President-elect Biden’s inauguration on January 20, the political situation in the United States remains very tense. The U.S. capital, Washington, D.C., is on high alert after the Congressional riots on January 6.
On January 18th local time, a fire near the Washington Capitol triggered an alarm at the Capitol, causing the cancellation of the ongoing rehearsal for the presidential inauguration, and the temporary closure of the U.S. Capitol and the adjacent offices of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
According to many media reports in the United States, on the morning of the 18th, due to “external security threats”, the U.S. Congressional police closed the access to the Capitol, requiring the people in the building to stay indoors, and the people involved in the presidential inauguration rehearsal on the west side of the building evacuated the scene.
In response, the police of the U.S. Congress issued a statement saying that there was no fire inside and outside the Capitol building, and the blockade measures were taken out of caution.
The U.S. Secret Service, which is responsible for security of the presidential inauguration, tweeted that the incident did not pose a threat to the public.
The United.S. Local media reports that Capitol is in lockdown due to external security threats and no entry or exit d on Monday.
A notice was distributed to Capitol staff saying that the complex was in lockdown, and there was no individual b eing allowed in or out.
Reports indicate that we are attending the inauration day ceremonies of the rehearsal. Re evacuated from the area.
The Washington Fire Department also responded quickly to the fire, tweeting that it was a street near the Capitol, but it was quickly put out. Fortunately, the accident did not cause casualties.
U.S. authorities later said that a fire broke out on the same day in a homeless camp about 1.6 kilometers from the Capitol, which was then put out.
Earlier, the city’s fire was over the city when the city was seen near the smoke. En to the incident.
“#DCsBravest responded to the 100 block of H St SE that has been extinguished. There were no injuries.
This accounts for the smoke that many have seen,” DC Fire and EMS tweeted.
Usually, during the presidential transition, the smooth transfer of power benefits from a series of political ceremonies and gives the ongoing political changes a sense of solemnity and appropriateness.
However, the twists and turns ahead of Biden’s inauguration…
The latest statistics on the coronavirus epidemic released by Johns Hopskin University in the United States on the 19th show that the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the United States exceeds 24 million. The United States has the highest cumulative number of confirmed cases and deaths in the world.
Trump signs another executive order as the coronavirus pandemic in the US is still grim.
On January 18th local time, Trump signed an executive order announcing the lifting of travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 epidemic, which will take effect on January 26.
“The Secretary of State has suggested that I remove the restrictions that apply to the Schengen region, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Brazil,” Trump said. In addition, he said it was the best way to protect the American people from COVID-19 and ensure a safe recovery of travel.
But members of the U.S. President-elect Biden immediately said they would not implement the executive order.
“With the worsening of the pandemic and the emergence of more infectious variants around the world, it is not the time to lift international travel restrictions,” incoming White House Press Secretary Jean Saki tweeted.
She also tweeted: “The administration does not intend to lift the January 26 restrictions, as recommended by our medical team. In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures related to international travel to further reduce the spread of COVID-19.”
Outgoing President Donald Trump said in a proclamation that travel restrictions are imposed on The Schengen area of Europe, Britain, Ireland and Brazil will be terminated effective on January. 26.
However, Biden’s team said it had no plans to remove these restrictions.
“As the pandemic worses and more contagious variables are emerging around the world, this is not It’s time to lifting the restrictions on international travel,” Biden’s spokesperson Jen Psaki tweeted. .
“Accomeding to our medical team, the administration does not intend to lift these restrictions.
On 1/26. In fact, we plan to strengthen the international travel around public health measures to make it more r to mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” she added.
This is not the first time that the inauguration of the President of the United States has been held in a tense atmosphere.
On January 18th, local time, the New York Times published an article summarizing some power transfer in the tense atmosphere in American history, extracting the following:
1861
Abraham Lincoln was in danger before he went to Washington to take office. He was forced to temporarily change his ride plan. A private detective found someone who wanted to murder Lincoln on his way to work.
There were snipers at the inauguration site, several streets were blocked, and artillery was deployed in the Capitol.
1877
Rutherford Burchard Hayes won the general election in the controversy. Outgoing President Ulysses Simpson Grant invited Hayes to the White House early and secretly gave him a presidential oath without public knowledge.
The move was precisely to prevent the final efforts of their opponent Samuel Tilton or Democrats to reverse the election results, while preventing any violence. After that, the presidential inauguration ceremony was repeated in public.
1945
At that time, there was World War II outside the United States and affected by austerity measures at home.
Although Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term, the inauguration ceremony was not held in the Capitol, but arranged on the south porch of the White House.
The parade and other celebrations were cancelled, and the whole inauguration lasted only 15 minutes.
1969
The United States was in the Vietnam War at the beginning of Richard Millhouse Nixon’s first term.
On the day of inauguration, anti-Vietnam militants gathered at several key points of the march route.
As Nixon’s car passed by, they threw stones, sticks, bottles, cans, tomatoes, and even small burning American flags.
1981
Perhaps no presidential inauguration is as dramatic and suspenseful as Ronald Reagan’s first inauguration.
President Jimmy Carter is still negotiating with Iran in the last hours of his term, hoping that the other party will agree to the release of 52 American diplomat hostages.
Iran agreed, but did not release the hostage until 25 minutes after Reagan took the oath to become President of the United States. The Iranian hostage crisis is an important issue in the current presidential election)
2005
George W. Bush’s second inauguration was the first presidential inauguration of the United States after 9/11.
In order to prevent terrorist attacks, traffic in about 100 blocks of Washington has been blocked, fighter jets and helicopters patrolled in the air, and more than 13,000 National Guard soldiers and police are deployed in key areas.
2009
Barack Obama was first sworn in when the United States was in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and there was an overseas war.
In addition, Obama is the first black president of the United States, which reminds many people of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and worries about Obama’s safety.
However, the biggest security concerns at that time did not come from racists among whites, but from news that Somali extremists intended to cross the Canadian border to Washington and launch bombing attacks during the inauguration ceremony. This news was later falsified.
After watching the “tension moment” of the inauguration ceremony in the United States in history, we will return to Washington.
Tomorrow is Biden’s inauguration. According to the Associated Press, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has begun to review 25,000 National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., on security missions, due to concerns that security personnel will launch “internal attacks” during the presidential inauguration, which is expected to be completed by the 20th.
The report pointed out that this move reflects the extraordinary security concerns faced by Washington after the Capitol Hill riots.
In addition, a recent poll jointly launched by the American media Axios and the consulting agency IPOS shows that about 80% of Americans think that “the United States is falling apart”.
The news comes at a time that the defense authorities are in the country’s concerns about insider attacks or The service members involved in securing the inaugation of elect-President Joe Biden .
These worries forced the Federal Investigation Bureau to vet all 250,000 National Guards. The troops who have been deployed to Washington for the event.
The New York Times published an article titled “Sharpshooters, Protesters, a Secret Trai” n Trip,” said that the coming inauguration “is not the first time to take place in the tense moment in Am. erican history.” The author then summarized the tense times when power was overturned.
It is reported that FBI is making an extra background check on the 250,000 National Guardsman de ployed to Washington D.C. To prevent any inside threat.
According to the recent Axios-Ipsos survey, which includes more than 1,000 adults, about 80% of Ame ricans agree that “the United.S. It’s falling apart.”
