Steven Sund’s account of January 6 cuts through years of political framing and selective outrage. As former U.S. Capitol Police chief, Steven Sund says he recognized the risk days before January 6 and formally requested National Guard support in advance. That request, however, was never his to approve.
By law, any such request had to pass through the U.S. Capitol Police Board, which included the House Sergeant at Arms—an official who reported directly to Nancy Pelosi. According to Sund, the request was rejected. When the United States National Guard was later offered through the Pentagon, he still lacked the legal authority to accept it without the same board’s approval. The power to act simply did not reside with him.
Once the riot began, Sund describes more than an hour of urgent, repeated pleas as the Capitol was breached and officers were overwhelmed. For over 70 critical minutes, he says, approval was delayed while conditions deteriorated inside and around the building. Only after that window had closed was authorization finally granted.
What followed makes the contrast unavoidable. In the aftermath, Pelosi quickly approved a massive, highly visible military presence around the Capitol—razor wire, checkpoints, thousands of troops. The speed and decisiveness shown then stood in stark opposition to the hesitation that preceded the attack itself.
Sund’s account does not absolve Donald Trump of all criticism, nor does it deny broader failures across multiple institutions. But it directly dismantles the simplified claim that Trump alone “refused” or “delayed” the Guard. That narrative ignores how authority was actually structured and who legally controlled the decision at the moment it mattered.
The harder question Sund’s version forces into the open is one Washington has largely avoided: not who benefited politically from January 6, but who had the power to prevent the worst outcomes—and failed to use it in time. Until that question is addressed honestly, accountability will remain selective, and the lessons of that day unresolved.