Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser is claiming budget issues are behind her decision to kick Utah National Guardsmen out of their hotel while they have been called up to protect the nation’s capitol during the George Floyd protests.
The Utah National Guard said Friday that 200 service members were being forced to move out of the downtown DC Marriott hotel they had been living in since being activated on Monday, as violence and vandalization have been seen in the wake of the protests.
In a statement Friday, the Utah National Guard said that on Thursday night, ‘we were informed that our service members would be relocated from their hotel rooms,’ Fox News reported.
The Washington DC mayor has kicked 200 Utah National Guardsmen out of their hotel Thursday night, saying the city will not pay their hotel bills. Utah Guardsmen are seen Wednesday in DC, passing by protesters
Utah is among at least 10 other states that sent guardsmen to Washington DC at the Secretary of Defense’s request. Utah National Guardsmen are pictured here Wednesday in DC
The Utah Guard (pictured Wednesday near the White House) were activated on Monday to help protect the capitol as violence and vandalism broke out in the wake of protests
Utah Sen. Mike Lee tweeted about the Guardsmen being told to leave the hotel just after midnight Friday, calling Mayor Bowser ‘ungrateful’ for the help provided by the Guard
‘It has been heartbreaking for our Utah National Guard service members to witness the pain, suffering, and frustration in our communities across the nation,’ the Utah National Guard sad in the statement, noting that it ‘has been supporting civil authorities with our top priority of protecting lives as well as preserving property and critical infrastructure in our nation’s capital.’
Utah Sen. Mike Lee tweeted about the guardsmen’s removal just after midnight Friday.
‘Just heard that Mayor Bowser is kicking the Utah National Guard out of all DC hotels tomorrow. More than 1200 troops from 10 states are being evicted. This is unacceptable,’ he wrote.
‘These brave men and women have risked their lives protecting DC for three days. Rioting, looting, arson, and vandalism have all disappeared bc these soldiers served. And now they are being kicked to the curb by an ungrateful mayor. This must be stopped.’
The Utah Guardsmen (pictured Wednesday night in DC) finished their shift on Friday at 3am and were told they needed to vacate the hotel by 11am, before starting a 6pm shift
The Utah National Guard is seen standing on a police line in DC Thursday night as they face demonstrators protesting the death of George Floyd
Mayor Bowser (pictured) said that a city budget issue was the reason why the Utah National Guard was kicked out of their hotel and that the home states or armory should pay the bills
Mayor Bowser tweeted that she does not want other states’ National Guard in Washington DC and has requested that they be recalled
Sen. Lee (pictured) said that it was ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘unacceptable’ to kick the Utah Guard out of the hotel after their fourth all-nighter in Washington DC
Lee noted that the Utah Guard came at the government’s request and that if Bowser had a problem with it, she needed to address the issue with President Trump
In a statement, Lee said that the guardsmen did not finish their shifts until Friday at 3am and were ‘forced out’ of the hotel by 11am.
This left them just seven hours to move hotels before the start of their next shift, which runs from Friday 6pm to Saturday 2am.
‘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 the statement.
‘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 Utah National Guardsmen have since found another hotel to stay at, while the District of Columbia’s National Guard said it was helping to resolve the matter, Fox News reported.
In response to Lee, Bowser tweeted Friday: ‘Senator — until they are recalled home — which I have formally requested from the President, your troops are in DC hotels. However, DC residents cannot pay their hotel bills. The Army can clear that up with the hotel today, and we are willing to help.’
President Trump weighed in on the Utah National Guard hotel issue Friday afternoon, saying that DC’s budget is ‘totally out of control’
Bowser claimed that it was a budget issue that led to the Utah Guardsmen being ejected from there hotel, noting that DC residents would not be paying their hotel bills any longer and calling it ‘overbilling.’
The mayor said that the city didn’t ‘evict anybody from a private hotel’ and told Fox News that ‘If they are going to use rooms we reserved, they have to pay for them.’
She said the armory or the home state of the National Guard currently in DC should be paying for their housing, not the city.
Bowser has been actively petitioning the governors of the states that have sent members of their National Guard to DC to withdraw the servicemen because ‘their presence is unnecessary.’
On Monday, following days of peaceful Floyd protests being used as cover for violence, burning of buildings and vehicles, vandalization and store looting, Trump said from the White House that ‘a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.’
In Washington DC, armored military vehicles have been spotted driving through the disterict, while cars were also stopped at military checkpoints downtown following the 7pm curfew which started Tuesday night.
Lee told Fox News Friday that the Utah Guard ‘came here at the request of their country and now, in the middle of it, in the middle of a deployment, in the middle of their fourth consecutive all-nighter, they’re being told they’re not welcome there. That is unpatriotic; that is unacceptable.’
He noted that the guardsmen were given just 10 hours notice before being sent to Washington DC to help safeguard the White House and other Capitol buildings.
Trump addressed the Utah Guardsmen hotel issue on Twitter Friday afternoon.
‘The incompetent Mayor of Washington, D.C., @MayorBowser, who’s budget is totally out of control and is constantly coming back to us for “handouts”, is now fighting with the National Guard, who saved her from great embarrassment over the last number of nights. If she doesn’t treat these men and women well, then we’ll bring in a different group of men and women!’
It’s unclear which different group of people Trump was referring to.
In addition to Utah, states that sent their National Guard, at the request of the Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, include Ohio, South Carolina, Indiana, New Jersey, Maryland and Tennessee. Meanwhile states including Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware declined the request.
About 1,600 guardsmen from across the country were brought into DC earlier in the week. Some have since been sent home, without being used, but others remain ‘on alert,’ according to The Hill.