Donald Trump arrives at St. John’s Church along with Melania Trump. Mark Zuckerberg is in the background. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Trump Inauguration: Joe Biden And Donald Trump Depart White House For Swearing In Ceremony
President Joe Biden departed the White House with Donald Trump on their way to the Capitol for the swearing in ceremony.
Biden told reporters that he left a letter for the incoming president, but declined to say what the contents were. “That’s between Trump and me.”
The ride down Pennsylvania Avenue, often with bitter rivals, is yet another longtime tradition of the transfer of power, one that didn’t happen four years ago as Trump declined to participate.
The Bidens posted one last selfie before their farewell.
First Lady Jill Biden and Melania Trump also traveled together, as did Vice President Kamala Harris and JD Vance.
The Bidens Greet The Trumps At White House, 7:22 a.m. PT: President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden greeted Donald Trump and Melania Trump at the White House for a morning tea, continuing a symbolic gesture in the transfer of power.
The two couples stood briefly for a photo, with a chilly wind blowing on the north end of the White House. Biden and Trump will soon travel to the Capitol for the swearing in ceremony.
“Welcome home,” Biden said to Trump after he got out of his black SUV, per a pool report.
Earlier, reporters asked Biden what his message was for the day. “Joy,” Biden said.
The tradition is one that Trump denied Biden four years ago, following the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Trump still insists, falsely, that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Earlier, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff welcomed JD Vance and Usha Vance.
Donald Trump Attends St. John’s Church Services, 6:08 a.m. PT: President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump kicked off Inauguration Day with a longtime tradition: Attending services at St. John’s Episcopal Church across Lafayette Square.
Trump was joined by Vice President-elect JD Vance and his wife Usha, and among those attending were the leaders of the tech giants: Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta; Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, and fiance Lauren Sanchez; Apple CEO Tim Cook; X’s owner Elon Musk; and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Also present: Rupert Murdoch, TikTok CEO Shou Chew; UFC’s Dana White, podcast host Joe Rogan, and Boris Johnson, the former British prime minister, per a pool report.
The temperature in Washington this morning is 24 degrees, with the windchill even lower and a light snow on the ground, a reason why Trump decided to move the swearing in ceremony indoors. That set off a scramble for seats, as the Capitol Rotunda, where the ceremony will take place, only holds about a thousand people.
St. John’s, known as the church of presidents, holds significance from the first Trump term. It’s where Trump held up a Bible after walking with members of his administration from the White House. It was amid 2020 protests and riots following the death of George Floyd, and moments earlier, authorities from Park Police had cleared the area of demonstrators.
The service lasted for about 25 minutes and finished with a rendition of “America the Beautiful.”
Earlier, the Trump team released some excerpts of what he would say in his inaugural address to The Wall Street Journal. Trump plans to proclaim a “new era of national success” and call for a “revolution of common sense.”
Meta and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Google Sundar Pichai, CEO of Apple Tim Cook, Founder of Amazon and Blue Origin Jeff Bezos attend services as part of Inauguration ceremonies at St. John’s Church. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
“My message to Americans today is that it is time for us to once again act with courage, vigor and the vitality of history’s greatest civilization,” Trump will say, per the Journal.
The president is expected to sign dozens of executive orders today — more than 200, per Fox News, including those dealing with the border and immigration, the federal workforce and oil drilling. One executive order will lift an electric vehicle mandate, one of the signature efforts of the Biden administration to address climate change.
