Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Army leader defended the Pentagon’s response to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, telling a House panel Tuesday that the National Guard was delayed for hours because it had to properly prepare for the deployment and that senior military leaders had determined beforehand that the military had “no role” in determining the outcome of an election.

Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt, the director of the Army staff, echoed comments from other senior military leaders about the perception of soldiers being used to secure the election process. He said the Pentagon wanted to be careful about their response in part because of concerns about military helicopters that had flown low over Washington streets during protests over the killing of George Floyd by police in the summer of 2020.

It also took several hours for Guardsmen to be equipped and given a plan for how to secure the Capitol, Piatt said. The building was overrun by hundreds of supporters of former President Donald Trump who sought to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

“When people’s lives are on the line, two minutes is too long,” he said. “But we were not positioned to respond to that urgent request. We had to re-prepare so we would send them in prepared for this new mission.”