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Donald Trump, eager to make his inauguration a global event, has personally invited several foreign leaders, including heads of state who have recently met with the United States.
Trump has already asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration, his transition team confirmed Thursday, an extremely rare offer made to the communist leader of one of the United States' main geopolitical rivals.
"This is an example of how President Trump creates an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not only allies but also our adversaries and competitors," Trump spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said Thursday during an appearance on Fox News.
A delegation of senior Chinese officials is expected to attend the ceremony in Xi's country, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Argentine President Javier Miel have also been invited by Trump or his team, sources confirmed to CNN. All three are close allies of Trump, who has also rattled the U.S. and its allies at times by adopting strong-arm tactics and far-right politics.
The offers to attend his Washington party have been mostly informal, a person familiar with the conversations told CNN, and sometimes have occurred during phone conversations about other topics. The person also said some invitations have been passed through back channels, not directly from leader to leader.
Trump has also dictated written invitations, a source familiar with the matter said, and has had his team send them to foreign leaders.
Trump's transition team did not respond to questions about which other leaders he has invited. On Thursday, the president-elect suggested he might invite other foreign leaders, which could be "a little risky," according to people familiar with the matter.
"We like to take a little risk," Trump said. "But it's not a bad risk."
A New Diplomatic Era for America
It is up to the president-elect and his team to determine which guests will attend his inauguration, including which world leaders they might invite, a source familiar with the process told CNN. Typically, the bipartisan Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and the State Department reach out to diplomats to attend. The JCCIC has already begun sending invitations to each country's chief of mission as part of its usual protocol.
However, it is rare for heads of state to travel to Washington for an inauguration and it is up to the incoming president to make such requests, the source said. The opening beyond the US's closest Western allies signals a new diplomatic era for the US. In an interview with Time in late November and published Thursday, Trump discussed his existing relationships with authoritarian leaders like North Korea's Kim Jong-un and Russia's Vladimir Putin -- though he declined to say whether he had spoken with Putin since his victory in November.
"I agree with Russia," Trump told the news magazine, which also named him its Person of the Year on Thursday. "I agree with a lot of people that people thought I was not good."
The invitations to world leaders also speak to Trump's initial interest in reconnecting with his foreign counterparts four years after leaving Washington, D.C., and a battered and diminished world stage.
In the weeks since his political comeback, Trump has spoken to world leaders and hosted some at his club in Palm Beach, Florida. On social media, he has already dabbled in international affairs, threatening Mexico and Canada with 25% tariffs and calling for a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Trump told Time magazine that he opposed a new US policy that would allow Ukraine to launch long-range missiles at Russia.
Trump also made a trip abroad: he participated in the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, an appearance that was made at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump turned around, drawn by the glow — and also by the presence of many onlookers.
He also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prince William of the United Kingdom and Meloni. "It was a really big thing," Trump said Thursday. "And a lot of world leaders, there were about 80 world leaders, from different countries, and they all came together."
Trump wants a 'world stage' in Washington
He is now trying to turn his inauguration into a must-see event.
"Trump is very eager to have world leaders at the inauguration," a Trump adviser told CNN. "He wants a world stage."
However, the loose nature of Trump's invitations has made it difficult for even his closest aides to track everyone who has or has not received an invitation to his second inauguration.
It also poses additional security concerns for the U.S. Secret Service, which is tasked with protecting all heads of state while they are on U.S. soil. The Capitol Police Department is already tasked with protecting a future president who survived two assassination attempts over the summer, as well as the leaders of Congress, the Supreme Court, outgoing President Joe Biden and the House Bianca, and all the former - the present presidents.
Xi is not expected, but it is not yet clear which leaders intend to accept Trump's offer.
Bukele's office confirmed receiving an invitation on Trump's behalf, but it is not yet known if the Salvadoran president plans to attend.
In a recent interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Trump said he and Xi have communicated regularly since his election, though he continues to threaten to launch an all-out trade war with China after taking office . Asked earlier Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange if Xi had accepted his invitation, Trump said, "I don't want to say," adding that the two leaders had a "very good relationship."
"I invited a lot of great people and they all said yes," Trump said. "Everyone I invited accepted."