While U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., was one of a handful of Republican senators to support decertifying Pennsylvania’s electoral college votes, at the end of last week, he called on outgoing President Donald Trump to attend incoming President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the inauguration on January 20th,” Trump posted on Twitter last week before his account was removed after last week’s pro-Trump mob attack on the Capitol which resulted in five deaths, including that of a police officer.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter noted.
On Friday, Scott called for Trump to attend the inauguration.
“I am urging the president to reconsider his decision to skip the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. He is, of course, not constitutionally required to attend and I can imagine losing an election is very hard, but I believe he should attend. I plan to attend and believe it is an important tradition that demonstrates the peaceful transfer of power to our people and to the world,” Scott said.
Only four presidents–John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren and Andrew Johnson–did not attend the inaugurations of their successors.
Reach Kevin Derby at kevin.derby@floridadaily.com.