“The Trumps sent the butlers home when they left so there would be no one to help the Bidens when they arrived,” a well-placed official not associated with the incoming Biden team told
National Journal. “So petty.”
The no-shows apparently included chief usher Timothy Harleth. Sources familiar with what happened confirm that Harleth, a former executive of Trump Hotels hired by Melania Trump, was summarily fired by the Trumps before they left—not by the Bidens, as has been widely reported.
Harleth was shown the door before the Bidens reached the door at the North Portico on Wednesday afternoon for their first official entrance as president and first lady.
Video of their arrival showed them waving to photographers and hugging for the cameras for more than a minute—longer than typical presidential photo ops—before approaching the entrance with their family. The heavy doors swung open from within about 15 seconds later.
“It’s a big protocol breach for the president to ever stand in front of a closed door at the White House,” a veteran White House social expert said.
That same source suggested Harleth’s sacking might be to blame: "That may be why there was nobody to open the doors to the Bidens. You couldn’t expect the Biden staff to know to do that. Doors are opened and closed by ushers. There are rules about all these things and everyone has their job.”
“It doesn’t strike me as strange at all that the doors were closed as it made for a nicer photo for the Bidens, which I bet the advance team requested,” another former senior White House official added. “But what should have happened is that a Biden staff member should have alerted the usher or staff person on the other side of that door that it was time to open it. That was a staff mistake.”
Sidelining the ushers and sacking their boss amidst the most chaotic, intense several hours for any White House—moving one president and his family out and another in—was perhaps the final break with precedent at the end of a wholly unorthodox transition, several sources confirmed. Neither Trump met with the Bidens, transition meetings were delayed by several weeks, and Trump administration officials withheld sensitive foreign policy and national security information.
Harleth was considered an unabashed Trump loyalist in White House circles but had told associates he was hoping to stay on with the new regime. That was never going to happen beyond a decent interval, insiders told
National Journal, mainly because of his close ties to the Trumps and ongoing friction between him and the scrupulously nonpartisan household staff. In November, he fired some long-serving residence staff, depriving Jill Biden and her East Wing team of more institutional experience and complicating the transition.
Former spokespersons from the Trump White House had no information about the matter. Trump representatives in Florida and Harleth could not be reached for comment. Biden White House officials had no comment.
As of Thursday, “the [usher] staff is back in place,” an official familiar with the kerfuffle confirmed.
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I'm not sure you can impeach a president for things he did when he wasn't president.
