Donald Trump would become the first departing US President since 1869 to refuse to attend their successor's inauguration.
For a final time, outgoing US President Donald Trump has left the White House and made his way to Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, just about an hour prior to the Inauguration Day of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. CNN reported that eager for a final taste of the pomp of being the President of the United States, Trump is expected to have a short farewell ceremony before one last presidential flight to Palm Beach.
Trump hasn't left the White House or been seen in public for a week. On Monday evening he taped a final message from the Blue Room of the White House, ticking through several achievements that he believes should define his administration. The outgoing President released a video on Tuesday, followed by pardons and commutations released on early Wednesday morning.
The batch of 73 pardons and 70 commutations issued in the final hours of his presidency included former aide Steve Bannon and rapper Lil Wayne.Trump would become the first departing US President since 1869 to refuse to attend their successor's inauguration.Trump will be in Florida when Biden and Harris will be sworn in at noon, at which point he will no longer be President of the United States.
Invitations have been sent to several Trump aides, present and former, to attend the farewell ceremony, with each guest allowed to bring five guests in a bid to gather a sizeable crowd. However, with the list comprising many with whom the parting had been acrimonious, it seemed not much attention had been given to vetting it.
Several people, said to be invited, had expressed their reluctance to attend the event.
Top leaders, including Vice President Mike Pence, and leaders of the Republican Party in the Congress, were also slated to give the event a miss. They are supposed to join Biden at the Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle for morning mass.
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