Former first lady Michelle Obama is skipping President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday after missing President Jimmy Carter’s funeral last week.
CBS New reported the snub, with her spokesperson declining to provide a reason for her absence.
She missed Carter’s funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday due to a ‘scheduling conflict’ as she enjoyed an extended holiday break in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama was born.
The former first lady has been less publicly engaged since the death of her mother, Marian Robinson, in May.
When she spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August, she remarked that her grief almost kept her from coming onstage.
‘I still feel her loss so profoundly – I wasn’t even sure I’d be steady enough to stand before you tonight,’ she told the massive crowd at Chicago’s United Center.
Still, she headlined several campaign events for the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, ahead of Election Day.
Generally, former presidents and first ladies have attended inaugurations – even for the president of the opposite party – unless they were suffering from health issues.
But Trump blew up that modern precedent four years ago, by refusing to attend the swearing-in ceremony of his successor, President Joe Biden.
First Lady Melania Trump also skipped Biden’s inauguration.
Barack Obama is still planning to attend Monday’s swearing-in.
Obama and Trump lit up the internet on Thursday when they appeared extremely chatty at Carter’s memorial service.
It comes after Trump pushed the ‘birther’ conspiracy theory about Obama, who in turn humiliated him onstage at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2011, considered one of the motivations for Trump to run for the White House in 2016.
Ahead of the program, Obama appeared to be laughing at something Trump said.
Other dignitaries did not react to Trump’s arrival that way. Former second lady Karen Pence refused to acknowledge the Trumps.
She stayed seated, looking straight ahead, as they walked by.
Former Vice President Mike Pence stood and shook Trump’s hand after former Vice President Al Gore did the same.
The Trumps and Pences had a falling out in the aftermath of January 6 when the MAGA crowd erected gallows and chanted ‘hang Mike Pence.’
Former President George W. Bush initially walked by the Trumps to greet Obama instead as he arrived at the Washington National Cathedral.
He gave Obama a friendly tap on the belly. Bush later shook hands with the incoming president.
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