Unprecedented security surrounds Wednesday inauguration

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden arrived in the nation’s capital Tuesday to honor the 400,000 people who have died from the coronavirus pandemic and prepare for his inauguration to be held under an unprecedented blanket of armed security.

Military vehicles, razor wire and 25,000 armed National Guard soldiers and law enforcement officers have created a ring around the Capitol following the Jan. 6 insurrection and violent storming of the Capitol that left five people dead, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. attorney’s office when terrorists attacked the country on Sept. 11, 2001. The nation’s capital was placed on lockdown.

Twenty years later, following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, she said security is “totally different” from measures installed after 9/11.

With National Guard troops on Washington street corners, it’s something “we’ve never seen before,” Cortez Masto told Nevada reporters in a conference call.

She said there are three perimeters of fencing around the Capitol complex.

“If you’re driving in, you have to have to have a full X-ray of your car with dog sniffers,” Cortez Masto noted, adding that “you see individuals, particularly our National Guard who are there to protect us.”

National Guard in D.C.

Nevada has contributed roughly 250 National Guard soldiers and airmen to the task of protecting the Capitol in Washington, Air Force National Guard Lt. Col. Mikol Kirschenbaum said.

“They have been integrating with the larger security detail there,” Kirschenbaum said by phone.

The Nevada Guard troops were staying at a local hotel. It was undisclosed when Nevada soldiers and airmen would return home. Some 30 states have contributed to the contingent to guard against another insurrection attempt.

“There are more troops around the Capitol than there are in Afghanistan,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “No force will prevent tomorrow’s constitutional proceedings from taking place.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., agreed. And on Tuesday, he delivered his strongest rebuke yet of Trump who urged the crowd to charge the Capitol while claiming the election was stolen.

“The mob was fed lies,” McConnell said. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”

McConnell said a peaceful transfer of power will take place when President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris take the oath of office on the West Front of the Capitol, a location the late President George H.W. Bush called “democracy’s front porch.”

Trump skipping festivities

Despite Trump’s decision to forgo tradition and not attend the inauguration, Vice President Mike Pence will represent the outgoing administration.

Past presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also will take part in the constitutional ceremony.

Members of Congress, including some of Nevada’s congressional delegation, Reps. Dina Titus, Steven Horsford and Susie Lee are attending, as well as both senators, Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, all Democrats.

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., will be working from home and will not attend the ceremony.

Amodei was one of several Republican lawmakers who denounced the insurrection and called it a shameful act. He voted with Democrats to certify the electoral votes from the states that Trump tried to block.

The House voted last week to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting an insurrection. The Nevada delegation voted along party lines on impeachment.

Senators are expected to begin an impeachment trial as early as this week, with several Republican lawmakers open to a vote for conviction and prohibiting Trump from holding office again.

Cortez Masto, a former Nevada attorney general, said she would weigh the evidence but noted that Trump’s efforts to stop peaceful transfer of power were wrong, dangerous and undemocratic.

Both Nevada senators voted in 2020 to convict Trump on House impeachment charges he abused the powers of his office and obstruction of Congress during a probe into a telephone call with the president of Ukraine.

Cortez Masto said she believes there is precedent to impeach a president after he leaves office, and House impeachment managers will bring forth case law and arguments during the Senate trial.

Biden arrives in Washington

Meanwhile, Biden arrived in Washington to honor those who have perished from the coronavirus pandemic. Fighting the spread of the virus and vaccinating Americans is top priority for the incoming president.

The day began with Biden attending a ceremony to pay tribute to the National Guard building in Delaware named for his son Beau, who served in the Army National Guard from Delaware and returned from deployment in 2009 to attend his father’s inauguration as vice president.

The younger Biden later died of brain cancer.

“It’s deeply personal that our journey to Washington starts here,” Biden said in Delaware, talking about the National Guard building named after Beau.

Biden then flew to Washington, where thousands of National Guard personnel were on high alert. Because of security concerns, a plan to ride the Amtrak train that he used to commute to Washington during his days as a senator was scrapped.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.