Trump will not hand nuclear football over to Biden. Here is how the transfer will take place.

During his swearing-in on Wednesday, President-elect Joe Biden will receive nuclear “football” – an oddly shaped 45-pound briefcase that is always by the president’s side to command and control the country’s enormous nuclear arsenal.

A military assistant carrying the “soccer ball” stays physically close to the president, ready to perform the well-prepared choreography of command and control.

Smithsonian Magazine reported that it is officially called the “President’s Emergency Satchel” and that it is constructed around a “sturdy aluminum frame, wrapped in black leather.” But, the magazine noted, unlike the movies, it doesn’t have a big red button to start nuclear war.

However, for the first time, outgoing President Donald Trump will not hand over the black leather case to the incoming President. Typically, the transfer takes place during the groundbreaking ceremony at the United States Capitol.

Because Trump plans to be in Florida when Biden is sworn in, the transfer will happen differently. It will be the first time in the nuclear age that a sitting president does not attend the inauguration of his successor.

A U.S. official said a military aide would accompany Trump to Florida with one of the soccer balls and that Trump would retain exclusive power to launch a nuclear strike until 11:59:59 a.m. Wednesday. The fact that Trump is physically out of Washington will not affect his launching authority or his access to football until noon. (There are several soccer balls that allow a president to throw a military strike while traveling.)

Another military aide with a second nuclear football will hand power over to Biden once he’s sworn in, the official said, and Trump’s military aide will bring football back to Washington.

Biden’s football will be on hand for him Wednesday at noon.

James Stavridis, an NBC News contributor, said that at noon football with Biden would become the one that is “on,” in that the U.S. Strategic Command would go to that one if something happened that meant it ‘was necessary.

“Just before becoming president, there is a soccer ball nearby [that] is activated, ”Stavridis said of Biden.

The White House declined to comment, saying it was a security issue.

In a 2013 Discovery Channel documentary, former Vice President Dick Cheney describes the moment as it typically unfolds.

“The football pass is at noon. No one said a word, but I knew what to look for,” he said. “So you have the ceremony in front, but … sort of behind one of the big pillars over there in the front, these two guys are standing in their uniforms, and at the right time he reaches out for it. hand it over to the newly appointed military assistant. And he takes it from that point on. The new president is the one who controls our nuclear resources. “

There have been some unusual events around football under the various presidents, said presidential historian Michael Beschloss, an NBC News contributor.

The location of the football “was an issue when assassinated JFK was in Dallas,” he said. “Reagan’s nuclear code card was accidentally dumped in hospital after being shot in 1981. Clinton lost his nuclear code card for a few months in 2000.”