Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would not attend the inauguration of Joe Biden on 20 January, after a violent mob of the president’s loyalists stormed the Capitol in an effort to overturn the result of the November election in an attack that left five people dead.
His decision came as little surprise, but nevertheless breaks with a longstanding tradition of presidents attending their successors inauguration ceremonies in a symbolic demonstration of the peaceful transfer of power between administrations.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
It remains uncertain if the vice-president, Mike Pence, will attend Biden’s swearing-in, which will take place on the steps of the Capitol under heightened security after the building was breached and vandalized on Wednesday.
The presidential inauguration committee had already asked supporters not to travel to Washington to attend the ceremony due to the…