>> ♪ you really don't remember, was it something that he said are the voices in your head calling, gloria gloria, don't you think you're fallin' if everybody wants you, why

isn't anybody callin' >> this is c-span's coverage of the inauguration of donald trump, the incoming 47th president of the united states. this is the 60th time this event has taken place. in this instance, the 45th

president coming back to washington for a second term. expect a day of special events. follow on c-span and our other platforms. but what you will not find are crowds assembled on the national mall as in years past with the inauguration be moved inside the u.s. capitol due to the weather. stay with us as we present the events of the day and you can call in on the following lines. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. and (202) 748-8002 for independents. if you want to make your comments about this inauguration day via text, you can do that at (202) 748-8003. as always, you can post on our social media sites. that is facebook at facebook.com/c-span and on x @cspanwj. a lot of events being planned. a lot of pomp and circumstance to take place.

here to walk us through the day is john. >> morning, pedro. everything is being dictated by the weather today. on friday, the announcement that because of the cold weather this inauguration is being moved inside the capitol rotunda. let's start with the weather. the national weather service forecast for today as of 6:00 a.m., it is expected to be bitterly cold in washington with windchills expected in the single digits to teens and temperatures well below freezing. that is well below the traditional weather on january 20 here in washington. here is the historic data. it is usually between 30 and 45 degrees, but there have been many inoculations that have been much colder, including the last time this inauguration was moved inside in 1985. ronald reagan's inauguration, his second inaugural, it was just seven degrees at noon. in 1961 for jfk's inoculation, 22 degrees.

it also snowed about eight inches the night before. back in 2009, barack obama's first inauguration. it was 28 degrees at noon. and in 1977 for jimmy carter, it was also 28 degrees at noon. congressional media arriving in washington, showing the scenes as they have been trying to get to the capitol. security really tight this morning. security well away from the capitol. this is from punch bowl news. that is the capitol dome in the distance. this is a congressional reporter showing that police have been active throughout the evening from washington. let me walk viewers through what will happen this morning on inauguration day. 8:30himorning.vents start around you can watch them with us on c-span. president trump will attend a church service at st. john's episcopal church. it is an open nondenominational service. the church is just across

lafayette square from the white house. that ceremony expected to last abouonhour. and then at 90 eastern, president biden and the first lady will welcome the president-elect and melania trump tohehite house for the traditional tea, sitting down for tea and coffee, before escortinthpresident-elect to the united states capitol. that is when things move to capitol hill. is about 11:30 a.m. eastern the vice president will be sworn in, jd vance. between 11:30 and 12:00 will be the swearing-in of president trump. he will then be president trump and give his inaugural address from inside the capitol rotunda. the first president to be sworn inside the capitol rotunda in 40 years. it was yesterday that speaker mike johnson offered his viewers on x, his followers on x a

preview of what it would look like in the capitol rotunda. [video clip] >> right outside the people's house in the people's rotunda, you can see as we pan around there is a lot of activity. a lot of movement before the inauguration of the 47th president. we had to call an audible here. the weather outside is pretty fierce and will be even worse tomorrow. i know a lot of people are disappointed because they wanted to be out on the national mall. we wanted to have hundreds of thousands of people but we had to do it this way and it is better as president trump said. this stage on the rotunda, many of you i am sure have been here before. they built this entire apparatus in a 24-hour period. staff did an incredible job. has not been done in 40 years since 1985 with ronald reagan. this when they tell me will be even more grand. i will be walking the president out here tomorrow for a glorious

day and the beginning of a new golden age in america. the capitol building, let me show everybody the grandeur of the place. this dome is the most recognized symbol in all of the world. it symbolizes freedom to people everywhere. and tomorrow, we will celebrate our great republic with the inauguration of our 47th president, donald j. trump. we are so excited. you can watch along on television but i don't so many of you will be here in spirit. god bless you. go america. host: you can watch along on c-span as we bring you the inauguration of the president. you can follow along in our platforms as well. we will also give you the ability to comment on the events of this day. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. and independents, (202) 748-8002 . let's hear from dennis in wisconsin, democrats line. you are first up. go ahead. caller: hi.

i hear about this meme coin he is bringing up. he will not only milk all of his followers, but he will allow for some bribery to happen from china, from who knows where, from companies. this is the biggest graft of all time. i guess that is what i have to say. host: let's hear from paul in pennsylvania, republican line, on this inauguration day. paul, go ahead. caller: yes. this is an amazing day for pretty much all americans, letting the world know america is back and excited for the next four years. i am excited, and go trump. i am maga. host: this is from ian in north carolina, democrats line. hi. caller: my name is anne. i called to let you know i am so

proud because i think we will be in a bad situation. but we will be all right. but we will be in a bad situation because we have a scammer in the white house. and he is going to scam all americans and those billionaires too. bye. host: the current president and vice president expected to attend inauguration ceremonies. part of that will feature a goodbye to them. these will be things you will see throughout the day from inside the u.s. capitol. a different perspective. you can comment on those things, the incoming president, what you expect over the next four years on this inauguration day. maryland up next, this is gary. caller: m.r.i. on ok -- am i on ok? host: you are on ok. caller: i am very happy on this day with trump coming in. i believe it is not only a good

day for america but the globe, worldwide. i think that he is uncovering something that is deeper than just what we have going on in the united states. and he is going to peel back this layer we have been bamboozled for generations. i think as we go forward, this is going to be shown more and more. we are not race-based. i happen to be a white man. i love dark people, white people, all kinds of people -- i love black people, white people, all kinds of people. that is not a problem. i am just going to say he will unite everybody. everyone that is democrat, please let's join hands because we have one america. america will be strong so we don't have globalism. host: ok, apologies. i just want to tell folks this is the view of what is outside capital one arena in downtown washington, d.c.

the president expect it to arrive there later today after taking the oath of office to greet his supporters. that is just some of the scenes you will see, including vendors sending their wares outside the capital one arena. caller, go ahead, finish your thought. caller: thank you. regarding outside the arena, let's go. let's make sure we have no attacks on anybody because we are all americans. and again, i love democrats. let's unite everybody. host: ok. mason is in pennsylvania, independent line, on this inauguration day. go ahead. caller: good morning, pedro. happy snowy presidents' day from here in philadelphia. i have a question i would like to put out to the trump supporters. i watched c-span every once in a while and i hear that we need donald trump because he is a good businessman, he is good with the numbers, but the only

numbers i have seen donald trump be impressive that is visibility to cover 90% of his head with 30% of his air. that is the only impressive numbers i have seen come from the man. if you guys could tell me some different numbers i need to be looking at, i would really appreciate it. thank you, happy presidents' day. host: part of the lead up of the evidence today was the president elect at a rally at capitol one arena in washington, d.c. this took place sunday afternoon. you can still find the whole event on c-span. here is president elect trump addressing his supporters, giving a preview of what he expects to take place in the next four years. [video clip] >> i am thrilled to be back with so many friends, supporters, and true american patriots on the eve of taking back our country. that is what we are going to do, take back our country. tomorrow at noon, the curtain closes on four long years of american decline, and we begin a brand-new day of american

strength and prosperity, dignity, and pride. bringing it all back. once and for all, we are going to end the reign of the failed and corrupt political establishment in washington. a failed administration. we are not going to take it anymore. we are going to stop the invasion of our borders. we are going to reclaim our wealth. we are going to unlock the liquid gold that is right under our feet. liquid gold. we are going to bring back law and order to our cities. we are going to restore patriotism to our schools, get radical left woke ideologies the hell out of our military and government, and we are going to

make america great again. host: events from sunday. again, the president will head back to the capital one arena later on today for that follow-up rally with his supporters. let's go to daniel in rhode island, democrats line. caller: hello. good morning to you. i am just calling because i think we should all unite basically and stop the infighting because we are all americans. we all want to see the president succeed. because when the president succeeds, we all succeed. did i vote for trump personally? no. i think it is something holy. i think his rise to power is

something that is something that is godly in a sense. not that he is godly. it is something that we can't control really. one of those moments in history. fermi im -- for me, i am sitting back and hoping for the best and keeping god's word close to me. host: next in idaho, republican line. caller: hi. yeah. i am a woman. i just got into college. something that i've been really concerned about is the economy. what is it going to look like to buy a house and support myself when i graduate college or even in college? finding healthy food. i think the make america healthy again program is going to really change the way that we eat and

we will become healthier and happier americans. so i am really excited to see what trump does with the economy and food. host: in a normal circumstance, what you are seeing there, the capital ball, would be full of people on this inauguration day. from last week, those ceremonies be moved indoors as you heard john telling you earlier about the weather, the wind factor, all of those things, moving the event inside the capital center. you will see that. that is union station, a train station in washington, d.c. also has stores in it but will be gathering people, the president elect's supporters as the day goes on. from that to the u.s. capitol, expected to be full of people welcoming the 47th president of the united states since they cannot go to the mall to do that.

we will show you these things throughout the course of the morning as our cameras pick it up. later on, you will be able to see inside the capitol rotunda where the ceremony will take place. that is the outside obviously there. as we show you that throughout the course of the day. let's hear from percy, minnesota, independent line. caller: thanks for taking my call. i just want to say to the american public that i'm somewhat excited and also worried about the current presidency for the next four years. one of the things i am worried about and i think millions of americans are worried about his presidential power. president trump will be i guess the second president who would live under the supreme court ruling that the president can, if i am correct, commit criminal actions so long as it is an official act. i am not sure what the supreme court means when they say

official act versus unofficial act, but we do know the supreme court is going to let and approve that the president can engage in criminal activity and not be charged during his post presidency. that is something i am worried about, the extent of presidential power under the trump presidency. the other thing i am worried about is conservative backlash. a lot of people on social media, on the internet, and in real life talk about woke is him -- woke-ism. i am not sure what they mean because i don't grasp the term, but you have a lot of conservatives coming into power with a spirit of vengeance and want to get paid back against the left. i am worried about that as well. i am also worried about the extent of these ice raids, if people will perish in the

attempt of eluding ice, how violent they will be. there are a lot of things i worried about but i am excited about how the economy might pick up. the last thing i will say, thanks to c-span for taking my call. host: percy in minnesota referenced the supreme court. it was the current president up until noon today, president biden on wednesday reporting that it should be clear that the amendment makes it clear presidents are not immune from committing crimes. in part to swipe at a supreme court ruling he said, we need to amend the constitution to make sure no president is immune from crimes he or she commits while in office. the president's power is not unlimited, not absolute, and it should not be. he said those primetime remarks from the oval office. the president up until noon today when the president elect gets sworn in. he will head to the white house

for coffee and tea with jd vance, his vice president, and others before the ceremonies take place. we will follow along and show you what happens as we go throughout the day. here with more information on the day and its events is john. >> let me take viewers about five hours into the future at about noon eastern time what will happen. it is the swearing in first of the 47th president of the united states. those words in article two, section one of the constitution. president elect trump will say "i do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute the office of the president of the united states and will due to the my ability preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the united states." with that, he becomes the 47th president. and he will give an inaugural address. we do not know the exact length of that address, though here are some recent inaugural addresses for comparison. in 2021, president joe biden's

inaugural address, about 2500 words. donald trump's first inaugural what shorter -- was shorter than that, 1400 words. barack obama giving a 2000 word inaugural address in 2013 and a 2400 word inaugural address in 2009. after that inaugural address, let me walk viewers through what will happen the rest of the afternoon in washington. about 12:30 will be the official farewellerony and departu of then former president joe biden and vice president kamala harris. theyelve the capitol. pilly they leave via helicopter. we will see how it plays out this afternoon around 1:00 p.m. eastern, the president heads to the siding room in the capitol. it is the president's room right the senate chamber. executive orders. we are hearing lots of executive orders, scores of executive orde otap today. i will walk you through a little

later on today what they invo about 1 p. this afternoon, the traditional inaugural luncheon aend by the president and vice president and their guests. that will take place in the capitol. statuary hall is where that will be. around 3:00 p.m., the presidential parade begins. it will be different this year, taking place at the capital one arena. that procession moved inside. the president will be there with his supporters. that is seven street in washington, d.c., about seven blocks away from the united states capitol. around 5:00 p.m. today, the president will return to the white house for more official signings. more executive orders expected then. and around 8:00 p.m., the president will have inauguration balls. all happening today in a very, very busy day here in washington. host: you heard john talk about that seven blocks away where the

capital when irena is where the president is going -- capital one arena is where the president is going to address his supporters. >> good morning morning, pedro. you can see right now the shot is going down the block. i don't know exactly how far it is going down because we have not made it that far. we stopped and talked to people in the crowd who are waiting. they are still a few blocks away from the arena. but right now, i have somebody waiting on the inside of this fence. people on the other sidearm those who will be getting into the arena later today. i have john here from tennessee. hi, john. >> hi. >> tell us, how long have you been standing out here? >> we got here about 4:30 in the morning. >> where in tennessee are you from? >> columbia, south of nashville. >> you are used to these kinds of temperatures? >> i was born and raised in denver, so yeah. it is not bad. >> you said you have actually

done this before. you have been to d.c. for an inauguration before. >> yeah, 2016. >> how is this your different? >> of course, it was on the mall, you know, and it had a very different feel to it with that. the security here is better. it is calmer. it is just enjoyable in its own way. it is different but it is nice. >> you are from tennessee. the people behind you you have made friends with. where are they from, and what have you been talking about the past few hours? >> ohio, california, colorado, different places. yesterday, we actually had a legit prince from cameroon behind us. we were talking with him, and he got interviewed by people. he was the nicest guy good you never know who you are going to meet over the course. we got in line at 10:30 and got here at 5:00. just being part of it is a good time. >> were you already in d.c. when

you found out it was going to be moved indoors? >> i think we were on our way maybe. i think we got here saturday. i forget what the timing of it was but we kind of assumed there might be a lot of short notice changes. so we were happy. whatever happened, happened. we were putting ourselves in place to have fun. >> and what are you hoping to see today? >> looking forward to seeing the ceremony itself, that continuity of a being part of that, and having people around you. it was the same thing in 2016, being part of it and the community you have with that. it was a good time. whatever happens after that will be fine. plus, it will be warm. >> thank you so much for your time. >> thank you so much. you guys take care. host: you will hear from various people throughout the morning gathered in and around washington, d.c. normally, offices would be open on this martin luther king jr. celebration day. however, all federal offices being closed in washington, d.c., and across the united

states. that's here from christian in spokane, washington, democrats line. caller: hi there. can you hear me? host: you are on, yes. caller: i just want to comment on what percy said. i myself have not voted for donald trump in the previous elections. many have become scared of his authoritarian leaning style of government. but similar to his first inauguration, we should take a deep breath and kind of try to embrace him nationally, democrats, independents, and of course republicans. he was labeled in his first administration, but my main thought on democrats embracing him is if we help him on things such as the economy and trade and all of these other issues, we might actually be able to stabilize our economy post-covid.

of course, nobody really knows what is going on economically. but maybe we will be able to work with him. hopefully. what i have been seeing on the news this morning with his second inaugural being less of a calamity speech that he gave in 2016 and more of a unifying speech, i am genuinely excited to see what he has to offer the country. host: can i ask, because you reflected the sentiment, the previous caller reflected the sentiment, what is the change behind the sentiment? caller: for the democrat party you mean? host: yes. caller: i think it might have something to do they got absolutely clobbered in this last election, lost all seven swing states. i believe if i have been seeing the reporting correctly, all of the states here in washington loomed republican at least more than in my lifetime. i am 28 years old.

i think he might be right in the sense that he got somewhat of a mandate. i have not looked at the hard numbers of the election since early december, late november. but i think that might be the reason. host: ok, christian in spokane. let's hear from mike in ohio, independent line. caller: hi. how are you doing today? i just want to say congratulations to president trump and joe biden. they are both doing a wonderful job on getting hostages back. i think that they both played a great part in it. joe biden did a great negotiation, and donald trump basically put them on front street. have a nice day. host: the current president joe biden in the last series of weeks issuing pardons on a variety of fronts. cnn reporting that as of today, the president plans to issue pardons for general mark milley,

dr. anthony fauci, and members of congress who served on the committee investigating the january 6, 2021 attack on the capitol. the pardons which come in the final hours of his presidency, come after president-elect vowed retribution for those he viewed as opposing his first presidency. "our nation relies on dedicated selfless public servants every day. they are the lifeblood of our democracy." going on to say "yet alarmingly, public service have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties." he goes on from there. you can read more about the pardons issued by the president. sam is next from texas, republican line, on this inauguration day. go ahead. sam in bay city, texas. hello? caller: hello? host: you are on. go ahead. caller: hi. i am michelle from texas. i live on the coast.

i am so proud of president trump and jd vance. i just hope that they can keep men out of the women's sports, help our homeless veterans. host: ok. caller: i am so excited to have this world change to keep us from going into world war iii. host: normally, our viewers who watch this program through a variety of programs call within the united states, sometimes outside the united states. gus is in doha, qatar, democrats line. caller: hello, everybody. host: how are you watching us, by the way? how are you watching us, if i may ask? caller: youtube. host: ok. go ahead. caller: i give donald trump credit.

i am a longtime democrat. i found a handful of my friends and family voted for trump this time around, which never happened. the first time around, we did not give trump that much credit, you know. when it was time to vote, we voted for biden. when it came down to voting for harris, no one was voting for harris because she was saying that if you vote for me in office, i will do x, y, z. it is like, you are already in office. you are not doing anything. we kind of knew what trump had to offer. i give him credit, you know, and i am really surprised that our party, a majority of people voted for republicans. you never see that. i give him credit. host: what kind of work do you do in qatar? caller: i don't do work out here. i am visiting my wife. host: got you.

caller: i work in california. host: got you. gus didn't doha, qatar. we will go to laurel in oklahoma, independent line. hello. caller: hi. how are you? host: fine, thank you. go ahead. caller: i just want to say i am so grateful and i thank god every single day for president trump and the tenacity he has and the strength he has shown for this country and the people that he loves. i am a little overwhelmed right now. sorry. i am -- sorry. i am taking care of my autistic brother. we just lost both of our parents last year.

and i feel like president trump is going to help people like me and my brother who don't have anybody else. because he has a sense of like real life struggles. sorry, i'm trying not to cry. i am so grateful that he won, and i am so thankful to god every single day. host: ok. laurel in oklahoma giving us a call. our show will continue on throughout the morning and give you the front seat so to speak to today's inauguration ceremony held inside blair house as it is commonly known, which is close to the white house, where the president and his team is staying as they prepare for the transition to take place later on today. we will see him come out and the incoming first lady of the united states melania trump and

others to start their day. that starting with the church service at st. john's as you heard john tell you about earlier. and then we will follow you along. speaking of which, john, give us an update. >> pedro, one of your callers earlier were talking but the theme of this inaugural address that president trump will be giving. it will be president trump taking the oath and giving the inaugural address. but to expect elation about what that theme will be -- plenty of speculation about what that theme will be. the los angeles times right trump's first speech was american carnage and this time it will be different. this is the headline from npr. trump says the theme of this inaugural address will be unity. the wall street journal got some of the excerpts of the inaugural address calling for a revolution of common sense is what he will say it in his speech. excerpts

excerpts of which the wall street journal received. it will be under the capitol dome. people will not be waiting outside in the cold as they usually do. it is on the west front of the united states capitol. we will see if that means the warmth of the capitol dome the president will go on longer. we will find out, but we know afterwards he is set to sign a slew of executive orders and plenty of reporting of that in the past 24 hours. this is the hill newspaper headline. trump plans a barrage of day one executive order's. there could be more than 200 exec of actions on day one. punch bowl news with a wrap up of what some of those will be. on government reform, donald trump wants to issue an executive order that provides a process for removing insubordinate employees, issuing an executive order on the

department of government efficiency and so on. on energy, he wants to halt spending on the green new deal, another climate related priority for the biden administration, speed up the construction on pipelines, dealing with energy permitting and coal and natural gas. on the border, the president will identify drug cartels. he will deploy military forces to the border if needed, stiffen interior enforcement, establish the remaining mexican policy, and so on. there will be a lot happening today, there will be a lot of executive actions and we will keep track of them for you. of course, it is the president's cabinet that he is looking to have confirmed as soon as possible. we are expecting a vote today on marco rubio for the state department for secretary of state. the senate comes in at 4:30, and there are several senate committee votes planned, but it

takes a floor vote to be officially confirmed. right now, we are only expecting marco rubio with the floor vote. that could change when the senate comes in at 4:30. we know the schedule for the rest of the evening. a long day in washington. we hope you stay with c-span throughout the day. host: plenty of platforms, we will show you pictures like you are seeing right now of blair house. we can hear what you are saying on social media as well. this is vickie from our facebook posting saying we have finally a president that will p country overpowered, thanks be to god. others like moses from facebook sang it is not too long before we know the damage that trump has inflicted on the u.s. economy and alliance. kareem from facebook, a joyful day for some, a sad day for others. i think it marks the beginning the end, but let's hope i'm wrong. others commenting on our facebook page. if you want to do so, you can do so. facebook.com/c-span is how you

do that. on, it is @cspanwj. brandon in kentucky, republican line, go ahead. caller: hi. it is nice to meet you. great honor and excitement to be on the air. i just tuned in about 20 minutes ago. i want to say that as a republican, a more traditional republican, i have mixed feelings right now. some excitement, some nervous, obviously. the big thing i want to say is i have major concern the senate will not confirm president trump's health and human services secretary robert f kennedy, junior. if you watched his speech this summer, he wants to get to the bottom of what has caused so many infectious diseases in america and make america healthy again. i am concerned, not only will he try to be stopped but there will be others who try to stop president trump from doing what is best for the country i mean.

those are my big concerns right now even though they are not unaccompanied by concerns of the president's temperament and behavior. host: max up next in miami, democrats line. caller: yes, yes. good morning, good morning. i just want to say that donald trump will be the last president of the united states. thank you. host: ok. karen in georgia. i'm sorry, karen in kentucky, independent line. hi. caller: hi. i am curious why none of the main media stations are talking about the fact that on stage last night during his rally, he said that elon musk messed around with the tabulation machines and then they won on sylvania. so basically, those of us in the

know have known it was a stolen election with the temperature machines. other computer security experts have sent messages to vice president and the president about this. the proof is in the pudding. he admitted it on stage last night. i so surprised. fox news did air a minute of it. an abc news on their tiktok showed a clip of it. but basically, he admitted elon musk and with all the other countries that he accused elon musk of messing with their elections. and even romania is having to redo their elections because of elon. why not more being reported about it? host: you and our viewers can see the whole event from yesterday featuring the incoming president of the united states.

if you go to our website, if you go to our app, watch that whole thing for yourself and everything that took place during that event. pennsylvania avenue is what we were just showing you a little while ago, down the street from the u.s. capitol. the focused typically on an anarchy ration -- the u.s. capitol the focused typically on an inauguration day, but that is the national mall where people would normally be. up close and personal if they were able to do so. but everything moves indoors today. frigid temperatures expected. very cold wind to blow through, dropping those temperatures, forcing the inside event of today's inoculation. regardless, you can still watch it on c-span on a variety of our programs. we will keep going taking your calls and watching as we see the incoming president of the united states go through a series of events before taking the oath of

office. currently down there at blair house. expected to leave in a little while for the service at st. john's church. expected later on to go to the white house for coffee and tea and make his way to the u.s. capitol. here is a net from georgia, republican line. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say i am excited as a republican, and i appreciate you taking my call. i just want to say god bless usa and our incoming president. and prayers for a successful four years ahead. thank you so much. host: shirely joined us next in connecticut, democrats line. caller: good morning, pedro. good morning, america. i am so surprised at some of the people who think that trump will ever work with anybody.

the man has never listened to anyone, even dr. fauci when he was telling him how serious covid was, so i am a little bit skeptical on how he will mass deport people who are working in this country, probably going to school in this country, their children, and everyone else who contributes to america's economy. and i am annoyed with the fact that it is not offered in schools anymore so young people like the 20-year-old man who called and said he thinks he is going to work with someone. and to those that kamala harris could do presidential work when she was just vice president. i am just, you know, hopeful that america will survive this presidency. and so i am looking forward to

moving forward, whether or not it is good or bad. my prayer is for america and for us to sustain our progress in this country and for us to love one another and not look down on people coming from other countries. with that, pedro, i hope that this inauguration will put a new perspective in president trump's mind and that he will begin to work with democrats and others and dispel the hatred of people from different countries that come here to work with america. i believe elon musk is from a different country. his family, and even donald trump's family is from a different country. host: ok. we are back to john. >> a caller just a second ago

mentioned anthony fauci. one it to know some news this morning concerning anthony fauci and others out of the white house. i am talking about the joe biden white house. the associated press reporting that president biden has pardoned fauci and mark milley in an effort to guard against potential revenge by donald trump good this is the lead, saying president biden issued those pardons as well to members of the house committee that investigated the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol, using the its ordinary powers of his office in the final hours to guard against potential revenge. that was a "revenge." here is more from the statement. the issuing of the pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment and at individual engaged in wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued of guilt of any offense. our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country. the statement out of the white house this morning, more news on a newsy day in washington.

president biden down with president trump -- president biden will sit down with president trump for coffee and tea. in the primaries before the 2024 election. president trump with this tweet saying they wanted to be in south carolina. they reflected on power and faith. they went to the international african-american museum with jim clyburn, a democrat from south carolina. jim clyburn tweeting out this picture of himself and joe biden, saying he could not be more thankful to the president for spending his final day in south carolina. jim clyburn, one of the early backers of joe biden, hoped to win south carolina, propelling him to the presidency in 2020. there is one of the final shots of joe biden's presidency. host: again, we will continue on

throughout the morning and give you a ground-level view of what is going on in and around washington, d.c. >> hi, pedro. we made it a block down from where we were earlier. they are literally again behind these gates waiting to get in line. right now, we have some folks from north carolina. i have zach and keith and gloria. what time did you get in line this morning? >> six clock a.m. -- 6:00 a.m. >> why did you want to be here today? >> because this is a historical moment for the united states and we are here to watch his three happen. >> gloria, is this the first time you guys have been to an inauguration? >> no, we went to the inauguration in 2016 as well, keith and i did. >> what is different this year? >> i don't know. it is colder. it is very crowded just like the last time. last time we got in front of trump hotels that was very nice.

but it is very crowded. we have been here very early. we got up at 3:00 this morning and are very excited. can't wait. >> there is a lot less protesting this time than there was last time. people seem a lot more unified than they were. i know groups of women, grab them by the you know what. it seems a lot more unified. >> there was another event last night at the same location. we you guys able to go to that? >> no. >> unfortunately not. >> zach you were not here it sounds like last time. what do you want to see today? >> i want to see my future president thomas what he is going to do good, and hopefully he can succeed in doing all of that. >> how old are you? >> 15. >> 15 so you could not vote. what do you want to see president focus on? what is an important issue to you? >> one issue that is pretty important to me, there was some

weird stuff that goes on in my school nowadays like the bathroom situations, like men going to women's bathroom. i think all of that is messed up and needs to be fixed immediately. and with women's sports, i think him keeping men out of women's sports and women out of mensa sports is super important. those are the things i want to see him do. >> keys and gloria, what about you? what do you want to see your future president focus on? >> safety of americans. prosperity. americanism. everything. the economy. everything that zachary said is great too. i agree with all of the pro-life, christianity, religion, personal rights, all of those things. everything trump says. >> energy independent. drill, baby, drill. yeah. >> we are going to let you go.

the line is moving again. thank you for your time. we appreciate it. host: in washington, d.c., downtown d.c., that is where people are gathered. some with hopes to enter and see the events of later today when the 47 president donald trump comes to visit them. some will be outside. some are already lined up on pennsylvania avenue, which we have been showing you throughout the course of the morning, including security and those preparations for the president-elect, the current president, and others to head to the u.s. capitol to go inside, to participate in those inaugural activities. c-span will be showing you that all day long. mary in minnesota come independent line. hi. caller: hello. host: you are on, go ahead. caller: yes, i am just disappointed in those people that want to go high and not low.

they cannot bring themselves to come to this event when everyone else showed up for their event, that being michelle obama. i think it is disgusting, and i hope she has a very sad day today. that is all i have to say. host: alicia, republican line in florida. you are next up. caller: type. -- hi. host: go ahead. you are on. caller: hi, my name is alicia, and i am in washington, d.c., this morning with people from our party. a couple of my republican club members. we came up here in this freezing cold weather to support donald j. trump. we worked diligently for him in 2020. we did not win then but boy we had a grand slam this time. the most highest numbers we ever had in voting with the younger people, the early vote, and we worked 24/7 for donald j. trump.

we are so blessed and honored to have him as the incoming president today. we cannot stand out in that line. we stood out yesterday for five hours trying to get into the rally and we could not make it in. it was too packed. so we came home and watched it and were so blessed we came to our hotel. today, we will be at an inaugural ball. i will not say which one. but i want to tell america you have got a man that truly cares for this country. he is going to stop this illegal border crossing. he is going to get america back on track. the young people have a future in the country. we have tried so hard for the younger generation to have a future of being a free country. we ask all the young people in this country to please stand up and become active in your future.

republicans are for god and country. we stand for grassroots values. we stand for love. host: ok. ok. caller: god bless america. host: all right, that is alicia there in florida. let's hear from jay in louisiana, democrats line. go ahead. caller: great to hear from all the previous callers, especially the democrats talking about unity and coming together. people getting involved, it is a great testament. and you know, we are working. we extend that all of branch, reaching across the aisle to work with republicans. but what we have seen so far and what i am scared for this trump presidency and the republican majority in congress is democrats still trying to do the best for their constituents, extending the handout across the

aisle. some people on the republicans working with the democrats arbitrating their party -- are betraying their party. the young people, we are getting more involved. if you are a young voter listen, make sure you stay engaged and get active. host: jay in louisiana. during the course of the morning, we will tell you about the white house itself, how it changes over when a presidency changes. in this case, the current resident, president biden, his wife, the first lady jill biden, that transition right after the oath of office around noon today will now then become the white house of the 47th president donald trump, and his wife, the first lady, melania trump. a big transition process there, but we will learn about that throughout the course of the morning as well. so stay close to c-span for that. kendra in alberta, canada,

independent line. ui next up. caller: hi. i just want to say the tariffs that donald trump is imposing on canada or that he plans to i think are ridiculous. during world war i and world war ii, a whole lot of canadians died beside the americans during d-day and many other operations. when 9/11 happened, all of the flights when aerospace was shut down in the u.s., google newfoundland because we hosted about 10,000 american people. we fed them and housed them and everything else until they got back on their planes to go home and were safe. we did that. all of a sudden we are being treated like any other third world. that is ridiculous. it is like you guys are about to be run by an autocrat. it is like julius caesar is about to take power except it is julius caesar with caligula. i will just say back down the hatches because of the american

people think this guy is for them, you are kidding yourself. all you are is fodder for this guy. and he just wants you so he can sell his overpriced things. host: ok. that is a caller from alberta, canada. you are seeing the washington monument. you may have noticed the flights at half-staff. this was from president biden ordering flags around washington, d.c., at half-staff to commemorate the passing of jimmy carter. it is the house speaker mike johnson ordering today and just today for flags to be flown at full staff for the inauguration participant ceremonies. so expect that. we were going to see more activities outside and now they moved inside, but regardless, inauguration day still taking place. c-span brings you that coverage showing you things throughout the morning from various cameras giving you perspectives in and around washington, d.c. charles is in alabama,

republican line. charles, go ahead. charles in alabama, hello. caller: hey, can you hear me? host: yes, you are on. go ahead. caller: i just want to give a positive message this morning not just for republicans, democrats, independents. i want to hope everybody is great. everybody eats. everybody has good gas. but he has good benefits and health. i just want everything to be positive. i am from south alabama and it is cold out here today. my guys are gathered around the office listening to you and we hope there is a peaceful transaction and everybody gets along well. that is all i had to say. host: johnny in los angeles, democrats line. caller: good morning. i am just really, really sad today, thinking about what the next 48 months are going to look

like. yeah, i am counting the months instead of the years. this man has no agenda for people of color. even downtrodden white people who would rather cut their own throat than vote for a qualified african-american woman. i am just really, really sad. i am sad this inauguration spectacle is taking place on the day that was designated to celebrate dr. king's life. host: los angeles. the president elect, once becoming president, is expected to travel there later on this week to see the impact of wildfires there. so stay tune for news of that in the starting days of the second trump administration. carolyn in new hampshire, independent line. hi. caller: hi, sir. i just wanted to say i am

excited for today. i think this is actually going to be a good step for the country. i am looking forward to what president trump has said in regards to getting out of the united nations, getting out of nato, and freeing the j6ers. i hope the best for this country and to be unified. god rejoices when his children come together in unity. so i am just hoping for the best. i to get will be a good step in this country. and i don't believe we are enemies with canada. i don't think trump thinks that at all. i just think he is trying to make the most for this country and that he is the master of what he calls the art of the deal and it will work out for both countries. he wants to rebuild a lot of things that have been damaged what we feel the last four years of difficulties. i just hope for the best. and god bless you sir, and god bless martin luther king day. host: both of those events

taking place on this day. to tell us a little more about what to expect as the day goes on, back to john. >> pedro, the caller earlier talked about those who are not attending the inauguration today and plenty of reporting about those who are and are not. here is this out of new jersey. along with michelle obama, nancy pelosi will not be in attendance today for donald trump's second inauguration. published reports that chinese president xi jinping will send an envoy in his place today. viktor orban plans on skipping the inauguration. several living presidents will attend the inauguration, but each will be skipping the customary inaugural lunch that takes place afterwards inside the united states capitol. here is one more bit of news from thehill.com. mike pence expected to attend the trump inauguration.

it was mike pence sworn in as vice president and donald trump's first inauguration -- in donald trump's first inauguration. jd vance will be sworn in today by brett kavanaugh at about 11:30 when justice kavanaugh will do the honors when it comes to the vice president. donald trump will be sworn in closer to 11:5 a.m. eastern is what we are expecting -- 11:45 a .m. eastern is what we are expecting. when he is sworn in, he will be sworn in on two bibles, one given to him by his mother and one is the lincoln bible used by president abraham lincoln in lincoln bible also used barack obama's inauguration take donald trump also used the lincoln vibrant family bible. here's another angle on the photo and of the bibles.

donald trump to chris bourque czar showing swearing-in ceremony. that's expected around noon eastern. one other picture for you, you can go to the library of congress website and see the image in the background on the lincoln bible. once again this will be used today to swear in a president of the united states. host: laura in indiana, republican line. laura in indiana, republican line. caller: hello, hello. this is laura. i'm just calling because i just am so excited the donald trump on the election. i was waiting for this for the last four years, i wanted him to win the last election and he got screwed out of that. so i'm just very happy that he's going to be in and everything because he should have been in

four years ago and i know he's going to make america great again. i have all the confidence in the world and him and i know if anybody can fix our country, i'm just very, very happy about it. host: several blocks away from our studios that you are seeing, this is a different section of washington as were watching. let's hear from stanley in north carolina, democrats line. caller: good morning. i just want to say i hope everybody down there head in prayer for the coming loss of a great nation. thank you. host: stanley in north carolina joining us on the phone. you can continue to join us on the phone all morning long and we will continue bring you coverage up until the inauguration ceremonies and then you can continue watching those on our many platforms. (202) 748-8000 for democrats.

(202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independents. you can always text us your thoughts on inauguration day at (202) 748-8003. during the course of our coverage today, featuring guests, essential historians and the like to get some perspective for what to watch for. the first guest of the morning a presidential historian and senior fellow at the ronald reagan institute joining us on zoom. good morning. guest: thanks so much are having become i lug inauguration day in the peaceful transfer of power and i love america. host: talk about the idea of the transfer. under it all, why is it important? guest: the most important election, and i know every politician says that every election is the most important, that the most important in history i believe was the third american election where john adams gives up the presidency

after losing to thomas jefferson. i guess the fourth because jefferson was the third president. and he was not happy about losing the election because he didn't even go to the inauguration. but he leaves peacefully. he didn't take the army, he didn't say i'm going to fight or prevent this from happening. he said i'm going to move on and let the next person take over. that establishes this enormously important tradition and it showed that this is the way that we in several lies democratic nations transfer power from one side to the other. the people rule, the people speak and then one president peacefully leaves in another president peacefully comes in. and i think it's the greatest thing ever. i've been to five inaugurations in person. i think inaugurations are great and i'm happy to go to them and i think all americans to liberate when we have a peaceful transfer of power. host: you talked about this

process of transition. how has it changed over history? guest: the most important change certainly in the last 100 years or so is that the inauguration is much closer to the election that it used to be. it used to be march would be the transfer of power. almost half a year before the new president would come in. this was a particular problem in the great depression when the country was in a really bad spot. franklin roosevelt wins the election and herbert hoover is resoundingly defeated and kind of rejected by the american people because of the way he ran things, but there's still five more months when we know we have any president coming in the new president not only can't do anything, but is refusing to do anything because he doesn't want to be part of whatever hoover is up to. he wants to complete the reject hoover. so we are kind of sitting there frozen for five months. after that congress said we had better change this and now we have a transition that comes much closer on january 20.

it is a bit of a scramble for people involved in the transition process as i have, but at the end of the day when we are much closer to the election, the will of the people is being spoken on. host: i suppose that scramble that you mention in this case, remove things indoors. guest: one is yes, we have backup plans. i know senator klobuchar is one of the people in evolved and having backup plans. this warmer inauguration which i think is important, if it were really nine degrees today than people are at risk of potentially hypothermia and losing lens, that kind of thing. we want to be safe, we want people to enjoy the peaceful transfer of power, but the other scramble is the time to get ready to take over a 2 million plus person government. so the transition process where you've got to appoint 6000 people to various jobs and to get your cabinet ready to have

your executive order, that happens very quickly when the election takes place. host: i just want to tell people that people are starting to enter st. john's church, eric and laura trump, other members starting to gather at that church for that ceremony that takes place a little while from now. mr. troy, some perspective on a church service being part of this process. guest: we are a judeo-christian nation. i've actually done an analysis of the use of the bible in the inauguration events, most presidents do mention the bible in their inauguration. it's actually more common in the last 100 years than it was in the first 100 years. we do thank god for our blessings, and even the person who was on the call right before i join who said we should all bow our heads in prayer, and then he was obviously a little pessimistic about things, but prayer is an important part of it and many of our presidents

have been religious people. there is that church service that takes place as we saw people going to the church right now. it takes place before the process every year or every four years, and i think that it's just an important part of the american tradition. host: joining us for our coverage today, (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. this is the second time around for the president elect to participate in a transition process. what do you think he has learned this time around that he didn't know the first time around? guest: i don't think he knew much about the mechanisms of government the first time and now he may be one of the better- versed people and have the federal government works or certainly have the white house works. it's rare to have someone come in with four years of executive experience in the oval office, so i think he's learned a lot. i also think there is some

sorting out within the republican party. last time there was a lot of unhappiness within the republican party and some people weren't on board. now it seems like the people he's bringing on board are happy with new direction of the republican party, and the people who aren't have migrated out or are less involved. i think he's learned a lot about how to run things from the white house. host: let's hear from callers. presidential historian, senior fellow at the ronald reagan institute, before we go to calls, some perspective you being at the ronald reagan institute. former reagan enduring having been indoors for this type of ceremony. guest: there is a lot of ironies there that reagan was the last person not to be able to do it outdoors, it was a bitterly cold day in washington in january of 1985, and for safety reasons, are concerned about the people who would be coming to washington they decided to have it indoors. and for us now, it's actually a

good thing because now we know how it works. we had the plans and we were ready to go and we made this important change. host: this is blair house with the president, his family and others are currently housed before they head to st. john's for that service that we talked about. we will show you that when it happens, but to from callers. elijah in california, democrats line. caller: hello there. good morning from california. it's pretty early here that i just want to keep watching the inauguration. i voted democrat down the ticket but i'm disappointed that they lost, but i am cautiously optimistic about trump's economic policies. i don't support his social policies, his trans issues, his opinions on that kind of stuff. i find that pretty disgusting to be honest but i'm cautiously optimistic about the economy.

in the inauguration indoors is very interesting. never seen that before in my life that i'm excited to see how this goes. i hope trump does ok and maybe democrats will get 2028. we'll see. i hope you're having a great morning. it looks great. thanks for having me on today. host: elijah in california. this perspective that the president has to be a president of all people and particularly how democrats might view the incoming second administration of donald trump. guest: i love elijah's call because he said he's disappointed in the results but he is rooting for the best, hoping the president does well. that is how we should all feel. you vote for one person or another and then the people decide and then you root for that person to be successful because we want america to be successful. i also like what he said about the mixed message. some things he likes about trump and some things he doesn't. it reminds me of one of my favorite politicians, the

democratic mayor of new york during my early formative years, and he used to say if you agree with me on eight out of 12 issues, you should vote for me. if you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, you should see a psychiatrist. everyone is a complex person. you can't agree with every person on everything, make the best decision you can and you hope for the best. host: to what degree do you get a sense the democrats are willing to give a chance this time around to a second administration of mr. trump? guest: democrats obviously are not big fans of trump and i don't expect them to give him a lot of leeway but there are some issues like immigration and the order where a number of democrats have signed on to the lincoln riley? which seems common sense to me that if someone is an illegal immigrant and has committed crimes, that person should be acted on. i think there are going to be some issues where they can work together. there are some issues where they are going to disagree. trump has majorities in both the

house and senate, he's got some momentum behind his election victory and that is the american way. we will see how it goes. host: easton is in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, independent line. caller: thanks for taking my call. i just want to get perspective on the history of presidential collusion especially with other international countries. watching trump over the past weekend with his trump coin and how he had a call with xi jinping on friday, trump servers are buying so much of the trump coin. it seems pretty obvious to me there was something big going on with trump and the ccp. i guess i just wanted troy's thoughts on possible collusion between this president and the presidency as a whole and how that will reflect on the history of past presidents and their collusion with other countries. host: that's ethan from pennsylvania. guest: collusion is an interesting word. it could be also alliances.

sometimes presidents work together, we worked very closely with england over the years. i don't necessarily think that is collusion although our opponents in the cold war might have seen it as collusion. there is a continuum between alliance and the other side is treason where you are acting on behalf of another country. i don't see any evidence of that with president trump or with any of our presidents, frankly. fortunately we've not had anyone who has committed treason in the white house, and i hope that we don't because the president is there to ask for the american people and do it by acting in alliance with other countries, that's a good thing. and then obviously some countries we are not allied with. i think the american way is to show that we extend the hand of friendship to other countries and if they reciprocate, we have a good relationship and if they don't, we also are a powerful nation with tools at our

disposal. host: there is reporting that a senior chinese official is planning to attend inauguration events. how typical is it for foreign dignitaries to attend these kind of things? guest: if you are talking about ambassadors, it is very common. you always have ambassadors. a group of people that comes to the inauguration, the state department helped handle the tickets and credentials for them. but to have foreign leaders or high-level people from other countries come as a little less usual. look, i am not a fan of the chinese communist party. i think they are oppressive, i think they've got some nefarious designs, but i also don't want war. and if we can come to an accommodation with the chinese hopefully where they recognize that democracy and freedom is the better way to go, when we let them into the society of

nations and gave most favored nation status to them, we want to continue, we want them to move on a path toward more freedom and democracy. what they've done is they've had more liberalization of the economy without the political system and i think that has been more of a challenge than we anticipated. but the road is long and we still don't have all the answers yet, so let's see how it plays out. host: jeff, democrats line, virginia. caller: good morning. just want to congratulate the new president donald trump. we are a multi-generation of democrats, but we've always passed to our kids you've got your feelings and then there's the actual of what is going on. and we just could not stand

behind what we feel like are a bunch of criminals up there in congress. we want to see trump clear out criminals and we are hoping for a wonderful four years. we want to congratulate him. thank you. host: that was jeff from virginia. guest: it's an interesting call because a virginia democrat sounds pretty supportive of president trump and what he is trying to do. i think people are complicated. you can say you are a lifelong democrat and support trump or a lifelong republican who supports trump. we have all kinds of things in this country. in terms of the new president gets to bring in something like 4000 to 6000 political appointees. there are 2 million people in the career service plus literally an unknown number of contractors out there.

and the president gets to put his stamp on things to the degree that he or she can. the politicals are definitely within their purview and the careerists are there to serve the government whether it is a democrat or republican. president trump talked things like schedule f are ways to make war of the careers subject to political control, but the fact of the matter is even with scheduled efforts, the vast majority of the civil servants are going to remain civil servants who serve regardless of their it is a democrat or republican president. host: what is known as blair house for the president and his family currently are staying before the start of today's activities, a church service that we mention and other events at the president leaves and his entourage, you talked about all those things that take place on a single day. what is the planning process for

transition? guest: it's a very strange thing. there is a lot of build up and then from of the election happens there's a lot of preparation in terms of personnel and getting ready and making sure that you can move the old president out and the new president in. there is that moment at noon on january 20 when one president is no longer in the new president is now president and that switch has to happen really quick and they remake the oval office and they bring everyone's stuff out and other things in. it is a finely tuned machine to make it all happen. i want to say something quick about the blair house, one of the most beautiful government buildings. in houses foreign dignitaries, also the new president at the president comes in. it's right across the street from the white house and if you ever have the privilege to have a tour of it, it is not necessarily open to the public but sometimes opens to tourists, it has the most beautiful

architecture and the most beautiful floors and everything. it also is the most modern of all the fixtures, lighting that is all very 21st century even in this ornate 19th-century building. host: how did blair house get its name? guest: the blair family was a very powerful maryland family. montgomery blair was postmaster general under lincoln, so that is where it comes from. it has a storied history. harry truman was in blair house when puerto rican terrorists tried to take out the president and he was watching from a window as the secret service guards had a shootout with these terrorists right on executive avenue. he yelled at him to get away from the window which was probably a smart move and he eventually did. host: hears jeannie in spokane, washington with our guest, presidential historian and senior fellow at the ronald reagan institute. go ahead. caller: i wrote a poem and my

husband loved it so much he had me send it to president trump through truth social. dear lord in heaven, thank you so much for the angel wings you sent to protect president trump. he stood there in the open, he knew he was taking a chance. something made him turn his head at a glance. laid his hands upon them, helped him turn his head, for if it wasn't for his angel president trump would be dead. thank you almighty god for the angel wings from above, for this we have to thank the with gratitude and love. host: sean in south carolina, republican line. caller: yes, good morning. i just wanted to convey to my fellow citizens out there that are watching, i am former military, but regardless of whatever walk of life that we come from and our work ethic

from childhood to adulthood, you have to concentrate on leadership. we may or may not like the person that is in our leadership role, but we have to concentrate on the substance of the work that is being done. i just hope people can get a grasp of that and we can look forward in the future to the next four years and beyond. host: to the caller's point of leadership, the president elect reportedly going to sign numerous executive orders today. what is the role with the signing of those orders at the beginning of a presidency and how do you compare it to what the president plans to do? guest: executive orders are part of the tradition of the president, putting these things in place once they come in. they have the force of the law while the president is in office while the executive order still stands, but the next president can always undo it. that's why if you want to have

permanent impact on the federal government you got to do it through legislation. so executive orders are an important tool, but they are not the best way of permanently ensuring a change that the president feels is required. there are also certain things that some presidents do an republicans or democrats undo and vice versa, so those things are kind of expected, but it seems like with 100 planned executive order if this president is going to be fairly aggressive on the use of the executive orders. one thing he wants to do is to use them to control the border, the biden administration brag about undoing 94 actions that president trump had done to make the border more secure. i don't know why they bragged about it because then there was a surge at the border and when they said it wasn't happening, republicans put out all this video of secretary mayorkas saying we've got rid of these 94 actions to make the border more secure. that did not play out wealth the biden administration.

but there's also some back-and-forth with congress because congress wants to say that they had some ability to change what is going on at the border and so if president trump makes all the changes, it is hard for congress to take credit. host: new york, josh, democrats line. caller: hi. so my biggest concern for this election are donald is unfit to serve, and that's why i'm really concerned about what he has planned for the next four years. i'd like to know, the border is good but i'm concerned about the tiktok thing because of the security issues, and that's why i'm concerned. host: a lot of these issues now coming in the last couple of days before this transfer of

power. guest: i'm not sure what to say about the tiktok thing because president trump has been on both sides of it so it's not really clear. obviously congress passed a bipartisan law saying that we can have chinese comet's party ownership of this app that so many american kids are using and consent propaganda. is digital fentanyl, kids are addicted to it but it is also digital propaganda. the chinese version of tiktok is very limited in application, basically sends out math lessons. but in america it sends out the most horrific messages about how terrible america is, how terrible israel and the west is. i think there are real problems for tiktok. it's not yet clear where president trump stands on it. he said he's going to do more so we will see where that goes. host: the president expected to leave blair house as we think showing you in the next few minutes to travel to st. john's church.

his federal money involved in a transition process when it comes to the white house and stuff? guest: there's different elements of the transition, so a lot of the planning that is done by the party takes place or the incoming party takes place without federal funding. not all of it, but some of it. the inaugural ball's in the inaugural festivities are raised by the party and some ceos and some big companies getting a lot of money to it. but there are certain things done specifically by the government, the secret service. the changing over of the white house, the sprucing up of the oval office for the new inhabitant. a lot of those things are done by the government. the government is spending money but there's also private money being expended as well. host: catherine joins us from maine on our independent line. caller: good morning.

i just wanted to voice my concern because there's a lot but i'm worried about when it comes to the future of our country. seeing roe v. wade overturned and i'm really concerned about other freedoms being removed during his presidency. not only do we have a republican president but our supreme court is on a 6-3 majority republican. i'm just really scared about reproductive rights and who is going to make sure that there are true checks and balances to ensure that this doesn't become a dictatorship of some kind. foundational freedoms will begin to disappear in the republican agenda. i know that sounds kind of crazy to say but we just heard somebody saying donald trump to be the last president and i don't believe that, but trump saying already that he wants to make canada the 51st state, i'm just concerned for our future and luckily i do live in a democratic state, but i just have a lot of empathy for the red states who can't access these reproductive carriers and everything.

there is nothing we can do at this point because donald trump will be our president and i can say that with confidence, i don't beat around the bush, but i just think that we have to stay vigilant and i just hope that his policies don't further polarized or divide us. that's just my concern but i want to hear your thoughts about what i just said. guest: thank you for that. obviously a lot of people have concerns, especially if you voted for the other candidate, you are worried about how things are going to play out. we have the rule of law, it's not easy to get things done. think about president obama coming in in 2009 with bigger majorities in both houses of congress. he got some things done but he didn't get everything done. you have a chance to get some things passed and something's not. in terms of the supreme court, six people have been appointed by republicans but those six people have very different views.

the vast majority of cases they decide are decided overwhelmingly or as many as 9-0, so it's not like the supreme court is a one-party stamp on one party's approach to things. the founders set up a complex system where it is not easy to pass laws. we don't have dictators, we still have elections every two years for congress and every four years for the president and i'm optimistic that the republic will continue. i do have concerns, one of my biggest concerns is about the national debt which is about $35 trillion or so and we don't really seem to be taking steps to address it. i think that is the biggest fear we should have about the long-term stability and health of the republicans. i'm hoping that in the years ahead, republicans and democrats will take steps to address it because it can't be done by one party, the amount is too great. host: host: how is that complicated

the president will have to face the idea of future spending within the federal government? guest: absolutely. it is one of those things all presidents have to address. spending levels, tax levels, the debt ceiling. democrats have their own desires and goals. it is not easy to do. the fact is the way we have been handling these issues the last few years, the last few presidencies in fact, is just to increase spending and kick the can down the road. at some point you have to stop kicking the can, pick it up, and figure out how we will address these problems. very difficult issue. host: jonathan on the republican line, good morning, you are next up. caller: my big question is, do you think donald trump will try to take revenge on dr. fauci, nancy pelosi, and people who tried to lock him up, shoot him?

i want to see what you think on that. guest: i do not think it will be a revenge tour. i don't think if you stated your opposition to trump, you will have to worry about going to jail or being investigated. i do think if people violate the law, there are potential problems and you will have to face the music if you violate the law. the people you mentioned, i do not think they violated the law. they had legitimate disagreements with him. i am not expecting a revenge tour. i really hope we do not see it because i do not think that is the way to go about things. host: democrats line, connecticut, this is monica. caller: good morning, everyone. i think it is disrespectful. i feel trump should be having an inauguration on the rotunda. today should be about freedom, justice, and peace.

this day should be about justice for all m.p.'s and stuff -- and peace and stuff. i feel it is disrespectful. it is all about trump. host: got your point. the idea of the migration taking place on dr. martin luther king day? guest: january 20 can happen any day of the week. martin luther king always happens on monday. there is a 14% chance this could happen with seven days in a week. the inauguration was moved to january 20 before we had the holiday which i support for dr. king. it is just kind of a coincidence of the calendar this time they happen to be the same day. i wonder, with the caller have the same concerns if the election had gone a different way and vice president harris were being inaugurated today?

is it a donald trump thing? is it just that dr. king's holiday should never coincide with the inauguration? then we would have to move the inauguration or dr. king's holiday because they both take place in january. host: the president-elect will be sworn in today. he has four years in office. how much time busy have to have an impact when it comes to his agenda? guest: i think we are seeing in recent years that every president has the first 100 days that dates back to roosevelt's administration. the first half of the year is when you have your biggest legislative window. after that, you into the first session of the new congress and the second session is more concerned about reelection so it is harder to get stuff done. after the midterms, often the sitting president is rebuked so they lose seats in congress.

president trump cannot afford to lose many seats in the house because he has a narrow majority. the second half of the term has the other party in power, then you have less ability to get things done. this window of the first four or five months of the new administration is the best legislative window for the president to have momentum. that is the best time to get stuff done. host: how do you expect a republican-controlled house and senate to respond to that agenda and get that agenda moved? guest: because of senate filibuster come you cannot pass things without 60 votes. they do not have in the senate so they use the reconciliation process. that processes a budgetary maneuver. presidents have been using it more frequently the last few years because it is so hard to get bipartisan compromise. looking at what reconciliation bites they have at the apple.

you have to have a bare majority in the senate to pass budgetary matters. they will look at taxes in border control using reconciliation. taxes have to be addressed. if not, the trump tax cuts of 2017 will lapse and we will have a big tax increase on the american people. the border is perhaps the number one thing. i think that is going to be what they are looking at. other things, whether cybersecurity or how to deal with china, all of those things are going to have to take place in a bipartisan manner. that will take longer. president trump will put his stamp on it but will have less unilateral control over all. host: c-span's inauguration coverage continues with tevi troy, he serves as their senior fellow and also presidential historian.

hello,. caller: i grew up as a welfare kid in the bronx. family in the bronx neighborhood, people voted democrat no matter what. they did not pay attention. they just voted democrat. in 1980, my mother told me, "if you vote for reagan, do not bother coming home. that said, all the vitriol directed towards donald trump, it amazes me. i supported donald trump for the same reasons i supported ross perot back in the 1990's. i can honestly tell you conservative commentators when barack obama was elected, they said he wanted to see -- they wanted to see him fail miserably. i wanted him to do so well that by 2012, people would have been dancing in the streets. i have never been a fan of tariffs.

however, it breaks my heart when just about every small appliance on the shelf says "made in china." as a retired auto mechanic who still loves to do my own work, whenever i go to buy replacement parts, including dealership parts mind you, so original equipment parts, they are labeled " made in china." we need to get china under control. the united states was the manufacturing superpower juggernaut of the world during world war ii, we supplied many of the allied nations with more equipment. our industry has been decimated to the point we cannot do that anymore. host: that is shepherd in florida. what does the president elect face as far as building a sense of unity even amongst those who did not vote for him? guest: it is interesting how president trump has gotten some of his highest approval ratings since the election.

people seem to be favorably disposed towards the way he has handled the transition. there will be a bit of a honeymoon. there have even been oz give articles about some incoming trump aides which did not happen last time. that is an opportunity to enter with some wind at your back. that is a good thing. host: michael in texas, democrats line, go ahead. caller: good morning, dr. troy. there has been talk of unity and a lack of unity the last 30 minutes or so. i was curious if you can speak on the political polarization levels in the u.s., specifically in an historical context, and say where we are really at in terms of what is being exaggerated and not exaggerated. guest: great question. lee c social media, all the negativity and disagreements are highlighted. but the vast majority of the american people just want -- host: let me put you on hold

because we are seeing activity when it comes to the president starting the process of leaving st. john's church. let's watch this for a bit. [ambient outdoor noise] host: we are still watching blair house to see the activity. sorry to have interrupted you. go ahead. guest: in terms of political

polarization, the vast majority of americans just want to live their lives and have children, etc. polls show that a person are radical liberals, 6% are radical conservatives. host: i apologize again. here is vice president elect jd vance entering the church. mr. troy, i apologize. we are just trying to show people what is going on. please finish your thought. i apologize. guest: it is an exciting day in washington, i get it. 80% of american people are not

on either side. they want the country to do well. like shepherd was saying before, they want the american economy to do well. that is the hope for any president, that they will focus on that. we do not want conflict. we just want to live our lives and be able to express ourselves and live our freedom to live our -- use our freedom to live our lives the best weekend. -- we can. we want somebody to come in who is going to create peace and prosperity so the american people can live their dreams. host: here is a shot of blair house, several suv's leaving, including the president-elect and his family. they will travel the short distance to st. john's church for the ceremony that will take place that we talked about earlier, part of c-span's continuing coverage of the inauguration of the president-elect donald trump.

that is the overhead view of blair house which our guest talked about before and they make their way to st. john's church. we will show you the president-elect arriving at the church. we will continue to take your calls. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8002 for independents. guest: it probably takes less time to walk it then to take -- than to take the motorcade. host: does the service change for each president? how is that determined? guest: it is a standard service. they do certain readings to reflect the transition of power and the new president. it is a fairly standard service. they are trying to express their hope and gratitude to god.

the greatest hope of the american people as we have a good and successful for years coming up. host: is a reason it is always st. john's? guest: it just became the church of the president's. it has become known as the place where presidents go to worship. host: let's watch some of the arrivals at st. john's church. [ambient outdoor noise] >> president trump, president trump!

what is your reaction to president biden -- [indiscernible] >> mr. president, how are you feeling?

host: the president-elect entering st. john's church alongside his wife, monie trump, part of our coverage on this inauguration day. we will continue watching that. let's hear from shea on the republican line in washington , d.c. caller: thank you so much for having me, shea, northwest washington, ray zip code for those of you who know. i am a long-time democrat, now probably a republican -- probably a republican. i became -- proudly a republican. enough is enough. i will make this short and sweet. i am thrilled to see the trumps back in town and the partied they bring with them. in the luxury transportation business. this last weekend, my father and i made $12,000 just off

shuttling people around washington. they are excellent for the economy. they spend good, they look good, they tip good, they are fantastic people. love to have them in town. thank you. host: let's hear from tye in south carolina, democrats line. caller: this question is for dr. troy. as an historian, what are your thoughts on president-elect trump's cabinet picks? it feels as though it is a call back to the ohio gang a little bit and how warren g. harding and his presidency was handled. host: that is kai in south carolina. guest: appreciate the question. there are some nontraditional picks but also some people i

think president trump picks people based on their ability to communicate ideas he agrees with. he is looking for people who are good on tv, who present well. they are not necessarily looking for people with the same traditional washington experience. as we have been saying throughout, this is inauguration day, a day to hope for the best. we do not want a reprise of the ohio gang under warren g. harding. we hope this is a successful presidency and administration. host: just because people may not follow this closely, what is the significance concerning present hardened? guest: there were a lot of corruption allegations, questions about how he died. there was the teapot dome scandal. there was a sense that businessmen were out for themselves as opposed to people looking for the good of the country. host: this is tevi troy with the

reagan foundation. he is also a presidential historian and author of many books on the topic. dr. troy, thanks for your time this morning. guest: thanks, happy inauguration day. host: if you want to make your comments about this inauguration day, 202-748-8000 for democrats, 202-748-8001 for republicans, 202-748-8002 four independents. >> plenty of news this inauguration day. much of it coming from 46th president joe biden. a series of pardons out of the white house, last-minute pardons from joe biden including mark milley, dr. anthony fauci, members of congress and staff of the january 6 committee, and

capitol in d.c. police who testified before the committee. it is a long statement out of the white house this morning. that statement from joe biden reading in part, i believe in the rule of law and i'm optimistic the strength of our legal institutions will prevail over politics with these are exceptional circumstances and i cannot in good conscience do nothing for targeted individuals and their families even when the individuals have done nothing wrong and have done the right thing and will ultimately be exonerated. the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can terribly damage reputations or finances. that statement from joe biden on those pardons issued today. some response to those pardons including from general milley himself. he was on cnn. this is what he had to say on

cnn. natasha bertrand with this tweet. i do not wish to spend whatever remaining come the lord grants meet fighting those who might seek retribution for perceived slights. i do not want to put family, friends, or those i served with through that. tweets out on those pardons, ron johnson, senator from wisconsin saying, i wonder what criminal activity biden is concerned about. the incoming president will have his swearing-in in the 11:00 a.m. eastern our, closer to 11:45. after the swearing in, we will get remarks from the capitol. there are roughly 1800 seats in emancipation hall, underneath

the capitol, where many of trump's guests will watch. some excerpts of those remarks, rachel scott of abc news. the incoming president will say i return to the presidency optimistic and confident we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. a tide of change is sweeping the country. today, i will sign a series of executive orders. we will begin the complete restoration of america and revolution of common sense. he will also say that my message to americans is it is time for us to again act with courage, vigor, and vitality of history's greatest civilization. we will hear those remarks and more from the incoming president. outgoing president joe biden will depart from capitol hill via marine one.

the helicopter is already parked between the capitol and the library of congress. there is a picture from jake sherman showing that. one more tweet from the outgoing president. it is a three-minute video of various people joe biden has welcomed to the white house. viewers can watch that on x. there is a lot going on, on capitol hill today. we are trying to keep you on top of it all on this busy inauguration day. host: on the streets of washington, as people came to town to take part in inauguration activities are doing various things. amongst them is tammy barringer. >> you can see people walking both ways. i think those folks are walking down to get in this line which has been moving. they started letting people in at about 8:00. along with all these people out here waiting to get into the

arena, there are a lot of these merchandise carts and vendors selling memorabilia for today's event. this is joe. he has some customers here, but he is going to be telling us about what the most popular items are and how long he has been out here. joe, hi. joe is one of the many vendors out here today. what time did you get out here this morning? >> we got here at 4:00 in the morning. >> you were also out here yesterday. how long were you outside yesterday? >> we got here at 5:00 in the morning and did not get out of here until around 7:00. we probably would have been out here more late if the weather would have held off with the rain and snow. >> do you have a lot of competition? how have sales been? >> sales just started. we just got here. they start picking up as the day goes on. >> show some of the items that have been most popular. >> one of the most popular one says "i was there." it is a gifted souvenir they can

take home to their families that they were actually at the event. we also have warm stockings and hats for everybody. the best slogan is, "make your head warm again." >> you said you come out here for some of the other events. is this event any different? what makes it different? >> there is really no difference. every time trump shows up, the people show up just like this. there is not really a big difference. the crowds are big so we are all used to this. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you. host: some of the many people you will see out and about today in washington, d.c. some participating directly in the inauguration ceremonies which take place inside the capitol building. some being able to watch at certain locations across town. some watching on television in other locations. we will be showing you that

during the course of the morning. st. john's church starting to actively fill up with people as the services are set to start at 9:00, where the president-elect is, the vice president-elect, and others in st. john's church. we will show you when they leave. after that, a drive to the white house to participate in coffee and tea. and then, it is onto the capitol later today. plenty to keep aware of. the best way to do it is to say on this network. we have other platforms you can watch along as well. our c-span now app available to you, also our website at c-span.org, if you want to keep track there of today's inauguration ceremonies and activities. sue is in ohio, democrats line, go ahead. caller: yes. thank you for taking my call. i just want to say, right now,

my heart is absolutely broken for this country and i do not think it is a day of celebration at all. my biggest fear is the millions of people, not only in our own country but around the world, trump can hurt by being president. we all say we hope this time is going to be different. i had donald trump pegged the first time he came down the escalator. he has turned out to be everything i knew he would be. he does not care about people. the programs he puts in place, the executive orders he is going to sign, he is going to do that without any thought of who it is really going to hurt. i am just brokenhearted. all of this talk with even our

allies, you know, getting ready for trump to be president. and the biggest thing also is now he has the military that he can order to do horrible things just to get done what trump wants done today. he comes across, i am sorry, as a bad ass and he will show you what he is going to do. host: ok, ok, that is super in ohio -- sue in ohio. let's hear from dave on the republican line. go ahead. caller: i am 23 years old. i started working at the end of the donald trump administration in 2016. i worked through the biden administration now. going back into the trump administration to date, i have noticed -- today, i have noticed a vast difference in how far my money goes.

i am really looking forward to what he is going to do this presidency. and hopefully, this country can get back to the way it was financially. and hopefully, we can get back the peace and end all of the troubles we are having around the world. hopefully, this irs thing will work out for us in the good. i just want us to be able to be independent and for this country to be strong. and that is really it. that is all i wanted to say. host: pennsylvania avenue lined with officers as part of the process of when the president leaves st. john's, leaves the white house, heads to the capitol, part of the protective services out and about in washington, d.c., today. natalie in virginia, independent line. natalie in virginia, hello. caller: manley. host: go ahead.

caller: yes, i wanted to comment . no one has mentioned [indiscernible] and health care for the united states citizens. i am a disabled veteran. i wonder what mr. trump might be on his agenda for veterans care. host: doug collins, the former representative from georgia, set to become the next head of the veterans affairs administration after his confirmation process. kyrsten in ohio, democrats line, good morning. caller: good morning. i was just calling in. i have not heard anybody thank president trump and vice president kamala for their service.

they are true public servants. they kept our government quiet so we could live our lives. i wish the supreme court, that they would look at things through a nonpartisan lens. aileen cannon, you are a terrible judge. sorry. host: thanks. a portion of today's inauguration ceremony dedicated to highlighting president biden and vice president kamala harris, as part of the process. -- let me tell you the four month -- phone lines. known -- normally we end at 10:00 but we are continuing clear up until inauguration time and you can still watch it on c-span and on our platforms. until the start of the program, your calls and information about the day, hearing from people in

it about washington, d.c. (202) 748-8000, democrats. (202) 748-8001, republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also, if you want, you can send us a text that (202) 748-8003 -- at (202) 748-8003. typically we third -- we show you newspapers from across the united states giving you the headlines of the day. sometimes in the d.c. area there are several focusing on inauguration day. the arizona republic, this is their front-page headline, highlighting the holiday celebrating martin luther king jr., their main section of the paper, this is day one, from the arizona republic. moving on to the news journal, a paper based out of delaware, the current president's home state. their front-page highlighting martin luther ki jr., a shift in perspective is how they are covering that.

if you go across the united states and keep on goinghere, the miami herald, flori, their lead is on the right of your screen. defiance yields to deference as trumpet returns to a changed capital city. that is how they are going with the headline this morning. this is the columbus dispatch, the home of jd vance, a story featuring the vice president-elect, "he knows why he's here, jd vance prepares." internationally, not the front page but this is t website from "th telegraph,"nited kingdom, trump tannounce a revolution of common sense in an optimistic speech. the picture you are looking at is from last night, the village people performing as a part of the events at capital one. that is how the world and the united states have taken various looks at inauguration day.

we are giving you looks as well with information and here's john mcardle. host: we have been monitoring the social media feeds of members of congress, interesting to watch always what they focus on on big days like this on capitol hill and many are so focusing on the pardons, the last minute pardons joe biden handed out this morning to anthony fauci, mark milley, the january 6 committee, and others. this is senator john barrasso saying that he spent his last night in the white house handing out get out of jail free cards to those who did his political bidding. if they didn't do anything wrong, they shouldn't need a pardon. tweets this morning from jim mcgovern, the democrat from massachusetts, focusing on mlk day, today, saying he will be thinking of him a lot, having dedicated his life to freedom, justice, and peace, so must we

all. the bust, they, jim mcgovern there in the capitol rotunda, where donald trump will be taking the oath of office today. other tweets to show you this morning, including from senator mike collins occasionally known for his quirky social media feed, showing the picture of bernie sanders the viral picture from january of 2021 there on that cold day in washington four years ago. one more tweet for you, just sent out from mike johnson, speaker of the house, on inauguration day. [video clip] ♪ >> migrants at an all-time high. >> a bigger impact on pocket books. >> prices are 22% higher than they were four years ago. >> iran struck tonight in the

cycling spiral of violence in the middle east. ♪ host: st. john's church, where the president, vice president elect, and others participating in that service. we will continue to show that and show when they leave to move on to other events. craig, ohio, republican line, go

ahead. caller: i'm glad that trump is putting power back to the states for education. abortion isn't back in states. the states make abortion. the federal government has nothing to do with abortion at all. i'm just happy that finally the states are going to have power like the way our forefathers set it up. host: this is alex in alabama. go ahead. caller: happy mlk day. this is a great day for patriots. we have witnessed the worst four years of american history. i had to vote republican and vote for trump this year because we just cannot let what has been happening continue on. open borders. poisoned food. a false media. not long ago i was in cy opsware i thought we needed vaccines,

all the stuff that made us unhealthy. i'm so happy trump came back and i will always be a patriot. thank you for having me. host: the next guest of the morning is martha kumar, director of the white house transition project and the author of "before the oath," how george w. bush and barack obama managed their transfer of power. welcome back to c-span. guest: thank you, pedro. host: what's the project's role? tell us about it. guest: it's a group of presidency scholars who study white houses. we put together information about transitions past and about appointments. but also we have information on various white house offices, how they have worked over the years, the functions of the office, the responsibilities of the directors, and we have

organization charts, like how reagan organized the press operation, for example. those can be very helpful when somebody is coming in and doesn't know what has happened in the past. sometimes, for example, there was a person who had the job of staff secretary and they weren't sure what that job involved. by reading the essay, they got a sense of what people who had been there in the past thought were important about the office and what they had wished they had known coming in. so, it is talking to people who have been there in an effort to try to not reinvent the wheel. so, they know what the responsibilities are. whether it is a democratic or

republican white house, the functions of those offices remain pretty much the same, even if they have different people in the roles. they still have the same office structure in a white house. host: in your opinion, what elements make for a successful transition? guest: transitions are made up of law that goes back to 1963. the law has really been very bipartisan in both houses of congress. you have people looking at how the transition worked, where their problems, and how do we fix it? it is one of those areas, there are very few of them left, that is bipartisan. in addition to the law, it is usually based on actions that are based on precedent.

what did somebody do in the past? the trump transition out of office to biden, the person who was running the day to day operatio slidell, worked on the basis of precedent in talking with people in the government who were familiar with what happened in the past. but i think another element is a tacit understanding by both the incoming and outgoing presidents and their teams that, that, what is, what is happening is going to be more important than they are. there is a tacit understanding that, that they should do the best job possible, even if they lost. george h w bush brought together his senior staff the next day and was certainly despondent

over losing, but he said i want a good transition and i don't want any time bombs left. host: our guest joining us and i want to mention to folks that if you want to ask her questions about the transition process, (202) 748-8000 for democrats. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. text us at (202) 748-8003. martha kumar, you talked about the importance of letting the invents that are, the job being more important than the person. how does that add to the element of the events? guest: it starts out with a sense of unity and that there is something more important in each individual. at st. john's church, that's been there since 1815. all of the presidents, from

madison forward, have at some point gone to st. john's church for one event or another. george w. bush went there almost weekly. it's a reminder that at the beginning of the day of a transition that there is something more important than the individual. it is the country as a whole. host: photograph here of the president-elect alongside h wife. that's from getty images, showing the president-elect there, as a part of the events of st. john's church. tell us a bit about what you are watching for. i also want to ask you -- you highlighted the fact that she wrote a book about how george bush and president obama made the transition. are there any parallels do you think that can be learned from this time around?

guest: that was the most effective transition in modern times, where both sides worked together. george bush, in december of, of, of, of 2007, talked to his chief of staff, josh bolton, telling him that he wanted the best transition ever because we were in a time of war. bolton set out to do that and he brought together, even before the nominating conventions, when we had presumptive candidates, brought them together into the white house, their representatives, and talked about getting early security clearances for their people. so that it would be as seamless as possible.

making sure that they could start early, worked together on memoranda of understanding about the use of government resources. so, there was a sense early on that the transition shouldn't be starting on the day after the election, but the transition should be starting much earlier. now, the work that bolton and bush did really made its way into law. now, the committees that are appointed, the white house coordinating, which has the president's representatives from the white house offices on it, some of the cabinet members, they are appointed early, six months before hand, as the transition director's counsel is a group of some of the largest agencies and departments, the 15

departments, the largest agencies, they will meet on a regular basis and talk about what information the departments and agencies will provide for the incoming teams. so, the effort was by the bush people to -- let's get an early start for our successor, no matter who it is. democrat or republican, you want to make sure that above that is the proper functioning of government. particularly there is a sense that it is a time of risk between administrations. so, you don't want, you don't want the government faltering in any way. so, you want the people coming into have information. you don't want to hold it back from them.

the area that i think has been very successful has been the national security area. that is an area that both sides understand that the stakes are very high. the earlier that you can start, the better. in the bush case, you have like a national security advisor who had his staff -- bush was involved in this process, read the memoranda that they provided on countries and on issues. so that they could tell the story of what the status was coming in of the issue for the country. what happened, what were the events that happened during their presidency?

what were their responses and what was the situation now? host: i want to pause. activity at the white house, vehicles pulling up. let's watch this for a little bit.

host: president, the first lady, the vice president, her husband, the stay is about them as well. talk about their role in this transition process. guest: it's very important to have those events, those unifying events.

at the, in the t that traditionally takes place, the, both sides will be, will be talking, the incoming and sitting vice presidents as well, sitting and talking together. so, it is another one of those signs of unity. before this meeting takes place, though, the president and the first lady have an event where they meet with the white house residence staff who have, who have helped them through their four years. they thank them for the work that they have done for them. usually, they will go around to each of the individual staff

members and talk to them. in the case of bush, when he left, the staff gave him boxes that were made by the carpenters shop that contained the flag that flew when he came in and then the flag as he left. which are important memoranda -- memories, rather, for him, and for the first lady. i think they have those in their house in dallas as important reminders. he gave a short talk to the staff, telling them that there were a lot of things about washington that he wasn't going to miss, but he was going to miss them greatly. host: let's hear from sarah in

virginia, republican line, thank you for waiting, go ahead. caller: yes. i would just like to publicly thank trump and his family, jd vance and his family, for taking the role. as a small business owner, i really hope we can get the economy back on track to make america great again. guest: it is, you are right, thanking them for taking on this role. because it, it is a big change. i remember with the bushes, when they were coming in, one of the daughters in college had been seen drinking. that became an issue that got a

lot of attention. you know, children aren't used to that. it is an amount of attention that is unsettling to a lot of family members. so, they really are taking on something very different from what they have known. as far as small business, trump talked about that. trying to help small businesses. as did biden, with several programs. host: here is the president leaving st. john's church.

host: martha kumar, you talked about this coffee, tea, you called it, where everyone is heading to right now. is it pleasantries? what is the tone of everybody in that same room? guest: you know -- i don't know. i assume it's pleasantries. it's not going to be a discussion of executive orders that each are interested in. we have had a dueling executive orders, where, where biden issued orders, say for example, the one on gas and oil drilling off of the coasts, where he is limiting that. when trump arrives in a few hours, he is going to reverse that, reverse that order.

so, that is a subject i don't think they will discuss. as they ride to the capital. those rides up to the capital, some of them have been pretty frosty when there is a change of parties. i think that they have been trying to give a public face of, of little animosity. but the policy of use they have are very different and they have made that clear. the campaign had a lot of bitterness to it. but with both of them, what they are trying to do i think is set a different tone, that today is a time for a tone of unity. host: we are watching st. george church on your left and the white house on your right, their next stop for activities in the

morning. as we look at that, cheryl, hello, go ahead, west virginia. caller: good morning. i hope that everyone stays warm today. thanks for taking my call. i would like to say that today marks a pivotal moment in history. many people feel uncertain about trump taking office. i see it as a part of a bigger design plan. sometimes, we must go through destruction to rebuild something better. not just for the united states, but for the entire world. the trump presidency, it may seem chaotic, but it could be a catalyst that we need to dismantle outdated systems and pave the way for real progress. host: ok.

guest: he certainly is, he certainly has a plan for how he is going to try to deal with government to make it more efficient with his group that he has put together, the elon musk and vivek ramaswamy, the system they have to look for inefficiencies. there have been a lot of commissions before it, but he wants to cut down on a number of employees and focus on one's that will support his programs. so, he has ideas of how he is going to try to make government more in a model of presidential direction. how that works, we'll see.

host: what do you think trump has learned of this time around that he didn't have to go through -- that he won't have to go through from the first time around? guest: i think he learned a great deal. the white house comes first. you have to set up your decision-making system and that will be at the white house. you have to carefully pick her chief of staff. so, this time he picked a chief of staff who made very good use of his presence, how often he appeared, and also who got to be around him. the president's time is the most important resource you have in a white house you can't just have everybody coming in that the

president knows in a chaotic meeting situation. so, i think that he learned that he needed to do that. host: pardon me. the motorcade is leaving there again, expected to arrive at the white house in just a few minutes from now. we will show you that when it takes place. go ahead. guest: he also learned that to get a fast start, your appointees, your department secretaries who require senate confirmation, they will take a while to come through. so, therefore you want to fill the positions in the departments and agencies that don't require senate confirmation and that are in a policymaking position so that you can get a fast start.

but you also want to have people in the white house who are going to be involved in policy and the policy direction and in setting the direction with the departments, but also following the implementation. i think we have also learned the importance of congressional relationships, and that you can't do everything by yourself as a president. when you are campaigning, you can talk about all the things you are going to do, but when you come in you can find that you can make a budget, but the congress is the, is the institution that appropriates money. so, those relationships on the committees and of course with your leadership in the house and the senate, he has spent time with mike johnson in the house

and with john thune in the senate to make sure that they understand what his priorities are and he is going to listen to them, but he is also going to tell them what he wants and ask how he can get things done. so, i think he learned how to listen as well. that you cannot just say that you want to do something and get it done. i think he also learned from the first administration the importance of communications. that was something he has been very effective in doing. getting a sense of what the public thinks and being responsive to it and developing a narrative. during the time that he was president, in the morning he would set the tone of what the

issues were. he certainly had everybody listening. that has been a very important strength of his and i think that his staff has realized it, as have his opponents. host: motorcade back at blair house. next on the schedule, a tea at the white house. we are again showing you that. others leaving st. john's church . that is still what you are seeing right now as we are talking with martha kumar. that is ivanka trump leaving there. again, a host of people coming out, people that you will see throughout the day. suzanne, california, democratic line, go ahead. caller: i already think that we

are the greatest country already. trump is inheriting the lowest unemployment rate ever. what he can do is with the big businesses taking over the small businesses, he can try to stop that. i think our country is the greatest. i worry about the cuts that he has for the educational problems that we have. i think we need to put more money into education and pay more money for people who work for us, the fire fighters, the policeman. thank you very much, goodbye. host: a lot of people have expressed this sentiment. before we show you pictures from the white house, as we show you pictures from the white house,

what the current and the next president inherits and how much it impacts i guess a presidential record of the incoming presidency. guest: biden certainly leaves behind, if you look at it worldwide, there were a lot of things that he did, like the inflation reduction act, chips, science, that he didn't get much credit for. he spent his time doing negotiations for the legislation and he didn't spend time trying to sell his program. to the general public. and listening. what they knew or what they didn't know. let -- host: let's watch this interaction between vice

president-elect and vice president.

host: the vice president, the first gentleman, the vice president-elect, his wife, all entering the white house in preparation for the tea. the president-elect is expected to arrive at the white house in just a little bit. showing you what's going on in the capital as the events are starting to gear up a bit there, that's the outside of the capital there. these are the preparatory events. martha kumar, holding the event indoors changes things. give us some perspective. guest: it does. one of the things that was important to trump from his first inauguration was that picture of a crowd. the inauguration, when it's outside, is on the west face of

the capitol. you can see from where he stands out across the hall to the washington monument and lincoln memorial, he, heat, he has always been interested in crowd size it had pictures -- in fact, there was a picture in the white house on a corridor that leads up to, up to the inner part of the west wing that showed the crowd, a picture that showed a lot of people there. that's what he likes, crowd size. a large crowd. he would have had a very large crowd today. so, for him, it shows the very

strong support that he has. so, you miss that, that part of the inauguration, which is what we think of as the heart of it. this is a much more intimate operation. for the public, i don't know that the pictures make that much of a difference. but usually to a president, it does. the main thing is that they become president and then they can start to work on that very day. host: it's rare that we give our guests a soundtrack, martha, you are lucky. let's listen to this choir a little bit. ♪

>> ♪ this is the sound of one voice one people one voice sound for everyone of us this is the sound of one voice this is the sound of one voice one people one voice a song for everyone of us this is the sound of one voice this is the sound of one voice

one people one voice a song for everyone of us a for everyone of us this is the sound of one voice ♪ host: the university of nebraska school of music as part of the inauguration ceremonies today, giving you flavor of what to expect later on as this inauguration ceremony takes place inside of the u.s. capitol . we have been talking with martha about what to expect. what are you particularly watching for today and the events? guest: well, i'm particularly

interested in policy and seeing if there is a fast start and what he is going to be doing in terms of his executive orders on the border, with security, on energy. we will see. i think it will give us a good sense of where he is headed. and then also, looking at what, what biden has been doing as well on this day. so, i like, i particularly like the sense of unity, of both sides working together personally, even if the policy differences are great. and the more that we can have people step back from partisanship and try to work things through on a, on a basis

of the facts and what's necessary as far as what the public is, is thinking is, is, i look for that. host: jazmine, pennsylvania, independent line, you are on with our guest, go ahead. caller: i had a question about what young independent voters should look forward to in an inauguration. i think i speak for a lot of young voters when i say that between republican and democrat, it is too divided. if we focus on the votes in the opinions of the american people and how this country began off of, i think we will know we're are doing something right. i think that any leader can say they are for the american people

and don't think we will ever see satisfaction in young independent voters. guest: that was -- yes, trump was very tuned in to young people and where they were getting their information. in fact, he spoke to his son about, about what young people his age and older were listening to. that is how he came to his interview with joe rogan, his son recommended that. so, i think he is trying to tap into young people. he had been opposed to tiktok in his earlier administration, but then he said young people had

supported him and he knows how important it is to the 170 million people here who, who used tiktok. i think you are right, the more that young people can get involved in following what it is that government is doing, the better off we are. because then as you become homeowners and have jobs that you are interested in, the more committed you are to taking part in government and government, representative government, democracy, it depends on the people and the people having knowledge and of the people participating.

you cannot sit back, you are right about that. host: debra. debra, alabama, republican line. as we see people heading into the capital in the lead up to the inauguration ceremony later. debra, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. my question primarily is -- well, let me segue into my statement. my home was destroyed in a disaster. a tornado came through, my house was destroyed. i had to jump through the necessary hoops to be able to get the loans to rebuild our home. i was one who had insurance, but as people know, your houses are never really ensured. host: apologies, caller. trump heading into the u.s. capitol. go ahead. caller: my question is this -- i

saw where the outgoing president promised the people in california with the fires to not worry, they will get what they need and if i'm mistaken, i could be, the point i have is, some of the things that the president elect wants to do is going to require a lot of money. i am proud that he is getting a group together to help get those extra funds that he needs. but with this disaster looming, i'm curious as to how that promise that the outgoing president has made, coupled with a new president coming in, how that is going to be handled. host: martha, go ahead. guest: you have put your finger on a big question there. it's going to be very difficult to cut the money that, that,

that vivek ramaswamy and musk said that they would cut, $2 trillion. they have backed off of that to say one trillion. we have so many programs that are mandated, where they are spending social security, medicare, medicaid, defense spending. there is a lot less fat in the budget than they think there is. so, that is going to be a big question, where is the money going to come from? it is something we will all be watching. host: the white house transition project website, martha kumar director of the project, thank you for your time today. guest: thank you. it was a pleasure. and for the callers. host: we will continue on for our coverage of the 47th

inauguration of the president of the united states. we are still waiting for the president elect to arrive at the white house. the house of representatives is coming in for a short pro forma session at 10:00. we will take at -- take you to that. until then we continue to take your calls. (202) 748-8000, democrats. (202) 748-8001, republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. text us at (202) 748-8003. you can always post on our various sites, facebook and x. ben, minneapolis, go ahead. caller: perhaps we can agree on three things go from there. history is the -- winners are

the writers of history, i would like to wish everyone happy martin luther king day and ask how one can help. good luck. host: that was been in minnesota. we go to john mcardle. host: this we wait for trump to arrive at the white house, giving you an update on what we have been watching on social media, including some of the attendees at the church service trump just left, josh nguyen grove of bloomberg noting that also was mark zuckerberg, jeff bezos, tim cook, the president of argentina, boris johnson was in attendance, and a few minutes ago this was posted by outgoing president biden, a final selfie from the rose garden there.

of note in and around capitol hill, this from olivia beaver, the congressional reporter, noting that johnson had previously said that flags would be raised to. but operations are encountering an issue, some of the cords are frozen, so some flags have not been able to be raised just yet, so if some of them still appear to be at half-staff, that is the reason why. we are expecting the arrival of biden at the white house this morning in a few minutes, where there will be a tea and a coffee. at 10:35 eastern they will then depart from the white house to go to the capital, traveling together, and they will arrive at the u.s. capitol, the rotunda where the ceremony takes place. we are showing you those pictures there of the rotunda.

this is the scene there from punch bowl. there are about 800 seats there for those watching. it will be an invocation that takes place first with cardinal timothy dolan and reverend franklin graham. then there will be a call to order by amy klobuchar, the chair of the joint congressional inaugural ceremonies. there will be a musical performance from carrie underwood, joined by the armed forces chorus and navy academy glee club. and then a multifaith benediction rabbi, pastor sewall, and reverend frank man, they all join in for the effort. and then the festivities get underway in the capitol dome. justice brett kavanaugh will be administering the oath of office around 11:30 two jd vance and

then chief justice john roberts will deliver the oath of office for the president himself who will then go to emancipation hall to give his remarks. with its 1300 seats. quite a bit more than one can fit in the capitol dome. you can of walk -- of course watch all of the remarks in their entirety in this afternoon there is that inaugural lunch. this is statuary hall on the house side of the capital where the inaugural lunch will take place. we also got an update from the joint inaugural committee on the menu for the lunch. the first course, chesapeake crab cake paired with a wine from veritas vineyards. it's a chardonnay out of virginia. from omaha, ribeye steak paired with cabernet from the napa valley and the minnesota apple

icebox terrine paired with a wine. that is the menu for the inaugural luncheon taking place today. all of that is set to take place here in washington and we are watching it all this morning and hope you stay with us here on c-span. a lot of -- host: a lot of things happening. the house is set to come in just a few minutes for a pro forma session. we will take her calls through than. john, hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. happy dr. martin luther king jr. day. what a hopeful day to be an american. dr. king said everyone is great because everyone can serve. i hope that everyone, all americans, can continue to respect the office of the presidency. i have certainly always done

that. it has been difficult and challenging, but i am hoping that all of us can come together to respect the office and celebrate this glorious and hopeful day for america. god bless, have a great day. host: you are seeing the motorcade entering the confines of the white house with the president-elect and his wife, expected for a coffee and a tea that john mcardle talked about. this is from michigan. mike. we will go to it when it happens. mike, democratic line, go ahead. caller: wondering if anyone remembers that four years ago, trump had the bidens locked out of the white house. thought it was kinda interesting. host: jake.

jake, connecticut, republican line. in fact, hold on, let's watch some of this arrival.

joe biden, current president of the united states, welcoming trump and milani up to the white house -- melania to the white house for a coffee, a tea, and a not long heading to the capital for the inauguration ceremony. our main channel is available to you, stay close to c-span for today's events. the house of representatives coming in in just a short while. this is jake, connecticut, republican line. thanks for holding. go ahead. jake, connecticut. hello? let's try aurora, ohio, independent line. caller: good morning.

how anyone is celebrating the inauguration of a convicted felon and has the conscience to sit idly by shows how powerless we the people really are. my name is aurora dawson and i'm running for district seven in columbia and it's time to set up, stand up, have the courage to change wrongs and meet in the middle. i'm an independent candidate. thank you. host: david, massachusetts, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. yeah, i'm anxious. i'm concerned about the new administration coming in. i'm concerned for my father, you know? he's worked his entire life and i don't know that social security will still be there with the new administration. and i'm concerned for my wife, who is transitioning and if they will be able to get the gender affirming care they need.

in addition, i don't know what will happen if they get deported to the dominican republic. i don't know what i'm going to do. host: bonnie, pennsylvania, republican line. caller: i would like to say thank you for taking my call and god bless america and whatever happens today, to address the concerns of the previous caller about the cutting of the budget, they are going to address some of those issues by having the external revenues in a fair and balanced trade agreement get that balanced more fairly and they will get other countries to give more money to nato so that america isn't totally funding. that will address some of those issues. the other thing i want to address, the previous caller's questions, about what, social

security. not once did trump say he was going to cut social security. matter of fact, they are trying to secure social security to make sure that it stays in the clear. host: ok, bonnie. our coverage doesn't end with 10:00 coming on. we will in fact continue taking your calls listening to you to the start of the event. the house of representatives is set to come in for what is known as a pro forma session even on this inauguration day. the theme of the session is likely to be inauguration related. they will come in and once they gavel outwe will come back and e on with your calls and showing you the events leading up to today's inauguration events. again, the house of representatives set to come in for a pro forma session. we will take you to them now.