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The decision to convert a cold underground parking lot into a night passage for National Guard troops in Washington to protect President Joe Biden’s inauguration has sparked an uproar.
Several of the 25,000 soldiers who stood guard around the United States Capitol in recent days in the wake of the January 6 insurrection were allowed to take breaks and naps between long shifts on the floors of the building that houses the US Congress. U.S.
But on Thursday afternoon, after the legislature resumed work a day after Biden’s inauguration, someone decided instead to force them out to a nearby parking lot.
Photos that quickly spread online showed troops sprawled out under fluorescent lights in parking spaces, with few bathrooms, outlets for charging phones or other facilities.
Some members of Congress, noting that many of the troops came from their home states, expressed outrage.
“This is an insult to all National Guard units that followed orders and served in the cold and rain at night without fail. They protected our Capitol when we needed them most,” Rep. Brendan Boyle said on Twitter.
Lawmakers visited the troops and apologized early Friday.
“What happened was an outrage and it will never happen again,” said Chuck Schumer, the new Senate Majority Leader, as he walked down a hallway on Capitol Hill with dozens of soldiers sleeping on either side.
Schumer said no one knew exactly who ordered the part-time soldiers to move to the garage.
In the afternoon, First Lady Jill Biden also paid a surprise visit to a group of congressional servicemen, offering them chocolate chip cookies and posing for photos.
“The National Guard will always have a special place in the hearts of all Bidens,” he said. Beau, the late son of President Joe Biden, was a member of the Delaware National Guard.
Echoing recriminations about responsibility for allowing hundreds of violent supporters of then-President Donald Trump to crash into the Capitol on January 6, National Guard officials said they were told by Capitol Police to move into the garage, and the Capitol Police denied it.
They “did not order the National Guard to vacate the grounds of the Capitol building,” Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said in a statement.
“As of this morning, all the men and women of the Guard have been relocated to a space within the Capitol complex.” -French Media Agency
