Amtrak trip canceled
Joe Biden’s inauguration rehearsal has been postponed due to security concerns. The rehearsal scheduled for Sunday has been moved to Monday, according to Politico. A ride on Amtrak from Wilmington to Washington planned for Monday with Biden and his staff has been canceled. There have been no comments from the presidential inaugural committee, the Secret Service, or the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. After the violence on Capitol Hill last week, security concerns are being taken seriously. There are ongoing investigations by the FBI and other agencies looking into those who participated in the riot as the building was stormed by protesters. There is a threat of an armed protest on Sunday at noon. The FBI is warning of plans in all 50 states for armed protests in response to the Biden inauguration. After a briefing by the FBI Wednesday, the transition team released a statement. “In the week since the attack on Congress by a mob that included domestic terrorists and violent extremists,” Biden’s transition team said in a statement, “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. This is a challenge that the President-elect and his team take incredibly seriously.” The House Oversight Committee sent 27 letters out to transportation and lodging companies asking them to screen customers for potential involvement in domestic terrorism. The letter cites Airbnb as an example of a corporation working to try to prevent violence during the days leading up to the inauguration and on the day itself. Also, Chair Carolyn Maloney asks that companies “retain all January records for potential sharing with law enforcement and to inform the panel of the plans it implemented by the end of the month.” Lisa Monaco, Biden’s choice for deputy attorney general, is being brought in as a temporary adviser on security around the inauguration. She’s an Obama Homeland Security re-thread. “Ms. Monaco will assist the President-elect and work with the incoming national security advisor, the incoming homeland security advisor, and current security and law enforcement officials, including with the United States Secret Service on their plans for the inauguration,” a spokesperson for the transition said in a statement.
