US president-elect Donald Trump has announced that his second inauguration ceremony will be moved indoors at the US Capitol due to dangerously cold temperatures forecast to hit the US capital on Monday that would make the traditional outdoor swearing-in ceremony unsafe.
“The weather forecast for Washington DC, with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows. There is an Arctic blast sweeping the country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way,” Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post.
“Therefore, I have ordered the inauguration address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by [late former president] Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather.”
The logistics of moving the inauguration indoors were still being finalised by transition officials and the joint congressional planning committee when Mr Trump announced the update and promised that guests would be with him under the Capitol dome, according to people familiar with the matter.
The rotunda is often used for special events at the Capitol, for instance for state funerals, and there is infrastructure in place to seat roughly 100 people in the space.
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Mr Trump said in his post that the parade that typically follows, down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, would be rerouted so he could go to the Capital One Arena nearby, where he suggested guests unable to be relocated could watch the inauguration.
The Capital One Arena – a sports venue where the Washington Wizards ice hockey team play their home games – is already being used for Mr Trump’s first rally since he won the election, and has had its security measures upgraded for that event, scheduled to take place on Sunday night.
Mr Trump said all other events happening on the sidelines of the inauguration would continue as planned. After he is sworn at the Capitol and signs a flurry of executive orders, he is expected to attend a number of events culminating with the “Starlight Ball” for major donors.
When Mr Reagan was sworn in inside in 1985, the last time the shift indoors happened, temperatures had plunged to 7F (-13C). The wind chill forecast for Mr Trump’s second inauguration is expected to make it feel like 8F, and it is also expected to snow the night before.
Mr Trump’s inauguration and his return to the Oval Office is set for Monday as he sweeps back into Washington. In warmer years, the January ceremony draws large crowds and outdoor celebrations – and protests – as America’s transition of power takes place. – Guardian