Biden inauguration: Fortress Washington holds its breath
US Marines hold the Capitol doors – damaged during the invasion of the building by Trump supporters on January 6 – during a rehearsal for today’s inaugural ceremony in Washington for president-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris.
Joe Biden will be sworn in as US president today – and plans to unveil a sweeping immigration bill on day one of his administration, hoping to provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people living in the US without legal status.
With Washington in the grip of an unprecedented security clampdown, Mr Biden will become the 46th president, while Kamara Harris will become the first female, first black and first south Asian vice-president, ending the four tumultuous years of the presidency of Donald Trump
In a massive reversal from the Trump administration's harsh immigration policies, Mr Biden aims to deliver on a major campaign promise important to Latino voters and other immigrant communities after four years of restrictive policies and mass deportations.
It provides one of the fastest pathways to citizenship for those living without legal status of any measure in recent years, but it fails to include the traditional trade-off of enhanced border security favoured by many Republicans, making passage in a narrowly divided Congress in doubt.
US defence officials said they are worried about an insider attack or other threat from service members involved in securing the inauguration, prompting the FBI to vet all of the 25,000 National Guard troops in Washington for the event, with “several removed from inauguration duty”.
The massive undertaking reflects the extraordinary security concerns that have gripped Washington following the deadly January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol by pro-trump rioters.
And yesterday, in a clear move from his years of supporting Mr Trump’s often inflammatory language, Senate Republican leader Mitch Mcconnell has said the mob that stormed the Capitol was "fed lies" by Mr Trump.
Mr Mcconnell's remarks in opening the Senate yesterday are his most severe and public rebuke of Mr Trump, and hint at a less confrontational approach in the coming months.
He vowed a "safe and successful" inauguration of Mr Biden today.
Mr Mcconnell said: "The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of a branch of the federal government.”
Mr Mcconnell said "we'll move forward” after Mr Biden's inauguration on the Capitol's West Front – what he noted former president George HW Bush had called “democracy's front porch”.
Mr Trump's last full day in office is also senators' first day back since the deadly Capitol siege, an unparalleled time of transition as the Senate presses ahead to his impeachment trial and starts confirmation hearings on Mr Biden's cabinet. Senators began confirmation hearings for five of president-elect Biden’s top cabinet nominees – Avril Haines as director of national intelligence, Alejandro Mayorkas as homeland security secretary, Antony Blinken as secretary of state, Janet L Yellen as treasury secretary and Lloyd J Austin III as defence secretary.