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| Vice President Mike Pence will attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Jan 20, 2021, multiple US media outlets reported. (Photo by= AFP/Erin Schaff) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] Mike Pence will attend the upcoming inauguration of Joe Biden, multiple media reports said Saturday (Jan 9), 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 Jan 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. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that Democrats would launch the process unless Trump resigns 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 on Thursday he was against invoking the mechanism, never used before in US history.
