Authorities stopped a man with a machete from entering the Capitol, the U.S. Capitol Police said Wednesday.
In a thread on the social platform X Wednesday afternoon, Capitol Police said a man attempted to enter the Capitol Visitor Center with a machete, with officers having “stopped and arrested” him around 2:00 p.m. EST. The man’s bag was discovered to have a machete in it by officers amid a security screening, Capitol Police added, and the man was arrested.
Capitol Police also said in their thread that besides the machete, the bag also had three knives in it, and that “multiple charges of Carrying a Dangerous Weapon” are behind the man’s arrest.
“We will provide more information once it is available,” Capitol Police said in their thread.
The Capitol Police’s thread comes only a few days after the four-year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the Capitol. On that day, multiple police were injured as rioters stormed the Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn President-elect Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump has promised to grant clemency to rioters who showed up at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The president-elect has also implied that some pardons could be issued in the first hours of his second term.
