Muriel Bowser, the Democrat mayor of Washington, DC, wants increased security to lock down the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden.
Describing last week’s violent assault on the Capitol as an “unprecedented terrorist attack”, Bowser predicted Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20 will require a “different approach” compared to past endeavours.
“While I will be reaching out to a broad range of local, regional and federal partners to enhance cooperation among our bodies, I strongly urge the United States Department of Homeland Security to adjust its approach to the Inauguration in several specific ways”, Bowser wrote in a letter to acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf.
The missive was dated Saturday and made available on Sunday, confirming the District of Columbia was submitting a request for a “pre-disaster declaration” to allow for federal assistance.
Doing so, she said will enable the Metropolitan Police Department “to focus on its local mission.”
D.C. does not have jurisdiction over the Capitol and other federal property within its borders.
Bowser also urged the Homeland Security Department to coordinate with the Justice Department, the Department of Defense, the Supreme Court and the Congress to establish a federal force deployment plan for all federal property.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on the Capitol, Bowser declared a state of emergency for area.
As Breitbart News reported, that response included 6,200 members of the National Guard from across the country being deployed across the city, a seven-foot “unscalable fence” around the Capitol grounds, and consideration of stay-at-home or business shutdown orders.
“We may have to do extraordinary things to maintain public safety,” Bowser said at the time.
In June last year, Bowser lamented her city is not a state with full representation in the U.S. Senate, and began calls for that to change.
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