President-elect Donald Trump’s last-minute move to hold his inauguration ceremony indoors could leave some members of Congress stranded outdoors.
Probably not literally. No one wants to sit outside in 25 degree heat. But in some congressional offices, not every lawmaker may be able to secure a seat in the swearing-in ceremony rotunda, adding a chill to the ceremony, according to the lawmaker and four aides. .
“Simply put, there isn’t enough room,” said one senior Republican aide. “It’s a shit show.”
After President Trump’s team decided on Friday to hold the ceremony indoors, the first guidance issued by the Congressional Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies was that “Presidential Platform ticket holders and members of Congress may attend in person.” It was.
But since then, there have been rumors that at least some lawmakers could be sent to other parts of the Capitol. One Republican lawmaker said “nobody knows” the situation, and another said he feared there wouldn’t be enough chairs to accommodate all members. Even before the venue change, at least 20 Democratic Party members were scheduled to be absent from the ceremony.
A spokeswoman for the first commissioner denied rumors that there were only 99 seats on the commission, but declined to comment further on Monday’s deal.
Tomorrow will be the first time since 1985 that the swearing-in ceremony will be held indoors. That led to an 11-hour scramble that forced hundreds of senior officials, including members of Congress, former presidents and first ladies, Supreme Court justices and members of the media, into the 7,200-square-foot rotunda.
Photos from the 1985 inauguration show a standing-room-only crowd, but it’s unclear how many were members of Congress. One Republican lawmaker, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate inauguration plan, said he was told that members would be in the Rotunda but that their spouses would likely be in Statuary Hall or the Capitol Visitor Center. Ta. Another member said he believed there were still two tickets available as of Sunday.
The chaos that lawmakers are experiencing is a pale shadow of what the public has seen over the past 48 hours. Tens of thousands of spectators were expected to gather on the National Mall for the swearing-in ceremony, and Congressional offices handed out color-coded tickets, but the moment President Trump announced it would be held indoors, it became a purely commemorative event. Ta.
“There’s been so much effort by so many people just to say, ‘Hey, this is free distribution on a first-come, first-served basis,'” said a senior Republican aide.
Katherine Talley McManus contributed to this report.
