President Trump announced via Twitter on Friday that he will not attend the inauguration for incoming president Joe Biden.
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
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” Trump wrote. The president has refused to concede defeat to Biden, alleging that Democrats “stole” the election by means of widespread voter fraud.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” Trump in a statement early Thursday morning, adding that he would “continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted.”
Vice President Mike Pence will attend the inauguration. Trump will be the first outgoing president to skip an inauguration since Andrew Johnson was replaced by Ulysses S. Grant in 1869.
The announcement comes as House and Senate Democrats call to impeach and remove Trump from office, after the president incited a mob of his supporters to storm the Capitol building on Wednesday. The mob overwhelmed Capitol police and breached the building, forcing lawmakers to evacuate in a riot that left dozens of officers injured. One officer and one rioter were killed.
The rioting interrupted Congress’s certification of the Electoral College results, however lawmakers insisted on returning to the Capitol to finish the process.
“These thugs aren’t running us off,” Senator Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) commented.