Trump Announces He Will Not Attend Biden Inauguration, Pence Reportedly Will
President Donald Trump said Friday that he does not plan to attend Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Trump tweeted, “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021
The Associated Press reported that Vice President Mike Pence is expected to attend the ceremony.
“It was a much more difficult decision days ago, but less difficult now,” a Pence insider told Politico.
Trump’s announcement comes less than 24 hours after he released a video stating that now all legal avenues for contesting the election have been exhausted, his focus will be on transitioning to the new administration.
“My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results. My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote,” the president said.
“In so doing, I was fighting to defend American democracy. I continue to strongly believe that we must reform our election laws to verify the identity and eligibility of all voters and to ensure faith and confidence in all future elections.”
“Now Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power,” Trump added.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021
Noticeably missing from his remarks was any mention of Biden’s name or congratulations for a victory in the 2020 presidential race.
The president has repeatedly pointed to voting irregularities in swing states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, where he enjoyed significant leads on election night in November, only to see them evaporate as votes continued to be counted — particularly in the large metropolitan areas of Philadelphia, Atlanta, Detroit and Milwaukee.
He has also cited the many statistical anomalies that marked the 2020 contest, like the low mail-in absentee ballot rejection rate in the swing states, as well as several Republicans gaining seats in the House in their races nationwide, even as the incumbent Republican president came up short.
There, of course, has been no love lost between Trump and Biden.
The former vice president launched his campaign by accusing the president of being a racist and has continued that drumbeat of hot rhetoric since, while Trump has often questioned Biden’s mental and ethical fitness for office.
[firefly_poll]
In his Thursday remarks following rioters breaking into the U.S. Capitol the previous day, Biden charged Trump with spending his presidency seeking to undermine the rule of law.
“The past four years, we’ve had a president who’s made his contempt for our democracy, our Constitution, the rule of law clear in everything he has done,” Biden said in the address.
“He unleashed an all-out assault on our institutions of our democracy from the outset. And yesterday was the culmination of that unrelenting attack.”
There have only been three instances in the past where the outgoing president did not attend the inauguration of his successor.
John Adams, when Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, did not attend Jefferson’s initiation into office, following a very acrimonious campaign.
John Quincy Adams did not attend Andrew Jackson’s inauguration in 1829, due to a similarly controversial race. Nor did Andrew Johnson attend the swearing in of Ulysses S. Grant in 1869.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
