Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president on Wednesday in a closely guarded ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, cloaked by security and beamed out online.
Biden’s inauguration was always going to be sparsely attended. Concerns over the spread of the coronavirus drove early planning to tailor the events for home viewing, gatherings that under usual circumstances would draw big crowds. Biden’s inaugural committee planned chinwags, concerts, and meet-and-greets, all digital, designed to part corporate sponsors and prominent VIPs with cash.
Planning for the events took another turn as lawmakers met to certify Biden’s win on Jan. 6, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in protest.
Organizers canceled some planned rehearsal events, and Biden will deliver his inaugural address to a vast and empty National Mall.
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in on the West Front of the Capitol as planned but surrounded by perimeter fences secured by the National Guard. Fears of an insider attack prompted the FBI to vet all 25,000 troops.
Biden has said he is committed to being sworn in outside, despite the security concerns, stating last week that he was “not afraid.”
Incoming White House communications director Kate Bedingfield noted her concerns in an interview with ABC News this week but said she was confident the event would continue as planned.
“You only have to look at the chatter on social media to see that we are in a volatile time, and so we are making preparations,” Bedingfield said. She added that the team was meeting daily with President Trump’s senior national security and law enforcement aides this week in anticipation of Biden assuming office.
“We’re working to ensure that we will be prepared, but we have full faith in the United States Secret Service and their partners who’ve been working for over a year on the planning to ensure that this event is safe,” Bedingfield told ABC News. “We’re very much looking forward to President-elect Biden putting his hand on the Bible at noon on the 20th.”
Security precautions for the events have spread out nationwide as federal agents target attendees of the earlier pro-Trump riots.
In a farewell address on Tuesday, Trump acknowledged Biden, his incoming successor, though not by name. Instead, he referenced a “new administration” and said to “pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous.”
He won’t be watching his successor take the oath of office Wednesday, departing for his Mar-a-Lago resort early in the day. His announcement on Twitter stating that he would not be at the Capitol was viewed as a potential incitement to violence. The social media platform later banned Trump.
On Tuesday, Amtrak Joe left Delaware for Washington on a fortified private plane. Biden had planned to take the train, but security concerns shelved this idea.
The swearing-in presents potential continuity of government challenges.
The event takes place outside, posing a risk to the line of succession.
While Trump will be in Florida, Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Chuck Grassley, and the incoming leaders will be in Washington under close watch.
“The risk is that because the leadership of government is all gathered in one place, that an attack of some sort could result in the decapitation of our government, that is all of the top leaders being killed or incapacitated in a moment,” said John Hudak, a Brookings Institution governance expert in an interview with the Federal News Network. “If we look back to the days after 9/11, it was widely known that Vice President Cheney was oftentimes at undisclosed locations. For his security, and for this exact reason, because of the importance of the continuity of government.”
Another challenge is the custody of the so-called “nuclear football.” The last president who chose not to attend his successor’s inauguration was Andrew Johnson in 1869, years before the U.S. granted the commander in chief authority to launch its nuclear arsenal.
The football holds the papers and authentication tools that Trump would use to launch a nuclear attack and the launch codes on a card called “the biscuit.”
Trump will not be attending, so he won’t be passing off to Biden what is, in fact, a metal, leather-encased briefcase carried by a military aide.
Instead, a football will stay with each. At noon, Trump’s code will no longer work, and Biden’s will go live.
