WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will not attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, undermining his message the day before that he would work towards a ‘smooth, orderly and seamless transfer of power’ to his successor.
Trump gave no clues as to how he would spend his final hours in office, and will be the first sitting president since Andrew Johnson to skip the swearing-in of his successor. Traditionally, incoming and outgoing presidents ride together to the Capitol for the ceremony, symbolizing the country’s peaceful transition.
Trump’s comments come two days after a violent mob of his supporters occupied the Capitol for several hours as lawmakers summed up the electoral votes confirming Biden’s victory. Biden will run for president at noon on January 20, regardless of Trump’s plans.
“To all who have asked, I am not going to attend the January 20th inauguration,” Trump tweeted. The move was widely anticipated as Trump falsely claimed election victory for months and made unfounded claims of voter fraud. His own government said the elections had gone reasonably well.
Vice President Mike Pence was expected to attend the inauguration, according to a person close to him and someone familiar with the planning of the inauguration. But Pence spokesman Devin Malley said in a statement on Friday that he and the second lady “have yet to make a decision about their presence.”
Biden’s transition team had no immediate comment on Trump’s announcement. But Jen Psaki, the new president’s new White House press secretary, said last month that it was not up to Biden to attend the inauguration.
On Thursday, with 12 days to go, Trump finally bent over the reality amid the growing talk of trying to take him out early, acknowledging that he would leave peacefully after Congress confirmed his defeat.
Trump led a White House video on Thursday condemning the violence committed in his name in the Capitol a day earlier. Then he admitted to the camera for the first time that his presidency would soon end – though he refused to name Biden or explicitly state that he had lost.
“A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20,” Trump said in the video. “My focus now is on ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transfer of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation. “
The next morning, however, Trump was back in his usual department. Instead of expressing condolences to the police officer who passed away After injuries sustained in the riot, Trump took to twitter to praise the “ great American patriots ” who voted for him.
“They will not be respected or treated unfairly in any way !!!” he tweeted.
Thursday night’s speech, which seemed intended to prevent talk of forced early eviction, came at the end of a day when the cornered president was out of sight in the White House. Silenced on some of his favorite Internet lines, he watched the layoffs of several top employees, including two cabinet secretaries.
And as officials searched the aftermath of the siege of the U.S. Capitol by the pro-Trump mob, there was a growing debate about impeaching him a second time as there was talk of invoking the 25th Amendment to get him out. to evict the Oval Office.
The Invasion of the Capitol, a powerful symbol of the country’s democracy, rattled Republicans and Democrats alike. They struggled with how best to contain the impulses of a president who is deemed too dangerous to manage his own social media accounts, but who is still commander in chief of the world’s largest military.
“I’m not worried about the next election, I’m worried about getting through the next 14 days,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s closest allies. He condemned the role of the president in Wednesday’s riots, saying, “If anything else happens, all options are on the table.”
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that “the President of the United States had instigated an armed insurrection against America.” She called him ‘a very dangerous person who would not stay in office. This is urgent, an emergency of the greatest magnitude. “
She said in a statement to colleagues on Friday that she had spoken with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about preventing Trump from launching military action or a nuclear strike.
“The situation of this unhinged president couldn’t be more dangerous, and we must do everything we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced attack on our country and our democracy,” she wrote.
Pelosi also met with the House Democratic caucus on Friday to consider impeachment proceedings against the president for a second time. She and Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer have also called on Pence and the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to force Trump from office – though the urgency of that discussion had waned among cabinet members and staff on Thursday.
The talks grew out of fears of what a desperate president might do in his last days, including speculation that Trump could incite more violence, make hasty deals, grant ill-conceived pardons – including for himself and his family – or even cause a destabilizing international incident.
Pence did not publicly say whether he would support an appeal for the 25th Amendment, but Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said he did not consider that likely. “I just heard he’s not actually moving in that direction,” he said, citing “my Senate channels.”
The president’s video on Thursday – which was released when he returned to Twitter after his account was restored – was a complete reversal of the video he released 24 hours earlier, in which he said to the violent crowd, “We love you. You are very special. His refusal to condemn the violence sparked a wave of criticism, and in the new video he finally denounced the “lawlessness and chaos” of the protesters.
Aides said the video was also intended to slow the mass exodus of executives and avert potential legal problems for Trump once he leaves office; White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, has repeatedly warned the president that he could be held responsible for Wednesday’s incitement to violence.
As for his feelings on leaving office, Trump told the nation that “serving as your president was the honor of my life,” alluding to a return to the public arena. He told supporters “our incredible journey has only just begun.”
While Trump was silent and entrenched in the executive mansion until Thursday night, loyalists circled him to the exits, but their departure – which would come in two weeks anyway – moved up to protest the way the president handled the riot .
Transport Secretary Elaine Chao became the first cabinet member to resign. Chao, married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the lawmakers detained in the Capitol on Wednesday, said in a message to staff that the attack “troubled me deeply in a way that I just can’t put aside.”
Education secretary Betsy DeVos followed. In her letter of resignation Thursday, DeVos blamed Trump for fueling tensions in the violent attack on the country’s seat of democracy. “There’s no question about the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it’s the turning point for me,” she wrote.
Others who resigned in the aftermath of the riot: Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger; Ryan Tully, Senior Director of European and Russian Affairs at the National Security Council; and First Lady Melania Trump’s Chief of Staff, Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary.
Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former Chief of Staff and now Special Envoy to Northern Ireland, told CNBC he called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “ to let him know that I was resigning. … I can not do it. I can’t stay. “
“Those who choose to stay, and I have spoken to some of them, choose to stay because they fear the president will put someone worse in it,” Mulvaney said.
Mulvaney’s predecessor in the post of chief of staff, retired US Marine Corps General John Kelly, told CNN that “I think the cabinet should meet and have a discussion” on Section 4 of the 25th Amendment – making the Trump’s mighty removal by his own cabinet.
Staff-level discussions on the matter took place in multiple departments and even parts of the White House, according to two people briefed on the talks. But no cabinet member has publicly expressed support for the move.
In the West Wing, the shell-shocked aides packed their supplies, following a delayed guideline to offboard their posts before the Biden team arrived.
The president has asked aides to explore a possible farewell trip to the southern border next week to raise awareness of his immigration policy.
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Lemire reported from New York. Jill Colvin, Associated Press author, contributed from Washington.