Michelle Obama will skip Trump’s inauguration

Michelle Obama, the former first lady, will not attend the inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump, her office said in a statement Tuesday.

“Former President Barack Obama has been confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremony,” the statement said. Former first lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration.

The statement did not explain why Mrs. Obama skipped the inauguration, which is traditionally attended by former presidents and their spouses. But it is the second high-profile event in the past two weeks that she has refused to attend that would have brought her face to face with Mr Trump.

Mrs. Obama expressed her personal disdain for the president-elect, who has pushed the lie that her husband is not a US citizen and has a history of making racist and sexist statements.

“For years, Donald Trump has done everything in his power to make people fear us,” she said during her speech at the Democratic National Convention in August.

“You see, his limited, narrow world view made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happened to be black,” she added.

Mrs. Obama did not accompany her husband to former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral last week, which was attended by every other living former president and first lady. Mrs. Obama’s absence from Mr. Carter’s funeral was attributed to a scheduling conflict, but it was apparent that protocol would have required her to sit next to Mr. Trump, who engaged Mr. Obama in conversation during the ceremony.

The Obamas, who served as a campaign surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris, released a statement shortly after the election congratulating Mr. Trump on his victory.

“This is clearly not the outcome we were hoping for, given our deep disagreements with the Republican ticket on a range of issues,” the statement said. “But living in a democracy means recognizing that our point of view will not always win and being willing to accept a peaceful transfer of power.”

Mrs. Obama is not the first to defy the tradition of former first families attending an inauguration. Mr. Trump and former first lady Melania Trump did not attend President Biden’s 2021 inauguration, after Mr. Trump falsely claimed that his election was stolen.