Trump's Jan. 19 Rally Will Put Massive Strain on Security Resources in Wake of Two Terror Attacks, Former DHS Director Warns

President-elect Donald Trump announced he will hold a "victory rally" Jan. 19, a day before his inauguration, in Washington D.C.'s Capital One arena. But as 2025 kicks off with two terrorist attacks in different U.S. cities, law enforcement officers worry the rally could pose a great danger to the new administration and attendees.

The arena set to hold the rally, home of the Washington Wizards basketball team and Washington Capitals hockey team, can hold approximately 20,000 attendees. The rally, which is being dubbed as the "Make America Great Again Victory Rally" is scheduled for kick off at 3 p.m. ET, according to a sign-up link from the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee.

The rally is being called into question by a former director of the Department of Homeland Security, who warns of the possible dangers of having such a large-scale event with little notice and in light of two violent attacks that occurred on New Years Day in New Orleans and Las Vegas.

Former DHS head Jeh Johnson appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" to discuss the newly-announced event. He pointed out that the presidential inauguration is "designated a national special security event," and putting a presidential event right before it could cause a strain of resources.

"To put in the middle of those two events a very gigantic presidential level rally presents a significant security challenge in terms of resources, manpower, so it's not as simple as just throwing a big party on short notice," Johnson said.

"You've got a lot of security in place when you have a person about to become president in this current threat environment... so I hope the president-elect and his team carefully considered that before they decided to have this large rally," he continued.

Johnson also questioned the nature of the rally, pointing out that the crowds in both events will likely be similar.

"I would have thought that some of the very same people that are coming to the inauguration would go to the rally, so kind of, what's the point?" he asked.

Johnson's remarks come as the U.S. kicked off the new year with two high-profile terrorist attacks in some of its biggest cities.

In New Orleans, a U.S. Army veteran named Shamsud-Din Bahar from Beaumont, Texas, plowed a pickup truck in the early hours of New Year's Day, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more.

The attacker said in a video posted online that he had joined ISIS, the Islamic State terrorist group, and that he had originally planned to hurt his relatives and friends, but worried about how that would be interpreted by the news media. Investigators revealed Thursday that Bahar acted alone, after previously saying they were looking into whether other people might have helped him plant explosives in coolers in New Orleans' French Quarter.

Similarly, in Las Vegas, authorities are investigating the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel due to a combination of fireworks, gas tanks, and camping fuel in the bed of the vehicle. The suspect, Matthew Alan Libelsberger, was a member of the US. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) and was "on approved leave at the time of his death," an Army spokesperson told Axios on Thursday. Libelsberger was killed and seven others nearby were injured on New Year's Day.

Both investigations are being considered terrorist attacks, though officials have not yet confirmed a link between the Las Vegas explosion and the New Orleans pickup truck attack, besides the fact that both suspects served in the Army and rented their vehicles through a rental app called Turo.