Donald Trump Says He Will Not Attend Joe Biden’s Inauguration

Jordan Moreau
·3 min read
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President Trump says he will not attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, breaking from a longstanding tradition in American politics.

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” Trump tweeted on Friday morning.

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Trump’s decision comes less than 24 hours after he called for an “orderly” transition of power between the two administrations on Thursday afternoon. In a two-minute video posted to Twitter, he also made his first concession of the 2020 presidential election, nearly two months after the election had been called for Biden.

“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. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation,” Trump said in the Thursday video.

Many people, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers, are calling for Trump’s removal using the 25th Amendment after the attempted coup of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on Wednesday.

Five people have died since the siege on the Capitol, including one police officer who succumbed to his injuries on Thursday. One woman was shot by police during the breach of the Capitol, and three more died from apparent medical emergencies, according to CNN. More than 50 officers were injured, and police made more than 60 arrests for gun possession, curfew violations and unlawful entry into the building.

In a video message released after the attack on Wednesday, Trump told the violent rioters to “go home. We love you, you’re very special.”

“I know your pain, I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt. It’s a very tough period of time. There’s never been a time like this, where such a thing happened, where they could take it away from all of us. From me, from you, from our country. This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you, you’re very special. We’ve seen what happens, you see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know you how feel. But go home, and go home in peace,” he said in the video.

Congress confirmed Biden’s victory after the attack on the Capitol, despite Trump’s fierce and baseless claims that he had won and that there had been rampant voter fraud.

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