Concerns grow about extremists infiltration into US national Guard ahead of Biden inauguration
Concerns are growing in the United States about possible infiltration of pro-Trump extremists into the US National Guard ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
The Army National Guard removed 12 members from their role in the inauguration security, according to National Guard Bureau Chief Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson
“If there’s any identification or anything whatsoever that needs to be looked into, out of an abundance of caution, we automatically pull those personnel off the line and make sure that they’re not part of the mission set, and in certain cases, we make sure that we get them sent home,” Hokanson said.
Ten other individuals were flagged during an FBI vetting process, according to top Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.
“These are vetting efforts that identify any questionable behavior in the past or any potential link to questionable behavior not just related to extremism,” Hoffman said alongside Hokanson. “It’s a lot of looking back at anything that could potentially flag in a criminal history check, anything that could come up in a civilian database that’s being scrubbed by our partners. We’re not taking any chances. Anything flagged, if there’s any reason that somebody’s name is brought to the attention of the command, they’re being removed from the line.”
Hoffman acknowledged that there’s no “handbook on what are our thresholds [are] for inappropriateness at this point,” adding, “If our law enforcement partners flag an individual ... we’re not even asking what the flag was, we’re just removing them.”
Amid concerns of armed protests by pro-thump supporters, some 25,000 National Guard service members have been deployed to DC for Biden to start the inauguration week on Wednesday.
The security became tight in the wake of Trump supporters’ deadly breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6 as the lawmakers were certifying Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election, which Donald Trump has disputed.
Trump is attending a send-off ceremony at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday, which will be skipped by Vice President Mike Pence and a host of other GOP officials.
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