Trump promises transition will go forward Jan. 20
President Donald Trump delivered something of a concession in a videotaped statement, released Thursday night on Twitter amid growing calls on Capitol Hill to impeach him a second time.
“A new administration will be inaugurated on Jan. 20,” Trump said, a day after telling supporters he would “never concede.” “My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.”
It was the sort of remarks Trump’s allies had urged him to make 24 hours earlier, as thousands of supporters, galvanized by his own dishonest claims that the election had been stolen from him, were wreaking havoc on the U.S. Capitol.
Unlike the video he posted to Twitter on Wednesday evening in which he told supporters “we love you,” resulting in the brief suspension of his account, Trump rebuked the insurrectionists in his latest missive.
“You do not represent our country,” he said in the statement. “To those who broke the law, you will pay.”
Trump did defend his two-month crusade to overturn the election, and claimed falsely that he “immediately deployed the National Guard” to the Capitol on Wednesday. The D.C. National Guard was not deployed for nearly two hours after the Capitol was breached.
Additionally, Vice President Mike Pence was the one who coordinated with the Pentagon, according to multiple administration officials, though Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy says Pence was not involved in the decision.
Maryland’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan on Thursday immediately mobilized Maryland’s state police and National Guard, but the state was repeatedly denied permission to send help by
the Department of Defense, Hogan stated in a press conference on Thursday. Hogan was responding to a direct request for help from the District of Columbia, he said.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam mobilized the Virginia National Guard as well, along with 200 Virginia State Troopers. Other states, including New York and Delaware, are also sending National Guard contingents to Washington, D.C. ahead of the inauguration.
On Thursday, 500 members of Maryland’s National Guard and 200 Maryland state police remained on standby outside the capital, and their mission will last until the end of the month, Hogan said.
The Virginia National Guard and state troopers will remain on the ground in Washington, D.C., until the inauguration, Northam said.
Although the remarks amounted to a valedictory of sorts, Trump closed with an uplifting message to his supporters, declaring that his political journey “has only just begun.”