In a White House statement issued Monday, outgoing-President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in the District of Columbia ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration January 20. The emergency designation will last until January 24.
After reports — including an internal bulletin from the FBI — warning more premeditated attacks in the national capital leading up to Inauguration Day, Trump mobilized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to supplement the current emergency response efforts run by the district.
Trump’s order confers the DHS and FEMA with the power to coordinate all disaster relief efforts and to use emergency aid resources and equipment “at their discretion.”
The decision followed DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request to President Trump to issue an emergency declaration in light of the deadly riot on Capitol Hill by Trump supporters last week, according to The Hill. That Wednesday, Mayor Bowser had declared a 15-day public emergency in Washington.
The White House said that such relief initiatives are designed to “alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population” and “lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the District of Columbia.”
All emergency protective measures will be provided by federal funding.
