GOP congressman: 'We still don't have answers' to why National Guard remaining around Capitol

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Congressman: Florida GOP provides roadmap for national Republican success

Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., argues recent Republican success in Florida is a blueprint for national success for the party on 'The Story.'

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are still waiting for an explanation of why National Guardsman are still on duty around the Capitol Hill complex more than one month after the deadly riot there on Jan. 6, Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., told "The Story" Monday.

"We still have National Guardsmen out there, away from their families, away from their jobs, supplementing the police," Waltz told host Martha MacCallum, "and yet we can't get a briefing on what is this dire threat that requires so many people. We still don't have answers."

Waltz also discussed accusations of hypocrisy against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., over violating her own Capitol security measures by ignoring metal detectors, as well as his FoxNews.com op-ed calling on Republicans to look to Florida as a roadmap for the party's national success.

KEEPING NATIONAL GUARD IN DC HAS COST AN ESTIMATED $438 MILLION

REP. MICHAEL WALTZ, R-FLA.: At 18 years old in the Army, you learn a very basic leadership principle, and that's to lead by example ... This is just time after time, whether it's Pelosi or other leading Democrats, where they don't feel like they need to do that. Whether it's with this and the magnetometers, whether it's her going back to California and getting her hair done when so many other small businesses and hair salons were completely shut down ...

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From a security standpoint, there are Capitol police officers at these magnetometers, frisking us down ... rather than being out there, securing the Capitol grounds, from, by the way, threats that we can't get briefings on. We still have National Guardsmen out there, away from their families, away from their jobs, supplementing the police, and yet we can't get a briefing on what is this dire threat that requires so many people ...

Why do we have more troops in the Capitol than we have in Iraq and Afghanistan combined? We still don't have answers.

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We turned out the Republican base [in Florida in 2020]. We turned out President Trump's base, and we grew the tent among Black, Hispanic ... and Jewish voters, and really, we focused on the issues, whether it was school choice, that resonated with Black women ... At the end of the day, we tripled his [Trump's] margin [of victory] from 2016 from 1% to 3% ... The party really operated in concert, from the national level to the state level to the local level, toward those goals.