US President Donald Trump listens during a meeting in Washington, DC, USA, on Monday, June 15, 2020.
Doug Mills | NYTimes | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Friday he will not attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who will take the helm in less than two weeks.
Trump is not the first outgoing president to skip the inauguration of his successor. Presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Johnson did not attend the inauguration of the incoming president, according to the White House Historical Association.
“To everyone who asked, I will not go to the inauguration on January 20,” Trump wrote in a tweet, blocking the third message from his account since Wednesday for 12 hours off Twitter.
Biden’s victory was projected by all major news agencies in mid-November and confirmed through the Electoral College in mid-December. The Republican president falsely insisted he had won in a “landslide”, claiming his re-election was stolen by massive election fraud.
His refusal to accept the election results led to a deadly riot on Wednesday when swarms of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and derailed congressional proceedings to cast voters’ votes and confirm Biden’s victory in the November 3 election.
Vice President Mike Pence Biden is expected to attend the inauguration if he is invited, two people familiar with the matter told NBC News.
Trump’s decision not to attend Biden’s inauguration comes one day after he conceded the presidential election.
In a nearly three-minute video posted Thursday, Trump, without naming Biden by name, admitted that a new government would be inaugurated on January 20th. ‘
“My focus now is to ensure a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power,” the president said in his first speech to the country following the riots that left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer.
“Now the mood must be cooled and calmly restored. We must continue with the affairs of America,” Trump said of the pandemonium that took place at the American Capitol.
“To those who are engaged in violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who have broken the law, you will pay,” Trump said.
Trump during a rally outside the White House on Wednesday urged thousands of supporters to march to the Capitol to protest the historic ceremonial proceedings.
As protesters besieged the Capitol, Trump, who returned to the White House after his speech, told supporters in a tweeted video, “You have to go home now.” The president has stopped condemning the violence.
Supporters of Pro-Trump storm the US Capitol after a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Samuel Corum | Getty Images
On the heels of the violence that gripped Washington, the Pentagon and local Washington, DC, officials played several rounds as to why National Guard troops were not immediately available to support the U.S. Capitol Police.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said Thursday that law enforcement and defense officials had received conflicting information before the riot.
“There were estimates of 80,000, there were about 20 to 25. So to just go back to pure intelligence, it was ‘across the board,'” McCarthy said when asked about the preparations for crowd control.
“It was very difficult to determine what you were doing,” he told reporters, adding that the Department of Defense relied on the threats of law enforcement.