Officials have removed the outer perimeter of fencing surrounding the U.S. Capitol, which has remained in place for months, U.S. Capitol Police confirmed Wednesday.
“All of the fencing that surrounded the outer perimeter of the U.S. Capitol Complex has been removed. Affected roads have reopened,” the U.S. Capitol police announced Wednesday, though it said it remains prepared to “quickly ramp up security at a moment’s notice if needed.”
“The inner perimeter fence, around the Capitol Building, is still in place, while the Department works with our congressional stakeholders and law enforcement partners to strengthen our security posture,” the department added:
Officials erected the fence following the January 6 Capitol protest, which ultimately triggered a final impeachment effort by Democrats, who, for the second time, failed to convict former President Donald Trump.
Security officials previewed their intentions to scale back fencing this month. In a memo to members of Congress, Timothy Blodgett, the acting House sergeant-at-arms, cited the Capitol Police, which said “there does not exist a known, credible threat” to justify the barrier.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) was among the GOP voices calling for the barrier to come down.
“Democrats don’t want to protect you, because they don’t care about you. But they’ll spare no expense protecting themselves,” she said in a video released this month, demanding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “tear down” the wall.
Others, such as Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), agreed that the wall needed to come down.
“It sends exactly the opposite of the signal that I think we ought to be sending to American citizens everywhere,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “I don’t think one needs to assume that you take this thing down and all of a sudden Jan. 6-type events are going to happen all the time.”
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