Washington (AFP)
Donald Trump was sworn in for a historic second term as president on Monday, pledging a blitz of immediate orders on immigration.
With one hand raised in the air and the other on a Bible given to him by his mother, the 47th US president solemnly took the oath of office beneath the huge Rotunda of the US Capitol.
Trump and outgoing President Joe Biden traveled by motorcade together to the Capitol, where the ceremony was being held indoors -- and with a much smaller crowd -- for the first time in decades due to frigid weather.
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— Aletihad English (@AletihadEn) January 20, 2025
Earlier, they and their spouses met for a traditional tea at the White House.
"Welcome home," Biden said to Trump as he and First Lady Jill Biden greeted their successors at the front door to the presidential residence.
Republican Trump, 78, was a political outsider at his first inauguration in 2017, but as he takes the oath as the 47th US president he is surrounded by America's wealthy and powerful.
The world's richest man, Elon Musk, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all had prime seats in the Capitol alongside Trump's cabinet members.
Biden was joining former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton at the Capitol. Former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush were there but ex-first lady Michelle Obama stayed away.
Unusually for an inauguration where foreign leaders are normally not invited, Argentina's president Javier Milei was attending, along with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Trump headed to his swearing-in, promising a new "golden age" in the United States.
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— Aletihad English (@AletihadEn) January 20, 2025
The frigid weather has forced 78-year-old Trump's inauguration indoors, missing out on the customary massive crowds along the National Mall. However, the first hours of the most extraordinary comeback in US politics will be a blaze of activity.
The Republican vowed to unleash a blitz of around 100 executive orders undoing Biden's legacy, starting with immediate deportations of undocumented migrants.
Trump earlier attended a service at a church near the White House.
Trump will make history by replacing Biden as the oldest president to be sworn in. He is also just the second president in US history to return to power after being voted out, after Grover Cleveland in 1893.
Dominating Washington
Due to the intense cold, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will take the oath inside the domed Rotunda of the Capitol -- as Ronald Reagan did in 1985 -- rather than in front of a huge crowd on the National Mall.
Three of the world's richest men -- tech tycoons Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos -- will be alongside him for the inauguration.