Washington:

Donald Trump will be sworn in as president of the United States on Jan. 20, ushering in his second term in office and capping one of the most astounding political comebacks in American history.

Inauguration Day is, by tradition, largely dedicated to pomp and circumstance. One president leaves the White House, and another moves in. But Trump also has pledged to sign a flurry of executive orders on subjects ranging from border security to oil and gas production on his first day in office.

Here is what we know about Inauguration Day so far:

WHEN IS THE INAUGURATION?

Trump will take the oath of office, likely administered by US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, at 12 p.m. ET (1700 GMT) in front of the US Capitol.

Trump will then deliver his inaugural address. In interviews, he has said he intends it to be uplifting and unifying. That would mark a departure from his first speech in 2017, which detailed a broken country he described as “American Carnage”.

The outgoing president, Democrat Joe Biden, has said he plans to attend the ceremony and witness the transfer of power, a courtesy Trump did not afford him four years earlier.

Thousands of spectators without tickets are expected to fill the National Mall and watch the ceremony on large video screens.

WHO IS INVITED?

Trump has broken with precedent and invited several foreign leaders to the ceremony. Historically, they have not attended the inaugural due to security concerns and have sent diplomats in their stead.

Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, a strong supporter of Trump’s, has said he will attend, as has Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to reports.

Another Trump backer, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, has said he is considering coming. Chinese President Xi Jinping is not expected to attend, despite an invitation.

PARADE TO THE WHITE HOUSE

After a lunch with congressional leaders at the Capitol, Trump will proceed down Pennsylvania Avenue in a motorcade to the White House, accompanied by a procession of military regiments, school marching bands, floats and citizens’ groups. The new president and his guests will then observe the rest of the parade from a reviewing stand.

GETTING TO WORK

Trump has vowed to use the afternoon to sign more than two dozen executive orders – dictates that do not require congressional approval – that will seek to roll back many of the Biden administration’s policies.

He is expected to sign orders that give immigration officers more latitude to arrest migrants with no criminal records, send more troops to the US-Mexico border and restart construction of the border wall.

The orders will include a drive to increase energy production and follow through on Trump’s oft-stated campaign vow to “drill, baby, drill”.

Trump also is likely to issue the first wave of pardons for defendants convicted by the federal government for their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the US Capitol.

WHO COVERS THE COSTS?

There will be a series of inaugural galas held in locations throughout Washington that evening, some of which Trump may attend.

The official events are financed by Trump’s inauguration committee, which is chaired by longtime Trump allies Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer, and Kelly Loeffler, a former US senator. Amazon.com, led by founder Jeff Bezos, and Meta Platforms, helmed by Mark Zuckerberg, have said they will donate $1 million each to the committee, as have Apple CEO Tim Cook and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Uber and its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi have each donated $1 million to the fund.

Trump’s committee will be responsible for covering the costs of everything but the swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol, which is borne by taxpayers.

Trump raised a record $106.7 million for his 2017 inauguration festivities.

A CAMPAIGN-STYLE RALLY

The day before the inauguration, Trump is set to hold a campaign-style “Make America Great Again Victory Rally” at an arena in downtown Washington.

Such an event likely will help spur thousands of Trump’s supporters to pack the city for the inaugural festivities. Trump is expected to speak at the rally.

It would be Trump’s first rally in the District of Columbia since Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters entered the US Capitol in a failed bid to delay certification of the 2020 election.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

President-elect Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit: AP

A federal appeals court on Monday (December 30, 2024) upheld a jury’s finding in a civil case that Donald Trump sexually abused a columnist in an upscale department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

The second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a written opinion upholding the $5 million award that the Manhattan jury granted to E. Jean Carroll for defamation and sexual abuse.

The longtime magazine columnist had testified at a 2023 trial that Mr. Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack after they playfully entered the store’s dressing room.

Mr. Trump skipped the trial after repeatedly denying the attack ever happened. But he briefly testified at a follow up trial earlier this year that resulted in an $83.3 million award. The second trial resulted from comments then-President Trump made in 2019 after Carroll first made the accusations publicly in a memoir.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday (December 21, 2024) that he will nominate billionaire Houston Rockets pro basketball team owner Tilman Fertitta to be his administration’s ambassador to Italy.

Also Read | Donald Trump Cabinet: From vaccine sceptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr to Elon Musk

Mr. Fertitta is the chairman and owner of Landry’s, which operates a large collection of restaurants, hotels and casinos throughout the United States.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr. Trump lauded the 67-year-old Texas native as an “accomplished businessman” and philanthropist.

President-elect Donald Trump criticised the bill in his statement with Vice President-elect Vance and advocated for extending the debt ceiling with President Joe Biden in office. File
| Photo Credit: AP

President-elect Donald Trump delivered a likely death blow to bipartisan congressional budget negotiations on Wednesday (December 18, 2024), rejecting the measure as full of giveaways to Democrats as billionaire ally Elon Musk whipped up outrage toward the bill and cheered on Republican lawmakers who announced their opposition.

Mr. Trump’s joint statement with Vice President-elect JD Vance, which stopped the bill in its tracks, punctuated a daylong torrent of social media posts by Mr. Musk attacking the budget legislation as full of excessive spending.

“Kill the Bill!” Mr. Musk wrote on his social media platform X as he dangled primary challenges against anyone who voted for the budget deal, a threat Mr. Trump later echoed in a post of his own.

The episode showcased the growing political influence of Mr. Musk, whom Mr. Trump has selected alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental task force formed to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programmes and slash federal regulations. Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man, spent around $200 million to support Mr. Trump’s candidacy this year.

In his statement with Vance, Mr. Trump criticised the bill and advocated for extending the debt ceiling with President Joe Biden in office.

“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Mr. Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on a debt ceiling increase now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate over the debt ceiling now.” Mr. Trump’s opposition to what was considered must-pass legislation reinjected a sense of chaos and political brinkmanship that was reminiscent of his first term in office. It was a dramatic turn of events for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who negotiated the bill and has been undermined by Mr. Trump as he faces reelection for his post in just a couple of weeks. Republicans have a slim majority, raising the possibility of a replay of leadership disputes that paralysed the House a year ago.

President Joe Biden’s administration criticised the possibility of a shutdown.

“Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a veteran of Washington’s budget battles, was concerned about the lack of a clear plan for how to resolve the dispute.

“There’s got to be a second part of the strategy,” he said.

But others were thrilled, particularly with Mr. Musk’s involvement.

“In five years in Congress, I’ve been awaiting a fundamental change in the dynamic,” posted Rep. Dan Bishop, a Republican from North Carolina. “It has arrived.” Mr. Musk began criticising the measure as soon as it was released on Tuesday (December 17, 2024) evening, and he continuously posted about it on Wednesday (December 18, 2024).

“Stop the steal of your tax dollars!” he wrote. He also called it “one of the worst bills ever written”.

Sometimes he amplified false claims, such as the idea that the legislation included $3 billion for a new football stadium in Washington. In reality, the legislation would transfer ownership of the land from the federal government to the city, paving the way for eventual development.

Mr. Musk appeared emboldened by the experience.

“The voice of the people was heard,” Mr. Musk wrote. “This was a good day for America.” Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries said the fallout would be Republicans’ fault.

“You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow,” he wrote on X.

A key lawyer, connected to Robert F Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for health secretary, has filed a petition to suspend or withdraw approval of a polio vaccine for children. Attorney Aaron Siri has filed the petition on behalf of Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), an activist group that questions vaccine safety, asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to put on hold the polio vaccine manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur. Mr Siri has argued that the vaccine should not be administered until another trial is conducted.

“The clinical trials relied upon to license this product did not include a control group and only assessed safety for up to three days after injection. These trials therefore did not comply with the applicable federal statutory and regulatory requirements necessary to prove the product was “safe” prior to licensure,” read the petition filed in 2022, accessed by NYT.

Apart from the polio vaccine, Mr Siri has also filed petitions to pause the distribution of 13 other vaccines. He has challenged and in some cases, quashed COVID-19 mandates across the country in addition to suing federal agencies for the disclosure of records related to vaccine approvals.

Mr Siri is an adviser to RFK Jr., helping him select health officials for the Trump administration, according to media reports. He recently posted a picture with RFK on his X (previously Twitter) feed and quote-posted the announcement by President-elect Trump when he picked the secretary of Health and Human Services. “A new day is about to dawn for transparency, accountability and truth!” he wrote at the time.

A new day is about to dawn for transparency, accountability and truth! https://t.co/kUxTbQFRuF

— Aaron Siri (@AaronSiriSG) November 14, 2024

If RFK Jr. is confirmed as head of HHS, he will oversee the FDA and might take the rare step of intervening in the petition review process.

Quizzed about the petition, the FDA in a response to CNN wrote: “The FDA is continuing to review the petition. We cannot predict when the reviews will be completed. The FDA will consider the concerns outlined in the petition as a final decision is made.”

“The FDA will respond directly to the petitioner, and that response will be posted on the docket. Until such time, we cannot comment further.”

Also Read | RFK Jr Brings JFK Conspiracies To Heart Of Trump Team

Donald Trump on vaccines

While Trump has been a vaccine sceptic, he praised the polio vaccine and related vaccination programme in a recent interview.

“The polio vaccine is the greatest thing. If somebody told me to get rid of the polio vaccine, they’re going to have to work real hard to convince me,” Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview.

During the canvassing trail, Mr Trump hinted that the rise in autism cases may have been connected to the child vaccines.

“We’re going to have a big discussion. The autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there’s something causing it,” he said.

Former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday (November 18, 2024) he is naming former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy as his nominee to be transportation secretary, as he continues to roll out picks for his Cabinet.

Mr. Trump said in a statement, “Sean will use his experience and the relationships he has built over many years in Congress to maintain and rebuild our nation’s infrastructure and fulfill our mission of ushering in the Golden Age of Travel, focusing on safety, efficiency, and innovation.” He added, “Importantly, he will greatly elevate the travel experience for all Americans!”

Duffy left Congress in 2019 and is now co-host of a show on Fox Business, “Bottom Line.” Before beginning his political career, he appeared on the MTV reality show “The Real World.”

President-elect Donald Trump has named Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, the first woman to ever hold the influential role.
| Photo Credit: AFP

President-elect Donald Trump has named Susie Wiles, the manager of his victorious campaign, as his White House chief of staff, the first woman to ever hold the influential role.

Wiles is widely credited within and outside Trump’s inner circle for running what was, by far, his most disciplined and well-executed campaign, and was seen as the leading contender for the position. She largely avoided the spotlight, even refusing to take the mic to speak as Trump celebrated his victory early Wednesday morning.

She was able to do what few others have been able to: help control Trump’s worst impulses — not by chiding him or lecturing, but by earning his respect and showing him that he was better off when he followed her advice than flouted it.

“Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected. Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again,” Trump said in a statement. “It is a well deserved honor to have Susie as the first-ever female Chief of Staff in United States history. I have no doubt that she will make our country proud.”

Trump went through four chiefs of staff — including one who served in an acting capacity for a year — during his first administration, part of record-setting personnel churn in his administration.

Successful chiefs of staff serves as the president’s confidant, help execute a president’s agenda and balance competing political and policy priorities. They also tend to serve as a gatekeeper, helping determine whom the president spends their time and whom they speak to — an effort Trump chafed under inside the White House.

The chief of staff is “absolutely critical to an effective White House,” said Chris Whipple, whose book “The Gatekeepers” details how the White House chief of staff role shaped and defines a presidency. “At the end of the day the most important thing is telling the president what he doesn’t want to hear.”

Wiles is a longtime Florida-based Republican strategist who ran Trump’s campaign in the state in 2016 and 2020. Before that, she ran Rick Scott’s 2010 campaign for Florida governor and briefly served as the manager of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s 2012 presidential campaign.

Chris LaCivita, who along with Wiles served as a co-manager of the campaign, posted on X, “So Happy and proud of one of the fiercest and most loyal warriors i’ve ever had the pleasure of working with !!!”