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Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré warns the US Capitol “is a 24/7 target” hours after an attack on Capitol Police left one officer dead and another injured after a man hit them with his car at a checkpoint near Constitution Avenue.
“At any time of the day, 24/7, the Capitol could be attacked, and it could be national, it could be foreign,” Honoré told The News with Shepard Smith. from CNBC.
Honoré led a task force to review the security of the U.S. Capitol in the aftermath of the Jan.6 uprising and urged Congress to reorganize its security forces by adding 854 more officers and a rapid response unit. He told host Shepard Smith that National Guard troops, which are expected to be in position on Capitol Hill until mid-April, should have their deployment extended until Congress acts on his recommendation.
“I think they should be extended for as long as the Police Council and the Capitol Police Commander think they need,” Honore said. “After September 11, we left 250 National Guards on Capitol Hill for two years. Never had an argument. No one made this point because Capitol was known to be a target.”
Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said around 1 p.m. Friday a man rammed his car into two policemen before crashing into a security barricade. Police said the man then jumped out of the war with a knife. Officers ordered him to stop and they say he did not respond. Instead, the police say he “rushed aggressively” towards the police. It was then that they opened fire and shot the suspect. Doctors took him to the hospital where he later died.
Dozens of National Guard soldiers responded to the Capitol complex, which was locked down for about two hours after the attack. Congress is on a spring break, so lawmakers weren’t working in construction.
Honoré explained that Pittman and his team will face the emotional toll of Friday’s attack while still having to secure the Capitol tonight and 24 hours a day every day. He stressed that the Capitol Police deserved the “respect” of Congress for acting and strengthening its forces.
“This is the respect we owe the Capitol Police in asking Congress to immediately approve the House’s proposed supplement of nearly $ 2 billion to give the Capitol Police personnel, equipment and the additional technology it needs to complete the hardening of the Capitol, ”Honoré said.
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