Biden To Take Oath As 46th U.S. President In Heavily Guarded City

ACROSS AMERICA — Joe Biden will become the 46th U.S. president Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol, the same building insurrectionists stormed two weeks ago in a riot that left five people dead, spawned an investigation that could reach members of Congress and led to a historic second impeachment of outgoing President Donald Trump.

The irony of the theme Biden is expected to focus on in his inaugural speech — a call for unity and healing — is not lost in a city that has been turned into a fortress in response to fears the Jan. 6 insurrection was a reconnaissance mission ahead of the inauguration.

Biden, his wife, Jill, and members of their family arrived in Washington, D.C., Tuesday evening. They were joined by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who will write several firsts into the history books, and the soon-to-be second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, for an evening ceremony at the Reflecting Pool near the Lincoln Memorial to honor the more than 400,000 American lives lost to COVID-19.

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"For many months we have grieved by ourselves," Harris said. "Tonight, we grieve and begin healing together."

Biden followed with his own brief remarks, telling Americans that "to heal we must remember."

As the pre-inuguration events were about to get under way Tuesday, federal prosecutors were making their case for the first conspiracy charges in the 125 arrests made so far in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot investigation.

Thomas Edward Caldwell, a 66-year-old Clarksville, Virginia, man is accused of organizing a group of eight or 10 people who were seen dressed in military-style gear and were seen leading the move against police lines and up the Capitol steps during the riot, The Washington Post reported.

Caldwell and two other people — a man and woman from Ohio — were all charged with conspiracy and other federal counts. They are all members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right parlimentary group the FBI sidbelieves in a conspiracy theory suggesting the federal government has been taken over by a secret cabal.

• 2 Ohioans Charged Charged In Capitol Riots

The chilling details in the case included communications between the defendants and others during the siege on the Capitol are the sort that caused authorities to summon more National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., than the number of all military troops deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria combined.

“All members are in the tunnels under the capital [sic],” the FBI said, quoting a message sent to Caldwell during the Capitol attack. “Seal them in turn on gas.”

The FBI said the Oath Keepers accept anyone as members but specifically try to recruit police officers and members of the military. FBI agents are putting the 25,000 U.S. Army National Guard troops securing the capital city through second and third vettings after intelligence detected chatter that some far-right fringe groups would try to infiltrate the security detail and disrupt the inauguration.

At least 12 people have been removed from the security detail, Gen. Daniel Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard, told The Associated Press that two of the soliders had made inappropriate comments or texts related to the inauguration, and the other 10 were removed for potential issues that may involve previous criminal gahvior or activities not directly related to the inaugural event.

• 12 Removed From National Guard Inauguration Security Detail

Early Tuesday morning, the FBI sent a list of names to the National Guard Bureau who were identified as having ties to fringe right-wing groups or had posted extremist views.

"Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard, confirmed that Guard members had been removed and sent home but he said only two cases were for inappropriate comments or texts related to the inauguration. He said the other 10 were for other potential issues that may involve previous criminal behavior or other activities, but were not directly related to the inaugural event."

The FBI privately warned law enforcement officials Monday that far-right extremists who are adherents to the QAnon conspiracy group discussed posing as National Guard soldiers to infiltrate the massive security detail, according to intelligence documents obtained by The Washington Post. The documents described potential imposters as “lone wolves” who had reviewed, downloaded and shared maps of vulnerable spots in the capital city.

Specific threats to disrupt the inauguration of Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in a manner similar to the Jan. 6 insurrection were not detected, the report said.

• Life Goes On For DC Residents Adapting To Security

Trump, accused in the historic second impeachment charge of inciting the insurrection at the Capitol, has spent the last week of his presidency out of the public eye. If the Senate convicts, the chamber could take a separate vote that would ban him from seeking federal office again and strip him of the perks generally afforded to former president.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who spent four years as majority leader supporting, protecting and defending Trump, offered his most severe and public rebuke of the defeated president to date.

McConnell said Tuesday that the mob that stormed the Capitol was “fed lies” by Trump and others attempting to overturn Democrat Biden’s election.

“They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like,” McConnell said.

Trump did not take responsibility in a video farewell address released late Tuesday afternoon. In excerpts of the video released to the media, Trump said that “all Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol” and that “political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans” and “can never be tolerated."

The FBI has been monitoring an “extensive amount of concerning online chatter” about threats to the inauguration, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said last week, though acknowledging the challenge of “trying to distinguish what’s aspirational versus what’s intentional.”

The FBI has said it could arrest hundreds of people in the four-hour insurrection that temporarily halted the certification of Biden’s Electoral College win. Rioters face a ream of charges, from trespassing to assaults on police officers to theft of national security and defense information to felony murder.

Also among the latest to come under suspicion is Riley June Williams, a resident of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who the FBI said may have stolen a laptop computer belonging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the Capitol breach.

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The military routinely reviews service members for extremist connections, but Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told The AP on Sunday the FBI is vetting them amid worries of an insider attack on the inauguration.

The massive undertaking underscores the extraordinary security precautions prompted by the attack on the Capitol and subsequent threats.

Fears of violent clashes with armed protesters did not materialize Sunday, though small groups of demonstrators, some with long guns, peacefully protested outside heavily fortified statehouses around the country.

• Small Protests, But No Violence, At Statehouses Across America

McCarthy told The AP he warned National Guard commanders to be on the lookout for problems within their ranks. A couple of current active-duty National Guard members have been arrested in the Capitol riot that led to Trump's historic second impeachment.

Service members from across the military were at the Trump's Jan. 6 rally, but it's not known how many may have participated in the breach at the Capitol, McCarthy said.

"We're continually going through the process, and taking second, third looks at every one of the individuals assigned to this operation," McCarthy told The AP in an interview after he and other military leaders went through an exhaustive, three-hour security drill in preparation for Wednesday's inauguration. He said guard members are also getting training on how to identify potential insider threats.

The exhaustive review is slated to be completed by Wednesday.

"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 the mechanisms in place to thoroughly vet these men and women who would support any operations like this."

The Department of Defense on Monday announced it is deploying an additional 2,750 active-duty personnel to the Capitol before the Wednesday event. Of those, some 2,000 will serve in "ceremonial support" roles, while the remaining 750 will specialize in handling chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological and explosive threats, and offer trauma-response medical support should that become necessary.

• Fears Of Insider Attack Prompt FBI Vetting Of Troops Securing Inauguration

The Capitol was briefly evacuated on Monday after a fire broke out at a nearby homeless encampment, putting a halt to a rehearsal for Wednesday's inauguration. The fire was extinguished quickly, and no injuries were reported, according to D.C. fire and EMS.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump's tenure in the White House has been unlike any other first couple's. For only the fourth time and the first in modern history, an outgoing president won't attend the incoming president's swearing-in ceremony, and the first lady didn't invite Jill Biden to the White House for a traditional pre-inauguration tour. Of course, both Bidens were frequent visitors to the White House during the eight years Joe Biden was President Barack Obama's vice president.

Trump, who has neither congratulated Biden for his win nor conceded the incoming president's election was legitimate, was scheduled to depart Washington, D.C., Wednesday morning after a brief rally at Joint Base Andrews. The disgraced president has asked for a lavish military sendoff with a 21-gun salute — one of the great honors bestowed on government and military officials — among the pomp and circumstance being continued.

Vice President Mike Pence, whose relationship with Trump has been strained since he refused to step outside his constitutional authority and stop the certification of Biden's Electoral College win, isn't expected to attend due to "logistical challenges," The AP reported.

It's unclear how many Trump associates and members of his administration will attend. Anthony Scaramucci, now a Trump critic who lasted only 10 days as a Trump White House communications director, quipped on Twitter that he couldn't make it because he was "having my fingernails pulled out at that time."

• Pence Won't Attend Trump Sendoff

In his final hours in office, Trump was expected to grant clemency to as many as 100 people. The AP reported the list of pardons and commutations is expected to include names unfamiliar to the American public — regular people who have spent years languishing in prison — as well as politically connected friends and allies like those he's pardoned in the past.

• Trump Expected To Issue Pardons In Final Hours

Trump also has been using his final days in office to issue steady a stream of executive orders as he tries to lock in initiatives that Biden is likely to ignore. Trump is leaving office with the lowest approval rating of his unorthodox presidency. A Gallup Poll on Monday showed only 34 percent of Americans approve of the job he is doing as president. His average approval rating through the four years of his presidency was 41 percent, which Gallup said was 4 percentage points lower than any of his predecessors in the history of the poll.

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The Associated Press contributed reporting. This is a developing story. Stay on Patch and refresh your browser for the latest.