Gen. Mark Milley - the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - has just been accused of using his influence to delay the National Guard's response to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol protest. 

Red State reports that the accusation comes from Col. Earl Matthews.

The outlet describes Matthews as a "Harvard Law School graduate who was the senior legal advisor to Maj. Gen. William J. Walker, the D.C. National Guard's commanding general from March 2018 through April 2021."

According to Matthews, part of the reason why things got out of control on Jan. 6, 2021, is because Milley allowed them to get out of control.

"It was Milley all along"

During his interview with Red State, Matthews refers to Milley as "the Don Barzini of the Deep State" and "the most powerful chairman of the joint chiefs in history. "

While Matthews acknowledges that Milley, as the chairman of the joint chiefs, did not have the legal authority in the chain of command to do something on Jan. 6, 2021, Matthews alleges that Milley still used his influence in Washington, D.C., to "manipulate" things.

"The problem was not with Donald Trump; it's Mark Milley and the Army leadership in control. They stopped the Guard from coming then lied about it and said the Guard acted at sprint speed," Matthews said.

He continued, "This is about civilian control of the military. There was none. There is none. I argue that — Mark Milley had more control over the D.C. Guard on Jan. 6 than Donald Trump did — if Donald Trump wanted to call the Guard to go to the Capitol, Milley wouldn’t let him do it."

Accordingly, Matthews said, "It was Milley all along, and I didn't realize it."

Background

While the political left has attempted to pin most of the blame for the Jan. 6, 2021, protest on former President Donald Trump, Trump and others have insisted that a large part of the blame lies on those controlling law enforcement's response - or lack thereof - to the incident.

Milley, for his part, has denied any wrongdoing.

This past week, a transcript was released of an interview that Milley did on Nov. 17, 2021, with members of the House Jan. 6 committee.

Politico reports, "From the very start, Milley makes clear that he is appalled by the events of that day. The general spoke at length about the oath he took as an officer and said he believes the insurrection was no less than an assault on the Constitution."

If what Matthews says is true, then it would appear that Milley has not entirely been forthcoming about his actions on Jan. 6, 2021.