(The Hill) – President Trump was sworn into office for a second time on Monday before an audience in the Capitol that included his predecessor, former President Biden, as well as former Presidents Obama, Clinton and George W. Bush and multiple current and former officials and lawmakers.
However, a few notable figures decided to skip Trump’s inauguration.
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Here’s a list of those prominent figures:
Former first lady Michelle Obama
The Obama family said in a recent statement that while former President Obama would attend the inauguration, the former first lady would not.
“Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies. Former First Lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration,” the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama said.
The former first lady has a history of harsh criticism toward Trump.
“For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black,” she said at the Democratic National Convention last year.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
Like Michelle Obama, Pelosi has also criticized Trump.
Pelosi, who attended Trump’s first inauguration, has said that she will “never forgive” him for trying to overturn the 2020 election results.
A spokesperson for the former Speaker recently confirmed to The Hill that she would not attend Trump’s second inauguration. The spokesperson did not provide details on her absence.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
The New York Democrat said in a Sunday TikTok post that she was skipping Trump’s second inauguration.
“All these journalists are like, ‘Congresswoman, are you going to the inauguration? Congresswoman, are you going to the inauguration? Are you going to the inauguration?” Ocasio-Cortez said in her TikTok video.
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“Let me make myself clear,” she added. “I don’t celebrate rapists. So no, I’m not going to the inauguration tomorrow.”
A jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defaming her by denying her claims. The jury, however, found Trump did not commit rape.
Former second lady Karen Pence
The former second lady was also not at Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Monday.
The wife of former Vice President Mike Pence did attend former President Carter’s funeral service earlier this month but did not interact with Trump and first lady Melania Trump.
The former vice president previously noted his wife’s refusal to acknowledge Trump at the service.
“You’d have to ask my wife about her posture, but we’ve been married 44 years, and she loves her husband, and her husband respects her deeply,” the former vice president told Christianity Today.
Mike Pence had to evacuate to a secure location on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of pro-Trump backers stormed the Capitol as he was presiding over the joint session to certify President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
The former vice president, whose relationship with Trump has soured, ran in the 2024 GOP presidential primary before ending his bid in late October 2023.
The Hill has reached out to an advocacy group for Mike Pence for comment on Karen Pence’s absence.
