China News Agency, Washington, January 8 (Reporter Chen Mengtong) US President Trump announced on the 8th that he will not attend the presidential inauguration on January 20.
Trump announced the decision through social media that day. He did not disclose how he will spend the last few hours of his term.
According to American political tradition, the outgoing president will attend the inauguration ceremony of the new president on Capitol Hill.
This is a symbol of national unity and peaceful transition of power.
The Associated Press pointed out that Trump will become the first incumbent president to be absent from the swearing-in ceremony of his successor after former President Andrew Johnson.
Johnson succeeded as President of the United States after Lincoln was assassinated, but he had serious disagreements with Congress over the issue of black civil rights and southern reconstruction after the Civil War, and became the first president in American history to be impeached by the House of Representatives.
In the early morning of the 7th, the United States Congress confirmed that the Democrat and former Vice President Biden won 306 electoral votes and was elected the 46th President of the United States.
That night, Trump released a video speech stating that he would “turn the focus now to ensuring the smooth, orderly and seamless transfer of power”.
After the demonstrators stormed the Congress, Trump lowered his tone of direct denial of the results of the US election.
On the 8th, he called voters who voted for him "patriots" and declared that "they will not be treated with disrespect or unfairness in any form."
The Biden transition team did not immediately respond to Trump's decision to "absent" the ceremony.
But Psaki, the press secretary-designate of the White House, previously stated that whether Trump will attend the inauguration ceremony is not Biden's biggest concern.
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