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Frustrated by the loss of his Twitter account and forced to accept that he has to step down soon, President Trump has effectively stopped doing his job, delegating day-to-day responsibilities to Vice President Mike Pence while curling up with a group increasingly restricted from willing assistants and considering an additional presidential election. pardons.
Trump had considered leaving the White House before his last day in office on Wednesday, even as early as this weekend, but he chose to leave on the morning of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, according to two people familiar with the talks who have warned that, with Trump, plans are always subject to change.
Intrigued by the idea of surpassing Biden, the still egotistical president requested a major send off. It would start with a crowd of staff and supporters applauding and waving the flag to see it set off on the South Lawn of the White House, according to a person familiar with the planning, and continue with a more formal ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, with a red carpet, military band, color guard and 21-gun salute. He will make his last Air Force One flight in Florida, to settle in Mar-a-Lago, his property in West Palm Beach, Florida.
While Trump is still unwilling to formally concede to Biden directly or participate in the traditional spectacle of the peaceful transfer of power by attending the swearing-in of his successor, Pence on Thursday called Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and “l congratulated her and offered her help. before the inauguration, ”according to a person familiar with the call.
Pence, his relationship with Trump has all but broken now because he refused to encourage the president’s efforts to defy the Constitution and overturn the election result, confirmed earlier in the week that he planned to attend the inauguration of Biden. Trump, in one of his latest tweets last week, made it clear he would not be leaving.
Previously, Trump had floated the idea of leaving town early to avoid having to welcome Biden to the White House before the inauguration ceremonies on Capitol Hill, as has long been traditional – to provide the consecrated photo of outgoing presidents and entrants that gives visual definition of America’s peaceful transfer of power. Although he can now stay until inauguration day, Trump still has no plans to meet with the president-elect.
His administration this week has shown traditional courtesy, inviting Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, to stay at Blair House, just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, on the eve of the grand opening.
Finally forced by bipartisan fury after last week’s insurgency on Capitol Hill to recognize the ‘new administration’ – if not defeat – Trump almost completely retired from the post he fought so hard to keep . Helpers and friends who spoke with him this week describe him as “furious” at the deletion of his account by Twitter, but also say he has been somewhat sobered by the warnings from his lawyers about his potential legal liability for inciting the deadly riot last week.
From the moment the pro-Trump mob smashed the gates of Capitol Hill and entered the House and Senate chambers to stop Congress from counting electoral votes, Pence has effectively taken over the responsibilities of the presidency. As Trump was mesmerized by the live television coverage of his supporters fighting for him, it fell to Pence – who chaired the tally and was to be thrown into hiding – to authorize the deployment of the National Guard to the District of Columbia to stifle the crowd.
A week later, the President was watching TV again – along with country music star Toby Keith, who he presented with a medal – as the House voted to remove him for inciting an insurgency, making him the only president to be impeached twice. He was convinced the Senate would fail to convict him again, according to a person who speaks to him regularly, and mainly focused on his anger at the 10 House Republicans who voted in favor of impeachment, assistants wondering who some of the lawmakers are. were and what he could do for revenge.
Trump spent time Thursday asking his aides to reverse reports of his frustration with Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of the few outside lawyers still willing to defend him. That afternoon, as Trump took farewell photos with staff members as others loaded boxes into vans and moving cars just outside the West Wing, Pence s ‘visited the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a briefing on security preparations for the inauguration ceremony.
After the meeting, Pence told reporters the government “will ensure that we have a safe inauguration, that President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris take the oath … in a manner consistent with our history. and our traditions ”.
On the way home, Pence stopped to greet some of the 20,000 National Guards stationed outside the Capitol, thanking them for their service in keeping the opening ceremonies safe.
Trump still hadn’t addressed the nation on Friday over reports from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies that national terrorists, emboldened by the Capitol breach that left at least five dead, threatened. not only the inauguration, but the 50 state capitals.
My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, one of Trump’s strongest supporters for claiming the fraud cost the president’s re-election, has been spotted around an otherwise quiet White House. As Lindell left the West Wing, a photographer captured an image showing that the notes he was holding referred to “martial law” and “insurgency law”.
Pence is also due to deliver a speech Saturday on the administration’s “foreign policy accomplishments” at the California Naval Air Force Base in Lemoore, and then at the 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, NY, his office said Wednesday.
Typically, outgoing presidents participate in a formal farewell ceremony with members of the armed forces. Trump, however, doesn’t bother. On Thursday, the White House emailed a brief statement to Trump reporters that could mark a 67-word finale. It was above all a greeting to himself.
“US military troops in Afghanistan are at their lowest for 19 years. Likewise, Iraq and Syria are also at their lowest point for many years, ”the president said. “I will always be determined to stop endless wars. It has been a great honor to rebuild our armed forces and support our brave men and women in uniform. $ 2.5 trillion invested, including in magnificent new equipment – all made in the USA. “
Spending his final days almost entirely out of sight, Trump is reportedly plotting a number of pardons and considering whether to give one. A self-pardon would be an untested and questionable constitutionality and one – at a time when he and his family business are under investigation – suggesting indifference to the law in an effort to evade federal prosecution. .
Those who have been in contact with the president are reluctant to predict whether he will take brazen action. His calculations must now be weighed against the unresolved issue of his Senate impeachment trial; a conviction could prevent him from running again.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Made it clear in a statement Wednesday that he was prepared to vote in favor of Trump’s conviction, a move some administration officials say ‘it was meant to dissuade the president from forgiving himself or anything else. damaging blows in his last days.
“He knows that self-forgiveness is onerous, will invite scrutiny and will not protect him from state actions,” a former senior administration official said of Trump. But the math, the official said, was more about “whether it was ultimately worth considering and complicated” than any impeachment endgame.
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