Donald Trump’s inauguration rite is scheduled to take place indoors due to the cold weather forecast on Monday in Washington DC.
In a message posted on his Truth Social platform, the U. S. president-elect said he will now be sworn in at the Capitol rotunda, where dignitaries and visitors will gather and prayers and other speeches will also be delivered.
This means that the approximately 250,000 people who had tickets to watch the inauguration from around the Capitol will no longer be able to do so.
Thousands more are expected to be in general admission slots or heading from the Capitol to the White House.
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Trump said Washington’s Capital One Arena would open for a screening of his inauguration rite and to host the presidential parade.
“I’ll sign up for the crowd at Capital One after I’m sworn in,” he said.
Explaining why the inauguration rite was moved indoors, he wrote in his Truth Social article: “The weather forecast for Washington, D. C. , with the wind chill factor, may push temperatures to record lows.
“There is an Arctic blast sweeping the country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way.
“These are detrimental situations for the tens of thousands of law enforcement officers, first responders, police K9s and even horses, as well as the thousands of enthusiasts who will be outdoors for many hours on the 20th.
“In any case, if you are coming, dress warmly. ”
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Trump wrote that all other events like his inauguration “will be the same,” adding the victory rally at Capital One Arena on Sunday and the three inaugural balls on Monday night.
He added: “Everyone will be safe, everyone will be happy, and we will, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
A spokesperson for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) said in a statement that it would “honor the request of the president-elect and his Presidential Inaugural Committee to move the 60th Inaugural Ceremony inside the United States Capitol to the rotunda. “
The last time an inauguration ceremony was held indoors was Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985. Monday’s forecast suggests the coldest temperatures for Inauguration Day since that day.
The National Weather Service predicts temperatures will hover around -6°C by noon on the inauguration, the coldest temperature since Reagan’s second inauguration, in which temperatures dropped to -14°C.
When Barack Obama took office in 2009, the temperature was -2°C. To climb the peak, the wind was blowing between 30 and 35 mph.
In the days after his first inauguration in 2017, Mr Trump accused the media of lying about the turnout at the ceremony.
The president insisted that the crowds on the occasion spread to the Washington Monument, even though photographs and photographs of the site showed gigantic empty spaces around the monument.
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His then press secretary Sean Spicer went one further during a heated White House briefing, describing it as “the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period”.
Although the National Park Service no longer provides estimates of crowds at inaugurations, photographic evidence shows that many more people attended Mr. Obama’s 2009 ceremony.