Published 21:49 IST, January 8th 2021
Donald Trump says 'Won't attend inauguration on 20 Jan', a day after Capitol Seige
A day after the horrific riots at the US Capitol, President Donald Trump on Friday, said that he will not be attending the Joe Biden & Kamala Harris' inaugural
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A day after horrific riots at US Capitol, President Donald Trump on Friday, said that he will t be attending Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' inauguration ceremony on January 20, becoming first incumbent president since Andrew Johnson to skip his successor's inauguration. After being banned from Facebook and Twitter for 12 hours, Trump officially conceded defeat, condemning his supporters who laid siege to Capitol Hill in a bid to stop certification of electoral college votes - formally recognising Biden as 46th President of United States. With talks of his removal from office being discussed by his cabinet members, Trump yet again pandered to his base, tweeting ' 75,000,000 who voted for me will t be disrespected or treated unfairly'.
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Trump: 'Won't attend inauguration'
US Capitol siege by Pro-Trump supporters
On Wednesday afteron, thousands of Trump supporters broke barricades outside Capitol, and marched into building. Scaling walls using scaffolding and breaking windows to enter building. Inside building, rioters banged on doors, trying to push through doors and fought with police. As per reports, by 2 PM, Capitol Police ordered all staff, reporters and nearby senators into Senate chamber, which was sealed off and put on lockdown. Visuals from inside Capitol show rioters inside US Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, inside Congress and Senate Hall as police officers deployed tear gas inside building. After building was secured, at least four people have died, 52 have been arrested and over a dozen police officers have been injured.
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Reports state that siege on Capitol Hill occurred after President Trump had given a speech from White House, urging protesters to march on Capitol after making false claims of electoral fraud. Later, after seige, Biden condemned violence, urging Trump to 'stop this carn' and 'do his Constitutional duty'. Trump, later gave a speech telling rioters to 'go home in peace', before formally conceding election. Congress later reconvened and formally certified Biden and Harris' electoral victory, with senior Republican leaders slamming Trump. Joe Biden was elected as 46th US President on 7 vember winning 306 electoral college votes to Trump's 232 and he also won popular vote, with 51% of votes - amassing 8,12,83,485 ballots.
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In face of a slew of resignations from White House staff and his cabinet, Trump said, “I would like to begin with heius attack on US Capitol. Like all Americans, I am outrd by violence, lawlessness and mayhem. I immediately deployed national guard and federal law enforcement to secure building and expel intruders. To those who were engd in act of violence and demonstration, you do t represent our country and those who broke law you'll pay. We have just been through intense elections and emotions are high but w tempered must be cooled, calm and restored."
21:49 IST, January 8th 2021