January 20, 2021

Liveblog: Biden Sworn in as the 46th President of the United States

Here’s the latest.

Anthony Behar/AP

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Happy Wednesday and welcome to the inauguration of Joe Biden.

Today’s ceremony looked starkly different from previous inaugurations in light of the pandemic. Unprecedented security measures are in place following the murderous attack on the Capitol exactly two weeks ago. Today, 25,000 National Guard troops—roughly five times the number of service members currently stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan—are patrolling the area.

Donald Trump is, of course, snubbing the festivities. Instead, he spent his final hours in office with a military-style send-off that reportedly failed to attract even Mike Pence. John Kelly, Don McGahn, and Anthony Scaramucci were also among the former White House officials who declined invites to Trump’s farewell.

Follow along below for the latest:

3:45 p.m. ET: Biden gave Al Roker a fist bump, but I was disappointed not to see Roker hand over his bag of snacks.

3:30 p.m. ET: Biden is setting off on his inaugural parade, albeit without civilian spectators. Drum lines from the University of Delaware and Howard University—the president’s and vice president’s alma maters, respectively—will join the procession.

In other news, NBC’s Al Roker is trying to get the first and second families to speak with him by luring them with their favorite snacks.

1:10 p.m. ET: Take in today’s sweet feeling of relief by mainlining these wonderful memes and reactions:

12:30 p.m. ET: A new whitehouse.gov with normal, non-horrifying policy priorities has finally been installed. One big change: the removal of the Trump administration’s 1776 Commission.

12:15 p.m. ET:

11:50 a.m. ET: It’s official. Biden has been sworn in as the 46th president.

11:45 a.m ET: Take in this historic moment: Sonia Sotomayor, the country’s first Latina Supreme Court justice, administering the oath of office to Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black and South Asian woman to hold the office.

11:40 a.m. ET: Lady Gaga is performing the National Anthem and she is killing it.

11:30 a.m. ET: 

11:15 a.m. ET: 

10:30 a.m. ET: They’re here!

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are being escorted by Eugene Goodman, the Capitol police officer who guided the pro-Trump insurrectionists away from senators during the Jan. 6 attack.

10:20 a.m. ET: While we wait for guests to start taking their seats, my colleague Russ Choma has a guide to the mounting financial problems that await Trump as he crosses into civilian life:

Trump will return to a faltering business empire, its troubles magnified by the insurrection at the Capitol that he provoked. His bankers don’t want his business. Business partners are cutting ties. He’s facing looming deadlines to repay hundreds of millions in debt, with few good options for coming up with the cash or refinancing. Meanwhile, the threat of post-presidency legal problems, civil and criminal, has proliferated.

In short, the walls are closing in.

Sounds scary!

10:00 a.m. ET: More arrivals and a tweet-congrats from Barack Obama:

9:20 a.m. ET: Our DC Bureau Chief David Corn is live at the ceremony where guests are starting to arrive.

8:35 a.m. ET: Trump is now speaking at his farewell event at Joint Base Andrews, where he organized a 21-gun salute for himself:

8:00 a.m. ET: Bye.

8:00 a.m. ET: A small crowd has gathered outside for Trump’s final White House exit.

7:40 a.m. ET: Before the events of the day overtake us,  let’s take a look at the flurry of executive orders Biden is expected to sign after getting sworn in. Those include immediate orders to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization, extending key coronavirus financial relief measures such as eviction and foreclosure moratoriums, and ending the Trump’s administration’s Muslim ban. 

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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