Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has confirmed through a spokesman that she will not attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Pelosi, who attended Trump’s 2017 inauguration, did not provide a reason for her absence this time.
In December, Pelosi broke her hip and underwent hip replacement surgery. Despite this, she attended a ceremony for the late former President Jimmy Carter earlier this month and a joint session of Congress on January 6 to ratify the election results, using a walker. According to ABC News, Pelosi has attended 11 presidential inaugurations throughout her career.
Trump and Pelosi have a history of exchanging sharp criticisms. In 2023, Pelosi described Trump as looking like a “scared puppy” while heading into a courtroom. “I wasn’t in the courtroom, of course, but when I saw Trump coming out of his car…I saw a scared puppy,” Pelosi said during an MSNBC interview. “He looked very, very, very concerned about [his] fate. I didn’t see any bravado, or confidence, or anything like that. He knows. He knows the truth: That he lost the election, and now he’s got to face the music.”
In response, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “[Pelosi] said something about me, with glee, that was really quite vicious. ‘I saw a scared puppy,’ she said, as she watched me on television, like millions of others, that didn’t see that. I wasn’t ‘scared.’ Nevertheless, how mean a thing to say! She is a Wicked Witch whose husband’s journey from hell starts and finishes with her. She is a sick & demented psycho who will someday live in HELL!”
In addition to Pelosi, former First Lady Michelle Obama also confirmed she will not attend the swearing-in ceremony. No reason was provided, though a source suggested Mrs. Obama prefers not to put on a forced smile for the cameras.
