/ CBS News
Trump delivers inauguration address
Washington — President Trump took power for another four years on Monday, vowing to create a nation that is “greater, stronger, and far more exceptional than ever before” as he heralded his return to the White House.
“The golden age of America begins right now,” Mr. Trump began his 30-minute speech. “From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world.”
Mr. Trump said he is “confident and optimistic” that the U.S. is “at the start of a thrilling new era of national success.”
“From this moment on, America’s decline is over,” he declared, reiterating a similar theme from his 2017 speech, when he portrayed himself as the only one who could save the nation.
He asserted that he not only has a political mandate to carry out his agenda, but also a divine one, after he survived an assassination attempt months before he won the election.
“I felt then and believed even more so now that my life was saved for a reason, I was saved by God to make America great again,” he said.
Mr. Trump painted a bleak picture of the nation, saying he’s that he’s taking over a government facing “a crisis of trust,” adding that a “radical and corrupt establishment” has left the nation in “disrepair.” He said the federal government can no longer provide basic services and claimed that the situation at the southern border is out of control.
He vowed to declare a national emergency at the southern border in one of his first acts in office, saying “all illegal entry will immediately be halted.” He also said he would begin the process of deporting millions of criminal undocumented immigrants and send troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Mr. Trump also outlined a number of other policies, including reinstating service members who were “unjustly expelled” from the military for refusing vaccine requirements, renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” and saying that under his administration there will be only “two genders.”
The president moved the day’s activities indoors, citing the extreme cold, greatly limiting the number of people who could attend his swearing-in ceremony. Instead of standing for hours in the cold on the National Mall, his supporters watched the pomp and circumstance at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, where Mr. Trump later gave remarks and began signing a flurry of executive actions to reverse Biden administration mandates and implement his own policies.
Later Monday, Mr. Trump issued pardons for those convicted for their roles in the assault on the Capitol in 2021 and directed the Justice Department to drop all pending cases, saying, “These people have been destroyed.” He commuted the sentences of people who were either convicted of or pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. More than 1,600 people have been charged as a result of their alleged conduct during the riot.
In addition, Mr. Trump signed an order attempting to end birthright citizenship, which is likely to face legal challenges, as well as an order telling his attorney general to not enforce a law effectively banning TikTok for 75 days. The widely popular short-form video app briefly shutdown over the weekend. The bipartisan law, which went into effect Sunday, permitted a president to delay the law by 90 days if a sale was in progress by then.
“I think we have bigger problems,” said Mr. Trump, who tried to ban the app over national security concerns during his first term. The president added that he has a “warm spot” for TikTok.
One of the first actions the president took was signing an order to fly flags at full-staff for presidential inaugurations. Biden had ordered flags to be lowered through the end of January out of respect for former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100. The code says the U.S. flag should be flown at half-staff for 30 days from the death of a president or former president at all federal government buildings and grounds. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, ordered the flags to be flown at full-staff at the U.S. Capitol during Mr. Trump’s inauguration. Flags at the White House were raised Monday afternoon.
Mr. Trump, who returns to office as a convicted felon, also invoked the legal troubles he’s faced since leaving office during his inauguration speech.
“Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents — something I know something about,” Mr. Trump said. “We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again under my leadership. We will restore fair, equal and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law.”
Fearing that Mr. Trump would retaliate against his political enemies, former President Joe Biden issued a number of pardons during his last hours in office, including those associated with the investigation into the Capitol riot as well as his own family members.
Mr. Trump took the oath of office in a rare indoor ceremony in the Capitol in the same room where a violent mob of his supporters stormed through four years earlier to block Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory.
Wearing a navy suit and purple tie, Mr. Trump took the oath administered by Chief Justice John Roberts at 12:01 p.m. Mr. Trump was accompanied by his wife, Melania, who wore a long navy coat and matching hat, as well as his five children, Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka, Tiffany and Barron.
The ceremony was also attended by Mr. Trump’s predecessors, a tradition the president defied in 2021 as he falsely claimed the election was stolen from him. Former first lady Michelle Obama was absent — her office had said ahead of the inauguration that she would not attend. Earlier in the day, Mr. Trump and his wife had tea at the White House with the outgoing president and first lady, another tradition the Trumps did not observe when Biden succeeded him in 2021.
Shortly after 1 p.m., Mr. Trump and the first lady stood alongside the Bidens on the east side of the U.S. Capitol. Former Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, said their goodbyes and were ushered away in a black SUV.
Biden and his wife boarded the presidential helicopter, which flew them out of Washington to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
“We heard the address today,” Biden told staffers who gathered at the military base before he jetted off to California. “We have a lot more to do.”
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
