President-elect Donald Trump may have survived two assassination attempts while on the campaign trail last year, but a majority of voters in a new Rasmussen Reports poll say they’re concerned he won’t be safe at his inauguration on Monday.
According to the survey, 55% of likely U.S. voters say they are worried about Trump’s safety at his swearing-in ceremony, including 31% who say they are very concerned.
Conversely, 41% say they are not concerned, including 26% who say they are not at all concerned about the incoming president’s safety.
In 2017, Rasmussen found that 51% were concerned about Trump’s safety before his first inauguration.
At least six in 10 voters, or 64%, say they plan to watch at least some of Trump’s second inauguration on TV, including 18% who say they’ll watch most of the ceremony and 26% who say they’ll watch the whole thing. Thirty-two percent say they don’t plan to watch any of Monday’s inauguration. The most recent findings are nearly unchanged from Trump’s first swearing-in eight years ago, according to Rasmussen.
More than half a dozen local D.C.-area police departments will not be assisting Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) with security for the 2025 Presidential Inauguration, the Daily Caller has learned. The MPD has been lambasted by both progressives and conservatives for its methods of policing, and the department refused to answer several questions from the Caller.
The decision by these departments could leave MPD with hundreds fewer officers than they would typically be able to rely on for an event of this magnitude.
While MPD claimed thousands of officers will assist with security, several local departments told the Caller they will not be helping. Most were vague with their reasons for skipping this year’s inauguration, but one department confirmed in an email that it was because of a dispute over a memorandum of understanding (MOU), or agreement between departments, with MPD.
“I was just told that based on the current MOU, we will not be assisting Metro PD,” a spokesperson for Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland told the Caller.
MCPD was not the only department to make that decision.
Howard and Queen Anne’s County police departments, also from Maryland, told the Caller they will not be assisting with inauguration security, although Howard PD said it provided security in 2017. Queen Anne’s told the Caller that it would not be assisting in 2025 due to “technical difficulties.” Frederick County Sheriff’s Department will also not be assisting due to staffing reasons.
Anne Arundel County, Maryland State Police, and Prince George’s County all said they would be helping Capitol Police — but not MPD — with security. This suggests that these departments have a particular problem working with MPD, not with the inauguration itself.
Only two departments of the nine who responded to the Caller stated they would be coordinating with MPD for the inauguration. Frederick City in Maryland plans to send about 20 officers, and Loudoun County in Virginia will send around 30 deputies, according to spokespeople for the departments.
The MPD is bringing in additional resources to allow their officers to serve in locations that require security, a source familiar told the Caller. This allows local jurisdictions to “handle more serious incidents,” including civil disobedience, the source added. He noted that the current deployment of officers for the inauguration is in line with past events.
The Capitol Police will be taking a more central role with security at the inauguration, as the event has been moved to the Capitol Rotunda, allegedly due to weather concerns, according to a statement from Trump.
A source familiar with planning for inauguration security speculated that the departments might have issues with the use-of-force policy contained in the Metro PD’s MOU. The Caller reached out to MPD and inquired about its use-of-force policy. The department sent a link to its use-of-force policy but did not share further information about its operations, pointing the Caller to a general statement about the inauguration. It’s also not uncommon for departments to issue supplemental guidance during times or protest, riots or social upheaval which might not be made public; the Baltimore City Police Department, for example, did this during the Freddy Gray riots, the source explained.
“The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is working closely with our local, state, and federal partners as we prepare for the 60th Presidential Inauguration,” MPD said. “As with any other events in the District, it is our priority to ensure the safety and security of District residents and visitors.”
The Caller asked several follow up questions, including what the dispute with Montgomery County was over and what agreement MPD is operating under with external departments. Additionally, the Caller asked if there was supplemental guidance for riots and protests, since neither are mentioned in MPD’s public use-of-force policy.
After multiple emails and phone calls, MPD ultimately did not provide answers to the Caller’s questions by the time of publication.
MPD’s original statement, however, specifically notes the possibility of demonstrations at the inauguration.
“We recognize the importance of upholding the First Amendment rights of individuals to peacefully express their views, and we are committed to facilitating lawful demonstrations while maintaining public order,” MPD said.
The public use-of-force framework has four categories of threats: passive resister, active resister, threatening assailant, and active assailant. The only category where “deadly force” is allowed, according to the document, is when the assailant “poses an imminent danger.”
The department has faced scrutiny from both sides of the aisle over its handling of past demonstrations. One officer in particular, Lieutenant Jason Bagshaw, has a reputation for allegedly using excessive force with activists — both left and right.
Bagshaw is commander of the Special Operations Division. He oversees various units, including the MPD’s Emergency Response Team, Planning and Logistics Section, and Special Events Section. Special Events would typically be in charge of major events like the Inauguration.
January 6 defendant Victoria White was repeatedly bludgeoned by officers while trapped in a tunnel at the Capitol, surveillance video shows, leaving her face bloodied. One of the officers was later identified as Bagshaw, according to court documents.
“The tunnel CCTV footage shows that over an almost two-minute span running from approximately 4:07:00 to 4:08:54 p.m., Lieutenant Bagshaw repeatedly struck, or tried to strike, the woman in red with his baton,” according to U.S. prosecutors.
The prosecutors also note that Bagshaw “threw five left-handed jab punches in the direction of the woman in red’s head or upper body,” documents show.
Left-wing activists have also raised alarms about Bagshaw and Metro PD’s tactics.
Bagshaw was one of the officers sued by a group of Pro-Palestine protesters in 2024. The activists filed a lawsuit against multiple MPD and U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) officers, alleging that they “violently broke up [a] protest” at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) without being provoked.
“Throughout this violent dispersal, a number of supervising officers from MPD and USCP—including MPD Commander Jason Bagshaw—stood by and watched as their officers inflicted unreasonable and excessive force on Plaintiffs and dozens of other protesters,” the lawsuit claimed.
The lawsuit linked to footage of demonstrations, including one video which appeared to show officers throwing protesters down a flight of stairs.
“Defendant Officers’ conduct went far beyond crowd control,” the lawsuit said, even alleging that the defendant officers “strangled” some protesters.
Bagshaw also shot and killed a man, Lazarus Wilson, in 2022 outside a restaurant in D.C. while off duty. However, Wilson was armed, and prosecutors found that Bagshaw did not use “excessive force,” according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.
On Monday, US Secret Service (USSS) Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office, Matt McCool, said that this year’s inauguration will be a “higher-threat environment.”
“We have a slightly more robust security plan,” he stated. “We’ve been planning for this event for 12 months.”
About 25,000 military personnel and law enforcement will be assisting with security for the inauguration Monday, WTOP News reported. But the decision from multiple local departments raises further questions about whether MPD is properly prepared for the event when, according to Caller reporting, numerous agitators are planning on descending on the nation’s capital.