Senate

Democratic senator raises concerns about inauguration security

by Justine Coleman - 01/07/21 4:12 PM ET

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) on Thursday raised concerns about security measures for President-elect Joe Biden’s upcoming inauguration following Wednesday’s brazen attack on the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters.

Hirono told NPR WAMU’s “1A” that she’s worried about Inauguration Day after a mob forced lawmaker evacuations from the Capitol in a chaotic scene that left four people dead and dozens arrested.

“We do have an inauguration that is coming up, and I have concerns about the safety of the participants in the inauguration,” Hirono said.

“The rioters breached the Capitol pretty easily, and you saw the images of people coming prepared to break windows and do damage, and they did,” she said. “So I believe that this was foreseeable. And going forward, I think we need to have a reckoning as to what happened with the security.”

The swearing-in ceremony for Biden will take place on the Capitol grounds Jan. 20.

Hirono called Wednesday’s experience at the Capitol “surreal” and “shocking” but said they were “foreseeable.”

“Considering that the president has been stoking the flames of this kind of insurrection for a long time now and even on the day, yesterday, I think he encouraged them to come to the Capitol and continue to support him,” she said. “And so I think it should have been foreseeable that something like this could happen, but it’s still shocking when it did.”

The crowd marched to the Capitol after Trump spoke at a protest rally Wednesday morning outside the White House, urging his supporters to go to the Capitol after he repeated unsubstantiated claims that he lost the election due to widespread voter fraud.

Hirono noted during Thursday’s interview that she has called for Trump’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove the president from office, a move backed by several other lawmakers, including GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.)

New 7-foot fencing will be put up around the U.S. Capitol grounds after Wednesday’s riots and will remain up for at least 30 days, which includes Inauguration Day, according to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy.