Following US officials warning regarding possible threats ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in Washington, DC, capital of the United States, on Monday evening.
Through the announcement of the order, federal assistance can now be extended till January 24th in order to help the forces in Washington to control the emergency situation.
The order in specific permits the Federal Emergency Management Agency to “identify, mobilize and provide at its discretion, equipment, and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency”.
This comes after the Trump supporters dismantled the peaceful certification process going on in the US Capitol building on January 6th where they alleged that the election was “stolen” from Trump. The violence that erupted from the riots resulted in the death of 5 people.
In the early hours of Monday, the FBI had spoken about the likelihood of armed riots over the country, including the national capital that remained in shreds due to the recent violent attacks, before Biden takes over the White House on January 20th.
As such, the National Guard was ordered to post 15,000 of its troops to Washington along with the suspension of tourists to visit the national capital’s monument for safety reasons.
Biden’s inaugural committee stated that despite the present situation of the country, the theme of the ceremony will be “America United”, as opposed to Trump’s earlier “Make America Great Again”.
Mayor of Washington, DC, Muriel Bowser wrote a letter over the necessity of a stronger security force as there had been “chaos, injury, and death” on January 6th at the Capitol Hill.
He requested the Homeland Security Department to continue the emergency provisions to let federal and local agencies to prep for the ceremony. He also asked for the intelligence and threat briefings of each day from January 11th– January 24th, which is owned by the FBI.
On the other hand, requesting for a detailed report regarding the occurrences of the riot day, US Senators Chris Murphy, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Martin Heinrich wrote a letter on Monday to Christopher Miller, the Acting Defense Secretary.
The letter states that “over three and a half hours … elapsed between the initial breach of the barriers on the West side of the U.S. Capitol” and the arrival of the National Guard.
“On Jan 6 it took 4.5 hours before the U.S. military arrived to defend the Capitol. That is not acceptable and we request a full accounting of what needs to change,” Murphy tweeted.
Another Senator Chris Murphy wrote to ADS too expressing his concern over the sufficiency of the National Guard given the grave situation. He asked for the probably posting of active-duty troops to ensure better protection.
Meanwhile, the Democratic party is keeping no stone unturned in trying to charge Trump of provoking his supporters to take the building by storm through his inflammatory speeches and tweets.
Due to this, Trump is believed to be removed under the 25th Amendment following the decisions of the US House of Representatives, expected to take place today.
Speaker of the party, Nancy Pelosi, said that Trump is acting as an “imminent threat” to the US and “must be removed from office immediately”.
President-elect Joe Biden, however, said, “I’m not afraid of taking the oath outside,” while speaking about the traditional inauguration ceremony held in the Capitol building’s grounds that has seen the havoc recently.
He stressed that it was extremely important that those “who engaged in sedition and threatened people’s lives, defaced public property, caused great damage” be held liable for their actions.
