The designated US President, Donald Trump, will take the oath of office on Monday at the Rotunda of the Capitol in Washington. Meteorologists had forecast extreme cold and thus crossed the plans of the large event on the National Mall with the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.
Recently, the inauguration ceremony of the second term of Ronald Reagan in 1985 was moved inside the Capitol building and not, as usual, held outside at the west side of the Capitol, as it was.
According to the US Constitution, Biden’s official term will end at 12:00 PM local time (6:00 PM MEZ). Shortly before, Trump and his new Vice President, J.D. Vance, will take the oath of office before the President of the Supreme Court. The schedule is as follows: at 5:30 PM, opening speeches will be held, and at 6:00 PM, Trump will take the oath of office. Following that, the parade of the inauguration will move from the Capitol to the White House.
The area in front of the Capitol is completely fenced off with 2.4-meter high security fences. According to US media, around 25,000 police and soldiers will be guarding the ceremony and the area over the day, with a special focus on the area around the White House and the Capitol.
The outgoing President Joe Biden, members of Congress, and other US dignitaries, as well as international invited guests, will be watching the ceremony from the Rotunda of the Capitol, which, however, only provides space for around 600 attendees.
According to US media, alternative plans were developed to accommodate as many guests as possible. More than 250,000 guests have reportedly purchased a ticket to watch the inauguration on the Capitol grounds. It is expected that tens of thousands will follow Trump’s route of the inauguration parade from the Capitol to the White House.
On the eve of the inauguration, an exclusive reception was held, where, according to the Spiegel, “super-rich” Trump made the rounds at a “Candle-Light-Dinner”. At the same time, in Washington, thousands of right-wing populists were celebrating the upcoming second term. The designated US President, Donald Trump, used the party to make a first unofficial inaugural address, using the words: “Tomorrow, we will end the catastrophe and the decline of our nation in the past years.”
The Bild-Zeitung reports that Trump also announced that he will release “secret documents on the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.” after taking office.