WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two members of the National Guard have been pulled from duties related to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden following vetting for links to extremist movements, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday.
Neither of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, detailed any conclusions of the vetting and it was unclear what information led the Guard members to be pulled. One of the officials said possibly more than two Guard members could be removed following vetting.
On Sunday, acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller said that the FBI was assisting the U.S. military in vetting more than 25,000 National Guard troops being deployed to assist in protecting the U.S. Capitol for potential security concerns.
The vetting has been going on since last week, and the FBI is also working to see if any attackers from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol were current service members.
Last week, the Virginia National Guard said that Jacob Fracker, an off-duty police officer charged in connection with the violent riots at the Capitol, was a corporal in the state’s Guard and serves as an infantryman.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali, Editing by Franklin Paul and Chizu Nomiyama)
