House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the metal detector fines imposed on lawmakers who breach security protocol despite one of her top lieutenants getting snagged for bypassing one of the chamber magnetometers.
“I think that they are protecting the members of Congress, and if people have a disagreement on the charge that was made, then they can appeal it. And that’s what’s happened,” Pelosi told the Washington Examiner during her weekly press conference.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina was fined $5,000 by the Capitol Police last week for breaching a lower chamber entrance metal detector, making him the first Democrat to be penalized for the violation. Clyburn, the third-highest House Democrat, filed an appeal to the House Ethics Committee.
The first penalty results in a $5,000 fine, and a second violation amounts to a $10,000 fine. Three other House lawmakers, Republican Reps. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Louie Gohmert of Texas, and Hal Rogers of Kentucky have also been fined for metal detector violations.
Each appealed his charges to the Ethics Committee only to have their arguments be rejected by the committee members. Clyde, who was fined $15,000, announced last Friday that he is preparing a lawsuit to fight the metal detector fines.
The House metal detectors were installed at each House floor entrance after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol at Pelosi’s orders. She later established and pushed for a rule to fine lawmakers who bypassed the metal detectors, causing Republicans to lash out at the new provision.
Republicans accused Pelosi of bypassing the metal detectors herself on Feb. 4 after Politico posted a video of House security footage showing the California Democrat walking to the House floor.
“She avoided the metal detectors on Feb. 4, and we sent a letter about that and went in to open proceedings. She entered through the Speaker’s Lobby, where no member, unless you were disabled, was supposed to enter through. She should pay $5,000 for that incident,” Rep. Rodney Davis, an Illinois Republican, told the Washington Examiner.
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A Pelosi spokesperson, however, argued that the speaker was wanded with a hand device that day.
