With increasing accounts of members of the military and police being involved with the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, the FBI is taking extreme precautions by running extensive background checks on members of the National Guard who will be in Washington, DC to secure the city during the inauguration on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports.
More than 25,000 National Guard troops, along with local police and federal law enforcement officers, will be part of the security at the Biden-Harris inauguration, and the FBI is vetting each one of them.
The concerns spring from an increasing amount of chatter federal officials have reported online about potential violence around the inaugural, a result of the unrest stoked by Donald Trump and conspiracy theorists who falsely believe the election was fraudulent, with Trump being the actual winner.
Donald Trump himself will not be in DC for the inaugural, thereby allowing any potential attack to be indiscriminate and a mass casualty event, should a Trump follower decide to take out the VIPs at the inauguration.
”We’re continually going through the process, and taking second, third looks at every one of the individuals assigned to this operation,” Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said in an interview with the Associated Press.
The January 6th coup attempt at the Capitol raised red flags among law enforcement as accounts arose detailing that the insurrectionists used military-style hand signals and formations to direct attacks at the Capitol. Additionally, a number of police officers have been suspended or fired for their participation in the event, as uncovered by a multitude of video taken by the domestic terrorists who stormed the building.
“The question is, is that all of them? Are there others?” said McCarthy. “We need to be conscious of it and we need to put all of the mechanisms in place to thoroughly vet these men and women who would support any operations like this.”
Thanks to Don Draighneaux for the tip.