Donald Trump says he will not attend Joe Biden's Inauguration

8 January 2021, 15:46 | Updated: 8 January 2021, 17:13

Donald Trump has said he will not be going to Joe Biden's Inauguration, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is actively looking at how to remove the nuclear codes from him.

Trump tweeted: "To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration".

It is the first time in 152 years that a US President has refused to attend their successor's inaugural ceremony, and Barack Obama attended Trump's in 2017.

There have only been three US President's in history who refused to attend the following one - John Adams in 1801, John Quincy Adams in 1829 and Andrew Johnson in 1869.

Ms Pelosi today called Trump an "unstable president" and said she was seeking advice on how to prevent Trump from accessing the codes for a nuclear strike.

In a statement she said: “This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike. “

Trump's announcement comes as calls grow for his impeachment or to be ousted from the Oval Office early after he encouraged his followers to storm the Capitol in Washington DC.

It is believed Vice President Mike Pence will still be attending the Inaguration.

Since losing the 2020 Presidential election, Trump has repeatedly pushed unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud, whipping his supports into a frenzy that the election was "stolen" from them.

Wednesday's events lead to the deaths of five people, one of the them a police officer.

But in a major backdown from previous rhetoric, he said in a video yesterday his priority was arranging for an orderly transition to a new administration, and said Mr Biden will be sworn in on 20 January.

It comes after US President-elect Joe Biden condemned the mob who stormed Capitol on Wednesday as "domestic terrorists" whilst criticising Donald Trump for his "all out assault" on democracy.

Speaking about the demonstrators who stormed the Capitol, Mr Biden said their actions were an "assault on our liberty".

LBC Washington DC Correspondent reports from Capitol Hill

During remarks in Wilmington, Delaware, on Thursday, Mr Biden said people should not call the hundreds of Trump supporters who broke into the Capitol "protesters."

"Don't dare call them protesters - they were a riotous mob, insurrectionists," he said.The president elect then accused Trump of "unleashing an all-out assault on our institutions of democracy - and yesterday was the culmination".

He added it had been the "darkest day in the history of our nation".

House speaker Nancy Pelosi also spoke out against the president, saying Donald Trump committed a "seditious act", and said there had been an "unspeakable assault on our nation and our people".

She called for Mr Trump to be removed from office with immediate effect, and said the Democrats were pushing for his impeachment.

Ms Pelosi said she was expecting a quick decision from Vice President Mike Pence about whether to invoke the 25th amendment.