The White House is so desperate to have people attend President Trump's military sendoff that it invited Anthony Scaramucci to the event, Anthony Scaramucci said on Monday.
"Trust me, that had to be a mass email if one of them got sent to me," Scaramucci told Inside Edition. For just 10 days during the summer of 2017, Scaramucci served as White House Communications Director, but was shown the door after he went on a tirade against several of his colleagues during an interview. He has since become a vocal critic of Trump, and endorsed President-elect Joe Biden in 2020.
Trump plans on departing Washington before Biden's inauguration, taking off on Air Force One from Andrews Air Force Base. He wants "a big sendoff with lots of flair," ABC News' Mary Bruce told Inside Edition. Trump reportedly has said he "wants to be surrounded by uniformed military," Bruce said, and "there may even be an Air Force fighter jet flyover." CNN reports Trump also wants a red carpet and 21-gun salute.
In the invitation Scaramucci — and apparently everyone else with a tenuous connection to the White House — received, it says guests can bring up to five other people with them to the festivities. While he joked on Twitter that he'd like to bring prominent critics of Trump like Lincoln Project co-founders George Conway and Rick Wilson, Scaramucci told Inside Edition he won't be there. It looks like he won't be the only one skipping the event; an administration official told CNN that as of Monday, "there haven't been a lot of RSVPs."