Trump's defense secretary confirms he didn't approve plan to deploy National Guard until after Pence called him - over 3 hours after the Capitol riot began

• Trump's acting defense secretary testified it took 3 hours before members of the National Guard were authorized to clear the Capitol.
• Chris Miller was grilled Wednesday by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
• Miller said he had a "very brief" conversation with Pence at 4:08 p.m. on January 6.

Trump's defense secretary testified it took three hours from when the Capitol Riot began before members of the National Guard were authorized to clear the building - clearance which didn't come until after he spoke with Vice President Mike Pence.

At first, former Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller testified that he gave "full authorization to deploy" members of the DC National Guard at 3 p.m., about 2 hours after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol complex.

Miller was questioned by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who asked Miller about the official Department of Defense timeline of the January 6 siege on the US Capitol, which said the Guard wasn't authorized to clear the Capitol until 4:32 p.m.

Miller said the delay was caused by Gen. William Walker creating a "concept of operations" plan to deploy the troops to clear the building.

Ocasio-Cortez also probed Miller about a conversation he had with Pence at 4:08 p.m. before the authorization was given, asking whether Pence directed Miller to clear the building.

Miller said he had a "very brief" conversation with Pence where he informed him the building was going to be cleared.

"What we have here is that the order was not issued after a conversation with DC Mayor Bower," Ocasio-Cortez said. "The order to clear the Capitol was not issued after a conversation with Speaker Pelosi. It was not issued after a conversation with Leader Schumer.

"This conversation with Vice President Pence happened at 4:08, and at 4:32 was when the actual verbal authorization according to the DOD happened. That was nearly three hours after Mayor Bowser first requested National Guard assistance," she added.