Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Hunter Biden attorney threatens litigation against Fox News

Trump and allies say Biden pays rent for ‘illegals’ in Michigan. Not true.

Harsh deportation tools are just fine with many Americans

Where seas are rising at alarming speed 

The new face of flooding

In photos: Tornadoes wreak havoc in Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa

The Rick Steves guide to life

The sad, stale state of in-flight vegetarian meals

Is Southwest about to end its free-for-all seating?

Soldiers reunite with their pets from overseas: ‘It meant everything to me’

Chiropractor works on giraffe, is nuzzled: ‘Giraffes are just giant dogs?’

An SUV was in flames on the highway. Strangers saved the driver.  

Middle East conflict live updates: Blinken calls proposed Israeli cease-fire deal ‘extraordinarily generous’

The Rangers swept the Capitals, and it’s time for the new core to take charge

Jayden Daniels is latest in Washington’s checkered history of first-round QBs

Meta’s oversight body prepares to lay off workers

An AI blood test purports to diagnose postpartum depression

A TikTok ban could also end short-form video as we’ve come to know it

An assassination plot on American soil reveals a darker side of Modi’s India

Spanish leader Sánchez to stay in power after resignation drama

Scotland leader Humza Yousaf resigns in latest setback for independence 

Carolyn Hax: Is checking his phone the best way to prove he isn’t lying anymore?

Ask Amy: Boyfriend’s CPA dad did my taxes wrong for years

Miss Manners: I think kindergarten graduations are ‘ridiculous’

Is student loan debt an emergency? Take our quiz.

Humans might need to re-engineer the climate

The Fed’s fight against inflation needs to lose the dot plot

Eighty percent of Ukraine-Israel bill will be spent in U.S. or by U.S. military

Facts in the Trump courtroom v. ‘facts’ in the court of public opinion

Trump hush money trial live updates: Witness testimony to continue

Trump Hush Money

See more coverage in your recommendations

Get the weekly Campaign Moment newsletter

Set alerts for major election developments

Election 2024

The Campaign Moment newsletter

Politics alerts

Something happened in the past two months when it comes to former acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller’s version of President Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. That much is clear.

Miller’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/christopher-miller-jeffrey-rosen-capitol-riot/2021/05/11/8eb22bda-b2a5-11eb-ab43-bebddc5a0f65_story.html" target=_blank>testimony Wednesday</a> about the riot was much anticipated, given how much he had attached the Jan. 6 attack to his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/annotated-trump-speech-jan-6-capitol/" target=_blank>former boss’s rhetoric in a speech that day</a>. But a funny thing happened when Miller testified: He seemed to back away from his comments laying this at Trump’s feet.

Miller’s opening statement <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pentagon-chief-during-jan-6-riot-defends-military-response/2021/05/11/56607db4-b28b-11eb-bc96-fdf55de43bef_story.html" target="_blank">was previewed Tuesday evening</a>. In it, he stated that although he couldn’t offer an official conclusion about Trump’s culpability, “I stand by my prior observation that I personally believe his comments encouraged the protestors that day.”

What resulted in the hearing was plenty of parsing about exactly what that meant. Did he truly believe Trump had incited the mob that stormed the Capitol that day?

Miller, notably, did not include that particular statement in his oral opening remarks. Such remarks are often distilled down because of time constraints, but this was arguably the most newsworthy section of his prepared statement, and Miller didn’t say it out loud.

As things progressed, that seemed less like a coincidence. When Miller was pressed on the subject by Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.), he backed off the emphasis on Trump.

“He clearly offered that they should march on the Capitol,” Miller said of Trump’s Jan. 6 speech. “So it goes without saying that his statement resulted in that. The question — ”

Lynch, though, pressed further. He wanted to know specifically whether Miller thought Trump incited the rioters.

On this, Miller was less willing to commit, and he actually acknowledged he had “reassessed.”

“I think now I would say that that is not the unitary factor at all,” Miller said, adding: “I would like to offer — I’ve reassessed. It’s not the unitary factor at all. It seems clear there was an organized conspiracy with assault elements in place.”

This set Lynch off. He accused Miller of walking back his written testimony that Trump had encouraged the protesters that day. Miller called the accusation “ridiculous,” to which Lynch responded, “You’re ridiculous.”

“Thank you for, um, your thoughts,” Miller said diplomatically.

Once things calmed down, they got to the crux of the matter. Miller maintained that he was, in fact, somehow drawing a distinction between those who “marched” on the Capitol and those who broke into it and rioted.

“There’s a difference between marching on the Capitol and assaulting the Capitol,” Miller said. “That’s the delineation I’m trying to make, despite the partisan attack that I just was subjected to.”

But crucially, that’s not at all a distinction Miller drew before.

In comments to Vice News two months ago, he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/12/one-quarter-trumps-cabinet-level-officials-have-rebuked-him-over-jan-6-riot/" target=_blank>drew no such line</a> between Trump’s speech resulting in people marching on the Capitol and storming it. Indeed, he lumped them together in the same breath while talking about what Trump spurred. And he said Trump’s speech was a necessary ingredient for both.

“The question is, would anybody have marched on the Capitol and tried to overrun the Capitol without the president’s speech? I think it’s pretty much definitive that wouldn’t have happened,” Miller <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/wx83v4/even-trumps-defense-secretary-during-the-capitol-riot-blames-him-for-inciting-it" target="_blank">said at the time</a>.

Miller did allow for the possibility that Trump might not have intended for such a thing to happen. But that’s different from saying this wouldn’t have happened at all without Trump’s speech. This appears to be what Miller has “reassessed.”

But even that reassessment is odd and somewhat inexplicable. If you’re drawing that fine line — and knowing the narrative about Trump’s potential role — why not more clearly specify that’s what you’re doing in your statement. And why omit that from your spoken remarks in a way that you had to know would be noticed?

Even more than that, what actually changed over the past two months? By the time Miller gave his interview in mid-March, it was well known — for more than a month — that certain elements of the Capitol riot <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/fbi-capitol-riot-coordination-planning/2021/01/30/c5ef346e-6258-11eb-9430-e7c77b5b0297_story.html" target=_blank>included planning</a>. But not even that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/15/worst-defenses-trump-capitol-riot/" target=_blank>would absolve Trump of incitement</a>, especially given his many comments before then claiming the election was stolen and otherwise <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/13/trumps-actions-which-led-violence-capitol-began-months-ago/" target=_blank>suggestively pointing to violence by his supporters</a>. And there’s no indication there is suddenly some new, game-changing evidence Miller wouldn’t have been aware of in March.

It’s clear that Miller has, at the very least, changed the thrust of his commentary on what happened Jan. 6. And it seems he has indeed “reassessed” the substance of it, too. The questions is why, but the answers weren’t exactly forthcoming Wednesday.

University of Minnesota

Aaron Blake is senior political reporter, writing for The Fix. A Minnesota native, he has also written about politics for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and The Hill newspaper.

Aaron Blake

washpost

Chris Miller backs off blaming Trump for Capitol riot

the-washington-post

Biden administration

The Fix

The 202s

Polling

Democracy in America

Balance of Power Pair

U.S. House Aggregate

U.S. Senate Aggregate

Politics

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/law

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/crime

iptc-media/society

iptc-media/society/discrimination

iptc-media/politics

iptc-media/politics/government

iptc-media/conflict_war_and_peace

iptc-media/politics/political_process

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Amazon KWs - EXCLUDE ALL 

client-blocklists/Client List: Becton Dickinson KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: Nomura KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Boeing KWs 2021- INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Bed Bath & Beyond KWs - INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Exxon Mobil  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Microsoft KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/HBO KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Ford/Lincoln KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Bank of America KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Diageo - Johnnie Walker KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ExxonMobil 03312021 KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/GEICO KWs - INCLUDES ANY_4.26.21

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs 2 - EXCLUDES ALL - 12.23.20

client-blocklists/Blockist: Capitol Building Mob

client-blocklists/Client List: Eli Lily KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Culture and Tradition_legacyaux_kfx

client-blocklists/Client List: Purina KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Health and Beauty_legacyaux_3fv

client-blocklists/BP KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/ CLIENT LIST: AT&T KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/B2_Positive News_legacyaux_hlt

advertising/B2_Society_legacyaux_0cz

client-blocklists/Client List: GEICO KWs

client-blocklists/Client List: KPMG KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Verizon KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Novo Nordisk KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Siemens KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Cisco KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T ALT KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Mercedes KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/FX Excludes All Disney

client-blocklists/Client List: Inpixon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Boeing KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Philip Morris KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Google KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Capital One KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 1.4.21

client-blocklists/Bank of America Merrill Lynch KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Google PG KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Chase KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Office Depot KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ETrade KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/the-fix?limit=20

The Washington Post's political analysis blog.

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/politics&limit=20

Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.

Post Politics from The Washington Post is the source for political news headlines, in-depth politics coverage and political opinion, plus breaking news on the biden administration and White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, elections and more.

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/the-fix&limit=6