Biden spokesperson: Inauguration at Capitol will demonstrate ‘resilience of American democracy’

President-elect Joe Biden’s spokeswoman said on Sunday that he still plans to hold his inauguration at the U.S. Capitol, saying it will speak to the “resilience of American democracy” just weeks after the unprecedented violence at the complex.

On ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos noted that Biden will be sworn in on Wednesday before a mostly empty National Mall due to security concerns and asked Kate Bedingfield if she was certain that the inauguration would still take place at the Capitol.

“That is certainly our plan,” said Bedingfield. “I think that will send an incredibly important visual image to the world about the resilience of American democracy, and so our plan and our expectation is that President-elect Biden will put his hand on the Bible with his family outside on the west side of the Capitol on the 20th.”

Kate Bedington tells @gstephanopoulos the plan is for Pres.-elect Biden’s inauguration to take place on the West Front of the Capitol: “I think that will send an incredibly important visual image to the world about the resilience of American democracy.” https://t.co/cS3xUrq9BR pic.twitter.com/XZMYrMufcb

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 17, 2021

“We’ll begin meeting tomorrow, daily meetings with the outgoing leadership in national security and law enforcement to ensure that we’re preparing for any scenario that that should arise after noon on January the 20th,” added Bedingfield.

“But we have full faith in the United States Secret Service and their partners who’ve been working for over a year on the planning to ensure that this event is safe, so we’re very much looking forward to President-elect Biden putting his hand on the Bible at noon on the 20th.”

Several lawmakers have raised concerns about the security surrounding the inauguration after the Capitol was stormed by supporters of President Trump earlier this month while a joint session of Congress was meeting to certify Biden’s victory. Trump last week was impeached over his role in the deadly rioting. Seven-foot-tall fencing now surrounds the Capitol, and tens of thousands of National Guard members have been deployed since the siege.

Biden has said he is “not afraid to take the oath outside.”

The FBI has warned that armed protests may take place across the country at state Capitols leading up to Biden’s inauguration or on the day he is sworn in.

Private and public entities have taken steps to mitigate the possibility of violent protests, with several airlines limiting guns on flights to D.C. around the time of the inauguration. D.C.’s Metro system has stated that subway stations surround the Capitol and National Mall will be closed before and after the event.