Donald Trump issues 2-week emergency declaration for Biden inauguration

President Donald Trump has issued an emergency declaration for the nation’s capital Washington DC amid growing concerns among local and federal authorities about violence in the lead-up to and during President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20. This declaration from Trump comes five days after his supporters stormed the US Capitol Hill as Congress formally began counting the Electoral College votes to certify his defeat to Biden. Five people died in the incident, while the Capitol was breached, vandalised and looted.

Trump’s emergency declaration will be in effect from Monday, January 11 through January 24. The declaration will allow the Department of Home Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate with local authorities to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population. It will enable them to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster in the District of Columbia.

The explicit planning for Wednesday’s assault on the U.S. Capitol by far-right forums—how to storm the building, handcuff lawmakers with zip ties and disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s election — in their portrayal was a response to Trump’s orders.

Trump has spent months complaining that he was cheated out of an election victory by widespread voter fraud, which election officials say does not exist.

On Monday, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan urged the public to not participate in the inaugural events because of the "last week’s violent insurrection as well as the ongoing and deadly COVID-19 pandemic."

Meanwhile, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have spoken for the first time since last week's Capitol insurrection, during which Pence was forced to flee the Senate chamber and retreat to a secure location. According to a senior administration official, the two met on the evening of January 11 in the Oval Office. The official said that the two had “good conversation”, and were discussing the week ahead and “reflecting” on the administration’s accomplishments over the term of four years.

The official said that during the meeting, both men agreed that "those who broke the law and stormed the Capitol last week do not represent the America first movement backed by 75 million Americans".