard between then-Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

'He [Meadows] was on the phone with her [Bowser] and wanted to make sure she had everything that she needed,' the longtime Secret Service official told investigators.

Ornato said that Trump and his team, including Miller and Meadows, were getting frustrated with the slow deployment of National Guard the day of the Capitol attack.

'So then I remember the chief saying, 'Hey, I'm calling secretary of defense to get that [quick reaction force] in here,' Ornato said, later adding: 'And then I remember the chief telling Miller, 'Get them in here, get them in here to secure the Capitol now.''

The timeline of the events leading up to and on the day of January 6, 2021 continues to be disputed between those who think Trump didn't do enough to end the riots sooner and those who say he preemptively tried to give approvals for as much support as possible.