Michelle Obama to skip Donald Trump's inauguration — what to know
Michelle Obama will not be attending the upcoming inauguration of Donald Trump and his vice president, J.D. Vance.
A spokesperson for the former first lady confirmed the news, which comes after also recently missing former President Jimmy Carter's funeral. Her husband Barack Obama did attend, and was sitting next to the former reality star and incoming president.
All other living presidents, meaning Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, will be in attendance, the AP reported.
Though it has long been tradition that former presidents and their families attend inaugurations, it was Trump himself who broke that tradition almost four years ago, the first time a former president had done so in 150 years.
The former real estate developer, who still denies his 2020 defeat, never conceded to President Biden, and just days before his inauguration, his supporters led an insurrection on the capitol during which police officers were beaten, a rioter was shot, several died, and at least four police officers who were on the scene have died by suicide since.
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The Obamas did welcome Trump and his wife Melania Trump into the White House in 2017 ahead of his first inauguration, also a tradition, and were in attendance at his swearing in.
Trump has long had a contentious history with the Obama family, in large part over his racist claims about the former president's birth place, which date back to about 2011, ahead of Obama's reelection.
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He has always been one of the leading and loudest propagators of the erroneous claims that Obama was not born in the United States, and even once suggested he would send a team of private investigators to Hawai'i, Obama's birth place, to learn the supposed truth, and promised to donate $5m to charity if anyone could convince him he was born in the U.S.
In response, Obama released a copy of his birth certificate, and just weeks later, in April 2011, also "roasted" Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. He started his speech by joking he would go "one step further" and release his "birth video," before showing the famous The Lion King scene in which Simba is presented to the world. He then called out the Fox News table to assure them "that was a joke," and that it was "a children's cartoon."
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"No one is happier and prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than Donald, and that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter like, did we fake the moon landing, what really happened in Roswell, and where are Biggie and Tupac," he further joked.
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"All kidding aside, obviously we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience," he went on, before joking about his time on The Apprentice.
Many have since suggested that the moment, which had the room erupting in laughter, was a deciding moment for Trump to run for president.
