WNY Officials Won't Attend Inauguration Amid Safety Concerns

Party leaders from Western New York are among a growing group of officials that won't be attending the Biden Inauguration this week due to safety concerns according to NEWS 4 (WIVB-TV).

COVID-19 and the possibility of more violence are among the top issues keeping elected officials home.

President-elect Joe Biden himself has asked Americans to avoid Washington, D.C., and to watch the inauguration from home.

The U.S. Capitol and state capitals are on edge amid warnings of a possible conspiracy and additional violence.

More than a thousand members of New York’s Army National Guard and Air Attack Wing are deployed to Washington, joining 20,000 other guard members from across the country, including one group from Western New York.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo will not be attending based on intelligence from law enforcement.

Federal authorities are looking into possible insider connections in the breach of the U.S. Capitol two weeks ago.

Congressman Brian Higgins witnessed the rioters overrun Capitol police on Jan. 6, with some officers putting up little to no resistance.

This and some of the rioter's orchestrated movements lead Higgins to suspect that they may have gotten help from some of his own colleagues on the inside.

“I think that members collaborated with the demonstrators to get into the U.S. Capitol,” Rep. Higgins said. “I think that those members- there are at least five of them, maybe more- need to be thoroughly, thoroughly investigated.”

Five people were killed in the riot, and Higgins feels if members of Congress are found to be co-conspirators, they should be expelled.