NEARBY FIRE GIVES CAPITOL SCARE
Biden, Harris observe MLK Day, Trump stays out of sight, signs several executive orders
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Capitol complex temporarily locked down Monday during a rehearsal for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration after a fire in a homeless encampment roughly a mile away sent a plume of smoke into the air and caused security concerns in an already jittery city.
The false alarm briefly interrupted the rehearsal for Wednesday’s inauguration ceremony, a quadrennial exercise in which stand-ins take the roles of Biden and other VIPs and the U.S. Marine Corps Band goes through its paces, including practicing “The Star-Spangled Banner” for Wednesday’s performance by Lady Gaga. Rehearsal resumed not long afterward, accompanied by frequent passes by a helicopter patrolling the skies over the Capitol.
Law enforcement officials said there was no threat to the public and the fire was not believed to be a threat to the inauguration. Local firefighters put out the blaze quickly. The evacuation of some participants and the lockdown were ordered by the acting chief of Capitol Police in an abundance of caution, officials said.
But the fast decision to lock down underscores the fear that has gripped Washington since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump rioters and prompted extraordinary measures. Armed protests planned for this past weekend around the country were mostly a bust, but anxiety is still skyrocketing.
U.S. Secret Service tightened security in and around the Capitol a week early in preparation, and the city center is essentially on lockdown with streets blocked, high fencing installed and tens of thousands of National Guard and other law enforcement officers stationed around the area.
President Donald Trump has said he will not attend the inauguration, the first time a sitting president has not attended since Andrew Johnson, though Vice President Mike Pence will be there as well as former presidents.
Trump touts hero garden
In Philadelphia, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris pitched in on Martin Luther King Jr. Day service projects.
Biden and his wife, Jill, joined an assembly line in the parking lot of Philabundance, an organization that distributes food to people in need, and helped fill about 150 boxes with fresh fruit and nonperishables.
As Biden and Harris took breaks from their inaugural preparations to honor the civil rights hero Monday, outgoing President Donald Trump remained out of public view at the White House for the sixth straight day. In past years, Trump marked the holiday with unannounced visits to the King memorial in Washington, but no such outing was expected this year.
And while Trump stayed out of view, the White House announced he had signed several executive orders, including an amended version of a previous order calling for the creation of “National Garden of American Heroes.”
Trump wants more figures to be honored in his proposed garden, including the late pop singer Whitney Houston, game show host Alex Trebek and Grover Cleveland, the only U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms, to a list that already included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass and dozens more.
First lady Melania Trump posted a farewell video in which she thanked Americans for the “greatest honor of my life,” but she made no mention of the incoming Biden administration.