Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee condemned the decision of Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to evict 200 Utah national guardsmen from a district hotel just hours after coming off duty at 3 a.m. Friday morning.
“Evicting Utah National Guard personnel from their hotels after a late-night shift risking their lives to protect Washington is a shameful, petty, discrediting decision by Mayor Bowser,” Lee said in a statement Friday afternoon. “Our Utah guardsmen are consummate professionals who are not complaining in the slightest. But their labor and sacrifice on behalf of Washingtonians deserves better than this embarrassing spectacle. If Mayor Bowser has a problem with President Trump she should take it up with him, not take it out on National Guard personnel in the middle of a dangerous deployment in her city.”
The 200 members of Utah’s national guard were dispatched to the nation’s capital on short notice this week after days of rioting destroyed businesses, left civil rights monuments damaged and jeopardized security at the White House.
Antifascists deface monument to antifascists https://t.co/XHn78krQgC
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) June 1, 2020
Admiral Farragut led the Union fleet at the Battle of Mobile Bay. Farragut's home state of Tennessee seceded, but he remained loyal to the Union. He fought to save his country from destruction and ensured that Americans held in bondage would live free. https://t.co/kPh4Pyf9qy
— Jarrett Stepman (@JarrettStepman) June 1, 2020
The White House went dark, turning off almost all of its external lights, as protesters set fires nearby and thousands again defied curfews to demonstrate against police brutality. Smoke was seen rising near the Washington Monument. https://t.co/pmtsjrQp7l pic.twitter.com/0twHpsWjPk
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 1, 2020
Utah guardsmen worked overnight on Thursday and are slated to begin another 8-hour shift from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday.
National guardsmen have been activated in nearly half the United States to quell violent protests that have erupted in the worst outbreak of civil disobedience in decades.
New Jersey, Maryland, Tennessee, Ohio, Florida, and South Carolina are among states to send troops to D.C. at the president’s request.
