1. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House:
"In just five days, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in as president and vice president of the United States. Following the attack last week on the Capitol complex, there's been unprecedented mobilization of security in the Capitol. I want to express gratitude to our Capitol Police, to the National Guard, who are present here to protect our democracy."
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2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House:
"Now, with the insurrection of last week, it is necessitated by security to have more security, but it hasn't changed the nature of the swearing in. I think it's important for people to know that, this is not a concession to the terrorists. It is a recognition of the danger of COVID."
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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House:
"Again, it depends on the intelligence and we have to have more... more security than the intelligence might warrant. I think in this case, redundancy may be necessary, not too much, but enough."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the added security measures in and around the Capitol following lasts week's attempted insurrection, won't change the nature of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.
As of Friday morning, officials had commitments from states for close to 22,000 members of the Guard. That's according to an official, who wasn't authorized to publicly discuss internal deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The number of Guard officials are seeking to help protect the District of Columbia in the run-up to Wednesday’s inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden has increased almost daily.
Defense and law enforcement authorities have been revising the numbers as they go through rehearsals and other drills to determine how many and where they need the Guard reinforcements to help lock down Washington.
