What happens to nuclear codes as Trump misses Biden inauguration

Donald Trump’s refusal to attend inauguration complicates handover of nuclear ‘football’ to new President.

A military aide carries the president’s nuclear ‘football’ in his right hand as US President Donald Trump returns to the White House during his presidency. Picture: Olivier Douliery/AFP

President Donald Trump’s refusal to attend Joe Biden’s inauguration has complicated the handover of the nuclear codes, one of the most important parts of the official transition.

Mr Trump remains in power right up until the moment Mr Biden is sworn in at midday local time, but he is due to leave for Florida aboard Air Force One about four hours before that.

He will be accompanied on the flight by a military aide carrying the nuclear football, more properly known as the presidential emergency satchel. The briefcase contains a black book listing a menu of strike options, a card with authentication codes for the president, a list of bunkers in which the president can be sheltered, and instructions for the emergency broadcast system.

If Mr Trump attended the inauguration the briefcase would be passed to a second military aide assigned to Mr Biden as he swore the oath. Instead, another football is being readied for the incoming president in Washington.

There are usually at least three footballs in circulation: one with the president, one with the vice-president, and a third set aside for the “designated survivor” — a cabinet official in the line of succession who does not attend official events in case of an attack.

The contents of Mr Trump’s football will be inactivated as soon as Mr Biden has taken the oath.

Stephen Schwartz, of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, told CNN: “Up to 11:59:59am on January 20, Donald Trump has the sole, legal authority to authorise the use of any or all of the US nuclear arsenal.”

The Times