Source: Reuters - Link
President Donald Trump wanted National Guard troops in Washington to protect his supporters at a Jan. 6 rally that ended with them attacking the U.S. Capitol, leaving five dead, Trump’s former Pentagon chief testified on Wednesday.
Trump told Miller to “fill” the request, the former defense secretary testified. Miller said Trump told him: “Do whatever is necessary to protect demonstrators that were executing their constitutionally protected rights.”
One wonders if Trump wanted to use the troops to aid in an attack on Congress? That’s a bridge too far. It is more likely that if the troops had been present that they would have aided Capitol security, so in this case Trump’s request might have made sense. It’s unclear to me if the pro-Trump crowd would have tolerated being “protected” or “supervised”.