Page 11 - Turmoil in America: The 2020 Election

attending the ceremony on the Capitol steps was limited to just
two hundred guests, all sitting 6 feet (1.8 m) apart and wearing
masks. No parade or balls were held following the swearing-in
ceremony.
Trump refused to attend the inauguration—becoming only the
fourth president in US history to refuse to attend the inaugura-
tion of a successor. (The others were presidents John Adams,
John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Johnson. As with Trump, all
had been rejected by voters for second terms.)
The repercussions of the January 6 siege did not end with
Biden’s inauguration. In the days following the siege, law enforce-
ment offi cers studied security camera footage of the riot as well
as cell phone video many of the participants had posted on social
media. Police started making arrests, and by March 2020 more
than four hundred participants had been charged with crimes
stemming from the Capitol siege.
Many members of Congress, convinced that Trump’s incendi-
ary words at the January 6 rally incited the crowd to lay siege to
the Capitol, called for the president to be impeached a second
time. In this case, a conviction following the impeachment trial

Joe Biden at his presidential
inauguration on Capitol Hill on
January 20, 2020. Trump refused
to attend the inauguration,
becoming only the fourth president
in US history to refuse to attend
the inauguration of a successor.