As a disgraced President Donald Trump faces calls a new impeachment, he announced that he will not be attending President-elect Joe Biden’s January 20th inauguration. And Biden, in effect, said: Good.
“I was told on the way over here, that he indicated he wasn’t going to show up at the inauguration. One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on. It’s a good thing, him not showing up,” Biden said. “He has clearly demonstrated — he exceeded even my worst notions about him. He’s been an embarrassment to the country, embarrassed around the world, not worthy to hold that office.”
President Donald Trump on Friday found himself under the most extreme political pressure he has faced during his presidency — with just 12 days left in office — under calls to resign and facing the possibility of becoming the first president to be impeached twice.
Trying to contain backlash to his calling on supporters to march on the Capitol — resulting in a mob launching a deadly insurrection — he issued a scripted video message Thursday evening condemning the rioters after initially praising them amid the aftermath Wednesday as “great patriots.”
Then, Friday morning, after also saying “my focus now turns to ensuring a smooth orderly and seamless transition of power,” he said he would not attend the inauguration of his soon-to-be successor, President-elect Joe Biden.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” Trump tweeted.
Trump: I ain’t coming to the inauguration.
Biden: Who invited you?
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) January 8, 2021
Trump will be first president in 152 years to skip his successor's inauguration https://t.co/VvrcKdz4Pd
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 8, 2021
After announcing he won't attend his inauguration, President Trump is currently scheduled to head to Mar-a-Lago the day before President-elect Biden is sworn in. Our report from the White House today: pic.twitter.com/gtIcNmVAYP
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 8, 2021
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.