(NewsNation) — Former first lady Michelle Obama will skip President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next week, which comes on the heels of her being absent at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter.
A statement from the Obama family confirmed Michelle Obama would miss Trump’s swearing-in ceremony Monday, setting off a series of questions about where she may be. The statement did not provide any clues about why Michelle Obama will miss the ceremony.
Former presidents and their spouses usually attend the inauguration, which both Barack and Michelle Obama did ahead of Trump’s first White House term in 2017.
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However, few answers exist about where Michelle Obama has been in recent weeks. NBC News reported that Michelle Obama’s most recent public appearance came on November 2, where she attended a get-out-the-vote rally in Pennsylvania after appearing at a campaign rally for Vice President Kamala Harris in Michigan in late October. The report also said that Obama appeared for an interview on Jennifer Hudson’s television show in mid-December.
Michelle Obama misses Carter’s funeral
All five living U.S. presidents attended the state funeral of the 39th president at Washington National Cathedral. Cameras caught Barack Obama and Trump engaging in conversation at the funeral. Yet while the spouses of Trump, President Joe Biden and former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were all in attendance, Michelle Obama was the noticeable exception.
Former US President Barack Obama, left, and US President-elect Donald Trump before the funeral service of late former US President Jimmy Carter at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Photographer: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Like the inauguration, state funerals typically offer rare opportunities for former presidents to gather in the same place along with other dignitaries and prominent government officials.
The New York Times, citing a source, reported that Michelle Obama was in Hawaii at the time and had a scheduling conflict. The former first lady instead issued a statement and sent her “thoughts and prayers to the Carter family and everyone who loved and learned from the remarkable former president.”
Michelle Obama’s Trump criticism
Despite attending Trump’s 2017 inauguration, Michelle Obama has not been shy about her criticism of the incoming president.
She had attended every inauguration since 2009, when Barack Obama was first elected. She was present when Biden was sworn into office in 2021 after defeating Trump in 2020. Trump and first lady Melania Trump chose not to attend Biden’s inauguration after Trump claimed the 2020 election had been rigged.
Former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama arrive in the Crypt of the US Capitol for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021 in Washington. (Jim Lo Scalzo (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool Photo via AP)
Michelle Obama criticized Trump on “The Light Podcast” in 2023, presenting her observations of Trump’s previous inauguration.
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“[T]here was no diversity. There was no color on that stage. 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 the podcast, according to NBC.
After an Obama family spokesperson confirmed Michelle Obama would not be present at next week’s inauguration, People magazine, citing a source, suggested why she is choosing to skip it.
“There’s no overstating her feelings about (Trump),” the magazine report said. “She’s not one to plaster a pleasant face and pretend for protocol’s sake. Michelle doesn’t do anything because it’s expected or it’s protocol or tradition.”
The source told People that Trump’s history of attacking the Obamas and making disparaging comments about people of color also factored into her decision not to attend the inauguration. Trump questioned the authenticity of Barack Obama’s birth certificate and also questioned Harris’ nationality during the 2024 presidential campaign.
During a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Michelle Obama said Harris could expect more attacks from her opponent.
“We know folks are going to do everything they can to distort her truth,” Obama said during the speech. “My husband and I, sadly, know a little something about this. For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us.”
