>> i think it is an historic day. it is a reflection of where we are as a country. to quote raphael warnock who said this in his sermon yesterday, it is better to be rich and guilty in this country than innocent and poor. i think donald trump today is emblematic of that. there are lessons to be learned for everybody, including democrats. you know, we will continue to look forward, and i wish prayer and peace and success to the 47th president of the united states, donald j. trump. >> kristen, we have 15 seconds. >> donald trump will be judged on the actions and what americans feel from those actions as much as any words he says today. >> that's a really good point to end on here as we watch and wait for donald trump to be inaugurated as the 47th president of the united states. thanks to my panel, to you at home for joining us. i'm kasie hunt. don't go anywhere. our special inauguration coverage is going to continue right now and all day long.

welcome to inauguration day on this bitterly cold morning on this nation's capital. we're about to witness donald j. trump's return to the presidency, one of the most seismic transitions of power in modern american history. president- elect just a few hours from taking the oath of office, the ceremony moved to the capitol rotunda because of the frigid weather. live coverage of the inauguration. i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm jake tapper overlooking the white house that will soon be the trump white house once again, the president- elect on the verge of sealing his unprecedented political

comeback opening the door to radical and immediate change here to washington, did. c. and across the country. right now, president- elect donald trump and his wife soon to be first lady again melania trump are at the presidential guest quarters at blair house, they'll depart from blair house soon and take a quick drive around the corner to st. john's episcopal service, attend a private service -- later the trumps will head to the white house where president joe biden and first lady lady biden will welcome for them for tea and coffee. the trumps did not honor in 2021 when they skipped president biden's inauguration, today it's the cold that are derailing some traditions, crowds will be heading into a d.c. arena for a live viewing of the swearing- in ceremony followed by an

indoor version of the inaugural parade. focused on the return of a president with a uniquely influential and in some ways polarizing history. a moment with huge consequences for the nation and the world. our anchors and correspondents are fanned out across the city including at the white house and the u.s. capitol where donald trump will take the oath of office and become the 47th president of the united states at noon. let's go first to the u.s. capitol where we find kaitlin collins, some new information about president trump will say in his inaugural address. >> he doesn't have a very long commute this morning going across the street to st. john's church, just a walk from the blair house and then of course having that coffee with president biden and the first lady jill biden in just a matter of time and then of course he'll come here to where i am on capitol hill where that inauguration for the first time in decades is going to

be happening in indoors, that's why i'm inside here in emancipation hall. a lot of the dignitaries and guests will be watching him deliver that address from the rotunda here from the capitol. that's where he'll be sworn in by chief justice john roberts. 180 chairs behind me, they're crammed in here as his aides have been scrambling and trying to put everyone this morning. as donald trump takes the oath of office. we're getting more of what we're going to hear from trump this around. everyone rebs his speech eight years ago, when he talked about american carnage in 2017. he's viewing things much differently this time around. reflected in his speech focused on restoring confidence in the united states. we have a few excerpts of what the president will say

after he's sworn in. part of that, jake, he'll say, quote, i return to the presidency confident and optimistic we're at the start of thrill new era of national success, a tied of change is sweeping the country. today i'll sign a historic executive orders. the final part of this, jake, is he'll say my message to americans today it's time for once again to act with courage, vigor and the vitality of histories, great civilization, a sweeping view there, jake, he'll sign those executive orders today is key, he's doing in several different locations because he's signing so many different executive orders today. he'll start with the capitol one arena where his spotters will be and once he's back if oval office with expect more executive orders there,

jake, a very busy day as the trumps are about to get started here in washington, a very different one he came to eight years ago. >> all right, thanks so much, kaitlin collins on capitol hill. now let's go to blair house, awaiting the trumps' departure, what are you hearing from the trump team what the president- elect is doing and what he's thinking on this historic day. >> i spoke with one trump adviser this morning, jake, who told me essentially he's really excited to finally get back to work, a moment that he and his team have been really looking forward to for several weeks since he won the election in november, but really over the past several years and this idea of donald trump's big return to the white house, his triumphant return to the white house and part of why, all of these executive orders, the breath of them, the sweeping nature

of them they want this to be a shock to the system trying to get into, you know, exactly, really showing the country how serious he was about living into these promises on day one. as for his mood today, just looking at some of the excerpts from his speech, he does want it to be more unifying is what they have said -- he wants to talk about bringing the country together, obviously, he wants this event today, the inauguration to be on the world stage, that's why he's envieted so global leaders very different from eight years ago where that american carnage- like speech. jake. >> all right, thanks so much. let's go a few yards away, pamela brown is at st. john's church, what are you hearing about the service that the trumps are attending. >> reporter: i spoke to a trump adviser familiar with the plans this morning, jake, and i'm told by the source soon to

be president trump and soon to be first lady melania trump will be arriving here around 8:30 this morning, along with some of trump's most senior advisers, the incoming chief of staff, caroline leavitt, stephen miller, they'll be coming here this morning and i'm told that soon to be president trump will be sitting in the front pew of the church for this quick service this morning from 8:30 to 9:00 this is apparently the first time that a president has elected to sit in the front pew, 92 years when this tradition first started on inauguration, i confirmed that with the reverend here at the dhur, this is what donald trump wanted, he wanted to sit in the front pew, a very simple service, very traditional, the

reverend confirmed he had been working with the trump team on this, no sermon a break from eight years ago, there will be some prayers and hymns and the reverend confirmed this will be donald trump's first time back here since that very controversial photo- op when then- president trump came here with the bible during the george floyd black lives matter, the protesters were cleared away the teargas, it was very controversial. first time donald trump returns here since then. we've been talking, is it the norm, with tradition, with the fact that his inauguration ceremony will held in capitol rotunda, but starting the day here at this church is very much in keeping with tradition over the last 92 years. back to you. >> all right, pamela brown, thank you so much, thank you so much. i'm here in our cozy little

area, i'm joking it's freezing. with dana bash and abby phillips. a different mood the last inaugurations. right in the middle of the covid. in 2017 the first trump inaugural, very different vibes. >> so much shock after the 2016 election when donald trump won, not just among democrats but donald trump himself. who really did not expect to win. neither did the people who were around him. as we heard from elena and kaitlin, as much as we focused on what he's going to say in his speech, the tone he's going set, all the executive orders he'll sign right off the bat that this has been an eight- year project. it's an eight- year era,

served joe biden was successful in putting a speed bump on the donald trump era. he thought he was going to be the bridge to change things and to end donald trump and trumpism. instead it was a four- year pause. in those four years, trump has been campaigning for president the entire time. and preparing for this moment. of not just day one, but governance and what he wants to do. we don't have specifics on how he's going to execute all of that. >> yeah, there are some subtle differences now compared to eight years ago, i was actually looking back at a picture of me on cnn eight years ago on set. we all aged a little bit including trump. there are some subtle changes. eight years ago trump was trying to shock the system. he was really trying to sort of

demonstrate as vividly as he could including in his words and his speech he was going to change washington, to me the subtle difference in trump and also how he's conducting himself is that he now is, he's the establishment, okay, he's part of the club, he's always wanted to be part of, a part of him that all of these traditions are things that he has wanted, he kept them, after he lost in 2020 he had people calling him president trump, created a mini white house for himself at mar-a-lago. he wanted the trappings of the office back, for trump it's all about projecting strength. more than anything. the executive orders what we'll see based on reporting are things that he promised. not entirely surprising but he wants to project strength and that's what his speech is going to be about, about this era of almost american dominance

that he wants to usher back in, it's channeling, though, because he moved the inauguration indoors and i think that's going to change the sense of grandeur that the event itself can have, but be looking for other ways that they'll try to accomplish that throughout the day. >> the other thing i think maybe it's easy to forget because it was a long time ago and a lot has happened in eight years, but resistance wasn't just coming from democrats eight years ago, a lot of republicans who thought that he was totally taking over the party and pushed back on a lot of what he's doing. >> totally gone. >> one thing we should note, fairly standard, i'm not saying it's good or bad, fairly standard is the executive orders, that's a normal thing that we're used to, there are a bunch of executive orders that the new president signs, biden did it, obama did it, trump did it, et cetera, et cetera. there are the last- minute

pardons. some breaking news from the white house. tell us what's going on, what president biden is doing on the way out his door. >> reporter: breaking news from the white house, statement from president joe biden issuing preemptive pardons for a number of individuals that he said he's fearful will be persecuted politically persecuted, i just want to tick through for you the list of people that the president says he's pardoning preemtively today, including general mark milley, dr. anthony fauci, we also have members and staff of the committee that investigated the january 6th insurrection. he also said that that group would include, the u.s. capitol and d.c. metropolitan police officers who testified before this committee, you know, jake, this is what was a

possibility we anticipated and we reported that something that president biden was considering and in all of our reporting we anticipated that if he were to take this action it was very possible it would happen at the very last minute and here we are, just hours before president biden is set to leave the white house the president is announcing this very controversial decision, you know, in this lengthy statement that he just released, he said, i believe in the rule of law and i'm optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics, but he said these exceptional circumstances and i can't in good conscious do nothing. now, when he's talking about exceptional circumstances of course he's referring to the incoming president donald trump who has made very clear in all of his public statements that he's focused on taking revenge on people, on

individuals who he sees as having done him wrong, these specific people and particularly if you think about the members who served on the january 6th committee, the staffers who served to work on that committee, these are people that the president obviously was worried would face a lot of legal troubles, knew that there was just a lot of hardships coming their way and this is why he's taking this action to make sure he can save them from all of that even though he makes clear he doesn't believe they did anything wrong, jake. >> all right, thanks so much. let's go to jamie gangel for more on this. jamie, a lot of the members of the january 6th committee said they didn't want a pardon. they hadn't committed any crimes, but there's always the question of, even a

prosecution that's not going anywhere is still going to cost potential defendants up to millions and millions of dollars to defend themselves. >> right, i think -- i was just texting with some people who would be covered by this, as you know, jake, there was a lot of discussion back and forth about this because members of the committee are covered by speech and debate technically, witnesses, capitol hill police, d.c. police, members of the committee, everybody i spoke to who was involved in the january 6th committee hearings, felt very strongly, they all said exactly the same words, we didn't do anything wrong, so we don't need a pardon. but, and this is the but, it's the extraordinary circumstances, it's the fact that president biden felt that there would be this political retribution, political revenge that did

not have any bearing in the facts but that he was giving members, committee staffers, witnesses, sort of a blanket of protection, to try and send a message more than anything else, these people should not -- nobody should go after these people, jake. >> all right, jamie, thank you so much. we're standing by for president- elect trump's departure from blair house, right across the street from the white house. beginning the final leg of his journey back to the white house, we'll also see how crowds of trump supporters are lining up for the limited indoor seating to witness it all. cnn's live coverage of donald trump's inauguration is just getting started. stay with us.

dave's been very excited about saving big with the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee.

five years? -five years. and he's not alone. -high five. it's five years of reliable gig speed internet. five years of advanced securit. five years of a great rate that won't change. it's back. but only for a limited time. high five. five years? -nope. comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. powering five years of savings. powering possibilities. comcast business.

it's a very cold morning here in washington, d.c. , just hours before president- elect trump takes the oath of office, breaking news from the white house, president bitten biden issuing pre- emt tif pardons. i want to go to boris sanchez outside the ceremony. you've been talking to some of the people lining up to get in. what have you been hearing. >> yeah, jake, folks here are very excited. they're braving some cold temperatures, it's about 20 degrees right now the high only expected to be about 25, and to say i'm outside the arena isn't exactly accurate i'm actually a few blocks down, this line is enormous, it stretches for several blocks across downtown d.c. , you see over to the

left of me there's an e normous security presence, lot of people down here, lot of moving parts, folks have come from all over the country, even internationally to hear donald trump speak and be inaugurated at this makeshift indoor inaugural parade. i've heard from folks from florida, kansas, montana. and again the excitement in the air is palpable. this is special access line to get in. i want to catch up with two folks i spoke with a moment ago, trey and willie, they're military veterans who came all the way from arizona from the west coast to be here, and they are super excited, they're retired military to hear from donald trump. let's actually come this way. trey and willie, thank you so for being with us. what brought you from arizona to 20-degree weather here in d.c. to watch donald trump get

inaugurated. >> retired military, 24, 26 years in the military. listen to donald trump, that's our guy and we love to jesus. we came out to support the president. >> this day means a lot, what it shows us is unity, lot of the things that we have been seeing and talking about, lot of times you just need to get here and stop listening to what everyone's saying, we're all better together than apart. it means a lot to me. >> as a guy from florida i have to ask, are you staying warm. >> we have hand warmers, plus we're excited. >> anderson, back to you. >> lot of excitement out there with the team in the washington bureau. these pardons early this morning from president biden. >> the president and his team think it's necessary, it will be interesting an limousine

ride and the tea, with president biden thinking this is necessary, they're going to be sitting sitting this is trump versus biden and biden versus trump. so the president thinks this is necessary because of everything donald trump said during the campaign about retribution. is it necessary? i'll leave that to smarter people than me, but what it does it will continue the polarization and the fight and when things like this donald trump tends to react to them. the bigger picture, election have consequences. he'll sign his first order of the capitol when he's president again, you'll see a night and day shift in american politics, both in how these two men biden and trump conduct themselves personally and what they think about policies, using

the government to look at your critics, this is night and day, it's been 21 years, 21 years since a majority of the americans thought the country was on the right path. so donald trump inherits that, he has a mandate to do immigration, he won the election, he won all the swing states, he has a remarkable opportunity in his return to the white house, when he takes his hand off that bible he inherits that. david. >> i certainly agree with that, the word "mandate" shouldn't be overused because he won 49. 8% of the votes in the country, it was a relatively narrow election, it's mandate in a sense that he won, he won fair and square, we all should acknowledge that, accept that, he's president of the united states, but he also made some promises and you travel the country, you heard what people wanted, they wanted him to bring prices down, take care of the border, fill

all of these grand promises that he made that would affect their lives, so that's a lot of pressure, but this issue on the pardons this day is really interesting because you have these customs that are going to be observed, these constitutional norms that will busted. we now see these pardons. right after the swearing- in, president trump is going to sign some executive orders many of which will tested in court because they challenge the constitutional separation of powers. >> we'll talk to anita mcbride, former chief of staff for former first lady laura bush. i want to stick with the pardons, though, a historian, talk about the nature of these pardons just in sort of the scope of history.

>> well, we're going to see pardons today from both sides of the story on january 6th, right, president biden surprised us by pre- emptivel those who tried to investigate the insurrection. president- elect trump said we'll see pardons for some of those who participated in the insurrection. this is unprecedented, in the sense that two presidents have done that, what's unprecedented for people who participated in an insurrection to get a pardon. in 1868, andrew johnson pardoned the confederate leaders, anyone who had been indicted or tried for treason. so we've done this in the past, the difference, however, for all his flaws and andrew

johnson was a very flawed president, andrew johnson actually opposed the confederacy, he supported the unity of the united states, which is -- that's why abraham lincoln chose him as his running mate. but today we'll likely see a president pardoning people who participated in an insurrection that he supported. that will be a first. >> did these surprise me. >> the pardons didn't surprise me. president biden might have done a trump a favor with this. not to be going after tony fauci and prosecuting four- star general. in this kind of allows him to focus on things that he's good at, what would end up being something that kind of feeds to his worst instincts. i think he'll mad about this.

an awkward car ride over. changing some of the remarks he'll be giving later today. he'll address this in some form. >> what's most amazing, step back to boris' interview, on a day, we press rewind to trump's last inauguration, all the resistance and the pink hats, now it's like can pit lags and maga hats, that's an amazing thing to see, amazing turn of events, i don't want to minimize the coalition that trump put together. van was thinking, how do we win those guys back? >> well, first, i want to say, donald trump should be flattered that biden did these pardons. joe biden think that donald trump is an honest man, he's going after his enemies,

biden believes trump, trump's an honest man, so he pardoned them. with regard to today, lot of people that we thought we were going to democrats forever are not. lot of people are nervous, not just democrats, it's an important day because we're doing the right thing, biden is doing the right thing, we're honoring the traditions, if you're a small business owner you might be nervous in a couple of months your workers are going to be run out of the country, if you're immigrant you might be worried. >> briefly, what happens in this handover, there's a very quick amount of time that everything gets moved out of the white house and everything gets moved in. >> it's all happening now at the white house. many of the residents, staff, some would have slept at the white house last night, others have been there at 4:00 in the morning, they know what their job is, their job is to

be professional, there's process, moving trucks are there already. >> still ahead the big names who are attending the inauguration, the expected no-shows. and we'll talk to one of the religious leaders taking part in the inaugural ceremony. we'll be right back.

two of the three centers of powers here in washington, d.c. , the white house, and the u.s. capitol, the backdrop for presidential history that's about to unfold on

this inauguration day. president- elect donald trump is just hours away from reclaiming the title of commander in chief, coming full circle after his white house defeat in 2020, the first ceremony of the day kicks off soon, jeff zeleny is part of our team at the u.s. capitol right now, jeff, we expect some very big names to attend the inauguration, including some former presidents. >> reporter: jake, we do, another gathering of the former presidents club, they came together about 11 days or so here in washington to pay tribute to jimmy carter, an entirely different moment, the bidens will be joined by the bushes, the clintons and president obama, absent again today will be former first lady michelle obama, her aides said she simply chose not to attend, not giving any other reason for that, but they'll be making their way behind me here to the capitol in just a few hours of course also joining for the inauguration ceremony here in the rotunda of the capitol

will be tech giants, we've seen them gather throughout the weekend here last night at a candlelight dinner as well. mark zuckerberg, jeff bezos and elon musk, three of the many tech giants who will be here on hand and key advisers to the president. elon musk spoke at a rally last evening here in washington, he was the only one invited to the rally, he'll also be here in rotunda here, very intimate crowd, the rotunda can only hold a couple hundred people. it will be a dramatic moment when that happens. marine one has just arrived here just a short time ago, likely to take president biden and jill biden off to andrews air force base. the sun is rising on the u.s. capitol, all eyes on the rotunda here for the inauguration of the former president and soon future president, donald j. trump. jake.

>> all right, jeff zeleny at the capitol for us, thanks so much. religious leaders from a variety of faiths will take part in the inauguration ceremony today, including reverend lorenzo sewell. he joins us now, pastor, thanks so much for joining us. after the inaugural address you'll deliver the benediction. did you all agree about what you wanted to say? >> well, we didn't necessarily agree about what we wanted to say because prayer is spontaneous but also prepared. today as martin luther king's birthday, i believe that jesus would have me pray that his dream is fulfilled through his 47th president. i'm so excited to see our nation to live out the nation's creed. that all men are created equal. >> i wanted to ask you about that, if mlk day was going

to play a role at all in your remarks. >> absolutely. i mean, it's the day we celebrate his birthday. we know our nation needs a time of unity, a time where we can judge each other by the content of our character and not by the color of our skin, we know our 47th president, he needs our prayers, he needs us as a nation to be one nation under god, indivisible with unity and justice for all. >> president- elect trump visited your church this summer, after hearing you pray, mr. trump promised that if he won you would pray at his inauguration, tell us more about that day, and about your preparation for this big moment. >> jake, can you believe that a president would come to the hood-hood. we're on the west side of

detroit, in the context that's challenged but yet the president, he didn't come to have a rally, he could have came easily and talk about what he wanted to do, he came to listen, when he listened, not only listened to the aspirations and longings of our community, it was inscripted. not something that was planned, we parade rayed for him. when he and i were talking intimately, i want you to pray at the inauguration. we didn't know then what we know now, he's the president- elect, his team reached out to me and i have the honor and the privilege to be able to pray over him and proclaim a blessing over our nation. >> the millimeter miracle a reference to president trump narrowly, thankfully

dodging that assassination attempt against him in pennsylvania on july 13th. best of luck to you. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you so much, jake, god bless. let's go back to cnn's pamela brown who has some reaction from general mark milley the retired chairman of the joints chief of staff to the pre- pre- emptive pardon from president biden. pamela. >> reporter: that's right. i just received a statement from general milley, let me read the statement to you, my family and i are deeply grateful for the president's action today, after 43 years of faithful service in uniform to our nation, protecting and defending the constitution, i don't wish to spend the remaining

time fighting those who unjustly secretory bugs. i don't want to put my family and friends through the resulting distraction, expense and anxiety. it's been an honor and a privilege to serve our great country in uniform for over four decades. i think my wife, paula, my children and dear friends. trusted colleagues who have supported me throughout my life. god bless america . that's the statement from general mark milley. jake. >> all right, pamela brown, thank you so much. the first inaugural events will begin soon, setting the stage for the 45th president's return to the white house as number 47. still ahead the tidal wave of presidential actions we expect in the trump era. we'll be right back.

for all those making it big out there... ...shouldn't your mobile service be able to keep up with you? get wifi speeds up to a gig at home and on the go. introducing powerboost, only from xfinity mobile. now that's big.

historic st. john's church will be the first stop for president- elect donald trump. they'll expected to leave blair house with just a few hours to go. kaitlin, some new reporting on these pardons that president biden has issued. >> reporter: obviously, this is pretty broad to say the least, anderson, encompassing in terms of who president biden is pardoning here, dr. anthony fauci and general mark milley and members of the january 6th committee and the police who testified before that

committee as well, this is something that some of the members of this committee, this was very clearly on the table for the biden white house weren't totally sure they wanted because of course as biden is acknowledging in his statement, he's worried about trump seeking vengeance after he does regain the power of the presidency many just a few hours from now. a lot of these people knew that, anderson, i'm hearing that some of the people who got a pardon from president biden with this announcement didn't get a head's- up that it was coming. people were torn on that. one thing that i think is important to watch here, as trump right now is at the blair house, getting ready to go over st. john's and he'll be having coffee and tea at the white house with president biden before sharing a limo ride to the capitol. they'll indeed be riding together, kind of incredible to think about this looming

over that car ride they're going to share together, because not only is president biden issuing pardons on the way out the door, trump is going to be issuing pardons as soon as he president again, i've been hearing from sources they were kind of torn in trump's orbit on how to broad to go on january 6th, a blanket pardon, or case by case basis. whether that changes the calculus is something to watch. >> maggie, what do you connect from the speech today. >> i think the speech is going to be fairly different than what we saw with american carnage. he doesn't need to deliver a speech like that again, he was very clear when he was campaigning, he won on that platform, voters said they weren't voting for everything, he was going to be as

aggressive as he's going to be, they voted for him. he's feeling as if he has a lot of power as he's returning to washington. what's more revealing than the speech is going to be the various executive orders that he signs, that's going tell the story of the first 30 days, 90 days of this white house. >> what story is that going to tell. >> a pretty aggressive story, trump has wanted to move pretty quickly, he's wanted to move with power, he said those words yesterday, with strength, undoing a lot what president biden did in terms of energy, economic efforts, climate efforts, you'll also see things like pardons, we don't know how sweeping they will be for people who attacked the capitol in donald trump's name on january 6th, 2021 as well as a tiktok executive order, that's pretty striking there's currently a law in effect that bans it.

this is going to be a government that's about what trump wants to the greatest extent that he can make it happen and he felt very stymied with that in his first term. >> kaitlyn, what we saw the last time, there are legal challenges to executive orders. no doubt that will occur as well. >> reporter: we've seen a president on day one issue this many executive orders that comes from president trump, he'll start here at the capitol signing those executive orders and continue to do so during various stops throughout the day. i was at the white house when president biden took office that day and signed nine executive orders. that was a flurry it seemed like in that moment. this is going to put that to shame with the degree and level of what these are going to look in, the in terms of sorting through the impact. the obvious ones we know on immigration, on january 6th, on energy as well, but look at

how he's changing how he wants toto hiring in federal government, it can have a lot of impact in terms of who he's able to hire and fire inside this, because the last time he was in office he felt like his agenda was stymied by what he described the deep state, the career officials working against what he ultimately wanted to enact, he wants to change that, anderson, he wants to put more willing to do what he wants in positions this time. it will shape what the next four years are going to look like. >> anderson, one thing we've been hearing, concerns for days now is how well staffed these agencies are, how able they're going to go through these executive orders, there will be court challenges, we'll see a lot once this new administration comes in about how prepared they are at the agency level, lot of focus on senior level

cabinet jobs far less so on individual agency and staffing. that's where the mechanical work. >> they're saying they're more organized on that level. >> they're not, as we understand it, a pretty significant personnel bottleneck, could it be they really stocked up in the last couple of days and we haven't seen it, entirely possible, concerns about this for the last few days. >> the issue that you raised, there's concern of sort of loyalty oaths for people at different levels of the federal government, as opposed to having a bureaucratic class there whether it's a republican or democratic administration. >> reporter: part of that staffing issue that maggie is talking about there, in terms of the lower level jobs, that quite important, is how this hiring process has happened and dozens

of people who have gone in for interviews al mar-a- lago over the last two months, they're taken into a room, questioned about not just the qualifications for the job but also loyalty is a huge part of this, it's not a surprise to anyone that trump wants loyalty from his staffers, they're approaching it in such a different way, the one mistake that trump acknowledged he made in his first term, is staffing, he didn't put the right people in the right jobs. not only those inside the cabinet room but those serving underneath those cabinet officials as well, they bring them in, they ask them their views on january 6th and who won the 2020 election, going into these meeting know the right answer in order to get the jobs. in terms of staffing up and sorting through whether someone is qualified for the job or if they're willing to say

they'll be loyal to trump and share his views on things. >> part of the job interview they're asking them about who won the 2020 election and about january 6th. >> this is not just a handful of people, maybe they worked for someone they wanted to check with them, they really, trump has given the authority to go in and ask these questions and really make these calls themselves before even bringing it to trump. >> thank you very much. right now let's head to capitol one arena, an indoor inauguration. >> reporter: well, anderson, people are not allowed in yet, but i'll tell you they'll start coming in soon and i can see wolf blitzer's wizards seats from my live location, but as we're looking here at the stage behind me we have been seen

inaugural staff putting bunting up around the stage. last- minute touches that really are a data point to just how quickly this event has come together after moving the inaugural parade inside or what was a parade inside to be a bit of a procession inside here at the capital one arena, so we do know that this arena accommodates about 20,000 people seated. is it going to be full? what i can tell you, getting in here this morning, before 6:00 a.m. , it's clear this are a lot of people flocking to the area, a lot of supporters, so it's not going to be because of demand if every seat that's full, people want to fill those seats, it will be a testament to the logistics, paering down credential folks to a

smaller event. people will start coming into the arena around 8:00 a.m. , several hours before events will take place. >> as we get closer to the inauguration of donald trump at the u.s. capitol, the message he'll plan to send to his supporters.

a spectacular view of chilly and snowy washington, d.c. , where events surrounding the inauguration of the 47th president of the united states are about to get under

way, it's all leading to u.s. capitol where mrengt donald trump will make history as the second former u.s. president ever to return to power following in the footsteps of grover cleveland taking the oath of office in the capitol rotunda during a very rare indoor inauguration prompted by concerns of dangerous cold weather, if you're just joining us, i'm jake tapper with cnn's special inauguration coverage. we'll get our first glimpse of president- elect trump and first lady melania as they kick off the pomp and ceremony, we expect president- elect trump to leave the presidential guest quarters at blair house which is just across the street from the white house just minutes from now, along with soon to be first lady melania and members of the trump family, once the family leavesleaves house, they'll take a brief drive through the city to attend a traditional inauguration

morning service at st. john's episcopal church. they'll head to the white house where the bidens will be waiting to host them for tea and coffee. reviving an inauguration tradition that didn't happen four years ago. demonstrating this inauguration is a peaceful transition of power. we're told they'll ride together to the u.s. capitol along with their wives for the inauguration which also has been tradition and didn't happen four years ago. kaitllin tell us where you're position.

this outside that determines who's going to be able to watch the inauguration in person. trump and vance will be sworn in , inside the rotunda. there are 750 seats that have been positioned in there, crammed is a better word because they are trying to get as many people as possible given there are simply dignitaries, vips, major donors to trump. i'm inside emancipation hall, there's about 1800 seats or so behind us, that is where you're going to see all of the other guests, who did not get a seat inside the rotunda hang out here but they will see trump in person. he will come over after he

delivered the inaugural address and speak to people. they will get a chance to see him but obviously things have changed so much because this is the first time in decades the inauguration has been held inside and set of outside and in terms of what we are looking at, as the modern presidential traditions that are being carried out today. one thing i learned as president biden does plan to leave president trump a letter in the oval office, obama did sort -- did so for trump. i'm told biden will leave trump a letter. of course, what it says, remains to be seen, jake. >> four years ago, president biden came down from the residence, into the oval office and opened up the drawer of the resolute desk and found a letter. he read it and told his aides it was surprisingly gracious. we will hear more about the letter that biden wrote trump perhaps later today. let's turn to pamela brown, she's outside st.

john's episcopal church where president trump is headed any minute. what can we expect from the service? >> we are expecting seem to be vice president jd vance and his family to arrive here for the service and soon-to-be president trump, melania trump and the entire family, i'm told by a source with that they will be arriving for this traditional inauguration day service. even though this is something many presidents in the past starting with roosevelt have done to start the day, there will be some differences today than what we saw eight years ago when trump came here for his first inauguration, there will be no sermon and the reverend, who will be leading the service did confirm that. obviously trump is expected to sit in the first row of the church which will be the first time in 92 years that will happen, according to reverend fisher. so that is certainly a change, no sermon, soon-to-be president trump will be sitting in the pert first

few. he said it would be to -- it would be a day of quiet reflection for inauguration day. that's what he wants with this traditional service this morning, and we will see if donald trump seems to come over this morning and take our questions. >> let's bring in jason miller who is now a senior advisor to the trump/vance transition, jason, welcome, in his first address, president trump painted a picture of what he called american carnage. what kind of tone, what kind of language will americans hear from him in his inaugural address today? >> jake, good morning. today

will be different from the aspect that president trump will begin laying out his plan of action, typically with inauguration speeches, you have the incoming president to give a lot of lofty rhetoric and empty promises that ultimately never are fulfilled, but we've seen what president trump can do already in his first four-year so only the second time in history we have returning president, so he will lay out the real challenges that are facing our country but he's going to immediately go into his solutions and his plan of action to fix it. that's the difference. more programmatic, talking about this revolution of common sense, so he will start signing executive orders, when he gets over to the capitol one arena he will sign more executive orders. this is about action, this will be unique from anything we've ever seen before. >> let's talk about the multiple executive orders, do you know how many you will be signing, exactly and what they will be specifically doing? i

understand the subjects about energy and the border, and the like, but can you be specific? >> i can go a little more specific, it's really about securing the border and also with the increase in energy production but some of these will be putting president trump's first term border policies back in place, successful policies like remain in mexico or stopping catch and release, those would be a couple of the big ones. we talked about opening up the permitting when it comes to energy production. there will be a number to go through and really reform government and get it back to its core function, getting rid of some of the dei and other woke nonsense that we've seen but again, if you like president trump's first policies, you will love what you see today.

we talked about deportations, 87% of americans approve of what president trump once to do, deporting illegal criminals, illegal aliens in this country, two thirds of american support has border policies overall. we know that there are 1.3 million people in this country illegally, already a process for deportation. we will focus on the criminal illegals that are here at it'll make our communities more safe. >> president biden, we learned that he's issued preemptive pardons for former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general milley, dr. fauci as well as members and staff of the january 6th select committee and law enforcement officers that testify before the committee. what is trump's reaction to that, and will he respect those pardons? >> jake i have not had a chance to speak with president trump about that but this is the day for the 77.3 million people who voted for president trump, he

one 312 electoral votes, we've had nothing but a disaster for the past four years with joe biden. we will have real leadership back and with president trump we've already seen the success of the middle east peace deal and everything he's been doing even before he's sworn in. let's talk about what we will start doing to improve people's lives and not about the disasters of the past four years. >> the president-elect is saying he plans to pardon some of the people convicted for their roles on january 6th today, he said, can you be more specific about that, will he pardon anyone convicted of violent offenses? >> that's not something i've been privy to. we've made very clear in the past that president trump has said that we will look through each of the cases individually and we

do not support anyone who's been violent towards law enforcement or things of that nature but there have been people who have been treated unfairly. we will leave that to the white house counsel's office as well as the doj. >> jason will you serve in the trump administration? >> my focus is to make sure we get the rest of the nominees through. i think the confirmation hearings last week were fantastic, we have a busy week coming up, and after we get our nominees through we will figure out what is next for me but i will still be part of the president's team. we will see what that looks like. >> good to see you, have fun today and congratulations. >> thank you, sir, i appreciate it. >> dana bash? >> i thought it was interesting that he did not weigh in at all

on what president biden did on his way out the door, that he said this is donald trump's day anyone at the focus on all the things that donald trump is doing, which is on trumpian -- >> it's smart by jason. >> i have to say and i hope i didn't disrupt you or distract you as you started to talk to him, i talked briefly to anthony fauci who got one of the pardons he said, he is appreciative of what president biden did, and he said it again and again and he's done nothing wrong but there are baseless accusations against him and his view and he's been worried about what it'll mean for him and even more so, for his family, and i just want to add one more thing as we're talking, i got a text from tim havey who ran the january 6th committee, he said the party came out of the blue but he understands the president's motivation in granting it. >> you see images of their house on the right side of your screen and any moment we expect president-elect trump and the first lady to come out of

there, not sure if we will actually see images of them given all the security but we are expecting them to depart blair house on the way to st. john's church. one of the things that unfortunately a pardon cannot do is stop the death threats that mark millie and his family and anthony that -- fauci and his family and members of the january 6th committee and the staff and the police officers are getting, and that is something that i think, it'll be great if this was the end of political violence against everyone, but that is one of the things that i think that is less discussed, when it comes to the demonizing of people like general milley. the idea that people, ever since they been named as enemies of donald trump, i'm not blaming donald trump for the threats, but once they're

perceived as enemies, donald trump's fans go after them, and it happens on the other side, too. >> it's a split screen experience, as it often is with donald trump. on the one hand you hear jason eller talking about what trump wants to be able to do on day one, that he promised to do in terms of policy and immigration and the economy and energy but on the other hand, there's this specter of retribution that he also promised, by the way. so both of these things are happening at the same time. the problem with elections, in a way, is you have voters who vote for a candidate and you have a candidate who says all kinds of things and you don't know which of those things are at the top of the list but i think we do know in this last election, americans want the president to come in and address their core needs survival, housing, food safety

and security, the other stuff that's actually related to donald trump, his personal grievances, i don't know how much of that they care about. i don't know how much they care about the government going after dr. fauci who served this country honorably for decades, general milley who served trump and the country honorably for decades. trump is playing both sides of this coin, and i do think it's important, even while jason didn't want to talk about it, you cannot ignore it because trump has promised, it and as tim said today, both sides of the january 6th picture are going to be on display if trump follows through on his promise to promise people who played a role in the insurrection . >> you never know what is bluster and what is strategic. donald trump, he said of all the hostages held by thomas if

they're not released by today, there would be quote unquote, to pay. now three of the hostages have been released, and it's wonderful that they are free but that is not all, there almost 100 hostages, -- >> but he would argue that there is a proposal on the table. but his promise was, all of the hostages have to be released or there will be hell to pay. i'm not saying take action but there's a difference in what he says and the policies. >> i think on the issue of retribution against certain groups of people, it's not just donald trump, we hear this from his allies on capitol hill, this is something that really should be taken seriously and we should think about what it means to have people who spend their

lifetimes serving and maybe you have policy disagreements with them and maybe they didn't do what you wanted them to do but there's a difference between that and crimes and that line is going to get blurred. >> boris sanchez is outside capital one arena, where trump's people are set to watch him in capital one arena, boris, what are you hearing from folks in the crowd there? >> jake, the line is starting to move faster and faster. some of these folks have been in this line for hours, it spans city blocks. capital one arena sits about 20,000 people. i'm here with noreen who's been in line for how many hours? >> 3 to 4. >> how are you dealing with the cold? >> i'm actually doing pretty good. >> what brought you out here to see the inaugural parade, how do you feel about it moving inside? >> i think it's good because

he just one of the people not to be cold but i'm excited for this time. it's a miracle that this is happening. and it's historic. >> how does it feel to be around so many folks that feel about donald trump the way you do? >> it's awesome, one guy had the music going, the ymca song, we were dancing to it and singing to it. but it's great. >> thanks for talking to us. we will see if we see the village people in there tonight. >> god bless you! >> actually we will throw it to anderson. >> we're back with the panel here, what is going on inside the white house in terms of the transition? a lot is happening. >> it's interesting. there are about 100 staff, these are housekeepers, butlers, ushers, and on moving day, they are in charge of moving the new president and his family and and the outgoing president and his family out.

>> from the time the biden sleeve in the vehicle, -- >> they have four hours. >> and they don't hire professional movers because of security risks. this is showtime for them. and i think with all of the news that so unprecedented, it's nice to see this quaint tradition that is still happening at the white house. >> everything like mattresses are moved out? >> yes. this will be easier for them because they know what the trump's like, they know the kind of shampoo they use, they want them to come in and have their toothbrush, toothpaste, on the bathroom counter, it's their home. and i interviewed many resident staffers and for many, it's about protecting the family. they are from one administration to the next, they are not partisan, it's this rare bastion of nonpartisanship in washington. and it's wonderful to see. i think the chief usher position

at the white house is becoming more partisan, they are the person whose like the general manager. and in the past, you have people like gary walters, rex scott, they were there from republican to democrats and served for decades and now we will see a transition. it's been something that has been changing, since the bush obama transition, where a new president comes in and pick their own person. >> david axelrod, when you made the transition with president obama, or you up and running right away? >> you have to be. we have the advantage of great cooperation from the bush administration. it was a very smooth transition. the biggest thing that was on our minds or one of the things in addition to everything else was there had been a serious terrorist threat against the inauguration the night before or the day before, and there was a real concern we might have to disperse this and we were expecting and we got a

couple of million people there. i had to write something for the president. he was going to read it, to disperse the crowd if he was tapped on the service by the secret service, my family was going off to the service at st. john's and i told him all i wanted to do was tell my wife and my son not to go because i was so worried but i was sworn to secrecy. and that was a tension that i didn't expect. that was a welcome to the nba moment. >> think about that in terms of the people running the government, how closely is the outgoing team cooperating with the incoming team on these big national security questions? and number 2, to kate's point -- >> we saw with israel negotiations, they did work hand in hand. >> president-elect trump publicly was saying one thing and his people were saying something else. to kate's point about the white house, the staff of the white house, they are magnificent people, so

on this day we will talk about politics and polarization and things that cause political the steps but we should celebrate the norms. you walk in for an interview with the president you bring your coffee in and you are about to put it down, they appear out of nowhere, popped the coaster underneath you because they treat it like a museum and they are remarkable people. it has become a little political and that's a shame because it's the people's house, it's not donald trump's house or joe biden's house, it's a national treasure and when you work there, every time you walk down the driveway, you look up and you say, wow. i live here. that's cool. >> we are seeing some of trump's family members enter the church. what we know about their role, moving forward. in the previous regime, there was ivanka trump and jared kushner who also had roles but that's not the case this time. >> you have seen that don jr.

and eric have had a hand in the campaign. even weighing in on jd vance as the choice for vice president, ivanka and jared said that they will remain on the outside. i'd be curious to see how involved don and eric are, if they end up moving to bc but i want to touch on one thing on the transition because agencies are going through it. we don't have confirmed cabinet picks for trump. a lot of folks from the biden administration will resign but you need continent of government. it's an interesting time because at agencies, things move slower. they won't have enough up or phones that are working but the west wing, the moment they walk in, senior staff has everything they need. >> while this is the second trump administration, it's the first time for most of these folks who are taking these jobs in the west wing, susie wiles, james blair, they've been around the president but not in the west wing. it's a

different environment, the way that susie wiles organizes the west wing, different colored passes, not as many people have walk in privileges, who's going to sit where, a little bit of palace intrigue, proximity is power in the white house, so who's going to sit in the broom closet close to the president is important, so some of those things are getting figured out right now. and those people are showing up to work for the first time this afternoon as well. it is going to change dramatically tomorrow because the rules of the game have changed starting tomorrow. >> you know , the national security piece, to me, is the smooth handoff between the two, and that example that you pointed to, of the middle east peace or cease-fire, it's really important. one thing that strikes me as mike walch, who's coming in as the national security advisor,

professional guy. then handoff is really important to the safety and security. >> the best advice is take care of the b team, people are going to be there, it's very easy when you first get there to think the people are the most important people who are above you but it's the custodians, secret service, by the way, the custodian were, the so-called genders, they are responsible for something called the burned bags when you leave, stuff comes off your desk and it has to be burned, it's the white house, you can't throw it away. those folks know a lot. the custodians know a lot about you and everybody else. be nice to everybody in the building because everybody can help or hurt you every day.

>> that is good advice in general. >> we were talking about things that get less attention which is the civil service class, and what the new administration is kind of thinking about. >> this goes back to the discussion we were having earlier about mandates and understanding what your mandate is . donald trump's mandate was actually a thing fairly limited, and it had to do with immigration and the border and it had to do with cost of living. those were the two things that really motivated voters. wall street journal had an interesting poll this week, many of the other policies, this notion of turning civil service jobs 50,000 of them, into political appointments, overturning a 150-year-old law, that is not popular . on this deportation issue, deporting people who have been long-term in this country, who paid taxes, ingrained in

communities, working, communities, working, that is not popular, deporting the dreamers, that's not popular. i mean there are a lot of elements of what he is talking about, pardoning the january 6th folks is not popular. and i think what you will see is a shock and awe pyrotechnics of executive orders and the goal is going to be to create shiny objects while you do these other things. >> anderson, let's go back to caitlin collins is on capitol hill. you have more reporting on president-elect trump's speech, tell us more. >> jake we will us into the speech, it'll have a lot of sweeping statements about the country and what they want to restore now that he has the power of the office, by the time he delivers that speech but also jake i've been talking to these officials who have been going into the white house in these various agencies

for the last two months, and one thing has emerged that has been clear is they've been working behind the scenes in this transition to what van and david were saying, time is finite and they only have four years that they will be in office this time around, obviously trump can't run again after this but they are looking at it in the first window of the first two years and really the first year in terms of accomplishing their priorities and making sure they get done what trump wants to get done this time around. a lot of people that you speak with him trump's orbit including those who have been here for eight years, they feel they stumbled out of the gate the first time he took office. so that's why partly, you are seeing so many executive orders being signed today but don't expect that pace to stop. this has been something trump has been talking about with john thune, they want congress here working, not on recess, they want them working late at night to confirm these cabinet nominees and you don't see a lot of recess when you look at the senate schedule for the next several months. that is one view they are going into the white house with this time

and they know they are coming in with not only high approval ratings, some of the highest he's ever had in his political career but also high expectations from the american voters who put him in this position again. he's been vowing to do things like bring down grocery prices and end the war in ukraine on day one, which would be today. you talk to the viruses and they say he wasn't being literal. but they do know those are big promises that he made. and i was listening to him last night in the final speech before he sworn in, he's not moderating his language publicly. yesterday he vowed to fix every single crisis facing the united states. >> kaitlan collins, at the capitol hill rotunda, thank you so much. abby, so, i've covered a bunch of these inaugurations but i think it's fair to say that security is tighter today than it has ever been just because of the increased

threats, we saw two assassination attempts on president-elect trump's life over the summer and there's a lot of very worried you are secret service agents. >> we are looking at the pictures outside of blair house, we are probably not going to see president trump and his family actually taking that walk over , so that is unusual because usually you would see the family, this is a secure area, everything between where we are and the white house, is completely secure, but still, that is going to be essentially shrouded, and you cannot think about this inauguration without knowing that the secret service, they are always dealing with threats but this time they're dealing with substantiated threats, to actual assassination attempts against this incoming president that has to be taken seriously,

and on the political front, you know, when you encounter trump supporters these days, just regular people, you get the sense of an almost messianic following around him, it used to be true for a sliver of people on the far right, i think it's now true to a lot more of the basin that has to do with what he endured, in the last year, that has changed the way that a lot of people who support his policies, see him, and we are not going to be able to capture that as much because it will be indoors and there won't be the crowds but the sense among just the regular people, who are making the journey here to washington this week, is that donald trump, their support for him is deeper now, in part, because of the fact that he survived as the pastor told me, that millimeter miller -- will -- millimeter miracle, that is something that

has only deepened their support for him and we will not see it physically as much now, but it's absolutely there. >> we are waiting for president-elect trump and the first lady to be to leave the blair house, looking at live images right now. that's the guest house, the presidential guesthouse which is across the street from the white house, and normally, i mean, the blair house, it is literally just steps away, it's basically just across the street from st. john's church. you could walk it in 15 to 20 seconds, but it's going to be shrouded in security. we don't even, you know, by the way, any u.s. secret service agent is dispatched , they would have the president never leave the office, if they could. we don't know what security, what role security played in the decision to keep the inauguration indoors today. i mean, we were told it was

because of the weather but i'm sure the you as secret service was happy with the news, dana? >> i want to go back to one of the things you are talking about about the trump base, and if you take it back eight years, two the famous statement that donald trump made about that base, which was at the time, i would say, 30 to 35% of the country, and there were so many people, but republicans and democrats, as donald trump embarked on a second run, asking, how is he going to expand that base? who do you see as supporting him that didn't support him before? we now have the answer, and that is a lot of people, and what is really extraordinary, honestly, in talking to people who have not only come here for the

inauguration, but who are excited about this trump term, second trump term, are people who really didn't support him the first time around. maybe he didn't even support him in his second run when he lost to joe biden but have become so disenchanted with the incumbent government, just as they have in democracies all around the globe whether they are liberal or conservative governments, they have come to very much support donald trump. it's not just been a vote against the incumbency, and anger vote, but support for what he says he's going to do on the economy, on immigration, on the big promises that he made. >> there's a process of normalization, the people feel a sense of, that they can support trump and be out loud about it. i live here in

washington. but this time, i actually traveled to washington yesterday in a plane full of trump supporters and they were wearing the hats and singing ymca, there is a sense that people can be out loud about this. just to pointed out, that is different. it was not like that in 2016, or 2020, but it's more like that now. >> i will note that ymca, one of the most misused quotable songs since born in the usa. the last time jamie, that the inauguration was indoors was 1985, right after the reelection of president ronald reagan, also anticipated to be bitter cold. tell us about that. >> please do not do the math, let's just call it hashtag 1985 when they didn't know what a hashtag was. yes, i was there, i covered it, it was

bitterly cold, it was about i think, 7 degrees, as i recall, but with the wind chill, something like -25. when the mac marching bands were practicing their instruments were literally breaking, i remember, i don't know if it was a trombone player or trumpet player, he dropped his instrument, and it cracked and broke. so there was no question that that had to move indoors. you know, just to go back to what you were talking about, about the secret service probably being happier that it was inside, that's true. as you say, they like to be able to control the situation as much as possible. i talked to a very senior secret service source last night, who said, you cannot imagine what the scramble is like at the last minute. they are prepared for it, but it takes a lot to change the plans. jake, we just

got another statement and from former capitol hill police officer harry dunn, who is included in the biden pardon as one of the witnesses to the january 6th committee, and he just texted me and he said, he is eternally grateful to president biden, and he goes on to say, i wish this pardon weren't necessary but unfortunately, the political climate we are in now, it has made the need for one somewhat of a reality. and i also spoke to several committee staffers . they were blindsided by this. they did not know it was coming. several of them have said to me before, we don't want one, we didn't do anything wrong but they do understand the protective blanket nature of it. someone asked why the only witnesses included in the biden pardon

were specifically the d.c. metropolitan police officers and capitol hill police officers and i spoke with someone familiar with it and what you have to remember is that the witnesses also included people like rudy giuliani, sidney powell, more than 30 of the witnesses took the fifth, these were people who were allies of trump, who might have some culpability, so, that's why you are not seeing cassidy hutchinson or sarah matthews, or greg jacob, the former vice president, mike pence is general counsel, included. they just didn't want to name every name, and so they limited it to this group, jake? >> let's go to elena.

>> we just saw some members of trump's family exit the blair house where they also stated last night. some of them i'm told, jared kushner and ivanka trump and we also sought to me trump and her husband, michael, so some of them are going to be, they have not yet departed for blair house but they have gotten into some of these black suvs i'm also told according to a source who is currently at st. john's church waiting for the services to begin that elon musk is in attendance, he is seated near donald trump's incoming national security advisor, mike waltz.

>> the modern tradition of attending a worship service began with fdr in 1933, anderson? >> pamela brown is waiting at st. john's church awaiting the president's arrival. >> we had police officers on motorcycle so we are expecting the soon to be vice president jd vance and his family to be arriving here shortly but so far we've seen some of president-elect trump's family arrived. of course, we expect more to arrive, including president-elect trump and his wife melania trump . as you can see, there's a lot of activity right now behind me. this is a much smaller crowd than what we saw eight years ago for trump's first inauguration. it's much more simple and

traditional in terms of the service. i'm told that trump's team wanted to go back to the traditional roots with no sermon when president roosevelt started this tradition, 92 years ago. i'm told the service will be based on morning prayer with psalms and other passages, no sermon and the opening hymn will be oh god our help. i spoke to the reverend at st. john's who said, the service today will be explicitly nonpartisan. he says he wants it to feel unifying, and a time of reflection and a time of peace i will step aside , we are expecting the soon to be vice president and his family to arrive here, it's the beginning of the day's festivities, and again, the point of this, is tradition, a continuation of tradition. the prayer service, returning to

its roots of 1933 when roosevelt began this tradition. it'll be a quick service, just about dirty minutes, and soon to be president donald trump will be sitting in the first row, the first pew, which is a break from tradition. typically presidents will sit in the presidential pew in the middle of the church but not today. we will keep an eye on when jd vance arrives, donald trump and his family for the service this morning. back to you. >> alayna treene is over at blair house, i understand there's about to be some portraits there? >> we did jesse baron trump , donald trump's son, exit blair house and get into some of the cars, you can see them situated right outside, where trump and members of his family are, first lady mel trump and soon-to-be president trump will be arriving soon. we are waiting to see when this will

depart but we are told it'll happen soon. >> they are a little bit behind schedule. alyssa, what role, when you think of faith and donald trump, he has quoted evangelical voters, he's got a lot of support, unclear exactly that faith plays. >> faith played a huge role for him in 2016 and he's never been someone that's an open practitioner of faith but i

think after the first assassination attempt, you saw him really talking more in terms of those of us who read our bibles and attend church. -- >> i the way that is the presidential motorcade. >> different vice president here, mike pence is not there as he was in 2015 and now we have jd vance. he is there as a conquering king returning to washington really with everyone under his thumb and how remarkable his comeback has been, it's unprecedented, to say the least. november 15, 2022, when he announced he would run again, very few lawmakers even showed up, now capitol hill is at his beck and call. >> there's a tradition of presidents signing the book inside the church. >> i think this is so

interesting, the juxtaposition of all of these traditional parts of our democracy, and with the most untraditional president we've ever had. i mean, in 1921, that was the first time that a departing president invited the incoming president and first lady to the white house, that was the wilson's inviting the hardings, and you know, just to see history playing out in this way, and to see these traditions being revisited, i think back to truman and eisenhower, and their icy ride to the white house. i'm so curious to see what the ride will be like. >> it's interesting, that he sits in the front row, this is the first time a president has sat in the front row, traditionally they didn't because in the beginning they were selling the pews in the front row two people who supported the church. lincoln sat in the back row and trump sat in the front row. >> people don't think he's a

man of faith, donald trump has faith in himself, and that's important, because i think, abby was mentioning, people are projecting onto him almost 8 messianic -- there is president-elect donald trump. >> there he is. and it's highly unlikely this man would be standing here, there are other scenarios where he could have been literally killed, imprisoned, instead, he's going into that church as the incoming president. >> this is the first time we are seeing both the lonnie a trump and president-elect trump, today. we saw him yesterday. the beginning of what will be a very long day for him, very exciting day. >> those of us who know trump they always wonder, is is he struck by these moments, because he's somebody who's lived a remarkable and different life, and i have to

wonder, you know, after the loss, after how he left washington dc, as a pariah, coming back and having lines outside the capital one arena, having lines outside of this church, if he's being struck by this moment. >> listen, the time i spent with the president one on one whether it's in the east or on air force one in the white house, he is struck by, he has mentioned the fact that the majesty of the presidency, the pomp and circumstance, you can't help be awed by all of those things. when you walk in the white house compound, you know, john king was talking about it, if you have a bad day, you look and it's the white house, stand next air force one, what it represents, when it lands on foreign soil, trump soaks that all in. >> he also, he's a guy, who, values the approbation of elites and so on, so you use the word conquering, he's

coming back in some ways as a conqueror, having been banished essentially from the capital four years ago. so all of this must be working through his head today. >> it's the greatest comeback in american political history. and so, my question is, humbled is not a word that you find in the same sentence as donald trump, but will he be humbled by this in any way? he does have a mandate, he has a mandate because the people of the united states, joe biden's mandate was to restore normalcy to washington and he didn't because of the cost of living, because of his own decline, because of how the country felt so the american people did something extraordinary, they put donald trump back in charge. the question is, does he over read his mandate? he's also inheriting the strongest economy in the world , just like he did from obama.

>> he may report that differently in his speech. >> but yes, he has a mandate to do border security, dramatic immigration reforms but does he overstep the line and make it mean and caustic? >> it's remarkable, thinking about the tradition of this day and how many presidents have walked through that door and had a service just like this. >> i'm thinking about that, and i'm also thinking about the last time that donald trump was at that church. it was june 1st, in 2020, and it was when there was tear gas in the air and he held the bible, upside down, and standing near him was general mark malley, who was in combat fatigues because he had been at an fbi combat center, and mark millie later said to the secretary of defense that he felt sick at the tableau and almost resigned in his letter

which he never sent, he said, you are using the military to create fear in the minds of the american people and we are trying to protect the american people. so, i wonder on a day like today, president trump has a lot to be proud of, i wonder, if he remembers 2020 or what the take away he might have from that moment would be, because the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, today that chairman just got a pardon from donald trump's successor. there are a lot of points that are very historical and very tragic that we see today, so yes, this is a rekindling of a tradition, that we are seeing today, not every american president has gone to this

church, some have worshiped at catholic churches, biden and president kennedy did, some didn't have a church service at all, next to did not have church services to begin his two inaugurations. but the fact is, there's more than the history today in that church, and i wonder, whether president trump reflects on that at all? >> david urban, what do you expect from the speech today? obviously, of the reporting, it seems like it'll be a different tone of the speech. >> we heard jason preview it earlier, hopefully it'll be more optimistic, a new day in america, but i can't help but think what the pardons that were just issued, how that will work its way into the speech somehow. and maybe turn the tone. >> do you think he brings that up with president biden, in the car ride? >> what have you been up to today? >> you know, you know who has

not been pardoned as of yet is the current president's brother, he's not mentioned in one of those, i think there are a few hours left still but i'm hopeful that president trump will strike and optimistic tone because as david and john said, america, the numbers were in a bad place, that's why trump was reelected. america, they are tired of being woke and broke. they want a new day and that's what they're hoping for. they don't want to look in the rearview mirror and they want to go forward, not backwards. >> has he learned the lessons of the first term? the american people turned on him in 2020 because they did not think he knew how to run the government at a time of national crisis, did he learn that?

>> on election night, he put up a map of all those red counties and all the red counties, the people want to see the grocery prices down -- >> exactly. >> exactly. >> you know, yesterday in the wall street journal there was a survey of economists who were predicting higher prices and higher interest rates, because of tariffs, because of deportation -- >> no, i remember clearly -- >> there is another element, that you will hear experts from, he calls for a revolution of common sense. i think part of the question around the mandate is to the dei policies go to for -- too far, what about the social issues, that will be a big thing for him -- >> title ix. >> these are the shiny objects i was talking about before, that he wants people to focus on and then there are these other things that he's going to do that are not popular, and he doesn't want them to focus on. >> the president-elect released

a cryptocurrency, a coin yesterday, -- >> obama didn't do that? >> and melania trump released her own today. >> i remember the discussions on that. >> they are commoditizing, it's not even, it's not thought of as normal. lee greenwood was talking his inaugural bibles , god bless the usa bibles, at the arena yesterday, on tv. this is something we have not seen before. >> the main point is interesting because the crypto industry really likes donald trump and they think he's going to be gangbusters for them but this did delegitimize and played into the most silly takes that people have about crypto, him putting this out and his wife doing the same. there was an initial blowback. >> marco rubio, gets confirmed today, the only cabinet member to be confirmed today and the

laken riley act, very important piece of legislation. >> let's check in with kaitlan collins. >> anderson, you just saw the incoming first lady, melania trump walking in with president-elect trump and one thing about her, she's preparing for her own return to the white house, obviously the role of first lady was something she bristled at, at times in the first administration. it was a role that she has acknowledged in interviews that had a lot of responsibilities, and things she had to take care of that most people don't know. this is something a lot of first ladies have experienced, there's an entire exhibit dedicated to them at the smithsonian and how different

first ladies have reshaped the role and it's fair to say melania trump certainly did that the first time around but she's really been preparing for this time around, i'm told, she's been doing a lot of studying and intensive preparation going into this administration, whether that is reading up on foreign affairs or making sure that she is steeped on what's happening in washington because obviously, she may be a quieter influence around the president-elect but she certainly one of the biggest influences, when you talk to people, they say really the only person who can change his mind on something, guaranteed, is melania trump. so to see her going into the church with him, she talks about how going into the white house this time around, she didn't even know how to move into the white house, the justice of picking furniture and where everything is going, she started doing that in advance this time around, after he won the election in november, she's been at our lago preparing for that. not just from trying to make good use of his team but also melania trump as well. we just learned, as far as the executive actions , 10 of them

are going to be related to one of his biggest priorities coming into office, that's immigration according to an incoming white house official. >> jake, back to you. >> i want to turn to republican senator katie britt of the great state of alabama, senator, good to hear from you. the president-elect hosted a dinner this weekend to talk about his plans for this week specifically, tell us what he had to say and how his second term night feel different than his first? >> first, there is a unity and excitement that i've never had an opportunity to experience, within the republican party. and you all were talking about this earlier, how he was envisioning this and the way he was approaching. he talked directly about the grace of god and saving his life in the assassination attempt, not just number 1 but number 2, you can tell, he is purposeful in what

he's going to do and what he believes he needs to accomplish for the american people, and he also understands, this time around, let's all come do this together, let's get on the same page, he's encouraging that and he's also making a great case that the american people expect that from him. i think it'll be an exciting day. i think he is going to make sure that america knows that it's a new day and the republican senators, and obviously the republicans in the house, the time for action is now and the time for unity on behalf of the american people to actually get things done here. so it's exciting and certainly as many people have noted, it's a bit of a different approach from before. just a different life

experience to the ticket, they are unified, jd vance and he has been working diligently with his former colleagues, with all of us, making sure that we are ready to go on day one. getting the lake and riley act passed. >> i know you are on the hill, about to go into the rotunda , you get a good seat there, as a senator, but the president and his team, they've been filling and lawmakers such as yourself about the executive orders that he plans to sign today i know immigration is a big priority for you, toughening up the border, trump's team is promising what they call shock and awe, what specifically do you expect to happen this week? >> you know, we don't have specifics about how he plans to execute but what he made sure that we understood was that he

heard the american people, as he's traveled around, during the campaign, and even sent that huge verdict that was issued on november fifth saying we want action and we want results. he knows that the american people expect him to do something about this, he knows he has a limited window to do that, and he's been smart and strategic about thinking through what he was able to achieve last time, he learned where roadblocks are and he knows kind of how the system works, and i think he is better ready and prepared to be able to achieve results on the border quickly. he wants to make sure that we put the safety and security of americans first, so i think you will see, what he learned from

the last administration and where he understood the roadblocks to be. i think he will definitely lean into that today, and promises made, promises kept. and america will be safer as a result, no doubt. >> senator, we will let you go and enjoy the inauguration, congratulations to you and your party on a big day. >> thank you so much, jay, i appreciate it. a lot of work to do and i look forward to coming back on and talking about it. >> mj, what more are you learning about president biden's waning hours in office? >> jake, soon we are going to see the ceremonial aspects of inauguration morning migrate here, to the white house. the bidens of course, will host the trump's for tea at the white house, before the two couples get in the motorcade together and take the short ride together over to capitol hill, and in talking to white house officials familiar with the planning, i am told that all of these traditions, which we have to point out again, were traditions and courtesies that donald trump refused to offer to then incoming president joe biden four years ago, that these were not traditions that at any point president biden thought about, basically blowing off, because he believes that these traditions

are important, he wanted to make sure that all of these things are basically done by the book. all of that reporting, talking to sources in recent days and desks, the president is in a dark space when it comes to his headspace, in these final days, we are told that he never really stopped feeling angry about the fact that he believes that he was forced out, his pressure campaign to drop out of the 2024 race, and especially when harris was defeated by trump, he has grown increasingly bitter, we are told by sources, at the blame that he has gotten for donald trump's eventual return to the white house. stayed in the race, he would have defeated donald trump. again, now, all of this adds up to, i would say, a mood

of sadness and sort of this sense of tragedy here at the white house, those around him believing and actually hoping that when history judges president biden years from now, that it will be a little bit more forgiving than how the president is being widely judged at least today. jake? >> thanks, mj. what you're look at is the still photograph just released from president- elect trump and first lady to be melania trump inside st. john's church. you see their son barron standing behind the first lady to be. you see jared kushner sitting in one of the pews. other members of the trump family sitting there in the pews. the church service is a tradition going on in this country since fdr began inauguration day in 1933. not every president has done it at st. john's church. but it is a time honored tradition, dana bash. >> and that's quite a picture.

you see the soon to be president again coming in with his wife melania and barron who was quite small. >> 10 years old. >> 10 years old and now he's the opposite of small. >> he's a college student at, i believe he's at nyu, a freshman at nyu. >> and with jared kushner and ivanka, his wife, and there you see a different picture. >> let's put back the one we just -- you just popped up, the one with president trump there. president- elect trump with vice president-elect jd vance sitting in the pews, the vice president, a member of the millennial generation. donald trump's completely skipping over gen x, going right to the millennials. >> can i make one other point, if we go back to -- sorry, control room, we're driving you crazy, the fact is that eight years ago, ivanka and jared were going into the white house. this time they have made it very clear they are going to

be members of the first family, and they are not going to officially go into the white house. she talked very openly about how difficult it was. >> you see right there in between jd vance, the vice president-elect and the president- elect is usha vance, the incoming second lady. it looks like she is smiling at first lady to be melania trump, smiling back and forth and on the right side of the screen, the first couple's son who is a college freshman. >> this trump family, as dana was pointing out, the last time around too, two members of the trump family came into the white house in official positions, but one of the differences now also is that you have the two other sons, eric and don jr. who are playing really an outsized role in trump's political life. and even if they may not ever come to washington, come into the white house, they are key members of the trump inner

circle. he said to his son don jr. , don jr. went on a trip to greenland as trump was talking about wanting to buy greenland and i think that the trump family being this kind of unit which is both now official and also they have enormous private businesses that are global in nature is extraordinarily unusual. they're all gathered here in this church, but this family unit that is involved of both in the public and the private is a feature of trump world, and one that i think the country will be getting very accustomed to over the next four years. >> jamie gangel can talk more about the decision of jared kushner and the first daughter, ivanka trump kushner to not enter the white house this time as they did last time. jamie? >> as dana said, look, we know they played very large roles in the first trump administration.

and they have said they're staying out officially. that said, i think it is very important to not underestimate the influence the two of them have. jared kushner's father is now the ambassador -- will be after confirmation -- he's the nominee to be the ambassador to france. and ivanka trump, sources close to both of them, have told me that behind the scenes, they are both still playing a large role, that jared is quite active, he weighs in on staffing, appointments, policy, and that ivanka speaks to her father very often, and that she will weigh in as well. so, they, you know, they won't have offices there. but they will be weighing in,

jake. >> and we're going to do a lot of substance today and a lot of -- >> there is another picture of the inside of st. john's church and you can see there, ivanka trump, the first daughter, also you see eric trump, and lara trump a few pews back. >> marco rubio. >> senator marco rubio, the secretary of state to be. we believe he his confirmation will take place today. he'll be the first member of the trump administration to be confirmed by the senate. i don't know if he's going to be confirmed unanimously, but i do anticipate it will be a very overwhelming vote of support, marco rubio, into the u.s. senate. >> as i was saying, we're going to do a lot of substance, but i don't know about you, the texts i'm getting the most about is melania and the soon to be first lady again and i just want to say, i don't know -- >> about what she's wearing. >> about what she's wearing because she has used

her fashion to send messages really for eight years. >> there she is, walking in. >> the last time -- >> video from earlier today. >> donald trump was elected, she had a jackie o. look going. this is definitely not a jackie o. -- i guess jackie kennedy look. not even close. making some statement. >> the number of texts i'm getting about what melania trump is wearing is zero, but -- >> look, one of the things about melania trump as a first lady, she is honestly tried to be a kind of unconventional first lady. she did not play much of a role in the president- elect's campaign. some of that perhaps could have been because -- for personal reasons, her mother passed away a year ago now. so this last year was a difficult personal year for her. but in recent weeks, she has come out, she's put out a memoir, she announced a $40 million movie deal with amazon, she has said publicly

that she plans to stand on her own two feet. i think she is -- she said some of this, she wants to push back on the people who think that she is just a silent person by her husband's side, and she is going back into the white house despite some questions about whether she would move back to washington if he won. she is coming back to the white house and she has been very outspoken that she wants to do it in her way, to have her own opinion, to have staff who work for her, who are loyal, in the past some of her staffers have changed their view on her and have spoken out against her since leaving the white house. so, this is a very, i think, potentially very consequential first lady. we know donald trump listens to her. she offers her advice and counsel. but she also understands him well and is very clear on the degree to which he listens to her, but he's his own person

as well. >> here is another picture from inside st. john's church. you see there from left to right, vice president- elect jd vance and his wife the incoming second lady usha vance, president- elect trump, first lady melania trump, barron trump and other members of the trump family scattered throughout the pews. there is an image of ivanka trump and her family as well as eric trump couple of pews behind as well. kaitlan collins, we are anticipating after this church service, there will be a procession of the president- elect and vice president- elect, their spouses visiting the white house and the trumps will be hosted by outgoing president and first lady, the bidens, for tea and coffee. >> yeah, a tradition, jake, we did not observe four years ago, of course, because trauma and melania skipped joe biden's inauguration. we're looking at st.

john's church now. i've been in there several times it is a very small church once you're inside the room. there is a bit of of a balcony where guests can be seated upstairs and essentially every seat in that church is filled right now for this service. and, jake, there are some notable names in there you can see that are not just in those pictures that you showed where it is the cabinet officials, of course, you expect marco rubio, pete hegseth, and all of the officials who are going to be staffing trump to be inside that room. there is also people that you couldn't have imagined being in there four years ago or eight years ago. and that is some of the top tech executives in this country including tim cook, jeff bezos, and mark zuckerberg. i'm told they're all inside the room for the church service this morning. and what that speaks to, jake, is just how different things are this time around. four years ago, a lot of these were companies that were issuing statements condemning january 6th and trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. now that he has won, and not only won the election, but also won the popular vote, which is a key dynamic as you're

thinking about trump coming back to washington, and certainly in the way he's viewing it, is the access of influence around him. and these are three people who have been in addition to others certainly who made the trip to mar-a- lago have been at all of these balls, and are also working to really curry favor with the incoming administration. >> all right, kaitlan collins, thanks so much. let's go inside the capital one arena, where we find our own cnn anchor brianna keilar. as trump supporters, the american people start to trickle in to the arena for the inauguration viewing event, what are you hearing about what they're actually going to be able to see from inside the arena? >> reporter: there is going to be a parade which is actually news to a lot of the people who were initially trickling in and then kind of flooding in and then running for the seats because these very good seats here on the floor were actually first come, first serve. there is going to be a parade, we're told. drastically paired back

from what it was going to be outside. but there are going to be marching bands in here. how is that going to work? it is sort of -- you have to imagine how it might work, but there is actually quite a bit of floor space that is open. it is difficult to see. but the stage and the chairs behind me only take up about half of that. and the folks who are in here, who are filling up the capital one center, when i asked them about that, they didn't know. they're here to hear donald trump, they are very excited about that, but they're also very excited about seeing any festivities they can see and they have been waiting so long, jake. i talked to some folks who said that they gathered at 4:15 a.m. i thought that was pretty early, that's pretty cold. it is freezing. it is below freezing here in washington, d.c. but i spoke to some folks from florida who so far have taken the cake when it comes to this, a woman who was up at 9:30 p.m. last night, a couple of guys who were -- started waiting around midnight to get in here. those are the folks who

are sitting in the very front rows. that's what it takes. they have been up and they have been out for hours in this very, very cold weather to get the best seats in the house, jake. >> all right, briana, thank you so much. it was the inauguration of 1841 where president william henry harrison gave a long inaugural address amidst the cold, wet weather, and caught a cold himself and died of pneumonia days later. the weather here in d.c. during an inauguration can be very, very challenging. and bitter cold temperatures here in d.c. today have clearly reshaped president- elect trump's inauguration festivities and the inaugural itself. cnn meteorologist derek van dam is monitoring it all for us. will today go down as one of the coldest inauguration days in history? let's take that back. and dana bash, i mean, it is

not a small thing that president biden is hosting president- elect trump. president trump did not do the same for him four years ago. first lady melania trump, pardon me, did not do the same for first lady jill biden four years ago and nonetheless the bidens are doing it for them. >> there are so many contradictions happening this morning. on the one hand, you have president biden, as you said, continuing to do things for donald trump that were not afforded to biden from trump. and met right after the election in the white house, and having traditional meetings, the tea, the ride over to the white house. and that is joe biden's commitment to showing the world that democracy still works, that a real peaceful transition

of power is still possible in the united states of america, and yet he began his last morning in office, protectively pardoning people who he is worried that donald trump will go after in a way that is perhaps not in keach keeping with what a president of a democracy should or would do. and so that is -- those are the twin contradictory realities and dynamics that these men are facing as they face one another. >> let's -- we're looking at on the right side of the screen st. john's church, inside there president-elect trump standing there. if you look closely in the middle of the screen, back toward the stained glass, you'll see a face that looks a lot like meta ceo mark zuckerberg. the genuflecting by tech ceos coming to donald trump hat

in hand, wanting to make friends with the new administration, has been something to behold. is that joe rogan to the right? >> tim cook -- >> looks like joe rogan to the right the bottom of the screen there, eric trump obviously, his wife lara trump, their attorney general nominee pam bondi also in that shot, which for some reason they just broke away from even though i was talking about it. abby phillip. >> the first -- to touch on what dana was saying, donald trump has always been the beneficiary of american traditions, and people around him honoring american traditions and today is one more example of that, even when he does quite a few things to try to tear down those very traditions. then the second thing on the folks who are in that church, we are about to enter an incredibly consequential era for this country and donald trump knows that. the question is how is it going to go? the reason those folks --

>> here is president joe biden, first lady jill biden, this is the white house. they are expecting president- elect trump and first lady to be melania trump. they are hosting them, inviting them for coffee and tea. they will be in the blue room of the white house after which the current first couple, the bidens will depart and they will go back to delaware, we're expecting that to be the beast, containing president- elect donald trump and first lady to be -- oh, this is vice president harris, i'm being told. vice president kamala harris and doug emhoff, the second gentleman. so we're expecting them to come out, they did not host the vances at the vice presidential residence at the naval observatory. there are the vances now leaving the church.

vice president- elect jd vance and usha vance. and here we see the vice president -- outgoing vice president and second gentleman vice president of vice president kamala harris and second gentleman doug emhoff with the bidens, a long complicated history of the two families. and after biden dropped out of the presidential race on july 21st, vice president harris became the nominee. and there has been all sorts of awkward back and forth about whether or not he could have won instead of her, hopefully they are not thinking about that right now. this is a moment in history. >> and what a moment it is. she was hoping that she would be the one coming from the church service on the way to her inauguration. and instead she is the outgoing vice president. >> yeah, i mean, but, you know, just to emphasize, i

mean, this is what this country is supposed to be able to do. the sitting vice president ran against someone who was the president, lost, and is there at the white house to welcome him and his wife and family into the people's house. and this is all very symbolic, but it is extremely important because this process is what distinguishes the united states from a lot of other parts of the world. and it is done hand and glove, the outgoing with the incoming, there is a turnover, so that there is a seamless transition for the american people at all levels of government. and we can -- there is a lot of bad feeling in the country right now. a lot of feelings of vindication and retribution on the right. of anger and disappointment on the left. but we should sit here and remember that once the election is over, this is the moment

that makes us an american democracy. >> and when you go back to just the inaugural, people here at cnn have covered, you remember jimmy carter hosting the reagans in 1981 after a bitterly fought election, and you remember all of the tough election fights, even if somebody didn't run against directly, for instance, george w. bush didn't run directly against bill clinton, but his election was in many ways a repudiation of bill clinton and his campaign was. still, this tradition that you speak of abby endures as an important one to show the american people that at the end of the day, we all are american people. we are more than just rivalrival parties or systems of belief. we are together americans. this was something denied the american people four years ago. it is good to see it again today. >> deny the american people and deny president biden and

the first lady and their administration. and as much as this is a moment to behold, to celebrate as part of the tradition of america, it can't be forgotten what happened four years ago, won't dwell on it, but we have to remember it, because it is part of history. >> and can't happen again. i think that's one of the important parts of the reminder of what we're watching now with these important traditions, celebrating and representing the peaceful transfer of power. this was not the result that joe biden wanted. this was not the result that kamala harris wanted. and yet they are respecting the will of the american people which is that donald trump legally, lawfully, and with no credible evidence of anything untoward was elected overwhelming by the american people. >> say what you will good joe biden's policies, his decisions while in office. this is a man who spent 50

years in public life, we're looking at pictures here of mark zuckerberg, tim cook, jeff bezos sitting next to each other, it looks like, by the image, inside of st. john's church. as this church ceremony is ongoing there, it is not open to the press, but we're seeing a few images trickl ing out. >> this is in his final speech, joe biden referred to as the tech industrial complex. >> i was saying earlier about these guys here -- >> because i don't know that everybody -- we should just note, so, mark zuckerberg, the ceo and founder of facebook or meta, tim cook, only see the top of his head there, he's the head of apple, jeff bezos, on the right there, the bald guy, looking to his side, he is the ceo of amazon. amazon, which we should note, has a multimillion dollar documentary deal with first lady -- incoming first lady melania trump who is coming out of the

church now, st. john's church with president- elect trump. they are going to go back to blair house and after that there will be a procession to the white house where the trumps will greet -- the bidens will greet the trumps and welcome them back to the white house. >> this era for the country, the next four years, is going to be pivotal. those gentlemen are in the church and several other tech leaders are in washington because as a globe, we're dealing with the development of artificial intelligence and that man, right there on the screen, the incoming president of the united states, is going to be one of the most pivotal players in determining how that develops. this is going to be transformational for the globe, for the economy, and donald trump understands that he has that power. he has welcomed them in, but they're not all holding hands necessarily, okay. they are in ition with one another.

they're trying to obtain government contracts and it is important for, you know, the private sector to have a role, but there is concern about unfettered power, of people who have profit motive, that are different from the needs and the best interests of the american people. >> and that is really the key. the about face of pretty much all of those tech leaders, those tech giants, among the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world being not just in that church, being at all of these events, hosting events, giving a lot of money for this inauguration, changing in the case of mark zuckerberg in particular entirely the way that he and his platform, which is incredibly influential, are approaching things like freedom of speech, things like fact checking, in a way that is

going to please and -- intended to please donald trump and that's the entire reason that he is doing it. he's trying to keep up with the times and these are trump times. it is also about self-preservation and makingmaking sure he is not the target and a lot of these guys are not the target of donald trump as trump has warned. >> let's go to pamela brown, who was outside st. john's church, and also was able to hear some of what took place inside. pamela? >> reporter: yeah, so, jake, just feet from me is a suburban where incoming president trump and incoming first lady melania trump are sitting. they just left this service here at st. john's. i was able to shout to donald trump and ask him how he was feeling today and he said very good as he opened the door to allow his wife melania trump to go inside the suburban. so, he didn't answer other questions. we did ask about what he

thought about the pardons from president biden today. of course, as you know, he is going to the white house to have tea and coffee with president biden and first lady jill biden. that should be interesting in the wake of those preemptive pardons. but there is lots of family members inside from the trump family, ivanka, eric trump, don jr. and we know elon musk inside as well. dana white inside. and mark zuckerberg, tim cook, some of these tech executives who we have seen try to curry favor with donald trump this time around, this is certainly a different inauguration for donald trump than it was eight years ago. i asked him about that, how it felt different, he didn't answer that question. but he did say he is feeling very good today. jake? >> yeah, if i could just before i throw it to anderson bring back the photograph of the tech bros inside st. john's church. one other thing i want to show, so we see mark zuckerberg on

the left with the curly hair, ceo of meta, tim cook, his face is blocked, white hair, ceo of apple, jeff bezos on the right there, the bald gentleman looking look ing his right, the ceo of amazon, the gentleman behind mark zuckerberg, the ceo of google, sunder pichai. with those four people and elon musk from twitter or x, those five people that i just mentioned, the four in the photograph and also elon musk, control so much of the information that we receive, so much is in their hands when it comes to ascertaining, monitoring, or refusing to monitor what is real, what is not real, and we're about to enter an era of deepfakes, and all sorts of misinformation and the degree to which those five gentleman play a role or do not play a role will be pivotal in terms of where the

american people are four years from now, in terms of understanding -- in terms of understanding what is true and what is false. >> you said we. not just talking about we, the united states, you're talking about the world. all the human beings on the planet, they control access to information. they're the gatekeepers in many ways to information for the entire planet. van, you had thoughts seeing that picture of all of them. >> look, that picture is going to be historic. i call it the revenge of the nerds. don't forget, all four of those gentlemen, four years ago, were supporting the democratic party. untold story here is how the democrats go from four years ago to having the white house, the senate, the house and silicon valley to now all four are in the hands of donald trump. this is not the brilliance of donald trump alone. amazing political -- of donald trump alone.

the biden administration pushed out the tech sector by having a view that all crypto is a scam and all big business is bad. and what happened is those folks went begging to donald trump, donald trump, to the biden administration, would you please put crypto, just give us rules, regulations, clarity, we'll do a good job. the biden administration never gave them clear rules. but instead would do a regulation by enforcement. it drove -- sued them, sued them, sued them. drove them nuts. elon musk was an andrew yang democrat. when joe biden did his ev summit, he left him out. there were so many unforced errors on the part of the biden administration, but i'm a california democrat, i'm an innovation first democrat, those four are all our folks who got pushed out of our party because we didn't have an innovation first approach from the biden white house and we're now paying the price.

not just that we lost the white house, the house, the senate, we lost silicon valley in the past four years, and you got nobody to blame but us. >> there is a point well taken. there is another element, though, to this, which is donald trump has made very clear that he is willing to use the regulatory power, the power of the justice department, all levers of power to reward allies and friends, punish enemies, and that has brought a lot of the business community to heel. one of the hindrances that democrats have is they believe in rules and laws and norms and institutions. that is an advantage in this -- >> it is two things can be true at the same time. on the one hand -- >> i want to point out, this is the president- elect's motorcade on the move from st. john's church going to blair house. >> on the one hand, any business would be happy to have no

taxes and no regulation, that's built into the thing and republicans seem to benefit from that. but the other thing that is true is that democrats used to take bill clinton took care of silicon valley. you would expect kamala harris being the democrat to take care of silicon valley. we didn't do it so we're paying the price in a way that i think is going to -- >> in that room, by the way, st. john's church, that represents the most powerful room on the planet. you have all the titans of the tech sector and the incoming president of the united states and democrats are there flailing determining who their next leader is, who is their boogie man? is it trump? biden teased this by talking about the corporate oligarchy and the tech industrial complex. he's identifying something smart, but it goes back to the point, who in union hall is talking about the corporate oligarchy or the tech industrial sector? it underscores what democrats miss in this election so much, which is we're not -- you're not talking like normal people, not talking the way that donald trump is able to actually for whatever reason communicate to people better. >> just saw the

motorcade arriving back at blair house. check in with mj lee at the white house. >> reporter: anderson, this is very, very final last moments at the white house, of course. for president biden and first lady jill biden, if you look on your screen there, they posted what i think might be their last selfie here at the white house. jill biden posting this with just the caption one final photo. watching these images and thinking about just everything we have heard from our sources and our reporting in recent days, you cannot help but think about just the road not taken for president biden and that road, of course, is president biden, not running for a second term, and kamala harris or perhaps a different democrat getting the full runway to run a full robust campaign, and obviously as democrats had hoped, donald trump not getting that second term back into office, and president biden being celebrated in a different way for all of his

accomplishments. when you talk to even the president's allies, some of the former aides and those who fully supported him during his first term, there is a lot of anger for the promises that president biden reneged on. that, of course, starts with the decision to run for a second term, even though he had initially promised he would be a transition and a bridge candidate. and then the decision recently to pardon his son hunter after repeatedly having said that he wouldn't do so because he believes in the integrity of the issue system. and then, of course, this morning, the preemptive pardons of people that president biden believed would be pursued by the president. that potential erosion in trust in the judicial system that could be sparked by president biden's decision, president biden, who has called himself his entire career as an

institutionalist, somebody who defends the judicial system. i think the irony of that potential is very hard for some of his very own supporters to accept and clearly is a reality of how much in big ways his last final days and moments in office and in his presidency, how they have really been tarnished at the end. >> mj, thank you very much. you're seeing the vice president kamala harris, first gentleman doug emhoff, they are going to be receiving vice president- elect jd vance and his wife. we have seen that trump's returning to blair house, they will soon be received by president biden and jill biden. the relationship, obviously this is a fascinating moment, the relationship between president biden and president- elect trump, it is just going to

be fascinating to see. >> that was strange here. there is no relationship. the vice president did not invite the vice president- elect to the naval observatory, the tradition. i think this will perhaps be their -- >> let's listen in. >> first meeting. >> stopping for a photo. >> i was going to say, you know, you remember jd vance during the tim walz -- during the vice presidential debate, everyone was kind of expecting to see this kind of pugilistic vice presidential nominee and jd

vance comes out, he was so kind and genteel and nice and a different kind of guy. and, you know, i'm sure that's the vice president- elect who is walking in there, not someone holding a grudge, but -- >> is it just me or does that feel luke ike a thousand years ago, that debate? >> a few weeks ago. we have been through a lot of bronco chases and slow car rides through manhattan. >> so amazing is how young jd vance is. >> a millennial vp. >> a 40-year-old. >> think of the arc of jd vance. >> we're seeing inside the capitol rotunda where the nougs inauguration is going to take place. >> a different scene than a four years ago. >> let's think about jd vance, a guy who is left his mom, who had a substance abuse issues, raised by his grandmother, graduated from high school, didn't have

a future, enlisted in the marine corps. >> the lincoln combined choir inside the rotunda. >> true american success. >> true american arc. his mom spoke the other night, an incredible story in america to celebrate that. >> two success stories there. the other one is kamala harris. and i just want to give her her due. she also came from humble beginnings, humble background, fought to be the first woman of color d.a. , attorney general, senator, vice president, and when the time was dropped, she picked it up, and a lot of people stood with her and believed in her and she has shown at least today the grace to stand there, she is the person who -- donald trump is now president of the united states. >> i'm sorry, please. one of the things that -- when you mentioned jd vance and how young he is, we have a one-

term president here, donald trump can't run again. and so, the question is does vance become the inheritor of a movement that is vibrant that he can carry forward? he has more at stake in what happens in the next four years than trump himself. >> and it will be a very interesting dynamic to watch unfold. because donald trump has two years to enact his agenda until the midterms. you would expect democrats to win back the house. at that point, jd vance who is going to start thinking about his political future, something donald trump doesn't love, is when his vp may be campaigning or thinking about the next big thing. ♪ ♪ i'm not hearing -- ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪÷÷ this is the sound of one voice ♪ ♪÷÷ this is the sound of one voice ♪ ♪÷÷ this is the sound of one voice ♪ ♪÷÷ one people one voice ♪

♪÷÷ this is the sound of one voice ♪ ♪÷÷ this is the sound of one voice ♪ ♪÷÷ this is the sound of one voice ♪ ♪÷÷ this is the sound of one voice ♪ ♪÷÷ this is the sound of one voice ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ this is the sound

this is the sound of one voice ♪ ♪÷÷ this is the sound of one voice ♪ ♪÷÷ this is the sound of one voice ♪ ♪÷÷ this is the sound of one voice ♪ ♪÷÷ this is the sound of one voice ♪ [ applause ] >> that was the university of nebraska- lincoln combined choirs. david axelrod, in terms of immigration, we're hearing more about what some of the actions that may be taken today. >> yeah, including ending birth right citizenship, which flows from the 14th

amendment of the constitution. this idea that if you're born in this country, you're a citizen of this country. and a lot of this is going to be contested. so, you're going to see a package of proposals using the military at the border, so on, that they're going to be legal questions raised. that one in particular is going to be contested. >> some of this is for, i mean, the sweeping nature of it, some of it is just to say they tried to -- >> this is shock and awe. this is the shock and awe. i think they want to be as audacious as they can be. this say proposal that 2 to 1 the american people don't support. so this is chump for the base. >> i think a lot of this will stir discussion. just like trump's proposal on greenland that people are talking about all over the

world. the birth right citizenship, is it right if you come this country illegally and have a kid here, i understand that what the law says, but a lot of across america they don't think that's right. >> some is deeply popular, an emergency at the border that will free up funds to address and calling cartels, that opens up ways we can respond. but to the point of any trump presidency, there is always things that are very much in line with what the people asked him to do and things that become a woeful distraction and can bog him down and take him away from executing what they wanted him to do. >> check in with kaitlan collins. >> reporter: just to give you a sense of what we're looking at, given this is such a rare thing we almost rarely see in our nation's history, which is an indoor inauguration. and what you're looking at right now is something that was put together just in a matter of days. this was the rotunda of the capitol. the main centerpiece of the capitol when you remember and look at the iconic

images of the washington sky line. in this rotunda is where heads of former presidents have lane in state, dignitaries have as well. it is a very solemn but grand space they're holding this inauguration and you can see the stage there and the few chairs around where president- elect trump will take the oath of office and be sworn in. he'll be sworn in by the chief justice of the united states supreme court, john roberts. jd vance will be sworn in by justice brett kavanaugh. two figures that have played critical roles in trump's presidency and what it looks like from the first time around to eight years later. in those seats, about 750 chairs, ased on what i heard from someone i talked to this morning when we were coming in and looking at what this was going to look like, it is going to be filled with supreme court justices, senior congressional leadership, members of trump's cabinet, he hopes, if they get confirmed by those lawmakers on capitol hill, and some of the biggest vips that are going to be showing up at this

inauguration here. of course, we're looking at a lot of trump's family that is in town with him. also his former vice president, mike pence, is going to be in that rotunda. and that will be one of the most fascinating moments in a day filled with them, what it looks like to see mike pence and donald trump in that rotunda together for the first time. of course, the famous place where pence was four years ago on one of the darkest days that rotunda has seen as it was filled with trump supporters who had attacked the capitol and broke inside. that all seems like so far away, thinking it is four years ago. the memories will still echo throughout that during that ceremony today. so, trump's children will be seated in there, you saw lara trump walking in who co- chaired the republican committee during this convention. but looking at that rotunda on january 6th, remember we heard from andy kim, brand- new on capitol hill, when january 6th happened, he said he didn't know what to do that day, he was at a loss for words and he said

at the democratic convention, you got a trash bag and started picking up trash, picking up track in the halls of congress because of what happened to it on that day. obviously the scene is very different with ivanka trump and jared kushner, tiffany trump and her husband as well, all entering the rotunda for this moment. we're here at emancipation hall, not far from where you see everyone walking into the doors right now, and there is a slew of trump aides entering the doors behind them, emancipation hall is filled with notable figures, eric adams is here, his comes director said he was just invited a few hours ago, earlier this morning, and obviously met with trump at mar-a- lago, not too long ago, and word he is hoping for a pardon for his own legal troubles. there is donald trump jr. entering the building with his secret service as well. also, it says something about who else is invited here. i've seen logan and jake paul and also conor mcgregor here. all of these figures that are often with trump at events

he's held during the campaign, or certainly some of his biggest allies and maga media as they tried to use alternative forms of media in this campaign. just seeing who is in the room for this, especially when they had to narrow it down because it is happening indoors does speak to who has had the most influence and could have the most influence on this second trump term. there is marine one sitting outside the east front of the capitol. that is what will take president biden to joint base andrews after this is over and then he's going on to a vacation in california. and will no longer be on a plane designated as air force one. >> what is fascinating is there was a lot of discussion about who would be seated inside the rotunda, given the limited seating. no longer outdoors. when you think about who is seated inside st. john's church, which is smaller, the fact that jeff bezos, tim cook, all the

tech titans were in that room, including joe rogan as well, it really gives you -- that wasn't by accident. that wasn't because they are so close to donald trump. donald trump, the president- elect, is sending a message by having them in that inner sanctum if you will, clearly they will be in the rotunda as well. >> i asked trump allies, how does he feel about these these tech executives coming to mar-a- lago, singing his praises, you know, mark zuckerberg, heavily critical of the biden administration during a podcast with joe rogan, also inside that church today, bringing everything full circle, and, you know, i asked do they believe that their support and their 108 they have done on trump for many of them is genuine? it has kind of split the maga universe in a fascinating way. it will be something to watch and i'll be watching as trump takes office, steve bannon, obviously, a powerful voice in the maga world, a senior adviser to trump the last

time he was in the white house has been heavily critical of mark zuckerberg and said he doesn't believe his support of trump is genuine, that it is just very clearly beneficial to him. that will be interesting to see how trump handles that. and how he wields that. because i think what a lot of them have watched and are trying to emulate is the ultimate person who has curried the most favor with trump and that's elon musk. the only person he brought on stage with him yesterday at that rally, he did not bring on the vice president- elect jd vance or anyone else, only elon musk came up there to speak. briefly, during those remarks. it speaks to the people who have a lot of influence on trump in this moment. and also those tech executives worried that elon musk has a lot more than they do in this moment. >> yeah, i think all of them saw elon musk's rise within the inner circle of donald trump and obviously have now reached out as well. >> and, anderson -- >> yeah. >> one other thing to say, just as we look at the historical

notes here, it has been decades since a president was sworn in, inside. the last one to do so was ronald reagan given the weather that he was scheduled to be inaugurated. inside that rotunda are statues of former presidents, and ronald reagan's is in that room where trump will be sworn in, just like he was. >> let's go to jeff zeleny outside the capitol. jeff? >> reporter: we are on the east front of the capitol and we're watching as family members just arrived a few moments ago. we saw jared kushner and ivanka trump and their children. and this is one more example of the notable difference between the second trump term and the first. they will not have west wing offices. they are here as family members, not senior advisers. however, as kaitlan was talkingtalking about, the elon musk office on the complex, that is who is surrounding the soon to be president.

as we look behind here, there are more arrivals coming and we're on the east front of the capitol. until ronald reagan's inaugural in 1980, first one, all inaugurations were on the east front of the capitol, the sun is shining down this way, we're looking out toward the supreme court. and the library of congress. but it was changed to the west front of the capitol about four decades oror ago. today, of course, will be inside. we're watching the arrivals now, the former president will be arriving soon. vice president mike pence, former vice president mike pence arrived a few minutes ago, a short time ago, and think of the difference of four years. four years ago, it is these windows directly behind me here that were breached on the morning of the january 6th and we're seeing now former president george w. bush and laura bush arriving here at the law library door from the east front here. this is -- he now is the second in a line of former presidents, if you will, and

extraordinary piece of history. george w. bush, bill clinton, and donald trump, all born in the same year, three months apart, in consecutive months, in june, in july and in august of that year. so, george w. bush here, of course, arriving. he's the last republican president to win the popular vote in his re- election bid. we also, of course, know and remember well what he thought about the first inaugural address, the american carnage address. he told several people sitting around him, that was some weird -- the s word. that was some weird stuff we will say. so we will see what his reaction is to the speech this year. but he is one of the presidents who will be here. bill clinton also will be here with hillary clinton. and former president barack obama will also be here. michelle obama, notably, has decided not to come to this inaugural as she did not also attend the funeral of jimmy carter. >> and we expect president-

elect donald trump and future first lady melania trump will be leaving blair momentarily to go to the white house and spend -- have some time with the bidens and then arrive in the same vehicle as president- elect trump and president biden riding in the same vehicle. let's talk about the relationship of these two. i mean, this is not something that then president trump afforded president biden the courtesy of this polite transition, this tea at the white house, the ride together. it was obviously a very different time four years ago. >> not only did he not afford him that, but he did not afford him the courtesy of a concession or acknowledgement that he had won. and then he left town, you know, and left biden to be sworn in outside a scarred capitol that

was fenced in because of the events of january 6th. so, you know, it is hard to forget that history and if you're joe biden in particular, and, you know, the end of this saga for biden has been an unhappy one as well. so, there is a lot of emotion swirling around here. it is really hard to imagine what these guys say to each other at this juncture. >> if you were trying to forget it, president- elect trump just yesterday at his rally said -- >> that was trump's motorcade. >> he said he won the 2020 election, just yesterday, at his rally and it was stolen from him. so it is impossible to forget. that is one of the -- i want to mention something else, it just jumped out at me again, donald trump does this because he just won an election and he does this, he did this as a candidate, he just won an election, so there is nothing to stop him. but i think it was kaitlan who said among those at the service was conor mcgregor. a jury in ireland, awarded a

woman $250,000 because she said he raped her and the jury agreed and he's standing there with the president- elect of the united states of america. >> back to jake. >> thanks so much, anderson. we see right now, the outgoing first couple, outgoing president joe biden, and outgoing first lady jill biden standing the portico of the white house waiting for the incoming president-elect donald trump and the incoming first lady melania trump to arrive. it is one of these great american traditions, the peaceful transfer of power. and the hospitality of bitter political rivals coming together because we are all americans, it is a sight to see, a sight that we as an american people were denied four years ago. but it is good to have it back and hopefully it will continue in perpetuity.

hire is donald j. trump, the incoming president of the united states. let's take a look and see if we can hear.

>> there they go inside the white house. the 46th president of the united states and the 47 th president of the united states with their respective first ladies. it is as always nice to see the peaceful transfer of power, even between bitter political rivals. and president biden and president- elect trump have certainly had some rather unkind things to say about the other. but on days like today, we put that aside and we celebrate the fact we're americans and we have this democracy. >> jake, joe biden ran for president to rid the country of donald trump, and trumpism. he was successful. and then four years later, he lost that. he lost that bid. and it was completely overturned, turned around, and this is a moment that joe

biden warned about, warned about democracy, warned about what would happen to the country if and when this moment happened. and here it is. >> and, it is such an important point of the moment that we're in, where president biden said donald trump was a threat to democracy and there are a lot of his supporters who were not very thrilled he welcomed president trump to the white house a few weeks after he won the election. i'm just listening in, just to see if we can hear any questions there. but this was from a few moments ago. but he welcomed trump into the white house despite all of that. he has had meetings with him. he has largely refrained from criticizing donald trump. they worked hand and hand on a major hostage deal and cease- fire in the middle east. and there are a lot of people

who said about that. but joe biden is in many ways not perfectly, but in many ways an institutionalist, and he, according to our mj lee, never even considered not extending the hand to donald trump that he should have been extended four years ago. and as i watched them walking into the white house, i mean, you can't forget that it is not that often that a former president gets to walk back into a house that he's going to live in after having been moved out four years earlier. it is only the second time and donald trump is walking back in there. he probably still recognizes and knows a lot of the staff that are there. it looks different because each president gets to make it look the way they want it to look. but that in itself is just a very unusual moment for this country. and it must be weird if you're donald trump and if you're joe biden. >> the fact that presidents like joe biden and barack obama have been friendly and collegial

to donald trump, whether at the jimmy carter funeral, or today, or after the election when president biden welcomed incoming president trump, that has not only upset democrats, it has been used by trump supporters as evidence that biden and obama never really meant the things that they said about donald trump. and the truth of the matter is, i think biden and obama meant completely sincerely the things they said about donald trump. i'm not saying i agree with it or disagree with it, but i think they completely meant it. i think they also, in addition, believe in these institutions of peaceful transfer of power. >> i just want to mention one thing, because we can see a bird's-eye view of the flags. and at the capitol, where we had seen -- there you go, there is the outside of the capitol. house speaker mike joh