Former President Bush and First Lady to attend Biden’s inauguration
Former President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush plan to attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden according to a representative.
"President and Mrs. Bush look forward to returning to the Capitol for the swearing in of President Biden and Vice President Harris," Bush’s Chief of Staff Freddy Ford posted on Twitter.
Ford said he believes Biden’s event will be the eighth inauguration the couple has attended, including President Trump’s.
The Bush’s attendance will be in sharp contrast to Trump, who stated on Twitter that he would not attend the inauguration before being permanently banned from the social media platform over tweets the company believed incited violence.
Trump, who has not appeared in public since a violent mob of his supporters besieged the Capitol on Wednesday and tried to halt the transfer of power, will be the first incumbent president since Andrew Johnson not to attend his successor’s inauguration.
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Biden said he was just fine with that, calling it "one of the few things we have ever agreed on."
"It’s a good thing him not showing up," he added, calling the president an "embarrassment" to the nation and unworthy of the office.
Traditionally, the incoming and outgoing presidents ride to the U.S. Capitol together on Inauguration Day for the ceremony, a visible manifestation of the smooth change of leadership.
Biden will become president at noon on Jan. 20 regardless of Trump’s plans. But Trump’s absence represents one final act of defiance of the norms and traditions of Washington that he has flouted for four years.
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Historian Douglas Brinkley said that while attending the inauguration "would be a wonderful olive branch to the country," he wasn’t surprised by the decision.
"Donald Trump doesn’t want to be in Washington as the second-fiddle loser standing on stage with Joe Biden," he said.
While Trump stays away, former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton will be there to stand witness to the rite of democracy. The only other living president, 96-year-old Jimmy Carter, who has spent the pandemic largely at home in Georgia, will not attend but has extended "best wishes" to Biden.
Biden's inauguration will include a "virtual parade across America" consistent with crowd limits during the coronavirus era, organizers announced Sunday.
Following the swearing-in ceremony on Inauguration Day on Jan. 20 on the west front of the U.S. Capitol, Biden and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, will join Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband in participating in a socially distanced Pass in Review on the Capitol's opposite front side. Those are military traditions where Biden will review the readiness of military troops.
Biden will also receive a traditional presidential escort with representatives from every branch of the military from 15th Street in Washington to the White House. That, the Presidential Inaugural Committee says, will be socially distanced too, while "providing the American people and world with historic images of the President-elect proceeding to the White House without attracting large crowds."
The Associated Press contributed to this report. This story was reported from Los Angeles.