he had a role in katrina, that he will lead an investigation. what went wrong? how did those rioters so easily get into the united states capitol? and she also said it is a legitimate question for her and she wants answers. some of her democratic members have raised concerns that republican members of congress actually gave tours to some of the insurrectionists the day before and perhaps shared with them non-public information about offices, doors in the capitol that you know well from your years there, but if you walk by, you don't know that's a senior member's office. it's called a hideaway office and the like. she said she wanted to know if members of congress are accomplices, if they aided and a babetted the insurrection on their own workplace. >> hearing the speaker of the house talk about that and referring to her colleagues is absolutely stunning but necessary. necessary given all of the reporting that we are doing, what we are hearing about the possibility that that is true.

we don't know. there are allegations right now, but there are anecdote after anecdote that i am hearing, that our colleagues are hearing. just one example. i talked to a member of congress who shared with me a story about the day before, seeing a group of people in maga hats not wearing masks. and at the time her concern was covid, saying why are they here, they're not supposed to be here? went up to a capitol police officer saying, why are they here, the answer being, there is nothing i can do about it because they were invited by a member of congress. this was underneath in the tunnels, not easy to get to. it's that kind of thing that has to be investigated. it is no small thing when she talked about trust. it's remarkable that we are sitting here wondering whether or not members of congress can trust one another, and they are saying openly, several of them now, that they're worried about their own safety, not just from

without, not just from outside but from within. from members who are part of the idealogy and perhaps even more than the idealogy, perhaps part of the planning, and she used the word accomplice. the fact that that is a threat not just on january 6th but potentially ongoing. >> and she said in the case of this, she said if it turns out to be true, and let's capitalize and underscore the "if," the investigation continues, but you have a lot of anecdotal evidence to look into here. she said if it is found that members of congress -- i don't know the right word -- recklessly, i'll leave it at recklessly, perhaps lawlessly, let those people into the capitol. it is remarkable also to hear the house speaker, and we're also standing by for a major news conference, the mayor of washington, d.c. and a host of both city and federal agencies here in the united states capitol to talk about this extraordinary moment here.

you drive into the city here in washington, d.c. and you see the national guard. there are more troops in the city right now than there are in iraq and afghanistan because of last week's insurrection. let's listen to a little bit. the capitol building, you see it behind me, it is a monument to our democracy. it is a symbol of our democracy, it is also a workplace for members of congress every day, and for nancy pelosi now for decades. listen how she describes talking about so many disgusting images, but one jumps out at the speaker. >> so many disgusting images, but one, the man in a shirt with "auschwitz" on it. to see this punk with that shirt on and his anti-semitism that he has bragged about, to be part of a white supremacist raid on this capitol requires us to have an active action review, to assign

responsibility to those who are part of organizing it and incentivizing it. >> she's right about the i am a -- images. she's right about the images of the auschwitz shirt, the confederate flag. in the united states capitol, it was a punk. it's hard to hear the speaker of the house use the word "punk." >> this is personal for so many people. my grandparents were part of that 6 million. my great-aunt was a third. there are so many people across this country and, frankly, across the world who are affected by it, whether it's jews or non-jews or people who fought for the freedoms during world war ii to overcome that. and the fact that she used the word "punk," sthhe could have bn

a lot more crass and maybe should have been to talk about that person, because he was part of a crowd that was supporting president trump and thought he was doing president trump's bidding. and, yes, donald trump has now finally condemned the violence mostly because he was worried about the liability that he would have going forward if more happened, but not this. not this. >> not this. incentivized by president trump, i think was the term speaker pelosi used, many of you stronger language. the vice president of the united states reporting today that the rioters coming up the stairs, had they been a minute or se seconds earlier, they might have laid eyes as he was taken from the senate chamber to one of those offices where he could be held until things were safe up there. manu raju was in the news conference. manu, you've been around the speaker many times over the

years. you can see, number one, how important this is. the united states government was attacked and we should never lose sight of that. the united states government was attacked by its own citizens from within. for encouragement, he'll say he didn't want damage and he didn't want people killed, but the president of the united states, you heard him demand how we want to get to the truth, but this is also personal. >> reporter: no doubt, and if anyone helped the insurrectionists come to capitol hill, helped them learn the layout of the capitol building, if there was any inside help from members of congress, she said there might be action we need from outside capitol hill, so potential legal action, criminal liability and the like. we'll see if it gets to that point, but she indicated there was going to be this significant investigation about everything that happened, naming this retired general involved in the katrina recovery efforts as part of this to lead this probe.

she also made clear that her impeachment managers are preparing to go to trial against donald trump after trump, of course, was impeached just two days ago by bipartisan vote in the house. the question, though, is on timing. there was speculation she could withhold the article of impeachment to delay the senate trial, give joe biden some time to move forward and get his nominees confirmed in the u.s. senate where the trial would ta take place, presumably deal with the other business like the covid relief package so it's not distracted by the trial. it's unclear what she's thinking about doing there. she said she would not provide any sort of time frame. i tried to ask her at the press conference if she would even consider withholding the articles of impeachment indefinitely. that's within her rights to do. she could presumably stop a trial from happening. she did not answer my question. i tried to ask her outside in the hallway the same question.

she would not answer my question there, either. but it did seem like they were at least preparing for a trial, preparing for something to happen. the expectation on the hill is that there would be a trial in the beginning days of the biden presidency, because the democrats believe the president needs to be held accountable, they need to move forward on this charge of incitement of insurrection. the question, of course, is whether the republicans will vote to convict him, but she's pretty clear that she believes the president is responsible, and if there are other members of congress that are responsible as well, she believes they should be held to account, too. john? >> an important day with an investi investigation, and she said truth is the only way you have trust. dana bash with me on the studio, manu raju on the hill. we're also waiting to hear a very important announcement from mayor muriel bowser.

she will be discussing remarkable preparations now for the inauguration. planning, fof course, takes on much higher significance not only because of last week's insurrection, but they say there is continuing off-the-charts chatter online by extremists planning attacks around the country. shimon prokupecz joins me with more on that. shimon, i see some fencing put around the capitol dome behind you, and the fencing signifies that joe biden will be inaugurated as president. >> reporter: the military is all over this area here and all over washington, d.c. i want to show you behind me here, you can see some of the military vehicles, and all of the national guard troops just lining all across the road here, and this is all up and down the capitol. and, really, the threat is real,

john. we keep talking about this threat and whether or not some people feel maybe this isn't that real or maybe this is just out of an abundance of caution. it's not. as you said, the chatter remains off the charts. the fbi, the department of homeland security military are very concerned about what they're seeing and hearing coming from the various groups of people who are threatening our country. and it's people who live in this country. and all of this is all about securing the transfer of power. normally here, we're on constitution, so normally down here is where the parade would be, you would have people lining up for the inauguration and getting ready for the events. you would see jumbotrons, you would see other things out here. there is none of that here, john. all you're seeing is fencing and security and more fencing. you can see this truck here. more fencing coming in. i just didn't even know that this much fencing existed in this country, but it does, and

more and more just keeps arriving. we're going to be hearing from security officials here in washington. >> the mayor of the district of columbia marian bowser beginning this conference. let's get straight to the news conference. >> i'm here to provide an update for preparations of the 59th presidential inauguration. >> as you see, we're having some trouble with the signal from the mayor's conference. we'll get back to it as soon as we can. dana bash is with me in the studio as we discuss. shimon was showing us there. i came to washington just before the george w. bush inauguration. bill clinton came after that two times. then george w. bush. this is supposed to be a week that i know if you're watching at home, you're a democrat or

republican, it's partisan, sure, your side won or your side lost. but also it's supposed to be a celebration for what does make america great, forgive me, mr. president, but people coming into power, people coming together, people sharing institutions, people sharing information, the out going team sharing with the incoming team. they're having troubles with that. to see the fencing, and today, to have to show my i.d. to a brave member of the national guard, thank you for being there, just to get to work, that's a different washington. >> it's so different. i mean, i was thinking -- i went with then vice president dick cheney to kabul when that national assembly, their legislature, opened for the first time, and i don't remember there being as much security there as there is in washington right now. it is really, really remarkable. and yes, it is a celebration of the peaceful transition of power, but the fact that we have

to have this city fortified with the military, and thank you, thank you, thank you for your service to everybody out there, in order to allow that transition to happen because of the actions and words of the president of the united states is not something i will ever understand. >> it's unfathomable in many ways and necessary at the moment if you talk to security officials and they're concerned not only here in washington but around the country because of what they're hearing online. the d.c. mayor just started a very important news conference but there is some trouble in the age of covid here with the shot, the logistics of the feed. we'll bring it to you as soon as we can. shimon prokupecz is still standing by on the ground for us. shimon, this is your business. help our viewers understand. christopher wray, the fbi director, said chatter is off the charts, and the hard part for authorities is what is aspirational, what is bragging and what is intent? which piece of it is real?

they actually are planning. for anyone who thinks these are just people mouthing off, the insurrection of the capitol proved to us that, no, a lot of it may be macho talk but some of it can turn out to be very real and very dangerous. >> reporter: john, you said that perfectly. a lot of people probably discounted some of what they were hearing to social media before the insurrection occurred. now they just can't discount anything. we're seeing across the country the fbi agents at almost every field office -- >> we have a signal restored here. let's get back to this important security briefing with the d.c. mayor. >> -- at dcmayor.gov. we also know that authorities are doing what they can do to keep our city safe, and we certainly appreciate it. we want you to be vigilant, look around yourselves when you're out and about, and if you see something, absolutely say

something. and you may report anything that you think is out of the norm by calling 911. you may report suspicious activity at 727-9099. you can go to mpd's iwatchdc.org website or text tips at 5411. we are also recommending that businesses download and print and display these signs. and these signs let anyone know that firearms are not welcome on the premises. we want businesses who encounter anyone with a weapon to call 911 and try not to confront that person or persons themselves. the signs can be download the at

inauguration.dc.gov. later today h. seema, that's d.c.'s security agency will host a call to discuss the district's planning. people can attend that by dialing 844-811-1314 at 4:00 p.m. the conversation will also be broadcast live on channel 16 as well as all d.c. government platforms. if you haven't already done so, sign up to receive specific alerts by registering -- you can register in text inaug2021 to 888-777. finally, this can be located at

inauguration.dc.gov. once again we will hear from the partners engaged in this planning and are responsible for various aspects of execution. first and foremost, matt miller is a special agent in charge of the washington field office for the united states secret service. mr. miller? agent miller, i should say. >> mr. miller works. good afternoon, everyone. thank you, mayor bowser, for inviting me to join you, and on behalf of the men and women of the united states secret service, i'm happy to speak about plans for next week's presidential inauguration and answer any questions that maya ris -- may arise at this time. january 20th will be the nation's 59th presidential inauguration designated as a national security event, the secret service again serving as the lead agency with respect to planning and security for the event. as most of you are aware, the department of homeland security recently extended the nsse

designation dates for the period covering january 13th to january 21st in response to the events of january 6th when an election protest turned into a violent, deadly and unlawful assault on the united states capitol. for well over a year, we have been working with our federal, state and municipal partners to develop and implement a comprehensive operational security plan to ensure the safety of everyone participating in the event as well as those who may try to come to d.c. to watch the inauguration or spend time in the nation's capitol. anyone who has seen any of the mayor's recent press conferences or listened to her earlier statements will realize we are discouraging this in lieu of virtual participation, but we are prepared. we cannot ignore the occurrence of chaos and illegal activity that the united states and the

world witnessed last week. our democracy is built on the rule of law, and the secret service work force is dedicated and committed to uphold its oath to the constitution and assure that its vital, no-fail mission regarding the security of the presidential inauguration and the peaceful transfer of power is carried out. this year, of course, as everyone is aware, our country is battling the most significant health crisis to face the nation in more than a century. and the need to follow recommended public health guidance combined with the increased measures resulting from last week's events will undoubtedly impact the inauguration in almost every aspect. that said, our security plan was developed to respond to any contingency that might arise on and leading up to january 20th. our partners for securing the inauguration include, among many, many others, the federal emergency management agency,

which is responsible for in incident response and investigation, and of course the men and women of the metropolitan police department. as for any nsse, the secret service's core strategy is to leverage our existing outstanding partnerships with local law enforcement, public safety and colleagues here in the capitol region, as well as those who are directly here in support of the week's events and to collaboratively develop a plan. the secret service employs a unified command model. we established an executive steering committee which is staffed with senior representatives from these agencies and others who have primary jurisdiction over various aspects fortunate inaug -- of

the inauguration and then create subcommittees, in this case, 28, for time management, credentialing, security, time control just to name a few. the coordination of everyone involved is critical to a successful event. we have conducted numerous training initiatives, tabletop exercises, rehearsals, field and command level exercises to make sure we have immediate, well-coordinated and effective response to any of the challenges we might face during this inauguration. using this process, we've developed a comprehensive, integrated, and while it may not look like it from the outside, nimble security plan to ensure a safe environment for our protectees, the event and the general public. thank you very much. >> thank you, agent miller.

administrator tierney. >> thank you, mayor bowser. while fema is not a law enforcement agency, public safety is our number one priority for the inauguration. fema has taken several actions to promote good public safety for this event. the president has declared an emergency that has enabled fema to do several things. the first thing is we have deployed a national management team to work in support of our district partners. we have also deployed regional assistant management teams to both maryland and virginia to support their planning and actions. we have been working with the district to identify resource requirements. for example, we are currently working a mission to prestage ambulance resources and we have moved commodity such as food, water and supplies closer in to support the district if that is

needed. fema has also conducted several exercises in response to requests from the secret service as well as other agencies to help prepare since january 6th. that is all i have pending any questions. >> let me now introduce jeff reinbolt who is superintendent of the national parks from the national parks service. >> thank you, mayor bowser. good afternoon. inaugurations are special times, right, for our nation, for our city and especially for those of us at the national mall who host a lot of the events around an inauguration. this one is no doubt very challenging. we've had a chance to work with the presidential inaugural committee since november, and to come up with a reimagined

inauguration. we did receive a letter from the u.s. secret service yesterday asking us to consider closing several areas within the national mall. this is essentially the monumental core, the area around the white house and sections of pennsylvania avenue. i do want to thank the secret service, the u.s. park police for working with us to understand what their concerns are, how we could help address this national security issue, to make sure that the icons that we administer are protected, and also to make sure that, if possible, we could allow for first amendment activities in the park. we are a premiere first amendment area in the country, in the world, probably, and we wanted to see if it was possible to do that and also meet their security needs. so as of this morning, the secretary of the interior has officially closed the areas in the national mall. that includes, again, the core area and the locations that the

mayor mentioned before in support of the request from the secret service and the u.s. park police. i do want to talk for just a second about the first amendment areas. we were able to identify two locations. we had two groups or several groups that had submitted several first amendment applications and we were able to identify two locations on pennsylvania avenue where up to 100 people will be able to gather. they will be met by u.s. park police, escorted through magnetometers, and then taken to these areas so they can exercise their first amendment rights. i do, again, want to thank the park police and the secret service for trying to find a way that we could accommodate that, but recognize that these are different times and require different measures. i also want to acknowledge mayor bowser for working with the secretary of the interior to

address some of the concerns that she has for the city. thank you. >> steven booker, the acting assistant chief for the united states park police. >> thank you, mayor bowser. on behalf of acting chief monaghan and the united states park police, the men and women. as agent matt miller said, this is unprecedented. this inauguration is something filled with excitement, hope, and hopefully a new path forward. the united states park police, as stewards of democracy, ensure that first amendment rights are allowed to occur on federal park lands, and our officers do it with emotional and personal

fortitude to make sure the mission of the national parks service and the department of interior is intact. our roles are not only the law enforcement arm of the national parks service within washington, d.c. but also san francisco and new york as well. we hear -- we are here to stand by the nsse and all of our d.c. officials, our public safety administrators, our local law enforcement to ensure a safe and secure event next week. we work collaboratively and have been doing so for months now in our management team with many men and women who engulfed long hours into this planning. i congratulate them, a few days left to ensure we have a safe event for next week.

i'm here afterwards for any additional questions that you may have. thank you. >> thank you. >> paul wedefell, general manager for la mata. >> thank you, mayor bowser, for your leadership during this inaugural, but more importantly for your leadership during this turbulent year and your support for metro. thank you so much. i also want to give a special thanks to our front line employees. these are the bus operators, the train operators, the station managers and our police who have once again shown their commitment to this region during this difficult time in this difficult year. working with chief cante and the secret service, we basically make sure we have safety for our employees and our customers, but at the same time providing service for those who still need it outside of the security area.

what the customers will see is a stepped-up transit police presence. we also have reached out to our brethren at other transit agencies and you will see police officers from baltimore, new york, new jersey, chicago, new orleans, houston, denver and san francisco also in our system throughout this week. as the mayor mentioned, there are 11 rail stations closed today and two tomorrow, and the stations will be impacted again. the best information for that is our website, wamata.com. these will stay in effect until thursday, january 21st. i know this is inconvenient for our customers and all the b businesses in the region, but it's necessary as well. thank you, mayor, for your leadership in this.

>> and i want to introduce now the law enforcement agency for the district, of course, and chief robert cante to speak for npd, and we will be available for questions, members of my entire team who are standing to my left. chief cante? >> every four years, our nation celebrates and honors the continuation and peaceful transition of presidential executive powers. for over one and a half centuries, people have come from all over the world to witness and commemorate this historic event. however, this year will be significantly different. as we have done since president lincoln's second inaugural ceremony in 1865, the

metropolitan police department along with its many members have had a great part in planning and executing the presidential inauguration. we know that every npd member who has had the opportunity to participate in an inaugural event has looked back on the unique experiences for the rest of their lives. and since the 1890s, members of the outside law enforcement agencies from across the nation have provided vital support to npd in the inaugural proceedings and will do so again this year. while things are different this year due to the ongoing public health emergency and the insurrection that took place at the capitol last week, it rests upon the dedicated law enforcement officers to provide the utmost in safety, security and professional police service to all those who come to take part in this momentous occasion. the expertise of each participating law enforcement and agency is critical to the

success of a coordinated and executed security plan. the metropolitan police department has carefully planned for resources and personnel for this event and the additional resources will enable npd to provide the same great level of quality and professional police service to our communities. all of our officers will be on hand to participate in ensuring a peaceful day, both for inaugural events and throughout our great city. npd continually collaborates with our federal partners and monitors various intelligence sources for information regarding possible threats to d.c. at this time i really would like to just echo the comments of our mayor for people to really enjoy this as a virtual event. we are working hard not only to secure the event itself, but also working very hard to reensure the communities of the district of columbia that we are

prepared for this event. thank you. >> thank you. with that we'll take some questions, and i think susannah is going to help us get people acknowledged. if you could just state your name and your organization. >> yes, this is michael rice adler with the "washington post." my first question is for the people who live and work downtown in the district, what's the protocol for them if they need to access areas that are currently fenced off? >> thanks for that question. michael is asking how does a resident access the secured areas, and i'm going to ask the secret service to address that question. >> thank you, ma'am. michael, first i'd like to say i went to college and grad school in the city. 66% of our agency works in the city. there isn't a man or woman in the secret service who is not keenly aware of just how much of an impact our security measures

have, and please believe me when i say we do everything we can to mitigate and lessen the necessary security measures to safeguard an event like this. for everyone inside what we call the green line or the red line, the outer secure perimeter, we have divided that up into 12 zones. we have an agent who, over the last seven months, has been reaching out to all the property managers, all the businesses, and all the federal buildings, office buildings, et cetera, to coordinate what people will need to get in and out on foot or when parking garages will be closed down and when they'll need to walk out in order to get transportation from there. my first recommendation, if there is any confusion, would be to talk to the property manager, the front office staff, to find out what they were told, and if

there is still further confusion, to make sure they find who that secret service is, and, again, the building, the security, the management will know who that individual is to find out -- and if there's special accommodations which need to be made, we also have the ability to do that. we've worked very, very closely with the u.s. attorney's offices, the courts, law enforcement who are working these criminal investigations pursuant to last week to make sure they can go on without interruption. we've had to do that with other businesses as well. but we have been engaging in outreach with all of our partners, both residential, commercial and governmental, to make sure they can access their residences, their businesses or their places of work. >> to that -- i'm sorry, a quick follow-up to that. where will media be permitted on the day of the inauguration? >> that i would have to defer to

the communications subcommittee. they've been coordinating with all the various media partners and outlets to make sure that they are credentialed and that they have access. i don't know specifically right now, but we can get that answer back to you. >> okay, thank you. >> yes. >> jane recker, "washingtonian." last time we ran into people not wearing masks, they didn't know how to handle it. i know airbnb are not going to be renting out properties next week. what guidance have you given to hotels that are shutting down, and if not, what support are you giving them for people coming in? >> i think we addressed this question earlier in the week, and it should be pretty clear that we have some housing needs still in the city. so we have not ordered hotels to

shut down in the central business district or in the district. however, we do know that they know their business operations the best, and they may make a decision not to offer services for public safety reasons or other reasons during this period of time. we have been in close contact with the hotel associations and various property managers, and we'll continue to do that, and they can continue to call our npd for other help. >> reporter: my next question is with so much being blocked off downtown, so much enforcement there, i think people are thinking, okay, if these people can't get downtown, where do they go next? what is the threat level? how concerned should people be who live in neighborhoods near the downtown area or who live in historically black neighborhoods around the city? >> let me ask the secret service to talk in general about how they're preparing for security

and npd and hsema to add to that. >> as far as the current threat situation, i don't think anybody is unaware of director wray's testimony or the fbi's releases on the proliferation of, for lack of a better term, chatter around the country. all 50 state fbi jtfs in the territories are working 24 hours a day to pursue every lead, every credible threat, and run that to the ground. it is truly a governmental approach. as far as specifics for security for this inauguration, we do recognize that because we have such a robust and hardened perimeter, we have so many assets inside the penn corridor capitol area that there is the potential for people to go

elsewhere, whether it's back to their state capitols or other parts of the city. npd serves this city exceptionally well. we have had very candid conversations about we can't create a fortress and allow the rest of the city to suffer in services, whether it's fire, ems or public safety. there is a very, very good plan led by chief contee, assistant carroll. they will not be let down by the npd. there is also a plan with the national guard bureau and all the representatives in the city that should there be intelligence directing threats to other state capitols, they can respond in a timely and appropriate fashion. does that answer your question? >> i believe so, thank you.

>> i'm sam, channel 7. i had a question for dr. reinbolt that will be allowed. i would like to know more about that in this case. you said there were two protests or two locations? i'm not quite clear on that, and people will be checked to go? could you tell us a little more about that? >> sure, we had two requests for first amendment activities. we had numerous requests, including from the city, to cancel all permitted activities within the park. i'm happy to say that most of the people that had special events, whether they be weddings or celebrations, mlk day, worked with us to find different locations, different places. the two first amendment permits that we received the requests, we were able to work with them, identify a size of the group that park police were able to look at specific locations and

figure out how many they thought could fit in those areas and meet covid requirements and still safety requirements. we've done this in the past before, we've escorted folks in at inaugurations, so this will be an opportunity where those folks can come. they'll be screened through magnetometers, they'll be with u.s. park police the entire time to their locations, and then they'll have the ability to express their first amendment rights. >> what are the locations and who are the groups? >> i don't have the groups off the top of my head, but the locations are at the navy memorial, and then also at john marshall park. >> for the mayor and for the secret service, first for the mayor or npd. what can you tell us about the use of curfews, car searches,

road blocks, bridge closures. we already saw one bridge close at least temporarily. what is being planned as far as that that you can give us any type of indication we might see in the coming days? >> sure. so, mark, we put up on our first slide, and we can go back to it, the road closures that are in place as of this morning. i will ask residents to stay alerted and sign up for some of our lists because that can change. i think they will announce others when those decisions have been made. as it relates to a curfew, we will continue as we do with every event to evaluate the use of a curfew as a tool. >> reporter: there is a possibility of people's cars being searched when they come

into washington, d.c. or come into the areas of the perimeter? >> let me ask secret service agent miller and chief contee? >> thank you, ma'am. to amplify the mayor's response on the closures, as you saw on the graphic there, there are written street closures published across all of the various law enforcement and public safety partners. so whether it's the secret service's social media sites, the district of columbia, the metropolitan police departments, we are working on publishing a graphic as we typically do. i would just caution everyone that we are currently on, i think, version 11 given all the changes dictated by the events of the 6th, and there are still negotiations, as the mayor indicated, with richmond as to when. the bridges across the rivers will be closed, when they will be reopened, which specific bridges those will be.

as far as your question about cars and other traffic, so trucks making deliveries to hotels or businesses. any vehicle, once the secure perimeter is in place, that enters one of the designated checkpoints will be searched for explosives, weapons and other prohibited items. so there will be a joint team from the metropolitan police department, the secret service's technical security division, and depending on resource constraints, department of defense or national guard, explosive ordinance specialists. we are looking for weapons, threats or explosives. outside of that, the vehicle is safe to enter once it's been cleared and swept and has a legitimate purpose inside the zone. >> reporter: what about outside the zone? can people expect that type of search just coming into the city? what about use of force? i know the national guard is here, but can you tell us when use of force is acceptable by

these national guard troops who are armed? >> that's a two-part question. part one. outside of the secure zone, vehicles, residents, guests will be able to enter and transit the district as normal. it's only when you are attempting to enter what we call the green line or the red line, the green line is essentially the soft perimeter leading up to the red line where there are absolute searches coming in. so outside of that, vehicles and deliveries will continue as normal. your second question as far as the rules of engagement, the national guard bureau was publishing rules of engagement and printing rules of engagement cards for each of its soldiers deployed on this exercise. my understanding is that those rules of engagement or the use of force policy would comply with the agency to which they were assigned. so i know, for instance, that

there is a detail of national guard bureau personnel up at the united states capitol. they are complying with and will comport with the united states police model. most of the forces throughout the community are very, very similar. there's not much daylight between them. there are some specific exceptions, but you can probably find those through the u.s. capitol police or the national guard bureau unless, chief contee, do you know the specks f -- specifics for your personnel? >> with respect to the national guard specifically, as matt mentioned, those policies pretty much follow the same framework as the host agency. obviously in defense of one's life or another. i think specifically with the d.c. national guard for mpd's

traffic posts, their primary mission is to focus on traffic, traffic management. that's a different mission from what's going on at the u.s. capitol police, so i think that's a distinction to make there. the other thing, too, with respect to your question about the vehicles being searched outside of the perimeter, if we have information, and as you know from the previous demonstrations that we've had here in our city, we've had armed individuals come to our city, and there were firearms recovered in some instances. there were explosives recovered in another instance, molotov cocktails from a vehicle. so if there is a need from the framework of the constitution to stop a vehicle for some type of check for weapons or something like that, we will certainly be deploying that measure as well. >> reporter: good afternoon, i'm

james wright with the washington foreman newspaper. i have a question for acting chief contee and mr. wiedefeld. chief contee, we want to make sure we ever this right. the mpd, for lack of a better term, all hands on deck, mpd blackb will be all hands on deck for the inauguration zone, but will the rest of the city be covered competently even though you have many officers in the inauguration zone? >> thank you for the question. it's a great question and i'll answer that very specifically. it's not just all hands on deck for the zone. it's all hands on deck for our entire agency, because our entire agency has responsibility for the entire city. with that being said, the influx of federal resources that you see into our city certainly

allows for the mpd to be agile in terms of our response posture for any threats that may occur in any of our communities. we will have assets p pre-stationed throughout different communities ready to respond and a contingency of federal support if need be to respond to any threats that may present themselves. >> reporter: this is for mr. wiedefeld. many people in the community and social media, when they saw this plan of closing so many stations, they were very alarmed, not so much that they're closing it within the inauguration zone, but the fact is many people travel through that area to get to their jobs and obligations, and many of those people are low income and working class people, and they can't afford to telework in

terms of getting to their jobs. when this plan came through, did that come to you as a consideration? >> of course, it did. that was one of our largest concerns, is how do we continue to serve the customer base? we argued in effect for being able to run trains through the zone so people could get to the other side than having to get off the train and find another means to get there. it was a huge concern of ours. but as i said earlier, it is something we don't welcome, but it is something we all need to do to keep everyone safe. >> hi, thank you, clair himes, cbs news. is there any indication that extremist groups like the proud boys or the bugaloos are planning to show up at the inauguration? >> i would defer a specific answer to the fbi.

i know that they are actively investigating and talking with a number of extremist groups, searching the internet, social media for any indication they can get, and they are very, very careful to delineate between credible, specific, direct, intelligent information. i'm not entirely certain and i'm not entirely competent to answer that question. it is better addressed to the fbi, but as director wray has mentioned, there is a great deal of very concerning chatter, and it's what you don't know that we are preparing for. so i don't know if anyone has raised their hand to say, we are coming, we will be there, but we are preparing as if they are. >> let me just add that our team led by director rodriguez and mpd are having a daily download

with the fbi to follow up on special agents' comments. >> reporter: thank you. people say the city kind of looks like a military takeover. there are armed troops, roadblocks just around the corner from where we are right now. what message, mayor, are you sending? >> i want to be very clear about this. as a person born and raised in this city, i have spent many days, i have spent a lot of time in and around our national monument to a core at these iconic structures, at the capitol building where there was an attempted coup, all these things are so important not just to america, but to the 712,000 people who call d.c. home. we traverse these roads and parks each and every day.

the national park is a park, and it is used not just for first amendment demonstration, but for people to walk around the park, to get exercise, to play games, you name it. so we are -- we don't take any of the measures that we have taken lightly. let me say something about your comment about a takeover. i have to remind d.c. residents that i asked the federal government to devise a deployment plan that would protect federal assets in the district of columbia. and that is what has been done under the leadership of the united states secret service in the various agencies that have been mentioned. that is important, as you heard chief contee say, because our officers can also focus on keeping d.c. safe from any aspects of crime, including from

these extremist groups that have attacked our capitol. >> hi, mayor and everyone up here. stephanie ramirez with fox 5 d.c. the question for you is specifically about this weekend, saturday and sunday. is there any more information regarding what is expected, and when it comes to the permitted event, what happens if more than 100 people show, and what happens if people start to gather at places that are outside the perimeter that has been established? >> thank you for asking that question, stephanie, because part of my reasoning in requesting that this nsse, this national special security event, be advanced, the timeline for it be advanced, is because the inauguration is not the only target or activity that's out there being discussed. there are other events that lead

up to that. we thought it was very important that the proven and effective framework that the u.s. secret service sets up for these national security events would also be helpful in the lead-up to the inauguration. i want to ask chief contee to talk about those threats and perhaps park service or park police talk about the first amendment events. >> yeah, so when these threats come in, as i think agent miller mentioned, there is a lot of chatter that's out there, obviously on the internet. we have a daily download with the fbi, we brief the mayor daily just on the information that's out there. and i can assure the residents of the district of columbia that the metropolitan police department and our federal partners are in a posture to respond to the information that's out there thus far that we've heard.

and i think it's been -- you know, it's been on all the news channels. we're hearing it, so we're certainly in a posture to respond. >> reporter: thank you, mayor. yes, in terms of this weekend you'll start to see, now that fencing has gone up, as the secret service starts to activate some of those perimeters, we will fully support that. access will become more and more restricted within the national mall and within the areas that we have inside those boundaries. we have worked with everyone, all the permitees who had requested special events or demonstrations from now through the inauguration to find another time, another location for their activity. for those two events that we have, they are groups that are -- my understanding is groups that are in d.c. quite a

bit have requested activities quite frebquently throughout th district, and we've been able to talk to them and made sure that we're able to scale their first amendment demonstrations to the size that we have available. we also thank them for working with us on this. >> mayor bowser, do you anticipate the area being able to go back to normal immediately after the nsse period has ended or expected to end? >> i think we're going to go back to a new normal, stephanie, and i think that our entire country has to deal with how our intelligence apparatus, security apparatus at every level deal with a very real and present threat to our nation. we saw white extremists storm the capitol building who were trained and organized and seemingly with the intent to capture the vice president of

the united states and perhaps harm other lawmakers. so we all have to think about a new posture. we certainly have to think about a new posture in the city. so while we are focused on january the 20th, we're also focused on january the 21st and every day thereafter in the nation's capitol. >> mayor, hi, kenneth moton with abc news. i wanted to follow up on that last question. do you expect many of the security measures we see now to last well after the president-elect takes office to continue providing that protection and helping the secret service provide that protection to president biden to vice president kamala harris? >> we do not expect to have visiting national guard throughout the city for weeks to come, no. we don't expect that. but i do think that we have to

replace that sense of security in other ways. so we certainly, from the district's perspective, will be thinking about that. we're actually also thinking about how our partnership with the federal government has to change so that we can have that increased sense of security. i won't bore you with kind of the details of how we're budgeted to support our special security, because we're the nation's capitol, but those issues have to be dealt with. we also have to deal with the complicating factor of not being a state in that the mayor of the district of columbia does not command the d.c. national guard. we know that's a complicating factor. so there are many things that we as a city will have to reset in terms of our posture in policing, in all of our homeland

agencies that support first amendment demonstrations, what will that reset look like. >> mayor, you touched on it, but i want to ask one more time since the world has seen the city's capitol look like a fortress, look like a military base. you touched on it, but what goes through you when you see your city looking the way it does now? is there disappointment or a realization that this is the world we are now in? >> i'm sad about it. i hate to see that it looks that way. i'm committed to making sure we get our city back, our visitors, our residents, our workers will be able to get through the city with ease, but i also know that we have a special responsibility, that there is a peaceful transition of power in our country. we're proud in washington to host the federal government an