Donald Trump famously did not attend the inauguration of Joe Biden in 2021, while Trump was, as he continues to do this day, denying the results of the 2020 election.
With Trump returning to the presidency next Monday, President Biden will be there, as will all of the other living former presidents, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, just weeks after all of them were sitting near each other at the funeral of Jimmy Carter. Michelle Obama, however, will not be attending the inauguration.
However, NBC News reported on Thursday that while Clinton, Bush, and Obama will be at the inauguration, they will not attend the inaugural lunch afterward. Per NBC News, Clinton and Obama both received invitations but declined them, while Bush’s office “said it was not tracking an invitation to the luncheon.” Hillary Clinton was also invited but will not attend.
Former presidents Obama, Clinton and Bush will not attend Trump’s inaugural lunch https://t.co/7gKSbTMnEi https://t.co/CW1GywQx4l
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 16, 2025
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The NBC story does not say whether President Biden and his family will attend the luncheon. However, the departing president is traditionally shown getting on a plane and leaving Washington at some point during inauguration day. The Bidens will attend the swearing-in ceremony.
The Trump transition team, according to NBC, had not yet commented on the news that the ex-presidents were skipping the luncheon.
All of the former presidents have had notably contentious relationships with Trump. While the Clintons and Trumps had been friendly in the past, Trump ran against and defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016, when he made hay of Bill Clinton’s past indiscretions and once even invited Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey to a presidential debate.
Trump’s run for president in 2016 was also seen as a repudiation of the Bush era in Republican politics, with Trump frequently bullying the 43rd president’s brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, on the debate stage. Obama has been a frequent Trump enemy for the last 15 years, with the 45th president popularizing the lie that his predecessor in office was not born in the United States.
Both Clinton and Obama have actively campaigned against Trump in each of his presidential races, and while Bush has not, he also has refused to endorse Trump’s candidacies at any point. Bush, in 2017, reportedly denounced Trump’s first inaugural address as “some weird shit.”
