WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said Friday that he will skip President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, refusing to fulfill the outgoing president's traditional role in the peaceful transition of power and undercutting his own message just one day earlier on the need for "national healing and unity."
Trump, who has not appeared in public since a mob of his supporters besieged the U.S. 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.
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 Jan. 20 regardless of Trump's plans.
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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, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and their wives 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.
Trump announced that he would boycott the inauguration on Twitter.
"To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th," Trump tweeted.
Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, urged Trump to reconsider.
"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. The senator said he planned to attend and called the rite "an important tradition that demonstrates the peaceful transfer of power to our people and to the world."
Vice President Mike Pence, who defied Trump on Wednesday when he refused to intervene in the congressional process to certify Biden's win, is expected to attend the inauguration, according to one person close to him and one familiar with inauguration planning.
Pence has signaled his willingness to attend, an administration source said, but added that Pence had yet to receive a formal invitation.
Biden said Pence was "welcome to come," and he'd be honored to have Pence there.
"I think it's important," he said, that "the historical precedents and how and the circumstances" by which administrations transition "be maintained."
Only three presidents have skipped their successors' swearing-ins: John Adams in 1801; his son John Quincy Adams in 1829; and Andrew Johnson, a Democrat who sat out the 1869 inauguration after he was replaced in favor of Republican Ulysses S. Grant.
Brinkley said Trump's decision makes him look like a "sore loser."
"It will also show that he's an authoritarian at heart who doesn't believe in the democratic process. If you don't honor the idea of a peaceful transition, then you don't honor the Constitution or the spirit of democracy itself," he said.
Trump's plan also raises the issue of departure from Washington.
The president quietly made plans to take a trip next week to the southwestern border to highlight his hard-line immigration policies, which have inflamed Washington over the years, according to a person briefed on the planning. He also told advisers he wanted to give a media exit interview, which they presumed might undercut any conciliatory notes. But the first family has discussed leaving the White House for good Jan. 19, the day before the inauguration.
SECURITY TIGHTENS
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will take the oath of office from the Capitol's West Front, one of the locations where Wednesday's mob overpowered police and stormed the building. The rioters also scaled and occupied the scaffolding and bleachers in place for the inauguration ceremonies.
Plans for the Jan. 20 inauguration were already scaled back because of the coronavirus. But the attack raises new questions about preparedness for the event.
The congressional leaders responsible for coordinating the inauguration have insisted that events will move forward.
"The outrageous attack on the Capitol, however, will not stop us from affirming to Americans -- and the world -- that our democracy endures," said Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. "The great American tradition of an inaugural ceremony has occurred in times of peace, in times of turmoil, in times of prosperity and in times of adversity. We will be swearing in President-elect Biden."
Security forces have already begun taking extra precautions in the wake of Wednesday's mayhem. Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer.
Roughly 6,200 members of the National Guard from six states -- Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland -- will help support the Capitol Police and other law enforcement in Washington for the next 30 days.
Defense leaders are reviewing restrictions on the use of force by National Guard members and could allow troops to carry batons or guns in Washington, D.C., as they brace for more protests and possible violence around the Jan. 20 inaugural.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said Friday that any changes will be determined by the intelligence gathered in the coming days about potential threats. But he said they are looking at allowing troops to carry their M-4 rifles or 9mm Berettas, and he will know more in a day or two.
Allowing troops to carry deadly weapons would run up against deep-seated fears about the optics of anything suggesting that U.S. military forces were being used against Americans on U.S. soil. And it would require the permission of various authorities, depending on where the Guard members were stationed.
For example, D.C. city officials would have to agree in order for the Guard to carry weapons within the city's jurisdictions, such as at checkpoints or Metro stations. Federal approvals would be needed for locations on federal land, parks, monuments and places like Capitol Hill.
"We'll be looking at the intelligence and make a determination over the next day or so," McCarthy said. "It's just going to require us to get better intel, and then we'll have to make a risk assessment."
Crews erected tall black metal fences around the Capitol grounds that are designed to be impossible to climb. Similar structures have previously been used around the White House and in other cities that faced prolonged demonstrations.
Such barriers would have gone up anyway in coming days, however, because the inauguration is a National Special Security Event overseen by the Secret Service and scores of other federal agencies, including the Defense Department, which helps lead counterterrorism efforts associated with the event.
That's the same level of security provided during political party conventions or when a dignitary lies in state at the Capitol -- but not during a normal congressional session like when rioters breached the building.
"The safety and security of all those participating in the 59th Presidential Inauguration is of the utmost importance," the Secret Service said in a statement. "For well over a year, the U.S. Secret Service, along with our [National Special Security Event] partners, has been working tirelessly to anticipate and prepare for all possible contingencies at every level."
Biden told reporters Friday that he has "great confidence in the Secret Service" and the agency's ability to make sure the inauguration "goes off safely."
Information for this article was contributed by Zeke Miller, Jill Colvin, Jonathan Lemire, Alan Fram, Kevin Freking, Will Weissert, Lolita C. Baldor and Robert Burns of The Associated Press; and by Glenn Thrush of The New York Times.
