Trump Transition
Trump Transition
Trump Transition
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The president-elect will host a party at his golf club in Virginia on Saturday, kicking off four days of celebrations.
Chris Cameron
Reporting from Washington
President-elect Donald J. Trump will host a series of events around the nation’s capital for his second presidential inauguration, feting a wide array of donors, supporters and incoming members of his new administration over four days.
Here’s the schedule:
Mr. Trump was expected to begin the celebrations with a party for roughly 500 at the sprawling clubhouse for his golf club in Sterling, Va., featuring musical performances and an extensive fireworks display.
The president-elect will land at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on his private plane, joined by his wife, Melania Trump, and some of his family members before making his way to his golf course in Sterling, which overlooks the Potomac River.
Mr. Trump’s aides are preparing a five-hour music playlist, as well as hours of music videos to be shown on dozens of televisions placed throughout the three floors of the club. There will be performances by Leo Days, an Elvis impersonator and tribute performer, and Christopher Macchio, a tenor whom Mr. Trump has previously featured at political events. Other performances will take place throughout the night, officials said.
Mr. Trump is expected to pay a visit to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia — his first to the hallowed military cemetery since last year, when he appeared for a wreath-laying ceremony in honor of the 13 U.S. service members killed in a suicide bombing during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. During that visit, a member of Mr. Trump’s staff pushed an Arlington official who was trying to stop the campaign from filming in a heavily restricted area of the cemetery, according to Army officials. Political campaigning is not permitted at the graves of military service members.
Later on Sunday, the president-elect is scheduled to hold a major rally at Capital One Arena — which sits several blocks from the National Mall in Washington — for his supporters, the first such event in the nation’s capital that Mr. Trump will address since his speech at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021.
Mr. Trump will also attend a candlelight dinner with supporters that evening.
Mr. Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States at 12 p.m. E.S.T. While the president traditionally assumes his powers outdoors in front of the Capitol building, with a large crowd of spectators witnessing the ceremony, Mr. Trump on Friday said he would move the event inside the Capitol Rotunda amid forecasts of extreme cold.
Mr. Trump also said that he plans to use the Capital One Arena for people to gather to watch the inaugural events live, and he said he would join them there afterward. The weather has also forced what was supposed to be his inaugural parade into the viewing party at the arena, according to Mr. Trump’s social media post.
In one of his first acts as president, Mr. Trump is expected to participate in a traditional signing of a number of executive orders to kick off the beginning of his administration. It is not clear what executive orders will be first up, but the president-elect is considering a number of issues that he may tackle on Day 1. Susie Wiles, the next White House chief of staff, privately told donors that Mr. Trump would move to reinstate some executive orders from Mr. Trump’s first term that President Biden had revoked.
Three official inaugural balls will take place in the evening: the Commander in Chief Ball, the Liberty Ball and the Starlight Ball. The balls are a traditional part of the inaugural celebrations, and Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania, made a stop at all three events after his first inauguration in 2021. The Trumps held their first dance as a presidential couple to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”
The Washington National Cathedral will host Mr. Trump the day after his inauguration for an interfaith prayer service, led by the Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington who had condemned Mr. Trump for posing in front of a church near the White House in 2020 after security officers cleared away protesters with tear gas.
Music for the prayer service will be offered by the Cathedral Choir, the Cathedral Contemporary Ensemble, as well as “special guest musicians,” according to a statement from the cathedral.
Chris Cameron covers politics for The Times, focusing on breaking news and the 2024 campaign. More about Chris Cameron
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