Rep. Connolly says man with baseball bat attacked his Virginia office
Out of the office of Jerry Connolly that there has been an attack on his district office. Let me go right now to NBC's Ryan Nobles. What can you tell me about what happened at the congressman's office? Yeah, Chris, this is a very scary situation that congressman Jerry Connolly is sharing about an incident that took place at his district office, which is in Fairfax, Virginia. That's in northern Virginia, not far from where I'm standing right now. But according to Connolly, an individual broke into his office. Actually, the office was open, so he did not break any came into the office while his staffers were there and then had a baseball bat. He was looking for the congressman.
He actually specifically asked for congressman Connolly and then committed what Connolly is describing as an act of violence against two members of his staff. And this act of violence was so serious that both of these staffers for congressman Connolly were sent to the hospital with what is being described as non-life-threatening injuries. And now the Fairfax City Police Department has already tweeted that they were responding to this incident and that two people were taken to the hospital. So confirming what congressman Connolly is saying in this particular situation, the congressman goes on to say that he has the best team in Congress and his district office staff make themselves available to constituents and members of the public every single day. But Chris, this is an example of the increase that we've seen in threats against members of Congress and the actual acts of violence that happen against members of Congress and their staff as the polarization of politics becomes increasingly intense. We're seeing it play out in real time here today with this incident in Jerry Connolly's district office here in northern Virginia. Chris? And for people who don't know, at least the district offices I have been in and it's been a few years because I haven't been on the campaign trail, but honestly, that's what they're meant to do, right? They are open.
They're meant for constituents to be able to come in, to have meetings, to ask questions or air their concerns. I mean, have there been any instances where they've stepped up security around some of these district offices that you know of or is it pretty much business as usual? Great question, Chris. And first of all, to your initial point, you're absolutely right that these constituent offices, these district offices, in many ways are the backbone of the work of any member of Congress. You know, they obviously deal with passing laws, but a big part of a Congressman's responsibility is serving as an abuzzment to a certain extent to the federal government, helping constituents with things like veteran services, passport renewal, a wide range of issues that the federal government deals with. If you're having a hard time with the agency, often a member of the Congressperson staff can help you get that process moving forward. So they purposely have their offices as open as possible to the public so that they can deal with those issues. And to your second point, the answer is yes, because of this, you know, pop in the amount of threats against members of Congress, Capitol Police have been increasingly concerned about the vulnerability of members of Congress and their staffs in their district offices.
They have increased funding to harden those particular places to allow for better security. And in some cases, members of Congress have reached into their own campaign and personal funds to pay for increased security on their own because it goes above and beyond their federal allocation. So yes, this is something that members of Congress are certainly worried about. And what we're seeing happen here today in Northern Virginia is a real life example of that. And it is something that every member of Congress has to be concerned about.
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