WASHINGTON – President Biden called the head of the National Guard Cabinet on Friday to express dismay after troops deployed to protect his possession were ordered the day before to rest in an unheated garage after being expelled from the Capitol, officials said. from the government.
Photographs of dozens of guard members resting in parking spaces created a public relations disaster in the early days of Biden’s term, with some governors demanding that troops from their states be sent home.
In a phone call with General Daniel R. Hokanson, head of the National Guard Department, Biden asked what he could do about the situation, officials said. The two men also spoke about Biden’s personal connection with the Guard; Biden’s son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015, served as a major in the Delaware Army National Guard.
Officials said the White House could also organize a liaison with state officials to thank them for their state contributions to sending more than 25,000 National Guard members to the nation’s capital to provide security before and during their fourth term. -market.
On Friday morning, the DC National Guard said the soldiers had been transferred back to the Capitol from the parking lot. Guard officials said troops were temporarily removed from the Capitol on Thursday afternoon at the request of the Capitol Police because of increased pedestrian traffic as Congress returned to the session.
But pictures of the troops resting on the parking lot floor, along with reports that they had access to scarce toilets and were breathing in the smoke from the cars’ exhaust, generated a public uproar.
The scene was in stark contrast to the pictures taken of Guard soldiers sleeping on the floor or on pallets inside the Capitol just before Biden’s inauguration, which led to a demonstration of support for soldiers.
The number of Guard soldiers deployed to provide security for the inauguration increased dramatically after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, reaching 15,000 on January 12 and exceeding 20,000 on January 20. A spokesman for the National Guard Office said on Thursday that the DC Guard was responsible for their accommodation.
A joint statement by the Department of National Guard and Capitol Police released Friday afternoon does not explain why soldiers were sent to a parking lot, but suggested that it would not happen again.
Maj’s statement. Matthew Murphy, a spokesman for the National Guard, said both organizations are coordinating their efforts to ensure that Guard members stationed on Capitol Hill receive “appropriate spaces within Congress buildings” for “service breaks”.
“Out-of-service troops are being housed in hotel rooms or other comfortable accommodations,” said Major Murphy.
About 19,000 of the troops sent to Washington have started to pack and return to their home states, a process that will take about five to 10 days, officials said.
The remaining troops – about 7,000 of them – are expected to remain in Washington at least until the end of January to provide support to federal agencies and guard against the possibility of another riot on Capitol Hill.
As images of the parking lot spread on social media on Thursday afternoon, lawmakers on both sides were quick to condemn the situation and promised to take the soldiers back to the Capitol. Some offered to allow Guardsmen to take breaks from their private Senate and House offices.
With troops safely returning to the Capitol facilities on Friday morning, several lawmakers – including Senators Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the main Republican – made a point of meet with the soldiers on Friday.
“I told those who run Capitol security that it can never happen again and I promise all members of the National Guard that it will not happen again,” Schumer said in a plenary address.
“It breaks your heart,” Sen. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, told reporters. “I mean, these are people who are here serving the country, protecting us, protecting our freedom and our democracy and there is absolutely no excuse for that.”
In a speech on the Senate floor, Oklahoma Senator James M. Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the situation was the result of “a uniformed police officer who issued an order without authority or crossed the chain. command. “
“This is not a blame game,” he added. “But I want to know what happened to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Prior to a meeting with Kentucky National Guard troops, McConnell asked to find “the right middle ground between the unacceptable lapses of three weeks ago and the extraordinary short-term measures that have been in place ever since. And in the meantime, we need to make sure that we take care of the men and women who take care of us. “
Shortly after 2:00 pm on Friday, First Lady Jill Biden visited the Guard soldiers on Capitol Hill and gave them a basket of chocolate chip cookies. Dr. Biden thanked her for protecting her family, which she said was a National Guard family.
“The National Guard will always have a special place in the heart of all Bidens,” said Dr. Biden, who took a group photo with some of the soldiers before returning to the White House.