Pentagon won’t say what got 12 Guard troops sent home from Biden inauguration duty in DC
January 19
National Guard troops in Washington in the wake of a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 talk about the experience of being mobilized to the city in the midst of potential unrest around the inauguration of President-Elect Joe Biden.
Twelve National Guard troops deployed to Washington ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration were flagged during background checks and have been sent home, Defense Department officials confirmed Tuesday, offering scant details as to what raised suspicions about them.
Two of those were flagged for “inappropriate comments or texts,” Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the Nation Guard Bureau, told reporters, including one reported within their own chain of command. Hokanson’s comments refute a Tuesday story from the Associated Press that all 12 troops removed from the Capitol had right-wing militia ties.