arbor day dot org and see how you can help. >> announcer: this is an abc news special report, the inauguration o reporting, chief anchor george stephanopoulos. >> good morning, and welcome to our special coverage on this big day for joe biden and the country. he is about to be inaugurated the 46th president of the united states shortly before noon today. he will take the oath of office and then become president of the united states. but it is an inauguration unlike any other and that's one of the signs right there. there you see marine one on the lawn of the white house. president trump still there but expected to depart any minute for andrews air force base. he will not be taking part in the traditional civic rituals that signify the peaceful transfer of power in our country. he will not be meeting with joe

biden today. he will not be going to the capitol with him to observe his inauguration instead he will get in that helicopter in just a few minutes and head to andrews air force base and give a final speech before heading to mar-a-lago. want to go to jon karl who is at the white house right now. an unusual day in so many ways, jon. >> reporter: incredibly unusual, george. looking at that sight, marine one on the south lawn about to take donald trump out of -- from the white house for the very last time. this is a morning we usually see the incoming and outgoing presidents spend time together at the white house. the incoming and outgoing first ladies spending time together and then sharing a ride up to the capitol building for the swearing in and none of that is happening. none of the usual rituals as you say of presidential transfer of power are happening. we haven't seen a phone call from donald trump to joe biden. we haven't seen a concession speech. we haven't really heard an

acknowledgement that he lost the presidential election, so very strange final moments, final, final moments of the trump presidency. >> jon, generally presidents also leave a note for their successor in the oval office. any word from the white house on whether that note has been written? >> reporter: no word on whether that note has been written but i have spoken to several people who have urged the president directly to write that note, to write the note to joe biden as you remember, donald trump was quite proud of the note that barack obama left for him, left it in the drawer of the resolute desk in the oval office but no word whether or not he's actually going to take that advice, those pleadings from people close to him to keep that tradition up at the very least write the farewell note. >> and thank you, jon. to tom llamas at andrews air force base. what's the scene there, tom? >> reporter: well, you know, george, it's somewhat of a bizarre scene. as you can see behind me air

force one is right here. we are waiting for president trump from what we understand, we just got new reporting just in right now, we understand it's just going to be the president and first lady melania trump on marine one. they'll helicopter over here to joint base andrews. he will give about a 15-minute speech just behind me and i und meet him here at joint base andrews. this is what is sort of stunning. first of all what jon karl was reho there's not going to be a traditional transfer of power, i can remember four years ago beyond the east side of the capitol when president barack obama took off in the helicopter and came over here and flew off to california. that's not happening this time around because president trump is not going to attend the inauguration. but here's what's very surprising, george, look at this empty space right here. there were supposed to be some estimates up to 500 trump supporters here to say good-bye to president trump. right now there's nobody. it is still early. it is still pretty cold out here. we are expecting some supporters but for someone who valued crowd support, for someone who had to

feed off a crowd if president trump gets over here and this space is pretty empty, it's going to be quite the sight, george. so so many different things right now a send-off like we've never seen before and what we expect to hear from the president is a little from what we heard in his video yesterday, he's going to thank the people who helped him out, he's going to thank the country but he's also going to say this is not the end of his political movement, that it's just the beginning, george. >> okay, tom, thanks very much. robin roberts, as we're sitting here talking about this right now, i think probably just about every morning for the last four years when we opened up "gma" we said something to the effect of we haven't seen anything like this before. >> it has been a very challenging four years to cover this administration and donald trump and it's no surprise that it is ending the way that it is because many people were speculating would he go to the inauguration or not. his vice president will be there, will not be there at his send-off but, george, what i'm

thinking of right now is the reason that joe biden is about to be elected the 46th president of these united states is because of what happened in 2017 in charlottesville, the white supremacists who were taking to the streets with torches and joe biden was among those watching when president donald trump said there are good people, quote, on both sides and that's when he decided to run for president, in fact, he said if we give donald trump eight years in the white house he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation. i cannot stand by and watch that happen. that's what joe biden said and he said he is fighting to win back the soul of this country which he will have those remarks in his inaugural speech coming up looking forward, not looking back. >> all about healing for joe biden today and, michael strahan, you think about charlottesville back in 2017, those events just two weeks ago at the capitol and so jarring

for so many americans to see the way those protesters were treated at the capitol versus the way black lives matter protesters were treated earlier this summer. >> yeah, you're right about that, george, i think that had a lot to do with it as well. you know, some people say there are two americas and i think that that kind of showed for a lot of america there may be two americas in the way people are treated. president trump came in and broke the norms when he came into office. he is breaking all the norms when he leaves office. we're so used to the transfer of power, all the ceremony and circumstances that go into that that make it feel as if it's complete and now the way he is leaving the office, there is, you know, no conversation between him and the incoming president, the incoming administration. it almost makes it seem as if this is completely -- has up ended what i think us as a country are so used to and i feel that in some ways it leaves us feeling a little incomplete. >> incomplete is one word for it. thank you, michael. david muir, i was also wondering

if after these four packed years and clearly joe biden trying to speak to this moment, people exhausted as well. >> there's no question about that, george. i think about the american people waking up this morning looking at this livf us, marine one waiting disrupter and he will be right up until the moment he leaves the white house here this morning. this will be the first time as we've said this morning that we haven't seen the outgoing president and first lady greet the incoming president-elect and first lady and that, you know, given the fact that we are such a divided country, that is a moment for the american people that they wait for every four years to help put the election behind them and certainly more extreme this time around given what we saw just two weeks ago and all of these numbers being broken, you mentioned with jon karl the letter in the oval office. i was struck four years ago standing in the oval office with then president trump who had just been inaugurated and he

pulled the letter out of the resolute desk. he was so proud of that letter from president obama and i pulled out what he said to me. he said this is the letter given to me by president obama. it's a beautiful, beautiful letter. i asked him if there was a line in the letter that struck him the most. he said, a number of lines, so well wring, so thoughtful. he put it in the drawer which is custom. he said he really, in fact, spent time on this and i called him and thanked him. it was complex, it was thoughtful and, george, we don't know for sure obviously whether or not there will be a letter waiting for president joe biden once he's sworn in today. we'll wait and see later this afternoon but many people doubt there will be a letter and certainly doubt there will be a phone call between the outgoing president and the incoming president-elect joe biden. >> there's been no contact at all according to kate bedingfield since the election and linsey davis, par freezing tolstoy, all inaugurations are different in their own way. >> certainly true and right now

in this particular moment i'm reminded of june of 2015 when we all watched as donald trump descended the golden escalator in trump tower going down to the basement announcing he would run for president and a small crowd there, reportedly some had been paid $50 to aend it. perhaps a small crowd today, but they all were there watching as that unprecedented scene rolled out as we all watched and we all watched this unprecedented scene before us from a man who loves certainly pomp and pageantry, a man who once again has produced, directed and is starring in this made for tv moment, but the big send-off really still fails to mask the fact that he leaves the white house the most embattled president since richard nixon. >> first one to be impeached a second time facing that senate trial even though he won't be president anymore. cecilia vega, you've got that hat on down at the capitol because i note it's windy out there. you are our new chief white house correspondent for the biden administration but have been covering president trump

for the last four years as well and i guess one of the things that helicopter marine one sitting on the white house lawn signifies right now he doesn't want to leave the stage. >> he does not want to leave the stage, george. this is a person, a man who as tom said loves, relishes crowds but he's been silent virtually. we have not seen donald trump for over a week in public now with -- aside from the video he released from the white house, departure video yesterday and he's going away quietly because they took his twitter away from him but, george, standing right here you can see behind me where president-elect biden will be sworn in. i'm struck by the weight of this moment given where we are as a country. how much we have been through in the last three weeks that i am standing on the very site where i still can't believe i'm saying this word out loud where there was an insurrection, a riot, a mob as protesters fueled and led by our president came to try to

take over this democracy and stop this event that is about to happen from taking place and also just the strangeness, the oddity of what is happening out here with so few people. so few dignitaries in attendance. you can see some of the chairs behind me. they're set two chairs each, one guest and i mean each invited guest and a person they were allowed to bring socially distanced it looks like more than signature feet apart and over the national mall over my shoulder this sea of flags that represents the states in our country and the territories and not a single face of humanity, the american public that is normally here and it brings me back to the very first day of president trump's administration, his swearing in and sort of how that told us what was to come as he was so angry, angry at how he was covered that day and refuted for days after the crowd size that was here, i don't know that any of us who have covered him or even american, citizens in

general would think we would end up here four years later. >> that first press briefing beginning with falsehoods about that crowd. you've been covering capitol hill for the last several years and going back, joe biden is going to be taking that oath, becoming president, delivering his inaugural address almost two weeks to the day, to the minute of when that siege began to take place on capitol and it's hard to overstate how traumatized members of congress were both parties are by the events of that day. >> reporter: and, of course, since that day we have seen a remarkable shift here in congress especially from republicans, so many of them coming out and saying enough. that they no longer will stand by president trump. that they have to be a part of helping to turn the page on the trump administration, lining up and finally admitting that, yes, joe biden will be the next president, you heard republican leader mitch mcconnell just yesterday coming out and with some incredibly harsh words for

president trump, making it very clear that he's helping to lead that charge in turning the page and, of course, the events of the last two weeks are overshadowing all of this. george, here i believe we see president trump coming out. >> that's right coming out with melania trump, the first lady walking out to that small crowd greeting him there before he heads on to marine one. last time he will make this walk as president of the united states. we all got used to over the last four years watching the president as he would walk towards marine one, give many impromptu press conferences, talk for what was supposed to be a couple minutes would often turn into, jon karl, could often turn into 10, 20, 30 minutes, maybe even longer. >> reporter: you know, it's something presidents before him really didn't do except in very unusual circumstances, i remember one of the very first times that he went to marine one and took that detour over to talk to those of us in the press corps looking across over to the rose garden and seeing his press secretary at that time, sara

huc huckabee sanders running across because she had no idea he would hold a press conference and felt she needed to be there to find out what he was going to say but this is something he started to do and did, i mean, with great regularity. i can't tell you how many times i was over there and the president just taking questions and insulting reporters at times, sometimes making fun of reporters. it was combat for him as much as it was a press conference. >> no question about that. thank you, jon. chris christie, as we see the president get into marine one right there, for his final ride. you know the president well. he was a man who loved so many of the trappings of the office. >> yeah, he did, george. and had great pride whenever you would go to the white house, no matter how many times i'd been there over the last four years in showing you different new things he was doing or he had

gotten. >> tour of the oval. >> yeah, was giving away or, you know, everything from the oval office to the bathroom off the oval office, talked to you how he made that better too so he loved the trappings of the the tppf the hink in many office more most days than he loved the job itself. >> i know he didn't talk to you in the final weeks of this presidency. would not take your phone calls because you said he should stop questioning the election. it seems from reports from inside the white house and you still know so many people there that even up until january 6th itself, he really did believe that there was a way he would remain president. >> you know, george, again, i think this is the way to understand donald trump. there was part of him that knew it was over and he would have those moments and then there were other -- the other dominant part of him was that he believed from his whole life experience that if he said it enough and he willed it, he could will it into existence. and those two things were

competing inside donald trump from election night all the way through to january 6th and really beyond january 6th, george. he was still talking about it and the weakness of him was that at those times he surrounded himself with the very worst instead of the very best and those worst folks pushed out the better people who were around him and just told him what he wanted to hear. someone who is very, very close to the president said to me back in march in the midst of the beginning of the pandemic, she -- this woman said to me, governor, you know him very well. he only hears what he wants to hear. >> and that could end up being a fatal flaw for the president, soon-to-be former president of the united states. want to go to rachel scott up on capitol. our new senior congressional correspondent. we see donald trump now leaving washington, d.c. for the last time as that helicopter is about to take off but washington is not done with him, capitol now

preparing for that second impeachment trial. >> reporter: preparing for that second impeachment trial, george and it will be a significant channel for joe biden and his administration. he has made it clear that he wants to hit the ground running on day one. he has a massive covid relief package he wants to get through congress, not to mention that long list of nominees, his cabinet secretaries that will need to be confirmed by the senate. now the senate will have to juggle possibly in the first 100 days that second impeachment trial for president trump along with all of the things that biden wants to accomplish on his agenda, a significant challenge for biden administration and democrats, george. >> thank you, rachel. sara fagen, as we watch the president take off right there, this second impeachment trial likely to be far different from the first one starting with the role of the senate republican leader, he will not be the majority leader anymore, mitch mcconnell. he said from the start of the first trial president trump would not be convicted. he's not saying that now. >> he's not and he's sent

signals to other republicans in my view that it's okay if you want to vote to convict donald trump. i think the majority leader is incredibly upset. you know, he is an institutionalist. he's devoted his life for the institution of the senate and to watch what happened two weeks ago i think was very, very personally upsetting to him in a way that it was upsetting to awful us but when you devote your life to the chamber, i think it took on a special meaning to him. he's also really upset about what happened in georgia. he blames donald trump for those losses and i think he's right about that. he would be the majority leader but for donald trump. >> we're seeing marine one fly away from the white house for the last time carrying donald trump as president of the united states, want to bring in presidential historian mark updegrove as we see that iconic video now of marine one pulling away around the washington monument. i can't help it. even though donald trump is not resigned here he's leaving office after being defeated, the image in my head is richard

nixon, 1974. >> without question, george. that's exactly what comes to mind for me as well. richard nixon left the white house on august 9th, 1974 after having resigned from the presidency, the first president in history to resign. it was a very sad and somber day and gerald ford was left to take the oath of office on his own without his predecessor looking on as is the custom in our country and that's exactly what's happening here like richard nixon, donald trump is going home to face a very uncertain future including his legal fate which will be determined in the senate later this month and into february. >> mark updegrove, thanks. terry moran, leaving behind a divided country right now. >> a terribly divided country. and it is symbolized in what we're to see. inaugurations are rituals and rituals embody meanings and values and this is taking place inside a ring of steel and

firepower and that embodies where we are as a country and what we're seeing right now the president leaving. one of the things the president does upon departing for 150 years is with his body, the defeated person acknowledging the transfer of power, the presence, the physical presence of the president at the inauguration is meaningful and necessary for the country and it's his last act of vandalism. >> byron pitts, we're missing that moment of grace seeing the presidents drive up together. >> george, it's a painful moment for our nation because as terry just said, i mean, this is a tradition that allows us as a nation to say it's over, let's move on and thinking about the images we'll see this morning, the split screen of one president leaving in shame, i mean you could argue and the other going to church and mindful of the scripture in the book of matthew that says, for those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble

themselves will be exalted. donald trump prided himself on winning. he was the one that fired people. well, america fired him. >> and there you see air force one. it will still be air force one when donald trump gets on there this morning. it will be air force one until noon if it's still in the air at noon it will turn into special air mission 45 for the 45th president of the united states, there's the podium where the president is going to speak. want to go back to tom llamas at andrews air force base. is the crowd starting to gather, tom? tom, are you there? i guess we don't have tom llamas there right now but we'll be waiting for the president to come down and speak. deborah roberts, on this point of just how different this morning is from every other inauguration. >> reporter: it definitely is, george. i mean first of all, for the last three inaugurations i've had the pleasure of being there in washington, mingling with the crowd, hearing from families who

were just so patriotic and so excited about being there to witness this ceremony so it is very strange being at home and seeing an empty area there. but i want to tell you i spent the last few days talking with friends of mine from all around the country from arizona to tennessee to georgia, a lot of those key states that sort of particularly, georgia that factored into this election and i was not sure what i was going to hear and i was really, really surprised and maybe i'm just being a little too optimistic to reneck on what michael said, what i heard from a lot of people was just exhaustion and sort of now they're excited to exhale. they may not necessarily love the outcome of the election but many of them expressed a desire right now to just see, to sort of check out today, see what happens, they're ready to exhale so while they may not be there in the nation's capital, many people are at home checking this out very curiously and with big hopes that maybe, just maybe we might be beginning to turn a page. >> that is the scene.

thank you, deborah. that is the scene on the mall. there is not going to be a crowd on the mall today. remember, there were almost 2 million people there for barack 08. today thousands and thousands of flags signifying the people who will not be at the inaugural signifying the lives lost during the covid pandemic more than 400,000 lives lost over the last year to this pandemic and the security situation as we've been saying so tight across the capitol. want to bring in our chief justice correspondent pierre thomas for more on this. ever since that siege two weeks ago, washington on the highest of alerts. >> reporter: george, we're witnessing the biggest security event perhaps in the history of the country. over 25,000 national guard, thousands of law enforcement personnel at the ready and the reason is that they were shook to their core by that insurrection. law enforcement officials i've been talking to say they still

can't believe the level of people and the amount of people and the anger and the heat that they brought on that capitol. they were stunned by it. we got new details yesterday, george, about a conspiracy among some of the members who took over the capitol, that they talked about trying to trap members of congress in the tunnels below the capitol and to, quote, turn on the gas so law enforcement is reacting in a way that they are because of the horror that they saw a couple of weeks ago, george, and quite frankly today they don't expect to see any kind of numbers like they did a few weeks ago, they are concerned about armed people showing up, perhaps to try something simply because there's so many people so angry about believing the lie that the election was stolen, george. >> only two protests, fewer than a hundred people each have been authorized for washington, d.c. today as we see the helicopters approach. martha raddatz, you were out there with the crowds two weeks ago. it was menacing moments, quite

different this morning with those 25,000 national guard troops spread out across washington. >> reporter: it is an absolute lockdown but still, george, when i came in this morning when all of us came in very early this morning there is this strong sense of history and how important this day is to the city seeing the sun rise over the city was quite incredible. knowing what was going to happen and watching those helicopters now head for jba, i am thinking of that letter that david muir was talking about that president trump showed him and one of the things in that letter that he said was we are just temporary occupants of this office, that makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties regardless. the push and pull of daily politics, it's up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them and, of course, as

we hear those words, we think of what happened two weeks ago in the capitol, in fact, george, i'm sitting here, i see some old notes that talk about treason, bri bribery, threat to national security, an act of revolt and m-4 rifles. that's where we were two weeks ago, that's why we are where we are today with this city in virtual lockdown but those democratic institutions will go forward. >> they held. our democratic institutions were tested two weeks ago, they've been tested over these last four years but they have held. we're told that president trump did speak for just a couple of minutes before he got on marine one. let's listen in. >> mr. president, -- >> mr. president. >> it is a great honor, the honor of a lifetime. the greatest people in the world. the greatest home in the world. i called it home for these four

years. we've accomplished a lot. we love the american people and again, it has been something very special and i just want to say good-bye but hopefully it's not a long-term good-bye and we'll see each other again. thank you all very much. thank you. >> president trump there saying it's been a great honor to serve in the white house, it was a great home a little wave there from the first lady as well as we see marine one now getting prepared to land at joint base andrews, interesting david muir he said maybe it's not the last time you'll see me. >> that was notable, george. he said hopefully it's not a long time, long-term good-bye. he said over and over again it was a great honor, a great home as he turned to look back at the white house, a great honor. you look at marine one as it prepares to land there and this is also steeped in tradition, though it's happening earlier in the day than we typically see it every four years. this usually happens after that inaugural moment at the capitol and then the incoming president, the outgoing president gathered

to review the troops. nancy reagan once said ronnie turned and saluted and got on marine one and circled the white house one last time because ronald reagan said there's our bungalow. she said he said that with a lump in his throat, how emotional that trip on marine one. i can only imagine what it's been like this morning for donald trump and melania trump as they leave. the sun came up in washington, 7:23 this morning and it was just an hour later they were leaving the white house and now they land here where the president is expected to speak again, george. >> he will speak. that usually doesn't happen either. tom llamas is now there at joint base andrews, is there more of a crowd there now to hear the president's speech, tom? >> reporter: yeah, george. shortly after we reported our first time about 100 to 200 trump supporters filed in. you can see them behind me. we're seeing a lot of families here, a surprising number of children here as well. also the first family is here. if i ask my photographer gary to

zoom in above the crowd's heads you can see the first family here waiting for president trump and the first lady as marine one wheels in right now. we are expecting president trump to make a short speech about 15 minutes, we're expecting him to thank a lot of his supporters who are out here, thank the country but also talk about potentially what he plans on doing in the future and, again, we can't say it enough how different this is than anything else we've seen before. four years ago at his inauguration speech one of the first things president trump said he thanked the obamas, he said, quote, they were magnificent on this day and we will not see something like that today because the president's decided not to be there for his successor. he's decide the not to be there for the country as the transfer of power occurs. just behind us like i said there's about maybe 200 it 300 people in this crowd but it's not packed. there's empty spaces and there are people that are lingering around here not sure how the

president will take that. i'm sure he will be happy some people came out. it may be telling, george, of where his support is right now in the country. i spoke to a lot of trump supporters last night, all across the country to kind of get a gauge of where the support was and a lot of trump supporters i spoke to said, they were happy with him but they want to turn the page. they are ready for the next leader in the republican party to emerge. it seems the older the trump supporter i spoke to the more willing they were to give him a second chance but a lot of republicans i spoke to yesterday, george, were ready for the next chapter for the party, they're ready to turn this page and said good-bye to president trump. >> thank you, tom. jon karl, the president doesn't often stick to his script but it does appear that he's been given a more conciliatory script to follow today. >> reporter: right, and i've seen that but i've been given the caveat we always have with donald trump, who knows what he'll actually say, but the plan is to give a conciliatory message here, george, and just spoke to somebody who spoke with

the president late last night who tells me that he thinks that donald trump actually did leave a letter for joe biden in the oval office, we'll see if that is what actually happened but what strikes me watching this right now, there you see ivanka trump and looks like jared kushner, we haven't seen donald trump in public outside of those prerecorded videos he's released. we haven't seen him in public for eight days which is by far the longest stretch we've gone without seeing him in public so it was interesting to see him leave the white house, actually come over briefly, speak to the reporters, again, words, you know, gracious words talking about what an honor it had been and saying he hopes to see people again before long, none of the combat we're usually expecting from donald trump and we'll see if we see the same tone when he comes out and gives his final remarks as president of the united states. >> haven't seen him, haven't heard much from him ever since he's been banned from twitter

and facebook as well. it does look like he's getting prepared now to come off marine one. rahm emanuel, let me bring you in as well. you served in the white house as chief of staff and served in congress as we watch the president get prepared. how much difference does it make to the beginning of the presidency of joe biden that the traditional rituals are not being followed. >> it's actually more important to the country than joe biden in the sense these are touchstones all of us look to. i think about my time in the house of representatives when you have a change and as speaker gives to the other speaker the gavel. it symbolizes something for us to go through this transition so i don't -- for joe biden, i don't think it's going to be earth shattering, it's not going to rattle him. for the country's own sense i look at this moment, we just went through four years where our fever was at 103 every day and biden's entire -- the president-elect's entire message is 97.1 and i think missing those rituals will be not great for the country but i think his message of moving forward

together, unity, all the things that he's trying to do i think is basically sending a message we're turning the page on this moment and let's all play a role in taking the temperature back to 97.1. >> in every public appearance in the last week for joe biden, it seems like he's trying to do his best to soothe the country. >> oh, without a doubt. i mean that i think is the entire and that's where both the right thing to do because in many ways the election was a referendum on the president and where the country rejected both the temperament, the tone and the tenor of this presidency and so biden and president-elect biden, his own dna is about we can do this, we're all of one country, we're all of one mission and one purpose in that effort and i think that to me is where he both has the greatest opportunity. it will be in the agenda with the tone. >> the president being introduced. looked like he gave a final thank you to his pilots there on marine one.

one from the first lady as well. as we said we expect the president to speak for about 15 minutes, some prepared remarks. he put out a videotaped taped farewell address last night. as jon karl said he has not appeared before reporters since -- over the last eight days, but he is going to speak now. here at andrews. tom llamas he wanted a military flourish. we're hearing the military band. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. he wanted the 21-gun salute hearing cannons fire off. there was supposed to be a flyover. the reports of a flyover. that's not going to happen tonight but we have the military band playing, cannons are firing off. the plane, air force one, just behind him as he set to take the stage and just like he did during his campaign, george, when he had his own private plane behind him, now air force one, the final moment, the final hours of the trump presidency right in front of our eyes as he's greeting supporters just steps from taking the podium

and, again, moments away from ending this presidency, george. >> that's right. tight smile there from the president. approaching the podium for the last time as president. >> thank you, thank you very much. thank you. >> thank you very much. and we love you and i can tell you that from the bottom of my heart, this has been an incredible four years. we've accomplished so much together. i want to thank all of my family and my friends and my staff and so many other people for being here. i want to thank you for your effort, your hard work. people have no idea how hard this family worked. they worked -- and they worked for you. they could have had a much easier life but they just -- they did a fantastic job. i just want to thank all of you, every one. i want to thank mark meadows who

is here someplace. i want to thank mark. but it's been -- it's been something very special. we've accomplished a lot. our first lady has been a woman of great grace and beauty and dignity. and so popular with the people. so popular with the people. in fact, honey, would you like to say a few words, please? >> being your first lady was my greatest honor. thank you for your love and your support. you will be in my thoughts and prayers. god bless you all. god bless your families and god bless these beautiful nation. thank you. >> what else has to be said, right? but what we've done, that's true, honey, great job. what we've done has been amazing

by any standard. we rebuilt the united states military. we created a new force called space force. that in itself would be a major achievement for a regular administration. we were not a regular administration. we took care of the vets, 91% approval rating. they've never had that before. the vets have given us the v.a., the vets have given us an approval rating like has never been before. we took care of our vets and our beautiful vets, they were very badly treated before we came along. and as you know, we get them great service and we pick up the bill and they can go out and they can see a doctor if they have to wait long periods of time, we got it so that we can sadly get rid of people that don't treat our vets properly. we didn't have any of those rights before when i came on so our vets are happy. our people are happy, our

military is thrilled. we also got tax cuts, the largest tax cut and reform in the history of our country by far. i hope they don't raise your taxes. but if they do i told you so. and if you look at the regulations which i consider the regulation cuts to be maybe even more important, that's why we have such good and have had such good job numbers, the job numbers have been absolutely incredible. when we started had we not been hit by the pandemic, we would have had numbers that would never have been seen, already our numbers are the best ever. if you look at what happened until february a year ago, our numbers were at a level that nobody had ever seen before and even now we really built it twice. we got hit, nobody blames us for that the whole world got hit then we built it again and now the stock market is actually

substantially higher than it was at its higher point prior to the pandemic. so it's really, you could say we built it twice and you're going to see -- you're going to see incredible numbers start coming in if everything is sort of left alone, be careful, very complex, be careful. but you're going to see some incredible things happening and remember us when you see these things happening, remember us because i'm looking at -- i'm looking at elms of our economy that are set to be a rocket ship up. it's a rocket ship up. we have theattweavth gatt econo pandemic was, we were hit so hard just like the entire world was hit so hard, places that thought they got away with it didn't get away with it. they're suffering right now. we did something that is really

considered a medical miracle. they're calling it a miracle and that was the vaccine. we got the vaccine developed in nine months instead of nine years or five years or ten years or a long time. it was supposed to take a long time, many, many years to develop a vaccine. we have two out. we have another one coming almost immediately and it really is a great achievement so you should start to see really good numbers over the next few months, i think you're going to see those numbers really skyrocket downward and i can only say this, we have worked hard. we'vel as the athletes would say, we've left it all in the field. we don't have to -- we don't have to come and say we'll never say in a month when we're sitting in florida we're not going to be looking at each other and saying, you know, if we only worked a little bit

harder. you can't work harder and had a lot of obstacles and went through the obstacles and we just got 75 million votes and that's a record in the history of -- in the history of sitting presidents. that's an all-time record by a lot. by many millions in the history of sitting presidents it's been really just an honor. one of the things we're very, very proud of is the selection of almost 300 federal judges and 3 great supreme court justices. that's a very big number. that's a record setting number and so we've done a lot and there's still things to do, the first thing we have to do is pay our respects and our love to the incredible people and families who suffered so gravely from the china virus, it's a horrible thing that was put onto the world. we all know where it came from

but it's a horrible, horrible thing, so be very careful. be very, very careful, but we want to pay great love, great love to all of the people that have suffered and including families who have suffered so gravely. so with that i just want to say you are amazing people. this is a great, great country. it is my greatest honor and privilege to have been your president. [ cheers and applause ] [ crowd chanting "thank you, trump" ]

>> i will always fight for you. i will be watching. i will be listening and i will tell you that the future of this country has never been better. i wish the new administration great luck and great success. i think they'll have great success. they have the foundation to do something really spectacular and, again, we put it in a position like it's never been before despite the worst plague to hit since i guess you'd say 1917, over 100 years ago and despite that, despite that, the things that we've done have been just incredible and i couldn't have done them -- done it without you so just a good-bye, we love you, we will be back in some form.

[ cheers and applause ] and, again, i want to just in leaving i want to thank our vice president, mike pence and karen, i want to thank congress because we really worked well with congress, at least certain elements of congress. but we really did. we've gotten so much done that nobody thought would be possible but i want to thank congress and all of the great people of washington, d.c., all of the people that we worked with to put this miracle together. so have a good life. we will see you soon. thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much. >> have a good life. what a way to finish a speech for the president of the united st states. in some ways familiar talking about his view of his accomplishments. some familiar exaggerations and

falsehoods talking about his record and the number of votes he won, but also a couple of notes wishing luck to the new administration. jon karl, a familiar speech. he seemed to have two script, one written for him and one he decided to give himself. >> reporter: it was vintage donald trump filled with grievance, complaints about the ways in which he has been wronged, the obstacles he's faced, exaggerations on his accomplishments, there was a script, george. it was a script that was to start out with grace notes and well wishes for joe biden and for kamala harris actually, the script that was written and i assume was in that teleprompter included the names joe biden and kamala harris. he didn't actually say their names in that speech but he did get around to wishing them good luck. he also in the script that he was -- the plan here, he was going to say nice things about his vice president.

he did seem to remember that he should mention his vice president and in the end just got a thank you for mike pence and karen pence, of course, a vice president that he broke with in just unimaginable ways here in the final weeks of his presidency. >> i want to bring in rebecca jarvis, the president spoke a lot about the economy right there and what he sees as his accomplishments. also had a bit of a warning saying i could come back and say i told you so if they, he said they raise your taxes. rebecca, it was a bit of a reality check on the economy. >> certainly, well, and president trump also gave warning that if joe biden was elected president that the u.s. stock market would crater. he recognized in that speech that as he leaves office today, the u.s. stock market is near record highs, but when this president took office, the unemployment rate in this country was 4.8%. today it is 6.7%. there are 10.7 million americans

currently unemployed. 3 million more officially than when he took office and it is an economy, this economy that president-elect biden inherits is going to be a challenge, a significant one, in fact, he will have to create more jobs as president of this country than any other president in recent history if he's to bring things back to a normal place and create full employment in this country and that is going to be a significant task. tacks certainly part of this question, but so will that stimulus for many, many months lawmakers called on the president on congress to come up with a stimulus plan to help the millions of americans who are collecting unemployment benefits who are late on their mortgage payments and that was not done. it was wasted time wasted and we saw that reflected in the final employment report of last year, george, where for the first time in many months after job creation, we saw job losses

again, 140,000 americans lost their jobs in the month of december. many of those workers in the leisure and hospitaltality space, restaurant workers, airline workers, those jobs with the pandemic still raging are still jobs that are uncertain going forward. >> we just saw that door close. to the president's cabin on air force one. final wave, final walk up the steps as we see, how fitting is this. president-elect biden and his wife dr. jill biden leaving blair house, a tradition that has been kept. he stayed in blair house overnight. the traditional guest house across the street from the white house for the incoming president. and he will now be following another tradition. he will be going to a church service at st. matthew's catholic cathedral in downtown washington. he's entering the limousine right now. before we that air force one takes off want to go to john san

kouachi, our white house producer who was at the trump announcement speech back in 2015. you saw that final wave. you've probably spent more hours with the president than any of us. your thoughts in these final minutes for the president at joint air force base andrews. >> yeah, george, what a book end to donald trump's life on the campaign and in the white house and to hear him say we'll see you soon, you know, remember us and it was such a different tone for donald trump. we were here early this morning in the cold as the snow was pouring down on andrews air force base, teleprompters were set, there were remarks prepared and all of it just seemingly went away kind of the way, george, you'll remember because we were together at trump tower six years ago nearly. same thing. donald trump had a speech prepared ready to go and threw it out. donald trump went off the cuff and for this remark here it seemed like trump was trying to

justify his legacy, talking about how they got a vaccine for the coronavirus, talking about getting supreme court justices, but it's quite clear, george, from those remarks you really don't know what's next for donald trump and neither does he. >> this is the transfer of power in action right now. you're going to see the door on air force one close as the final aides and family members head up into the aircraft and you saw joe biden pull away. cecilia vega, joe biden pulling away, this is a break from tradition in the presidential limousine, the beast. >> reporter: and normally this tradioswchhandoffn would happen house. this is not happening again because so much of what we're seeing today is unlike anything we've ever seen before. that, you know, the niceties, the tradition that was extended to the trumps, they did not by the obamas i should point out are not extending in any way to

the incoming biden family, melania trump did not reach out to jill biden in any way. melania trump, i want to point out fairly who championed -- whose champion big issue was the be best campaign modeled on good behavior and good citizenship. we mentioned the letter. we don't know that has happened and no phone call congratulating joe biden for his win and the only person who made a call was vice president mike pence to incoming vice president kamala harris. so so much of the tradition is being thrown out the window, if you will, this time around but, george, i want to talk about president trump tried to cement his legacy here. his legacy despite all of what he may view as his accomplishments will very much be what happened here on january 6th obviously something he didn't mention and that is the insurrection that he incited because of these repeated lies about voter fraud he believed falsely and without merit that the election was stolen from

him, a lie that he repeated over and over despite court after court around our country being thrown out and the last three weeks since that riot, since that mob has thrown our country into a state that we've never been in in any of our lifetimes that any of us could have imagined so his legacy, he wanted it to be law and order and immigration, the wall, all of those things, vets, but it's what happened here now that donald trump will be remembered for. >> still dealing with it in the second impeachment trial as we see president-elect biden pull up to st. matthew's cathedral there in downtown washington, d.c. joe biden, a fautithful catholi striking his note of healing in this service today, mary bruce, he's invited the republican congressional leaders to attend this service with him. >> reporter: george, a clear sign that joe biden is setting a new tone here in washington and

a tone of unity, congressional leaders of both parties are going to be there in attendance with him at church this morning. there's no clearer sign than that that there is a clear shift here in washington and in our politics and, of course, joe biden is a devout catholic. he attends mass regularly, practically every weekend. i think that is something you'll continue to see during his presidency, something we really haven't seen through the last several administrations and donald trump's departure standing here outside of the capitol kind of caught us by surprise to see marine one fly overhead flying around the capitol as if donald trump couldn't help himself but to ge inauguration and you have to imagine the scene that donald trump was looking down on, a scene here, very much of donald trump's own making, a capitol completely locked down, a city shut down, huge fences, razor wire, all out of a fear of violence after the president

himself incited that mob that stormed this building just two weeks ago. and, you know, joe biden declined offers to bring his inauguration indoors. he wanted to do it here outside at this scene. he said he felt safe about doing this today but also because it sends a message, of course, that despite the fact that donald trump is refused to participate, spent weeks undermining the peaceful transition of power that there is going to be a transition, that there is, you know, some hope going forward that joe biden is hoping to project here but i just have to say as i stand here, george, i have lived in this city my entire life and to look out from the capitol steps, be able to see across to the washington monument and beyond and not only not see members of the public but such a huge presence of our national guard, you have to imagine as joe biden looks out today he will very much see the embodiment of the challenges that he is inheriting, a nation that is hurting, so much anger, so much pain, so much concern about where we go from here and

joe biden today starting at this church service with congressional leaders is trying to send a message that unity is possible. >> facing overwhelming overlapping challenges, president trump talked about the 74 million people he said, 75 million people that voted for him. did not mention the 80 million people plus who voted for joe biden at that time. also did not repeat the falsehoods about the election, the big lie about the election, but, maryalice parks, no words there from the president for those who did not vote for him. >> no, and his decision not to attend the inauguration should be remembered that way as not just a disrespect to the bidens but a disrespect to more than half of the voters, those 81 million voters who chose joe biden instead and i guess that's not surprising, though. so much of president trump's politics was about making democrats seem like the other,

otherizing all kinds of americans, often he would talk on the campaign trail about voters, people of color as somehow less american, progressives as somehow less american. he delivered a politics of division and in these last moments he is once again saying he is not interested in talking to that other half of america. >> maryalice, thanks very much. we're seeing air force one pull away from andrews air force base. let's bring in mark updegrove. reflect on where president trump fits in the pantheon of american presidents, so many record, the top one will be the second -- the only american president to be impeached a second time. face a second impeachment trial. >> without question, george and that will be part of it. generally takes a generation for us to evaluate presidents with any sense of dispassion. but i think in this case i go back to president trump's speech

four years ago today and he talked about america first, that was going to be his policy. he also said memorably this american carnage will stop here and will stop now but as i think when we look back at the legacy of donald trump, we'll think of two thing, number one he lost the office due to his mishandling of the pandemic because he was unable to put the country first. it was always donald trump first. not america first. and the second part is the american carnage, while he said it would stop and would end with his presidency, we saw him incite that riot on january 6th, the day which will live in infamy and that i think is how we will unfortunately think of the legacy of donald trump. >> thank you, mark. i want to bring in leah wright rigueur, professor of brandeis university. you said that that siege two weeks ago will be the defining

image, the defining moment of the trump presidency. >> absolutely and i think this is the way that donald trump will be remembered. this is how we will think about him. it's the last act of his presidential administration and can trace a straight line from proceeding events whether it be the descent down the gold golde escalators and calling people on both sides at charlottesville fine people and inciting an insurrection against sitting politicians in the capitol. i think this is how we remember him and right down to the bitter end what we see is that this was the chaotic president, this was the almost, you know, anarchist president but this was also the divisive president who spent so much of his time catering to his base, talking to his base and rejecting the rest of the nation and i think he does lasting

damage, lasting damage for the american public that is going to take us a very long time and it's going to be very hard to get through, particularly given the divisive nature of which he has >> thank you, leah, and linsey davis, a real paradox here as the president, you see him prepared to take off right there. he leaves office, his approval ratings the lowest of every president. over the time he was in office, his approval ratings, yet still overwhelmingly popular with republicans. >> reporter: when he introduced melania, he said, so popular with the people, and a recent poll found she has the worst popularity rating for first lady in most recent history. he also said, i told you so. it was what he didn't say, no mention of the 400,000 lives lost. in sharp contrast with what we saw last night in the empathy

from joe biden as we were at the memorial service there at the lincoln memorial. >> and we now see air force one taking off. we're going to take a quick break. our coverage will continue here. our coverage is continuing here on abc news of the inauguration of joe biden as we watch president trump leaving washington as president for the last time on air force one, flying to florida, and david muir, we had that split screen for several moments as we see the president right there. a subdued president speaking to his supporters as joe biden sought to begin his first day as president at worship. >> this has been a study in contrast, and yes saw it yet again today. it will remain air force one obviously until joe biden is sworn in as president so they will land in florida at mar-a-lago where president trump and the first lady are now headed. i took note of the family also boarding air force one, and, you know, one of the first thi