Former First Lady Michelle Obama will not attend President-Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

Former President Barack Obama is expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
“Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies. Former First Lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration,” the brief statement from the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama said.

“A spokesperson for former President George W. Bush confirmed he and former First Lady Laura Bush are planning to be at the Capitol for the festivities. Michelle Obama also did not attend funeral services for Jimmy Carter last week, where all the living former presidents congregated. The other living first ladies were also in attendance,” CBS News reported.

Since 2008, Michelle Obama has been present at every inauguration, including Trump’s first in 2017, as she and her husband were departing the White House. She talked about her experience attending Trump’s inauguration in 2023. “To sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display, there was no diversity, there was no color on that stage,” Obama said.

There was no reflection of the broader sense of America. Many people took pictures of me and they’re like, you weren’t in a good mood. No, I was not.”

She said on her podcast, “The Light Podcast,” that she cried for 30 minutes after the ceremony “because that’s how much we were holding it together for eight years without really being able to show it all.”