Outgoing President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both made their final posts on social media on Monday ahead of the inauguration ceremony for the 47th president, Donald Trump.
The two posts both featured a portrait of Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Harris, and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
After President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, X handed off the official “POTUS” and “VP” X accounts to Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Jill Biden’s official account was to be handed over to now-First Lady Melania Trump.
X’s owner, Elon Musk, a vocal supporter of Trump in the latter stages of the 2024 presidential campaign, attended the inauguration at the U.S. Capitol along with other tech company executives and founders. They include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, and others.
Others who attended the event included former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as Bush’s wife, former First Lady Laura Bush, attended the inauguration. Former First Lady Michelle Obama did not attend.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, his wife, Karen Pence, as well as former Vice President Dan Quayle attended the event. Dick Cheney, Bush’s vice president, did not show up.
The Bidens met with Trump earlier in the day and traveled with him to the U.S. Capitol for the ceremonial transition of power.
In January 2021, days before Trump left office for the first time, he posted on his personal account on Twitter, which has since been renamed X, about the election and inauguration.
“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” Trump wrote on Jan. 9, 2021.
Later that day, he added: “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th” during that year.
Trump was later banned by Twitter, Facebook, and Google-owned platforms. His social media account’s access was restored in mid-2023 after Musk purchased Twitter.
Trump, however, did not use the platform in earnest until the latter half of 2024, as campaigning ramped up ahead of the Nov. 5, 2024, election. He mostly opted to post comments and statements on Truth Social, a social media platform he founded several years ago.
