Posted January 20, 2025 at 8:15 AM EST
Martin Luther King Jr., waves to supporters in August 1963 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Trump’s second inauguration is just the third time a president will take the oath of office on the day dedicated to honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
The second inaugurations of presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama took place on MLK Day in 1997 and 2013.
The two events aren’t due to coincide again until Jan. 2053 due to their particular requirements and quirks of the calendar.
MLK Day — which was approved as a federal holiday in 1983 and has been recognized in all 50 states since 2000 — always takes place on the third Monday in January, because it falls near his Jan. 15 birthday.
Inauguration Day has been held on Jan. 20th since the passage of the 20th Amendment in 1933.
Presidents had previously taken their oaths in early March because of how long it took to tabulate votes and travel to D.C., creating a long lame-duck period that Congress was eager to shorten once technological advancements allowed. In 1937, Theodore Roosevelt became the first president inaugurated on Jan. 20.
In years where Jan. 20 falls on a Sunday, a private swearing-in ceremony is held that day followed by a public ceremony on Jan. 21 — as was the case with Obama’s second inauguration.
Obama took the oath of office that year using a Bible that had belonged to King himself.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 7:51 AM EST
Carrie Underwood is set to perform “America the Beautiful.”
Unlike Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, which reportedly struggled to book high-profile performers, several well-known artists will partake in this year’s inaugural events:
- Carrie Underwood
- Christopher Macchio
- Lee Greenwood
- Kid Rock
- Village People
- Billy Ray Cyrus
- Liberty University’s Praise Choir
- Jason Aldean
- Rascal Flatts
- Parker McCollum
- Gavin DeGraw
- Plus, a surprise musical guest set to appear at the Liberty Ball
Read more about the lineup here.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 7:35 AM EST
President Biden said on Monday that he would issue pardons to General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee — hours ahead of President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office.
“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden said in a statement.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 7:17 AM EST
Snow is piled up Friday on the West Front of the US Capitol building, where the presidential inauguration traditionally takes place.
It’s poised to be an unusually brisk Inauguration Day, with temperatures expected to be about 20 degrees colder than normal for this time of year.
The high temperature for the day is projected to be below freezing at 23 degrees as Trump officially begins his second term in office, while the low may drop to just 10 degrees.
The frigid forecast prompted Trump to announce Friday that he had ordered the inauguration address, prayers and speeches to be moved inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
Trump’s return to Washington will mark the coldest Inauguration Day in 40 years, since President Regan’s swearing-in in 1985, when temperatures were a chilly 7 degrees, described as “sunny, but bitter cold.“
Reagan also ended up holding his inauguration inside — a practice that hasn’t been repeated since.
When Trump first took the presidential oath in 2017, the weather was pretty normal for the day, with a temperature of 48 degrees, although ceremony attendees had to deal with light rain throughout the day.
Read more about the polar vortex that’s currently chilling much of the country.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 7:13 AM EST
Inauguration Day involves much more than the swearing-in ceremony — now planned to take place inside the Capitol building and not on its West Front, given the frigid forecast in Washington, D.C.
The day follows a weekend of receptions, remarks and appearances by the incoming president, and there’s a full slate of events on Monday.
Here are some of the events on the day’s agenda:
- St. John’s church service
- Tea at the White House
- Swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol
- Farewell ceremony to the former president and vice president
- The president’s signing room ceremony
- Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) congressional luncheon
- Oval Office signing ceremony at the White House
There will also be a live feed of the events in Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, and Trump said he would stop there after being sworn in. Later, he will attend three inaugural balls: the Commander in Chief Ball, the Liberty Inaugural Ball and the Starlight Ball.
Posted January 20, 2025 at 7:10 AM EST
President-elect Donald Trump will take his oath of office inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda at 12 p.m. ET today.
NPR is kicking off inauguration live coverage in this blog, with news, context and analysis of the day before and after Trump’s swearing-in.
Trump is the second president to move his inauguration indoors to the Rotunda, from the West Front of the Capitol, due to a forecast of frigid weather.
Temperatures will reach a high of about 24 degrees Monday with wind gusts as high as 31 mph, according to National Weather Service.
Sponsor MessageCrews — who spent four months building the inaugural and presidential parade platforms outside — has outfitted the Rotunda and Capitol One Arena to host Trump’s inauguration events. Nearly a quarter million people had tickets for Trump’s outdoor inauguration, many of whom will not be able to attend the limited-capacity indoor events.
Read more details about the day here, and follow along as our reporters keep you updated on events as they unfold.
