Has Trump gone into hiding after impeachment? Mike Pence heads FEMA meeting in DC a week before term ends
It seems like POTUS Donald Trump has totally checked out of DC with less than a week remaining in his presidency. Vice President Mike Pence has been carrying on Trump's duties. Pence was seen sitting at the head of the table during a Thursday, January 14, briefing regarding the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, TMZ reports.
Trump was not at the meeting which had taken place at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters in Washington. Earlier, the same day, Pence also met and thanked the National Guard troops instead of Trump. The National Guard troops have been stationed at the Capitol building ever since the January 6 attack on the building. As it appears, Pence seems to be running the show while Trump seems to have been moved out. It is said that Trump is all set to fly south to Florida to his Mar-a-Lago resort prior to Inauguration Day. Trump had made it clear he wouldn't be attending Biden's inauguration.
At the meeting at FEMA, Pence assured the public that Biden's inauguration would be safe despite safety concerns. Pence will be attending the swearing-in ceremony, The Hill reports. Pence said, "We all lived through that day of January the 6th. And as the president made clear yesterday, we are committed to an orderly transition, and to a safe inauguration, and the American people deserve nothing less."
Pence's briefing had come after reports cited that Trump acted like "a monster" and was "mentally unreachable" during the violence that ensued as a result of a MAGA protesters breaching the Capitol, his aides had said. Trump also refused to "condemn his people" as they rioted and looted the Capitol as a means to prevent lawmakers from declaring President-elect Biden the winner of the 2020 election. Washington was left shaken on January 6 after Trump supporters stormed into the Capitol.
On Wednesday, January 13, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump on charges that he had incited those riots. Many of the Trump supporters had been very upset that Pence had not sided with Trump nor overturned the impeachment. Pence, however, refused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's request that he invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from his position.
MEAWW had reported that Biden's inauguration rehearsal has reportedly been postponed due to security fears. The security concerns come after FBI Director Chris Wray warned about 'concerning chatter' online. Biden's Sunday run-through was delayed to Monday, January 18, with his scheduled train journey from Wilmington, Delaware, to DC being axed over the threats of violence, sources shared with Politico.
The news of the postponement was announced on Thursday night, January 14, just hours after Wray had issued a warning regarding armed violence nationwide around Biden's inauguration. During his first briefing since January 6, Wray said, "When we talk about potential threats, we have to say that we are seeing an extensive amount of concerning online chatter about a number of events surrounding the inauguration."