Rep. Foxx is fined $5,000 for bypassing House security screening [View all]

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Source: Washington Post

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) has been ordered to pay a $5,000 fine for bypassing the House security screening last week, according to the House Committee on Ethics and the House sergeant-at-arms. Foxx is the latest person to have been sanctioned under a resolution passed in February penalizing lawmakers who seek to bypass the security screening measures created in the wake of the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. Members face a $5,000 fine for the first offense and $10,000 each time thereafter.

A spokesman for Foxx did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and it is not clear whether the lawmaker plans to appeal. Members have 30 days from the date they were notified of the fine to file an appeal. According to U.S. Capitol Police, the incident occurred around 4:10 p.m. on May 13, when Foxx left the elevator near the Republican Door of the House chamber “and ran through the magnetometer, activating the alarm.”Foxx “threw her bag underneath the table adjacent to the magnetometer,” Capitol Police said, and continued into the House chamber even as two officers raised their hands and said “Ma’am” in an effort to stop her.

After casting a vote, Foxx returned to the screening area to retrieve her bag and said something to the effect of, “Good thing no one stopped me,” Capitol Police said. Politico reporter Olivia Beavers, who witnessed the incident, reported last week that Foxx had told her, “I didn’t think the metal detector went off. I was late to vote. I barely made it. I ran back out and went back in.” When Beavers attempted to ask a follow-up question, Foxx yelled at her. “Why don’t you deal with things that are important?” the lawmaker said, according to Politico. The metal detectors were installed in a move aimed at tightening security in the wake of the deadly Jan. 6 riot. Some Republican lawmakers have objected to being screened, prompting tense confrontations with Capitol Police.

After February’s vote to institute fines, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) noted that some lawmakers had been “refusing to adhere to basic precautions keeping members of our congressional community safe — including by dodging metal detectors, physically pushing past police, and even attempting to bring firearms into the chamber.” “It is beyond comprehension why any Member would refuse to adhere to these simple, common-sense steps to keep this body safe,” Pelosi said at the time, describing the rule change as “sad” but necessary to ensure the safety of lawmakers and others inside the Capitol.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/18/joe-biden-live-updates/#link-4KPXLMELSRCBPJE7SZTRKKAVJY