Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said threats against lawmakers are up 400% in the last six years during a hearing to a key Senate panel on Monday.
Manger, testifying before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, said there have been 9,000 threats against lawmakers in the last year alone. In comparison, the Capitol Police only fielded about 1,000 threats against members of Congress in 2017.
“Among our most significant challenges is the ever-changing threat landscape. The numbers of threats and directions of interests towards members of Congress have increased approximately 400% in the past six years. That is a sobering number,” Manger said in prepared remarks before the committee. “Hate, intolerance, and violence are part of this disturbing trend. The attacks on Rep. Lee Zeldin and Paul Pelosi, as well as the threats directed toward other members of Congress, are a sad reminder of the extent to which our social fabric has frayed.”
Zeldin, a New York Republican, was attacked onstage at a campaign event this summer, though he was not injured. Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), was attacked at his home in San Francisco by a man looking for his wife in October.
Manger said the political climate has made it necessary for his department to focus on threat assessment and mitigation efforts by enhancing security protections for lawmakers and their families. He also said it is necessary for the department to be “not only addressing the threats while you are here in the Capitol but when you’re in your home districts as well.” That will require additional resources, he noted.
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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, said she’s still pushing Congress to allow the addresses of lawmakers to be private for security reasons. The move is something Manger said could be a “huge help.”
“Removing personally identifiable information of members really would impact not only a member, but it would impact their family,” Manger said to Klobuchar in response.
