Washington
CNN
—
Donald Trump will be sworn in as president Monday, returning to power to enact his sweeping vision of America after leaving his office in shame four years ago.
Trump will become the nation’s 47th president at noon on Monday, completing a remarkable four-year arc after he left Washington as a pariah at the end of his first term. JD Vance will become its 50th vice president, a meteoric rise for a man who was elected to the Senate in 2022.
Both Trump and Vance have promised to hit the ground running to enact a wide-ranging agenda that is expected to include immediate executive actions on immigration.
The day is already shaping up to be out of the ordinary. Projected frigid temperatures in Washington, DC, prompted Trump to announce Friday that he would take the oath of office inside the US Capitol — the first time the ceremony has taken place indoors since the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan in 1985.
Here’s what to know about Inauguration Day:
Temperatures for this year’s ceremony are expected to be in the low 20s — likely the coldest since Reagan’s second inauguration.
Trump described Monday’s conditions as “dangerous” and added that he did not “want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way.”
“Therefore, I have ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather,” he said on Truth Social on Friday.
Capitol One Arena — not far from the National Mall, where crowds would normally gather to watch the ceremony — will be opened to view the inauguration, and Trump said he would stop by the arena after his swearing-in.
The relatively small area inside the US Capitol will deprive Trump of the overflowing crowd he’d have wanted on the Mall. It will also likely cause jockeying among dignitaries and lawmakers to be able to witness Trump’s swearing-in personally.
Concerns about Inauguration Day weather come with historical context. President William Henry Harrison is widely believed to have caught a cold during his 1841 inaugural ceremony, during which he gave a two-hour speech and wore no coat or hat. He later contracted pneumonia and died one month after his inauguration.
Trump has said he will take steps to immediately enact parts of his large agenda, with executive actions pertaining to immigration enforcement expected to be released within the first hours of his second term.
CNN previously reported Trump’s plans include ordering US Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps in major cities, sending more Pentagon resources to the US southern border, placing additional restrictions on who is eligible to enter the US, and rolling back Biden-era policies.
Trump will quickly implement executive actions on immigration, energy policy and federal government operations to check off dozens of campaign policy priorities, according to two sources briefed on a Sunday call held by Trump aide Stephen Miller, who previewed the actions with senior congressional Republicans.
One of the first moves Trump said he will make as president is signing an order that delays the law that banned TikTok and briefly made the app unusable for Americans over the weekend.
The divest-or-ban law, which received bipartisan support and was signed by President Joe Biden in April, required TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app by January 19 or face it being blocked to its 170 million American users.
Trump on Sunday said he would issue an order “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.” He also proposed a 50-50 partnership between ByteDance and an American owner.
-Trump proposed a TikTok ban during his first term but has since embraced the app because of its influence among young people. “We won on TikTok, and Republicans have never won the young vote, the youth vote,” Trump said during an inauguration eve rally in Washington on Sunday. “So I like TikTok,” he added.
Trump also has said he plans to swiftly pardon people who were convicted for their roles in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. CNN previously reported the president-elect’s team has drafted a slate of January 6-related pardons that Trump plans to issue on his first day.
The extent of Trump’s planned pardons is unclear. About 1,270 people have been convicted of crimes related to the attack.
Throughout the 2024 campaign, Trump vowed to seek retribution against his opponents and political enemies. Those who oppose Trump will be watching the opening hours of his second administration closely to see how quickly he carries out those threats.
He said of his political opponents last summer: “When this election is over … I would have every right to go after them.” He said that “sometimes revenge can be justified.”
Opponents of Trump, including the prosecutors who have investigated him, the lawmakers who have countered him, the political figures who have opposed him, and the news media that has covered him, will be closely watching how Trump handles his first day in office to determine whether those threats carry weight.
Trump’s first inaugural address in 2017 is remembered for its dark imagery of “American carnage.” But Trump has also shown that he can be conciliatory, if contradictory.
A brief call between Biden and Trump after the former president’s victory was described as “very friendly,” with Biden aides expressing surprise at Trump’s approach of deference and flattery. Trump has been spotted in seemingly friendly conversation with first lady Jill Biden and former President Barack Obama in the months since his victory and spoke highly of his meeting with Biden in the Oval Office after his election win.
But, at the same time, Trump has not shied away from his usual bellicose language toward the president, referring to him as “Crooked Joe Biden” on January 14.
Biden’s last official act as president will be attending the inauguration of his successor, a man he has repeatedly warned represents a fundamental threat to the future of this country.
On Monday, the 82-year-old president leaves public service, bound to retire to his home state of Delaware after a trip to California following his departure from Washington.
During his farewell speech from the Oval Office last week, Biden said his crucial legislative achievements will have long-reaching reverberations that outlast his presidency.
“I’m so proud of how much we’ve accomplished together for the American people,” Biden said, “and I wish the incoming administration success, because I want America to succeed.”
Still, the image of him relinquishing that office to same man he worked so hard to keep out could provide for one last defining moment of his presidency.
CNN will be providing live coverage of Trump’s second inauguration throughout Monday. Special live coverage begins at 7 a.m. ET and carries through the ceremony, oath of office and inaugural balls in the evening.
CNN’s special coverage will also stream live on CNN, CNN-connected TV and mobile apps, and on CNN.com. It will also stream live on Max for Max subscribers.
CNN reporters, anchors and contributors will also take part in a live chat during the swearing-in, and the CNN app will feature a custom livestream featuring on-the-ground reporting, live updates, in-depth analysis and images.
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