WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited her fellow congressional leaders from the House and Senate to attend a security briefing about an upcoming rally planned at the Capitol in support people who were arrested during the Jan. 6 riot.
Pelosi invited Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to the briefing, according to a source familiar with the meeting.
The Jan. 6 riot was led by a group of supporters of former President Donald Trump, who sought to stop the Electoral College vote count in a bid to overturn his electoral defeat. Five people died that day, including a police officer who was later determined to have had a stroke and a rioter who was shot by police. Several more police officers who responded to the riot died by suicide in the intervening months.
The Justice Department has estimated more than 500 people will ultimately be charged in relation to the riot.
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger will deliver the Monday briefing in Pelosi’s leadership office at the Capitol. He’s expected to review security preparations.
Pelosi said at a press conference Wednesday morning that briefings have already been taking place for the House Administration Committee. The speaker said that she will have an announcement about security preparation at some point in the near future.
Asked if there are plans to re-erect the fence that was installed around the Capitol’s perimeter in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack, Pelosi said, “We intend to have the integrity of the Capitol be intact. I’m not going into any specifics in that regard.”
She then briefly recounted the serious threat lawmakers faced on Jan. 6, saying that people who participated in the Jan. 6 riot were “out to kill members of Congress.”
The rally is being organized by a group called Look Ahead America led by a former Trump campaign employee, Matt Braynard. The event is scheduled for noon on Saturday, Sept. 18, and attendees have been told to meet near an area in front of the west front of the Capitol building.
Most members of Congress are not expected to be at the Capitol that day because they generally do not work on weekends.
Haley Talbot contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
