para bellum
Diamond Member
Trump didn't need to, the authority was already given. I believe it's even statutory- the DCNG is specifically charged with defending the Capitol.Had Trump's Army Secretary called them up, no one could have rejected that. So why didn't Trump have his Army Secretary do that?
A better question is why were they told to stand down for over 4 hours until it was all over? They had a plan, they had the people staged, they got the phone call from the Capitol Police asking for help, and the Pentagon held them back.