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Joe Biden’s top adviser said the incoming US president would sign about a dozen executive orders on his first day in office, as police fearing violence from Donald Trump supporters staged a security operation. nationwide before the inauguration.
Authorities in Washington, where Wednesday’s inauguration will take place, said they arrested a man with a loaded pistol and more than 500 rounds of ammunition at a security check, underscoring the tension in the US capital. that resembles a war zone.
However, the man’s family told US media that he was a security guard, rejecting the idea that he intended to cause harm.
Biden’s incoming chief of staff, Ron Klain, said in a memo to new senior White House staff that the executive orders would address the pandemic, the ailing American economy, climate change and racial injustice in America.
“All of these crises demand urgent action,” Klain said in the memo.
“In his first ten days in office, President-elect Biden will take decisive action to address these four crises, prevent other urgent and irreversible damage, and restore America’s place in the world.”
Inheriting the White House from Donald Trump, Biden, who attended Mass yesterday at St Joseph at Brandywine Catholic Church in Wilmington, Delaware, finds his plate brimming with acute challenges.
The United States is rapidly approaching 400,000 deaths from the Covid-19 crisis, recording more than a million new cases a week as the coronavirus spreads uncontrollably.
The economy is sick, with 10 million fewer jobs available compared to the start of the pandemic.
Biden this week unveiled plans to seek $ 1.9 trillion to jumpstart the economy through new stimulus payments and other aid, and plans a bombing raid to accelerate America’s shaky launch effort for the Covid vaccine.
On inauguration day, Biden, as previously promised, will sign orders, including those for the United States to rejoin the Paris climate accord and revoke Trump’s ban on entering people from certain Muslim-majority countries, Klain said.
“President-elect Biden will take action, not only to reverse the most serious damage from the Trump administration, but also to begin moving our country forward,” Klain said.
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Meanwhile, Washington was on high alert after a mob of President Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6.
The assault left five dead, including a police officer.
Security officials have warned that armed pro-Trump extremists, possibly carrying explosives, pose a threat to Washington and state capitals over the next week.
Thousands of National Guard troops have been deployed to Washington, and downtown streets have been blocked with concrete barriers.
On Friday night, police arrested a Virginia man at a security checkpoint where he tried to use an “unauthorized” credential to access the restricted area where Biden will assume.
As officers compared the credential with the authorized access list, one noticed stickers on the back of Wesley Beeler’s pick-up truck that read “Assault Life,” with the image of a rifle.
Another had the message: “If they come for their guns, first give them their bullets,” according to a document filed in Superior Court in Washington, DC.
When questioned, Beeler told officers he had a Glock pistol in the vehicle. A search uncovered a loaded pistol, more than 500 rounds of ammunition, shotgun shells and a magazine for the weapon, according to the court document.
Mr. Beeler was arrested on charges that included possession of an unregistered firearm and illegal possession of ammunition.
But his father Paul told The New York Times that his son had been working as a security guard on the Capitol grounds.
When asked if his son supported a peaceful transition of power, Paul Beeler told the newspaper, “That is why he is there.”
In addition to the strong security presence in Washington, law enforcement was in place in US state capitals to prevent possible political violence.
Mass protests that had been planned for the weekend did not materialize yesterday, and security far outstripped Trump supporters in several fortified states, US media reported.
In St Paul, Minnesota, for example, hundreds of law enforcement officers, some armed with long guns, surrounded the Capitol with National Guard troops providing support.
The number of protesters amounted to about 50.
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