President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021.
President Donald Trump has said he would not attend his successor Joe Biden's inauguration after repeatedly rejecting the election result as a fraud and his supporters violently storming the US Capitol in Washington.
"To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th," Trump tweeted, without giving a reason for not attending.
Trump will be the first incumbent president since Andrew Johnson in 1869 to refuse attending his successor’s swearing-in.
Traditionally, the incoming and outgoing presidents ride to the US Capitol together for the ceremony, as a symbol of the nation's peaceful transition.
More recently outgoing president Richard Nixon was not in attendance at Gerald Ford's 1974 inauguration, as he had left DC prior to his resignation after the Watergate scandal.
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To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021
An early departure
For weeks speculation had been growing that Trump might skip the inauguration and travel to his Turnberry golf resort in western Scotland.
The Sunday Post newspaper reported at the weekend that Glasgow Prestwick Airport had been told to expect the arrival of a US military Boeing 757 aircraft, the type is occasionally used by Trump, on January 19.
There have recently been discussions at the White House about Trump leaving Washington on January 19, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
He is now expected to travel to his Florida resort, the source said.
READ MORE: Scotland won't allow golf trip for Trump on Biden's inauguration
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