Many House Republicans announced plans to defy House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “unlawful and tyrannical” order to have staff and visitors who are not wearing masks on Capitol Grounds arrested.
In a bulletin, first posted to Twitter by Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) on Thursday, Pelosi (D-CA) ordered Capitol Police officers to enforce the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, which were updated on Tuesday and recommend even vaccinated people wear masks in indoor spaces.
“In today’s edition of Pelosi’s abuse of power, Capitol Police have been directed to arrest staff and visitors to comply with her mask mandate for vaccinated individuals,” Cammack’s tweet reads. “For Members, they advise not arresting but ‘reporting Members to SAA for their failure to comply.’”:
“If a visitor or staff member fails to wear a mask after a request is made to do so, the visitor or staff shall be denied entry to the House Office Buildings or House-side of the U.S. Capitol,” the bulletin states. “Any person who fails to either comply or leave the premises after being asked to do so would be subject to an arrest for unlawful entry…” (emphasis added).
While officers were ordered not to arrest House members or staffers accompanying them, officers have been directed to report them to House Sergeant at Arms’ office. According to the bulletin, the Office of Attending Physician (OAP) advised Congress to follow the CDC’s updated guidance. Chief of Police J. Thomas Manger signed off on the order.
“This is so out of control. Pelosi is massively drunk on power, obsessed with control, and hypocritical and partisan beyond belief,” Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) said in a tweet. “This isn’t just some mask mandate either. The enforcement measures are absurd. *There are now just 27 COVID-19 patients in ALL DC hospitals.”:
