President Trump will not attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20th.
He made the announcement in a one line tweet. No president in the modern era has refused to attend the inauguration of his successor. It happened three times in the 18-hundreds. A statement from Mike Pence’s office says the Vice President has not decided whether to attend Biden’s inauguration. President Trump has long-insisted that the presidential election was “rigged.” He has lost dozens of court challenges in battleground states and two at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The President sent an earlier tweet praising Americans who voted for him. He called them great American patriots and said they will “not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!” Biden won the election with 306 electoral votes, while Trump secured 232.
On the other side of the announcement, President-elect Joe Biden says President Trump’s plan to skip his inauguration is a “good thing.” Biden told reporters that it’s one of the few things he and Trump have ever agreed on. He said VP Mike Pence is welcome at the inauguration. Biden argued that Trump’s conduct has been an embarrassment to the nation. He said his number one objective is unifying the country. Biden stressed that Trump has “ripped the band-aid off,” revealing who he really is. The inauguration is set for January 20th.
