DC Mayor Muriel Bowser urges people to avoid DC, as the National Guard plans to have up to 15,000 troops in the city

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Meanwhile, the National Guard plans to have up to 15,000 National Guard personnel to meet current and future investiture requests, General Daniel Hokanson, head of the National Guard office, said Monday. The dramatic increase in troops occurs as law enforcement forces in the nation’s capital and across the country prepare for new extremist violence amid the transition to power.

At a news conference Monday, Democrat Bowser said she was concerned about the most violent actors who could come to town ahead of the inauguration and said, “If I’m scared of anything, it’s because of our democracy, because in our country we have very extreme armed and dangerous factions. ”

“Trumpism will not die on January 20,” said Bowser, who asked Trump and National Security Secretary Chad Wolf to make a pre-disaster statement for DC.

“Our goals right now are to encourage Americans to participate virtually and protect the District of Columbia from the repeated violent insurgency experienced at the Capitol and its grounds on Jan. 6,” Bowser said.

He also calls on the Trump administration to cancel public meeting permits between Jan. 10 and 24.

Bowser’s request for a declaration of emergency would provide additional funding for the city’s security efforts for the inauguration. The mayor finally assessed in a letter to Trump over the weekend that, despite the city’s security assets, “there are significant shortcomings of readiness that cannot be resolved without this declaration of emergency and direct federal assistance. ”.

Bowser told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that it will also ask the Department of Homeland Security to begin a schedule of “national special security events” earlier than planned, in addition to including the U.S. Capitol in its coverage area for the inauguration.

Last month, the Biden camp urged people not to travel to DC for the inauguration, citing the worsening of the coronavirus pandemic. The reduced parties will feature a virtual program that will allow Americans to participate from home.

The National Park Service also announced Monday that it will close the monument in Washington to visitors for more than two weeks, a period that includes the inauguration.

The park service said it could also “establish temporary closures of public access to roads, parking areas and toilets at the national mall and memorial parks, if conditions warrant, to protect public safety and public resources.” park “.

A senior defense official told CNN on Monday that National Guard troops already destined for the inauguration are starting to arrive and that the plan is to have 10,000 in the city on Saturday.

This week there is a full rehearsal with troops in DC. The command center of the Justice Department will be very robust with virtually all cabinet departments and connected police agencies, the official said.

There are currently 6,200 members of the National Guard who were already mobilized in the wake of last week’s attack on the Capitol by pro-Trump supporters.

This story has been updated with additional reports and background information.

CNN’s Ali Main, Gregory Wallace, Pete Muntean and Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.

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