Former United States Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund is accusing former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) of rewriting history after she criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to activate the D.C. National Guard this week.
Pelosi wrote on X Monday that Trump “delayed deploying the National Guard on January 6th when our Capitol was under violent attack and lives were at stake,” claiming his new Guard order was an attempt to distract from his “incompetent mishandling” of tariffs, healthcare, education, and immigration.
Sund, who led Capitol Police during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, responded with a lengthy rebuttal, accusing Pelosi of blocking his multiple requests for Guard assistance before and during the attack.
“Ma’am, it is long past time to be honest with the American people,” Sund wrote.
Ma’am, it is long past time to be honest with the American people. On January 3, I requested National Guard assistance, but your Sergeant at Arms denied it. Under federal law (2 U.S.C. §1970), I was prohibited from calling them in without specific approval. That same day, Carol… https://t.co/3GLihtK7ul
— Chief Steven Sund (@ChiefSund) August 11, 2025
“On January 3, I requested National Guard assistance, but your Sergeant at Arms denied it. Under federal law (2 U.S.C. §1970), I was prohibited from calling them in without specific approval,” the former police chief continued.
“That same day, Carol Corbin at the Pentagon offered National Guard support, but I was forced to decline because I lacked the legal authority. On January 6, while the Capitol was under attack and despite my repeated calls, your Sergeant at Arms again denied my urgent requests for over 70 agonizing minutes, ‘running it up the chain’ for your approval. When I needed assistance, it was denied,” he added. “Yet when it suited you, you ordered fencing topped with concertina wire and surrounded the Capitol with thousands of armed National Guard troops.”
Sund has publicly challenged Pelosi’s Jan. 6 narrative before.
In a series of June 2025 posts, he accused her of shifting blame to Trump for National Guard delays despite her office controlling key approval channels through the House Sergeant at Arms.
He has maintained that he made 11 urgent calls for National Guard support on Jan. 6, starting at 12:58 p.m., but approval was withheld for 71 minutes. His Jan. 3 requests for Guard assistance before the rally were denied “each time.” He also argues that federal law barred him from unilaterally requesting federal assistance without the approval of the Capitol Police Board, which included both Sergeants at Arms reporting to Pelosi and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
In sworn testimony, Sund has also blamed the Pentagon for failing to activate the National Guard in a timely way on Jan. 6 due to “optics” concerns.
“After I had received approval to call in the National Guard, I had to beg Pentagon officials to send us help. I was repeatedly denied assistance by Army Lt. Gen. Piatt, citing the concern over the optics of the National Guard on Capitol Hill. The D.C. National Guard, many of whom were standing within eyesight of the Capitol,” Sund testified in 2023.
Sund also pointed to footage from Pelosi’s daughter, filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi, recorded during the evacuation, in which Pelosi appeared to take responsibility for the lack of available Guard troops.
Since January 6, 2021, Nancy Pelosi spent 3+ years and nearly $20 million creating a narrative to blame Donald Trump.
NEW FOOTAGE shows on January 6, Pelosi ADMITTED:
"I take responsibility."
WATCH: pic.twitter.com/95a0totTWB
— Oversight Subcommittee (@OversightAdmn) June 10, 2024
TRUMP ANNOUNCES FEDERAL TAKEOVER OF DC POLICE TO FIGHT CRIME: WHAT TO KNOW
Pelosi, however, has continued to assert that Trump alone refused to send in reinforcements on Jan. 6. In remarks reiterating her position, she said: “On January 6, with violence against the Constitution, against the Congress and against the United States Capitol, we begged the President of the United States to send in the National Guard. He would not do it… That day, he didn’t do it.”
The renewed clash between Pelosi and Sund comes as Trump’s D.C. Guard activation, part of a federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department, draws sharp criticism from Democratic leaders in Washington and Maryland, and reignites long-standing disputes over Jan. 6 accountability.
