Joe and Jill Biden may have waited longer on Inauguration Day to enter the White House because staff were missing to greet them.
In an interruption of the White House protocol, the new president and first lady were left behind closed doors while taking photos outside their new home for the first time on Wednesday.
Read more: Biden enters White House for the first time since being sworn in as 46th US President
The Trumps ‘sent the donors home when they left so there would be no one to help the Bidens with their arrival,’ a well-placed official not affiliated with the Biden government told The National Journal said.
Chief Guard Timothy Harleth was also fired by the Trumps before leaving on Wednesday morning, the publication reported. White House Press Secretary Jen Psak later confirmed that Harleth’s exit took place “before we walked in the door.”
A video of the Bidens’ arrival shows them standing in front of the White House doors for a photo shoot, which lasted more than a minute before they walked to the residence.
The doors then opened for the couple, although it is not clear from the video whether they were opened inside or out.
A veteran social expert in the White House told The National Journal that it is a “major protocol violation for the president to ever stand in front of a closed door in the White House.”
“That may be why there was no one to open the doors to the Bids. You would not expect the Biden staff to know that. Doors are opened and locked by the gangs. There are rules about all these things and everyone has their job, “they added.
However, one former White House official told the publication that the couple’s team may have specifically requested the doors for the photo shoot.
“But what should have happened is that a Biden staff member should have warned the diaper or staff member on the other side of the door that it was time to open it. It was a staff error,” they said.
Biden’s entrance was a complete contrast to Trump’s first visit to the White House on his inauguration day four years earlier.
On January 20, 2017, Donald and Melanie Trump were greeted by former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, who posed with the couple for the photos before entering the building with open doors.
Trump broke tradition by deciding last week not to attend Biden’s inauguration ceremony. Instead, the former president delivered a short farewell speech at the Andrews Joint Base before flying with his wife to South Florida.
Representatives of President Biden did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.