House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Calls Lawmakers Bearing Arms in Congress 'Enemy Within'

Several GOP representatives previously noted they were armed and ready to protect themselves during the Capitol Hill riots that prompted a mass evacuation of lawmakers earlier this month.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has slammed legislators who bring weapons into Congress for their own protection, calling them "the enemy within", as Republicans and Democrats clashed over whether lawmakers should be allowed to carry firearms in the Capitol building.

"I do believe, and I have said this all along, that we will probably need a supplemental for more security for members when the enemy is within the House of Representatives, a threat that members are concerned about in addition to what is happening outside", she told reporters Thursday.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) attends her weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol in in Washington, U.S., January 15, 2021

© REUTERS / JOSHUA ROBERTS

"It means we have members of Congress who want to bring guns onto the floor and that threatened violence on other members of Congress", Pelosi added.

While Pelosi did not mention any names, her comment may have hinted at Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was suspended by Twitter earlier this month for doubting the outcome of the presidential elections. In 2019, Greene allegedly liked a comment, saying that "a bullet to the head would be [a] quicker" way to eliminate Pelosi from Congress. 

So far, lawmakers have managed to preserve a 1967 rule that allows them to be armed for self-defence in the walls of Congress, as a weapons ban did not did not appear in the new rules.