Mike Pence will attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. Photo: Megan Varner / Getty Images
Vice President Pence plans to attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, told NPR a source familiar with the decision.
The decision comes one day after President Trump announced on Twitter that he would not attend the opening.
Trump has spent weeks falsely claiming that the elections were tampered with, culminating in a violent mob of his supporters seizing the Capitol on Wednesday and caused the death of five people.
The president-elect Joe Biden said Friday that welcomes President Trump deciding not to attend and that Vice President Pence “is welcome. It would be an honor to have him there. ”
The decision is Pence’s second high-profile separation from to Trump, after being loyally behind him for years.
Despite pressure from Trump, Pence affirmed Biden’s victory when Congress finished counting Electoral College votes early Thursday morning. Trump had asked Pence to show “extreme courage” by rejecting the certification process.
It is also expected that Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton attend the inauguration.
The Congressional committee planning the Joe Biden’s inauguration said the inauguration will take place on the West Front of the Capitol as planned, despite Wednesday’s events. Security will be tight.
The team that planned the ceremony recommended people not to travel to Washington due to coronavirus risks and said that “the event will be extremely limited and that the parade that follows will be reinvented. ”
Donald Trump will be the first president in recent history not to attend the inauguration of his successor.