Washington, Jan 20 (AP) Donald Trump, who overcame impeachments, criminal indictments and a pair of assassination attempts to win another term in the White House, was sworn in Monday as the 47th US president taking charge as Republicans claim unified control of Washington and set out to reshape the country's institutions.
Trump's swearing-in ceremony moved indoors due to intense cold and began at noon ET. Festivities started earlier when Trump arrived for service at St. John's Episcopal Church.
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'She almost blew away,' Trump jokes
Trump is joking about his wife's large hat, saying that she nearly blew away earlier when the two stepped outside to see Biden off.
“She almost blew away,” Trump said with a laugh, joking that, “She was being elevated off the ground.”
First lady Melania Trump visibly struggled to keep the hat on her head amid wind gusts and the force of the military helicopter that carried Biden from the Capitol.
Biden leaves Washington aboard Special Air Mission 46
The military airplane taking Biden and his family to a respite in California started taxiing just before 2 pm for takeoff from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
Before getting on the plane, Biden spoke at a farewell event on the base with now-former staff members, telling them, “We're leaving office but we're not leaving the fight.”
Trump reverts to a rally-style weave
It's a remarkable moment for the new president — moments after being sworn into office, rambling into a long speech of familiar promises, grievances and insults.
Trump is holding court at the Capitol's Emancipation Hall, his vice president and the House speaker looking on, as he talks unscripted for what was expected to be a quick stop to supporters.
Instead, he is speaking on a range of topics, a weave he has called it.
He's also going longer in his post-inaugural remarks than he did in his inaugural address, which ran for half an hour.
The new president read from a teleprompter and was relatively staid in the Capitol Rotunda during his formal address. That speech was short by traditional inaugural address standards.
But then he headed to another part of the Capitol and started talking in a more relaxed and jovial way.
He didn't stop for 32 minutes, joking at one point, “I think it's a better speech than the one I gave upstairs.”
Trump unleashed
After delivering a relatively staid inaugural address reading from a teleprompter, Trump is now unleashing during a freewheeling, off-the-cuff second speech at the Capitol Visitor Center.
Trump is angrily railing against his enemies, promising action on what he calls the “J6 hostages,” calling former US Rep. Liz Cheney “a crying lunatic,” and bashing what he calls the “unselect committee of political thugs” that investigated the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
He's also criticising the pardons Joe Biden issued right before Trump was sworn in and in recent weeks.
Trump is speaking from Emancipation Hall at the Capitol Visitors Center
It's where rows of National Guard troops took their rest on the hard floors in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Trump is reviving false claims about the House's January 6 committee that investigated the attack and complaining about Biden's last-minute pardons for the committee members and staff.
Trump says he decided not to mention the people who have been jailed for their roles in the violent insurrection on January 6, 2021, during his inaugural speech but is talking about them now during freewheeling remarks at the visitor centre.
“I was going to talk about the J6 hostages,” said Trump, who has vowed to pardon those involved in the violence, whom he refers to as “hostages.”
He says that action, not words, are what matter, adding: “You're going to see a lot of action.”
An acting defence secretary has been appointed
President Donald Trump has named an acting defence secretary because his choice to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.
Robert G. Salesses, deputy director of the Pentagon's Washington Headquarters Service, will fill in, two defence officials said on the condition of anonymity to discuss an announcement that was not yet public.
The service includes all of the capitol region support services, including facilities management and the office of general counsel and others that support the military branches and Pentagon leadership. Salesses served as a Marine in the Gulf War, earning a Bronze Star.
The appointment was first reported by NBC.
The Bidens make one last wheels up
Joe Biden is boarding a helicopter that will carry him into his post-presidency life — but the aircraft carrying him is no longer known as Marine One.
Since Biden is now a former president, he and his wife Jill boarded a chopper technically known as “Nighthawk 46” despite still having the presidential seal.
The Bidens were flying to a farewell ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, then flying to California.
The California flight will be Special Air Mission 46.
Trump, who hadn't yet taken office then, flew on Saturday from Florida to Washington aboard a plane with presidential markings that was known as Special Air Mission 47. (AP)
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