WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump said Friday he will not attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 20, and slashed his message a day before he would work to ensure a “power transition fluid, orderly and trouble-free “to his successor.
Trump offered no clues as to how he would spend his last hours in office and will be the first incumbent president since Andrew Johnson to skip his successor’s oath. Traditionally, incoming and outgoing presidents travel together to the United States Capitol for the ceremony, as a symbol of the nation’s peaceful transition.
Trump’s comments come two days after a violent crowd of his supporters occupied the Capitol for several hours as lawmakers counted the election votes certifying Biden’s victory. Biden will become president at noon on Jan. 20, regardless of Trump’s plans.
“To all those who have asked, I will not go to the inauguration on January 20,” Trump tweeted. The move had been widely expected, as Trump falsely claimed victory during the election for months and enacted baseless claims of electoral fraud. His own administration said the elections had been quite organized.
Vice President Mike Pence was expected to attend the inauguration, according to a person close and familiar with the planning of the inauguration. But Pence spokesman Devin Malley said in a statement Friday that he and the second lady “have not yet made any decision on their attendance.”
Biden’s transition team made no immediate comment on Trump’s announcement. But Jen Psaki, the president-elect’s new White House press secretary, said last month that Biden did not decide whether Trump attended the inauguration.
On Thursday, 12 days before the end of his term, Trump leaned toward reality amid growing talks of trying to force him out soon, acknowledging that he will leave peacefully after Congress declares his defeat.
Trump on Thursday directed a video from the White House condemning the violence committed in his name a day earlier at the Capitol. Then, for the first time in the chamber, he admitted that his presidency would end soon, although he declined to mention Biden by name or explicitly stated 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 smooth transition of power. This moment requires healing and reconciliation. “
The next morning, however, Trump returned to his usual division. Instead of offering condolences to the police officer who died of the wounds he suffered during the riot, Trump took to twitter to congratulate the “great American patriots” who had voted for him.
“They will not be despised or treated unfairly in any way, form or form !!!” he tweeted.
The address on Thursday evening, which seemed designed to avoid the discussion of an early forced eviction, came at the end of a day when the cornered president was left out of sight at the White House. Silenced in some of his favorite lines of communication over the Internet, he saw the resignations of several top councilors, including two cabinet secretaries.
And as officials analyzed the aftermath of the siege of the U.S. Capitol by the pro-Trump mafia, there was a growing discussion of accusing him a second time as there was still talk of invoking the 25th Amendment to oust of the Oval Office.
The invasion of the Capitol building, a powerful symbol of the nation’s democracy, shook Republicans and Democrats alike. They struggled with the best way to contain the impulses of a president who is considered too dangerous to control his own social media accounts, but who remains the commander-in-chief of the world’s largest army.
“I don’t care about the next election, I care about spending the next 14 days,” said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s strongest allies. He condemned the president’s role in Wednesday’s riots and said, “If anything else happens, all options would be on the table.”
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that “the president of the United States provoked an armed insurrection against America.” She called him “a very dangerous person who should not continue in office. It is urgent, an emergency of the utmost magnitude. “
He said Friday in a statement to his colleagues that he had spoken with the chairman of the joint chief of staff about how to prevent Trump from initiating military action or a nuclear strike.
“The situation of this dishonored president could not be more dangerous and we must do everything possible to protect the American people from their unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy,” he wrote.
Pelosi also met Friday with the Democratic group in the House to study for the second time a removal procedure against the president. She and Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer have also called on Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to force Trump to step down, despite the urgency of this discussion between cabinet members and the staff had declined Thursday.
The talks came amid fears that a desperate president could do in his last days, including speculation that Trump could incite more violence, make hasty appointments, issue ill-conceived pardons (including for him and his family). or even trigger a destabilizing international incident.
Pence has not said publicly whether he would support the invocation of the 25th Amendment, but Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said he did not believe it was likely. “I’m feeling like it’s basically not moving in that direction,” he said, citing “my Senate channels.”
The president’s video on Thursday, which was posted when he returned to Twitter after restoring his account, was a complete reversal of what he posted just 24 hours earlier, in which he told the violent crowd, “We love you. very special “. His refusal to condemn the violence sparked a storm of criticism and, in the new video, he finally denounced the “illegality and chaos” of the protesters.
Attendees said the video was also intended to curb the mass exodus of staff and avoid possible legal issues for Trump once he leaves office; White House attorney Pat Cipollone has repeatedly warned the president he could be held responsible for inciting Wednesday’s violence.
As for his feelings when he left office, Trump told the nation that “serving as president has been the honor of my entire life” while hinting at returning to the public stage. He told fans that “our amazing journey is just beginning.”
While Trump remained silent and embedded in the executive mansion until Thursday evening, around him, the loyalists headed for the exits, their exits, who would arrive anyway in two weeks, ascended to protest the riot management by the president.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao became the first cabinet member to resign. Chao, married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the lawmakers trapped at the Capitol on Wednesday, said in a message to staff that the attack “has deeply worried me in a way I just can’t stop. band “.
She was followed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. On Thursday, in his resignation letter, DeVos blamed Trump for igniting tensions in the violent attack on the nation’s headquarters of democracy. “You can’t go wrong with the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it’s the turning point for me,” he wrote.
Others who resigned in the wake of the riot: Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger; Ryan Tully, senior director of European and Russian affairs for the National Security Council; and First Lady Chief of Staff Melania Trump, Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary.
Mick Mulvaney, a former Trump chief of staff who has become a special envoy to Northern Ireland, told CNBC he had called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “to let him know he was resigning. … I can’t do that. I can’t stay. “
“Those who choose to stay, and I’ve talked to some of them, choose to stay because they care about the president putting someone worse off,” Mulvaney said.
Mulvaney’s predecessor in the post of chief of staff, retired U.S. Marine Corps General John Kelly, told CNN that “I think the cabinet should meet and discuss” on section 4 of the 25th amendment, allowing for the forceful removal of Trump by his own cabinet.
According to two people reported on the talks, staff-level discussions on the issue took place in various departments and even in some parts of the White House. But no member of the Cabinet has publicly expressed support for the move.
In the western wing, the impacted aides gathered, following a delayed directive to begin withdrawing their seats before the Biden team arrived.
The president has asked aides to explore a possible valedictory trip next week to the southern border as a means of revealing his immigration policies.
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Lemire reported from New York. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed the Washington information.