Trump to take oath inside due to freezing temperatures
17 January 2025, 18:04
The Capitol Rotunda is prepared for each inauguration in the event of inclement weather.
President-elect Donald Trump will take the oath of office from inside the Capitol Rotunda on Monday due to forecasts of very cold weather.
“The weather forecast for Washington DC, with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows,” Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
“There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way.”
The Rotunda is prepared for each inauguration in the event of inclement weather.
The swearing-in was last moved indoors in 1985, when President Ronald Reagan began his second term. Monday’s forecast suggests the lowest inauguration day temperatures since that day.
Alternative plans are required for the more roughly 250,000 guests ticketed to view the inauguration from around the Capitol grounds and the thousands more expected to be in general admission areas or to line the route from the Capitol to the White House.
Mr Trump said some supporters would be able to watch the ceremony from Washington’s Capital One area on Monday, a day after he plans to hold a rally there. He said he would visit the arena after his swearing-in and host a modified inaugural parade there.
He said other inaugural events, including the Sunday rally and his participation in three official inaugural balls on Monday night, would take place as scheduled.
The National Weather Service is predicting the temperature to be around -6C at noon during the swearing-in, the coldest since Mr Reagan’s second inauguration saw temperatures plunge to -14C.
Barack Obama’s 2009 swearing-in was -2C. Adding to the bite, the wind is forecast to be 30 to 35mph.
“The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies will honour the request of the President-elect and his Presidential Inaugural Committee to move the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies inside the US Capitol to the Rotunda,” a spokesperson said.
