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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said thousands of National Guard troops at the U.S. Capitol should remain “as long as they are needed,” indicating there’s no end in sight for how long they will stay in Washington, D.C.
During her weekly press conference, Pelosi said Capitol Police requested that they stay in place for another two months to essentially occupy the building.
“We have to have what we need when we need it, and in the numbers that we need,” the California Democrat told reporters. “But that’s a security decision.”
Thousands of troops remain in and around the Capitol since the Jan. 6 chaos.
Capitol officials also erected 7-foot, nonscalable fencing topped with barbed wire around the perimeter of the campus.
Pelosi told reporters she’s waiting for a briefing on a security plan proposal for the Capitol that could come as early as next week.
“Hopefully, next week, we will be able to have presentations,” Pelosi said. “The issue of the National Guard is one that will be made by the Capitol Police and the [U.S. Capitol] Police Board, and the rest.”
Pelosi said the move was “just as a convenience” to accommodate the GOP Conference issues retreat scheduled for Thursday afternoon, but she also said it “made sense” to have fewer people in the Capitol “if, in fact, there were any troublemakers around.”
WATCH:
Earlier this week, a bombshell report reveals that more than a dozen Michigan National Guard troops deployed to Washington, D.C., have been sickened, with some hospitalized, after repeatedly being served raw, undercooked meat and meals.
A whistleblower told WXYZ-TV reporter Brian Abel that nearly 75 meals were thrown out Sunday after metal shavings were found, other meals showed up undercooked making soldiers sick.
WXYZ-TV reported:
A staff sergeant with the Michigan National Guard, whose identity 7 Action News is protecting, says the problem is not isolated.
“Yesterday, for instance, there were 74 different meals found with raw beef in them,” the sergeant said. “Just yesterday, the lunches were, soldiers had found metal shavings in their food.”
The food concerns going beyond quality – quantity is an issue as well. Breakfast is an example.
“You were getting maybe a Danish and some sort of juice,” the sergeant said. “And then we had certain days where it was clearly a dinner role and Sunny D.”
“They said alright, we’re going to make sure we spot check them. And we’re also going to start having them add temperatures to it,” the whistleblower said.
“At 140, you cook that chicken, undercook it to 140, and now you’re telling… you’re telling us that it’s… a 30-minute drive. This is what they say on the little placard that’s (inaudible) good for four hours. No, it’s not. It wasn’t good from the start and now it’s had hours to become even more dangerous,” he told WXYZ-TV.
Abel posted an interview to his Twitter account, where he detailed the report:
Soldiers from the Michigan National Guard who are protecting the US Capitol in DC have been fed undercooked, and underwhelming meals.
One Staff Sgt. tells me that metal fragments were found in meals on Sunday.
Our first @wxyzdetroit report: pic.twitter.com/YFSK6sSo8m— Brian Abel (@BrianAbelTV) March 2, 2021
Abel also provided a statement from the Michigan National Guard on the horrendous situation in D.C.:
The @MINationalGuard provided this statement today:
"The firsthand accounts and pictures of undercooked food being served clearly shows that what is being given to Michigan’s service members is unacceptable."@GovWhitmer spoke with the Acting Sec. of Army about the situation pic.twitter.com/QEaa7G2fRB— Brian Abel (@BrianAbelTV) March 2, 2021
Below is the full segment on the report from WXYZ-TV:
WXYZ-TV reported that Michigan Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office has been informed.
She called the acting secretary of the army on this saying the food was “unacceptable.”
Rep. Brenda Lawrence’s office is also involved and plans to eat with the Michigan National Guard this week to see the food for herself.
Michigan Democrat Sen. Gary Peters said he’ll also be looking into the claims following the news story.
The men and women of @MINationalGuard are in DC protecting the Capitol: the very symbol of our democracy.
This is completely outrageous and unacceptable. It must be fixed—immediately—and I’ll be looking into this as a member of @SASCDems. https://t.co/pljwfAh0Zq— Senator Gary Peters (@SenGaryPeters) March 2, 2021
But wait, it gets even worse.
WXYZ-TV also reported that the anonymous sergeant said the troops are being forced to pay for their own food until officials get the situation under control.
The sergeant told the news outlet: “Now after the raw meat yesterday for dinner they have told us not to eat the meals for the next two days and are giving us MRE’s instead. Soldiers are now paying for all their meals for the next two days in order to get real food.”