Trump Team Asked DC National Guard Chief To Stay On Through Inauguration

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 5: DC National Guard Commanding General Errol Schwartz at a departure ceremony for the 273rd Military Police Co. and 121st MP Detachment (Criminal Investigation Div.) at the District of Colum... UNITED STATES - JANUARY 5: DC National Guard Commanding General Errol Schwartz at a departure ceremony for the 273rd Military Police Co. and 121st MP Detachment (Criminal Investigation Div.) at the District of Columbia Army National Guard Armory. The units are deploying to Afghanistan to support a Special Forces base and a DOD criminal task force. (Photo by Chris Maddaloni/CQ-Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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Following a Washington Post report on Friday revealing that the leader of the Washington, D.C. National Guard would be forced to step down in the middle of the Inauguration ceremony, Donald Trump’s transition team now says that they asked the commander to stay on a few days past the swearing in.

However, it’s unclear whether the Trump team asked Maj. Gen. Errol R. Schwartz to stay on past Inauguration before or after initial reports that Schwartz was ordered to step down immediately.

Schwartz, a presidential appointee, told the Washington Post on Friday that he was ordered to step down at 12:01 p.m. on Inauguration Day, as he was helping oversee security for the event. He told the Post that the timing was “extremely unusual.” Presidential appointees offer their resignation on Inauguration Day, but sometimes incoming presidents will offer extensions to appointments to maintain continuity.

Following the initial report on Schwartz’s departure, two unnamed military officials told the Washington Post that Trump’s transition team accepted the D.C. National Guard chief’s resignation. The Post also reported that “a person close to the transition said transition officials wanted to keep Schwartz in the job for continuity, but the Army pushed to replace him.”

The Washington Post then offered another update on Saturday with new comments from military and Trump officials. The military officials provided new accounts on how the incoming administration handled Schwartz’s resignation, but differed on when the Trump team asked Schwartz to stay on longer. Per the Post:

Military officials on Saturday backtracked from earlier statements indicating that Schwartz had not been asked to stay on by the new administration. One said he learned he had been mistaken, and that additional paperwork that became available Saturday showed that the transition team had in fact asked Schwartz to maintain his command for several days into the new presidency. That official did not know when that offer was made.

Another senior military official said he believed the offer came before Friday.

Maj. Byron Coward, a spokesman for the D.C. National Guard, also said the offer from the transition team to Schwartz came Friday afternoon. He said Trump transition officials asked Schwartz to stay on an additional three days. Coward said that was the first time Schwartz had any notion that the transition team wanted him to stay in command throughout the inauguration.

Schwartz told the Washington Post that the Trump team did ask for him to stay on longer, but he said that the offer came after the Post’s initial report on Friday. Schwartz said that he turned down the offer to stay on because he had already begun the process of leaving his post.

Officials with the Trump transition told the Post on Friday that Schwartz was asked to stay on longer but did not specify when that offer came.

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