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President-elect sworn-in at Capitol rotunda as freezing conditions blast Washington DC
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Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th commander-in-chief of the United States. He is the first president since Grover Cleveland to enter the White House for a non-consecutive second term.
The ceremony was moved indoors at the US Capitol for the first time since Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985 by the punishing sub-zero temperatures currently blasting Washington D.C.
In his inaugural address, Trump promised that he was returning “to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success.”
He adds: “A tide of change is sweeping the country.”
Just two hours after being sworn in, the president has begun signing more than 200 executive orders – a record – covering everything from border security and energy to ending birthright citizenship and renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
As the day began, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden greeted the incoming president and Melania Trump at the White House by saying: “Welcome home.”
After the inauguration ceremony, the Trumps bid farewell to the Bidens, who departed the Capitol in Marine One before flying to California.
Hillary Clinton laughed at Donald Trump’s inauguration speech as he announced the Gulf of Mexico was to be renamed the “Gulf of America” under his administration. The former secretary of state sat next to her husband, Bill Clinton, as the pair witnessed the 47th US president being sworn in at the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Earlier this month the Republican declared that the “Gulf of America” had a “beautiful ring” to it. He is expected to sign an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico in one of his first moves as he retakes the White House.
While only a smattering of protesters opposed to President Trump’s inauguration were present around Washington on Monday, one group that was particularly prominent was the anti-war group CodePink. Roughly two dozen of the group’s members including Medea Benjamin, posted up inside the heated Union Station building near the main stairway, where they implored visiting Trump supporters and the new administration to finish the job of achieving a permanent peace in Israel and the Palestinian territories by recognizing a sovereign Palestinian state. In at least one moment, the group took their signs and banners on the move, chanting the familiar “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” refrain through the building.
Vladimir Putin took a swipe at Joe Biden as he congratulated Donald Trump on his inauguration on Monday, 20 January. The Russian President welcomed the 47th president’s intention to open a dialogue with Moscow, something he says was halted “through no fault of ours by the outgoing administration.” During a video call with members of Russia’s Security Council just before the inauguration ceremony, Mr Putin welcomed Mr Trump’s “statements about the need to do everything to prevent World War III.” He emphasised that a dialogue between Russia and the US should be based on “equal basis and mutual respect.”
Within his first moments after he is sworn into office, Donald Trump will declare a national emergency to surge troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, freeze asylum claims, upend the 14th Amendment to end birthright citizenship, and deny the existence of transgender, nonbinary and intersex people throughout the government.
He is also preparing to axe diversity, equity and inclusion programs and swiftly cut regulations on oil production.
The extraordinary executive orders, previewed by incoming White House officials on Monday, are likely to face enormous legal backlash from civil rights groups and advocacy groups, drawing constitutional battles as Trump tests the limits of his authority.
Alex Woodward and Andrew Feinberg report.
Incoming officials outlined Trump’s plans to gut legal immigration pathways and roll back LGBT+ rights
President Donald Trump is preparing to issue a sweeping series of pardons for defendants charged in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, including commuting the prison sentences of hundreds of his supporters who have been convicted of violent attacks against law enforcement, ABC News reports.
Trump will instruct the attorney general to dismiss all pending indictments.
Per the Justice Department on the four year anniversary of the attack:
During the siege of the Capitol that day, over 140 police officers were assaulted—including over 80 from the U.S. Capitol Police and over 60 from the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department—the Capitol was damaged, government property was destroyed, and other government property was stolen. Current estimates are that losses arising from the Capitol siege exceed $2.8 million. In total, approximately 1,583 individuals have been charged criminally in federal court.
In a rambling speech covering January 6, the border wall, and the election, Donald Trump says he won Alabama by 48 points — in reality, it was closer to 30 points — and that he thinks he would have won California if it weren’t for alleged election fraud…
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi issued this statement on President Trump’s second Inaugural address:
“For the sake of our country, we always listen with optimism to the Inaugural address of a new President.
“As we heard the President listing the many items on his agenda, what he didn’t mention was his promised tax cuts for the rich. It is important to note that in the President’s first term, his only accomplishment was enacting tax cuts that gave eighty-three percent of the benefits to the top one percent while increasing the national debt by $2 trillion.
“While he didn’t say it in his speech, the President campaigned on an extension of those tax cuts being his first priority in the new Congress. The American people want us to build an economy from the middle out — not from the top down.”
True to form, the newly inaugurated president is giving unscripted remarks to the inauguration’s overflow crowd in Emancipation Hall.
He tells them they will see “a lot of action” on the January 6 “hostages.”
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