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A parade of foreign leaders is desperately angling to receive a coveted invite to President-elect Trump’s inauguration later this month.
By custom, foreign leaders don’t attend inaugurations of U.S. presidents, but Trump has thrown that precedent out the window, setting off the scramble after inviting Chinese president Xi Jinping to the Jan. 20 ceremony. Xi has already turned the offer down, with a top emissary expected to attend instead.
But many others are burning up the phone lines to their agents in Washington D.C. — demanding access, sources told The Post.
“They’re all going crazy. Chile, Peru, Nigeria, Mozambique,” said one registered foreign agent, who added the leaders “were champing at the bit to attend.”
For most, the answer is likely no.
“I tell my clients the truth. You’re not going to be able to go. If you’re Costa Rica, there is just no way you get invited to this inauguration. What is the value add? You are not bringing business or major companies from your country.”
Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 20 on the west front of the Capitol building. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts will administer the oath of office at noon. A blizzard of balls and parties will then descend on Washington as the nation celebrates the peaceful transfer of power — an alien concept to many of the leaders now jockeying for an invite.
Like the wealthy American citizens and corporations now lining up to donate to Trump’s inaugural fund — which now has more than $170 million in its coffers — foreign leaders are driven by their unique interests and desire to bring their issues before the incoming administration and its allies.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for example, is likely after security assistance in his nation’s troubled northern region and economic investment for its more stable south, one insider said.
Trump has also invited leaders close to him politically — and ideologically.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she had been invited and would try and make it. Argentina’s Javier Milei has been invited and plans to go. El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele — who has turned the nation around by cracking down on gang violence — has also been invited, as has former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Another world leader who has been making furious overtures is Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky — who has publicly expressed interest in wanting to go as well. Trump has not formally invited the embattled Ukrainian leader but said last month that “if he’d like to come, I’d like to have him.”
“There are people around [Zelensky] trying to get him an invite through different means. . . . They are approaching Trump allies,” said a Trump insider familiar with the matter.
“There is a strong interest because of the international upheaval that has taken place in the last four years. A lot of world leaders are looking to get to him first so they can share their voice in helping change how Trump responds to some of these crises on the international stage,” said Bryan Lanza, a former Trump campaign senior advisor, who now works as an outside consultant.
