During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, January 30, President Donald Trump’s FBI director-designate Kash Patel spoke to friendly Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) about what happened on January 6, 2021, exposing who he saw as being really at fault for how the day played out.

Doing so, the nominee for the FBI Director position foisted blame for the day’s unfortunate events, particularly the trespass into the Capitol that was unstopped, on two top Democrats: former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, saying that it is they who are responsible.

That came when, during the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Sen. Cruz questioned Kash Patel, who was working for the Trump Administration in the Department of Defense at the time, over what happened on January 6. Particularly, Cruz wanted to know about the evident lack of security measures put in place ahead of time. 

Patel, responding, explained to the Trump-allied Senator that the Department of Defense had been working in the days before the planned event on the National Mall to provide security. Particularly, he said the DoD had worked to prepare National Guard troops for a Capitol protection mission. However, he said, that attempt to provision aid was denied by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Sen. Cruz, starting the discussion, asked about the Sergeant of Arms, who is largely responsible for security of the Capitol and is allegedly the one who denied attempts to provision National Guard troopers for Capitol protection. Sen. Cruz asked, “Who did the Sergeant at Arms report to?” Patel told him, “The Speaker of the House.”

Following up on that, Cruz took the opportunity to point out that the Speaker of the House being in charge meant that it was Nancy Pelosi who was in charge of the Sergeant of Arms at the time. “That would have been Nancy Pelosi at the time, is that correct?” Cruz asked Patel. “Yes, Senator,” Patel told him.

Cruz then noted that it wasn’t just Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi who was directing things at the time, but then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as well, as Democrats controlled both chambers of the legislature. Cruz asked, “And would that also be Chuck Schumer (D-NY), then the Senate Majority Leader?”

Patel, explaining what happened, told Cruz that Schumer was in charge as well and that what Pelosi did was deny the National Guard troopers she was preferred, exposing once again her role in the day’s nasty events. He said, “The Sergeant at Arms, yes, Senator, reports up there. She put in writing on the days leading up to January 6th a declination for National Guard additional support and that letter is available publicly to the world.”

Pelosi has attacked Trump for his pardons of the J6ers. In a statement, she said, “Tonight, the President announced pardons and commutations of sentences for those who violently attacked the Capitol and law enforcement officers on January 6th. The President’s actions are an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol, the Congress and the Constitution.”

She added, “It is shameful that the President has decided to make one of his top priorities the abandonment and betrayal of police officers who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power. Despite the President’s decision, we must always remember the extraordinary courage and valor of the law enforcement heroes who stood in the breach and ensured that democracy survived on that dark day.”