cleared but not fully secured. You know, there were still protesters on the grounds outside. That we were in the process of sweeping the building. That ATF had taken one Chamber. They were working with Capitol Police to clear the Chamber. FBI took the other Chamber. They were working with the Capitol Police. The Capitol Police were working on all the offices, the hallways, the restrooms, and everything else to make sure that no one was hiding, and that there were no dangerous devices left behind.
I said in that call that we believed that we could get the entire place operational by 9 p.m. Senator Schumer then said, well, we want to be in at 8 p.m. Can we do this by 8?
And I looked at the FBI, ATF, and Capitol Police leadership and kind of gave them a thumbs up, like questioning, can we do it by 8? I thought we could. And they all sort of nodded, yes, we can do it by 8.
So I said, yes, sir, we can do it by 8.
I think the Vice President then chimed in and said, can you do it safely by 8? Meaning—I took it to mean he didn't want any law enforcement officers endangered by rushing the schedule?
And I said, yes, sir, we can do it by 8, we can do it safely, that'll be fine.
There was some other questions. Frankly, I just—I don't remember them, of course. I have a notation that Room 137—Speaker Pelosi asked about Room 137. I didn't know what she meant by that.
I said, I apologize, Madam Speaker, I don't know the building well enough to know what 137 is. And someone said, it's the dining facility. And, apparently, she wanted to know if the dining facility would be up and operational, because she said that the Members would need food throughout the night.
And I said that we would try to find out further, that I have no idea if the dining
