Replies

Nasty back pedals.......

Capitol Police ordered to arrest staff and visitors not wearing masks after new House mandate

U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) were ordered to arrest visitors and staff who refuse to wear a mask on the House side of the Capitol complex, according to a police memo issued by new USCP Chief Thomas Manger that was obtained by a member of Congress.

Police were also advised not to arrest members of Congress for failing to wear masks but to report the lawmakers’ noncompliance to the House sergeant-at-arms, the memo says. House members have been subjected to fines starting at $500 for skirting mask rules.

Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., got a copy of the memo distributed at Thursday’s morning roll call from an unnamed police officer, she told Fox News. Police she’s spoken to are “very uncomfortable” with this new directive that Cammack describes as “tyrannical.”

Pelosi’s office said she did not order police to begin arresting people because it’s not within her power.

“The speaker of the House does not control the U.S. Capitol Police,” Pelosi spokesperson Drew Hammill told Fox News. “We were unaware of the memo until it was reported in the press.”

Still, GOP leadership was quick to pounce on the police’s involvement with mask enforcement.

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Thursday pointed out the police are only permitted to arrest people on the House side of the complex, not the Senate side, because leadership in the upper chamber hasn’t brought back the mask mandates.

“If you are a Capitol police officer you got orders … if a vaccinated staffer comes across in the House side without a mask you’re ordered to arrest them, but not on the Senate side,” McCarthy said. “This is not the America we know.”

GOP Steve Scalise, R-La., claimed the police enforcement came directly from Pelosi – which the speaker’s office denies.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/capitol-police-ordered-arrest-staff-visitors-not-wearing-masks