Rep. Robert Garcia, a member of House Democratic leadership, is urging Speaker Mike Johnson to increase security after Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes visited Capitol Hill last week, according to a letter obtained by NOTUS.
“I urge you to clearly and quickly communicate to concerned employees of the House of Representatives precisely what you will do to respond to the threat to the safety of Congress which Donald Trump created,” Garcia wrote to Johnson on Jan. 24.
Rhodes, the Jan. 6 rioter whose 18-year sentence for seditious conspiracy was commuted by Donald Trump, was seen last week in a Capitol office building and met with at least one Republican member of Congress. Garcia said that “[m]embers of the Capitol community were particularly disgusted” by Rhodes’ visit, adding that he believes Rhodes “remains an active threat to public safety.”
“While it is clear that Mr. Rhodes commutation was an outrageous mistake, they emphasize the need for robust action by the United States Capitol Police, and by you, as Speaker of the House, to act to maintain the safety and security of all who work here,” Garcia said.
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Following his unannounced visit, a federal judge barred him and other Oath Keepers from visiting Washington, D.C., and the Capitol without court authorization. However, the order was rescinded on Monday after the Justice Department intervened on behalf of Rhodes.
“We have to understand that these people have been empowered to think that they are Trump’s private militia, and anyone that opposes Trump opposes, you know, their worldview of the country,” Garcia told NOTUS later in an interview. “We oppose Trump … and yet you have this private militia that’s been empowered by Donald Trump through a pardon roaming the streets, and going into the Capitol.”
Members are increasingly on edge about Capitol security, and threats against lawmakers have surged in recent years. Just a day before Rhodes’ visit, Capitol Police said a man had managed to enter the building with a gun concealed in his waistband.
Earlier this month, a man was arrested while trying to go into the Capitol with a machete and three knives while the late President Jimmy Carter was lying in state.
Garcia’s letter asks Johnson to work with the House Administration Committee, which handles congressional security. The lawmaker said he talked to Rep. Joe Morelle, the committee’s ranking member, before sending the letter, and that Morelle is “aware” of his concerns.
“I don’t think there is a responsibility I take more seriously as the Ranking Member of the committee than the safety of staff, visitors, and certainly Members on or around the Capitol campus,” Morelle said in a statement to NOTUS.
Vice President JD Vance had publicly said that Jan. 6 violent criminals should not be pardoned, although privately advocating for Trump to issue broad and sweeping pardons and commutations. Speaker Johnson echoed Vance’s public stance on Jan. 19, saying that “peaceful protesters should be pardoned, but violent criminals should not.”
Garcia said that he has heard from members that they are concerned about their own safety, as well as the public’s.
“We’re allowing these folks to come back into the Capitol after they try to storm it, they attacked police officers. These aren’t just, you know, minor infractions. These are really serious. Mike Johnson has a responsibility to protect people, to protect the public, and he’s not doing that,” he said.
Sara Guerrero, Garcia’s communications director, told NOTUS that Johnson’s office “acknowledged receipt” of the letter but has not responded. Johnson’s team did not respond to NOTUS’ requests for comment.
Garcia said in his letter that in 2023, he visited a jail with other members of the Oversight Committee to meet with “approximately 20 individuals, charged or convicted of a variety of offenses linked to their roles in the insurrection.”
“While these insurrectionists were held in good conditions and treated fairly, I immediately saw their clear lack of remorse, as convicts chanted and celebrated. I personally strongly believe that in light of what I saw, these individuals are likely to have been emboldened by their pardon,” Garcia wrote in the letter.
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Oriana González is a reporter at NOTUS.
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