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Capitol review panel recommends boosting security with more police, mobile fencing

05 March 2021
Dan Ackermann

A panel appointed by Congress to review security measures at the Capitol is recommending several changes, including mobile fencing and a bigger Capitol police force, to safeguard the area after a riotous mob breached the building on Jan 6.

Why it matters: Law enforcement officials have warned there could be new plots to attack the area and target lawmakers, including during a speech President Biden is expected to give to a joint session of Congress.

The highlights of the recommendations by the Capitol review panel, appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and led by retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, according to sources familiar with the report:

  • Mobile or retractable fencing should be erected around the Capitol and members' office buildings.
  • The Capitol Police force should be expanded by 1,100, including by filling approximately 300 current vacancies.
  • A Quick Reaction Force should be established to assist with responding to emergencies in the Capitol region to replace the current National Guard presence. Authors of the report say the National Guard "is not a permanent solution."
  • Some details of the report were first reported by Fox News.

What's next: Honoré, along with other experts who served on the Capitol review panel, will brief members of Congress of their recommendations Monday afternoon.

  • Retired Lt. Gens. Jeff S. Buchanan and Karen H. Gibson and Retired Maj. Gens. Errol R. Schwartz and Linda L. Singh — part of a new task force — assisting in the review — will also participate in Monday's briefing.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.