Vice President Mike Pence to attend Biden's inauguration, Trump refuses
According to CNN, Pence had always planned on attending the inauguration, but had been waiting on an invitation to the event.
By REUTERSHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Vice President Mike Pence take part in a joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 election results on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, January 6, 2021.(photo credit: ERIN SCHAFF/POOL VIA REUTERS)
US Vice President Mike Pence will attend President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration later this month, a senior administration official said on Saturday.According to CNN, Pence had always planned on attending the inauguration, but had been waiting for an invitation to the event.US President Donald Trump stated that he will not attend the inauguration of his successor in a tweet on Friday, hours after promising a peaceful transition of power.Trump's first post back on the platform featured the video in which he said he was focused on a peaceful transition of power, which was viewed 1.4 million times within 15 minutes of posting. The second was the promise not to attend the inauguration.The contrast between the president and the vice president was in full display when Pence and shaken elected officials formally stamped Biden's victory just hours after hundreds of Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol in a harrowing assault on American democracy.A Wednesday protest in the capital turned violent when the president's supporters laid siege to the Capitol building, in order to stop Pence and Congress from formally ratifying President-elect Joe Biden's election victory amid unfounded allegations from the president that the election was "stolen" from him.Many have pointed the finger at Trump for instigating his supporters to carry out the insurrection in Washington, which led to the deaths of five people.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top congressional Democrat, has threatened to attempt to impeach Trump for a historic second time unless he resigned "immediately," a move the pugnacious president is unlikely to consider.Pelosi has also asked members to draft legislation aimed at invoking the US Constitution's 25th Amendment, which allows the removal of a president unable to fulfill the duties of the office.Trump "has done something so serious -- that there should be prosecution against him," Pelosi told the CBS news program 60 Minutes according to an early excerpt of the interview.
The intensifying effort to oust Trump from the White House has drawn scattered support from Republicans, whose party has been splintered by the president's actions. Democrats have pressed Pence to consider the 25th Amendment, but one of his advisers has said that the vice president opposes the idea.The odds that Trump will actually be removed before January 20, when President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in, remain long. Any impeachment in the House would trigger a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate, which is scheduled to be in recess until Jan. 19 and has already acquitted Trump once before.Zachary Keyser contributed to this report.
