During her weekly press conference on Thursday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) revealed that the chamber is probably going to allocate more money to members of Congress to provide additional security for themselves.
Pelosi said that the chamber is not only doing this due to the Capitol riots earlier this month, but also because of what she described as the “enemy” within the House.
“We will probably need a supplemental [budget] for more security for members when the enemy is within the House of Representatives — a threat that members are concerned about in addition to what is happening outside,” Pelosi said.
When asked for clarification on what she meant by this, Pelosi proceeded to call out some of her fellow members of Congress.
“It means we have members of Congress who want to bring guns on the floor and have threatened violence on other members of Congress,” she said.
This came hours after 32 members of Congress sent a letter to House leadership claiming that members were facing a “significant uptick in threats of violence and even death.”
The letter, which was led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Dean Phillips (D-MN), asked the House to allocate supplemental funds for security “given the increased threat level,” as well as other increased security measures.
Pelosi said in her presser that she has already asked retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré to lead a review of the U.S. Capitol’s security. She has also issued a new guidance allowing lawmakers to use their office budget funds to purchase things like bulletproof vests and security guards at local events.
“General Honoré is looking to see what really will work in terms of their service here, their service home, their transportation in between,” she said.
Unsurprisingly, Pelosi also didn’t miss an opportunity to once again accuse former President Donald Trump of inciting the Capitol riots.
“This is very, very important,” Pelosi said of the security concerns. “It shouldn’t be. It shouldn’t be that not only is the president of the United States inciting an insurrection but keeps fanning the flames endangering the security of members of Congress to the point that they’re even concerned about members in the House of Representatives being a danger to them.”
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