Arrogant Pelosi Dismisses Secret Service, DHS After They Dared Correct Her: Report
It looks like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is rejecting Department of Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s facts for at least the second time during this shutdown.
The new speaker, you may have heard, first used that line on the Department of Homeland Security secretary in order to shut down a meeting on border security. Now, she’s using something like it to defend her rationale for trying to shut down the State of the Union address.
If you remember Pelosi’s reasoning for wanting the speech to be postponed, it specifically had to do with the fact that the Secret Service wouldn’t be ready to provide security for the event because of the partial government shutdown.
“In September 2018, Secretary Nielsen designated State of the Union Addresses as National Special Security Events (NSSEs), recognizing the need for ‘the full resources of the Federal Government to be brought to bear’ to ensure the security of these events,” Pelosi wrote. “The extraordinary demands presented by NSSEs require weeks of detailed planning with dozens of agencies working together to prepare for the safety of all participants.
“The U.S. Secret Service was designated as the lead federal agency responsible for coordinating, planning, exercising, and implementing security for National Special Security Events by Public Law 106-544, December 19, 2000,” she continued. “However, both the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security have not been funded for 26 days now — with critical departments hamstrung by furloughs.
“Sadly, given the security concerns and unless government re-opens this week, I suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after government has re-opened for this address or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to the Congress on January 29th,” she concluded.
That’s actually not a problem, DHS Secretary Nielsen responded:
The Department of Homeland Security and the US Secret Service are fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union. We thank the Service for their mission focus and dedication and for all they do each day to secure our homeland.
— Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen (@SecNielsen) January 16, 2019
NBC News’ Pete Alexander also reported that it wasn’t just Nielsen saying this:
Secret Service is fully ready to offer full protection during the #SOTU, a sr. law enforcement official tells @petewilliamsnbc.
“It’s a no-fail mission,” the official says.
Though USSS personnel are not being paid, the intelligence & protection functions are fully staffed. (1/2)— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) January 16, 2019
“We’ve been planning for this for months, as we always do. It didn’t start up 29 days ago,” the official said. (2/2)
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) January 16, 2019
Pelosi’s response? Well, she obviously knows better than the Secret Service what the Secret Service is capable of.
“I don’t care what they said,” she told reporters when asked about the Secret Service saying they were ready, according to The Daily Caller.
The great irony is that this was just moments after telling a reporter, “It’s about security, it’s about security.”
But just not the kind of security that the Secret Service believes they can provide. Right.
“I mean, what is she afraid of hearing from the president? There are no security concerns that have been raised and it has nothing to do with that,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise told reporters, according to The Hill. “Ironically, it seems like she’s only concerned about security when it’s a state of the Union that will expose what this fights all about. But she’s not concerned about securing the border of our country.”
“I think he should come here and give a speech like everybody else. I watched when Republicans had the majority in the House, never did we disinvite President Obama. Never did we put politics ahead of America. That is what she is doing,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said.
“The history of this House is to always have the president come and give a speech, to change course like that shows she’s playing politics with her position as speaker and it’s not a place where this House should be.
“It is not a security issue, that’s politics and you know it. For her to say security, no, we have security here, right now, we have security with the president — there is no security issue. It’s pure politics and it’s wrong.”
In other words, she’s rejecting the facts — again. If you wanted a preview of how the next two years are going to go, you could have done worse than that meeting on border security. The Democrats are going to be rejecting a whole lot of facts going forward.
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