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U.S. President Donald Trump listens to Vice President Mike Pence during a press conference at the James Brady Press Room at the White House 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 familiar with NBC News.
Pence’s decision to attend Biden’s swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on January 20 is yet another public break with President Donald Trump since the riots that rocked Washington. Trump said on Friday he would ignore Biden’s inauguration, a move that appeared to undermine the president’s message of national “healing and reconciliation” a day earlier.
Biden, who spoke from Wilmington, Delaware on Friday, praised Trump’s move, calling it “one of the few things we have ever agreed on.”
At the suggestion of Pence’s potential involvement, Biden said he would be “honored to have him out there and move forward with the transition.”
“I think it’s important that we can stick to what have been historical precedents and the circumstances of how an administration changes,” Biden said.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden attends a briefing to make remarks on the U.S. response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak at his transitional headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware on December 29, 2020.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Traditionally, incoming and outgoing presidents travel together from the White House to the United States Capitol for the inauguration ceremony.
Trump is not the first incumbent president to skip his successor’s nomination. The others were Presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Johnson, according to the White House Historical Association. Like Trump, Johnson was also removed from office.
Ahead of the inauguration, which will take place in less than two weeks, more than 6,200 members of the National Guard will be deployed to the nation’s capital and remain in the region for at least 30 days.
The mobilization ensures that members of the National Guard will be on hand for Biden’s inauguration on Capitol Hill.
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