The latest on Biden's inauguration and security threats

Vice President Mike Pence was closer than initially known to a violent mob of protesters at the US Capitol last Wednesday, according to new reporting from the Washington Post.

Pence, per the Post, remained in the Senate chamber for about 14 minutes after Capitol Police reported the initial attempted breach of the building. Pence, along with second lady Karen Pence and daughter Charlotte Pence Bond, were then moved into a room off the Senate floor. 

About one minute after Pence was moved, the Post said, the mob of rioters moved up the stairs to the second floor landing outside the Senate entrance, where Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman heroically led them in the opposite direction. The Washington Post said that Pence and his family were in a hideaway “less than 100 feet from that landing, according to three people familiar with his whereabouts.”

“If the pro-Trump mob had arrived seconds earlier, they would have been in eyesight of the vice president as he was rushed across a reception hall into the office,” the report suggested, adding that Pence later was moved to a more secure location.  

US Secret Service told CNN in a statement that Pence was “secure at all times.”

Timeline shows just how close rioters were to Pence:

The offices of the Inspector General at four federal agencies are opening investigations into the role of agencies played in preparing for the events in Washington that led to rioters' breach of the US Capitol on Jan. 6.

The Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and the Interior Department have all opened investigations.

“The DOJ OIG will coordinate its review with reviews also being conducted by the Offices of Inspector General of the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of the Interior,” the IG said in a statement Friday.

State capitols across the country are bracing for violence after federal law enforcement officials warned governors and police chiefs about the potential for unrest in the wake of the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol, a siege experts say was "like putting gasoline on a fire" and will likely serve as a motivator for future attacks.

The FBI warning that armed protests are being planned in all 50 states in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration has prompted governors and police chiefs to deploy thousands of officers and equipment at state capitols around the country to thwart potential violence.

“That’s like putting gasoline on a fire," Dimoff continued. "Now we sent ‘em home and said you guys had a successful game plan and can do it again. That’s where the problem is."

US officials on Wednesday warned of future attacks, in part because of the success of the siege last week. The FBI bulletin noted that extremists could zero in on government officials and institutions, as well as racial and religious minorities, journalists, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. 

It also indicated that the Capitol insurrection may have served as a venue for extremists of differing ideological motivations to foster connections. After the attack, people who descended upon the capitol went home, where a number have since been arrested for their roles in the assault.

John Miller, a deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism in the New York Police Department, called the movement that participated in the attack last week “loosely organized” and noted that people had come together over social media. 

“The propensity of the violence sometimes boils down to the individual,” he said Thursday. “Nothing compares to any past threats; we have never had Americans fighting Americans on the streets of the nation’s capital probably since the civil war.” 

Other motivations that could fuel future attacks include anti-government sentiment held by extremists, as well as grievances associated with the false narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, according to Wednesday’s bulletin.

“What you see now is a coalescing of the movement,” said Jason Blazakis, who retired from the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism in 2018. He said various extremist groups that had operated alone over the last four years moved in concert during the assault on the Capitol last week.  

“The heave-ho of everyone getting through – you have Oath Keepers next to Proud Boys next to white supremacists, that’s what makes this a dangerous time,” he said. “The movement is energized and they’re emboldened by surprise success on [January] 6th. I think they’re surprised. They didn’t plan to Nth degree, and to be able to breach the pillar of democracy, that’s going to motivate them.” 

Federal prosecutors offered the most chilling description yet of rioters who seized the Capitol last week, writing in a new court filing that the intention was "to capture and assassinate elected officials."

The view was included in a detention memo seeking to keep Jacob Anthony Chansley – who rallied people inside the US Capitol using a bullhorn – in detention, according to Capitol Police information included in the filing. Chansley was also notable for his headdress, face paint and carrying of a six-foot spear. 

The allegations, written by Justice Department lawyers in Arizona, come as the government have begun describing in more alarming terms what transpired. In a separate case, prosecutors in a Texas court alleged that a retired Air Force reservist, who carried plastic zip tie-like restraints on the Senate floor, may have intended to restrain lawmakers.

Chansley is due in federal court in Arizona on Friday for a detention hearing.

"He loved Trump, every word. He listened to him. He felt like he was answering the call of our president," Chansley’s attorney Al Watkins, told CNN Thursday night. "My client wasn't violent. He didn't cross over any police lines. He didn't assault anyone," Watkins said, adding that Chansley hopes for a presidential pardon.

Prosecutors describe those who took over the Capitol as "insurrectionists" and offer new details about Chansley’s role in the violent siege last week, including that after standing at the dais where Vice President Pence had stood that morning, Chansley wrote a note saying "it’s only a matter of time, justice is coming."

Chansley later told the FBI he did not mean the note as a threat but said the vice president was a "child-trafficking traitor" and went on a long diatribe about Pence, Biden and other politicians as traitors.

Before he was arrested, Chansley told the FBI he wanted to return to Washington for the inauguration to protest. 

Prosecutors accuse Chansley of being a flight risk who can quickly raise money through non-traditional means as "one of the leaders and mascots of QAnon, a group commonly referred to as a cult (which preaches debunked and fictitious anti-government conspiracy theory)." 

They also said Chansley suffers from mental illness and is a regular drug user, according to prosecutors’ detention memo.

States across the country are enhancing security and calling in the National Guard to protect Capitol buildings ahead of the possible protests, including in Georgia, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin.

A number of states are deploying heavy fencing and additional crowd control measures around their Capitol buildings, including in Arizona, California, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Virginia and Washington, while Pennsylvania has built barriers and increased security.

Although many Capitol buildings are closed due to coronavirus restrictions, the warnings are particularly fraught in states that allow people to openly carry firearms and those where Trump has falsely claimed fraud.

Here's a look at some additional security steps being taken by states:

CNN's Amanda Watts, Alison Main, Nicky Robertson, Barbara Starr and Ryan Nobles contributed reporting to this post.

See how Atlanta is setting up additional security measures: 

Lawmakers are asking for help from travel companies to prevent an attack on the inauguration and investigate last week’s Capitol insurrection.  

On Thursday the House Oversight Committee sent letters to more than two dozen operators of bus lines, rental car companies and hotels asking for assistance "identifying and preventing the ongoing and extreme threat of further violent attacks in Washington, DC, and elsewhere, over the coming days." 

The request noted that the rioters who attacked the US Capitol on Jan. 6, "relied on a range of companies and services to get them there and house them once they arrived." 

The letter asks the companies to increase security and screening of guests and keep business records available for future investigations, as well as provide Congress with records of any policies "currently in place or being developed to ensure that your services are not used to facilitate violence or domestic terrorism."  

The bus companies include:  

The rental car companies include: 

The hotel and accommodation companies include:  

The invitations have been scaled back by the pandemic and the security has been heightened by the insurrection, but Joe Biden's inauguration as the 46th president of the United States next week will still have plenty of pomp.

Biden's inauguration is set to take place Wednesday, as the nation's capital continues to fortify the area around the US Capitol following last week's attack.

Here are some key things we know about the event so far:

CNN's Kylie Atwood and Jeff Zeleny contributed reporting to this post.

The Sunday rehearsal for the inauguration ceremony will be delayed a day following heightened security concerns, acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli told CNN Friday morning.

"It is going to take place on Monday, is the current schedule. Secret Service is in charge of running that schedule, but that's done in partnership with Biden team, and it was their decision to delay a day," Cuccinelli told CNN's John Berman on "New Day."

Cuccinelli cited "online chatter" about Sunday, but said there are "no specific credible threats."

"The decision was made to delay a day and leave the Secret Service in a position, and the whole team across the Washington metro area, to be prepared to respond on that day if needed," he said.

Law enforcement officials have warned that domestic extremists are likely more emboldened to carry out attacks on the inauguration, which takes place next Wednesday, and throughout 2021 after seeing the success of last week's siege on the US Capitol.

"We certainly agree there's a good deal of online chatter. It isn't just about Washington, by the way. There's also conversations about state capitols but very unspecific," Cuccinelli said, citing a briefing with state and local law enforcement earlier in the week along with FBI Director Chris Wray. "It's that higher level of tension that we focus on."

Cuccinelli discusses on CNN:

Karl A. Racine, attorney general for the District of Columbia, said the speeches such as those given by President Trump, GOP Rep. Mo Brooks, Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump Jr. are getting “full scrutiny” by his office.

His office is carefully reviewing laws related to free speech, he said. 

“They're talking about combat justice, not showing weakness and fight on … Those seem to be words that are closer to words asking for violence, and we're going to make the tough decision and the right call,” he added. 

Racine also dismissed some lawmakers’ claims comparing Black Lives Matter protests to the Capitol riot.

“Trying to overturn an election with violence, including violence on police officers, is something very, very different. And they should be held to account for their lies,” Racine said.  

Watch: