FILE PHOTO

U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, center, called for an investigation of Wednesday's mob violence at the U.S. Capitol, which left five people dead. She also demanded Vice President Mike Pence invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office.

U.S. Rep. Alma Adams expects unrest similar to Wednesday’s attack on Capitol Hill to take place across the country.

Adams, a Democrat who represents Charlotte in the House of Representatives, was forced to shelter in place in a secured area when a mob egged on by President Donald Trump and his political allies stormed Congress after sweeping past Capitol Police, temporarily disrupting congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden's win. Five people, including a police officer, were killed, and with the inauguration scheduled for 12 p.m. on Jan. 20, Adams believes far-right terrorism will continue.

“Unfortunately, I think it probably will,” she said. “I hate to say that, but I think we need to be prepared. We need to be thinking about it and we need to be proactive in thinking about it and even making some preparations or at least having a plan, which I don't think they [did Wednesday] but, yeah, in terms of the inauguration.”

“Clearly, I'm sure they're looking at that there was going to be just a limited number of people anyway. At the physical site. a lot of the activities around the inauguration will be virtual it's my understanding, but they are building that platform where the sort of the ceremonial swearing in will occur. Now how many people will be out there how many members, I don't know that it did I haven't been given any instructions I know that there won't be a lot of people on the grounds and I suspect after what happened here yesterday that they're going to be taking a closer look at that, too. Because some of the building of the platforms and so forth that they were building were damaged and destroyed a little bit.”

Adams, who called for Trump’s Cabinet appointees to invoke the 25^th Amendment to remove him from office, said she also supports an investigation into the lack of preparedness by Capitol Police and slow response by federal officials who are responsible for security on Capitol Hill.

Oh, absolutely,” she said. “As a matter of fact, we've called for an investigation, my colleagues have done that, and I certainly join them in that. There's even been a call to Vice President [Mike] Pence, of course we've got to deal with what happened here. But I think we also have to deal with what happened as a result of the resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. … But something happened here with our forces that should not have.”

Images from the Trump-inspired assault, which included officers posing for photos with agitators and removing barriers to the capitol building and offices, were a sharp contrast to the response to Black Lives Matter protests in Washington over the summer. During those mostly peaceful gatherings, law enforcement and the military were outfitted in combat gear and used an arsenal of tactics against protesters. Adams noted the disparity in how the groups were treated, suggesting race played a role.

“All you have to do is look at what happened before,” she said. “They had hundreds of arrests [over the summer]. They had barricades everywhere so they were at least anticipating that there would be trouble when there wasn't. They didn't even come here for that but obviously, there seems to be some dual justice here and different treatment for different folks.

“I’m being sincere about how we treat some protesters based on how they look and based on what we think. I won’t say how they look because some of these people look pretty damn scary to me, faces painted and things like that. I didn’t see all this help with the Black Lives Matter. The Black Lives Matter folks came wanting to simply protest, to have a rally. They did not come prepared and they did not come having plan to be destructive and to intimidate.”

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