White House historian accuses Trump of ‘wilful abandonment of his post’

No American president has boycotted a successor’s inauguration since 1869

The door to the West Wing of the White House remained closed on Wednesday (REUTERS)

Donald Trump’s reluctance to attend Joe Biden’s inauguration has been described as “wilful abandonment” by White House historian and author, Kate Andersen Brower.

Speaking to ABC News’ Powerhouse Politics podcast, Ms Brower said on Wednesday’s episode that the single-term president would be “reckless” to not attend Mr Biden’s swearing-in.  

"It's completely unprecedented in modern times," said Ms Brower about Mr Trump, who has continued to claim without basis that the presidential contest was rigged against him.

Speaking last week, he was asked by Fox News whether he would attend the upcoming inauguration and replied “I don’t want to talk about that.”

But as Ms Brower said to ABC News, no American president has boycotted a successor’s inauguration since 1869, when Andrew Johnson abandoned the Ulysses S. Grant’s inauguration.

While only two others, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, have done so.

On that basis, Mr Trump could become only the fourth president to boycott their successor’s inauguration, and could blame the coronavirus, Ms Brower said.

"No one would expect him to ride in the limo with Biden on the way to the swearing in anyway. Right? Because of Covid, so there are some things that he could get out of doing just because of the virus."

She added that president Trump will have made work harder for White House staffers, who are set to decontaminate the White House before Mr Biden moves-in next month.

"He's going to make this job a lot harder for about 95 resident staffers who move one president and the other out. And these are you know, these are ushers, butlers, housekeepers.”

“It's kind of an all hands-on deck situation," Ms Brower said.

While Mr Biden is unlikely to be invited to tea at the White House, or travel to the inauguration with Mr Trump, there is still the possibility that the current president leaves a note on the new president’s desk.

"Even if he didn't show up to the inauguration ... he could leave a letter in the drawer of the resolute desk for Biden,” said Ms Brower. “God knows what it would say, but I think it would be fascinating."