WASHINGTON (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden will no longer take an Amtrak train to Washington for opening for security reasons, a person told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
The president-elect’s decision reflects growing concerns about possible threats to the Capitol and the United States ahead of Biden’s January 20 inauguration.
Security in Washington has intensified considerably in preparation for the inauguration following the violent insurgency in the US chapter last week by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, and the FBI warned over the weekend of plans for armed protests in the 50 state capitals and in Washington, DC, in the days leading up to the event.
The person informed of Biden’s decision spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal issues. The news was first published by CNN.
The move to give up the 90-minute train ride from his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, to Washington was probably not easy for the president-elect. Biden’s preference for traveling by train during his 36-year career in the Senate was such a central part of his public personality that he went to Amtrak home on his last day as vice president, and used a train tour. for Ohio and Pennsylvania during the presidential campaign. part of an effort to attract blue-collar workers.
Biden became known for going on the train from his early days in the Senate, when he proposed to return home almost every night to help raise his young children after his wife and daughter died in a car accident. traffic in 1972. His hug from Amtrak – and the friends he usually made between train drivers and staff – appeared in a short film that aired during the Democratic National Convention last August.
Train travel is not the only safety-related development surrounding the inauguration.
On Wednesday, Biden received information from FBI officials, the Secret Service and his national security team about the potential for additional violence in the coming days.
“The week after the attack on Congress by a crowd that included national terrorists and violent extremists, the nation has continued to learn more about the threat to our democracy and the potential for further violence in the coming days, both in the national capital Region and cities across the country, “according to a statement from Biden’s transition team. “This is a challenge that the president-elect and his team are taking very seriously.”
Across Washington, but especially around the Capitol, the National Mall, and some nearby federal buildings, security has increased considerably, with inescapable walls and erected metal gates, closed streets, and a new contingent of National Guard troops encamped in the Chapters.