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Wolf’s departure as head of the body in charge of security for the January 20 event came five days after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol, hoping to prevent Biden from doing so. will replace.
United States President-elect Joe Biden speaks while addressing the media after a virtual meeting with the executive committee of the National Governors Association at the Queen Theater on November 19, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Image: AFP
WASHINGTON – Acting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf unexpectedly announced his resignation on Monday as concerns mounted about more violence during President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week.
Wolf’s departure as head of the body in charge of security for the January 20 event came five days after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol, hoping to prevent Biden from replacing him. .
The Department of Homeland Security oversees various law enforcement agencies, including the Secret Service, the White House security agency, and the President of the United States.
Wolf, who said he was resigning for procedural reasons, named Pete Gaynor, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to replace him.
But the move did not end doubts about whether the US capital would be safe enough over the next week.
An internal FBI document warned of the possibility that armed Trump supporters could hold protests in all 50 states between next weekend and January 20, according to US media.
The White House issued a statement saying that Trump had “declared an emergency exists in the District of Columbia and ordered federal assistance to supplement the District’s response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from the 59th Presidential Inauguration on January 11 January 24, 2021 “. . “
He said the order gave the Department of Homeland Security the authority to act “to save lives and protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of catastrophe in the District of Columbia.”
Meanwhile, federal and city officials continued to point out who was responsible for the debacle on Capitol Hill last Wednesday, when the congressional police force was overwhelmed by thousands of Trump supporters who managed to shut down the legislature.
MORE TROOPS CALLED
The Pentagon said Monday it had authorized the deployment of 15,000 National Guard troops for Biden’s inauguration.
There are already 6,200 troops on the ground in Washington, with a total of 10,000 expected next weekend, said Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the Department of Defense’s National Guard Office.
Another 5,000 could be deployed on opening day, he said.
They will come equipped with riot gear and weapons, but so far they have not been allowed to arm themselves while on the streets of the US capital, he said.
Before announcing his departure, Wolf also ordered an acceleration of preparations by the Secret Service, citing “events of the past week and the evolving security landscape.”
Preparations for the event were progressing rapidly. A security fence has been built around the entire Capitol compound, where Biden will be sworn in as Trump’s successor.
‘DO NOT COME’
Still angered by the violence last Wednesday, in which five people were killed, including a protester shot to death by police and a police officer who was attacked and died from his injuries, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called to Biden supporters to stay away from the capital on inauguration day. .
Typically, hundreds of thousands of Americans, sometimes more than a million, flock to Washington for the quadrennial event.
“We ask Americans not to come to Washington DC for the 59th presidential inauguration on January 20 and to participate virtually instead,” Bowser said.
Organizers said the Democratic president-elect would use the occasion to foster national unity, in the face of a country deeply divided by politics and affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
He will be sworn in on Capitol Hill in front of the flag-strewn National Mall instead of the usual hundreds of thousands of spectators.
Then he and three former US presidents, Trump will not attend, will travel to Arlington National Cemetery, where thousands of US servicemen killed by veterans are buried, to lay a wreath.
But the preparations come as Democrats, accusing Trump of fomenting and applauding what they called an “insurrection” and “attempted coup” last week, seek to force Trump to leave office prematurely.
That could lead to more violence from Trump supporters, the FBI warned in a new internal notice.
According to US media, the document says far-right groups like the violent Boogaloo Boys are planning protests across the country scheduled for the inauguration.
One group, the FBI said, “warned that if Congress tries to eliminate POTUS (Trump) through Amendment 25, there will be a major uprising,” reported ABC News.
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