Days before the first anniversary of a violent riot at the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters on Tuesday that the building is “much safer” thanks to security improvements following the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
The New York Democrat said, “We’re in much better shape than we were a year ago. The intelligence, which was so poor then, is much better now.”
“I believe we are much safer, but we’ve got to keep working at it,” Schumer said. “We’ve got to keep making it safer and safer and safer, but there is no doubt we are a far cry from where we were a year ago.”
Schumer called the anniversary “a dark, troubling milestone.”
In remarks on the Senate floor earlier Tuesday, he called the riot “a permanent blemish in the story of American democracy and the final bitter act of the worst president in modern times.”
.@SenSchumer (D-NY): “Jan. 6, 2021, will be forever remembered as a day of enduring infamy, a permanent blemish in the story of American democracy, and the final bitter act of the worst president in modern times.”
Watch: https://t.co/VzzzKGNJFK pic.twitter.com/9MLmBdxO2y
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 4, 2022
Schumer said the threats against lawmakers and public officials stemming from “the big lie” of a rigged election continue.
“The violence that we saw on Jan. 6, we’re seeing throughout the country,” Schumer said, citing threats against local officials.
Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger told reporters there were 9,600 threats against members of Congress made last year.
“I don’t know that we have a normal year anymore,” Manger said. “It was over 8,000 last year, but a couple years ago, it was only 4,000 or 5,000.”
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Conversely, some House Republicans argued that security risks have left the Capitol in a worse position than before the riot and claimed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was negligent about those risks, which her office has denied.
