Klobuchar says DC is ready for Jan. 6 after ‘major changes’ to security and protocol
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said on Sunday that she's confident in Washington D.C.'s preparedness on Jan. 6, pointing to the "major changes" made to security and protocol after the attack four years ago.
"Yes," Klobuchar said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," when anchor Jake Tapper asked whether D.C. is prepared for "whatever might happen" on Monday.
“And I'll make clear that in any of these events, as you saw in New Orleans, horrible things can happen, and we know that. But how prepared are we?” Klobuchar continued.
Klobuchar said that on Jan. 6, 2021—when Congress last gathered to count the certified electoral votes for the incoming president—lawmakers and officials learned that there were lapses in security protocol.
“What we found out last Jan. 6—and this could have been any event, but this one is etched in our minds forever, with the police officers dying, so many people hurt—we literally had cops that couldn't get at the riot gear. It was locked on a bus. A four-hour delay to call in the National Guard because of some rule that had been in place that created a phone tree. Architect of the Capitol, who is kind of the boss of a bunch of the employees, wasn't even there."
Since then, several changes have been made, including new leadership for the House and Senate sergeant at arms and a new Capitol chief who can now ask for help directly from the National Guard during emergencies. There are hundreds more Capitol police officers, a new dedicated Capitol police civil disturbance unit, and now all officers have riot gear, rather than just the 25 percent who did in 2021.
“So these were dramatic changes. We made 103 recommendations. And my job as chair of the Rules Committee was to make sure they got done,” Klobuchar said.
“We have, as you know, a new police chief, increased morale, many hundreds of more officers, and we have a plan and a strategy in place,” she continued. That's not to say there aren't threats all the time on members of Congress or on the Capitol, but I feel very strongly that we have made major shifts.”
Klobuchar said she recalled an officer on the front lines of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, saying, “Does anyone have a plan? Does anyone have a plan?”
“And the answer from the leadership back then was No. Now we have clear leadership in place,” Klobuchar said.