Former President George W. Bush, who became one of the first major Republicans to recognize President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s electoral victory in November, will attend Biden’s inauguration later this month – even as President Trump and his Republican Party allies refuse to accept the results.
A spokesman for Bush, the only other Republican president alive, announced on Tuesday night that Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush would travel to Washington for the January 20 ceremony.
“I believe this will be the eighth inauguration they will be privileged to attend – President Trump being the most recent – and witnessing the peaceful transfer of power is a hallmark of our democracy that never grows old,” spokesman Freddy Ford said on Twitter.
On the same day that Bush’s office confirmed that he will attend Biden’s inauguration, a spokesman for former elder President Jimmy Carter said on Tuesday that the Democrat would lose possession.
“The President and Mrs. Carter will not travel to Washington for inauguration, but they have sent their best wishes to President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris and hope for a successful administration,” Deanna Congileo, spokesman for the Carter Center , said in an email Tuesday night.
Traveling to Washington for the ceremony, which was significantly reduced because of the coronavirus pandemic, would likely pose a considerable risk for Carter, 96.
In 2019, Mr. Carter underwent surgery for a hip fracture after a fall at his home and needed stitches above his brow later that year after another fall.
In 2015, Mr. Carter announced that he was cancer free after undergoing treatment for metastatic melanoma that spread to his brain.
Four years ago, Mr. Carter, whom the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported had attended every inauguration since his in 1977, attended Trump’s inauguration ceremony.
It was not yet clear whether Trump would attend Biden’s inauguration.