Democrat members of the U.S. House of Representatives held a protest outside the Department of Education on Friday amid reports that President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to shut down the department. The Democrat lawmakers attempted to force their way into the building; however, they were blocked by a security guard.
According to NBC News, the Trump administration is currently preparing an executive order to shut down the Department of Education and direct congressional lawmakers to pass legislation to formally abolish the department.
After being denied entrance to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building on Friday, the group of Democrat lawmakers were recorded challenging the security guard.
In the video, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) can be heard asking, “What are they afraid of? They know that we’re here.”
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) directly challenged the security guard, asking, “Were you told, are you making this decision to stand in front of this door on your own behalf? On behalf of the Department of Education, or were you to come out here and block members of Congress from complying with us?” He added, “Were you told to stand here, or did you decide to stand here and block members of Congress from entering the Department of Education?”
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Despite repeatedly telling Democrat lawmakers that he was just doing his job, the security guard continued to face pressure from the large group of Democrats protesting outside the Department of Education. Partway through the video, Waters can be seen directing Fox News to show the security guard’s face on television.
“I want you to see this man here who is a federal employee… we pay him, we raise money to make sure that we have a Department of Education,” Waters said. “Everybody that’s hired at the Department of Education are here because we pay for them to be here. He’s standing here today blocking the door, and he can’t give us a good reason why he’s blocking this door.”
Another Democrat lawmaker claimed that by blocking the door to the building, the Trump administration was preventing people from advocating on behalf of the country’s children. “We are not allowed to advocate on behalf of America’s children,” the lawmaker said. “America, we have a problem.”
Sharing the video of the Democrat lawmakers attempting to force their way inside the Department of Education on social media, conservative commentator Benny Johnson tweeted, “Rep. Maxine Waters and other Democrat Congress members are staging an insurrection at the Dept of Education over Trump and Elon Musk, but they’re getting the door slammed in their faces.”
