Trump Insists Decision to Skip Biden Inauguration Had ‘Nothing to Do’ With Mitch McConnell Threat
Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images — Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump is insisting that his decision to skip the inauguration of President Joe Biden was his and his alone, despite reports he got wind of his potentially getting disinvited to the peaceful transfer of power by House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Trump is making clear that the petty decision to skip the quadrennial ceremony that every single predecessor of his participated had nothing to do with reports of McConnell preemptively disinviting him, the details of which have been reported in a new behind-the-scenes account of Trump’s final and controversial days in the White House, Betrayal, The Final Act of the Trump Show.
A newly-released segment of the book reveals that, after Trump’s supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol, McConnell told aides that he wanted Congressional leaders to write a letter disinviting the outgoing president from Biden’s inauguration ceremony. “McConnell felt he could not give Trump another opportunity to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power,” said Karl. “McConnell wanted to get a letter together from the top four congressional leaders informing Trump that he had been disinvited.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy opposed McConnell’s plan, according to Karl, who wrote “arguing it would be an important message of unity to have Trump attend the ceremony…But McConnell was determined to disinvite Trump regardless of whether McCarthy would sign the letter.”
McCarthy reportedly told the White House about McConnell’s intent to disinvite Trump. Before the letter could be sent, Trump sent out the last tweet he would post before he was kicked off Twitter for good.
So it is in this context that Trump doubled down on his pettiness, in a statement released via his Save America PAC, complete with his Rickles-Esque insults of the players involved.
“This decision was mine, and mine alone,” Trump claims. “The old broken-down Crow, Mitch McConnell, had nothing to do with it. According to third-rate reporter Jonathan Karl of ABC Fake News, McConnell unsuccessfully tried getting a letter signed by others for me not to go.” Trump’s full statement:
From Election Day, November 3rd, the day I realized that the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged, I would never have agreed to go to Joe Biden’s Inauguration. This decision was mine, and mine alone. The old broken-down Crow, Mitch McConnell, had nothing to do with it. According to third-rate reporter Jonathan Karl of ABC Fake News, McConnell unsuccessfully tried getting a letter signed by others for me not to go. This was nothing I ever heard of and actually, if he ever did get it signed, I probably would have held my nose and gone. The Election was rigged, the facts are clear, and Mitch McConnell did nothing. He was probably too busy working on deals with China for his wife and family!
Trump has continued his baseless claim that he only lost the general election due to malfeasance that has never once been proven in a court of law. In fact, when it comes to presidents seeking reelection, it’s fair to say that he is a loser. Fair and square.
