What will the Secret Service do if Donald Trump doesn't want to leave the White House? Experts worry about extreme scenario
It has never happened that the American secret service has been used to expel an ex-president from the White House. That scenario is so extreme that there are no plans for it.
However, President Donald Trump's persistent refusal to admit that he lost the election is fueling speculation as to whether he plans to leave the White House at all when Joe Biden arrives on January 20, 2021.
Biden's team reportedly said the new government could unceremoniously expel “intruders” from the White House on January's inauguration day if necessary.
But how exactly would that go?
Business Insider spoke to five former top officials from the US Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security about what could happen if Trump doesn't voluntarily leave the White House.
What if Trump stays in the White House?
It's a worst-case scenario that seems unlikely, but cannot be completely ruled out: the newly sworn president Joe Biden will move into the White House on January 20 and wants to start his first day of work in the Oval Office. But there is Donald Trump sitting behind the desk, shouting that the election results are invalid and that he is still the president of the United States.
“That would of course be the pinnacle,” says a former security officer. "I can't imagine it ever going that far, but we have had more firsts in the past period."
There is no official protocol or roadmap for presidential transfer day. Normally, on the morning of the inauguration, the outgoing president receives the new president at the White House before they ride together to the Capitol for the ceremony.
Meanwhile, White House employees are arranging the removal of the outgoing president's personal belongings and receiving belongings from the new president and his family.
But it is not clear whether Trump will allow these formalities to be set in motion. It is not even clear at this point if he will be attending the inaugural ceremony.
It has been speculated that Trump may be leaving Washington, D.C. before the Changing of the Guard, or that he is refusing to leave the White House because he continues to contest the election results.
If the latter actually happens, experts say it will be up to the US Secret Service to physically expel Trump from the White House.
The Secret Service gets into a strange dilemma
The Secret Service is a division within the Department of Homeland Security. The service is charged with protecting the current president and former presidents.
So the Secret Service would be in a weird dilemma if it had to protect Trump after Biden's inauguration as ex-president, but also expel him from the White House to allow the new president to make a safe entrance.
The Secret Service agents assigned to ensure the new president's safety have every right to say to the ex-president, "You really have to leave now," said Norm Ornstein of the conservative think tank American Enterprise. Institute.
But the Secret Service, proud of its impartiality, will not want to take on this task, former Secret Service officials argue.
“Our job is not to evict people from their homes, but to protect them,” said a former agent for the agency. “I don't see the Secret Service go in, knock on the door of the Oval Office and say," Time to leave, sir. " Check out is at 11 am. "What if he doesn't listen? Will they literally drag him out? ”
The former agent also adds that it is not the job of the Secret Service, but of Trump's administration team and other party members to convince the president that his term in office is over.
President Trump again released unsubstantiated claims about alleged voter fraud early this week. And he refuses to give Joe Biden access to important reports. Trump has also so far refused to discuss transfer work with Biden.
In response to whether Trump is considering staying in the White House on the day of the inauguration, a White House spokesman tells Business Insider that the president will "certainly accept the results of a free and fair election."
Gray area for the Secret Service
There are no scripts for the scenario of an ex-president refusing to leave the White House, former Secret Service and Homeland Security officials tell Business Insider.
"No one has ever seriously considered the possibility that a sitting president will not acknowledge his loss," said another former Secret Service agent who served under both Republican and Democratic presidents.
Secret Service agents are being trained for very different scenarios. Such as an attack during a public speech by the president in which other cabinet members are also present. But a president who refuses to leave the White House is “uncharted territory,” according to the former agent.
The current Director of the Secret Service, James Murray, reports to the Secretary of Homeland Security. That is currently Chad Wolf, a close ally of Trump. In the recent spate of dismissals of high-ranking officials by Trump, Wolf is one of the few who has retained his position.
Chat group of former secret agents speculates about deportation scenario
Former Homeland Security officials and Secret Service agents are puzzled over the role of the agency should Trump really not want to leave. Everyone who spoke to Business Insider said they hope that Trump will not let things get that far.
According to a former Secret Service official who was involved in the transfer of power between presidents, in an extreme scenario, the service must publicly communicate that it is not the duty of the agents to be involved in the deportation of an ex-president.
American top soldiers are also wary of this. General Mark Milley, who heads the Joint Armed Forces, has firmly rejected suggestions that the military should expel Trump from the White House.
How an expulsion of Donald Trump from the White House should work is now a hotly debated topic in a chat group of former Secret Service agents and other ex-Homeland Security officials. So says former vice-secretary Douglas Smith, who served during President Barack Obama's reign.
One scenario is, the Secret Service group of agents charged with protecting Trump would “shut their eyes” as the agents protecting Joe Biden come in and escort Trump out of the Oval Office.
There is also speculation that the FBI or the US Marshal Service, a division of the Department of Justice, may be involved.
Ultimately, according to Smith, things can go like any other eviction. "If you rent an apartment and you don't pay the rent time and time again, and eventually the judge gives permission to evict you, that will happen."
