The last-minute move to bring President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration indoors could leave some members of Congress out in the cold.
Perhaps not literally: No one is expected to be seated outside in 25-degree bluster. But the possibility that not all lawmakers might get seats in the Rotunda for the oath-of-office ceremony has cast a chill over the occasion in some congressional offices, according to four lawmakers and aides.
“Simply put, there’s not enough room,” one senior Republican aide said. “It’s a shitshow.”
The initial guidance from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies after Trump’s team decided to move things indoors on Friday was that “those with tickets for the Presidential Platform and members of Congress will be able to attend in person.”
But since then rumors have flown that at least some lawmakers could get sent elsewhere in the Capitol. One GOP member said “no one knows” the situation, while another said there are concerns there won’t be enough chairs to accommodate every member. At least 20 Democrats were planning to skip the ceremony even before the change in venue.
A spokesperson for a inaugural committee member denied one rumor, that there would be seats for only 99 members, but declined to comment further on the arrangements for Monday.
Tomorrow will be the first time since 1985 that the swearing-in will be held indoors. It has sparked an 11th-hour scramble to jam hundreds of dignitaries — not just members of Congress, but former presidents and first ladies, Supreme Court justices, plus media and others — into the roughly 7,200 square feet of the Rotunda.
Photos of the 1985 inauguration show a standing-room only crowd, though it is unclear how many were lawmakers. One Republican, granted anonymity like others to describe sensitive inaugural planning, said members were told they would be in the Rotunda while spouses will likely be in Statuary Hall or the Capitol Visitor Center. Another member said that, as of Sunday, they believed they still had two tickets.
The confusion lawmakers are experiencing is a pale shadow of what the general public has seen in the past 48 hours. Tens of thousands of spectators were expected to gather on the National Mall for the swearing-in, with congressional offices distributing color-coded tickets that became purely commemorative the moment Trump announced he was moving things indoors.
“So much effort by so many people just for a, ‘Hey, it’s a first-come, first-serve free-for-all,”’ the senior GOP aide said.
Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.
