threats to Congress are up

WASHINGTON – In 2019's charged political climate, the Capitol Police are investigating more threats compared to last year, says the Capitol Police chief, who heads the department responsible for protecting members of Congress, their families, the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and the Capitol's employees. 

In a Tuesday hearing before the House Committee on Administration, Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told representatives that "we continue to see the threat assessment cases we're opening continue to grow. For fiscal year 2018, we had approximately 4,894 cases. So far, for this year, we have 2,502 cases. So we’re on par to probably break last year’s record.”

When asked what percentage of those cases were credible threats, Sund said, "they're all still very concerning...it's a much lower percentage than the total number of assessment cases we receive." 

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An August 2017 Congressional Research Service report noted that, since 1789, there have been at least 20 instances of violence against members of Congress. Five of those attacks resulted in the death of a member of Congress. Five other attacks resulted in the wounding of members, and the rest were unsuccessful. 

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., who had been present at the shooting at a baseball practice in June 2017 that left House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La. and four others in the hospital, thanked the Capitol Police and other law enforcement officials present for their work to secure the Capitol. 

Some Democratic members of the House say their high media profiles result in increased threat levels against them. Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. said in May that she receives death threats because of "hateful messages" aired by groups like Fox News and other outlets. 

On Monday, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., sent a letter to the Capitol Police asking for the reevaluation of congressional security procedures following President Donald Trump's racist tweets telling several freshmen Democratic congresswomen to "go back" to other countries. 

“The president’s rhetoric may insinuate more attacks on members of Congress," he said. 

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Source: USA Today

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