There will be heightened security for Congress on Jan. 6, 2025, the U.S. Secret Service said Wednesday. The new plans are an effort to prevent a replay of the disastrous events four years ago when Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol as part of an attempt to stop the certification of electoral votes.
The Department of Homeland Security has designated the election certification as a “National Special Security Event” for the first time, at the request of Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, the Secret Service said. The designation opens up a raft of federal, state and local resources to increase security for the process. (Other major events with the designation include presidential inaugurations, the parties’ national conventions, the United Nations General Assembly and the Super Bowl.)
The heightened security around the certification process is being put into place amid fears of yet another damaging response to the presidential election results. In 2021, Trump urged his supporters to march to the Capitol building to protest the electoral certification, during which a riot broke out, resulting in five deaths.
At Tuesday’s presidential debate against Kamala Harris, Trump refused to take responsibility for the violence, saying he had “nothing to do with that, other than they asked me to make a speech.” He has also called the Jan. 6 rioters “hostages” and “patriots” and vowed to pardon them if re-elected.








