Longtime House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Joins Michelle Obama in Saying She Will Not Attend Trump's Inauguration

Mar. 15, 2025

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President-elect Donald Trump.Photo:Travis P Ball/Getty; James Devaney/GC Images

Travis P Ball/Getty; James Devaney/GC Images

Nancy Pelosiwill not attend President-electDonald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

Pelosi’s spokesperson did not provide insight into Pelosi’s reasons for missing the event, though she no longer has a formal leadership role.

PEOPLE is seeking information about whether Congress' current Democratic leaders — House Minority LeaderHakeem Jeffriesand Senate Minority LeaderChuck Schumer— plan to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

Pelosi, who served as House speaker for a total of eight years, attended Trump’s first swearing-in. The 2017 inauguration was the tenth of 11 she’s attended in her life, starting withJohn. F Kennedy’s in 1961, ABC reported.

Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rips up President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech.Mark Wilson/Getty

Mark Wilson/Getty

The former speaker has had a tense relationship with Trump in the past. Notably after his 2020 State of the Union, Pelosi — seated behind him while he delivered his address —ripped up a copy of the speechin full view of cameras in the room.

“It was the courteous thing to do considering the alternative,” she told reporters afterwards. “It was such a dirty speech.”

At the time, Trump was beingimpeached over his Ukraine scandal, and Pelosi’s reaction was reflective of the tension between the then-president and House Democrats.

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Their volatile relationship has persisted, even after Trumpleft the White Housein 2021 and after Pelosistepped downas the Democratic House leader in 2023. Recently, in his final campaign rally before the 2024 election, Trump began tohurl insultsher way before stopping himself.

“She’s an evil, sick, crazy b-,” he said, pausing. “It starts with a B, but I won’t say it. I want to say it.”

Nancy Pelosi, Mike Pence and Donald Trump sit in the Oval Office on Dec. 11, 2018.Mark Wilson/Getty

News of Pelosi not attending Trump’s inauguration comes days afterMichelle Obama announced her same intention.

“There’s no overstating her feelings about [Trump]. She’s not one to plaster on a pleasant face and pretend for protocol’s sake,” a source close to the former first lady told PEOPLE about her decision. “Michelle doesn’t do anything because it’s expected or it’s protocol or it’s tradition.”

source: people.com