US President Donald Trump listens as Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a press conference at the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Feb. 29, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – Vice President Mike Pence will attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, an acquaintance told NBC News.
Pence’s decision to attend Biden’s inauguration ceremony at the Capitol on Jan. 20 is yet another public break with President Donald Trump since the riots 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, speaking Friday from Wilmington, Delaware, welcomed Trump’s decision, calling it “one of the few things we’ve ever agreed.”
On the suggestion of Pence’s possible presence, Biden said he would be “honored to have him there and to move forward in the transition.”
“I think it is important that we adhere to the historical precedents and circumstances of how a government changes,” said Biden.
US President-elect Joe Biden will attend a briefing to comment on the US response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware on December 29, 2020.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Traditionally, incoming and outgoing presidents ride together from the White House to the 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 was also impeached.
Ahead of the inauguration, which will take place in less than two weeks, more than 6,200 National Guard personnel will deploy in the country’s capital and stay in the region for at least 30 days.
The mobilization ensures that members of the National Guard will be present at Biden’s inauguration at the Capitol.