Mike Pence will attend the upcoming inauguration of Joe Biden , multiple media reports said Saturday , the vice president becoming the latest longtime loyalist to abandon an increasingly isolated President Donald Trump.
Relations between Trump and Pence — previously one of the mercurial president ’ s staunchest defenders — have nosedived since Wednesday when the vice president formally announced Biden ’ s victory in November’ s election .
A mob of far – right demonstrators stormed the US Capitol the same day in a failed bid to stop Congress from certifying Biden ’ s win, in a riot blamed on Trump that left five dead.
Multiple media reports on Saturday cited senior administration officials as saying that Pence — who was forced to take shelter from the intruders during the riot — had decided to attend Biden ’ s inauguration on January 20.
The president – elect earlier in the week said Pence would be welcome at his formal swearing-in , due to take place in a scaled -down format due to the coronavirus
“ I think it’ s important that as much as we can stick to what have been the historical precedents of how an administration changes should be maintained , ” Biden told reporters .
“ We ’ d be honoured to have him there , and to move forward in the transition . ”
In his final tweet before being removed from Twitter on Friday, Trump said he would not attend the inauguration.
The outgoing president has been accused of provoking Wednesday’ s violence, and now faces an unprecedented second impeachment, expected to begin on Monday .
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that Democrats would launch the process unless Trump resigned or Pence invoked the 25th Amendment , in which the cabinet removes the president from office .
While Pence has not spoken publicly on the subject , the New York Times reported Thursday he was against invoking the mechanism , never used before in US history .
