Military troops have been in Washington D.C. since January 6th. But on whose orders exactly have they been deployed? On the 57th day of the D.C. lockdown the answer to that question is not as clear as once believed.
D.C. and Capitol Police officials were cited as the original requesters of troops, and they were kept deployed at the request of the CP. But in mid-February an email was leaked that showed Biden administration personnel ordering the deployment to last until the fall. That email was dated January 20 – the day Joe Biden was inaugurated.
On January 25, during a press conference, the Secretary of the Army revealed troop presence had been requested by four law enforcement agencies: The U.S. Park Police, the U.S. Secret Service, the Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C.
This week the Capitol Police officially requested a 60-day extension to the presence in D.C. Troops had been scheduled to finish their mission on March 12.
The CP now says it is in possession of intelligence that indicates members of militia groups were planning to “blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible with a direct nexus to the State of the Union.” But no date for a Biden State of the Union had been set.
ITN has requested confirmation from several members of Congress, the FBI, the Capitol Police and the White House that the underlying intelligence the deployments are based on is being shared with appropriate lawmakers. As of the time of this writing we have received no confirmation, a peculiar development considering the depth and breadth of the presence.
Nearly 5,000 troops remain deployed at both the Capitol and the White House. Both perimeters are completely enclosed by barricades, fencing and razor wire. Earlier this week it appeared as though the fencing and razor wire were being removed.
It turns out they were being fortified instead.
Fence update: The Architect of the Capitol’s office says the razor wire is NOT coming down. They are replacing the current fencing with different anti-climb fencing, and then the razor wire will go back up on the new fences once those are in place, per @EleanorNorton office. https://t.co/oFILgPT728
— Haley Talbot (@haleytalbotnbc) March 1, 2021
Several lawmakers have begun referring to the encampment as “Fort Pelosi,” after the Speaker of the House.
In mid-January 12 members of the National Guard were removed from the mission and sent back to their home states. The Secretary of the Army would say during a press conference soon after that the FBI had recommended to military commanders they be removed. Asked whether senior military officials had been given access to that underlying intelligence themselves, the Secretary of the Army said they had not.
We reported last week on the mission-creep with respect to the NG troops in D.C. and the shifting of the “threat goal-posts” beginning to become a pattern. Troops were brought in to quell the unrest, then to secure the January 20 inauguration, then to protect the Capitol against plots set to take place on March 4. Yesterday, as it became clear no assault on the Capitol would take place, the range of the threat shifted again.
Acting chief of the Capitol Police Yogananda D. Pittman said threats against lawmakers were “through the roof,” and that the CP was “monitoring various reports referencing potential First Amendment activities from March 4 to March 6.”