Elected President Joe Biden He said on Friday that he was kind president Donald Trump It will skip the inauguration ceremony later this month after one of the messiest weeks in modern American politics.
Trump, from Help fuel the violent riots on Wednesday On Capitol Hill, he tweeted earlier on Friday that he would not attend the event on January 20.
“I was told on my way here that he indicated that he would not attend the inauguration: one of the few things that he and I agreed on,” Biden said of Trump. “It is good, not to attend.”
“He has surpassed even my worst notions of him,” said the president-elect. “He is one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the United States of America.”
Biden, who spoke from Wilmington, Delaware, added that he would welcome the vice president Mike Pence At the opening.
“I think it is important, insofar as we can stick to precedents and historical circumstances, how to sustain the changes of administration,” Biden said. “So if Mike – the Vice President is invited to come. I am honored to bring him there and move forward with the transition.”
Earlier in the day, Pence spokesperson Devin O’Malley said Vice President and Second Lady Karen Pence had not decided whether to attend.
The vice president split from Trump earlier in the week when he said he did not have the power to cancel the ballots proving Biden won. Biden said he had not spoken to Pence about the vice president attending the ceremony.
Biden also provided an indirect response about his views on Democrats in Congress trying to impeach or remove Trump from office.
Biden said, “I think it is important that we continue to work to get him out of office. The quickest way for that to happen is to be sworn in on the 20th.” “What happens before or after is a judgment that Congress takes.”