the president was coming back and he was going to talk to the american people from the oval office. i knew that from the beginning, it wasn't any doubt in my mind. >> you've really had a front-row seat to history. >> unbelievable front row to history, through my whole career at the white house. i had an opportunity to greet or meet every head of state from the time i started working here until i left in 2007 and i wouldn't change it for the world. my family wishes that probably i was home a little bit more and i probably should have been but the activities of the presidency don't cease and they change from day to day. >> gary walters, former white house chief usher, thank you for your time. thank you for your stories. >> thank you very much.

the presidential inauguration of donald trump is friday. c-span will have live coverage of all the day's events and ceremonies. watch live on c-span and cspan.org and listen live on the free c-span radio app. in a moment we will hear live from sean spicer, he's the incoming press secretary for the trump administration. he'll be briefing reporters for the first time as press secretary. we'll have that live when it gets under way here on c-span 3. while we wait, we'll hear from the chair of the presidential inaugural committee about plans for tomorrow's inauguration.

[ no audio ] for the 58th presidential inauguration are well under way in washington. tom barrack, chair of the presidential inaugural committee spoke with reporters at trump tower in new york city who gave details on how plans for how the inauguration are shaping up. >> the inauguration is going to be amazing and what we're doing is trying to orient it towards the greatest tribute to america. the only peacetime transition of partisan power that ever happens in this way so the focus for this president-elect since he is a celebrity is really on the

place, on the people, on the history, on the tradition so it starts on monday. martin luther king day is monday which is a great epic start and verbage for what all this means and there will be a series of events leading up to thursday, thursday is kind of the kickoff of it all. thursday night will be a and can al light dinner which has been traditional and each of the dinners and each of the venues is really oriented to just allow people to breathe the place rather than the actors on the stage it's about the stage so thursday and friday are the two big days, the wearing in, the capitol staff is amazing at how they planned it so it will be commemorative moments, thoughtful. >> you talk about actors. if you can tell us how concerned are you you have enough performers, people to do

readings songs, all of that. are you satisfied that you've got what you need to fill the day, as it were, on a typical inauguration day? >> overwhelmed. look, i think because -- we're fortunate in that i feel we have the greatest celebrity in the world which is the president-elect and side by side with that is the current president who's also a great celebrity so what we've done instead of trying to surround it with what people consider a-listers, we say what we're going to surround it with is the soft sensuality of the place so we have all of that but it's in a much more poetic cadence than having a circus-like celebration, it's a coronation and that's the way this president-elect wanted it. so i think it will be contributive. it will be beautiful. but the cadence of it is going to be let me get back to work because the people that i'm presiding over in america are back to work. is. >> last question.

you talk about what he wanted. tell us what he has told you he wants. what are some specifics that he wants to be a part of the inauguration? >> he really wanted it to be about the people, not about him so his instructions to me -- by the way, which is the worst job in america. he gave the best job in america to all the bright guys and said "you be the party planner" was to figure out how to relate 200 years of history, a couple billion dollars of investment in this place at a moment where we have to build bridges he knows what his constituency is and he knows he needs to reach out to the constituencies who have directions, have doubts. his direction is the campaign is over, i'm president for all the people, i want you to build a bridge and tie them back in. i want to heal the wounds and get back to work on saturday morning. >> will there be anything that sort of deviates from previous

such ceremonies? anything you're doing for the first time and related to that i wanted to ask about the announcer. i don't know if you addressed that but there was commentary about this announcer who has been doing it as long as i've been alive who's been replaced by someone mr. trump knows. can you tell us about how that change happened? >> it's a delicate balance, right, between abiding by tradition and the president-elect is a traditionalist so he's attending to that and having his own fingerprint on a fresh canvas so mostly he's abiding by tradition, especially in the swearing-in ceremony. in that moment when you look up that west capitol entrance and the shift of power in a moment goes from a very strong powerful man of one party to another very strong powerful man of another party that cadence and tradition

of america allowing power to change like that is sacred. so he's kept that pretty much the way. of course he has his fingerprints on what bible, what verses, who's there to help him. >> and the announcer. i did want to specifically ask about that announcer. no hard feelings there with him? have you spoken to him? >> i don't think there's any hard feelings. everybody would like to be close to the president or the president-elect. i think there's a spot for everybody and, of course, he needs to put his own signature on the things that are important. >> who did he choose to replace the announcer? >> i don't know, we'll find out. >> will there be any opportunity for president-elect trump to mix or mingle or talk to the other former presidents? president bush, president clinton. >> sure. they're there on the podium so if you remember, the podium is built out on the west side looking to the washington monument. they're all sitting right across from it. now the timing and sequencing is all very tight but they will all be within shouting distance of

each other. >> there's no private time that's expected at all. >> there's holding rooms as they come through the capitol. there's holding rooms where they have an opportunity to see each other but there's no organized interaction. >> i know in previous inaugurations the president and the president-elect sometimes i think -- i wasn't around -- go from the white house? so president obama -- have you heard from the white house about anything? >> sure. they've been very gracious in extending an invitation for coffee or tea in the morning. >> so it's traditional? i think it's what happened eight years ago. so president-elect trump and the family comes over there and they ride together? >> not the family, probably the president-elect and first lady elect. >> and then the four of them ride together. >> yes. so most probably they will go to the white house, invited for coffee or tea, they'll spend a half hour and then go together. it's a great moment. that's a great moment. >> thank you so much.

>> thanks. >> thank you for your time. >> watch the 58th presidential inauguration live on friday on c-span, cspan.org or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> the chair of the joint inaugural committee, this is the view you will see friday morning, pretty spectaculaspect >> it's a great view. i hope we'll see it friday morning without lots of rain but about half the time weather is one of the things you deal with on a day that millions of people all over the world watch to see how we do what we do. >> explain how this came together when did the work begin for this platform and podium and what's been involved since then? >> we've been working on this about seven months. i think it takes a little more time every time, security concerns a little greater, as they should be, every time so you plan, you look at every problem anybody else has faced

and say now are we sure we're not going to have people stuck in the tunnel? are we sure this is going to happen and that's going to happen? so about seven months of planning then the actual building of this platform that will have 1600 or so people on it friday morning started right about labor day. a bunch of guys that don't normally drive nails came out and drove ceremonial nails then we let the real nail drivers get to work and they finished a week ago and the carpet was put on and covered up a few days ago and we'll be ready for friday. >> what is your job as chair of this committee? >> my job is basically to do the work the committee largely entrusts the chairman to do to make the decisions about the security measures on the tickets, how they're distributed. the presidential inaugural committee gets a significant number of tickets. still most of the tickets are

distributed by the house and senate. starting about 1801 -- 1901 with mckinley's second inauguration congress officially took charge of this part of the process. it's a moment, steve, where the entire government virtually represented here in this piece of real estate but also our constitutional government, the legislative branch hosting clearly the purpose to be here is the new president to be sworn in, the supreme court comes and the chief justice has always done the swearing in of the president themselves and other justices the vice president over different times but this is something the whole world looks at and reagan's 1981 inaugural address, the first one on this side of the capital, he's looking down the same view you and i have just looked down, he said what we do here is both commonplace and miraculous. it's commonplace because we've

done it every four years since 1789. no matter what else is going on. middle of the civil war, middle of world war ii. economic challenges. but it's miraculous because we've done it every four years. it's a great example of what democracy is supposed to do. >> and those traditions, the role of the military, the role of congress endured over all these years. why do you think it has? >> i think it's one of the incredible ceremonial things that we do that defines who we are. washington thought the inauguration of the second president would be more important than the inauguration of the first president. and when you think about that, that shows the greatness of washington, understanding that writing the constitution, electing the president is one thing. >> and the preparations and sound checks continue, but if you could in as much detail as possible walk through your day friday morning, when it begins and concludes with the luncheon

in the afternoon. >> well, you know, we will get here pretty early. abbey, my wife and i, will go up to the white house with the other members of the congressional committee. i think it's also important that the president receive in a social way the president-elect and his wife and the vice president-elect and his wife. then we come back down to the capitol with them and that takes a substantial part of the early morning and not too long after we get back to the capitol, we walk on to the platform in a very specified order and i'm here, i act as the master of ceremonies for this great event and there's always that moment when if you're on this platform as i've been for several inaugurations now i find myself looking at the person who was just president as this great responsibility to immediately lift from them.

up until the moment that the new president takes the oath of office, the current president is still fully responsible for exercising the duties of the president, but the minute that oath of office is taken, that responsibility goes away and the president gives a speech, we go back in, i'm part of the process with the new president of walking the immediate former president and his -- the immediate former first lady to the steps of the capitol and i stay at the top of the steps and mrs. trump and president trump walk down with them and they're leaving and they come back in and the congress hosts a lunch which is our first official time to spend with the president and the vice president and when that lunch is over the parade begins and i guess everybody on the joint congressional committee, including the great staff we've had working on this, gives a big

sigh of relief because all of those things are up to the presidential inaugural committee which didn't stand up until right after the election itself. so we've had seven or eight months they've had about that many weeks to plan what happens on either side of what happens here at the capitol. >> and why here at the capitol? why is congress involved in the swearing in of the head of the executive branch? >> it's almost always been at the capitol. washington and new york and philadelphia. adams, the first person to be sworn in here. president washington said the second inauguration would be important in many ways, the third is even more important, the inauguration of the third president because it was the first time historians would argue that a group of people willingly gave up control of the government to another group of people that they thought would dramatically view that government in a different way. and that's the real test of

democracy but it's here at the capitol and, you know, since world war ii the same party has only held the white house three times in a row once so as often as not, not only are you changing presidents but you're changing political parties. the direction of the country is defined in a new way and democracy celebrates that. >> senator blunt, you mentioned you will be keeping an eye on the outgoing president barack obama. hillary clinton will also be here. what do you think is going through her mind and what will you be looking for with her presence as a former first lady. >> well, i'm certainly pleased that secretary clinton is coming, that president clinton is coming, president bush, i had a chance to visit with bush 43 this morning and he and mrs. bush will be here along with the carters. it's a great lesson to the world. 40 million people, steve, watch this live. tens of millions of others watch

and listen to it at different times of the day and the former presidents being here is a significant thing and certainly mrs. clinton but maybe even more than mrs. clinton, president carter and president h.w. -- george h.w. bush who won't be here because of health but they were on this platform and it wasn't just that they had not won the election, they were leaving their presidency before they thought they should in both cases and so there's a lot of sort of the emotion of democracy is great on inaugural day, too but what we really celebrate is democracy. we're not celebrating victory. >> and finally how do you feel? are you nervous? excited? what's going through your head? >> well, i have a pretty narrow emotional span most of the time and i'm just pleased to be part of this. i think it's a very exciting thing. the odds that you'd be the chairman of the right committee to become the chairman of this

committee at exactly the right time are pretty slim and so, you know, only a handful of people that are around today have ever done this job and i'll be one of them and i'll never watch an inauguration quite the same way again, i'm sure and i've talked from senator dodd and senator lott and others, senator mcconnell who have done this particular job and they all have stories to tell when it's over. >> in addition to the pomp and ceremony, security is an issue, isn't it? >> it is. 250,000 people will be here in the secured area, they're all ticketed, they all logical go through security screening, that will start early in the morning but there will be another 500, or 600,000 people between here and the washington monument and then on to the lincoln memorial that are just here because they want to be here and that in the event like this i think security is a significant concern