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New Delhi:
Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States, vowing a “new day” for the United States after four years of tumult under Donald Trump who in an extraordinary final act snubbed the inauguration.
Former California senator Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice president of the United States, the first woman ever to hold the post.
Two weeks to the day after Trump supporters violently rampaged at the US Capitol to overturn the election results, Joe Biden took the oath on the same very steps alongside Kamala Harris, who was sworn in moments earlier as the first woman vice president. Joe Biden, putting his hand on a family Bible, repeated after Chief Justice John Roberts the presidential oath — that he will “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Kamala Harris, 56, took the oath of office from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in a ceremony at the US Capitol. She is the first Black woman and the first woman of South Asian descent to become US vice president.
US President Donald Trump left the White House for the final time, heading by helicopter to a nearby military base where he will fly to Florida, skipping the inauguration of successor Joe Biden in an extraordinary break with tradition. Trump, 74, and First Lady Melania Trump walked a short red carpet and boarded Marine One on the White House lawn on a sunny but chilly day in Washington for the short flight to Joint Base Andrews where he will board Air Force One.
In brief remarks to reporters, Trump said it had been an “amazing four years” and the “honor of a lifetime.” He said: “I just want to say goodbye.”
Mr Biden plans to kick off his new administration Wednesday with orders to restore the United States to the Paris climate accord and the World Health Organization, aides said. He will sign 17 orders and actions hours after being sworn in as US leader to break from policies of departing President Donald Trump and set new paths on immigration, the environment, fighting Covid-19 and the economy, they said.
Here are the LIVE updates from Joe Biden-Kamala Harris’ inauguration day:
Joe Biden takes oath as new US President
Joe Biden takes oath as the new US President in front of US Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts at the US Capitol.
Singer Jennifer Lopez performs at inauguration
Singer Jennifer Lopez performs for the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris inauguration, sings “This Land is Your Land.”
Kamala Harris takes oath as US Vice President
Kamala Harris takes oath as the first woman, the first Indian-American and the first African-American US Vice President.
Lady Gaga sings the US National Anthem at the ceremony.
#WATCH | US: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff greet attendees of the inauguration ceremony at the US Capitol. pic.twitter.com/byNRr29I4F
– ANI (@ANI) January 20, 2021
Leaders who have arrived at the US Capitol include former US President Bill Clinton with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as former President George W Bush and Laura Bush.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and former Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao also reached the US Capitol for the inauguration ceremony.
Former US President Barack Obama and Former US First Lady Michelle Obama also reached for the inauguration of Joe Biden.
United States: Outgoing Vice President Mike Pence arrives at the US Capitol with his wife Karen Pence to attend the inauguration ceremony. pic.twitter.com/pSJZGReLaZ
– ANI (@ANI) January 20, 2021
US leaders greet each other with fist bumps
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, US leaders greeted each other through fist bumps rather than handshakes at the US Capitol as they arrived for the inauguration ceremony.
I love you, Jilly, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have you with me on the journey ahead. pic.twitter.com/V4GUXAKSKg
– Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 20, 2021
Guests are beginning to arrive at the US Capitol for the inauguration ceremonies.
Among those seen making their way in were former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, as well as Georgia Senator-elect Jon Ossoff.
Today, we begin anew. Tune in for #Inauguration2021. https://t.co/HxfU8q5riA
– Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 20, 2021
Joe Biden arrives at US Capitol for inauguration as 46th president
Joe Biden along with his deputy Kamala Harris has arrived at the US Capitol for inauguration.
US President Donald Trump left a letter to his successor Joe Biden before leaving the White House, spokesman Judd Deere told news agency AFP minutes after his departure.
Trump, who refused to accept his defeat for more than two months, never congratulated Joe Biden on his victory.
“We are just temporary occupants of this office,” Barack Obama wrote in his own note to Trump four years ago, left in the Oval Office in line with presidential tradition. “That makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions… that our forebears fought and bled for. Regardless of the push and pull of daily politics, it’s up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them,” he added.
US President Donald Trump left Washington on Air Force One three hours ahead of the inauguration of his successor, Joe Biden. Trump, 74, will be at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when Biden is sworn in at noon (1700 GMT).
He is the first president in more than 150 years to snub the inauguration of his successor.
Joe Biden said it was “a new day in America” on Wednesday as he prepared to become the 46th president of the United States at an inauguration ceremony in Washington. “It’s a new day in America,” Mr Biden said on Twitter only minutes after outgoing President Donald Trump flew out of Washington at the end of a tumultuous four-year presidency.
It’s a new day in America.
– Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 20, 2021
US President-elect Joe Biden attended a mass at St Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, DC, accompanied by Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress in a symbol of unity ahead of his inauguration.
The future 46th President of the United States was accompanied by his wife Jill Biden, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and House leader Kevin McCarthy.
He seems like a very happy old man looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see! pic.twitter.com/G8gObLhsz9
– Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) January 20, 2021
Joe Biden’s team will dispatch a Snapchat filter that transports users to the Capitol to participate from home. When the debut lens is selected in the Snapchat reel, users can take a selfie before the Capitol as confetti tumbles from above.
On the off chance that snap chatters flip the camera around, they will be welcomed by a Joe Biden Jumbotron before a horde of ceremonial participants whose appearances will be the selfies sent in by the supporters online.
“This has been an incredible four years,” Trump said in brief remarks to staff, supporters and members of his family gathered at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.
“We’ve accomplished so much together,” he said. “I will always fight for you. We will be back in some form.”
Donald Trump wishes new administration “great luck and great success”
Donald Trump says it’s been “an incredible four years”
Our job statistics were best-ever, incredible: Donald Trump
Outgoing US President Donald Trump, who won the White House in part by promising to “drain the swamp” of Washington political maneuvering, on Wednesday revoked his executive order barring aides and other administration officials from lobbying.
The restrictions, imposed soon after he took office in 2017, had targeted the kind of insider culture the Republican Trump had campaigned against and blocked the kind of lucrative gigs that he had said makes politicians beholden to business interests instead of everyday Americans, Reuters reported.
US President Donald Trump left the White House for the final time on Wednesday, heading by helicopter to a nearby military base where he will fly to Florida, skipping the inauguration of successor Joe Biden in an extraordinary break with tradition.
Trump, 74, and First Lady Melania Trump walked a short red carpet and boarded Marine One on the White House lawn on a sunny but chilly day in Washington for the short flight to Joint Base Andrews where he will board Air Force One.
Trump will be at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when Biden is sworn in at noon (1700 GMT) as the 46th president of the United States.
The European Union’s top officials expressed relief that they would soon have a friend in the White House as Joe Biden replaces Donald Trump.
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said the moment should be seized to form a new “founding pact” between democratic powers.
A small group of Japanese fans of Donald Trump took to the streets of Tokyo on Wednesday, shouting support for the outgoing United States president hours before his successor Joe Biden is sworn into office.
About 120 people joined the march in central Tokyo, with participants waving American and Japanese flags and holding banners claiming Trump was “the true winner” of the November 3 election.
“We wanted to show that many people in Japan are supporting President Trump,” rally organiser Naota Kobayashi told Reuters.
President-elect Joe Biden plans to begin immediately unwinding President Donald Trump’s policies on immigration, climate and other issues on Wednesday with at least 15 executive actions, including moves to reverse U.S. withdrawals from the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization, and stop construction of a border wall.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday he looked forward to working with Joe Biden on their “shared priorities”, just hours before Mr Biden is inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States.
“As I said when I spoke with him on his election as President, I look forward to working with him, and with his new administration, strengthening the partnership between our countries and working on our shared priorities: from tackling climate change, building back better from the pandemic and strengthening our Transatlantic security,” Mr Johnson said in parliament
Biden to end Trump’s ‘Muslim travel ban’ on first day: aides (AFP)
Biden to sign order to rejoin Paris climate deal on first day: aides (AFP)
Biden to halt Trump border wall construction in first-day order: aides (AFP)
China on Wednesday dismissed Washington’s allegation that Beijing was committing genocide against Uighurs and other minorities as “outrageous lies” and “poison” in a rancourous epilogue to a combative period in relations between the superpowers.
Under the administration of outgoing President Donald Trump, the US has butted heads with China over trade, security, technology, the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and rights from Hong Kong to Xinjiang, home to the Uighur minority.
In the dying days of Trump’s administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched his final broadsides against China.
America’s top diplomat said Beijing’s sweeping incarceration of mostly Muslim minorities in the far western Xinjiang region amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity.
“We are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs by the Chinese party-state,” Pompeo said on Tuesday.
In a rebuttal typifying the strained language between the rivals, a foreign ministry spokeswoman in Beijing hit back on Wednesday, accusing Pompeo of fabricating “sensational false propositions” throughout his term in office.
Genocide had “never happened in the past, is not happening now and will never happen in China,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in her last public joust with Pompeo, a regular target of the ministry’s anger throughout the Trump administration.
Joe Biden to issue 17 orders to kick off new administration: aides (AFP)
Thirty-four years after first seeking the job, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th US president Wednesday, drawing a curtain on the most tumultuous administration of modern times and charting a new course to tackle Covid-19 and unite a splintered nation.
Outgoing President Donald Trump entered the White House four years ago as a brash billionaire outsider, but he is being ousted by a polar opposite whose devotion to service, deep knowledge of Washington, and personal scars will unquestionably set a different tone.
Biden, a 78-year-old former vice president and longtime senator, will take the oath of office at noon (1700 GMT) on the US Capitol’s West front, the very spot where pro-Trump rioters clashed with police two weeks ago before storming Congress in a deadly insurrection.
While a transition of power will occur much as it has for more than two centuries, this inauguration is unlike any other.
Official Washington has taken on the dystopian look of an armed camp, protected by some 25,000 National Guard troops tasked with preventing any repeat of this month’s attack.
And with the pandemic raging, the general public is essentially barred from attending the swearing-in, leading to unprecedented optics: an empty National Mall on Inauguration Day.
With the death toll soaring past 400,000, Biden on Tuesday led a powerful tribute to victims of Covid-19 as he arrived in Washington.
Biden, who has suffered deep personal tragedy and is known for his public displays of emotion, has stressed the need to unite the country after Trump’s chaos.
“It’s hard sometimes to remember, but that’s how we heal. It’s important to do that as a nation,” Biden said in somber remarks at the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had given a full pardon to a former Google engineer sentenced for stealing a trade secret on self-driving cars months before he briefly headed Uber Technologies Inc’s rival unit.
Anthony Levandowski, 40, was sentenced in August to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in March
He was not in custody but a judge had said he could enter custody once the COVID-19 pandemic subsided.
The White House said Levandowski was “an American entrepreneur who led Google’s efforts to create self-driving technology.
“The statement added he had “paid a significant price for his actions and plans to devote his talents to advance the public good.”
Alphabet Inc’s Google did not immediately comment.
Levandowski transferred more than 14,000 Google files, including development schedules and product designs, to his personal laptop before he left, and while negotiating a deal with Uber, where he briefly led its self-driving car unit.
“President Donald J. Trump granted pardons to 73 individuals and commuted the sentences of an additional 70 individuals,” his administration said in a statement.
Though we may be physically separated, we, the American people are united in spirit. pic.twitter.com/s5v4KIjbSX
– Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 20, 2021
READ
Joe Biden, in his maiden address to the nation soon after being sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, would deliver a forward-looking speech built around the theme of unity, advisors close to the President-elect said.
According to the advisors, in his first moments after being sworn in as the 46th President of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts after the clock strikes 12 noon (local time) at the West Front of the Capitol, Biden will speak about the need to bring the country together during an unprecedented moment of crisis.
US President Donald Trump’s daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump shared a farewell message today saying Americans must pray for the Joe Biden administration’s success as the family vacates the White House. The message comes close in heels to her father’s message where he wished success to the new administration for the first time.
On his last night in the White House, outgoing President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday suspending the deportation of Venezuelans from US territory for a period of 18 months, citing the ongoing crisis in their own country.
US President-elect Joe Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris will be sworn in as the 46th President and 49th Vice-President of the United States today, January 20. Ms Harris will make history as America’s first woman, first Black and first person with south Asian roots to take the office of the Vice President.
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