The White House has asked governors to provide troops from their state’s national guard for Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
One governor is flatly refusing the administration’s request.
In a Tweet this afternoon, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) made it abundantly clear that he has no intention of complying.
Last week, the Biden Administration requested the assistance of State National Guards to deploy to Washington D.C. I have rejected this request — there will be no @FLGuard sent to D.C. for Biden’s State of the Union.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) February 28, 2022
Roughly 700 guardsmen have deployed to our nation’s capital. There is rampant speculation that their activation isn’t only for Biden’s address, but to confront a trucker convoy expected to arrive at the same time.
WATCH:
Washington DC last night.
Exits into downtown dc off 395 are lined with police, dump trucks, and National guard. The only other time I’ve seen this was Jan 20 last year.Richard Citizen Journalist pic.twitter.com/Cl50LkQkAs
— IamRedUSA (@lamRedUSA) February 28, 2022
NBC4 Washington has more on where the troops in the capital hail from:
Four hundred of the guardsmen are local D.C. troops, which have been activated as part of a request from the D.C. Emergency Management Agency to provide traffic control and enhanced security in anticipation of the protests surrounding President Joe Biden’s speech.
The other 300 Guard personnel are from outside D.C. and have also been approved upon requests from U.S. Capitol Police. Such personnel include approximately 100 Vermont Army National Guard Soldiers, 100 New Jersey National Guard troops and about 80 West Virginia National Guard members who will support security operations within Washington starting later this week.
The Daily Wire continues:
In addition to the National Guard presence, the temporary fencing that surrounded the Capitol after the January 6th riot is set to be put back into place ahead of Biden’s address.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also initially planned to cap attendance due to continued COVID-19 precautions, but later reports stated that all members of Congress would be permitted to attend. No guest tickets were issued for the address, and initial guidelines stated that all attendees would be required to show proof of a negative PCR test and wear either an N95 or KN95 medical mask throughout — but on Monday, just one day prior to the scheduled event, the Capitol physician announced a move to a mask-optional policy.