Page 3 - aruba-today-20210120

A3
U.S. NEWS Wednesday 20 January 2021
12 Guard members removed from Biden inauguration

JAMES LAPORTA and MI- officials have also been
CHAEL BALSAMO wary of increased surveil-
Associated Press lance of military and law
WASHINGTON (AP) — enforcement checkpoints
Twelve U.S. Army National and other positions after
Guard members have National Guard troops re-
been removed from the ported people taking pic-
presidential inaugura- tures and recording them,
tion security mission after said the law enforcement
they were found to have officials, who spoke to the
ties with right-wing militia AP on condition of ano-
groups or posted extremist nymity to discuss ongoing
views online, according to security matters.
two U.S. officials. There was The Secret Service issued a
no threat to President-elect bulletin over the weekend
Joe Biden, they said. about what it sees as an
The officials, a senior intelli- "uptick" in National Guard
gence official and an Army troops posting pictures and
official briefed on the mat- details of their operations
ter, did not say which fringe online.
group the Guard members The Associated Press ob-
belonged to or what unit tained the "all concerned"
they served in. The officials message sent to all Na-
were not authorized to tional Guard troops com-
speak publicly and spoke Riot shields are stacked at the ready as National Guard troops reinforce the security zone on ing to Washington. Without
Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in as
to The Associated Press on the 46th president on Wednesday. getting into specific post-
condition of anonymity. Associated Press ings, the bulletin read: "No
Their removal from the mas- service members should be
sive security presence at riot at the U.S. Capitol Jan. Washington has been on U.S. Secret Service tight- posting locations, pictures
the nation's capital comes 6 by Trump supporters that edge since the deadly in- ened security in and or descriptions online re-
as the FBI worked to vet shocked the nation. surrection at the Capitol, around the Capitol days garding current operations
all of the 25,000 National Acting Defense Secretary which has prompted ex- earlier than usual in prepa- or the sensitive sites they
Guard troops headed to Christopher Miller said in traordinary security mea- ration, and the city center are protecting" and urged
the area for Biden's inaugu- a statement Monday that sures ahead of Biden's is essentially on lockdown them to stop immediately.
ration Wednesday. U.S. de- vetting of National Guard inauguration. A fire in a with streets blocked, high Asked about the bulletin, a
fense officials have been troops continues and that homeless camp roughly a fencing installed and tens spokesperson for the Secret
worried about a poten- the Pentagon has found mile from the Capitol com- of thousands of troops and Service issued a statement
tial insider attack or other no intelligence so far that plex prompted a lockdown law enforcement officers saying it "does not com-
threat from service mem- would indicate an insider Monday during a rehearsal stationed around the area. ment on matters of protec-
bers following the deadly threat. for the inauguration. Federal law enforcement tive intelligence."q

U.S. virus death toll tops 400,000 in Trump's final hours

By The Associated Press with the U.S. by any means, The White House defend-
The U.S. death toll from even with the arrival of the ed the administration.
the coronavirus eclipsed vaccines that could finally "We grieve every single life
400,000 on Tuesday in the vanquish the outbreak: A lost to this pandemic, and
waning hours in office for widely cited model by the thanks to the president's
President Donald Trump, University of Washington leadership, Operation
whose handling of the projects the death toll will Warp Speed has led to the
crisis has been judged by reach nearly 567,000 by development of multiple
public health experts a sin- May 1. safe and effective vac-
gular failure. While the Trump admin- cines in record time, some-
The running total of lives istration has been cred- thing many said would
lost, as compiled by Johns ited with Operation Warp never happen," said White
Hopkins University, is nearly Speed, the crash program House spokesman Judd
equal to the number of to develop and distrib- Deere.
Americans killed in World ute coronavirus vaccines, President-elect Joe Biden
II. It is about the popula- Trump has repeatedly takes office on Wednes-
tion of Tulsa, Oklahoma; downplayed the threat, day. In this Oct. 27, 2020, Artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg walks
among thousands of white flags planted in remembrance of
Tampa, Florida; or New Or- mocked masks, railed The nation reached the Americans who have died of COVID-19 near Robert F. Ken-
leans. It is equivalent to the against lockdowns, pro- 400,000 milestone in just un- nedy Memorial Stadium in Washington.
sea of humanity that was moted unproven and un- der a year. The first known Associated Press
at Woodstock in 1969. safe treatments, undercut deaths from the virus in the
It is just short of the estimat- scientific experts and ex- U.S. were in early Febru- around the world, the real causes early on.
ed 409,000 Americans who pressed scant compassion ary 2020, both of them in death toll is believed to be It took four months to
died in 2019 of strokes, Al- for the victims. Santa Clara County, Cali- significantly higher, in part reach the first 100,000
zheimer's, diabetes, flu and Even his own bout with fornia. While the count is because of inadequate dead. It took just over a
pneumonia combined. COVID-19 seemed to based on figures supplied testing and cases inaccu- month to go from 300,000
And the virus isn't finished leave him unchanged. by government agencies rately attributed to other to 400,000.q