Capitol officials to bolster security on March 4 over QAnon threats

The top security official overseeing the House informed lawmakers this week that security will be heightened on Thursday due to a QAnon-linked conspiracy theory that former President Trump will be inaugurated on that date.

Acting Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett said in a memo that Capitol Police will have additional personnel on duty throughout the Capitol grounds in addition to the continued National Guard presence.

But Blodgett said that the significance of the date has “reportedly declined amongst various groups in recent days” and said that Capitol Police at this time “has no indication that groups will travel to Washington D.C. to protest or commit acts of violence.”

Some followers of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory believe that Trump will be inaugurated on March 4 because that was originally the official day for presidential inaugurations until 1933 with the ratification of the 20th Amendment. That constitutional amendment changed the presidential inauguration date to Jan. 20 to reduce the transition period between the election and a president being sworn into office.

The House is scheduled to conclude its votes for the week on Thursday, meaning most lawmakers will likely be traveling out of Washington that day.

To that end, Blodgett reminded lawmakers that the sergeant-at-arms and Capitol Police are coordinating with the Transportation Security Administration, Federal Air Marshal Service and the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority to increase security while members of Congress are traveling to and from Washington.

The Capitol Police will be stationed at the region’s three local airports — Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Dulles and Reagan National — as well as Union Station on days when more lawmakers are expected to be traveling.

Blodgett said that Capitol Police “will be in place to monitor as members move throughout the airport.”

The National Guard troops and barbed-wire fence that have been on Capitol Hill since the Jan. 6 riot by a mob of Trump’s supporters attempting to stop certification of the election results are still in place.

Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman testified before a House Appropriations subcommittee last week that the fencing and National Guard troops are needed for the foreseeable future due to threats surrounding a possible joint address to Congress by President Biden.

A date for a speech by Biden has not been scheduled, but Pittman said that some militia members who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection “want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible with a direct nexus to the State of the Union.”