THE SIEGE OVER? Our Capitol Will Return To Normal According To The Pentagon

The Epoch Times wrote: 

The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed Wednesday that the National Guard mission that was set up following the Jan. 6 Capitol breach will be discontinued on Sunday, May 23.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters during a briefing at the Pentagon that the deployment is expected to wrap up by that date.

“We have received no request to extend it,” he said, referring to the National Guard deployment around the Capitol and Washington. He also said that around 2,100 National Guard troops remain around the Capitol.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in March had received a request from the Capitol Police to extend the Guard’s deployment until May 23, which was approved.

More than 5,000 National Guard troops were positioned around the Capitol following the Jan. 6 incident, while fencing was also erected around the building. Both the fencing and military posture was criticized by Republicans, and several GOP governors ordered their troops to return home starting in late January.

The Washington Times had more: 

The move to demilitarize the Capitol drew cheers from downtown officials and businesses looking forward to the return of tourists as memories of postelection riots fade and the risks of COVID-19 recede.

“It’s a big thing that they are leaving,” restaurant owner Hulya Bolukbasi told The Washington Times. “It definitely did impact us as a business in this area.” Ms. Bolukbasi and her husband own the French restaurant Bistro Cacao, a few blocks from the Capitol. 

"Because it has been guarded and closed, I think people chose not to visit D.C.,” she said.“So [the] effect on my business was that there were less people, less tourists in D.C. … and of course these people would have come and eaten at Bistro Cacao as a very close-by restaurant, and that was one of the negative impacts that I had seen.”