President-elect Joe Biden will no longer be taking an Amtrak train to Washington for his inauguration due to security concerns, an individual briefed on the choice informed The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The president-elect’s determination displays rising worries over potential threats within the Capitol and throughout the U.S. within the lead-up to Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
Security in Washington has ramped up significantly in preparation for the inauguration after the violent insurrection on the U.S. Capitol final week by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, and the FBI warned over the weekend of plans for armed protests in any respect 50 state capitals and in Washington, D.C., within the days main up to the occasion.
The individual briefed on Biden’s determination spoke on situation of anonymity to talk about inner issues. The information was first reported by CNN.
The transfer to forgo the 90-minute train experience from his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, to Washington was probably not straightforward for the president-elect. Biden’s choice for using the train throughout his 36-year Senate profession was such a central a part of his public persona that he rode Amtrak house on his remaining day as vp, and he used a train tour via Ohio and Pennsylvania throughout the presidential marketing campaign as a part of an effort to enchantment to blue-collar employees.
Biden turned recognized for using the train ranging from his very earliest days within the Senate, when he made a degree to return house almost each evening to assist elevate his younger sons after his spouse and younger daughter died in a automobile accident in 1972. His embrace of Amtrak — and the chums he made among the many train conductors and workers as a daily — was featured in a brief movie that aired throughout the Democratic National Convention final August.
The train experience will not be the one security-related growth surrounding the inauguration.
On Wednesday, Biden acquired a briefing from FBI officers, the Secret Service and his nationwide security group in regards to the potential for added violence within the coming days.
“In the week since the attack on Congress by a mob that included domestic terrorists and violent extremists, the nation has continued to learn more about the threat to our democracy and about the potential for additional violence in the coming days, both in the National Capital Region and in cities across the country,” in accordance to a press release from the Biden transition group. “This is a challenge that the President-elect and his team take incredibly seriously.”
Across Washington, however notably across the Capitol, the National Mall and a few close by federal buildings, security has elevated significantly, with nonscalable partitions and steel gates erected, streets closed and a brand new contingent of National Guard troops camped out on the Capitol.
