WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced Friday that she has tasked retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré with leading a review of the U.S. Capitol’s security in the wake of the deadly Jan. 6 attack.
Pelosi expressed gratitude to the Capitol Police and the National Guard for their presence “to protect our democracy,” and said there must now be an investigation into the security failures last week.
“We must subject this whole complex though to scrutiny in light of what happened and the fact that the inauguration is coming. To that end, I have asked Retired Lt. Gen. Russell Honoré to lead an immediate review of security infrastructure, interagency processes and command and control. The general is a respected leader with experience dealing with crises,” Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference.
Honoré is best known for his role as commander of the task force that was in charge of the U.S. military response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He said that he has experience with military support to civilian authorities and specifically the security of the Washington region.
Honoré has been outspoken about the attack on Twitter, saying on the day of the breach that it was a “sh-- show.”
He also wrote on Twitter that to “prevent the miscommunication that resulted in the lack of adequate security at the Capitol,” an overarching office be created for the capital region. The office would be responsible for safety and security in the area and would coordinate the agencies that protect the government and Washington, D.C.
Pelosi also expressed outrage Friday over the rioter who was seen wearing a shirt inside the Capitol that said “Camp Auschwitz” last week. He was arrested in Virginia.
"To see this punk with that shirt on and his anti-Semitism that he has bragged about to be part of a white supremacist raid on this Capitol requires us to have an after-action review,” she said.
The speaker reiterated her view that the events of Jan. 6 was an “act of insurrection” and was “incentivized by the president of the United States” that led to Donald Trump’s impeachment on Wednesday.
Asked when she plans to send the article of impeachment over to the Senate for the trial, Pelosi did not commit to a date. She said the nine managers she has named to prosecute Trump are working on their case now.
