Virginia Governor Ralph Northam immediately offered assistance from the Virginia State Police and the state’s National Guard to quell the insurrection at the Capitol when asked by Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi–help that was needed because Donald Trump would not respond to calls for help, the Washington Post reports.
Northam was in the midst of a press conference to discuss Virginia’s coronavirus response when his staffs’ cell phones started ringing with calls and pinging with text messages. After a call from Bowser, Northam’s chief of staff Clark Mercer instructed the state police to help.
As governor, only Northam can call up the National Guard, so his staffed signalled him during the presser and updated him about the DC situation. After talking with Bowser, he ordered the Guard to help.
Northam also got calls from Virginia’s US Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, assuring them help was on the way. He then saw Pelosi’s number on his caller ID. Pelosi, who had been spirited off the House floor when insurrectionists breached the building, was calling to seek assistance.
“‘Ralph there’s glass being broken around me. I’ve heard there’s been gunfire.'” Northam recalls the conversation. “‘We’re just very, very concerned right now.’”
Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan also got a call from the Capitol. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Congressman, called Hogan for help.
“I was actually on the phone with Leader Hoyer who was pleading with us to send the Guard,” Hogan recalls. “He was yelling across the room to Schumer and they were back and forth saying we do have the authorization and I’m saying, ‘I’m telling you we do not have the authorization.’ ”
More than an hour and a half later, Hogan got a call from the Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy requesting the Maryland National Guard’s help. It was not through the normal chain-of-command, which would involve the White House making such a request.
Thankfully, Hogan had put the commander of the Maryland National Guard on alert before McCarthy’s call came. Hogan said Maryland Guard members would be in DC through January.