The predicate for installing metal detectors at each entrance of the House floor is false, Republican lawmakers say.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered the unprecedented security measure after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and as new Republican members took office who had espoused violence against lawmakers before being elected and insisted on carrying guns in the halls of Congress.
Republican lawmakers vocally protested the presence of the magnetometers.
‘ENEMY IS WITHIN THE HOUSE’: PELOSI WARNS OF GOP SECURITY THREAT
Now, Capitol officials who briefed House lawmakers last Wednesday confirmed there’s no indication any member of Congress is a threat to another lawmaker, a Republican congressman told the Washington Examiner.
“The chief of the Capitol Police and the acting sergeant-at-arms both admitted that there is no intelligence indicating that any member of Congress was a threat to any other member of Congress,” said the Republican lawmaker, who was granted anonymity to speak freely. “They iterated that twice, which is why we raised a ruckus.”
House Administration Committee ranking member Rodney Davis, an Illinois Republican, confirmed the GOP lawmaker’s account to the Washington Examiner.
Pelosi previously accused Republican lawmakers of posing a threat to Democrats and appropriated further federal money to boost security around the Capitol.
The California Democrat claimed the extra spending was necessary “for security for members, when the enemy is within the House of Representatives of a threat that members are concerned about, in addition to what is happening outside.”
When pressed by the Washington Examiner to clarify what she meant, Pelosi replied, “It means we have members of Congress who want to bring guns on the floor and have threatened violence on other members of Congress.”
House Democrats specifically deemed Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene a threat to members after controversial social media posts, prior to her time in office, came to light, leading House Democrats to vote to strip her of all of her committee assignments. And freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, is an outspoken advocate for lawmakers carrying guns in the Capitol complex.
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A razor wire-tipped, 8-foot-tall fence encircles the Capitol along with National Guard troops following the Jan. 6 mob that swarmed the complex. The presence of both is subject to continuous debate, with Pelosi moving toward a 9/11 style Commission to investigate the Jan. 6 assault on the capitol.
The speaker has accused former President Donald Trump of inciting the attack on the Capitol and argued that he “keeps fanning the flame, endangering the security of members of Congress to the point that they’ve even been concerned about members in the House of Representatives being a danger to them.”
