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WASHINGTON (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden will no longer take an Amtrak train to Washington for his inauguration due to security concerns, a person briefed on the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The president-elect’s decision reflects growing concerns about potential threats on Capitol Hill and across the United States in the run-up to Biden’s January 20 inauguration.
Security in Washington Drastically Tightened in Preparation for Inauguration After Violent Insurgency at the U.S. Capitol last week by supporters of incumbent President Donald Trump, and the FBI warned this weekend plans for armed protests in all 50 state capitals and Washington, DC, in the days leading up to the event.
The person briefed on Biden’s decision spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. The news was first reported by CNN.
The decision to forgo the 90-minute train ride from his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, to Washington was probably not an easy one for the president-elect. Biden’s preference for taking the train during his 36-year Senate career was such a central part of his public personality that he brought Amtrak home on his last day as vice president, and he used a train trip through Ohio and Pennsylvania during the presidential campaign as part of an effort to attract blue collar workers.
Biden became known to have taken the train from his very early days in the Senate, when he made it a point to return home almost every night to help raise his young sons after the deaths of his wife and youngster. girl in a car crash in 1972. His embrace of Amtrak – and the friends he made among train drivers and staff as a regular member – was featured in a short film that aired at the Democratic National Convention last August.
The train ride isn’t the only safety-related development surrounding the inauguration.
On Wednesday, Biden received a briefing from officials of the FBI, the Secret Service and its National Security Team on the potential for further violence in the coming days.
“In the week following the attack on Congress by a mob that included domestic terrorists and violent extremists, the nation continued to learn more about the threat to our democracy and the potential for further violence in the next few days, both in the nation’s capital. Region and cities across the country, ”according to a statement from Biden’s transition team. “It’s a challenge that the President-elect and his team take very seriously.”
Across Washington, but especially around the Capitol, the National Mall, and some nearby federal buildings, security has increased dramatically, with non-modular walls and metal gates erected, closed streets, and a new contingent of soldiers from the National Guard camped at the Capitol.
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