WASHINGTON, JAN 20 /DNA/ – Trump returns to White House as 47th US president amid new promises, challenges. Inauguration completes triumphant comeback for a political disruptor who survived felony conviction, assassination attempts.
Donald Trump was sworn in as 47th US president on Monday, ushering in another turbulent four-year term with promises to push the limits of executive power, deport millions of immigrants, secure retribution against his political enemies and transform the role of the US on the world stage.
Even before Trump was to take office, aides detailed a raft of executive actions that he will sign immediately, including 10 focused on border security and immigration, his top priority.
The president will declare a national emergency at the southern border, send armed troops there and resume a policy forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their US court dates, an incoming White House official told reporters.
The inauguration completes a triumphant comeback for a political disruptor who survived two impeachment trials, a felony conviction, two assassination attempts and an indictment for attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Shortly before 10am ET (1500 GMT), Trump and incoming first lady Melania Trump arrived at the White House, where Biden and first lady Jill Biden greeted them with handshakes.
“Welcome home,” Biden said.
The ceremony is taking place inside the Rotunda of the US Capitol, four years after a mob of Trump supporters breached the symbol of American democracy in an unsuccessful effort to forestall Trump’s defeat by Biden. The swearing-in was moved indoors for the first time in 40 years due to the extreme cold.
Trump, the first US president since the 19th century to win a second term after losing the White House, has said he will pardon “on Day One” many of the more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the Jan 6, 2021, attack.
The Trumps began the day at St John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, where several tech executives – including the three richest men in the world, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg – joined them.
This is a developing story and is being updated with further details.
