The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is “closely” monitoring the trucker convoy heading to Washington, DC, to protest coronavirus pandemic mandates.

“We are monitoring the situation closely but deferred to the USCP, which is in charge of security,” Pelosi’s deputy chief Of staff, Drew Hammill, said in a Tuesday statement to Fox News.

A trucker convoy is slated to arrive in D.C. ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address on March 1st.

As Breitbart News reports:

Kyle Sefcik, organizer and leader of the Freedom Convoy USA 2022, told WUSA CBS 9 that he is scheduled to leave Los Angeles on Friday and drive to D.C. The peaceful convoy will be composed of trucks and motorcycles and does not intend to gather at the Capitol. Instead, the convoy will protest near the White House and the National Mall with Christian bands and preachers. […] Sefcik told the outlet that convoy could disrupt major corridors of the greater Maryland and northern Virginia area and roads that serve as a major commuting passageway and route for commercial deliveries into the district.

Sefcik told WUSA CBS 9:

We have to get the attention in the most peaceful way and this is our way of doing it. Do we want to stop businesses from being able to be open and people being able to get to work and school? No. We don’t want to cause this at all which is why we’re telling the president ahead of time to end this now. We don’t even have to come.

Ap;proximately 38,000 individuals have signed up for the convoy, according to Sefcik.

News of the U.S. convoy comes after Canadian law enforcement in Ottawa arrested 191 individuals during its violent crackdown on the city’s Freedom Convoy protest. Police said it issued 391 charges, including mischief and obstructing police. Chris Harkins, who serves as deputy commissioner with the Ontario Provincial Police, said 76 vehicles had been seized.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday said that his government still needs the emergency powers it granted itself despite taking apart the convoy.

“It became clear that local and provincial authorities needed more tools to restore order and keep people safe,” the prime minister told reporters during a press conference.

“Even though things seem to be resolving very well in Ottawa, this state of emergency is not over,” he added.