Trump “prays” for Biden and leaves the White House after signing a hundred pardons

Donald Trump leaves the White House today as a dethroned president, denounced and with the lowest level of approval of the American people. In a rude gesture, he will skip the traditional ritual of the transfer of power in which the outgoing president welcomes the incoming one on the steps of the North Portico and walks with him to the Capitol for the inauguration. One more slight to Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, who, given the latest violent events in Washington, the couple have also preferred to avoid. Of course, the Republican said yesterday in a video that he “prays” for his successor and the “success” of his Administration.

None of the Trumps has called them to facilitate the transfer, as required by protocol etiquette, nor did the usual tea visit in the Oval Office yesterday take place to receive their new tenants. Nor has the ex-president (he will formally cease to be at six in the afternoon) has formally recognized Biden’s victory, so he is not expected to leave the traditional note on the presidential table wishing him luck as is customary, all of them symbolic high rituals. consideration in American democracy.

On his last trip on Air Force One that takes the Trumps to their new residence in Florida, the former president leaves behind an exhausted and shocked country after four years of anxiety, drama, violence and instability and a presidency marked by authoritarianism and incompetence. The Republican leader leaves with a society destroyed by the pandemic, out of control in thirty states and with more than 400,000 deaths.

It should be noted, as an anecdote, that the ordinance always establishes a cleaning of all the premises of the White House as soon as the outgoing president leaves it to make it ready before its new residents arrive. But this morning it is also subject to a thorough disinfection for security against covid-19. The facilities have been a source of contagion on several occasions, with dozens of sick charges and officials, including the presidential couple, and the Democratic leader, 78, does not want to take risks. Employees also have to reconfigure private quarters, as the Bidens will share a bedroom while the mogul and his wife, Melania, used separate rooms.

For Trump, the farewell begins today at the Andrews Joint Base in Washington at eight in the morning (two in the afternoon in Spain), with a self-celebration that includes a red carpet, a 21 salute salute and a military honor guard. The tycoon sent hundreds of invitations on Sunday, mostly to close associates, officials, the military and even former allies, such as Anthony Scaramucci, a spokesman whom he fired in 2017. On the cards, he asked that each guest bring up to five companions; yes, all with a mask. Last night, few had responded.

In the absence of the president, the Bidens will be greeted this afternoon by the chief usher of the White House, Timothy Harleth, also in his last function, who will welcome them. The president will also participate in a wreath ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, along with his predecessors Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. It is during these hours that most of the Bidens’ personal effects are moved to the White House and are unpacked.

No to self-pardon

In his last hours in the Oval Office, Trump wasted no time. Signed more than a hundred presidential pardons that included politicians disgraced by corruption – such as his former adviser Steve Bannon-, longtime allies, the son of a former Arkansas senator, the founder of the notorious online drug market Silk Road and a member of the Manhattan aristocracy who pleaded guilty to a fraud scheme. It is also speculated that two beneficiaries are Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, although last night no one had confirmed it.

In the end, the Republican leader did not use the self-pardon on himself or his immediate family, which, according to various constitutional experts, would violate the basic principle that no one can judge his own case and would be invalid.

Trump met with his son-in-law Jared Kushner, his daughter Ivanka, and their senior advisers to go over a long list of requests for pardons, which took up much of the day as he was personally committed to the details of each case. On Sunday, “The New York Times” revealed the existence of a lucrative “market” of clemency, according to which people of confidence of the ex-president have been asking for juicy sums of money from wealthy convicts to pressure the White House for forgiveness. The situation, which has come to a head with more than three dozen managers and lawyers involved in these events, abounds in the ‘access’ trafficking that has defined the Trump term. The newspaper cites some examples of specific people who have paid large sums to the ‘achievers’. However, although it is a questionable practice, it is not clear that it is illegal.

Pardons carry a high risk factor when they allude to associates of the outgoing president, as in the case of Michael Flynn, embroiled in the Russian interference scheme. The procedure eliminates the right of reception to the Fifth Amendment that protects from self-incrimination and that could harm Trump in the future if the pardoned was called to testify against the former president.

Last statement | “The movement we started has only just begun”

The White House released yesterday a last institutional declaration of Donald Trump as president. In the recording, he once again condemns the violence and hints at his intention to continue with his plan to run for the presidential elections in 2024. A possibility that is currently up in the air due to the delayed impeachment process with which Democrats want to disqualify him from any public office in the future.

“As I prepare to hand over power to a new Administration on Wednesday at noon, I want you to know that the movement that we started has only just begun,” said the still president to the Americans, proud of having led the Government “that responds to the people (…). Our agenda was not Republicans or Democrats, but to work for the good of a nation, “he added.

“All Americans are horrified by the assault on our Capitol,” repeated once again the Republican leader, whom his colleague Mitch McConnell, conservative leader in the Senate, had just accused shortly before “provoking” the riots. After reclaiming his legacy from the past four years, Trump said he would pray that Biden’s cabinet will “succeed in keeping America safe and prosperous.”