Pence and Former White House Officials Anthony Scaramucci, John Kelly, Don McGahn to Snub Trump Departure Ceremony

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Vice President Mike Pence and numerous former employees of President Donald Trump’s White House are planning to skip his departure ceremony on Wednesday.

Those officials include former Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, former Chief of Staff John Kelly, and former counsel Don McGahn. All three received invitations, according to a CNN report on Tuesday, and all declined. McGahn is the only one in the group who has not been publicly critical of the president since leaving his post. Scaramucci joined a political action committee working toward Trump’s defeat in 2020. Kelly — who also briefly served in Trump’s Cabinet as the head of Homeland Security — said this month that he would vote to remove Trump if he still served in the Cabinet.

Republican leaders in Congress said Tuesday they planned to follow suit, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) telling reporters they planned to attend church with President-elect Joe Biden before his inauguration.

Officials said Pence plans to intend Biden’s inauguration, and that scheduling would make it difficult for the vice president to attend both events.

Trump is set to hold his sendoff at Joint Air Force Base Andrews in Maryland at 8 a.m. Wednesday. He will be heading for his residence in Palm Beach, Florida, just before Biden’s inauguration at noon.

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