Trump will not be at his luxurious Mar-a-Lago OLD New Year's Eve party
Donald Trump will interrupt his lavish New Year's Eve party to return to the White House on Thursday, as Republicans are expected to disrupt the Electoral College certification process on January 6, in a last-ditch attempt to reverse Joe Biden's victory.
The White House said Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will return to the White House at 11 a.m. ET from Florida.
The president will leave the private club hours before his New Year's Eve gala, announced by the Mar-a-Lago resort this week, where guests have already begun to arrive.
Some 500 people reportedly made reservations to attend the party with Trump after purchasing tickets priced at $ 1,000 each.
The president, who normally enjoys such red carpet events, completely skipped it this year when Republicans announced plans to disrupt the January 6 certification process, seen by them as the best chance to overturn the election results. .
Trump is also reportedly concerned about the upcoming first anniversary of the US drone strike on Iran when the country's top general, Qasem Soleimani, was assassinated. Iran is expected to retaliate in the coming days.
On Wednesday, Republican Missouri Senator Josh Hawley became the first to announce that he would raise objections while Congress counts Electoral College votes, to prevent Joe Biden from taking the oath by delaying the process.
He said that "some states, particularly Pennsylvania, did not follow their own state election laws" and should be investigated.
During his vacation ritual, Trump has been pushing for members of Congress and other associates to refuse to ratify the Electoral College count on Jan.6. Mike Pence will preside over a meeting of Congress in which Joe Biden's victory would be certified after the vote count.
In what is usually an approval exercise, senators can file an objection to the Electoral College votes. Objections to the state electoral vote would be approved by both houses to decide whether the challenged votes can be excluded.
Vice President Pence has refused to sign the Republicans' plan to change the election results.
Last week, Louie Gohmert, a member of the United States Congress from Texas, and several other Republicans filed a lawsuit against Pence asking the federal judge to allow the vice president to have "sole authority and sole discretion" to decide what Electoral votes will be included. when the United States Congress meets on January 6.
For the Republican challenges to be debated, a member of the House and a senator must approve an objection.
