U.S. President Donald Trump overhears Vice President Mike Pence speaking during a press conference at the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on February 29, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – Vice President Mike Pence will attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, a person known to NBC News.
Pence’s decision to attend Biden’s inauguration ceremony at the United States Capitol on January 20 is yet another public break with President Donald Trump since the disturbances that rocked Washington. On Friday, Trump said he would skip Biden’s inauguration, a move that seemed to undermine the president’s message of national “healing and reconciliation” the day before.
Biden, who spoke from Wilmington, Delaware on Friday, welcomed Trump’s decision, calling it “one of the few things we have already agreed to”.
At the suggestion of Pence’s potential attendance, Biden said he would be “honored to have him there and move on in the transition.”
“I think it is important, as far as we can stick to historical precedents and the circumstances of how a government changes,” said Biden.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden attends a briefing to comment on the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) at its transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, December 29, 2020.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Traditionally, incoming and outgoing presidents ride from the White House to the United States Capitol for the inauguration ceremony.
Trump is not the first outgoing president to skip the inauguration of his successor. The others were Presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Johnson, according to the White House Historical Association. Like Trump, Johnson also suffered impeachment.
Before the inauguration, which takes place in less than two weeks, more than 6,200 members of the National Guard will be sent to the country’s capital and will remain in the region for at least 30 days.
The mobilization ensures that members of the National Guard will be present for Biden’s tenure on the Capitol.