Protestors rally on Inauguration Day, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

WASHINGTON (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 U.S. 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.

Here's the latest:

Musk celebrates Trump’s victory

Musk pumped his fists as he spoke at the Inauguration Day viewing party at Capital One arena.

He celebrated Trump’s victory, calling it “really important” and highlighting the new president’s promise to plant the U.S. flag on Mars — a longtime goal of Musk’s.

“I’m going to work my a— off for you guys,” Musk said in the short speech.

The Trumps and Vances are now at the Inauguration Day luncheon

The room is full of powerful people, including lawmakers, tech titans and Supreme Court justices.

Klobuchar spoke at the start of the event in National Statuary Hall.

The large painting behind them is called “American Horizon,” she said, and marks the first time the event has featured a work by a woman artist.

Milley’s portrait in the Pentagon removed

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley’s portrait and nameplate has been taken down in the Pentagon.

The portrait, which is a traditional way of honoring all former chairmen, was until at least 12:46 p.m. Monday still hung in the hallway by former Chairman Joseph Dunford’s portrait. Milley’s portrait was just unveiled Jan. 12 at a ceremony. Earlier today former President Joe Biden pardoned Milley preemptively from any potential prosecution by Trump.

Trump is participating in a formal signing ceremony at the Capitol

Flanked by members of Congress from both parties, Trump sat in a high-backed red chair at an ornate desk and began affixing his signature to documents. One act was related to Cabinet duties while another directed that U.S. flags be flown at full staff on Inauguration Day.

Trump had bristled at the idea of flags flying at half-staff, as directed by Biden, for 30 days to honor the death of former President Jimmy Carter.

Carter died late last month.

‘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 p.m. 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 U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney “a crying lunatic,” and bashing what he calls the “unselect committee of political thugs” that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

He’s also criticizing 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 Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Trump is reviving false claims about the House’s Jan. 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 Jan. 6, 2021, during his inaugural speech but is talking about them now during freewheeling remarks at the visitor center.

“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 defense secretary has been appointed

President Donald Trump has named an acting defense 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 defense 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

Trump ends CBP One

The Trump administration Monday ended use of a border app called CBP One that has allowed nearly 1 million people to legally enter the United States with eligibility to work.

A notice on the website of Customs and Border Protection on Monday just after Trump was sworn in let users know that the app that had been used to allow migrants to schedule appointments at eight southwest border ports of entry is no longer available. The notice said that existing appointments have been canceled.

The move adheres to a promise Trump made during his campaign and will please critics who say it was an overly generous magnet for more people to come to Mexico’s border with the United States.

The CBP One app had been wildly popular.

It is an online lottery system to give appointments to 1,450 people a day at eight border crossings. They enter on immigration “parole,” a presidential authority that Joe Biden used more than any other president since it was introduced in 1952.

No longer president, Biden leaves Capitol

He and his wife, Jill, boarded a military helicopter on the grounds of the Capitol after Trump was sworn into office.

Biden is going to Joint Base Andrews for a farewell ceremony with now-former members of his staff.

He’ll then fly aboard a military airplane to Santa Ynez, California, to unwind with his family.

Leaders of Israel, Egypt congratulate Trump on his inauguration

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi were among those wishing Trump well in his new term in the White House.

Netanyahu predicted “the best days of our alliance are yet to come,” even as he hailed actions Trump took in his first term, including moving the American embassy to Jerusalem.

El-Sissi said he’d work with Trump to enhance their countries’ relationship.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose Labor government has been under attack by Elon Musk and other Trump allies, also sent his “warmest congratulations.”

Trump and Vance have departed

President Trump, VP Vance, and the first and Second Lady have departed.

Former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris have also left.

The Trump family is waiting for the remaining former presidents to leave the platform before they are escorted out

Trump has left the Capitol Rotunda

He is next expected to appear at a signing room ceremony.

Macchio returns for “The Star-Spangled Banner”

Trump selected opera tenor Christopher Macchio to perform the national anthem during the inauguration. He’s a smaller name than some of the performers who’ve offered their renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in the past.

In 2021, Lady Gaga sang the national anthem for President Joe Biden. In 2013, Beyoncé performed the national anthem and later said she had lip-synced to a taped track for President Barack Obama.

Trump again will withdraw the US from Paris Climate Agreement

Trump says he will again withdraw the United States, a top carbon-polluting nation, from the landmark Paris Climate Agreement, dealing a blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming and once again distancing the U.S. from its closest allies.

The announcement echoed Trump’s actions in 2017 when he announced that the U.S. would abandon the Paris accord, which is aimed at limiting long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

The 2015 Paris Agreement is voluntary and allows nations to provide targets to cut their own emissions of greenhouse gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.

Trump repeated his desire to take back the Panama Canal

Trump did not express intentions to take back the Panama Canal during his campaign but began talking about wanting this vital waterway last month. During his inaugural address, Trump said the spirit of a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter that relinquished control of the canal in 1999 had been violated.

He said the waterway should have never been given away and said that “American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly,” and repeated that “China is operating the Panama Canal.” Earlier this month, he said he would not rule out military force to take control of it.

Trump ends CBP One, a Biden-era border app that gave legal entry to nearly 1 million migrants with online appointments

Religious leaders offer benedictions

Rabbi Ari Berman delivered the first of several benedictions after Trump delivered his inaugural address. Berman is president of Yeshiva University, a Jewish institution in Manhattan. He is the second Orthodox rabbi to deliver the benediction at a presidential inauguration.

At least one prayer has been recited by clergy members at presidential inaugurals since 1937 during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second inauguration.

Rev. Lorenzo Sewell, pastor of 180 Church Detroit, followed during the second of the benediction, saying, “Heavenly father we are so grateful that you gave our 45th and now our 47th president a millimeter miracle.”

Advocacy groups greet Trump’s swearing-in with a lawsuit over DOGE

A coalition of veterans, public health professionals, teachers, consumer advocates and watchdog groups has filed a legal challenge in federal court against Trump’s special commission on promoting government efficiency.

The lawsuit was filed just after Trump’s swearing-in. It seeks an injunction against the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, under the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

The suit charges that Trump is operating the group without complying with federal transparency laws, and argues that the activities of private commissions must be made public.

Trump mentioned DOGE, which is being headed by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in his inauguration speech.

Today’s speech was a sharp departure from ‘American carnage’

Trump’s second inaugural speech marked a major departure from his tone the first time he took the Oath of Office.

Back in 2017, Trump delivered an inaugural address that put aside the typical optimism and promises of unity with a dark portrait of national life as he spoke of “American Carnage.”

“From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this moment on, it’s going to be America first,” he had declared then.

Trump concludes his speech

Trump finished speaking after about 30 minutes.

It was a very short speech by Trump’s standards.

His 2024 campaign rally speeches often went on for more than an hour.

Photos of the swearing-in show Trump with his hand at his side, not atop the Bible. Does it matter?

It’s traditional to use a Bible during the presidential oath of office, but it is not required. Only the oath is mandated by the Constitution.

Theodore Roosevelt didn’t use a Bible when he was sworn in following the assassination of William McKinley in 1901. John Quincy Adams used a law text for his 1825 inauguration.

And, sworn in aboard Air Force One after John Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson used a Catholic missal.

Who wants to go to Mars?

Trump’s enthusiasm for sending astronauts to Mars was shared by some — but not all — Americans in a 2019 AP-NORC poll.

About 3 in 10 US adults said that sending astronauts to Mars was “very” or “extremely” important, about one-third said it was “moderately” important, and about 4 in 10 said it was “not too” or “not at all” important.

Trump appears to be concluding on a positive note

“Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback, but as you see here today, here I am,” he said.

“I stand before you now as proof that you should never believe that something is impossible to do in America,” he went on, adding: “In America, the impossible is what we do best.

Inauguration performer Carrie Underwood doesn’t usually get involved with politics

Country music star Carrie Underwood is performing “America the Beautiful” at today’s inauguration.

“I love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the Inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event,” Underwood said in a statement shortly after the news broke. “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.”

But Underwood has avoided discussing politics across her career, in 2019 telling The Guardian, “I feel like more people try to pin me places politically. I try to stay far out of politics if possible, at least in public, because nobody wins. It’s crazy. Everybody tries to sum everything up and put a bow on it, like it’s black and white. And it’s not like that.”

Trump wants to plant an American flag on Mars

Trump says he wants to send American astronauts to Mars, saying he “will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars” and “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.”

Billionaire Elon Musk of SpaceX threw his hands up in the air as Trump announced the U.S. would plant its flag on Mars.

Trump’s plans for reshaping American asylum

Trump said “all illegal entry will immediately be halted,” with few details on how he will achieve that. He said he would end the practice of releasing migrants in the United States to pursue asylum, known as “catch-and-release,” but didn’t say how he would pay for the enormous costs of detention.

Part of his plan relies on resuming the “Remain in Mexico” policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court, a hallmark of his first term. The Mexican government has agreed, signaling perhaps one of the most concrete and immediate changes that will be seen at the border.

Trump said little about his plans for mass deportation, saying only that he would deport “millions and millions of criminal aliens.”

There is more than 1 split-screen in Washington on Monday

The Rev. Al Sharpton and other Black leaders led a standing-room-only congregation in a passionate and political Martin Luther King Jr. Day as Trump was being sworn in.

The timing was no accident.

“We want people to see the tale of two cities in one,” Sharpton cried, as Trump was being inaugurated at the Capitol.

Sharpton introduced Korey Wise — one of the falsely accused Central Park Five Black defendants whose execution Trump had lobbied for — to cheers from the crowd, and rattled off a series of actions he said Trump had taken against Black Americans and civil rights.

“We will fight the next four years no matter what he says,” Sharpton said.

“Everything that Dr. King stood for is at risk with this president, this Congress,” Sharpton said.

Not-so-record inflation

Trump vowed to “defeat what was record inflation.”

Inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 after rising steadily in the first 17 months of Biden’s presidency from a low of 0.1% in May 2020. The most recent data shows that as of December it had fallen to 2.9%.

But other historical periods have seen higher inflation, such as a more than 14% rate in 1980, according to the Federal Reserve.

Trump’s promised Day 1 executive orders

Here are a few of the executive orders Trump says he plans to issue on his first day:

1. Several on immigration, including declaring a national emergency at southern border, reinstating the “remain in Mexico” policy and sending troops to the southern border.

2. Seeking a broad government effort to reduce inflation and reduce prices.

3. Declaring a “national energy emergency” and allowing for more energy production.

4. Ending what he has called an “electric vehicle mandate.”

Trump repeats unfounded immigration claim at the crux of his campaign

In his inaugural address, Trump repeated a line he usually brought up during his campaign, saying that immigrants arriving in the country illegally come from prisons and mental institutions.

There is no evidence countries are sending their criminals or mentally ill across the border.

Trump’s inauguration address echoes his rally speeches

The speech Trump is delivering sounds a lot like his rally speeches, with plenty of grievance, including references to those who tried to “take my freedom” and the “weaponization of our Justice Department.”

Trump, after leaving office, became the first former president to be indicted, convicted and sentenced. But he has long tried to cast his many investigations as politically motivated.

Some Democrats join standing ovation over border emergency

Trump is laying out his executive orders, starting with declaring a state of emergency on the southern border, which received a standing ovation from all Republicans and a few swing state Democrats, including Reps. Don Davis and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.

Trump wants to make Martin Luther King Jr.‘s dream ‘a reality’

Trump marked the fact that his inauguration is occurring on Martin Luther King Jr. Day., saying in his speech that his administration will “strive together to make his dream a reality.”

“We will make his dream come true,” Trump vowed of the Rev. King.

‘America’s decline is over’

Trump referred to the assassination attempt against him, saying he was “saved by God to make America great again,” drawing a standing ovation from Republicans in the room while Democrats, including Biden and Harris, remained seated and still.

Trump says the election has given him “a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal” he says has taken place, “and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy and indeed their freedom. From this moment on, America’s decline is over.”

Trump lays into the federal government

Speaking just feet from former Biden, Trump is delivering a forceful critique of the federal government, which he says “cannot manage even a simple crisis at home.”

He cites the wildfires in California and flooding in North Carolina, crises about which he has repeatedly spread incorrect claims. He also points to “a continuing catalogue of catastrophic events abroad” and illegal immigration.

Trump: The ‘golden age of America begins right now’

Trump in his first remarks as the 47th president declared that the “golden age of America begins right now.”

“From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world,” he said.

Cheers erupt in Rotunda as Trump is sworn in

Trump’s family surrounds him after his swearing-in.

He kisses his wife, Melania, on the cheek — this time making it past the brim of her hat.

JD Vance has been sworn in by Justice Brett Kavanaugh

Chief Justice John Roberts has sworn in Trump for a second term as president

Inauguration Day on MLK Day

This is the third time a president has been sworn in on the federal holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama also were sworn in for their second terms on the holiday.

The holiday honoring the civil rights leader was established nearly 40 years ago. It is observed on the third Monday of January every year.

The Constitution places Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.

Klobuchar said the coincidence is “a further reminder we must strive to uphold the values in our Constitution.”

Speeches highlighting the “endurance” of American democracy

The bipartisan leaders of the 60th Inaugural Committee kicked off the ceremony by highlighting the importance of American democracy as the country is close to celebrating 250 years.

“Our great American experiment, grounded in the rule of law, has endured. So as we inaugurate a new president and vice president, let us remember that the power of those in this room comes from the people,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the committee chair, said in her speech.

Her Republican counterpart, Sen. Deb Fischer, echoed that sentiment.

“Our democracy promises the American people the power to change, to chart their own destiny,” Fischer said. “That’s the beauty that is the importance of democracy. It allows endurance, the permanence of a nation and never change.”

Lincoln Bible redux

President-elect Donald Trump plans to use his own Bible, which was given to him by his mother, and the Lincoln Bible for his swearing-in ceremony.

The Lincoln Bible was provided during Lincoln’s 1861 inauguration by William Thomas Carroll, clerk of the Supreme Court. That’s because Lincoln’s family Bible was still packed and on its way to Washington from Springfield, Illinois, along with the Lincoln family’s other belongings.

In 2017, Trump stacked a family Bible atop Lincoln’s while taking the oath. He’s set to do the same with his own Bible and Lincoln’s this time.

That recalls Barack Obama, who also used the Lincoln Bible during his first swearing-in in 2009. During his second in 2014, he paired it with a Bible that had belonged to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

White House staff turning over the mansion for Trump during inauguration

The staff of the White House residence starts the work of moving out one president and preparing the mansion for a new president as soon as the outgoing and incoming presidents leave for the inauguration at the Capitol.

They have about five hours to do it.

The White House chief usher is the staff person who oversees the process and will have worked with Melania Trump to coordinate the move. One former White House usher describes the process as “organized chaos.”

No Bible required

While reciting the presidential oath of office is mandated by the Constitution, using a Bible isn’t.

Theodore Roosevelt didn’t use one when he was sworn in following the assassination of William McKinley in 1901. John Quincy Adams used a law text for his 1825 inauguration.

And, sworn in aboard Air Force One after John Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson used a Catholic missal.

Also, who holds the Bible during the inaugural ceremony isn’t spelled out. Lady Bird Johnson set a tradition that has continued until today when she became the first incoming-first lady to hold the Bible for her husband Lyndon’s second inauguration in January 1965.

Prior to that, the Bibles were often held by an unknown official — people not easily identified in historical photographs.

Biden’s other family pardon proved unpopular

Only about 2 in 10 Americans approved of Biden’s previous decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, according to an AP-NORC poll from December — suggesting that his last-minute move to issue pardons to his family members may not be received well.

That poll found that about 4 in 10 Democrats approved of the pardon, while about 3 in 10 disapproved and about one-quarter did not have an opinion or did not know enough to say. The vast majority of Republicans and about half of independents had a negative opinion.

? Read more about how Americans reacted to Biden’s pardons

Trump’s purple tie appears to include a checkered pattern of red and blue

It could be a potential nod to unity and a departure from the fire engine red tie he wore when he was first sworn in back in 2017.

Trump attempts to his wife’s cheek

The president-elect leaned in to kiss her but appeared to be blocked by the brim of her hat.

He greeted President Joe Biden after entering the Capitol Rotunda to roaring applause and cheers.

Why does Amy Klobuchar speak first?

Klobuchar spoke at the start of the swearing-in, calling the audience to order before the ceremony began.

The Minnesota Democrat has a prominent role because she chairs the joint committee overseeing preparations for the inauguration.

The decision to move the inauguration inside creates a split screen

Senior government officials, tech moguls and donors are gathered inside the Capitol building, attending the swearing-in ceremony in person.

Meanwhile, thousands of Trump’s supporters, many wearing MAGA gear, are gathered at Capital One Arena to watch on screen.

Proud Boys seen marching on Washington streets

A group of Proud Boys carrying pro-Trump signs and anti-antifa marched on the streets in Washington as Trump prepared for the swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda.

The extremist group was known for street fights with anti-fascist activists when Trump infamously told them to “stand back and stand by” during his first debate in 2020 with Biden.

Dozens of Proud Boys leaders, members and associates have been convicted and sentenced to prison in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. It’s unclear whether any might receive pardons promised by Trump.

News from © The Associated Press, 2025