(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense for information about two conference calls involving then-Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley with the Departments of Justice, Interior and Homeland Security regarding coordination for the January 6, 2021, election certification (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Defense (No. 1:25-cv-00439)).
Judicial Watch filed suit after the Defense Department failed to respond to a December 19, 2024, FOIA request for:
Records and communications about two conference calls hosted by former Department of Defense employees Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, then Secretary of Army Ryan McCarthy, and then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley on January 3rd and January 4th, 2021, with the Department of Justice, Department of Interior, and Department of Homeland Security. The subject of these conference calls was coordination for and the common operating picture for the January 6, 2021, Electoral Certification taking place at the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC.
In testimony to the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack, Milley stated:
So there was a series of meetings prior to the 6th — and we can get you the exact dates and who’s in the meetings, et cetera — interagency meetings, with Acting SecDef Miller [and others]. And I’m involved in those meetings as well. These are in the end of December, so to speak, and then they go all the way up through, I want to say, the 2nd or 3rd or maybe 4th or something like that of January. These are telephonic conference calls to try to figure out exactly what the security measures are going to be for the 6th.
“General Mark Milley and many Deep Staters at the Pentagon hated President Trump, so their role in January 6 is well worth exploring,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should order full transparency and disclosure.”
In December 2024, Judicial Watch sued the U.S. Department of Justice for details of a reported meeting between Attorney General Merrick Garland and. Milley in which they discussed President Trump and during which General Milley pressured Garland to target American “far right” militia movements.
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