A top House Democrat is questioning the U.S. Capitol Police’s efforts to protect lawmakers after the attack last week on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their San Francisco home, Roll Call reports. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), chair of the House Administration Committee, told agency chief J. Thomas Manger that the attack on Paul Pelosi raises “significant questions” about security protections for members of Congress. Paul Pelosi's skull was fractured by a hammer-wielding attacker. The speaker, who was the intended target of the attack, was not home at the time. Accused attacker David DePape was in the U.S. illegally and is facing possible deportation after his criminal cases are resolved, the Washington Post reports.
Lofgren asked if the Capitol Police department has a plan to extend security coverage to the spouses and family members of congressional leaders in the presidential line of succession: the speaker and the Senate president pro tempore, currently Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy. Lofgren wrote that the FBI had offered to have Capitol Police officers detailed to its San Francisco and Tampa, Fl., field offices assigned to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces, which investigates threats to members of Congress. However, the Capitol Police declined that offer, a decision Lofgren questioned. Threats against members of Congress are rising, with approximately 9,625 received by the Capitol Police in 2021.
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