President-elect Donald Trump, who tends to like things big (and beautiful), will get a bigger stage for his inaugural swearing-in on Monday.
But his team’s demands will push lawmakers and other VIPs out of the cozy, in-person action at the Capitol, two sources familiar told the Daily Beast on Sunday.
Trump transition officials rejected a stage that had already been hastily erected in the Capitol’s Rotunda, where Trump ordered the official ceremony be moved because of anticipated polar vortex. Instead, they called for a larger, more aesthetically pleasing setup, according to the sources, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing security arrangements.
And while the new stage may be visually more pleasing, seating had to be sacrificed to make it happen.
Organizers were already scrambling with roughly 72 hours to make changes to plans that had been months in the making after Trump announced on Friday that the show would move indoors. Then came the stage demand.
Sources told the Daily Beast that discussions over the weekend became tense. Republicans at one point threatened to move a number of inaugural events to the White House, an ultimatum that apparently was used as a leveraging tool to get what they wanted: Bigger and better.
The Trump team and their congressional allies butted heads with Democrats on the bipartisan Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which is chaired by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
Trump and Klobachar aides did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump’s revamped stage has reduced the already-limited amount of space in the historic Rotunda. The initial setup accommodated Trump family members, lawmakers, Cabinet members and a handful of close Trump allies—including his favorite billionaires—albeit in close quarters.
Many lawmakers and their families are now expected to view Trump taking the oath of office in an overflow area in Emancipation Hall—a large room in the Capitol Visitor Center, where ordinary citizens enter the Capitol for tours.
Still, the 47th president of the United States is expected to come down to say a few words to attendees following the proceedings in the Rotunda, the sources told the Beast.
The last time freezing temperatures forced a presidential inauguration to move inside the Capitol Rotunda was in 1985 for the swearing-in of President Ronald Reagan to begin his second term.
