Massachusetts National Guard refutes report blaming Bill Keating for Capitol parking garage incident
"It makes no sense."
The suggestion that Rep. Bill Keating was the reason that some National Guard members — deployed to protect the Capitol in Washington, D.C., following the riot earlier this month — were briefly banished to a parking garage “could not be farther from the truth,” according to the force’s Massachusetts division.
“It makes no sense,” said Maj. Gen. Gary W. Keefe, the state’s top guardsman.
In a statement this past Friday, the Massachusetts National Guard said they were aware that Keating, a Bourne Democrat, had been accused of banishing National Guardsmen to a parking garage after he reminded a soldier of COVID-19 rules requiring individuals to wear a mask in all federal buildings, including the U.S. Capitol. The statement came after the conservative outlet Breitbart reported Thursday that Keating had told Capitol building authorities earlier in the day that he had seen a National Guardsman in a Dunkin’ location within the complex without a mask on.
Later on Thursday, hundreds of National Guard members stationed at the Capitol were apparently asked to move to a Senate parking garage, resulting in photos showings troops lying on concrete that elicited outrage from Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike (by Friday, the guardsmen were allowed back inside the Capitol to rest).
However, according to the National Guard, there was no link between the move and Keating. In the statement, the Massachusetts National Guard said that Capitol building officials directed soldiers assigned to the Senate portion of the Capitol to move their break area to a parking garage due to the Senate being in session.
“It’s that simple,” Keefe said.
“The photos circulating on social media and through news reports showed National Guardsmen resting on the ground,” he added. “What the stories failed to mention was that they were on a break, resting between shifts. At the end of the duty day, Soldiers returned to their hotel rooms where they were housed during their time in the NCR.”
Keating himself also denied the claim by Breitbart that he made a report to authorities.
“I commented — to no one in particular — that this has the ingredients of a super-spreader event and we should all keep our masks on,” the 9th District congressman told the Boston Herald. “A member of the National Guard chose to loudly refuse.”
Keating told the Herald that his passing observation was “the totality of what took place.”
“Over 400,000 people have already died in this country, roughly 4,000 a day, due to COVID, and if I were in the same situation today, I would say the exact same thing,” he said.
CNN reported later Friday that a series of miscommunications led to the National Guard moving to the parking garage, amid conflicting explanations about who exactly made the decision.
According to Keefe, Keating’s support for the National Guard motivated him to speak out and clear up the congressman’s involvement.
“It’s not fair that he has been put in this position, and I felt it necessary to return the support he has shown the National Guard all these years,” Keefe said.
Officials have said that no members of the Massachusetts National Guard, whose assigned rest area was in a House office building, were asked to relocate. Gov. Charlie Baker had activated 500 local National Guard members to be deployed to Washington, D.C., after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol Building. They returned to Massachusetts on Saturday.
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