Posted January 20, 2025 at 4:49 PM EST
Prime Minister Keir Starmer addresses a press conference with his Polish counterpart after talks at the Prime Minister’s Office building in Warsaw, Poland, on Jan. 17.
LONDON – The U.K.’s center-left government led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been making an effort to woo President Trump today.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer offered Trump his “warmest congratulations” and said the pair would “continue to build upon the unshakeable foundations of our historic alliance.”
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy congratulated and praised the president, telling local media that “most of the world is glad Trump is back.”
Lammy’s comments are in stark contrast to what he said about Trump the last time he was President.
In 2017, Lammy tweeted that if Trump were to visit the United Kingdom, Lammy would “be out protesting on the streets.”
“He is a racist KKK and Nazi sympathizer,” Lammy, then an opposition lawmaker, wrote less than a year into Trump’s first administration. He also wrote a 2018 magazine article calling the then-President “a profound threat to the international order.”
But writing on X shortly after the Trump was sworn in, Lammy congratulated him .
“I look forward to further strengthening the special relationship over the years to come,” he wrote.
The prime minister and U.K. officials watched the Trump’s speech streamed on news channels in Downing Street. None of Starmer’s top team were invited. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was, however, pictured at Trump’s inauguration. Another former prime minister, Liz Truss, and far-right U.K. lawmaker and friend of Trump, Nigel Farage, are also in Washington for inauguration celebrations.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 4:35 PM EST
We’re waiting for President Trump to arrive at Capital One Arena, which is a short drive away. He’s been at the Capitol, where he had lunch with members of Congress and then reviewed the troops, his first formal act as commander-in-chief.
Trump promised his supporters he’d speak at the arena when plans shifted indoors given the cold temperatures in Washington, D.C. The arena has been filled to capacity with his supporters for hours.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 4:20 PM EST
President Franklin D. Roosevelt makes his inaugural address to an audience before the East Portico of the Capitol in 1933.
Few addresses could rival the tragic tale of William Henry Harrison.
“Tippecanoe” Harrison was elected the 9th president of the U.S. in 1840 but ran into exceptionally foul weather on his Inauguration Day. Ill but persevering, he delivered a lengthy speech hatless and coatless, went home to bed and died there a few weeks later.
But most Inauguration Days have been far more auspicious than Harrison’s, and some have marked turning points in the nation’s sense of itself. Far from being ceremonies only, they foretold much of what the new presidency would mean.
The template for this in the 20th century was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first taking of the oath in 1933. He had already promised the American people “a new deal” in a campaign speech the previous summer. But it was on the day of his first inaugural that he broadcast the motto: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
The previous four years had seen the national economy plunge into what has been known since as The Great Depression. Roosevelt, a Democrat, won in a sweeping landslide over the incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover and carried in powerful majorities in the House and Senate. It was tall talk for someone who had never been elected outside New York before, but the phrases would define the spirit of the era.
One two-term president in recent decades actually may have had a more celebratory second inaugural event than his first.
George W. Bush, who had been the Republican governor of Texas, lost the popular vote in 2000 to the Democratic Vice President Al Gore. But Bush prevailed by a narrow margin in the Electoral College because the Supreme Court in effect awarded him the electoral votes of Florida by calling off a weeks-long effort to recount the vote there.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 4:08 PM EST
President Trump vowed to send astronauts to Mars during his second inaugural address. “We will pursue our Manifest Destiny into the stars,” he said, promising to send astronauts to plant the American flag on Mars.
Elon Musk, the SpaceX CEO and Trump ally, was seated behind the president and gave a vigorous thumbs up at the remark.
Trump’s comment could signal a shift in the federal government’s focus toward the Red Planet. While Congress reauthorized NASA’s budget with a focus on moon exploration last year, landing humans on Mars is a major goal of Musk’s SpaceX.
The company is developing Starship, the largest rocket ever built, with the ultimate goal of reaching Mars.
But federal regulators have limited the testing of the rocket, which can discharge tens of thousands of gallons of contaminated water into the protected wetlands that surround the test site in Boca Chica, Texas. Such regulations could be eased under the new Trump administration.
Last week, the experimental starship exploded over Puerto Rico during its seventh test flight.
NASA has the Perseverance rover on a Mars mission now. Earlier this month, the agency announced ways to simplify its mission of retrieving valuable samples stashed on the rover, with the goal of making it cheaper.
At a rally at Capital One Arena, Musk said, “We’re going to take DOGE to Mars,” referring to the Department of Government Efficiency, the incoming administration’s new cost-cutting effort that Trump has tapped Musk to lead. “I mean, can you imagine how awesome it will be to have American astronauts plant the flag on another planet for the first time? How inspiring would that be.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 3:55 PM EST
Christopher Wray speaks during a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill on March 11, 2024.
Before former President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier on Monday, he received a warning from outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Peltier was convicted of killing two FBI agents in the 1970s.
Among other things, Wray told the White House that commuting Peltier’s sentence “would be shattering to the victims’ loved ones and undermine the principles of justice and accountability that our government should represent.”
In a statement, Biden said he was commuting Peltier’s sentence “so that he serves the remainder of his sentence in home confinement.” Peltier is now in his 80s.
Indigenous rights and human rights activists have long called for Peltier to be released from a high-security prison in Coleman, Fla. They have argued that Peltier was wrongly convicted of those murders and have called his imprisonment an “injustice.”
At least 34 members of Congress and one of Biden’s own Cabinet members have also called for Peltier’s release.
This commutation, however, was expressly discouraged by law enforcement.
Wray sent a letter to the White House on Jan. 10. In it, the FBI director expressed “vehement and steadfast opposition to the commutation of Leonard Peltier’s sentence.”
“I hope these letters are unnecessary, and that you are not considering a pardon or commutation,” he wrote. “But on behalf of the FBI family, and out of an abundance of caution, I want to make sure our position is clear: Peltier is a remorseless killer, who brutally murdered two of our own–Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. Granting Peltier any relief from his conviction or sentence is wholly unjustified and would be an affront to the rule of law.”
Wray, who was appointed by President Trump in 2017, announced he is resigning from his post when Biden leaves office.
Ahead of his decision, Biden was told by members of the National Congress of American Indians that Peltier was in poor health and should be sent home for the last years of his life.
The group’s president, Mark Macarro of the Pechanga Band of Indians, met with Biden on Air Force One in December, according to the organization’s online newsletter.
During the meeting, Macarro told Biden that “Peltier has served five decades in federal prison for a crime that the government has admitted it could not prove.” And Macarro also told him that the FBI remained staunchly against clemency for Peltier because “the FBI wants someone to pay for the loss of their two agents, and Peltier is that person.”
Natalie Bara, president of the FBI Agents Association, said in a statement Monday that they are “outraged” by the commutation. Bara referred to Peltier as “a convicted cop killer responsible for the brutal murders” of two agents.
“This last-second, disgraceful act by then-President Biden, which does not change Peltier’s guilt but does release him from prison, is cowardly and lacks accountability,” she said in her statement. “It is a cruel betrayal to the families and colleagues of these fallen Agents and is a slap in the face of law enforcement.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 3:41 PM EST
Co-founder of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk speaks following the inauguration of President Trump during an event at Capital One Arena.
In short remarks at Capital One Arena, far-right millennial activist Charlie Kirk singled out young voters, a group that Democrats lost serious ground with last fall.
“To all the young people of America and Gen Z, I want you to know President Trump is going to deliver for you. So that you could be able to own a home, have big families, believe in this country,” he said.
“The American Dream that your parents once had, you will also be able to enjoy,” he added.
Kirk runs Turning Point USA — which focuses on getting young people involved with conservative politics. The action wing of Turning Point also helped run Trump’s on-the-ground organizing strategy during the campaign.
Kirk’s remarks come at an interesting time for youth politics. While Trump did not win a majority of those under 30 last fall, he did make noticeable gains compared to 2020 and 2016.
It’s a voting bloc that has been seen as a solid, albeit historically unreliable, part of the Democratic base. That said, during the campaign, some young people told NPR they were feeling dissatisfied with the Democratic party.
The 2024 exit polls highlighted the striking changes among young voters. In 2020, Joe Biden won young voters by a 24-point margin. This past year, former Vice President Harris secured the vote by just eight points.
Trump made even larger gains in some swing states, particularly Michigan, where he narrowly won a majority of the under-30 vote. (Four years earlier, he lost young voters in Michigan by more than 20 points.)
Posted January 20, 2025 at 3:37 PM EST
The banks of the Rio Grande and Bravo River on the border of El Paso, Texas, with Juarez, Mexico.
JUAREZ, Mexico — As Donald Trump took the oath of office, Margelis Tinoco knelt on the ground at the foot of the international bridge that crosses from Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas.
“Please, dear God have mercy on us,” she wept. “I came all this way, thought everything had been solved and now everything comes crumbling down.”
Almost as soon as Donald Trump became President Trump, the phone application that allows migrants appointments to seek asylum in the United States went down.
“Existing appointments scheduled through CBP One are no longer valid,” the phone flashed.
A few dozen migrants had already scored appointments. Some of them had waited almost a year in Mexico, applying every day for the chance to cross the border legally. And then, within minutes, their dream of making a new life in the U.S. was undone.
As Donald Trump, became President Trump the dreams of migrants who were in Juarez waiting for their appointments to seek asylum in the US came crashing down . pic.twitter.com/8jIhN00zTJ
— Eyder Peralta (@eyderp) January 20, 2025
“I don’t have any plans,” she said. “I Don’t have anywhere to live. How do I explain this to my child.”
Mexican authorities told the migrants they were no longer allowed to cross. “The last ones crossed at 5 am,” spokeswoman Nayareli Rivera said.
Some of the migrants walked back to their shelters, others just sat by the border fence in the cold, crying.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 3:28 PM EST
Trump’s second inauguration speech was almost exactly twice as long as the address he gave after being sworn into office the first time.
The president spoke for about 30 minutes in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday, pledging that the “golden age of America begins right now” and outlining the actions he plans to take on everything from immigration to energy to gender identity.
His speech was 2,885 words, compared to 1,433 in 2017, according to the American Presidency Project.
After his inaugural address, Trump moved to the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center where he addressed a room full of supporters with more informal, off-the-cuff remarks — including taking swipes at Democratic politicians and repeating false claims about the 2020 election. Those remarks lasted a few minutes longer than his inauguration speech.
Inaugural addresses — which all but five presidents have given — have ranged considerably in length over the years.
George Washington’s second inaugural address was the shortest — he delivered a mere 135 words in March 1793, in a speech lasting less than two minutes.
William Henry Harrison’s 1841 speech was the longest, clocking in at 8,460 words and taking 1 hour and 45 minutes to deliver on a particularly blustery day. He died exactly a month into his presidency of pneumonia, the result of a cold that many believed he caught outside on the day of his swearing-in.
Harrison’s speech was some 3,000 words longer than that of the runner-up, William Taft — who, incidentally, is the only person who has both taken and administered the presidential oath.
See how previous presidents compare:
Posted January 20, 2025 at 3:12 PM EST
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, congratulated President Trump on taking office, calling him “a man of strength.” He said Ukrainians are ready to work with Americans to achieve “true peace.”
“This is an opportunity that must be seized,” he said, in a video posted on the Ukrainian president’s official website and on social media.
Zelenskyy is trying to reach out to Trump’s base, some of whom have insisted that the U.S. cut off aid to Ukraine. Earlier this month, he spoke to podcaster Lex Fridman for a three-hour interview, Zelenskyy’s longest to date. The interview got 4 million views on YouTube. On Sunday, Fridman posted a video on the social media platform X criticizing Zelenskyy, saying he gave the Ukrainian leader “every single chance to signal willingness to negotiate.”
“Instead, he chose to speak very crude words toward Vladimir Putin,” Fridman said. “This is fully understandable but not directly productive to negotiations.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 2:53 PM EST
President Trump speaks after the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol
President Trump used his inaugural address to announce some of the sweeping changes to the U.S. immigration system that he expects to push for in his second term, declaring a “national emergency” at the U.S.-Mexico border and pledging to deport immigrants who’ve been convicted of crimes.
“All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump said.
Incoming White House officials say Trump is preparing to sign a series of 10 executive actions — the first steps in an ambitious agenda that could reshape border security and immigration policy in the U.S. for years to come, including an effort to end birthright citizenship and further restrict asylum at the southern border.
But many of the details of that agenda are still unclear. And it is sure to face logistical and legal challenges, starting with Trump’s intention to send U.S. military forces to the southern border.
“I will declare a national emergency at our southern border,” Trump said in his address, prompting a long ovation in the Capitol Rotunda. “And I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country.”
Immigrant advocates object to the term “invasion,” which they consider both dehumanizing and misleading, since most migrants are peacefully fleeing from violence and poverty in their home countries.
Trump is inheriting a relatively quiet southern border. Illegal border crossings have declined in recent months to their lowest levels in years, as the Biden administration imposed its own restrictions on asylum and Mexican authorities stepped up enforcement there.
Incoming officials say the White House will also push to end birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants who are in the U.S. without legal status. Many legal experts say such a move would be unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. Incoming White House officials say the administration will also seek to close the border to anyone without legal status — including people seeking asylum.
Both of those proposals are also likely to be challenged in court, immigrant advocates say.
Trump says he also plans to bring back some policies from his first term — restarting border wall construction, pausing refugee resettlement, and reinstating a policy known as Remain in Mexico, which forced asylum-seekers to wait south of the border while their claims were adjudicated.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 2:41 PM EST
The News Corp. building on 6th Avenue, home to Fox News, on March 20, 2019, in New York City.
So far, President Trump has selected at least 19 former Fox News hosts, journalists and commentators for senior positions in his second White House term.
Some of the posts count among the most important in the land. He’s tapped former Fox & Friends Weekend host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, former Fox pundit and U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and former Fox Business host, U.S. Rep. and reality show star Sean Duffy as transportation secretary.
It’s hardly a new dynamic for the 45th and now 47th president. Trump named 20 Fox-affiliated people to his administration during his first four-year term, according to the liberal watchdog group Media Matters. This time, however, he almost matched that figure at the outset of his second term.
Read more here on the ties between Trump and Fox News.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 2:34 PM EST
President Trump speaks to the crowd as Vice President Vance looks on in the VIP overflow viewing area in Emancipation Hall after the inauguration ceremonies at the Capitol Rotunda on Monday.
President Trump addressed a room of supporters inside the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, delivering off-the-cuff remarks shortly after being sworn in nearby at the Capitol Rotunda.
Unlike his more formal remarks during the ceremony, Trump’s latter speech ticked through a handful of his issue priorities while also taking swipes at Democratic political leaders and repeating his lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
“I think this was a better speech than the one I made upstairs,” Trump joked.
On policy, he zeroed in on immigration and argued it was a larger concern than the economy for many Americans.
“They all said inflation was the No. 1 issue. I disagree,” Trump said. “I think people coming into our country from prisons and from mental institutions is a bigger issue for the people that I know.”
National polling throughout the election consistently found that the economy was the top concern for voters. After attacking Democrats on high prices during the campaign, Trump has since admitted that bringing down grocery prices will be “hard.”
He also alluded to his campaign pledge to pardon individuals charged for taking part in the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol four years ago, calling them “hostages.”
Trump’s second set of remarks was longer — by a few minutes — than his speech earlier in the day.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 2:32 PM EST
The former president and first lady headed from the Capitol to Joint Base Andrews for a brief sendoff ceremony.
Now they are leaving Washington — at least for the time being. The White House said Monday the Bidens are headed to Santa Ynez, Calif.
The township is located in Santa Barbara County and known for its wineries. The Bidens have visited before, staying at a private residence for vacation in August 2024.
The area has served as a retreat for more than one president: Ronald Reagan purchased a ranch there near the end of his second term as California governor, and vacationed there frequently during his administration.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 2:31 PM EST
With the inauguration indoors, thousands waited in line in frigid temperatures to get into the Capital One Arena in downtown Washington on Monday, where they could view the event on screen and hope to see President Trump during an appearance planned there this afternoon.
Despite the weather and the venue change, many supporters were determined to see the nation’s 47th president and that meant standing in line in the cold not just on Monday but also the day before.
Joe Ann Floyd, who works at a high school technical center in Mississippi, says she stood in line for five hours on Sunday for Trump’s victory rally only to find when she arrived at the entrance that the venue was at capacity.
Floyd, who has a ticket for Monday’s event thanks to a state senator, was more optimistic she’d get in this time. By Monday afternoon, she had made it inside the arena.
Many people standing in line said they had come to Washington because they support Trump’s policies, especially on immigration. Read more from NPR’s Frank Langfitt’s report.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 2:29 PM EST
During his inaugural remarks, President Trump promised to end the “electric vehicle mandate,” a term he has frequently used to describe a suite of policies designed to encourage a transition to battery-powered cars.
There is no current federal policy requiring all vehicles be electric, but the Biden administration put in place several policies promoting electric vehicles as part of its efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and limit climate change.
Some of those policies can be swiftly undone. That includes an executive order setting a goal that by 2030, half of new vehicles sold in the U.S. should be EVs.
But the EV policies that most outrage Trump and other Republicans — like major tax credits for consumers and manufacturers, stringent federal emissions standards and state-level EV mandates — cannot be undone by the stroke of a pen, and require months-long regulatory actions, legislation from Congress or intervention from the Supreme Court.
More on potential actions on energy and EVs here.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 2:18 PM EST
President Donald Trump attends inauguration ceremonies in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday.
President Trump takes office today, and in the process officially dodges a laundry list of legal troubles.
His legal team spent much of the past two years fighting to delay the four criminal cases he faced, and the strategy worked. He becomes president without a federal conviction or having spent any time behind bars.
Here’s a quick rundown of the criminal cases Trump faced and how they (mostly) concluded:
- New York hush money — The only case of the four to reach trial, and the one that made Trump the first person convicted of a felony to be elected president. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg brought charges alleging that Trump falsified business records to cover up sexual relationships he had and protect his reputation during the 2016 campaign, and Trump was convicted in May of last year.
- He received no fine or prison sentence, however, as his sentencing came after he was elected president and the judge in the case ruled any other sentence would have interfered with his ability to govern.
- Federal classified documents — Maybe the most cut and dry of the criminal cases was also the one that ground to a halt before it got going.
- Special counsel Jack Smith accused Trump of mishandling classified documents, and Trump was even recorded on tape talking about a classified document he still had possession of. But U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case a few months after it was filed, because Smith was unconstitutionally appointed, Cannon said. Smith appealed, but dropped the charges once Trump was elected.
- Federal election subversion — This case opened a broad debate over presidential immunity. Smith filed this case as well, accusing Trump of breaking the law in trying to hold onto power after losing the 2020 election. Trump’s legal team argued that the president had immunity for many of the crimes he was accused of, and the Supreme Court eventually agreed the president is immune from prosecution for official acts but not unofficial acts.
- Smith filed a new indictment in August 2024, but dropped the charges after Trump was elected.
- Georgia election subversion — This racketeering case also centers on Trump’s actions in the time following voting in 2020, including the infamous phone call where Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” votes. Several of the 19 defendants initially named in the indictment have already pled guilty, and this is the only case still active, as Trump does not have the power to end state prosecutions as federal executive.
- It has an uncertain future, however, as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is fighting a court order that removed her office from the case over impropriety accusations stemming from her personal relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Trump is unlikely to face trial in the case until 2029, if at all.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM EST
President Trump shakes hands with House Speaker Mike Johnson after speaking to the crowd in Emancipation Hall after being sworn in at his inauguration on Monday.
Newly sworn-in President Trump praised House Speaker Mike Johnson in remarks after the inaugural ceremony.
“We gave him a majority of almost nothing. And then I said, to make it tougher on him, let me take two or three of the people, right?” Trump said, referencing some of his Cabinet-picks that came from the House. “I said, he’ll only have to suffer with that for about three months.”
Republicans have a very slim majority in the House — 220 members — making it difficult to lose any member in order to get priorities passed.
Trump heaped on praise for the speaker, saying “he’s a man that’s liked by everybody.”
Trump hasn’t always made life easy for Johnson. In December, he threw a wrench into a bipartisan deal to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government by making a late-breaking demand to raise the debt ceiling. Eventually, lawmakers avoided a federal government shutdown and did not immediately address the debt ceiling.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 2:08 PM EST
President Trump says he will declare a “national energy emergency” as one of his first acts as president, pledging to support the domestic production of fossil fuels.
“We will drill, baby, drill,” he said during his inauguration speech. “We will be a rich nation again, and it is the liquid gold under our feet that will help us do it.”
No president has ever declared a “national energy emergency,” but regional “energy emergencies” were declared in the 1970s, when there were shortages of fossil fuels.
The U.S. is not currently facing a fuel shortage. The U.S. is a net exporter of fossil fuels, producing more oil and gas than any other country in the world, at any point in history, and production is growing slightly. Meanwhile many analysts currently project that the world as a whole is facing a near-term oversupply of oil and natural gas, where supply will increase faster than demand.
Trump, however, has consistently said he wants to increase drilling for oil in the U.S. He is expected to roll back regulations, promote more leasing on federal lands and vocally encourage companies to drill.
Declaring an energy emergency would be a first for the federal government, and it’s unclear what exactly it would entail.
Here’s what we know about the unprecedented action.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 1:55 PM EST
A woman from Venezuela sits by her makeshift tent at a camp for other asylum seekers in Matamoros, Mexico near the Gateway International Bridge between the cities of Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros on June 4, 2024.
President Trump is bringing back enforcement of a policy that would require some asylum seekers at the southern border to wait in Mexico for their hearings in U.S. immigration court.
The policy, which was created and implemented during the first Trump administration in 2019, resulted in tens of thousands of migrants waiting for extended periods in Mexico. Known formally as the Migrant Protection Protocol, it was criticized for pushing migrants into squalid camps and leaving them vulnerable to pressure from drug cartels in the border region.
The CPB One app from Customs and Border Protection has also likely been targeted. The app, which allowed migrants to schedule appointments at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, is no longer operational, according to a notice from CBP.
Read the full story about about Trump’s immigration policy changes here.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 1:53 PM EST
Elon Musk arrives for the inauguration of President Trump in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday.
A new lawsuit filed against President Trump claims his Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, violates federal transparency rules.
The lawsuit was brought by Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, State Democracy Defenders Fund and the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing some 800,000 government employees.
The plaintiffs claim that Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, is not in fact a government agency but a kind of advisory committee, tasked with recommending cuts to government agencies and programs.
The plaintiffs note that under the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972, such committees must have a “fair balance in viewpoints represented” and that the work must be made available for public inspection.
The lawsuit notes that DOGE’s operations have been shrouded in secrecy and asks that it be blocked from operating until those requirements are met.
Through DOGE, Trump and Musk have promised drastic changes to the federal workforce and massive spending cuts of as much as $2 trillion.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 1:49 PM EST
Former President Joe Biden arrives at his first stop following inauguration ceremonies for President Trump on Monday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
The Bidens’ first stop after the inauguration was Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where they attended a brief send-off ceremony.
Standing at a podium with the former first lady by his side, former President Joe Biden thanked his Cabinet members, staff, vice president and the second gentleman for all their help. He also thanked their family members for the sacrifices they made.
He received cheers and applause.
“Every day I’m deeply moved by what we did for this country,” he said, though he emphasized that work is not done.
He referenced the inaugural address that Trump just gave, then said “we have a lot more to do” and crossed himself — a gesture NPR’s Tamara Keith said he often utilizes when saying something “a little naughty.”
Biden urged public servants to spend time with their loved ones and take care of themselves before getting back to work, touting their invaluable contributions.
“It’s been the honor of my life to serve as your president,” he said, calling it a “greater honor being able to serve with all of you.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 1:46 PM EST
President Trump is set to place a four-month pause on refugee resettlement and moving to end asylum for those who have entered the country without legal status, as a part of a series of executive orders to limit legal immigration.
“We are going to end asylum and close the border to illegals via proclamation, which creates an immediate removal process without possibility of asylum,” said a White House official on a call with reporters on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss upcoming actions.
Details about the pause and the ban on asylum remain to be seen.
During his time in office, former President Joe Biden implemented his own policies to limit asylum claims. Last summer, he issued an executive order that allowed the processing of most asylum claims to be suspended when the seven-day average of unauthorized crossings breached 2,500 people.
Biden’s final rule was even stricter. It mandated the suspension of asylum claims from those who cross between legal ports of entry when the seven day average is 1,500 crossings.
In Trump’s first administration, he lowered the cap of refugees to 15,000, a historic low.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 1:31 PM EST
Supporters watch the inauguration of President Trump from the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
Supporters of President Trump have filled Capital One Arena in downtown D.C., where thousands watched the inauguration ceremony. Trump is also expected to speak there later today.
The arena — which seats roughly 20,000 — is at capacity, according to NPR’s Deepa Shivaram, who noted that lines of individuals waiting to get in are now being turned away.
While the presidential swearing-in ceremony traditionally takes place outside the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, overlooking the National Mall, it was moved inside due to freezing temperatures.
The move leaves supporters who traveled from around the country to witness Trump’s inauguration looking for a warmer place to celebrate and watch the day unfold.
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Capital One Arena as Capitol One Arena.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 1:21 PM EST
President Donald Trump will use his authority to designate drug cartels as terrorist organizations, an executive action that’s drawn growing support from Republican leaders in recent years.
Under U.S. law, the designation opens a broad array of actions including freezing or seizing assets of individuals or groups accused of aiding the cartels, while also stiffening criminal penalties. It could also clear the way for potential military strikes by the Trump administration against criminal organizations in Mexico and elsewhere that are major sources of toxic street drugs, including fentanyl.
The Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) cartels have been blamed by U.S. officials and public health experts in the U.S. for triggering a wave of more than 90,000 drug overdose deaths each year.
During a background briefing with reporters on Monday, incoming White House officials said the U.S. southern border is “overrun” by cartel activity and described narcotics trafficking as part of a wider “invasion,” a term that immigration advocates find dehumanizing and misleading.
“We’re going to designate criminal cartels and others as FTOs [foreign terrorist organizations],” the official said, while naming two gangs in particular: the Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua and MS-13, a gang that originated in Los Angeles.
According to the official, the executive action will begin a process that will direct removal of Tren de Aragua members from U.S. territory under the authority of the Alien Enemies Act, designating them as “an irregular armed force of Venezuela’s government.”
The official also said that any future U.S. military action inside Mexico would be determined by the U.S. secretary of defense and the U.S. secretary of state under the new Trump administration.
Speaking during her confirmation hearing, Trump’s pick to serve as U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi, endorsed the idea of designating certain cartels as terrorist organizations, describing them as a “grave and violent threat to our country.”
“President Trump has committed to doing it [designating the cartels terrorist organizations] and I think they should,” said Trump’s chosen “border czar” in a November 2024 interview with News Nation. “They need to be attacked, they need to be wiped out.”
But the idea of using a terrorist designation to escalate the drug war alarms many drug policy experts. Analysts at the libertarian Cato Institute have called the idea misguided, warning it could destabilise Mexico and lead to a larger immigration crisis.
Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert on drug cartels at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution is also a critic of the terrorist designation, arguing that it could cripple diplomatic ties with Mexico without seriously impacting criminal fentanyl drug labs and other gang activity.
Experts point to the fact that most of the fentanyl, methamphetamines and other drugs smuggled into the U.S. come through official border crossings — carried not by undocumented migrants, but by American citizens.
Local law enforcement officials in Colorado and elsewhere have also disputed Trump’s claims that international gang activity has turned American communities into “war zones.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 1:20 PM EST
Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump holds two Bibles in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday.
President Trump and Vice President Vance chose Bibles of personal and national significance for their swearing-in ceremony, continuing the largely symbolic tradition.
Trump selected two Bibles, according to the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee, though he did not actually place his hand on either of them. He recited the oath of office with his right hand in the air as first lady Melania Trump stood next to him, holding the stack of books.
One was a revised standard version that Trump’s mother gave him to mark his Sunday Church Primary School graduation in 1955, embossed with his name on the front cover.
The other was the Lincoln Bible, which was first used during that president’s March 1861 inauguration.
The velvet-bound, burgundy tome, which lives at the Library of Congress, has been used three times since Lincoln took office: by President Barack Obama at his two inaugurations, and by Trump during his 2017 swearing-in.
JD Vance is sworn in as vice president as his wife, Usha Vance, looks on during the inauguration ceremonies at the Capitol Rotunda on Monday.
Vance took the oath of office using a family Bible that belonged to Bonnie Blanton Vance, his late maternal great-grandmother who raised him as his mother struggled with addiction.
Vance’s stories of his grandma’s resilience, protectiveness and spunk dominated the 2016 memoir that propelled him to fame, Hillbilly Elegy, as well as his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.
“Mamaw,” as she was known, gave Vance the King James Bible on the day he left home for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in 2003.
The Constitution does not actually require presidents to be sworn in using Bibles, though many — dating back to George Washington — have done so, according to the Library of Congress.
While Washington used a Bible “opened at random and in haste” during his inauguration, many presidents have intentionally chosen editions that send a certain message.
Some, including Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, were sworn in on Washington’s original Bible.
Others have used two: Richard Nixon used two family Bibles, while Harry Truman used a facsimile of a Gutenberg Bible, as well as the Bible he used after Franklin Roosevelt’s death four years earlier. In addition to the Lincoln Bible, Obama took the oath in 2013 on a Bible that had belonged to Martin Luther King Jr. — on another Inauguration Day that overlapped with MLK Day.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 1:11 PM EST
A boat is seen on the Susitna River near Talkeetna, Alaska, with Denali in the background in June 2021.
Trump said in his inaugural remarks that he would soon change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”
He also said the name of the tallest peak in North America — Denali, in Alaska — would be changed back to its previous name, “Mount McKinley,” to honor former President William McKinley.
In 2015, former President Barack Obama formally renamed the peak Denali, a name used by Alaska Native people.
“President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent,” Trump said in his inaugural remarks.
Trump had previously suggested reversing the name change during his first presidential campaign but did not follow through. He made the promise again during a December speech in Phoenix.
In response to those December remarks, Alaska’s two Republican senators issued statements opposing the idea.
“You can’t improve upon the name that Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans bestowed on North America’s tallest peak, Denali — the Great One,” reads a Dec. 23 statement from Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
“For years, I advocated in Congress to restore the rightful name for this majestic mountain to respect Alaska’s first people who have lived on these lands for thousands of years. This is an issue that should not be relitigated.”
A spokesperson for Sen. Dan Sullivan told Alaska Public Media in a Dec. 23 e-mail, “Senator Sullivan like many Alaskans prefers the name that the very tough, very strong, very patriotic Athabaskan people gave the mountain thousands of years ago—Denali.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 1:04 PM EST
Pam Bondi testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during her confirmation hearing to be the next U.S. attorney general.
Many of Trump’s Cabinet picks began the confirmation process in the days ahead of his inauguration, meeting with lawmakers and taking questions in front of Senate committees.
Click on the links to catch up on their bios and hearings:
- South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, nominated for secretary of Homeland Security
- Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, nominated for secretary of State
- Pete Hegseth, nominated for secretary of Defense
- Pam Bondi, nominated for attorney general
- Lee Zeldin, nominated for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
- Scott Bessent, nominated for Treasury secretary
- Scott Turner, nominated for secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- Doug Burgum, nominated for secretary of the Interior
The Senate is expected to continue working through the confirmation process on Inauguration Day. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to convene at 3:15 p.m. EST to consider Marco Rubio’s nomination as secretary of state.
More hearings are scheduled for this week, including for Doug Collins, who is nominated to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, Brooke Rollins for the Agriculture Department and Elise Stefanik for U.N. Ambassador.
Plenty of other nominees are still awaiting hearing dates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Health and Human Services), Tulsi Gabbard (Office of the Director of National Intelligence), Elise Stefanik (U.N. ambassador) and Kash Patel (FBI Director). Learn more about them here.
Supporters of President Donald Trump waves a flag outside the Scranton Cultural Center on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020, in Scranton, Pa.
One of the open questions as the U.S. heads into the second Trump term is how much the president’s loss in 2020 will dominate his policy decisions regarding agencies like the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, which have various roles in investigating and protecting elections.
Trump’s first speech as president this time around seemed to indicate a willingness to move on, now that he won the popular vote and an Electoral College sweep in 2024.
In his inaugural address, Trump did not mention the 2020 election or any of the baseless stolen election accusations he made so frequently on the campaign trail.
But soon after his speech, while speaking to supporters in another part of the Capitol, Trump again baselessly called the 2020 election “rigged.”
NPR has reported that so-called election integrity activists motivated by his previous fraud claims are still working behind the scenes to push for more restrictive voting policies in states across the country, and Republicans in Congress have already introduced legislation aimed at eliminating noncitizen voting, which was a leading conspiracy theory last year.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:53 PM EST
President Trump speaks during inauguration ceremonies in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday.
Among the plans and priorities Trump announced in his inaugural address, he said “as of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
The Biden administration had recognized more than two genders in its policy actions.
The State Department, for example, updated passport applications to include an option for an “X” gender marker. In 2022, the administration allowed transgender and non-binary veterans to identify as such on their medical records.
According to a glossary of terms created by NPR with help from GLAAD:
Sex refers to a person’s biological status and is typically assigned at birth, usually on the basis of external anatomy. Sex is typically categorized as male, female or intersex.
Gender is often defined as a social construct of norms, behaviors and roles that varies between societies and over time. Gender is often categorized as male, female or nonbinary.
While gender has traditionally been understood as either male or female, over time many people have come to recognize this as a binary. Many Americans identify as nonbinary, agender, gender-expansive or genderqueer.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:47 PM EST
Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman speaks at the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden.
The 39th president, Jimmy Carter, wanted to eschew the limo ride and walk the route at least in large part from the Capitol to the White House. He and his wife Rosalynn did that in 1977, a story that was often retold at Carter’s funeral and in other remembrances earlier this month. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
Another president who renewed the get-out-and-walk tradition was Bill Clinton, who did it in 1993 when celebrating his first Inaugural Day.
Clinton also revived the inclusion of an Inauguration Poem, inviting Maya Angelou to present her work “On the Pulse of Morning.” John F. Kennedy had initiated the feature by asking Robert Frost to read in 1961. Joe Biden refreshed the memory in 2021 when he asked 22-year-old Amanda Gorman to read her poem “The Hill We Climb.”
Yet another tradition sure to be discussed during this year’s observations is the raising of private money to pay for Inauguration Day activities beyond the basics of the swearing in. These include the balls that are sponsored by the president-elect’s inauguration committee, states and others. Debate over the influence donors might be purchasing with such participation reached a new high in 1981 when Reagan’s committee raised a reported $19 million.
This year’s committee, featuring million-dollar donations from tech giants Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, is expected to raise $200 million.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:46 PM EST
President Trump declared his inauguration “Liberation Day,” vowing to make his last term in office the most consequential in American history.
During remarks in the Capitol Rotunda, Trump vowed to turn the page on American policy after years of criticizing former President Biden for policies that Trump said pushed the country into decline.
“We will move with purpose and speed to bring back hope, prosperity, safety and peace for citizens of every race, religion, color and creed,” Trump said.
“For American citizens, January 20th, 2025 is Liberation Day.”
Correction: A previous headline on this post incorrectly referred to “Liberation Day” as “Liberty Day.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:44 PM EST
Ronald Reagan (C) is sworn in as 40th President of the United States by Chief Justice Warren Burger (R) beside his wife Nancy Reagan (C) during inaugural ceremony, on January 21, 1985 in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington DC.
Today is the first time temperatures have forced a presidential inauguration indoors since 1985.
That year, President Ronald Reagan’s second swearing-in ceremony was moved into the Capitol and the traditional parade was canceled due to the coldest inauguration temperatures on record.
The outside temperature at noon was only 7 degrees Fahrenheit, the morning low was 4 degrees below zero and the daytime high was only 17 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Wind chill temperatures during the afternoon were in the -10 to -20°F range.
On the other end of the spectrum, Reagan also holds the record for the warmest Jan. 20 inauguration weather. During his first inauguration in 1981, it was 55 degrees at noon.
The typical weather in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 20 is somewhere between 30 and 45 degrees, the NWS says, usually around 37 degrees at noon.
Monday got off to a chilly start, with a temperature of 25 degrees and wind chill of 12 degrees Fahrenheit just before 7 a.m.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:44 PM EST
Aerial view of an automobile body parts supplier in Apodaca in Mexico’s Nuevo Leon state on May 1, 2024.
In his speech today and on his social media platform last week, Trump declared that he wants to create what he’s calling the “External Revenue Service” to collect tariffs and other revenues from foreign sources.
To be clear, that name itself is misleading: the overwhelming number of tariffs are paid by American businesses importing goods, not by external foreign sources.
The post is the latest in a long line of promises Trump has made about tariffs, which are at the center of his economic strategy. Those promises on tariffs will be hard to keep, economists say — and some even work against each other.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:43 PM EST
Presidential Inauguration of William Henry Harrison, in Washington D.C., on March 4, 1841.
Most presidents give a public speech after being sworn in, known as the inaugural address.
Only five did not: John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur and Gerald Ford.
All of the other speeches have ranged considerably in length, according to POTUS.com and the American Presidency Project.
George Washington’s second inaugural address was the shortest — he delivered a mere 135 words in March 1793, in a speech lasting less than two minutes.
William Henry Harrison’s 1841 speech was the longest, clocking in at 8,460 words and taking 1 hour and 45 minutes to deliver on a particularly blustery day. He died exactly a month into his presidency of pneumonia, the result of a cold that many believed he caught outside on the day of his swearing-in.
Harrison’s speech was some 3,000 words longer than that of the runner-up, William Taft — who, incidentally, is the only person who has both taken and administered the presidential oath.
Trump’s first inaugural address in 2017 came out to 1,433 words. Here’s a look at how past presidents’ speeches stack up:
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:35 PM EST
In Ukraine, everyone wants the war to end. NPR has spoken to Ukrainian civilians and soldiers who welcome Donald Trump’s promise to do so, a promise he alluded to in his inauguration speech.
“My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier,” Trump pledged.
A recent public opinion poll also showed that more than a third of Ukrainians would accept territorial concessions in exchange for peace.
But 48-year-old Yaroslav Bazylevych worries that Trump’s administration would force Ukraine to concede too much.
“Unless the U.S. gives up on Ukraine,” he said, “I don’t think Russia will agree to a ceasefire.”
Bazylevych cannot stomach a Russian victory. Five months ago, a long-range Russian missile hit his home in Lviv, which is about 43 miles from the border with Poland — and NATO. His wife and three daughters were killed. Only he survived.
“I am struggling to find meaning in life,” he said. “I feel like a tree that cannot grow leaves.”
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers have been killed in this war, including Melaniya Podolyak’s partner, Andriy “Juice” Pilshchykov, a legendary fighter pilot.
“At this point you can pick anybody off the Ukrainian street and ask them if they’ve lost somebody close to them and they will tell you yes,” she explained. “And there’s no indication that Russians want to leave Ukraine alone. So we should present the new administration with options from the point of strength, which is ridiculously difficult in these times.”
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is doing his best to project that strength. But Russian forces are advancing on the frontline and continue to strike Ukraine regularly with drones and missiles.
In a rally ahead on the eve of his inauguration, Trump once again said he would end the war but appears to be prioritizing a meeting with Putin.
Bazylevych, the grieving father in Lviv, says he hopes Trump realizes that it was Russia who invaded Ukraine, and that Russia won’t back down unless it is forced to.
“Russia will only agree to a ceasefire if they’re on the brink of a financial or military crisis,” he said, “and even then it will be temporary.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:33 PM EST
The Palm Beach County Republican Party holds an Inauguration Day watch party at the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach, Fla.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It’s 60 degrees and a light rain falls on the luscious grass at the National Croquet Center, but the mood of more than 100 people gathered to watch President Donald Trump take his oath of office is far from dampened.
The Palm Beach County Republican Party event, held down the road from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, was marked by raucous cheers throughout Trump’s address that declared “America’s decline is over” and boos at mention of his political opponents from both parties.
Carl Cascio, the county party chairman, said before the ceremony began that the start of the new administration was an historic opportunity to move the country forward.
“I think the first four years of Trump taught him a lot, that he needed maybe to see what was going to happen,” Cascio said. “I think more importantly, the American people needed to see the difference in leadership between Donald Trump’s first four years and then what would happen when somebody else took over and tried to undermine what this country was trying to do.”
Alan Mentser, one of the organizers of sign-waving supporters who line Southern Boulevard and cheer as Trump’s motorcade passes to and from Mar-a-Lago, says one word that sums up his views about the next Trump term is “expectant.”
“I’m expectant for the government to come back to what it should be: for ‘we the people,’” he said. “I’m expectant for the border to be closed. I’m expectant for the president to make America strong again, great again, healthy again, more law abiding. I’m expectant for all of those things that all of his appointees will hopefully be confirmed and get our country back. I mean, we’ve got to get our country back.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:31 PM EST
Bernice A. King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speaks at a 2024 Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
Some Democratic lawmakers and Black activists are planning to skip or tune out Trump’s inauguration in favor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which also falls on Monday.
Some have pointed to Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, including talk of political retribution, and policy stances — including promises of mass deportations — they say are at odds with King’s message and legacy.
“I plan to spend the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in my district at community events that feed our collective soul and re-commit us to building a future rooted in love,” Massachusetts Rep. Ayana Pressley told member station GBH.
In response to posts calling for people to watch the King Center’s commemorative service instead of the inauguration, Bernice King — King’s daughter — turned to Instagram last month to encourage people to pay attention to both.
“l certainly understand the desire to tune out rhetoric, ideology, and policies with which we passionately disagree and which contradict the spirit of the Beloved Community,” King wrote. “However, we must pay attention to what President-Elect Trump speaks on that day, even if by transcript and video later.”
People can’t address language and legislation if they are not strategic in their listening, she added, warning that “this is not the time for ignorance.”
Read more about the Inauguration Day/MLK Day overlap here.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:31 PM EST
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate testifies about the attempted assassination of former-President Donald Trump at a campaign rally, during a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees, Washington, D.C., on July 30, 2024.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate is retiring from the Bureau today, an FBI source confirms to NPR.
Abbate was named deputy FBI director in 2021 and earlier had served in several other top roles in the Bureau. He had been serving as acting director after the Senate-confirmed leader, Christopher Wray, resigned.
President Trump has nominated Kash Patel to run the FBI. Patel has signaled he wants to shake up the agency and has called for investigations of the people who took part in cases against Trump.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:31 PM EST
President Trump is expected to kick-start the process to revoke birthright citizenship after years of proposing the constitutional change as a way to reduce undocumented immigration.
Birthright citizenship, meaning that someone born within the U.S. or its the United States territories is automatically a U.S. citizen, is currently protected by the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The clause often referred to states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Trump wants to reinterpret the phrasing “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” to mean that the federal government would not recognize automatic birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents without legal status, incoming White House officials told reporters on a call on Monday.
This action is likely to see immediate legal challenges.
Details about who might be impacted or how he plans to move forward remain to be seen. He is expected to sign executive orders and actions Monday afternoon.
An estimated 4.7 million children would have one or both parents without legal status by 2050 under current policy, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute. Immigrant rights advocates said the proposed move would affect the next generation of children.
“Ending birthright citizenship would be a really huge change in how we handle immigration and the right to belong in the United States,” said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute, adding that this law contributes to the economic and educational success rates of immigrants’ children.
“Children of immigrants have had that sense of belonging and full rights in the United States that they’ve been able to harness to really support their integration.”
Over the last several decades, the number of babies born to parents who are unauthorized to be in the U.S. has dropped. Pew Research Center in 2016 estimated the number to be about 250,000, noting that was a 36% decrease from 2007.
Correction: This story incorrectly cited Migration Policy Institute numbers to say there are an estimated 4.7 million children in the U.S. who had a parent or parents without legal status as of 2019. That is an estimate of what the number will be by 2050.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:25 PM EST
President Trump speaks during inauguration ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol on Monday.
Trump is giving his inaugural address.
In his remarks, the president paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., acknowledging that his inauguration falls on MLK Day.
It came in a section of his inaugural address touting increases in votes from “virtually every element of our society” and thanking Black and Hispanic voters in particular for their “tremendous outpouring of love and trust.”
“Today is Martin Luther King Day, and his honor, this will be a great honor, but in his honor, we will strive together to make his dream a reality,” Trump said, to loud rounds of applause. “We will make his dream come true.”
He then turned to the subject of executive actions he plans to take, many of which involve cracking down on immigration.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:12 PM EST
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota speaks during the inauguration on Monday.
Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar kicked off remarks in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, stressing the significance of the day and the peaceful transfer of power.
She made a point to thank emergency responders and service workers around the country — highlighting those fighting the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
“As we inaugurate a new president and vice president, let us remember that the power of those in this room comes from the people,” said Klobuchar, who serves as chair of the Inaugural Ceremony Committee.
“The construction workers who build our country, the teachers and health care workers who nurture us, the troops defending our freedoms, and yes, the firefighters in Los Angeles putting themselves on the line for us.”
It was met with applause throughout the room.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:06 PM EST
President Donald Trump takes the oath of office from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts during inauguration ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol on Monday.
Trump’s inauguration marks the fifth time Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts had administered the oath of office to an incoming president.
In addition to swearing in Trump in 2017, Roberts — who took his seat on the court in 2005 — also administered the oath to presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
He famously stumbled while swearing in Obama for his first term in 2009, prompting the president to say a word out of sequence and ultimately redo the entire oath as a precaution. They redeemed themselves at Obama’s second inauguration.
While five presidential inaugurations is impressive, it is not the record, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Chief Justice John Marshall — during his record 34 years in that role — administered the oath of office nine times to five presidents, from Thomas Jefferson in 1801 to Andrew Jackson in 1833.
While the U.S. Constitution requires the incoming president to take an oath at the start of his term, it doesn’t specify who should administer it, the Supreme Court Historical Society notes.
The Supreme Court didn’t exist when George Washington took office in 1789. John Adams was the first president to invite the chief justice in 1797. It wasn’t until Marshall swore in Jefferson in 1801 that the tradition took hold.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:05 PM EST
Donald Trump is sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump holds the Bible in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday.
President Trump has taken the oath of office, taking office for a second time.
He shook hands with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who administered the oath, and then shook hands with former President Biden. He then embraced first lady Melania Trump and his children standing nearby.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:03 PM EST
Tiffany Trump (left), Lara Trump, Eric Trump, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. attend the inauguration of President Trump.
President-elect Donald Trump’s children are sitting prominently at his second inauguration.
Trump’s kids have played pivotal roles in his business — as well as in his White House during his first term in office. It is unclear whether his children will be as involved in his second term as they were during his first.
Trump, who has been married three times, has five children from those three marriages.
- Barron Trump, his youngest child, is 18 years old and his mother is Melania Trump.
- Tiffany Trump is 31 and her mother is Marla Maples.
- Eric Trump is 41 and his mother is Ivana Trump.
- Ivanka Trump is 43 and her mother is Ivana Trump.
- Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s oldest son, is 47 and his mother is Ivana Trump.
Three of Trump’s children — Tiffany, Ivanka and Eric — are currently married. Trump has 10 grandchildren. Tiffany Trump is expected to give birth to his 11th grandchild later this year.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 12:02 PM EST
JD Vance is sworn in as the Vice President in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh administered the oath of office to Vice President JD Vance.
Vance’s wife, Usha, and their three kids stood nearby, watching and smiling.
Usha Vance, a lawyer, spent a year clerking for Kavanaugh when he served as an appeals court judge in Washington, D.C.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:52 AM EST
James Biden, the brother of President Joe Biden, and his wife Sara Jones Biden arrive to the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building during the trial of Hunter Biden’s gun charges on June 7, 2024 in Wilmington, Del.
President Biden, in his final moments in office, pardoned several of his family members, saying that they have been “subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats” that he does not foresee ending.
He pardoned his brother, Francis Biden; his brother, James Biden; Sara Jones Biden, James’ wife; Valerie Biden Owens, his sister; and John Owens, Valerie’s husband.
“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” Biden wrote in a statement that was released just minutes before President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office. “But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances.”
The preemptive pardons follow others issued earlier today, to Dr. Anthony Fauci, members of the Jan. 6 select committee and others.
Late last year, President Biden also pardoned his son Hunter, who was convicted in June of federal gun charges for lying about his addiction to crack cocaine when he purchased a gun. Three months later, Hunter Biden entered a guilty plea to tax offenses.
In addition to the pardons to family members, Biden also commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, convicted in 1977 of killing two FBI agents.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:52 AM EST
Migrants from Mexico and Guatemala are apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers after crossing a section of border wall into the U.S. on Jan. 4, in Ruby, Ariz.
Incoming White House officials said Trump is planning to declare a national emergency at the southern U.S. border, which would unlock access to billions in federal funding for border security.
Presidents are able to use the National Emergencies Act to move money from one federal agency’s account to another without congressional approval. The measure is intended to assist presidents with resources in instances of emergency and not to serve as an alternative funding mechanism: setting the budget is the primary role of Congress.
“What this action does, is it deploys arms forces, erects physical barriers by directing DOD [Department of Defense] and DHS [Department of Homeland Security] secretaries to finish the wall along the border and allows for UAS [U.S. Armed Services] capabilities near the southern border,” an incoming White House official said on a call with reporters Monday morning.
“In addition, it directs the Secretary of Defense to deploy additional personnel to the border crisis, including members of the armed forces and National Guard.”
Details about how much funding and personnel will be redirected remains to be seen.
Trump is inheriting a quiet border. During the Biden administration, unauthorized crossings hit an all-time high in December 2023, but in 2024 the numbers sharply dropped. The change can be attributed in part to Biden’s asylum restrictions at the border.
This is not the first time Trump has used this power. During his first administration, Trump declared an emergency to access funds to pay for the border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. At the time, Trump wanted to unlock the additional funding after Congress fell short of his $5.7 billion request for border security.
The move, which gave Trump $8 billion, drew criticism from Capitol Hill Democrats who called it “disrespectful” and “overblown.” Some Republican senators also criticized the move for skirting Congressional oversight and authority. The diversion of funds from the Department of Defense resulted in postponed military construction projects.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:49 AM EST
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump looks on during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix, Ariz.
Ahead of his swearing in as 47th president on Monday, incoming White House officials held phone calls to outline some of the executive orders President-elect Donald Trump plans to take on his first day in office.
Earlier this month, Trump told Republican senators that he was preparing more than 100 executive orders — targeting border security, energy development, workforce rules and more — to roll out starting on day one of his presidency.
It’s not unusual for presidents to issue a flurry of executive actions within hours of their inauguration.
Biden signed 15 on his first day in 2021. Trump signed a record 14 executive orders and presidential memoranda during his first week in office in 2017.
And he’s made a slew of “Day 1” promises to voters this time around, from launching the largest deportation in history to signing pardons for Jan. 6 rioters.
But because of the way the government is set up (remember learning about checks and balances?), there’s only so much Trump can do on his own.
Here are the main ways he could flex his executive power, as defined by the Library of Congress:
Executive orders are directed towards — and concerning — actions by government officials and agencies. They have the force of law if the topic is “founded on the authority of the president derived from the Constitution or statue,” and are required to be published in the Federal Register (the official journal of the federal government).
Executive memoranda are like executive orders, but are not required to cite the president’s legal authority or be printed in the Federal Register.
Proclamations typically concern the activities of private individuals and do not have the force of law. They are considered largely ceremonial these days.
Read more about “executive actions” here.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:44 AM EST
Vice President-elect former Sen. JD Vance, President-elect Donald Trump and President Biden arrive for the inauguration ceremonies in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Monday.
Minutes after President-elect Trump arrived, President Biden and Vice President Harris entered the Capitol rotunda. They took their spots in the crowd with their spouses and former presidents as the crowd clapped.
Then Vice President-elect JD Vance arrived, to even louder cheers.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:44 AM EST
The TikTok video app is seen with a message about returning in the U.S. after a Supreme Court ban.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to sign an executive order on Monday allowing TikTok to continue operating in the United States, at least for now.
The social media app briefly went dark Saturday night for users in the U.S. after the Supreme Court upheld a law that bans TikTok unless it is sold off by its Chinese parent company. The law, passed last spring with bipartisan support and signed by President Biden, went into effect Sunday.
On Sunday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social, “I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”
Trump once thought differently about TikTok.
In August 2020, as president, he issued an executive order raising concerns about TikTok’s parent company Bytedance, its connection to the Chinese government, and the implications for national security, especially given its ability to capture “vast swaths of information from its users.
”After Trump’s post on Truth Social, TikTok’s operations resumed Sunday with a message for users praising “President Trump’s efforts” to keep the app running. Whether Trump has the legal authority to extend the deadline for this ban remains to be seen.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:39 AM EST
A number of former U.S. presidents and former first ladies, as well as members of the Supreme Court, are attending President-elect Trump’s second inauguration today.
Sitting in the front row on stage at the Capitol rotunda is former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of state Hillary Clinton, former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush. Former President Barack Obama is also at the event, however his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama is not in attendance.
Michelle Obama also recently missed former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral, which was another event attended by all of the living former U.S. presidents.
Obama is not the only spouse missing at today’s events. Karen Pence, wife of former Vice President Mike Pence, is also reportedly missing the inauguration.
Also seated prominently at the event are the Supreme Court Justices: Chief Justice John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:39 AM EST
The rapper Snoop Dogg has been taking criticism all morning for performing at one of President-elect Trump’s pre-inauguration events over the weekend.
He, along with rappers Soulja Boy and Rick Ross, performed Sunday at the Crypto Ball — an event honoring Trump, billing him “America’s first ‘crypto president.’ “
Social media users were quick to point out that Snoop Dogg had previously criticized anyone performing for President Trump in 2017. “I’m waiting. I’m gonna roast the f*** outta you,” Snoop Dogg said ahead of Trump’s first inauguration, calling anyone willing to perform “Uncle Toms.”
One of the people defending the rappers is Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who posted on X, “Performers at least know they are there to perform and get paid, but these politicians who ran their mouth for 4 yrs and are now willing to be there and clap for him, that’s who they should be mad at. They lied to you and your criticism/anger should be rightfully directed at them.”
Musicians still set to perform at the inauguration today include Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean and Nelly.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:38 AM EST
Victor Willis, the only surviving original member of Village People, performs during the 91st anniversary of the Hollywood Christmas Parade.
Carrie Underwood, Village People and Kid Rock are among the musicians scheduled to appear throughout inaugural events.
Some have said they are doing so out of support for Trump, while others have been less explicit.
“I am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future,” Underwood told NPR in statement.
In light of the announcement, Village People founding member Victor Willis wrote on Facebook that Trump’s use of the group’s 1978 hit “Y.M.C.A.” on the campaign trail — which resulted in a viral dance — had widely boosted the song.
“Our song Y.M.C.A. is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost,” he wrote.
Willis, who penned the song’s lyrics, also addressed the song’s enduring legacy as an unofficial gay anthem, writing that it is a “false assumption” that the song carries a queer subtext.
Other scheduled performers, including Billy Ray Cyrus and Jason Aldean, affirmed their support for the Republican candidate in the run-up to the November election, with Aldean saying on Instagram that he and other performers had “taken a lot of heat” from the media and the entertainment industry for vocalizing their support for Trump in recent years.
Read more about who’s performing today.
By Phil Harrell
Majd al-Waheidi
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:37 AM EST
Victor Willis of Village People performs on stage at PNE Amphitheatre on September 2, 2018 in Vancouver, Canada.
Village People, best known for their hit song “Y.M.C.A.” that was frequently played at Trump rallies, performed at the “Victory Rally” on Sunday night, the eve of the inauguration. They’re scheduled to perform at other related celebrations, too.
The American disco group, known for their pop hits and onstage outfits, rose to fame in the late 1970s. Their iconic songs — including “Y.M.C.A.,” widely considered a gay anthem, and “Macho Man” — became staples at Trump’s rallies during the last election.
“Y.M.C.A.” was co-written by French producer Jacques Morali and Victor Willis, the group’s singer and a founding member of Village People. Willis, known for portraying the policeman and sometimes a naval officer in the group, spoke with Morning Edition about the upcoming performance.
During the campaign, President-elect Trump would occasionally start dancing to iconic Village People songs. His distinctive dance moves quickly went viral— the dance looks like someone standing in place and pumping their arms back and forth, as if trying to dry their back with an invisible towel.
“We have our way of doing ‘Y.M.C.A.’ If he’s standing next to me, I might do the little move with him — his moves,” Willis said.
Willis, who left the group in 1979 but returned in 2017, pointed out that Trump’s campaign dance moves sparked a TikTok trend, with users replicating them and introducing “Y.M.C.A.” to a whole new generation.
“Oh, thousands!” Willis said about the number of people who reacted to the news of the group’s performance. “On my Facebook comments, I get so many people saying, ‘We’re not gonna listen to your music anymore,’ and all kinds of stuff,” he told NPR, though he added that many others thanked them.
When asked why they decided to perform, Willis said, “We’re trying to make people come together and unite the country, and regardless if you didn’t vote for him — basically, I’m a Democrat. We lost, so… we have to put that aside and it was time for everybody to get behind the president-elect.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:33 AM EST
MOSCOW — Officially, the Kremlin insists it is taking a wait-and-see approach to Donald Trump’s return to the White House, saying it welcomed “dialogue” towards improving U.S.-Russian relations but is waiting to see his proposals for the Ukraine crisis.
Yet as the conflict heads into its third year, it’s increasingly common to hear ordinary Russians say they want an end to the fighting — and express hope a new Trump administration can deliver it on terms acceptable to Moscow.
“I’ve heard Trump say he could end the war in a matter of days but it will take compromise from all sides,” says Alexander, 24, who, like everyone in this story, declined to provide his last name to NPR out of fear of violating wartime censorship laws.
Viktor, a pensioner from southern Russia and avid supporter of the invasion, says “anything is possible” once Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin finally agree to sit down for peace talks.
In his view, the two leaders are natural allies.
“Democrats in Congress blocked Trump from pursuing better relations with us last time,” adds Viktor. “But Republicans are now in control. So there won’t be so much interference.“
Maxim, an IT specialist from Moscow, says he’s less certain Russia, Ukraine, and the West can bridge differences so easily. Over three years, he watched as the conflict escalated — losing several friends to the war along the way.
“Fights are easy to start,” he says. “It’s making up that’s hard.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:29 AM EST
President-elect Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Monday that declares a national energy emergency, aiming to cut red tape and regulations for the energy industry, and a second one specific to Alaskan resources, an incoming White House official told reporters on a preview conference call.
“That National Energy Emergency will unlock a variety of different authorities that will enable our nation to quickly build again, to produce coal and natural resources, to create jobs, to create prosperity, and to strengthen our nation’s national security,” the official said.
The official said energy prices are too high, but declined on the call to name a lower target price. U.S. production of energy like oil is already at record levels.
The order will end what incoming Trump officials call the “electric vehicle mandate” and will end “efforts to curtail consumer choice on the things that consumers use every single day, whether it be showerheads, whether it be gas stoves, whether it be dishwashers and the like,” the official said.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:29 AM EST
As notables assemble in the Capitol for the Inauguration Day ceremony, social media is taking note of who isn’t in the room.
While former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and former first lady Hillary Clinton are up front, former first lady Michelle Obama is noticeably missing. Former Vice President Mike Pence also arrived solo.
Michelle Obama did not attend the funeral for former President Jimmy Carter earlier this month. Former second lady Karen Pence was in attendance at the funeral, but pointedly did not greet the Trumps when they arrived.
Several Democratic politicians have spoken of boycotting the event, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
A spokesperson for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also a Democrat, confirmed last week that she wouldn’t attend the inauguration.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:21 AM EST
When former president Jimmy Carter died on Dec. 29, Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-staff on federal properties for 30 days, in keeping with presidential tradition.
That’s happened before: Capitol flags were flown at half-staff in honor of former President Harry Truman during the 1973 inauguration of President Richard Nixon. If that tradition continued, flags would be lowered today for Trump’s inauguration.
But that’s not the case in D.C. and several other states.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Republican, announced last week that 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.”
They will be lowered back to half-staff the following day, he added.
Trump had previously accused Democrats of being “giddy” about flags being at half-staff on his Inauguration Day, adding that “nobody wants to see this.”
After Trump pushed back, governors of some states — from both parties — ordered flags at state buildings to fly at full-staff on Monday. Those states include Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Nebraska, Alabama, New York, California and Colorado.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:20 AM EST
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting via a video call at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on Monday.
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Donald Trump on reassuming the presidency of the United States.
In a televised speech to his Security Council, Putin said he welcomed Trump’s desire to avoid “World War III” with Russia and said he was open to dialogue — including negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine.
His comments were delivered several hours before Trump took the oath of office.
“The most important thing is to eliminate the main reason for the crisis,” said Putin, adding he didn’t want to see a “temporary ceasefire” that would allow parties to “rearm and regroup” but rather a “long-term peace” based on mutual respect for all sides.
While Putin’s reasons for the war have shifted repeatedly since Russia initially invaded in 2022, the Kremlin leader has recently demanded an end to Ukraine’s desire to join NATO and recognition of Russia’s hold over Ukrainian territories seized by Russian forces as the cornerstone of any potential peace deal.
“We, of course, will fight for the interests of Russia and the people of Russia. That, of course, was the point of the ‘special military operation,’ ” added Putin, using the Kremlin’s official name for the military campaign.
By Tamara Keith
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:19 AM EST
President-elect Trump’s inaugural crowd in 2017, when the ceremony was outside at the Capitol.
Even if Trump’s inauguration had been held outside as usual, the National Park Service wouldn’t have come up with a headcount.
For decades, that agency released official crowd counts for events on the National Mall, including inaugurations, protests, parades and even concerts. But back in the 1990s, Congress quietly forced the National Park Service to stop.
That decision was aimed at keeping the agency out of raging debates over the size of crowds — debates like the political firestorm that broke out over the size of the audience for Trump’s first inaugural.
Read up on the fascinating history — and see photos.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:11 AM EST
The motorcade carrying Biden and Trump, and their wives, arrived at the Capitol at 10:46 a.m. ET.
The route from the White House was lined with law enforcement officers and service members, some of whom saluted as the motorcade passed. Onlookers were relatively sparse in the cold weather, outnumbered on many blocks by law enforcement officers.
Many people were wearing Trump gear, while some waved American flags.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:11 AM EST
Mayor of New York City Eric Adams arrives prior to the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump at the United States Capitol on Monday.
In a last-minute change of plans, New York City Mayor Eric Adams pulled out of several Martin Luther King Jr. Day-related events in his home city in order to travel to Washington, D.C., for Trump’s inauguration.
City Hall released an updated schedule for the mayor Monday morning, showing that he would no longer attend events at Brooklyn Academy of Music and Convent Avenue Baptist Church, Gothamist reported.
Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for Adams, posted on X that the Trump administration invited the mayor to attend the inauguration “in the early hours of Monday morning.” He accepted “on behalf of New York City,” he added.
“As the mayor has repeatedly said, America has chosen a new national leader and we must work together to build a safer, stronger, and more affordable in New York City,” Levy wrote.
Adams — who was indicted in the fall on federal charges of bribery, fraud and soliciting a political contribution from a foreign national — is running up against a trial date and mayoral primary this spring. Trump has previously said he would consider a pardon for Adams.
The two met at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on Friday.
Two of Adams’ primary challengers, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, were quick to criticize the mayor on social media, saying he was putting his wellbeing ahead of the city’s.
On X just now, Adams himself wrote that “Inauguration Day is a sacred American tradition.”
He added that, “On MLK Day, like Reverend Dr. King said, we must put partisan politics aside to do what’s best for our country. I believe there’s much we can achieve working alongside the federal government as we support our city’s values and fight for New Yorkers.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 11:08 AM EST
Attendees take their seats in the Rotunda ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol.
With the inauguration ceremony taking place in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda — instead of the West Front — space is limited and the guest list is in flux.
The inaugural platform on the West Front is more than 10,000 square feet and can hold around 1,600 people, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. The Capitol Rotunda is smaller — coming in at just over 7,000 square feet — and can only fit around 750 people, according to a source familiar with the planning who was not authorized to disclose the matter.
According to the JCCIC, the inaugural platform is usually reserved for the president and vice president and their families; the president-elect and vice president-elect and their families; the chief justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court; former presidents; the diplomatic corps; cabinet members and nominees; members of Congress; governors; the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and other guests.
Despite the space constraints, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will all attend the rotunda inauguration, according to a source familiar with the planning who was not authorized to disclose the matter.
Notably, the vice president of the People’s Republic of China, Han Zheng, will also attend the rotunda ceremony, according to the Trump transition team.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 10:45 AM EST
Preparations are made ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Monday.
NPR News will broadcast live special coverage of Trump’s inauguration starting at 11 a.m. EST on NPR.org and YouTube.
Other streaming options include the official inaugural committee livestream and C-SPAN.org.
All major network and cable news television outlets will broadcast the inauguration. These programs can also be viewed on subscription-based streaming platforms, such as YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV. Many news networks — such as CBS News, NBC News and ABC News — will air their coverage online.
MSNBC’s inauguration coverage will air on its YouTube channel.
CNN and Fox News will also stream their coverage, but it requires a paid subscription.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 10:43 AM EST
First lady Jill Biden (left), President Biden, President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump stand together ahead of his inauguration, at the White House.
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden greeted President-elect Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the North Portico of the White House shortly before 10 a.m. ET.
Ahead of the Trumps’ arrival, reporters asked Biden if he had left Trump a letter, per modern presidential tradition. He said yes, but did not elaborate on what he wrote.
“Welcome home,” Biden said as Trump got out of the SUV.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 10:42 AM EST
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to sign dozens of executive orders, proclamations and memoranda on everything from securing the border to rolling back transgender rights. He’s aiming for a record-breaking Day 1. But, numerically, that isn’t a high bar to clear.
According to analysis from Bowdoin College professor of government Andrew Rudalevige, the previous record was set by President Biden, who signed nine executive orders and three memos on his first day in office. By the end of his first week, Biden had taken about 30 executive actions. Many of those were efforts to immediately reverse the policies in place during Trump’s first term.
Now, Trump is trying to reverse Biden administration policy and show that he is keeping campaign promises, which included pledging many “Day 1” actions.
If Trump signs as many executive orders as he’s been telegraphing, he could even beat the single year record of 100, set in 1952 by former President Harry Truman — a tally that only includes executive orders.
It is worth noting that the sheer number of executive actions matters less than the substance of them. In Trump’s first term, many of his executive actions faced legal challenges. There are limits to what can be done through the power of the president’s pen alone, though Trump officials have made clear they intend to test those limits in an effort to enact his agenda as quickly as possible.
It’s a much faster start than Trump’s first term. In 2017, Trump signed only one executive order on Day 1 and had issued fewer than 15 actions by the end of his first week.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 10:26 AM EST
When President-elect Donald Trump takes the Oath of Office today, he will be governing a divided electorate:
Almost half of Americans have a negative view of him and are split on some of his biggest priorities, according to a recent NPR poll.
So what can the incoming president do to unify the country, as he promised to do during the campaign?
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., a frequent advocate of Trump’s causes, told Morning Edition that “success” will bring the country together.
“When the American people see clearly the impacts of his policy and how successful the country is going to be compared to, quite frankly, the disasters of Joe Biden, then it’s going to be crystal clear that the voters were correct,” Donalds said. “And it’s going to give us more ability to not just continue the work that we’re doing, but to expand upon it.”
Donalds says House Republicans will be able to overcome infighting and have been working since the election to push forward the president-elect’s priorities. Divisions most recently came to a head during the fight to reelect House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“We’re putting together really the contours of the president’s agenda to be able to move through both chambers of Congress. All of our conversations have worked at this point. It’s been very fruitful,” Donalds said. “We feel very strongly that we’re going to be able to get the job done.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 10:08 AM EST
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will all attend President-elect Trump’s inauguration, a source familiar with the planning who was not authorized to disclose the matter tells NPR.
Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg are the world’s three wealthiest people, with estimated net worths of $429.8 billion, $235.3 billion, and $212.6 billion, respectively, according to Forbes.
Musk spent $250 million to help Trump’s election efforts. After Trump’s victory, CEOs from Silicon Valley and beyond have met with the president-elect and contributed to his inaugural fund.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 9:59 AM EST
People turn themselves in to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers after crossing over a section of border wall into the U.S. on Jan. 5 in Ruby, Ariz. Unlawful border crossings along the Southern border have plummeted to a four-year low according to recent data provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Incoming officials from the Trump White House previewed 10 sweeping executive actions on border security that Donald Trump will sign on Monday, once he becomes president.
“Our southern border is overrun by cartels, criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers, unvetted military-age males from foreign adversaries and illicit narcotics that harm Americans, especially our youth,” according to incoming White House officials who spoke to reporters on a background call.
Among the measures, Trump will declare a national emergency at the U.S. southern border.
The officials said this action will allow U.S. armed forces to finish the border wall, by directing the defense and homeland security secretaries to erect physical barriers at the border. It will also allow the defense secretary to deploy members of the armed forces and National Guard to the border.
Officials said they’re also planning to end the policy known as “catch and release,” and reinstate “Remain in Mexico,” which would require some asylum seekers as the southern border to wait in Mexico for their hearings in U.S. immigration court.
Trump also plans to designate criminal cartels as terror groups, the officials said, suspend refugee resettlement, end asylum, and — notably — end birthright citizenship.
Birthright citizenship, for anyone born in the country, is enshrined in the 14th Amendment. This action is likely to see immediate legal challenges.
Since the early days of the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump has vowed to begin his second term with both new and old efforts to curb legal migration and deport those who are in the U.S. without legal status.
Last night during a rally in Washington D.C., Trump said he plans to sign executive orders quickly and launch “the most aggressive, sweeping effort to restore our borders the world has ever seen.”
Incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan also said large-scale raids to deport and detain those without legal status are set to begin as soon as Tuesday, focusing on people considered a security or safety threat.
“While we hope for the best, we take Trump at his word. We are prepared to fight back against any cruel or violent attacks on immigrant communities in the U.S. or those fleeing to this country in search of safety and refuge,” said Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, an advocacy organization.
The U.S. had seen an increase in border crossings under the Biden administration, at times reaching all-time highs. But Customs and Border Protection’s recent numbers have shown a sharp decrease in unauthorized apprehensions in the past six months.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 9:58 AM EST
Usha Vance (left), second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Vice President-elect former Sen. JD Vance stand together at the White House ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump on Monday.
When JD Vance assumes the role of vice president — the second-youngest person to hold the title — his wife, Usha, will make history too.
Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants, is set to be the first Indian American second lady as well as the first Hindu second lady.
Usha Vance, 38, was raised by her parents, both academics, in San Diego. She told Fox & Friends that their Hindu faith was “one of the things that make them really good people.”
Vance earned her bachelor’s degree from Yale University before going on to its law school, where she met JD. The two married in 2014 and have three children, ages 7, 4 and 3.
Vance also earned her master’s of philosophy from the University of Cambridge through the Gates Cambridge Scholarship.
After graduating from law school, she clerked for Judge Brett Kavanaugh from 2014 to 2015, when he was on the U.S. Court of Appeals, and for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts from 2017 to 2018. Notably, Kavanaugh will administer the oath of office to JD Vance on Monday.
She previously worked as a corporate litigator for the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson until July, when she resigned after Trump picked JD as his running mate.
In her first solo interview this summer after her husband’s selection, Vance tried to defend his controversial comments about “childless cat ladies” and spoke about adjusting to life in the spotlight, especially when it comes to their children.
“Giving them a stable, normal, happy life and upbringing is something that is the most important thing to us,” Vance said. “But I think what we’re going to do is continue to … let them have their lives as children, which I think they really deserve, and let them spend lots of time with their father. And if that’s sometimes seen by other people, great. And if it’s out of their hands, private, great.”
The Vances are slated to move into the vice president’s Naval Observatory residence. CBS News reported that in November, Usha Vance’s staff reached out to its previous occupants to ask for information including about childproofing the home.
The outgoing second spouse made history too. Doug Emhoff — also a lawyer — was the nation’s first second gentleman, as well as the first Jewish spouse of a vice president.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 9:51 AM EST
Melania Trump and President-elect Donald Trump arrive for services at St. John’s Church as part of Inauguration ceremonies on Monday.
Trump will sign an executive order on Monday that says it’s the policy of the United States to recognize two biologically distinct sexes — male and female — one of many executive actions the incoming administration plan to take, an incoming White House official told reporters on a preview conference call.
“These are sexes that are not changeable, and they are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” the official said.
The change will require government agencies to use the definitions on documents like passports, visas, and employee records the official said. Taxpayer funds will not be allowed to be used for “transition services,” the official said.
“You’re no longer going to treat laws that say ‘sex’ as ‘sex, including gender identity.’ Sex does not include gender identity. And so agencies are not going to enforce laws as if they do,” the official said. “You’re not going to have robust and long drop-down menus when you’re asking about sex.”
A second order will end diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government, the official said, giving as examples environmental justice programs in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as diversity training.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 9:38 AM EST
President-Elect Donald Trump speaks at his victory rally at the Capital One Arena on Sunday.
The day before Trump was set to be sworn in as the 47th president, he and his followers celebrated with an hours-long rally at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
“Tomorrow at noon, the curtain closes on four long years of American decline, and we begin a brand new day of American strength and prosperity, dignity, and pride,” Trump told the crowd to loud cheers.
“Once and for all we’re going to end the reign of a failed and corrupt political establishment in Washington, a failed administration.”
He took the opportunity to preview several of his planned Day 1 actions, including on border security, energy, and ending the Biden administration’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in government agencies.
He also celebrated his election win and took credit for multiple recent developments, including the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that went into effect on Sunday, Biden’s last full day in office.
“I know that Biden is saying they made the deal, well,” he said, trailing off and chuckling as the crowd booed.
Trump’s pick for Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, joined President Biden’s Middle East envoy in the final push of talks on the deal.
Trump also cheered the fact that Tiktok, the popular video app, is back online. TikTok was taken offline Saturday night in compliance with a law that effectively banned the service nationwide unless it splits off from its China-based owner, but Trump on Sunday posted on Truth Social that he would pause the law and extend a liability shield to technology companies that support TikTok.
At the rally on Sunday, he reiterated a proposal he made on social media: for the U.S. government to take a 50% stake in the social media platform, without providing further details.
His promotion of Tiktok is a reversal from 2020, when Trump attempted to ban the platform.
Read more about Trump’s remarks, plus who else appeared onstage.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 9:23 AM EST
President Ronald Reagan is sworn in by Chief Justice Warren Burger in his 1985 inauguration in the Capitol Rotunda.
Presidential inaugurations are, by definition, historic acts, but when we think of past Inauguration Days, there is clearly a hierarchy of historical pop.
Who could forget John F. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” in 1961? Or Ronald Reagan, 20 years later, relocating the ceremony for the first time from the East Front of the U.S. Capitol to the magnificent West Front facing the National Mall and the Washington Monument?
Or the surprise of seeing the grand stage and spectacle reduced to the indoor space of the Capitol Rotunda in 1985 due to severe cold? The latter scene will have a reprise on Monday as plunging temperatures have moved the second Trump inaugural ceremony indoors.
As a rule, the biggest splash has been made by the newly elected presidents coming to office for the first time, especially those elected in opposition to the party previously in control of the White House. These have drawn the largest crowds and inspired the most breathless anticipation.
The atmosphere itself seems to ask: How will things be different now in Washington, in the country at large and in the wider world?
Such questions do not accompany the reelected incumbents, no matter how gratifying reelection and the continuation in power may be at the time. The thrill of Day 1 has rarely been as great the second time around.
We have seen this transformative kind of Inauguration Day twice in recent years, with Barack Obama in 2009 and then with Donald Trump in 2017. Both were considered unlikely winners of their respective parties’ nominations. Both had overcome those odds on the strength of things they had done far from Washington and its measures of importance.
Read more Inauguration Day history and highlights here.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 9:10 AM EST
President-Elect Donald Trump speaks at his victory rally at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Sunday.
Trump’s midday swearing-in isn’t the only Inauguration Day activity that’s been moved indoors because of the cold.
The inaugural parade will also take place indoors, in D.C.’s Capital One Arena (not to be confused with the Capitol building). The venue also hosted Trump’s pre-inauguration rally on Sunday.
“With all that time spent cheering in an arena, it’s really going to, maybe fittingly, feel like a lot of time at a traditional Trump rally,” NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben says.
Kurtzleben attended the Sunday rally, whose other speakers included Elon Musk and Megyn Kelly.
She said while the mood was celebratory, there was also a darker undertone.
“There was very much this pervasive feeling that the underdogs had won; that’s definitely the story that a lot of speakers told, at least,” she said. “It was celebratory, but also in very Trumpian fashion there was a lot of focus on how the MAGA movement has a lot of enemies, as they said, and needs to keep fighting.”
Posted January 20, 2025 at 8:59 AM EST
When Rachel Izzo woke up on Saturday morning, she wasn’t sure protesting was in the cards. It was chilly, her friend had canceled and it had been a long week at work. But she decided she needed to go.
“I said, If I don’t go to this, I’m going to be mad,” Izzo admitted, as she gripped a poster of a coat hanger, a longtime symbol of the abortion rights movement. “If I don’t show up, I’m going to be just … sitting back and letting it happen. And I don’t want to be a part of that.”
She’s one of several thousand who protested on the National Mall as part of the People’s March, a mobilization put together by a coalition of left-leaning and progressive organizations opposing President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming second-term agenda.
It comes nearly eight years after hundreds of thousands came to Washington for the Women’s March, just one day after Trump’s first inauguration. It stands as the largest single-day protest in U.S. history.
This year, as Democrats and left-leaning voters grapple with the reality of a second Trump term, many are also working through what effective opposition may look like moving forward.
Izzo and multiple protesters and organizers spoke about feeling tired or knowing others in their community who felt resigned following Trump’s decisive win in the fall.
It’s something that may have played a factor in Saturday’s turnout. Organizers told NPR that more than 50,000 attended—a tenth of the crowd seen eight years earlier when half a million people congregated in Washington, D.C., and 4.6 million people marched nationwide.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 8:46 AM EST
President of Argentina Javier Milei (left) and Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni arrive to the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
This is the first time that a president-elect is welcoming foreign leaders to his inauguration.
Donald Trump is breaking with tradition to invite Chinese President Xi Jinping and right-wing leaders including Argentine President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Seats at the inauguration are also being reserved for a whole host of far-right and populist politicians from Europe and Britain. These include Nigel Farage, the leader of the U.K.’s anti-immigration Reform party, and the far-right French presidential candidate Éric Zemmour, who has been convicted multiple times of inciting racist or religious hatred.
As is Tino Chrupalla, a co-leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), will also attend — this follows Elon Musk’s endorsement of the party. Musk recently hosted AfD co-leader Alice Weidel on his social media platform, X, raising further speculation about whether he is seeking to influence European politics.
In Italy, the newspapers are full speculation about whether Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni will be just a spectator at the inauguration, or if she will get some time to speak with Trump, or at least have a photo op — both options that would raise her burgeoning reputation as a key interlocutor between Trump and Europe.
Meloni was one of few world leaders to visit the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida this month. So far Trump has sidelined the European centrist political mainstream — EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has conspicuously not been invited to his inauguration.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 8:32 AM EST
Trump speaks during a press conference at the Mar-a-Lago Club on Jan. 7.
A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds that, despite his claims of an “unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump may have to be careful about how far he decides to go with what he wants to do.
More people hold an unfavorable than favorable view of him, most are against pardoning those convicted of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and they’re split on whether to mass deport immigrants who are in the U.S. without legal status.
Perhaps most importantly, Americans have high expectations that their personal financial situations will improve under Trump, but more think tariffs will hurt rather than help the economy.
Trump has promised bold action, but, as the NPR poll shows, the politics may be tricky. Presidents often become vulnerable because of overreach. They tend to believe — falsely — that because they were elected, they have a mandate for everything on their agenda. Clearly, that’s not the case.
“The opening round of the second term is not going well with the public,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the survey of 1,387 adults. “Americans are not convinced of Trump’s agenda pillars, including pardons and tariffs. Mass deportations are only getting mixed reviews.”
Here’s how respondents feel about Trump, his priorities and his Cabinet picks.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 8:15 AM EST
Martin Luther King Jr., waves to supporters in August 1963 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Trump’s second inauguration is just the third time a president will take the oath of office on the day dedicated to honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
The second inaugurations of presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama took place on MLK Day in 1997 and 2013.
The two events aren’t due to coincide again until Jan. 2053 due to their particular requirements and quirks of the calendar.
MLK Day — which was approved as a federal holiday in 1983 and has been recognized in all 50 states since 2000 — always takes place on the third Monday in January, because it falls near his Jan. 15 birthday.
Inauguration Day has been held on Jan. 20th since the passage of the 20th Amendment in 1933.
Presidents had previously taken their oaths in early March because of how long it took to tabulate votes and travel to D.C., creating a long lame-duck period that Congress was eager to shorten once technological advancements allowed. In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt became the first president inaugurated on Jan. 20.
In years where Jan. 20 falls on a Sunday, a private swearing-in ceremony is held that day followed by a public ceremony on Jan. 21 — as was the case with Obama’s second inauguration.
Obama took the oath of office that year using a Bible that had belonged to King himself.
A previous version of this blog post incorrectly said Theodore Roosevelt was the first president inaugurated on Jan. 20, in 1937. It was Franklin Roosevelt, who was inaugurated in 1933.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 7:51 AM EST
Carrie Underwood is set to perform “America the Beautiful.”
Unlike Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, which reportedly struggled to book high-profile performers, several well-known artists will partake in this year’s inaugural events:
- Carrie Underwood
- Christopher Macchio
- Lee Greenwood
- Kid Rock
- Village People
- Billy Ray Cyrus
- Liberty University’s Praise Choir
- Jason Aldean
- Rascal Flatts
- Parker McCollum
- Gavin DeGraw
- Plus, a surprise musical guest set to appear at the Liberty Ball
Read more about the lineup here.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 7:35 AM EST
Dr. Anthony Fauci, then-White House Chief Medical Advisor and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, attends an event in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 9, 2022.
President Biden said on Monday that he would issue pardons to General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee — hours ahead of President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office.
“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden said in a statement.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 7:17 AM EST
Snow is piled up Friday on the West Front of the US Capitol building, where the presidential inauguration traditionally takes place.
It’s poised to be an unusually brisk Inauguration Day, with temperatures expected to be about 20 degrees colder than normal for this time of year.
The high temperature for the day is projected to be below freezing at 23 degrees as Trump officially begins his second term in office, while the low may drop to just 10 degrees.
The frigid forecast prompted Trump to announce Friday that he had ordered the inauguration address, prayers and speeches to be moved inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
Trump’s return to Washington will mark the coldest Inauguration Day in 40 years, since President Regan’s swearing-in in 1985, when temperatures were a chilly 7 degrees, described as “sunny, but bitter cold.“
Reagan also ended up holding his inauguration inside — a practice that hasn’t been repeated since.
When Trump first took the presidential oath in 2017, the weather was pretty normal for the day, with a temperature of 48 degrees, although ceremony attendees had to deal with light rain throughout the day.
Read more about the polar vortex that’s currently chilling much of the country.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 7:13 AM EST
The U.S. Capitol.
Inauguration Day involves much more than the swearing-in ceremony — now planned to take place inside the Capitol building and not on its West Front, given the frigid forecast in Washington, D.C.
The day follows a weekend of receptions, remarks and appearances by the incoming president, and there’s a full slate of events on Monday.
Here are some of the events on the day’s agenda:
- St. John’s church service
- Tea at the White House
- Swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol
- Farewell ceremony to the former president and vice president
- The president’s signing room ceremony
- Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) congressional luncheon
- Oval Office signing ceremony at the White House
There will also be a live feed of the events in Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, and Trump said he would stop there after being sworn in. Later, he will attend three inaugural balls: the Commander in Chief Ball, the Liberty Inaugural Ball and the Starlight Ball.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 7:10 AM EST
President-elect Donald Trump will take his oath of office inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda at 12 p.m. ET today.
NPR is kicking off inauguration live coverage in this blog, with news, context and analysis of the day before and after Trump’s swearing-in.
Trump is the second president to move his inauguration indoors to the Rotunda, from the West Front of the Capitol, due to a forecast of frigid weather.
Temperatures will reach a high of about 24 degrees Monday with wind gusts as high as 31 mph, according to National Weather Service.
Crews — who spent four months building the inaugural and presidential parade platforms outside — have outfitted the Rotunda and Capitol One Arena to host Trump’s inauguration events. Nearly a quarter million people had tickets for Trump’s outdoor inauguration, many of whom will not be able to attend the limited-capacity indoor events.
Read more details about the day here, and follow along as our reporters keep you updated on events as they unfold.
