Trump says he won’t attend Biden’s inauguration; Biden says that's a 'good thing'

Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News

So much for national unity.

President Donald Trump announced Friday that he won’t attend Joe Biden’s inauguration, flip-flopping on his pledge to promote “healing” in the wake of his far-right supporters orchestrating a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” Trump tweeted.

Biden wasn’t upset.

“One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on,” Biden told reporters at his transition team headquarters in Delaware. “It’s a good thing — him not showing up.”

Trump will become the sixth president in American history to skip the inauguration of his successor. Richard Nixon was the last president to do so after resigning in disgrace in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal.

Trump’s inauguration pullout came less than 24 hours after he posted a video on Twitter condemning Wednesday’s Capitol attack and vowing to provide a “seamless” handoff to Biden’s administration.

“This moment calls for healing and reconciliation,” Trump said in the video.

On Wednesday, Trump’s tone was sharply different.

In what will go down as one of the darkest speeches in modern American history, Trump urged a crowd of far-right supporters outside the White House to “fight like hell” and march to the U.S. Capitol to stop the congressional certification of Biden’s “bulls--t” election victory.

At least five people, including a police officer, died in the mayhem that ensued, as the pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, touting guns and Confederate battle flags.

Trump-boosting Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who was among a small group of GOP senators who voted in favor of invalidating Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, pleaded with the outgoing president to reconsider his inaugural cancellation.

“He is, of course, not constitutionally required to attend and I can imagine losing an election is very hard, but I believe he should attend,” Scott said in a statement. “I plan to attend and believe it is an important tradition that demonstrates the peaceful transfer of power to our people and to the world.”

Vice President Mike Pence is expected to attend Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration, as are former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Biden’s inauguration is expected to be a pared-down affair because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 365,000 Americans on Trump’s watch.

Latest Stories

  • Sen. Joe Manchin says he'd 'absolutely' oppose Biden's stimulus checks, then swiftly walks it back after stocks tank

    President-elect Joe Biden announced some economic priorities on Friday, but Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) promptly poked some holes in his plans.Biden began laying out his framework for the next round of COVID-19 relief, reports The Washington Post, and said his plans include a multi-trillion-dollar package that would provide "more direct relief flowing to families, small businesses," in part via $2,000 stimulus checks.But Manchin, who Axios notes will become an increasingly important player as a moderate in the Democrats' razor-thin Senate majority, seemed taken aback by Biden's promise. "I don't know where in the hell $2,000 came from. I swear to God I don't," he said. "That's another $400 billion dollars." Since Republicans are united in opposing larger checks, resistance from a single Democrat could throw a wrench in Biden's plans.He told the Post he would "absolutely not" support larger stimulus checks for Americans, but a spokesperson later seemed to walk back his resistance, insisting Manchin "isn't drawing a red line against" $2,000 checks, but simply "believes vaccine distribution should be a higher priority," as NBC News' Sahil Kapur put it. Perhaps realizing how consequential his hardline opposition to the plan may be, Manchin later tweeted to note he was open to discussion. "If the next round of stimulus checks goes out they should be targeted to those who need it," he wrote. Conspicuously, between Manchin's initial comments and his clarification, markets seemed to notice the potential roadblock.> Stocks dropped from all-time highs after a report that West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin will oppose further direct aid payments, denting hopes for another sweeping spending bill https://t.co/qzugAEnxpL pic.twitter.com/34WGqpsXJ3> > — Bloomberg (@business) January 8, 2021Aside from Manchin's role in the announcement, Biden's remarks on his economic plans were noteworthy in that he prioritized extending unemployment insurance, as well as sending billions of dollars in aid to state and local governments, which could help speed up COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Read more at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com Fox & Friends' Ainsley Earhardt says Trump supporters stormed Capitol because 'they don't want to be forgotten' 7 scathing cartoons about Trump's Capitol riot Twitter permanently suspends Trump's account

  • Chicago police union president: Saying riots are ‘treason’ is ‘beyond ridiculous’

    ‘They get to do what they want,’ John Catanzara said of people whose efforts left a police officer dead. John Catanzara, who was elected last May as the president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, is defending the people who participated in the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol that resulted in the death of a police officer.

  • White man who drove into Iowa protesters avoids prison

    A white man who deliberately sped his car through a crowd of racial injustice protesters in Iowa City, striking several, will avoid prison and have the incident erased from his record if he stays out of trouble for three years. A judge last month granted a deferred judgment for Michael Ray Stepanek, 45, who told police he drove his Toyota Camry through the crowd in August because the protesters needed “an attitude adjustment.” The sentence means a felony charge of willful injury resulting in bodily injury against Stepanek will be dismissed and expunged, as long as he does not commit a crime during a three-year term of probation.

  • Air Force Demotes Former General as IG Report Reveals Details of Illicit Affair

    Maj. Gen Peter Gersten retired as a colonel effective Jan. 1, spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told Military.com.

  • One of the saddest days in American history has broken Trump – and deservedly so

    January 6 was one of the saddest days in American history. A sitting President incited a mob of his supporters to attack the United States Capitol building, where the Senate and House of Representatives were meeting in the Constitutionally required joint session to count the votes of the Electoral College. Donald Trump’s clear intention in urging this act of violence against the final concluding act of the 2020 presidential election was to disrupt the counting procedure, thereby buying more time to escape the otherwise inevitable outcome of the election. This is as shameful as it gets, but it is nonetheless only one of a long series of shameful acts by Trump before, during, and after the November election. He has lied repeatedly about what happened in that election, convincing millions of decent, honest people that his opponents committed systematic fraud, in effect conning his own supporters. If there is evidence of this fraud, Trump has yet to provide it to any judicial or administrative tribunal, Federal or state. In his view, the anti-Trump conspiracy is so vast and so successful that it left behind no evidence. Either that, or his campaign had the worst team of lawyers in Anglo-American legal history. Trump’s charade promulgated the idea that Congress could overturn the duly certified results of the election from the key battleground states, enough to shift the Electoral College majority to his favour. And there was more: that somehow his Vice President, Mike Pence, would ignore the plain words of the Constitution, and impose his own outcome on the election, by deciding which state certificates of the results to count and which to ignore.

  • Man Photographed with Foot on Desk in Pelosi’s Office Is Arrested

    Law enforcement officials announced Friday that they had arrested the man pictured in a viral photograph sitting in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office with one leg up on her desk when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. Officials said they took 60-year-old Richard Barnett into custody in Little Rock, Ark. and also released details about crimes for which several people will face federal charges.Barnett, who faces charges of violent entry and theft of public property, among other things, told KFSM that he was looking for a bathroom when he saw that the door to Pelosi’s office was open."I sat down here in my desk. I’m a taxpayer. I’m a patriot. That ain’t her desk — we loaned her that desk," he told KFSM. "And she ain’t appreciating the desk, so I thought I would sit down and appreciate the desk." Barnett is being held in the Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville, Ark., awaiting his initial appearance, according to NBC News.A New York Times reporter on Wednesday shared a video of Barnett, which he said was taken after the Arkansan's time in the speaker's office, and shows him bragging about taking a personalized envelope from the office, which he says he didn't steal. > Here’s Mr. Barnett, who goes by “Bigo,” telling the story in his own words pic.twitter.com/oSyKiCDXgy> > -- Matthew Rosenberg (@AllMattNYT) January 6, 2021"I left a quarter on her desk," he said, and later added that he left a "nasty note" as well."I'll probably be telling them this is what happened all the way to the D.C. jail," he added.Barnett said that he knocked politely on the door to the office, but was then pushed inside by other rioters. Pelosi's aides have said her office was vandalized on Wednesday and that a laptop from a conference room had been stolen, though the equipment was only used for presentations.Officials earlier announced the arrests of 82 people at the state, local and federal levels, according to reports, while the FBI's Washington Field Office on Friday released 40 photos of people who are wanted in connection with the rioting at the Capitol.A state lawmaker from West Virginia was also charged Friday in connection with the riot at the Capitol. Derrick Evans, a Republican, reportedly recorded and then deleted a video of himself joining the crowd, leading to a petition asking for him to step down.Meanwhile, 70-year-old Lonnie Coffman of Falkville, Ala. is accused of having two handguns, an assault rifle and 11 Molotov cocktails that included gasoline and what appeared to be homemade napalm, officials said.Police were able to link Coffman to a suspicious red GMC pick-up truck with Alabama plates, according to NBC News.Mark Leffingwell was charged and is accused of knowingly entering restricted ground and assaulting an officer after entering the Capitol. Leffingwell repeatedly punched a U.S. Capitol Police officer in the helmet and chest, according to court papers.Christopher Michael Alberts of Maryland is accused of illegally entering the Capitol while in possession of a loaded Taurus 9mm handgun and a separate magazine filled with ammunition. Alberts, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, is also accused of having a pocketknife at the time.He "immediately tried to flee" before police detained him, according to court papers. He told police he had the gun "for personal protection and he did not intend on using the firearm to harm anyone."

  • Biden DOJ Attorney General pick Merrick Garland accepts nomination and speaks on DC Mob

    President-elect Joe Biden's pick to lead the Department of Justice, Merrick Garland, accepts nomination and says Wednesday's D.C. Capitol event is an example that the rule of law is the very foundation of our democracy and that like cases are treated alike.

  • Inside the Charming Parisian Apartment of French Designer Sarah Poniatowski

    Located directly under the roof, Poniatowski’s idyllic Right Bank apartment is flooded with light, flea market finds, and the designer’s very own collectionOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest

  • US Attorney: FBI agents search lawmakers’ offices and homes

    Federal prosecutors in Tennessee said Friday that FBI agents have searched the homes and offices of several state lawmakers. U.S. Attorney’s Office of Middle Tennessee spokesman David Boling confirmed the searches included the homes of former GOP House Speaker Glen Casada, state Rep. Robin Smith and Casada's former chief of staff, Cade Cothren.

  • Rioter photographed hanging on Congress wall claims he was telling others to respect ‘sacred ground’

    Protestor says his companions wanted to ‘trash the place’ but he urged them to respect the ground

  • Police Officer Killed in US Capitol Siege Was Air National Guard Veteran, Deployed to Iraq

    Brian D. Sicknick enlisted in the New Jersey Air National Guard in 1997 and served for six years.

  • Black woman says group of Trump supporters attacked her

    The Los Angeles Police Department said it is investigating Wednesday's attack as a hate crime.

  • House nearly devolves into a brawl during the objection to Pennsylvania electors

    Tempers flared on the House floor early Thursday during speeches for and against an objection to recognizing President-elect Joe Biden's electoral win in Pennsylvania — the final hurdle in the counting of Electoral College votes, delayed by the occupation of the Capitol on Wednesday by a mob supporting President Trump. Rep. Conor Lamb, a moderate Democrat from Pennsylvania, lit into his Republican colleagues, telling them their objections have no merit and "don't deserve an ounce of respect. A woman died out there tonight, and you're making these objections."There was a commotion from the GOP side after Lamb said the people storming the Capitol would have been arrested if they weren't white, prompting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-N.Y.) to call for order. "Enough has been done today already to try to strip this Congress of its dignity, and we don't need to do any more," Lamb said, adding that some of his colleagues had fueled the mob by repeating lies about the election. A few moments later, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) objected, saying Lamb was calling him a liar. Pelosi shot down the objection, and then things nearly came to blows.> "There will be order in the House."> > Watch tensions rise on House floor during debate on Pennsylvania ElectoralCollege Vote Objection.> > Note: C-SPAN does not control cameras in the House. pic.twitter.com/sQ1vAIxc0t> > — CSPAN (@cspan) January 7, 2021The benches cleared, and the deputy sergeant at arms got involved. PBS's Lisa Desjardins explains what happened off-camera:> 6\. Democrats got on feet, from other side of the chamber many (a dozen?) started moving quickly, almost running thru rows to where Harris was. > 7\. Republicans started doing same. > 8\. A staffer - it may have been the Sgt. at Arms moved even more quickly to separate them.> > 2/> > — Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) January 7, 2021"We want this government to work more than they want it to fail," Lamb said after the fight was defused, then ceded the floor.More stories from theweek.com Washington Times corrects widely cited story claiming 'antifa' infiltrated Capitol siege, says 'neo-Nazis' ID'd Maryland governor said he was repeatedly denied authorization to send National Guard to D.C. Dominion Voting Systems sues Sidney Powell for defamation

  • Six Republican lawmakers among rioters as police release photos of wanted

    Suspects include Holocaust deniers, White supremacists, and conspiracy theorists

  • The Military Can’t Legally Curb a President's Access to Nuclear Codes, Experts Say

    Pelosi called Gen. Mark Milley to discuss what she described as precautions to prevent Trump from accessing nuclear codes.

  • Vandals Destroy 50-Year-Old Cherry Blossom Trees in SF Japantown

    Two cherry blossom trees in front of the Japanese Cultural Community Center of Northern California were "completely vandalized" on Tuesday morning, leaving no hope for flowers this year. The video shows the damage beginning on New Year's Night and spanning over the course of three days, as the assaulter hacked away at the tree.

  • Josh Hawley Is Calling You Stupid

    Are you a Republican voter? Do you plan to participate in the 2024 presidential primary? If your answer to these first two questions is “yes,” I have a third: Aren’t you angry?Almost daily, Josh Hawley, the lean and hungry legislator who helped incite an attack on his own place of work, intimates that a majority of Republicans are stupid. Make no mistake: The senator from Missouri is guilty of far more than pandering or misleading to appeal to “the base” on occasion. Your presumed ignorance and gullibility are the driving forces behind his every move.The latest insult came on Thursday, only a day after a conspiracy theory not only boosted by, but acted upon by Hawley -- a Yale Law School graduate who didn’t believe for a moment that the election was stolen by Democrats, or that it could be stolen by Republicans in Congress during the certification process -- resulted in an attack on the U.S. Capitol building. But for Josh Hawley, the greatest tragedy of this past week is not that there was a failed insurrection egged on by the president of the United States. It’s that Simon & Schuster, the erstwhile publisher of Hawley’s forthcoming book, The Tyranny of Big Tech (Big Tech is another issue where Hawley assumes your ignorance), announced it would not move forward with the project. Here was Hawley’s response:> This could not be more Orwellian. Simon & Schuster is canceling my contract because I was representing my constituents, leading a debate on the Senate floor on voter integrity, which they have now decided to redefine as sedition. Let me be clear, this is not just a contract dispute. It’s a direct assault on the First Amendment. Only approved speech can now be published. This is the Left looking to cancel everyone they don’t approve of. I will fight this cancel culture with everything I have. We’ll see you in court.If it’s a constitutional claim that Hawley is planning on making in court, he can expect to have about as much luck as the Trump campaign has had in recent months. Simon & Schuster’s decision is neither Orwellian nor a violation of the First Amendment, much less a “direct assault” on it. The government is not restricting Hawley’s speech. He is free to find a publisher willing to associate itself with him. I believe that Simon & Schuster should not have canceled this contract, as America is better off when its institutions abide by the spirit and not just the letter of the First Amendment. But the company is under no constitutional obligation to associate with Hawley. I can certainly understand why it would not want to after Wednesday’s events.The objective of Hawley’s statement is obvious: to take this personal event, which has occurred as a direct result of his own behavior, and to make Republicans feel as if this was a personal attack on them and their beliefs. It was not. But remember: Hawley’s political fortunes are tied to a bet that voters won’t think clearly. A bet that he is all-in on after continuing to object to the certification of the election by Congress even after the assault on the Capitol.Most insidious about Hawley’s assumption is that it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. When conservative officials such as Hawley and the disgraced Ted Cruz -- leaders we’re supposed to be able to trust -- propagate conspiracy theories, that signals to voters that these theories are or may be true. Conspiracy theories are natural, and laymen’s belief in them does not automatically make them stupid. We all have busy lives, and most Americans are unable to spend their every waking moment staying apprised of every political going-on. They rely on officials of their own ideological bent to tell them the truth. When those officials lie for perceived political benefit, it has consequences. Consequences made more serious by motivated reasoning and an inclination to believe the worst of “the enemy.” Consequences that are sometimes even bloody.Much is made these days, especially by Senator Hawley, of “the elites” and their supposed disdain for regular Americans. For many years, and particularly since Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination in 2016, Senator Mitt Romney has been branded such an elitist. But Romney spoke far more wisely on this subject than Hawley on Wednesday: “The best way we can show respect for the voters who are upset is by telling them the truth!” Indeed. The older you get, the more facts of life your parents let you in on. It starts with Santa Claus, and it only gets more depressing from there.I have one more question, then. What’s more condescending and scornful: truth or deceit?

  • Two 18-year-olds charged after allegedly beating youth counselor to death

    The pair were part of seven who allegedly beat David McKnight-Hillman to death. Two 18-year-olds have been charged with a count of murder after allegedly participating in the beating death of a counselor at their South Los Angeles youth home while he was breaking up a fight. Nyier Mason and Keith Lewis were each charged in the Jan. 2 death of 25-year-old David McKnight-Hillman at Wayfinder Family Services, a facility that provides residential therapeutic services to children and youth placed there by the Department of Children and Family Services.

  • A conservative radio host flew into DC on a private jet to participate in the siege on the Capitol

    Radio host and real estate broker Jenna Ryan flew via private jet from Texas to DC. She called the siege "one of the best days of my life."

  • Fox & Friends' Ainsley Earhardt says Trump supporters stormed Capitol because 'they don't want to be forgotten'

    Fox & Friends' Ainsley Earhardt says fear was at the root of Trump supporters' Wednesday attack on the Capitol and refusal to accept the election results.Since Election Day, President Trump and his allies have insisted something must have gone wrong to cost Trump re-election. They've spread false claims of fraud and insisted the 74 million people who voted for Trump had to be listened to, despite the fact that President-elect Joe Biden got 7 million more votes and elections are usually decided by who gets the most votes. So on Wednesday, several thousand of those supporters took their anger out on the U.S. Capitol and the people tasked with protecting it.But as Earhardt put it on Friday's episode of Fox News' morning show, those Trump voters are just "scared" and "worried" about the future of the country. "They are confused and heartbroken that their candidate didn't win and they don't want to be forgotten," Earhardt said, with co-host Steve Doocy agreeing with her "confused" assessment.> Ainsley Earhardt: “There are 75 million people that voted for President Trump. And they are scared. They are worried about what the future of this country looks like. They are confused and heartbroken that their candidate didn't win and they don't want to be forgotten.” pic.twitter.com/OcqMYGjJtG> > — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 8, 2021Fear of "being forgotten" — or rather, of being "replaced" — has been a common theme among white supremacists, who have held high-profile, sometimes deadly demonstrations over the past few years.More stories from theweek.com Sen. Joe Manchin says he'd 'absolutely' oppose Biden's stimulus checks, then swiftly walks it back after stocks tank 7 scathing cartoons about Trump's Capitol riot Twitter permanently suspends Trump's account