US President Donald Trump will not attend Joe Biden’s inauguration

US President Donald Trump says he will not attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, undermining his message the day before that he would work to ensure a “smooth, orderly, and seamless transition of power. problems “to his successor.

Trump offered no clues as to how he would spend his last hours in office, and will be the first sitting president since Andrew Johnson to skip the swearing-in of his successor.

Traditionally, incoming and outgoing presidents travel together to the United States Capitol for the ceremony, as a symbol of the nation’s peaceful transition.

Trump’s comments come two days after a violent mob of his supporters occupied the Capitol for several hours while lawmakers counted the electoral votes certifying Biden’s victory. Biden will become president at noon on January 20, regardless of Trump’s plans.

“To everyone who has asked, I will not be going to the inauguration on January 20,” Trump tweeted. The move had been widely expected, as Trump falsely claimed election victory for months and enacted unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. His own administration said the elections had been conducted fairly.

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Vice President Mike Pence is expected to attend the inauguration.

Biden’s transition team had no immediate comment on Trump’s announcement. But Jen Psaki, the incoming White House press secretary to the president-elect, said last month that whether Trump attended the inauguration was not the most important thing to Biden.

On Thursday, with 12 days to go in his term, Trump finally leaned into reality amid a growing conversation about trying to oust him early, acknowledging that he will leave peacefully after Congress affirmed his defeat.

Trump launched a White House video Thursday condemning the violence carried out in his name a day earlier on Capitol Hill. Then, for the first time on camera, he admitted that his presidency would end soon, although he refused to mention Biden by name or explicitly state that he had lost.

“A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20,” Trump said in the video. “My focus now is on ensuring a smooth, orderly and smooth energy transition. This moment demands healing and reconciliation. “

However, the next morning, Trump returned to his usual division. Rather than offer his condolences to the police officer who died from injuries sustained during the riot, Trump took to Twitter to congratulate the “great American patriots” who had voted for him.

“They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way or form !!!

Thursday night’s speech, which seemed designed to avoid talk of an early forced eviction, came at the end of a day in which the cornered president remained in hiding in the White House. Silenced on some of his favorite lines of communication on the Internet, he watched the resignations of several of his top aides, including two cabinet secretaries.

And as officials examined the aftermath of the siege of the US Capitol by the pro-Trump mob, there was growing discussion about the possibility of impeaching him a second time or invoking the 25th Amendment to kick him out of the Oval Office.

The invasion of the Capitol building, a powerful symbol of the nation’s democracy, shook Republicans and Democrats alike. They struggled with the best way to contain the urges of a president who is considered too dangerous to control his own social media accounts, but who remains the commander-in-chief of the world’s most important armed forces.

“I’m not worried about the next election, I’m worried about spending the next 14 days,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s staunchest allies. He condemned the role of the president in Wednesday’s riots, saying: “If something else happens, all options will be on the table.”

The Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, declared that “the president of the United States incited an armed insurrection against the United States.” She called him “a very dangerous person who should not continue in office. This is urgent, an emergency of the greatest magnitude ”.

Neither option to impeach Trump seemed likely, as there was little time left in his tenure to draft the necessary cabinet members to invoke the amendment or organize the hearings and trial required for impeachment. But the fact that dramatic options were even a topic of discussion in Washington’s halls of power served as a warning to Trump.

Fears of what a desperate president might do in his final days spread throughout the nation’s capital and beyond, including speculation that Trump might incite more violence, make rash appointments, issue ill-conceived pardons, even for himself. and your family, or even trigger a destabilization. international incident.

The president’s video on Thursday, posted on his return to Twitter after his account was restored, was a total reversal of the one he posted just 24 hours earlier in which he told the violent mob: “We love you. You are very special. ”His refusal to condemn the violence unleashed a storm of criticism and, in the new video, he finally denounced the“ anarchy and chaos ”of the protesters.

The advisers said the video was also aimed at curbing the mass exodus of employees and avoiding potential legal problems for Trump once he leaves office; White House attorney Pat Cipollone has repeatedly warned the president that he could be held responsible for inciting violence on Wednesday.

Regarding his feelings on leaving office, Trump told the nation that “serving as your president has been the honor of my life” while hinting at a return to the public arena. He told his fans that “our incredible journey is just beginning.”

As Trump remained silent and settled in the executive mansion until Thursday night, all around him loyalists headed for the exits, their exits, which would occur in two weeks anyway, moved to protest the handling of the riots by the president.

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao became the first cabinet member to resign. Chao, married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the lawmakers caught on Capitol Hill Wednesday, said in a message to staff that the attack “has deeply concerned me in a way that I simply cannot put aside. “.

He was followed by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. In his resignation letter Thursday, DeVos blamed Trump for inflaming tensions in the violent assault on the nation’s seat of democracy. “There is no question of the impact his rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the turning point for me,” he wrote.

Others who resigned in the wake of the unrest: Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger; Ryan Tully, senior director for European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council; and First Lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary.

Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former chief of staff turned special envoy to Northern Ireland, told CNBC that he had called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “to let him know he was resigning. … I can not do it. I can not stay “.

Mulvaney said that others working for Trump had decided to stay in their posts in an effort to provide some kind of barrier for the president during his final days in office.

“Those who choose to stay, and I’ve talked to some of them, choose to stay because they are concerned that the president might make someone worse,” Mulvaney said.

Mulvaney’s predecessor as chief of staff, retired US Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, told CNN that “I think the Cabinet should meet and have a discussion” on Section 4. of Amendment 25, which allows for the forced removal of Trump by his own cabinet. .

Staff-level discussions on the matter took place in multiple departments and even parts of the White House, according to two people briefed on the talks. But no cabinet member has publicly expressed support for the measure, which would make Vice President Mike Pence interim president.

In the west wing, the shocked aides were packing up, acting on a delayed directive to begin leaving their posts before the arrival of Biden’s team.

Few attendees had any idea of ​​the president’s plans, and some wondered if Trump would remain largely out of sight until he left the White House. But the president has asked his aides to explore a possible farewell trip to the southern border next week as a means to highlight his immigration policies.