At noon, President-elect Donald Trump is set to place a hand on a Bible and take the oath of office, promising to protect the United States as he steps back into the U.S. presidency from inside the Capitol Rotunda.
Trump’s inauguration comes on a frigid day in Washington, D.C., with a high of 24 degrees and wind gusts of 31 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985 was the only previous swearing-in to be moved from the West Front of the Rotunda, a fact noted by Trump in his Friday announcement about the move. He will be sworn in by sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts.
The move of the event inside the Capitol has significantly cut down the number of inauguration attendees — by more than half, according to NPR, which reports that the 1600-capacity West Front platform has now been reduced to the roughly 750-capacity Rotunda. Around 250,000 people who ticketed for the outdoor inauguration will not be able to witness Trump’s second swearing.
“This will be a very beautiful experience for all, and especially for the large TV audience,” Trump posted Friday.
Vice President-elect J.D. Vance is set to be sworn in before Trump. Vance has chosen Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to do the honors; incidentally, Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, clerked for Kavanaugh at the U.S. Court of Appeals’ D.C. Circuit.
In Trump’s inaugural address, he is set to discuss a “revolution of common sense” and is expected as early as Monday to sign a flurry of executive orders to radically transform immigration and declare a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border.
On Monday, among the traditional inauguration attendees — the president-elect and vice president-elect’s families, former presidents and first ladies, dignitaries, cabinet members and nominees, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and others — will be familiar faces from the world of Big Tech. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who cozied up to Trump during his campaign and landed a cabinet position, will be at the Rotunda. Others out of the Valley include Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
On Monday morning, New York Mayor Eric Adams received a last-minute invitation to the inauguration and his office said he plans to attend. Adams, who in September pleaded not guilty after he was indicted on bribery and campaign finance-related charges, lunched with Trump on Friday. The Trump team also announced that Han Zheng, the vice president of China, will attend.
To watch the inauguration, coverage of which began 8:30 a.m. PT/11:30 a.m. ET, tune in to ABC, CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, NBC or PBS. The event can also be streamed at DirecTV, Frndly, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, Paramount+, Philo, or Sling.
This story will be updated.
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