First Lady Jill Biden paid a surprise visit to National Guard troops in Washington, DC on Friday to thank them for protecting her family during her husband’s inauguration.
“I just wanted to come over today to thank you all for keeping me and my family safe,” she told the police during her first solo performance as first lady.
During the unscheduled stop, she came out of her motorcade in a long black coat and handed out chocolate cookies from a can as a gesture of gratitude.
“I am a mother of the National Guard,” she told officers, in reference to her late son, Beau Biden, who served in the Delaware National Guard. “The National Guard will always have a special place in the heart of all Bidens.”
She added: “The White House baked chocolate chip cookies for you. I can’t say that I baked alone. “
His visit came after DC was shaken by the bombastic report on Thursday that thousands of soldiers were “banned” to a parking lot after being asked to leave parts of the United States Capitol grounds.
On Friday, the first lady stopped after a planned visit to Whitman-Walker Health in central Washington.
More than 25,000 soldiers were called to DC before Joe Biden’s inauguration, following the deadly January 6 siege of the United States Capitol by pro-Trump supporters dissatisfied with the election, raising fears of ongoing attacks.
Thousands of National Guard soldiers were asked to stay in Washington, DC until March to keep the nation’s capital safe amid fears of local extremism.
Now, 7,000 of these National Guard members will stay in the city until March 12, according to a Military.com report published on Friday, citing a National Guard officer.
The FBI arrested dozens of protesters in connection with the Capitol riot, including two New York men this week.
On Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced that President Biden was instructing his Director of National Intelligence to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the threat of violent domestic extremism after the siege.
“The January 6 attack on the Capitol and the tragic deaths and destruction that have occurred have emphasized what we already knew: the rise of domestic violent extremism is a serious and growing threat to national security,” said Psaki.
–Wired Post