Biden Joins Public Outcry After Guard Soldiers Seen Resting in a Parking Garage

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday telephoned the chief of the National Guard Bureau to express dismay after troops deployed to protect his inauguration were ordered a day earlier to rest in an unheated garage after being booted from the Capitol, administration officials said.

Photographs of dozens of guard members resting in parking spaces created a public relations debacle in the first days of Biden’s term, with some governors demanding that troops from their states be sent home.

In a telephone call with Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, Biden asked what he could do about the situation, the officials said. The two men also talked about Biden’s personal connection to the Guard; Biden’s son, Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015, served as a major in the Delaware Army National Guard.

Officials said that the White House might also arrange a call with state officials to thank them for their state’s contributions to the deployment of more than 25,000 National Guard personnel to the nation’s capital to provide security ahead of and during the inauguration on Wednesday.

Early Friday morning, the D.C. National Guard said that the soldiers had been moved back to the Capitol from the parking garage. Guard officials said that the troops had been temporarily moved out of the Capitol on Thursday afternoon at the request of Capitol Police because of increased foot traffic as Congress came back into session.

But photographs of the troops resting on the floor of the parking garage, paired with reports that they had access to scant toilet facilities and were breathing in car exhaust fumes, prompted a public uproar.

The scene contrasted sharply with photographs taken of Guard soldiers sleeping on the floor or on cots inside the Capitol immediately before Biden’s inauguration, which led to an outpouring of support for the soldiers.

The number of Guard soldiers mobilized to provide security for the inauguration rose sharply following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, reaching 15,000 by Jan. 12 and ultimately surpassing 20,000 by Jan. 20. A spokesman for the National Guard Bureau said on Thursday that the D.C. Guard was responsible for their lodging.

A joint statement from the National Guard Bureau and the Capitol Police released Friday afternoon did not explain why soldiers were sent to a parking garage but suggested it would not happen again.

The statement from Maj. Matthew Murphy, a National Guard spokesman, said both organizations were coordinating their efforts to ensure Guard members stationed at the Capitol were being provided “appropriate spaces within congressional buildings” for “on-duty breaks.”

“Off-duty troops are being housed in hotel rooms or other comfortable accommodations,” Murphy said.

About 19,000 of the troops deployed to Washington have started packing up and returning to their home states, a process that will take about five to 10 days, officials said.

The remaining troops — about 7,000 of them — are expected to stay in Washington at least through the end of January to provide support to federal agencies and guard against the possibility of another riot at the Capitol.

As the images from the parking garage spread on social media Thursday afternoon, lawmakers in both parties were quick to condemn the situation and pledged to get the soldiers back in to the Capitol. Some offered to let Guard soldiers take breaks in their private Senate and House offices.

With the troops safely returned to the Capitol premises by Friday morning, multiple lawmakers — including Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top Republican — made a point of meeting with soldiers on Friday.

“I have told those who run the security of the Capitol that it can never happen again and I pledge to every National Guard member that it will not happen again,” Schumer said in a speech on the floor.

“It breaks your heart,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters. “I mean these are people who are here serving the country, protecting us, protecting our freedom and our democracy and there’s absolutely no excuse for that.”

In a speech on the Senate floor, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said the situation was the result of “one uniformed police officer who issued an order without authority or going through the chain of command.”

“This isn’t a blame game,” he added. “But I do want to know what happened to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Ahead of a meeting with National Guard troops from Kentucky, McConnell called for finding “the right middle ground between the unacceptable lapses three weeks ago and the extraordinary short-term measures that have been in place since. And in the meantime, we need to make darn sure that we look after the men and women who look after us.”

Just after 2 p.m. Friday, the first lady, Jill Biden, visited Guard soldiers at the Capitol and gave them a basket of chocolate chip cookies. Jill Biden thanked them for protecting her family, which she said was a National Guard family.

“The National Guard will always hold a special place in the hearts of all the Bidens,” said Jill Biden, who took a group photograph with some of the soldiers before returning to the White House.