With just a week to go until President-elect Joe Biden takes office, federal law enforcement agencies are launching a massive security initiative as they prepare for more violence after a crowd of Trump supporters besieged the Capitol last week.
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Still, the inauguration is expected to continue as scheduled with several high-level security precautions in place, including increased presence of the National Guard and enhanced law enforcement by state and local authorities. President Trump also declared a state of emergency in Washington, citing the “emergency conditions” of Biden’s tenure.
Despite the heightened alarm over more violence, Biden told reporters that he plans to continue as planned with the event. The opening theme is “United America”.
“I’m not afraid to take the oath out there,” said Biden on Monday.
The authorities increased the number of National Guard members to be deployed in Washington during the presidential inauguration from 15,000 to 20,000 on Wednesday, about three times the number of American soldiers currently deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan together. The inauguration takes place exactly two weeks after the rebels invaded the Capitol. Five people, including a United States Capitol officer who was beaten with a flagpole, died in the unprecedented attack.
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Public access to the inauguration, which has already been reduced as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, will be even more limited. City officials are erecting a perimeter across the city center, putting up barriers around the White House, the National Mall and the Capitol. To travel around the perimeter, people will need to provide proof of the essential purpose.
“The FBI received information about an identified armed group that intended to travel to Washington, DC on January 16,” said the memo, a copy of which was obtained by ABC News. “They warned that if Congress tries to remove POTUS through the 25th Amendment, a huge uprising will occur.”
US National Guard members arrive at the US Capitol on January 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. The Pentagon is sending some 15,000 National Guard soldiers to protect President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, amid fears of new violence. (Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images)
With COVID-19 cases popping up across the country and growing fears about the security of the event, leaders in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia issued a joint statement urging Americans to stay out of possession and instead to tune in virtually .
“We will work together, and with our partners in the federal government, to ensure the security of the National Capital Region,” they wrote. “Due to the unique circumstances surrounding the 59th presidential inauguration, including last week’s violent uprising, as well as the ongoing and deadly COVID-19 pandemic, we are taking the extraordinary step of encouraging Americans not to come to Washington.”
National Guard members sleep before Democrats start debating an impeachment article against United States President Donald Trump at the United States Capitol on January 13, 2021. (Reuters / Joshua Roberts)
There will also be no public access to the Capitol grounds during the inauguration, US Capitol Chief of Police Yogananda Pittman said in a statement on Monday. The Capitol Police, which was heavily criticized after being invaded by extreme right-wing extremists last week, is working with federal, state and local authorities to ensure that the tenure goes smoothly, she said.
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“We have comprehensive and coordinated plans to ensure the security and protection of the Congress community and the next presidential inauguration,” said Pittman.
The Washington Monument is also closed until January 24 due to “credible threats to visitors and park resources” surrounding Biden’s inauguration, the National Park Service said. The threats include possible disruptions to “setting up and running inaugural events, which take place in various areas of the park,” the agency said.
Authorities are fortifying the city days ahead of schedule, in anticipation of potential violence on Saturday.
Hundreds of National Guard soldiers detained inside the Capitol Visitor Center to reinforce Capitol security in Washington, Wednesday, January 13, 2021. The House of Representatives is seeking an impeachment article against President Donald Trump for his role in inciting an angry mob to invade the Capitol last week. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)
In a memo on Monday, the FBI warned that an armed group threatened to come to Washington on January 16 and stage a “major revolt” if President Trump is removed from office before January 20. The agency also warned that armed protests are being planned in all 50 state capitals and the United States Capitol on January 20, the day of Biden’s inauguration, regardless of whether states have certified election votes for Biden or Trump.
“There are people planning to do the danger, at least online, and the end result is that our officials have to be completely in control of it,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer told reporters this week.
House Democrats were informed on Monday of threats to the event, including that thousands of armed pro-Trump supporters are planning to surround the Capitol before taking office, according to Dep. Conor Lamb, D-Pa.
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“They were talking about 4,000 armed ‘patriots’ to surround the Capitol and prevent any Democrats from entering,” Lamb told CNN on Tuesday.
Congressman Tom Malinowski, DN.J., who attended the security briefing for lawmakers, told The Washington Post that if the extensive measures planned for the inauguration were in place on January 6, “a fly could not have entered the Capitol . “
“Last week was an alert,” said Malinowski.