1 of 9 | U.S. President Donald Trump takes oath on the day of his presidential Inauguration at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Monday. Pool photo by Kevin Lamarque/UPI | License Photo
Jan. 20 (UPI) — Donald Trump became the 47th president of the United States in Washington, D.C., on Monday, and right away announced a series of changes, including declaring national emergencies at the southern border and energy.
Trump, after being sworn in as president for the second time shortly after noon, announced he will sign a slate of executive orders.
He spoke from the Capitol Rotunda where four years earlier a mob of Trump supporters violent attempted to prevent the certification of Joseph Biden election.
“All illegal entry will immediately be halted and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump said. “We will reinstate my ‘remain in Mexico’ policy. I will end the practice of catch and release and I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country.”
Trump also said the U.S. government will take the official position that there are “only two genders: male and female.”
The inauguration ceremony began at 11: 45 a.m. EST at the Capitol Rotunda and ended shortly before 1 p.m.
They came there in a motorcade from the White House.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden greeted Trump and his wife, Melania, as they arrived there.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance also greeted each other.
“Welcome home,” Biden told the Trumps as they arrived at the White House.
Inside the Executive Mansion, they participated in a tea.
Ceremony
Trump took the oath, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts, at 12: 05 p.m. EST. His children and wife stood by with Biden and Harris looking on. He acknowledged the living former presidents in attendance before announcing to the crowd that the “golden age of America is right now.”
“The vicious, violent weaponization of our Justice Department will end,” Trump said. “Our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud, prosperous and free. America will soon be greater, stronger and far more exceptional than ever before. I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. A tide of change is sweeping the country.”
Trump said his life was saved, during the failed assassination attempt against him, so he could “make America great again.”
“That is why each day under our administration of American patriots, we will be working to meet every crisis with dignity and power and strength,” Trump said. “For American citizens, Jan. 20th, 2025, is liberation day.”
He claimed that the election was a signal that Americans are unifying behind him.
Trump claimed credit for the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas that was forged before he took office. He reiterated his plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” and to seize control of the Panama Canal, repeating an unfounded claim that China is operating the canal.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, chair of the inaugural ceremony committee, delivered the first speech during the inaugural ceremony. She noted that inauguration day, always held on Jan. 20, falls on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
“A further reminder we must strive to uphold the values enshrined in our Constitution,” Klobuchar said. “Equal justice under law.”
Archbishop Timothy Dolan and Rev. Franklin Graham delivered the ceremony’s invocation. Dolan evoked the history of the United States from first President George Washington to the birth of King.
Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh administered the Vance’s oath of office with Vance’s