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Why is Mike Pence skipping Donald Trump's farewell ceremony? CNN defends former VP's decision but rift widening

VP Mike Pence announced he will attend Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' inauguration at US Capitol instead

President-elect Joe Biden and his Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ inauguration begins at 11 am on January 20. It was reported that President Donald Trump wouldn’t welcome his successor at the White House. The latest report now claims that Vice President Mike Pence will not attend Trump’s farewell ceremony but will go to Biden’s inauguration instead.

Fox News reported that Pence and his wife, second lady Karen Pence, will attend Biden and Harris' inauguration at the west front of the US Capitol. There are reports that Trump will depart from the White House South Lawn, making it logistically impossible for the current vice president to show up at both the places around the same time.

Right before the end of his term as Vice President, Pence wrote on Twitter, “Thank you for the privilege of serving as your Vice President these past four years, it has been the greatest honor of my life. On behalf of our Wonderful Second Lady, Karen Pence, and our entire family, Thank You and God Bless America.”

Donald Trump & Mike Pence's Rift

After the 2020 Presidential Election results were out, Trump got furious at Pence and other top White House officials for not coming together as he tried to overturn the election results. There were reports that the president reportedly believed that he did not get the right support from Pence. In the days before the joint session, Trump reportedly pressured Pence to toss electors from battleground states that voted for Trump’s Democratic challenger Biden. As per reports, Trump allegedly wanted to undo Biden’s victory in the November election. Trump went on to talk about his vice president and stated that “If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election.”

There were further reports of Trump pressurizing Pence to act during his 75-minute speech to supporters where he said that all his VP has to do is send back electoral votes to the states to recertify, and then they will win the presidential election race.

“Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us," President Trump said back then. “And if he doesn’t, it’s a sad day for our country."

On January 6, 2021, Pence said that he does not have any power to discard electoral votes. In a statement released to the media, Pence said it was “my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.”