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 johnson

ordered it so. why does that matter? because we're still in an official 30- day mourning period of the late president jimmy carter and the flags are supposed to be as half- staff for 30 days including right now. hot are we looking at? we're looking at several flags all the way up outside of the white house, even though the one on top of the white house is halfway down. and the washington monument as well. again, why is this even worth a mention? it's because this is something that was incredibly important to donald trump. he was on a little bit of a rant about the fact that he wanted those flags to be all the way up for his inauguration. the fact that the one that we're looking at right now on top of the white house is not, but all of these others around washington are all the way up is interesting. >> i suspect within a couple hours, the one on top of the white house will be at

full staff. a number of republican governors have addressed this by saying, for instance, i think glenn youngkin in virginia and greg abbott in texas, they are raising the flags today in honor of inauguration day, in honor of donald trump. then tomorrow, the flags will come back to half- staff for the memorial period. i cull pleatly understand why donald trump wants it up for his inaugural. >> of all the things, i think it's fine. i think it's fine. i mean, donald trump is a man who has a lot of peculiarities about optics and this is one of them. there's going to be a lot happening today that is incredibly consequential. we should remain vigilant about that. >> i think the celebration of america is beyond donald trump. it makes perfect sense to me the compromise that the republican governors are making. kaitlan collins has some news now. we are all awaiting specifics. they always say that you can't

paint in poetry, and i think maybe it was david axelrod who said you can't paint in poetry and govern in prose. maybe it proceeds him. in any case, we're waiting for the prose, the details about what donald trump is going to do. kaitlan collins, you're learning more. >> reporter: and trump will be governing by executive order certainly today, jake. we know he's going to be signing a lot of executive orders. they're going to be coming fast and furious after he takes the oath of office. we're learning more about where he's going on this. some of them will focus on his biggest priorities like immigration. ten to be exact, i'm told. some will focus on things he said in recent weeks which is remember that press conference at mar-a- lago where he talked about renaming the gulf of mexico to the gulf of america. that is an executive action he plans to sign today. also, another one he's going to do is not rescinding stuff just that biden has done.

he's also going to try to change in thes president barack obama did, including naming the highest peak in north america, which obama named dunally, he'll bereverting the name back to mt. mckinley. that's not just because he wants to undo something president obama did. president trump has a fondness for president m ckinley. he wants to mirror a lot of his tariff policies potentially as soon as he takes office. we're still waiting to see what it looks like in terms of tariffs that trump enacts and something he says he will use as a tool. those are two steps that he will be taking today. renaming the gulf of mexico to the gulf of america, and also renaming denali to -- reverting the name back to mount mckinley. john boehner and newt gingrich and kevin mccarthy lining up to enter the rotunda for trump's inauguration. >> another reminder, kaitlan collins, that this is a

celebration of america, for americans, in addition, i should note, dana bash, i'm told that there are a number of democratic governors that have also ordered flags to full staff today. kathy hochul out of new york, and the governors of washington state, colorado, and gavin newsom, california, as well. again, this is not about trump or biden. this is about the american people. >> can i just say about what caitlyn just reported on, on the gulf of mexico. this is not really something that trump can accomplish just by an executive order. the gulf of mexico has been named that way for literally hundreds of years. even before the united states was a country, actually. and it's internationally recognized. there are going to be other steps to this. i don't think that's stopping them from making these kind of symbolic executive orders. you could say the same thing about

birthright citizen. the idea they want to end it, they know that's going to go directly to the courts and the courts will have a say. this is a very trump- friendly court. we don't know how that's going to go down, but the established precedent is that birthright citizenship is the law of the land and would require a constitutional amendment to change that. as we get these executive orders, they're going to -- some of them are going to be for shock and awe effect, for symbolic effect, as many are. he wouldn't be the first president to do that. some will have real immediate effect, but we'll take them one by one and see, actually, what the text of these orders are because i think the devil is in the details for a lot of this stuff. >> let's go to mj lee at the white house who can tell us more about this meeting between outgoing president biden and incoming president trump. oh, to be a fly on that wall, mj, what's your understanding of what they talked about? >> reporter: yeah, you know,

as the trumps just arrived here at the white house, there were some pool reporters, of course, standing outside the north portico as that arrival was happening. there's that moment again. we are told that when the trumps stepped out of the suv, president biden said to incoming president trump the words, welcome home. and just moments prior to that, we are told that when reporters asked president biden what is your message today? he responded with one word. that word was joy. i am told by a white house official who is here that the two couples walked straight inside, through the grand foyer and into the blue room. that is where we expect the four to now sit down and spend some time together. they are being served both tea and coffee. this, of course, is officially sort of described as the tea ceremony. i am just struck by this little piece of color that we

are getting, again, from the pool reports from the reporters that were standing there, that president biden first of all chose to use the word joy to describe his message for the day, because we know for a fact joy is not exactly the feeling president biden is feeling right now in this moment of basically handing the baton back to a man that he has repeatedly said poses a grave threat to democracy and as we have been reporting for other reasons, too, the president has been in a bit of a dark head space, feeling angry about being forced out of the 2024 race. feeling embittered about the blame he's getting for donald trump's return. and also just the president being put in this position, of course, where he has to even utter the words welcome home to a man that he very much hoped would never return home to the white house. so just goes without saying, look, we are going through the motions of all of the ceremonies, the traditions

that come with this day, and as i reported earlier, those traditions were ones that i'm told president biden felt strongly he had to stick by, but you can easily imagine that as he is going through those motions, these are not easy things for president biden to be participating in today. >> no, not at all. and for those wondering, because i know there are a lot of democrats out there who think that the reason that donald trump is back at the white house is because joe biden made the decision to run for re- election and everything that happened in 2024 with the cnn debate and obvious moments of communication problems. a lot of people in the democratic party hold joe biden responsible for ushering the trump era back in. that is not how president biden sees it. president biden thinks that the democratic elites kicked him out and that he could have won if he had been permitted to stay at the top of the ticket.

pollsters can discuss whether there's any data to support that. that is the president's belief. let's go to kaitlan collins to give us the latest on what's going on in the room where they are expecting to inaugurate the 47th president. >> reporter: here's a lot of the cabinet getting off the buses. there's kristi noem, hopeful cabinet. kristi noem, trump's bick to be his dhs secretary. howard lutnick, pam bondi, marco rubio, doug collins. you're seeing all of them filter in here, scott bessent as well, trump's pick to run the treasury department. rfk jr. this entire bus is the entire trump cabinet should they be confirmed. marco rubio is expected to be the first one to be confirmed, jake. it remains to be seen when the others are confirmed, but that will be a key part of

governing for the president- elect turned president. i'm here at emancipation hall. this is kind of the overflow room where a lot of guests who aren't going to fit in the rotunda, they'll be in here. this is the visitors center area of the capitol, named after the enslaved people who built the capitol, i should note. this is where trump will come after he delivers that inaugural address. i'll be listening closely to that because i don't think that is a scripted speech. i believe there are unscripted remarks trump will be delivering here briefly to those who are gathered here in the room. it will be their first opportunity to get a glimpse of the president and the vice president, jd vance, once they are sworn in. right now, so far, you're already seeing a few notable figures in the room. governors will be here and other vips at the top. guests of congressional leadership are expected to be seated here. hakeem jeffries is one expected to be here. you're looking at the north lawn of the white house. you can see the green tints in the background, where all

the tv reporters stand and deliver their reports. of course, the beast is leading off. that's the car that joe biden and donald trump will get into together with the first lady and the incoming first lady to ride up here to the capitol where i am, jake. you're just getting a sense of all of the people, the vips that have been shifting around and figuring out where they're going. that's been an issue in recent days, for those not only replanning the inauguration to move it from outside to inside, they had a lot of vips calling wanting to make sure they had good seats at the inauguration. they're showing air here inside the room. people are watching and applauding as trump got out of the car at the white house and greeted president biden and the first lady, jill biden. but obviously, a fascinating scene for all these small moments that you watch here. and in just a few moments, that rotunda will be filled with all of the guests who are seated here as well as emancipation hall where they're playing music and people are gathering

and milling about as you're looking around to see who it is that has been invited and gotten a prime seat at trump's inauguration now that it's indoors and very few people are here, jake. >> kaitlan collins, was it trump's call to have the inauguration indoors. was he ultimately the one who made that decision? ? his team went to him and said that they believed it would be the best decision to make because they were looking at the forecast, jake, i know a lot of people have speculated about whether or not this is about crowd size. i was told right off the bat, this was not a decision they wanted to make. they wanted it to be outside. trump is a producer at heart and cares about the visuals and how things look. that's often how he picks some of the people going in his cabinet. he says they look like they were made for tv. that was a factor in it. and they made the decision because they said people would be lining up at 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. and they were worried about keeping people outside for that long, jake. so that is how they made ultimately this decision

to put everybody inside. i do think the fact that ronald reagan was the only other president to have been sworn in inside 40 years ago played a factor in all of this, jake, because obviously, trump likes to style himself after reagan. he believes he had a reagan esque victory this time around, as he's been arguing this mandate he has. given he not only won the election, he also won the popular vote here. so all of that is a factor in this. and the other thing to watch, jake, world leaders. we know several dignitaries are going to be here. the italian prime minister is here. she's one of the few g- 7 leaders who has forged a close relationship with trump and his incoming team. we talk about the big tech executives and everyone trying to get in good with trump. it's not just them. world leaders are trying to do the same. they were navigating trump the first time around. now they're back to figuring that out this time around. there's elon musk, as you can see in the middle, walking into the capitol. >> the reason i bring up the

issue of the weather is because obviously, you see members of the trump cabinet walking in. i believe that's doug burgum, maybe, walking inside the capitol right now. that's not doug burgum. i apologize. and a lot of them are not wearing coat because the truth of the matter is -- there's senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, the former senate minority leader, with his wife, elaine chao, the former secretary of labor during the trump administration. transportation, i apologize. she served labor in a previous administration. she resigned from the trump presidency on january 6th, 2021. she was upset with the insurrection. obviously, those feelings have waned. but in any case, the point i was making is it actually has not turned out to be as frigid as the forecast predicted. jeff zeleny is there at the

rotunda. jeff, tell us what you're seeing. >> reporter: jake, we can see members of the cabinet walking in as you were saying. right behind them, elon musk also walking in and waiting at the law library door here. on the east front of the capitol. and we saw marco rubio, of course, the former senator from florida. he's likely to be the first cabinet nominee to be the secretary of state to be confirmed by this u.s. senate. then several others. governor doug burgum, as you were saying, was in the line. i can speak to the weather for a second, jake. the cabinet nominees came directly off heated buses and walked inside. so they were outside for not very long. it is very sunny out here. i don't know if you can see our shot. it's definitely sunny, but it is windy and cold. i was not here during the reagan inaugural, but i was here during the obama inaugural in 2009. it felt colder to me that morning but it is similar. so there's no doubt it is very frigid if people were sitting

outside, certainly aging people for a long time. we're now still seeing more vips coming through. again, elon musk was right behind members of the cabinet walking into the east front of the capitol just moments ago, jake. >> there's joe rogan, the popular podcast host, tim cook from apple. the ceo of apple. we have talked a bunch about all of the tech executives. >> reporter: you can see tim cook right now -- >> that's the former mccarthy aide. >> i believe i saw the ted talk ceo walk in. >> go ahead. there's mark zuckerberg walking in as well. these are a lot of tech executives that had previously faced the scorn of donald trump, who have spent the last few months trying desperately to get in his good graces. dana bash.

>> yeah, that looks like jeff bezos. >> jeff bezos, the founder of amazon, who also has a $40 million documentary deal with the first lady for amazon prime. >> and his fiance or wife, not sure what their exact status is, lauren sanchez. as you said, mark zuckerberg and his wife as well. it's such a small ceremony. just to be clear. this is a tiny ceremony relative to what was supposed to happen on the capitol. there are a lot of people who maybe thought they would be in proximity to the ceremony who will not be. those folks are still getting their seats somewhere inside where it's nice and warm. i think that's a testament to just how much influence they have already in this incoming trump administration. >> there are a lot of disappointed trump supporters, i have to note. people who have come in from all over the country to attend

the inaugural ceremony who were disappointed. i'm completely sympathetic to the idea that they had a tough decision to make with the forecast of tremendously frigid, frigid and uncomfortable temperatures. there are bill clinton and former secretary of state hillary clinton. hillary clinton, of course, who ran for president in 2016 and lost to donald trump in his first run. attending. once again, a celebration of american democracy, a celebration of the peaceful transfer of power. >> i'm told that the former presidents had discussions about -- >> there's boris johnson, the former british prime minister walking in. >> -- about whether to go. are they all going to make a decision together, you know, what they should go to, what they should not go to. they are going to the actual inauguration. not the luncheon following, which is, again,

part of tradition. but it is -- we have heard a lot about michelle obama not coming. but hillary clinton is obviously a very different situation. hillary clinton understands the image and the symbol that she provides to the country as one of the people, if she can show up for donald trump, it is not about donald trump. it is about the united states of america, and it is about democracy. along with the -- >> there's former president barack obama. it was obama's presidency that really created donald trump as a political force. as he falsely said that barack obama, falsely suggested that barack obama had not been born in the united states but that the first african american president in american history had actually been born in africa. a racist and malicious lie.

but barack obama, nonetheless, attending this inaugural. michelle obama not there, as we have discussed in the immortal words, she would prefer not to attend. her absence from both the carter funeral and the inaugural is interesting. vivek ramaswamy who is -- was part of the department of government efficiency that donald trump -- >> i think he still is at this point. >> he is resigning from it and there is some talk of him running for governor of ohio. >> he's almost certainly going to be doing that. >> yeah, we're seeing several members of congress. i think most of them on the screen right now. >> brian mast, the incoming chairman of the house foreign affairs committee. combat veteran from florida. jim clyburn, who if it weren't for jim clyburn from south carolina, the dean of the south carolina delegation, i doubt joe biden would have been elected president to begin with.

>> president biden spent the day with him yesterday in south carolina. >> you talked about the sort of tech leaders coming in and how now that it is inside, how precious and valuable each of these seats is. you know, my understanding from somebody who has been involved is that the actual members of congress who work there, who come in there and serve the american people every day, there was a lot of jockeying to see which ones, particularly in the house, where you have 435 people, which of them could actually get seats. >> they're practically on top of each other. chairs are close. >> i don't see paul ryan, former speaker paul ryan. i'm not sure if he is planning on attending or not. obviously, former house speaker denny hastert, who did time in prison and was called a serial child molester by a judge, i'm not sure if he was invited. his portrait was taken down. >> nancy pelosi also said she's not coming, which is --

>> that's quite different from dennis hastert. >> no, sorry. we were just talking about former speakers. did not mean to equate the two. >> pelosi, no love lost between nancy pelosi and president- elect donald trump. >> newt gingrich, john boehner on the screen. >> a lot of republican members of congress who are greeting their former bosses, their former leaders, former speakers. newt gingrich, who is a close ally of donald trump. more so than probably any republican speaker of them all. newt gingrich. >> i mean, there's a lot you can say about newt gingrich being a sort of forerunner for the forces that allow donald trump to be in the white house. but he's simply proven to be someone who is a strong supporter of him and gave him a sense of legitimacy when he was running back in 20 sane. >> let's go to manu raju who is there. tell us what you're seeing. >> reporter: yeah, every

ex- member of congress was invited to attend this ceremony, jake. in fact, there are about 800 seats, of course, 535 members of congress. and the question is who ultimately will attend. you have see republican members right now file in. we expect most republicans to attend. there has been a debate among democrats themselves. there's been a split about which democrats would actually come. some like the democratic leaders plan to attend, like eem jeffries, even though jefferies has not spoken to donald trump since trump's first term in office. there are a number of others, nancy pelosi being one, skipping today's ceremony. some also on the left flank of the democratic caucus, like alexandria ocasio- cortez, who is not planning on attending. neither is ilhan omar, who has criticized democrats who are attending after saying that donald trump was a threat to the democracy. and i'm told, jake, there has been a debate over the weekend, a lot of members texting about whether they should come, and we'll see. a lot of members attend, but some democrats choosing not

to. >> all right. thank you so much, manu. they loading up the limos. we saw the presidential spouses come out. one of the interesting things in terms of guests, we have also seen in addition to supporters like elon musk, in addition to supporters like joe rogan, we have also seen, we just saw rudy giuliani walking in to the rotunda. he's been in the news a lot lately for his legal tussles. there is the mayor of washington, d.c. , muriel bowser. tucker carlson also, the former fox host, now popular podcaster and youtube hoster or i'm not exactly sure what to call him, influencer, certainly. >> very influential in donald trump's world. >> anderson cooper. >> thanks very much. as we continue to look at the dignitaries arriving, with chris emery, the white house usher from 1986 and 1994.

you were there through reagan, h.w. bush, clinton. talk about inauguration day from your vantage point. what is it like? >> absolute chaos, but controlled. it's just the busiest time. right now, the president and the existing president and the future president are about to leave the white house. that's when the white house resident staff really gets to work. there's moving vans on the south grounds. moving vans will be moved to the north grounds. >> there's two groups of moving vans waiting for those two to leave. >> we hope we have about six or seven hours to move the new family in, get the remainder items of the former family out. and it's chaos. but it's organized, and it's been the same way for 200 years. >> the relationship -- i mean, is it hard watching people that you care about, have worked with, leave? >> it's very emotional. in fact, usually around 10:30, the former first family is bidding farewell to the executive resident staff. i remember mrs. reagan

was crying when that occurred. president bush couldn't speak, he was so emotional. mrs. bush had to speak as they went around and shook hands with everybody. >> how long does it take? is there a deep cleaning done? >> absolutely. i mean, we have 97 staff. everybody is working. and it's just -- everyone is assigned to a different floor to handle the move in of the clothing, furniture, electronics. all this taking place in the short period of time we have. >> there's 73 to 79 days between an election and inauguration so there's a short window. how do you know where everything is supposed to go? >> for the family moving out, they start planning early. a lot of those items have been shipped. we work with the first lady coming in to find out where she wants things. how it's to be set up. how many guests the first night. bushes had 32 guests the first night when they came in in 1989. crazy. so not only were we moving beds

into rooms that never had beds, we were trying to account for the first family members on the main floor. crazy. >> wow. and you know -- do you know where -- what towels they like, all that stuff? >> we know where to put the tooth brush, what shaving cream to place. it's been preranged and agreed to. sometimes we make mistakes. not often. >> does it make it easier because president trump has already been in the white house? >> absolutely. same with grover cleveland. >> were you there for grover cleveland? >> the year after. >> but that does make it easier. there's a -- it's one less thing -- it's not a mystery to them. >> it's not a mystery. as i said, things are going to access first, their toiletries, their clothing, and then we have to account for the house guests. who is come in, how many meals, what do they want? so that goes on for quite a

while. >> i also want to bring in vanessa creedman, "new york times" fashion director. talk about, if you will, what melania trump is wearing today versus 2017. >> so, this time around, she's wearing a new york designer. he's an independent. someone she's worn before and got a quite structured, very sort of protected coat, and a very dramatic hat. and it's a sort of marked difference from what she wore in 2017 where she really seemed to be making effort to be part of the first lady continuum. she wore a ralph lauren look, it was very evocative of jackie kennedy. >> is it sending a message of some sort? >> john f. kennedy took his hat off and made a statement. she's keeping hers on. >> i don't know, how has

her style evolved? are there a lot of designers who want to dress -- is it the case that any designer would love to dress her? >> any designer would love to dress the first lady of the united states. and when you speak to them, whether it's a big brand or a small brand, they will say, it is their honor to dress the white house. it's not necessarily -- >> they don't necessarily say they're dressing -- >> the trumps, exactly. >> that's the look. >> that's the look. it's a little bit -- it's more royal family governess than necessarily american first lady. >> that's interesting. who is the most fashionable or iconic person? >> certainly, the most recent one, michelle obama, before her, jacqueline kennedy. every first lady has used her clothing to make a statement because that's part of the job, honestly. it's to represent the look of the administration, the values of the administration.

these are people who are -- >> by the way, we're seeing both first ladies, the current and the future first lady. also the past first lady. they will ride together. jill biden's in ralph lauren. >> she's in ralph lauren, purple. very bipartisan. very full circle. her husband wore ralph lauren for his inauguration. he's also wearing ralph lauren. >> john king, just in terms of the departure we're seeing. this is tradition, how it's always done except the last time when this wasn't. >> so, we should celebrate this. this is the magic of america's democracy. the former president leaving. even though there's no love lost between jill biden and melania trump. no love lost between joe biden and donald trump. the current president, joe biden, for another hour and a half, is doing the right thing.

he's respecting american norms. you're right, that did not happen four years ago. is that a reset? we're going to have a lot of conversations today, for the next 90 minutes. maybe we should have an american conversation. you have an outgoing president who was not afforded this courtesy four years ago, saying i'm not going to forget that, but there's something more important than that, and they're doing that today. and to their credit, the trumps are very gracious when they came in the house. they said good morning and everything. we're having an american moment. by the time the day is over, i expect we'll have debates and conversations as well. >> this was the discussion earlier about members of congress and should they go. if you're the party that believes in norms, you should observe the norms. you should protest the other party's lack of observance of norms by doing it yourself. >> jamie gangel, as you watch this, we have watched this kind of moment every four years except for last year, for a long time. what stands out to you?

>> i think just the underlying political reality that your panel was discussing earlier. this is painful. nobody likes to lose. and even though the candidate was vice president harris at the time, she sharedshared with president biden. i used to speak to former president bush 41 about this a lot when he did not win a second term. it's hard. and i think it is particularly hard, obviously, because of the underlying feelings that they have for donald trump. >> speaking of hard. vice president harris and vice president- elect jd vance getting into their limousine to make the ride to the capitol as well. tim naftali, historian, in this moment, again, this is

something which is normal except for the last time around. what are your thoughts right now? >> well, as you know, i did spend some time as the admiral director of the nixon library, and i'm thinking that before today, the american politician who experienced the greatest comeback was richard nixon, after all, he was thought to be politically dead in 1962 when he ran for governor. and he had lost in 1960 against john kennedy, and of course, in 1968, he ascends to the presidency. donald trump has topped that. donald trump is without a doubt our modern era the person who has achieved the greatest political comeback. greatest comeback in plit olitical history. i'm thinking a lot about that and thinking about whether in january of 2021 how many people other than donald trump thought that these images could

have been possible. so it's a poignant moment for the bidens. it's a heroic moment, glorious moment for the trumps. and it's a moment for reflection for i think all americans. >> john king, to tim's point, it is -- it would have been inconceivable i think to most people four years ago given what happened at the capitol, that this moment would be occurring. >> absolutely. inconceivable, to tim says anybody but donald trump, maybe two or three other people. most of donald trump's party turned on him, were trying to create distance from him, most of donald trump's party were embarrassed by the events of january 6th and the bigger denial of the election that started on election night 2020. however, he single- handedly won the nomination without much of a night, actually. then won the presidency. again, the question is, joe biden thought that his win included the fact that he had forever isolated donald

trump to the ash heap of history. he was wrong about that. donald trump takes his hand off the bible today, how does he interpret his victory? it was a big victory. you know, david and i have been going back and forth. he won all the swing states. he did something, as tim said, now puts richard nixon number two in the greatest comebacks in political history. however, does he overread that mandate. the popular vote win, it's a big deal. trump supporters are much more open, more proud, more public because he won the popular vote. not a huge win in the popular vote, but it's a win. joe biden overread his mandate. donald trump being there right now is proof of that. does donald trump overread his? >> mj lee at the white house, understand you have news? >> reporter: we are learning that president biden confirmed to reporters some moments ago that he did in fact leave

a letter for the incoming president, donald trump, in the oval office. he was asked whether he had done so at the north portico. he said yes. but when reporters pressed him on the details and the contents of that letter, president biden simply said that's between trump and me. of course, you'll remember that the former president, donald trump, left president biden a letter in the same manner back in 2021. it was actually one of the rare traditions of the passing of the baton that president trump at the time had adhered to. and president biden would go on to describe that letter as very generous. now, we are watching those doors to see the bidens and the trumps emerge after their meeting inside the blue room at the white house, for some coffee and tea. we should keep in mind, you know, once president biden gets inside that motorcade, this will be the last time that president biden rides the

presidential motorcade as a sitting president. there they are. >> let's watch. >> it is just an extraordinary moment, given the history of those two men, given the history of what we have seen, given the career president biden has had, the way his career has ended. touching the door of the limousine on his way in.

for this last ride in a presidential limousine. he'll be taking a helicopter from capitol hill. >> they don't have much in common but they do share this remarkable political resilience. this ability to defy the people who say you cannot do this. joe biden ran for presidency three times before he won the presidency. david can tell you when he was the vice president to barack obama, one of the reasons is they didn't think he would run for president. donald trump was given up for political isolation. and he's back in the white house. mj just made an important point. we're going to watch the beginning of the new trump administration. i do think it's worth spending a little time on this is the end of joe biden's career in elected office. again, whatever you think of him, united senate at a young age. i met him in 1987 when he was first running for president in iowa. ran again and lost. and then came back and won the presidency. that is remarkable. whether you agree or disagree with his politics it's not an easy thing to do to become president of the united

states, to win the primaries to get it done. you have to have some luck, have things break in your favor, but you also have to have political resilience. the stubborn irish, i often say about joe biden, sometimes his greatest gift, i think in the last cycle was in some ways his greatest enemy. he didn't realize it was time to pass the torch. again, those things will be debated today, they'll be debated in the history books, 10, 15, 25 years from now. he's leaving the complex right there for the last time as president of the united states and he has to know that. >> to just point out, you saw senator amy klobuchar escorting both presidents out. she's the chairman of the inaugural committee, so she was there as part of her ceremonial duties. >> only five guys on the planet and they're all guys, who understand what the presidency is and the awesome responsibilities of that presidency. they have that in common. but joe biden's legacy was largely built on the fact that he routed donald trump

from the white house. so it has to be painful to be riding to the reinauguration of donald trump today. >> a lot of talk about america first. i hear from my friends in the conservative movement. today, joe biden is putting america first. this is a tough, tough day. you saw him put his hand on the car. heartbreaking. he's actually giving donald trump not just the dignity of a good transition. he's giving him a pretty decent economy. things are healing. they're moving in the right direction. there are going to be a lot of red ribbons cut under the trump administration because of tough votes that biden got democrats to take. so i think it's an important moment, a powerful moment. joe biden, he probably stayed too long. but he stayed too long because he thought he had more good to do. he won't get a chance to do that good, but he's handing off a better economy than he got, and he's doing it in a more decent

way, showing more decency than he received. you want to talk about america first, that's joe biden today. >> chris emery, you have been a white house usher for a long time, under three different administrations. as you watch this, what do you think? >> it's emotional. it brings back a lot of memories for me. a very emotional time. you see the president get in the limousine. we're standing just inside the door doing the thumbs up, waving for the final time. then we're also very emotional or trying to be anticipating what's going to be like with the new family coming in. for me, vice president bush under reagan had been at the white house many times. we knew a little bit about his family. the clintons were brand-new. it was quite an adjustment. >> already now, they have left the white house. movers are moving in. >> right now, somebody is going across the blair house to bring the racks of clothes of the trumps across pennsylvania avenue and up the north drive. other people are unloading vans on the south grounds. there's a lot going on.

>> mj lee. >> reporter: yeah, as president biden is making that final ride in the presidential motorcade as the sitting president. once he gets off on capitol hill, he will watch moments later president trump being sworn back into office. of course, the two men, as we saw, got into that same car together. talk about being in close quarters with someone you probably would rather not spend that much time with, but nevertheless, as we have been talking about all morning, this was yet another part of the ceremonial aspect of inauguration day morning that the president felt was important that he uphold. now, back here at the white house, we are seeing a race against the clock, essentially, to turn this white house from the biden white house back into the trump white house. i know you were talking to chris emery before about just the machinations of how exactly that works. but there are essentially incoming and outgoing moving trucks close to the

white house, ready on standby, and some hundred members of resident staff as our betsy klein reported, to move the biden stuff out and then begin the process of moving the trump stuff in after a period of, of course, a deep cleaning that goes on across the white house. there will probably be some five hours between now and when the staff here need to get everything done and later, when the trumps return here to the white house as the first couple once more, it will kind of be like maybe they never left. their furniture, art, clothing, all of that should be, if everything goes smoothly, in the places that they are supposed to be. so that they can now proceed to live at the white house once again for another four years. >> tim naftali, what we're about to witness, talk a little

bit about the history of that, the history of inaugurations. >> the very first time that an outgoing president and incoming president sat together on the way to the capitol was in 1837. andrew jackson and martin van buren. that was a very, very positive, very happy transition. martin van buren had been jackson's vice president. that was the first time that this kind of event occurred. the very first time it occurred in an automobile was warren g. harding's inauguration. sometimes we hear about what they say to each other in the cars. in the case of 1961, when kennedy, young john f. kennedy who had been a junior officer, was sitting in a car with dwight d. eisenhower, who had been the supreme allied commander of allied forces in europe,

when they were in a car together, they talked about d- day, about world war ii. other presidents don't say anything to each other. truman and eisenhower had a very chilly relationship and a very chilly car ride. it will be interesting to find out what biden and trump are saying to each other since this is the only time that they will ever take this kind of ride together. they should have taken it twice, as we have mentioned before. but that, of course, didn't occur in 2021. so this particular ride, whether it's in a carriage or in a car, has been an important ritual in the passing of the baton from one presidency to another. >> it's interesting to me how people think about politics. you see it on television, but there are personalities involved. and politics is personal. and the personality, you know, people have feelings and emotions. and all of that plays into a moment like this. >> in this case in

particular, but you know, it takes a certain amount -- not a certain amount, extraordinary ego and drive to get to this point inin life, and in this case, their egos and their drive collided twice in historic ways. so you know, it's kind of mind boggling to think how they're each processing this short journey to the capitol. but look, for joe biden, this is a sad ending. this is kind of a shakespearean tragedy. he came to the capitol as the youngest senator. and he was heralding in 1973 as a future presidential candidate. and here we are half a century later, and you know, had he chosen a different path, had he not run for re- election, you know, he might be -- this

ride might have been easier for him. but so i think there's so many emotions that must be rushing through him at this point. >> jake, let's go back to you. >> thanks so much, anderson. we're all watching with great interest this limousine ride with the two presidents. let's go to jeff zeleny, who is right outside the capitol. jeff. >> reporter: a carriage entrance, it's driving through the senate carriage entrance, as you can see, the two presidents will be getting out of the motorcade momentarily. what an extraordinary return to power this is for donald trump. of course, we are also on the east front of the capitol. standing on the very grounds just steps away from where the windows were bashed four years ago in his name.

now, of course, that is left to history. as we are going to see the 45th president, donald trump, the 46th president, joe biden, step out and step into the capitol and walk the short steps into the rotunda to continue this peaceful transfer of power. but i can see dr. jill biden there stepping out, president biden soon will be as well, we believe. what an extraordinary moment. a full half century of public life for joseph robin biden jr. , who arrived here in 1972 as the youngest senator. will be taking his leave as the oldest american president. turning over the reins of power to a man he tried to stop. >> that's right. fascinating stuff. just a real moment in american history. let's go now to kaitlan collins, who is in emancipation hall right outside the rotunda where the inaugural will take

place. >> reporter: so many moments of history have been glimpsed from these views of the carriage entrance where we get a camera angle. you can see biden waiting there for trump to go in as they walked inside on their way to the rotunda. here they are coming into the main door. speaking to one another, as you can see there. we'll listen. there's chuck schumer and house speaker mike johnson. mike johnson was in that meeting they just had at the white house. >> good morning, sir. president trump, how do you feel? president biden? >> you saw there, a brief greeting from the president-elect. still a fascinating side-by- side to see the two of them, and also to see in this moment.

typically, this would be a president ushering a new president who is not used to that platform and the levers of power. trump obviously well knows what comes with the office. there's the google ceo and elon musk there, inside the rotunda. getting those coveted seats, i might note. in addition to rudy giuliani who we also saw entering. there goes melania trump, deb fischer, and making their way into the space. you're looking right now at walt nauta, that is donald trump's former co- defendant in the classified documents case who is still his body man and accompanies him on essentially every trip he takes, walking in with him. in addition to jd vance and usha vance, the future second lady of the united states, all making their way in. there's trump's secret service detail, a few making their way in. and the press pool as well following suit. as they make their way into

the rotunda and this moment between trump and biden where they have had private moments beyond what we saw today, where house speaker mike johnson was in the blue room present for that meeting and obviously will wield a lot of power over trump's forthcoming legislative agenda he wants to accompany on capitol hill. i believe that's dana white there that we're looking at as we talk about the guests and maybe miriam adelson as well. as you look at all of who is a symbol inside this room. senator john barrasso in the bottom right of your screen as well. in addition to senator dick durbin. the people on the left side, none of them are surprising to see in the room. these are top allies of trump, including susie wiles in the white coat, who orchestrated trump's campaign and successful return to the white house and will be his incoming chief of staff inside the white house coming in. it all speaks to this return to power in terms of the influence inside the west wing. susie wiles will be a new face, of course, in the west wing. not a new face in trump's

orbit. and there's pete hegseth. pam bondi, doug burgum, hauert lutnick, all making their way into the room and being greeted by rounds of applause. i should note, not just in the rotunda but also here in emancipation hall where we're watching a live feed for those who did not make it into the rotunda for this. rfk jr., sean duffy. linda mcmahon. >> going to be secretary of the department of health and human services. those are members of the trump cabinet. kristi noem, the governor of south dakota, nominated to be secretary of the department of homeland security. other members as well. lee zeldin, the former new york congressman, nominated to be administer of the epa. john ratcliffe, nominated to be director of the cia. a lot of people there who are -- kash patel, nominated to be director of the fbi.

there is mr. doge himself, vivek ramaswamy, who is going to be on the department of government efficiency. but he is stepping down from that role to run for governor of ohio. we saw tulsi gabbard on the left there, turned republican, nominated to be director of the office of national intelligence. these are members of the president's would- be cabinet. none of them have been confirmed yet. we do expect marco rubio, the senator from florida, to be confirmed overwhelmingly today. there he is on the left, as secretary of state. that is -- if trump gets his druthers and i have no reason to think he won't, that will be the trump cabinet. we're not aware of any nomination that is in trouble as of yet. michael walls, the florida congressman, who will be the national security adviser. >> you're looking at the

incoming trump administration, including and especially the woman in the white coat with the blue scarf, susie wiles. the woman who led the campaign to get donald trump back into the white house and will be the gate keeper, the chief of staff in donald trump's white house. >> and will be the first ever woman to be the white house chief of staff. there were attempts or discussions in previous democratic administrations, but nobody ever pulled the trigger. she will be the first -- >> dan quayle. >> former vice president dan quayle and marilyn quayle from indiana. very interesting. >> and as we watch this, i'm thinking of dan quayle, who was a senator as well. just to take a moment to go back to that image of joe biden and donald trump walking in the senate carriage entrance, walking in together. joe biden, who i first met as a senator, as you did as well. how many thousands of times

he has walked through that entrance to the u.s. senate as a senator for decades and decades. and the fact that he is accompanying donald trump, the man who he tried so hard and was, again, was successful the first time, but was not successful this time to keep him out of the white house. accompanying him back in as donald trump prepares to take the oath of office once again, is really extraordinary. >> notes will be delivered by the chief justice of the united states, john roberts. and then for the vice president, jd vance, will be administered by justice brett kavanaugh, who was one of donald trump's supreme court nominees. here is vice president pence. who has only been -- this will be the second time in the last four years that he'll have been in the same room with

donald trump. since that horrible month in january 2021. earlier today, pence issued a tweet talking about why he was there, why he was attending this event. he said today, i will attend the inauguration of president donald trump and vice president jd vance at the u.s. capitol. this is a day when every american does well to celebrate our democracy and the peaceful transfer of power. we encourage all our fellow americans to join us praying for president trump and vice president vance as they assume the awesome responsibility of leading this great nation and may god continue to bless the united states of america. america flag emoji. >> not with mike pence, karen pence. former second lady is not there, who has been very clear about her disdain for and how upset, understandably, she was

about january 6th. she was there with him when the mob was outside calling for -- >> hang mike pence. >> -- her husband to be hanged. >> and the entire country, donald trump included, owes mike pence, actually quite a lot of gratitude for what he did on that day. not only for fulfilling his constitutional responsibility but also in the midst of the chaos, when the secret service was telling him we have to go, we have to get out of here. we don't know if we can protect you in this building. he insisted on staying and certifying the election when the congress came back into session. >> i don't know if we control the feed or not, but it's really remarkable to see these tech ceos or founders in the case of jeff bezos, the founder of amazon, standing alongside members of the trump cabinet. >> they got better seats than some members of the cabinet. >> just remarkable. i can't help but think that if this had happened four years ago or 12 years ago, it would

have been something of a scandal for these people who control information in the united states and the world, the ceo of google, sundar pichai, who is there, as well as bezos, the founder of amazon, and tim cook, the ceo of apple, and elon musk from x. and not to mention all the federal contracts he has because of spacex, all of them standing amidst members of the president's would- be cabinet, not yet confirmed. >> these are a group of people joe biden and his very last address to the american people warned, make up effectively an oligarchy. >> for people who don't understand -- know what an oligarchy is, it is the idea of wealthy individuals, often business owners, in the private sector who essentially

have control over the government as a result of their wealth. and that's what the president was warning of. i just want to throw out another way of looking at this and the way people on the right are looking at this, as a way of trump celebrating american ingenuity, entrepreneurship, technological dominance because the truth is when it comes to tech companies in the world, american companies are the ones that are dominating the industry. but it is at such a crucial time when the government has to play a role in deciding what this looks like going forward and whether or not there are going to be guardrails on the power. >> there is bill clinton, former president of the united states and former secretary of state hillary clinton, who obviously ran for president in 2016 and lost to donald trump.