WASHINGTON >> House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday announced that American flags at the Capitol would be temporarily raised Monday for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, effectively defying a Joe Biden presidential order put in place last month to mourn the death of former President Jimmy Carter.

The move came after Trump complained that flags were scheduled to be at half-staff during his inaugural ceremony. President Biden ordered all flags to be lowered to half-staff for one month following Carter’s death on Dec. 29, following tradition and U.S. flag code.

“On Jan. 20, the flags at the Capitol will fly at full staff to celebrate our country coming together behind the inauguration of our 47th president, Donald Trump,” Johnson said in a statement announcing the change. He said flags would return to half-staff the next day to continue honoring Carter through the end of January.

Earlier this month Trump expressed his frustration over the possibility of flags remaining lowered during his inauguration, saying in a post on social media that “Democrats are all ‘giddy’” about the imagery. He made it clear that he would push for a change, adding that “no American can be happy about it.”

“Let’s see how it plays out,” he said.

Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, told reporters this month that Biden was not considering modifying or briefly suspending his flag order to accommodate Monday’s ceremonies.

Shortly after Carter’s funeral services, American flags at Trump’s private Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, were raised back to full height. And in a move of solidarity with the incoming president, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas also ordered all flags be raised to full staff at the state’s Capitol and other state buildings for Inauguration Day.

Trump had asserted that his would have been the first presidential inauguration where flags were not flying at full staff. But President Richard Nixon recited his oath of office at the U.S. Capitol in January 1973 with flags flying at half-staff because of the death of President Harry Truman 25 days earlier.

Michelle Obama not attending

Michelle Obama, the former first lady, will not attend the Trump inauguration, her office said in a statement Tuesday.

“Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies,” the statement said. “Former First Lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration.”

The statement did not provide an explanation for why Michelle Obama was skipping the inauguration, which is traditionally attended by former presidents and their spouses. But it is the second high-profile event in the past two weeks that she has declined to take part in that would have brought her face-to-face with Trump.

Obama has expressed personal disdain for the president-elect, who pushed the lie that her husband was not a U.S. citizen and has a history of making racist and sexist statements.

“For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us,” she said during her speech at the Democratic National Convention in August.

“See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black,” she added.

Obama also did not accompany her husband to the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter last week, which every other living former president and first lady attended. Obama’s absence at Carter’s funeral was attributed to a scheduling conflict, but it was notable that by protocol, she would have been seated next to Trump, who engaged Barack Obama in a conversation during the ceremony.

Michelle Obama is not the first to buck the tradition of former first families attending an inauguration. Donald and Melania Trump did not attend Biden’s inauguration in 2021, after Donald Trump falsely claimed that the election was stolen from him.