DHS designates Jan. 6 a National Special Security Event

The Secret Service said Thursday that the upcoming Jan. 6 counting of votes has been “designated a National Special Security Event by the Secretary of Homeland Security.”

“The 2025 Counting and Certification of Electoral Votes in Washington, DC on Jan. 6, 2025, has been designated a National Special Security Event by the Secretary of Homeland Security,” reads a Secret Service press release on the Department of Homeland secretary’s decision, first reported by The Washington Post.

On Jan. 6, 2021, to halt Congress certifying the 2020 election results, supporters of former President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol. The riot followed unfounded claims of election fraud in 2020 by Trump, with the former president claiming even during Tuesday’s debate against Vice President Harris that he won the 2020 election.

“National Special Security Events are events of the highest national significance,” Eric Ranaghan, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Dignitary Protective Division, said in a statement in the release. “The U.S. Secret Service, in collaboration with our federal, state, and local partners are committed to developing and implementing a comprehensive and integrated security plan to ensure the safety and security of this event and its participants.”

The former president, alongside his supporters, has previously attempted to paint the attack on the Capitol in 2021 as peaceful, but more than 140 officers faced injury, and five died shortly following the riots.

Last January, President Biden and Harris denounced the Jan. 6 riots on the third anniversary of them.

“Three years ago, a violent mob fueled by lies attacked the U.S. Capitol,” Biden wrote on social media. “Our democracy was tested. But it held because We the People prevailed.”

“It’s up to us to prove — for all its imperfections — American democracy is still a beacon to the world and a promise to be kept,” he added.

Harris said in her post that “we were reminded” the day of the riots “that we still have work to do to protect our democracy and our fundamental freedoms.”

Updated at 11:10 p.m. EDT