A small number of National Guard troops are still resting in parking garages in the U.S. Capitol complex following Thursday evening’s controversy, and many had been resting in the parking garages for days before.
On Thursday evening, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed outrage over thousands of troops abruptly being told to leave an indoor area in the Capitol and go to a parking garage, with some Republicans and conservatives blaming Democratic leadership or President Biden for forcing troops to sleep in a parking garage.
While Thursday’s issue caused chaotic logistics challenges due to the large number of troops and abruptness of the order, it was not the first time that those in Washington, D.C., guarding the Capitol used a parking garage as a rest space.
Guard troops from two states, granted anonymity in order to speak to the press without authorization, told the Washington Examiner that when they first arrived in Washington ahead of Biden’s inauguration, they spent their first hours in a packed parking garage under the Cannon House office building. They remained there until the wee hours of the morning, around 4 a.m., before being sent to FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, another holding area for the troops sent to guard the Capitol.
At least one parking garage remains a rest area where the National Guard troops can rest in between shifts, similar to the indoor rest area in the Capitol visitor’s center, where the troops were in close quarters. When not on a shift, the troops are staying in hotel rooms.
As of Friday afternoon, troops were still using the Cannon House office building parking garage as a rest area, though one Guard member said it was far less packed than it was previously.
Those familiar with Thursday night’s situation told the Washington Examiner that the crux of the issue was a “breakdown in communication” outside the normal chain of command. Around 3,500 Guard troops were asked to move from a Senate office building into the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building garage after a police officer, working in conjunction with a judicial center facility manager, offered the space in order to clear more space in the office building, which reportedly had only one bathroom for thousands of troops.
The troops were allowed back into the Capitol later Thursday evening after lawmakers expressed outrage at the decision.
U.S. Capitol Police and the National Guard pointed fingers at each other on Friday morning, with the Capitol Police saying that it “did not instruct the National Guard to vacate the Capitol Building facilities.”
In the afternoon, they released a joint statement: “The National Guard and the United States Capitol Police are united in the common goal to protect the U.S. Capitol and the Congress during this time. As with any large security operation, coordination and flexibility are required for all involved.”
Members of Congress have used the heavy Guard troop presence as a photo-op and meet-and-greet opportunity. The Washington Examiner spotted Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico giving tours in the Capitol to Guard troops from their states on Friday.
While the troops the Washington Examiner spoke to said that they were prepared to fulfill their mission, one under his breath said that the operation seemed like “overkill.”
