2 hours ago along with his vice presidents couple harris who is the 1st woman to hold that office. straight ahead stay with us. for. al-jazeera. a very good evening to you from doha hello you're watching continuing coverage of the inauguration of president joe biden and his vice president carla harris the 1st woman to hold that office on adrian finnegan congratulations mr president. so joe biden takes office as the 46th president of the united states with a pledge to control the coronavirus pandemic and to defend american values that democracy is precious. democracy is fragile. and at this hour my friends

democracy has prevailed. makes history as the 1st woman and the 1st person of color to become america's vice president. and donald trump breaks with tradition and skips the inauguration ceremony he's moved back to florida. joe biden has begun his term as the 46th president of the united states with a pledge to unite his country after years of bitterness and division biden was sworn in just over 2 hours ago now as was coming to harris who becomes the 1st female vice president joe biden takes office as the coronavirus pandemic munns rampant through the u.s. he's promised to deliver 100000000 vaccines in his 1st 100 days as he swore to

defend truth a democracy just 2 weeks after a violent mob stormed the capitol building where witnesses inauguration took place will be live with our correspondents around washington d.c. in the next hour but 1st let's take you through some of the key moments of biden's little girl address. today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause the cause of democracy the people the will of the people has been heard and the world of the people has been heeded we've learned again that the mockers is precious democracy is fragile and at this hour my friends democracy has prevailed. we need all our strength to preserve it to persevered through this dark winter. we're entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus. that was set aside politics and finally faced this pandemic as

one nation. one nation. and i promise you this. is the bible says the man door for a night but joy comment in the morning we will get through this together together. look before. made history as the 1st woman of the 1st person of color to be sworn in as vice president she was administered. the oath of office by another prominent woman supreme court justice sonia sotomayor heiress has previously served as a senator and attorney general of the state of california we have 3 correspondents following every moment of the day's events the honeyed is out on the streets of fortress washington d.c. and on fisheries overlooking the white house 1st let's go to shabba tansey who is on the national mall she had one of you had a vote at all today. well 1st of all it's been

incredibly windy here on the national mall where we have these tens of thousands of flags representing those who weren't able to attend the inauguration both because of the pandemic and because of the enhanced security that has been put in place as a result of the storming of the capitol january 6th but since the inauguration is usually a time for a dodgy journalistic metaphor was this this gale force wind sometimes perhaps represents the collective exile a shouldn't of a style dilution of washington both democrat and republican that trump is now safely back in mar-a lago not even with twitter i believe he has instagram again they were not twitter there is that sense here that of relief which you can feel here in washington but there is also that danger in that that hope to just go back to things as they were before from the establishment washington will just go back

to things as they were and it was because of things as they were they will try. was elected in the 1st place and once again he received 7373000000 votes in the last election so that i think is the is the big question here is how we going to see the issues that were raised by the dollar trump presidency his ascension and that space and he didn't invent white supremacist he didn't invent racism he didn't invent cronyism he didn't invent the sense of the one percent winning whereas the rest of the 99 percent losing in all this tax cuts for the for the rich and so on this is just usual republican also doxy but what how did contribute to trump's rise was clearly a large section of the population feeling that establishment washington was not working for them and it was interesting joe biden's speech talked a great deal about unity but it was very general they didn't seem to be any specific policy proposals in that and if he is going to achieve unity clearly he's

going to have to show to those who voted against him that he is doing something meaningful to help them in their lives and clearly joe biden is beginning with that economic stimulus proposal on the covert proposals which will take a lot of money from congress $1.00 trillion dollars he is still hoping that the republicans will now get on board the composite through congress and that is yet to be seen whether the republicans will cooperate with a plan that will markedly help americans lives because as americans lives get better than search committee does biden's popularity is likely to increase as well as we saw there bob are going to strengthen the republicans in congress they are usually terribly happy about contributing to the popularity of a democratic president so we have to see now where the biden takes the bold action if he doesn't get the cooperation from congress whether he will go it alone through various congressional means at his disposal because the democrats have the senate whether he will take bold action through executive actions today's executive

actions mainly or just reversing trump policy will take exam. it of action to deal with emergencies and health care in the environment in the economy of this kind inequality that this country faces these are the questions we have to see off the lovely platitudes about unity moving forward from joe biden in his inaugural speech with so much fire fighting to do so early on she had is joe biden going to be able to get is head above water before the midterms will he be able to make any sort of let's just say of progress. that's the key and that's why the progressive wing of his party of the democratic party is rather concerned is urging biden to take take strong executive action use existing rules use the federal reserve to stimulate the economy of congress doesn't doesn't we've also used budget reconciliation a congressional process to positiveness because they just don't believe that biden

will get 10 republicans to come on board and if biden does reach out to the republicans the main fear is like that he will repeat what obama did president obama did which is wall to proposals down to such an extent in a bid to get republican support and by the way not in the end not perhaps get that republicans vote a watered down the proposal anyway that the emergency action needed to help the economy health care system the environment will simply not even happen i mean barack obama off the 2008 financial crisis in a bid to not spook the republicans too much in the end off for a stimulus package which many feel was not enough and as a result people didn't feel that main street was being bailed out while will street was being bailed out i'm then at the midterms barack obama was published and he lost control of congress and so that all of these debates now the democratic party about what sort of strategy biden should take and the indications so far have been that biden doesn't want to use aggressive presidential power to solve these

problems he still believes that he has this magic touch with the republicans in congress and he can he can build build these bridges between democrats and republicans that i'm not as a lot of a lot of progressive democrats on those of the base who fear that as a result emergency action may not be taken but you know we have a low way to govern and there is a lot of sense with this in the last few months and weeks that joe biden's policy platform his rhetoric. and the rhetoric of some of those around him has been shifting. a little bit more aggressively for action so we're asleep. al jazeera should have britain see reporting live from a very blustery national mall for the moment she had many thanks indeed to the president and vice president currently on their way to arlington cemetery during his little go address the president said there was much to do in this winter of peril much to repair much to restore let's bring it on says here is alan fischer

who's over looking at the white house right now indeed once all of the formalities are out the way today allan the president intends to hit the ground running doesn't it get straight down to work. that's right he's heading straight to the resolute desk in the oval office there he will find a letter from donald trump one of the few things he's done this convention is something that ronald reagan started doing for his predecessor and it's just continued on since then what's in the letter or we're not entirely sure but it would if we think given don't trump final speech at joint base andrews he's going to say good luck we think you'll do well but you're building on the base that we created then donald trump called a flight to florida normally when 7772 year olds fly 72 year old new yorkers fly to florida it's to retire donald trump suggesting he's going to be waiting and watching what he will see is joe biden reversing a lot of the executive orders that donald trump signed in office top of the agenda

is going to be getting the united states back into climate change talks in paris remember that well he's going to sign up for the accord he's also going to overturn what became known as donald trump's muslim but the ban on countries predominantly muslim that were sending people to the united states he is also going to reverse the approval given to the keystone pipeline remember the huge protests among the native american community there over several years well joe biden is going to essentially say you've got to stop building that he's also going to look to corporate high at the top of his agenda he's going to put a bill towards congress 1 point one trillion as she had was talking about which is going to fund 100000000 vaccinations in 100 days he's also going to make sure that there is protection for people who are threatened with losing their homes either by a fiction or by foreclosure he's also going to overturn the transgender ban in the u.s. military all of this he says he's going to do on the far state no a lot of presidential candidates say on my far stay i will and donald trump did

that as well he said he was going to get out of the iran nuclear deal on day one he also said he was going to move the u.s. embassy in israel to jerusalem on day one. neither of those he managed but he did manage eventually this time joe biden says this is what he's going to do and he just tweeted out saying he can't wait to get to work as far as his legislative agenda in the long term is a concern is concerned alan i would know working with dorothy in the senate senate is he going to be able to to make any headway. there are senate procedures including the filibuster which you will have had to vote which need 60 votes sometimes to get through so some motions need 60 votes to get through a but there are ways and means that chuck schumer who will be the leader of the senate will be able to walk that there was some suggestion that kind of the house

might spend a large part of our time on the road touring other countries doing almost the job as a shadow secretary of state that isn't going to happen they simply can't afford to be out of town for too much so even though on monday she resigned her seat in the senate for california she is actually going to spend a lot of time up there because with the senate so easily poised 50 republicans and 50 votes for the democrats they will need a casting vote in some circumstances and that casting vote lies with the vice president that means that joe biden might lose to claim the middle ground and not push forward with a progressive agenda or as progressive as many on the left of the democratic party would like but he 70 flight that he's interested in doing that he believes that there is momentum behind him doing that whether or not he can convince republicans that he should be doing that and those in the center of the republican party well that's a whole different battle but for the moment he's talking about unity he's talking

about bringing the country together a lot of these things you mentioned on the campaign trail he talked about them during his campaign speech but no one seemed to pay that much attention the difference with today of course was he met the moment after what happened there on capitol hill 2 weeks ago people wanted a message like this because they watch those scenes a bit like america watched 911 they couldn't quite believe what was happening and they need someone almost to put one hand on the heart to say it will be ok and joe biden seems to be filling that role essentially fills the role of empathize. in chief comforter in chief more easily than donald trump but whether or not he can follow through and bring republicans with them that's the challenge but then that's what leadership's about. al-jazeera as alan fischer reporting live from. his vantage point overlooking the white house let's go down to the streets of washington then i was here as hoda abdel-hamid is the forests or the situation

where you are in looks fairly quiet. well it is fairly quiet and it has been quiet throughout the day but i think that has a lot to do with the presence of these guys wherever they are basically all over the city 25000 national guards that have been deployed here over the past few days all that they were all in place as of last night now behind them you have to also deal as all the security that you don't see the secret service that is looking very closely at all what's happening in the city you have helicopters in the air you have also the river itself that you have the sort of border patrol and on the on the river so it security absolutely everywhere is a very few people actually under street yes we saw a few residents of the area coming checking out taking a few pictures but by and large i would say everybody stayed at home i mean they were there was a lot of apprehension in the days leading to this inauguration the f.b.i.

has been warning that they could be these large scale these violent protests maybe another kind of mob movement or riots or what happened in capitol hill 2 weeks ago so people were quite spooked and i think you would have probably the same sense of emptiness in all 50 capitals around the country because the f.b.i. had said that the threat was not only here in washington d.c. but all over the country so far things have gone quietly but make no mistake people are still worried they're still worried about what's going to happen to the country those images that you know more storming into capitol hill has really shocked people here wherever side you are heard people tell me that they had voted twice for president trump but after seeing those pictures they were shocked and they thought one guy told me he never thought he would say that even less to

a reporter but he thought it. it was time for president trump to leave because of that scene not because of anything else that happened or that he said over the past 4 years now people are shocked people wonder if unity is at all possible at this stage and actually joe biden himself said the during his speech or after taking office he said some people might think that talking about unity now is their foolish fantasy so he does realize that people are skeptical are worried that the task at hand at hand is enormous and it is going to take a lot of convincing he did say hear me out the president for all americans but he needs to convince of that and you know i was looking at his stretcher feed as supporters the president of the united states just in the 1st few minutes i was looking at what was written underneath and there were a lot of people say welcome mr president i'm so happy of

a new era there were other people simply writing you are not my president and that's really the crux of the problem and in this country at this moment is going to be a very difficult task for him but as far as fortress washington is concerned when there's this massive security operation begin to wind down when do words people get their lives back that. i think people are going to beginning to get then their city back i would say starting from tomorrow you'll see less of these road blocks here in the center of town or around the area of the white house and capitol hill is cetera and then as we move towards the weekend things should become go back to normal it's just going to take a few days really for things to be phased out and everything go back into place but i think for the rest of the day from what we understand this is all going to remain in place until actually 24 hours of inauguration day are over after that you'll

have the opening of the bridges that link to just to give colombia to do. example reopening to normal traffic some of the major roads around the capitol and then we'll see these roadblocks lifted step by step 1st to green zone which is the largest and then the 2nd circle of the red zone which is really very close and surrounding the white house the national mall and capitol hill. reporting live from washington one of many thanks indeed well joe biden's now president biden's aides have given more details about the executive orders that will be signed on day one of the new administration there will be as you were hearing from alan fischer 17 of them in total they include ending the travel ban that's affected mainly muslim countries beginning the process of rejoining the paris climate accord rejoining the world health organization and halting construction of president trump's war along the border with mexico let's bring in. senior political analyst

mo and bashara who's with us in doha has been watching events for the past couple of hours so we have a reset it all starts again the 1st $100.00 days and joe biden says he's going to hit the ground running with these 17 executive orders moment. yes absolutely and it seems like he's going to be. i think the road running as it were and of course with his extensive experience and as. deep experience in relations with the congress in general he's probably going to get on his appointment passthrough rather quickly and his decisions passed rather quickly and in that sense his executive orders through the for the agencies will probably be implemented in north time so i don't know and he is capable more than most he has an opportunity but than most at this point in time with. sort of

a control of both houses of congress in order to start passing some of his agenda as well so the challenges may be enormous symptoms of the economic challenges and in terms of the endemic but clearly he has of course the experience and the mandates to act now. well i stand by for just a moment i want to take a quick look at joe biden's plane foreign policy and security nobody's antony blinken is said to be secretary of state it held the number 2 job of the department under barack obama and is a long time biden advisor for the 1st time an african-american as biden's choice to lead the pentagon lloyd austin is a former general who was the top u.s. commander in iraq but because he only recently retired from the army his appointment requires a special waiver from congress both democrats and republicans have voiced doubts jake some of them will be the president's national security adviser he has

a long history working for biden and was also a key figure in the talks that led to the iran nuclear deal and a low key foreign service veteran has been nominated to represent the u.s. the united nations linda thomas greenfield served as ambassador to liberia director general of the foreign service and top diplomat for africa no one what do you make of that team. well there's a couple of things to be said 1st adrian it seems that. if appointment is policy or if policy is 1st materialized through appointments clear. we seem to have lost for the moment that you just love technology. or come back to my one a little later. pictures from our lives in 73 right now the president and vice president are on their way along with ex presidents bush clinton and obama

al-jazeera alan fischer is overlooking the white house and says we heard this gun salute can tell us a little more about what is actually going on. at this stage on inauguration day.

alan fischer then overlooking the white house who can explain to us what it is that the vice president and president are doing at this stage. in the formalities of inauguration day i'm. here with the von maur president live we have the freedom of the unknown soldier this resonates particularly with president biden and that is because his son set out in the national guard for delaware. if you could get in there if you did you have a problem here my food. and drink. just. and

so this resonates with with joe biden his son beau who died due to brain cancer a brain tumor. he said in the national guard in delaware and spent some time in iraq and so for joe biden the troops have always been a special course and for his wife as well dr jill biden who did a lot of water quit the families of those who served during her time as the 2nd lady put in joe biden was vice president and so this is something that he definitely wanted to do even though a number of usual events such as lunch in congress has been taken off the table because of the pandemic this was something that joe biden particularly want to do to head to arlington which is a very emotional place if anyone has ever visited it there are rules upon rules of

markers for the graves of soldiers who served with the united states and if you look at some of the dates and some of the ages you can tell which war what you did and how young so many of them were and but biden wasn't that old and we need to remember that just yesterday 24 hours ago as joe biden was heading to washington d.c. for his inauguration he talked about how he felt that delaware should be saying goodbye to beau biden and sending him on his way to become president he had high hopes for his son who was attorney general of his home state in delaware and joe biden to a degree felt that it would be. a fitting legacy to have a son who was president but as we know when he decided to enter into the presidential campaign having stepped out of it 4 years ago and decided not to run because he was still recovering from the death of his son he decided that he would run because of the comments that donald trump had made after the protest that. so

with white supremacists in charlottesville and so that is why to him arlington means so much why it was so important that he heads to the center many there and he is of course joined by president obama president george w. bush and president and mrs clinton and the wreath will be placed at the tomb of the unknown soldier as they mark the occasion something that he desperately wanted to do on his far stay in office before he heads to the oval office to get into what. as you say this a very different inauguration day due to the pandemic after this this very moving part of the day is over is that as far as the formalities are concerned what else is is due to happen. no inauguration concert or will that. well. there'll be a truncated parade among the bands that are marching or will be

a drum line from howard university that simpleton for the vice president because she was a student at howard university right here in washington d.c. what is no one is a historically black college and h.b. you and so to the people from how incredibly excited that the prospect of performing in moore is a truncated sentiment you can see just behind me i'm going to point in that it is incredibly bright kevin might be able to point you to the viewing stand that was constructed in front of the white house and that is where the v.i.p.'s will go normally that is a stand on the other side of the street another side of pennsylvania avenue that was taken don't when it was revealed that there would be a much smaller inauguration ceremony so it became a look very truncated but pennsylvania avenue is where the bands will march the flags there the fight and how this banners have been up for some considerable time

the been walking on not since just after the election even while the result of the election was being disputed by the former tenant of $1600.00 pennsylvania avenue it was only just in the last few days that the hottest biden by the hottest banners went up for the inauguration but joe biden is aware of the symbolism and he talks he's talked about people making sacrifices because of covert because maybe important just to take a 2nd to think this is something that joe biden has wanted for more than 30 years the 1st run for the presidency back in the 1980 s. he wanted to be president he thought he could be president he thought he was qualified to be president but it never quite happened for many got into the white house as the vice president to barack obama who had other people that were considered perhaps a better fit but he may. joe biden liked him instantly and offered him the job of vice president and joe biden said look i'm happy to take it but i want to be the

last voice you have in the room before you make a decision and barack obama agreed to that and then just in the last days of barack obama's time in the oval office he awarded him the presidential medal of freedom and many people thought that would be the capstone on joe biden's political career but here we are he has no president joe biden the 46 president of the united states and he will soon be the resident in the oval office and making the decisions in the oval office and perhaps taking couple hardasses advice before he makes a final decision but he is aware of the we of the office he's talked about many times about barack obama he's aware of the decisions and he knows the importance of the calls that a president has to make more often than not they are simple clear cut calls but every so often every day once in a while they sometimes involve life or death and joe biden is aware that that is an all.