House Republicans sent a letter to U.S. Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton on Wednesday, noting that Republicans are increasingly being viewed as a “threat” rather than as lawmakers to be protected.
House Administration Committee Ranking Member Rodney Davis (R-IL), and Reps. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) and Bryan Steil (R-WI), two members of the House Administration Committee, wrote a letter to Bolton, cautioning them about the problems facing the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP).
The letter, obtained by Breitbart News, noted that the “majority of your [Bolton’s] recommendations have not been fully implemented, the Capitol remains in lockdown, and numerous developments have come to light regarding Capitol security.”
The lawmakers argued that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “politicized campus security, fomenting distrust among Republicans and raising doubts among members as to the unbiased, impartial security decisions being made around the Capitol complex.”
Davis, Loudermilk, and Steil lambasted the USCP for treating Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) as a threat rather than a lawmaker by surveilling his office and investigating his staff:
In November 2021, USCP officers entered the office of Rep. Troy Nehls, a former sheriff who has criticized department leadership, and took photographs of his legislative planning materials. Subsequently, USCP sent investigators to his office to question his staff as to the intent of the materials in question. None of these claims are disputed by Chief J. Thomas Manger’s response on this matter to the press. It is unacceptable that USCP officers took photographs of a Representative’s legislative planning materials and questioned his staff on the merits of these items. Not only does it potentially run afoul of Speech or Debate Clause protections for Members, it is yet another example of Members being treated as the threat rather than as duly elected Representatives in Congress, here to perform their constitutional duty to serve their constituents.
Bolton has opened an investigation into the surveillance of Nehls’ office.
Nehls told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview last week that Pelosi was using the USCP as her private intelligence service.
The House Administration Republicans also wrote they have “strong reason to believe” that claims about how the USCP intelligence staff have surveilled and made “background checks” on people with whom lawmakers planned to meet.
“Committee Republicans have strong reason to believe that these claims have merit and are gravely concerned on the effects such policies would have to the detriment of Americans’ civil liberties,” the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers said that Bolton might be able to provide legitimate solutions to issues that they have raised. They wrote that Republicans are concerned they are being viewed as a “threat:”
When considered together, these developments are at best an unfortunate sequence of avoidable incidents, resulting from a systematic lack of effective oversight and management of USCP by the Capitol Police Board, specifically in their duty to protect all members. At worst, they raise serious concerns with respect to the impartiality of Capitol Police leadership and its disregard for the rights of officers, members, staff, and constituents. In either case, there is a growing concern that certain Representatives are no longer counted among those to be protected but rather that they are increasingly considered the threat.
The lawmakers added, “In a healthy republic, the protection of the minority party’s rights from the majority party’s rule are paramount to the legitimacy of the government.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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