sr so, p so, so, sbegin. sr so, sta good morning to you, and welcome to a special "cbs this morning." we're in washington, d.c. it's inauguration day, you know that. i'm gayle king. that's anthony mason, and that's tony dokoupil. america's on the verge of an historic transfer of power with an inauguration like no other. we're learning new details of the incoming administration's plans to undo the legacy of then side tru aoues 0ardons and mmutations including form respect to adviser steve bannon. who else is on the list. washington, d.c., is on lockdown with extraordinary security, and why at least a dozen national guard troops have been removed from their posts. and an inspiring message from the new generation of leaders. youth laureate amanda gorman

takes the microphone at todare her message of hope. >> you talk to her, she's so good. here's today's "eye opener," your world in 90 seconds. >> as i prepare to hand power over to a new administration, i want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning. >> reporter: the historic day for our country. in just hours, joe biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the united states. >> to heal, we must remember -- >> the president-elect and vice president-elect attended a ceremony to honor those lost to the coronavirus. >> more than 400,000 total deaths. >> historic in the worst possible way. president trump has pardoned steve bannon. >> over 140 others awarded pardons or communitiations in these final hours. majority leader mitch mcconnell placing blame on president trump for the deadly riot at the capitol.

>> the mob was fed, they were provoked by the president. >> reporter: sarah thomas will make history as the first woman to officiate the super bowl at super bowl lv in february. all that -- >> president trump's youngest daughter has a big announcement ahead of her father's departure from the white house. tiffany trump is getting married. >> one thing about this family -- they really know how to read the room. and all that matters -- >> unlike previous inauguration days, donald and melania trump will not be attending the ceremony or meeting with the bidens at any time. of the last time a president skipped the inauguration was in 1869. joe biden said he didn't approve of it back then either. on "cbs this morning." >> michigan nurse lorra marie key singing "amazing grace" at last night's national covid memorial. ♪ i was lost but now i'm found

was blind but now i see ♪ >> this morning's "eye opener" is presented by ressive. making it easy to bundle insurance. >> let's let that sit for just a second. i didn't realize, guys, how badly we needed that moment. for someone to acknowledge about the loss of life. it's 400,000. and on the mall yesterday, to see the 400 lights to represent the 400,000 people who have died. i got so choked up watching it, tony. >> understandable because it is the first national memorial for the victims of this pandemic. >> some public grieving which we desperately need. >> how about that first thing that joe biden and kamala harris did when they land friday washington, d.c. they went and did that ceremony. it was quite a moment yesterday. that's where we will begin today because we've lost so much recently. we face extraordinary challenges. but it is a new day in america. it's inauguration day for joe biden.

and here's what it looks like this morning -- the west front of the capitol where byoo today joe biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the united states of america.ou correspondent, nancy cordes, is there. good morning to you. i can't imagine what it feels like there. >> reporter: good morning and welcome to a slightly windy washington, d.c., gayle. there is a view that never gets old. that balcony behind me is where president-elect joe biden will deliver his inaugural address in a few short hours. but first, this morning he'll attend mass at the cathedral of st. matthew the apostle just down the road. republican leaders mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy will join him as will democratic leaders. mr. biden then heads here to the capitol where he'll be sworn in by chief justice john roberts, vice president-elect kamala harris will be sworn in by justice sonia sotomayor. the bidens are then going to head to arlington national

cemetery to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. and finallbe escorted to the wh followed by a virtual inaugural parade. last night the president-elect arrived here in washington, d.c., setting the tone with a somber ceremony honoring the victims of the pandemic. ♪ hallelujah ♪ >> reporter: president-elect joe biden's first stop in washington was the lincoln memorial. >> to heal we must remember. >> reporter: that to honor the more than 400,000 in america who have lost their lives to coronavirus. >> between sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights in the darkness along the sacred pool of reflection and remember all who we lost. >> reporter: 400 eight-foot-tall lights surround the reflecting pool on the national mall. the biden team says today marks a new approach to managing the

pandemic. once he is sworn in, mr. biden is expected to s orders and take two additional executive actions, including a nationwide mask mandate on federal property and the creation of a white house office to respond to the virus. >> give this committee the truth -- >> reporter: a third of his cabinet nominees sat for confirmation hearings tuesday, laying out a massive shift in policy and tone from the past four years. >> i look forward to leading the intelligence community -- >> reporter: democrats say their top priority is getting mr. biden's homeland security nominee -- >> welcome back -- >> reporter: alejandro mayorkas confirmed. >> so help you god -- >> i do. >> reporter: especially after the recent attack on the capitol. but missouri senator josh hawley announced he would block a swift confirmation because he opposes the new administration's immigration plans. >> if people qualify under the law to remain in the united

states, then we will apply the law accordingly. >> reporter: mr. biden's political career spans five decades. he first ran for the presidency more than 30 years ago. it's a career that began in delaware. his father moved the family there after he lost his job. before coming to washington tuesday, mr. biden bid a teary farewell to his home state. >> excuse the emotion, but when i die, "delaware" will be written on my heart. >> reporter: the president-elect spoke at the national guard base named for his late son beau, an iraq war veteran who mr. biden often thought had a future in the white house. >> i only have one regret, he's not here. we should be introducing him as president. >> reporter: among the executive orders, president-elect joe biden is expected to sign a cancellation of president trump's ban on travelers from some muslim countries, an

extension of limits on eviction and student loan payments, and rejoining the paris climate agreement. so a very busy first day, tony. >> nancy cordes for us in what's been called democracy's front porch. thank you so much. now to the last day of the trump administration. a long list of pardons was among president trump's final acts in office overnight. one of his former top advisers, steve bannon, is included. recall bannon was accused of defrauding the president's only supporters with a scheme related to the border wall. paula reid is at the white house for us. good morning to you. it's a long list. who else was granted clemency? >> reporter: a very long list. good morning, tony. 143 people received either a pardon or commutation from president trump, and the list ranges from the president's political allies to nonviolent drug offenders. now you mentioned chief strategist steve bannon. what's interesting is cbs news has learned that the president's inner circle tried to caution him against granting relief to

the controversial conservative commentator. steve bannon pleaded not guilty to defrauding donors in a fundraising campaign for president trump's border wall. but before the trial could even get under way, the president gave him a preemptive pardon. also receiving a full pardon is gop mega donor elliott brody, one of the top fundraisers who pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate lobbying laws. mr. trump extended pardons to three former republican congressmen and commuted the sentence of detroit's former democratic mayor kwame kilpatrick who was serving time on corruption charges. the president also pardoned rappers lil wayne and kodak black on their separate federal weapons-related offenses. >> the pardons are a very positive thing for a president. >> reporter: missing from the list were preemptive pardons for himself and his children, amid speculation the president would try to sidestep potential future

federal charges. the list also left out wikileaks founder julian assange and former nsa contractor edward snowden. >> we did what we came here to do, and so much more. >> reporter: the pardon spree came after the president delivered a video message on his last full day in office. unapologetically praising his record over the last four years. >> i did not seek the path that would get the least criticism. i took on the tough battles, the hardest fights, the most difficult choices because that's what you elected me to do. >> reporter: even with just hours left in his presidency, mr. trump refused to refer to president-elect joe biden by name. though he did say he prays for the success of the new administration. >> we extend our best wishes, and we also want them to have luck, a very important word. >> reporter: as he prepares to leave office with his legacy stained by the violence he

allegedly ly incited at the cal -- >> you have to show strength -- >> reporter: he tried to distance himself from his own words two weeks ago. >> political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as americans. >> reporter: yesterday, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell was clear about who he thinks is responsible for the riot. >> the mob was fed lies. they were provoked by the president and other powerful people. >> reporter: in his first interview since leaving office, the president's former attorney general, bill barr, said mr. trump's misinformation on the election's legitimacy prompted the violence. >> i think that that was the thing that precipitated the riots on the hill. >> reporter: when the president entered the white house, he vowed to drain the swamp. and at the time he signed an executive order that banned people who had worked in the white house from lobbying for five years. but early this morning in an

aboutface, he rescinded that guidance which means that those who have worked in the trump white house will be able to pursue lobbying efforts. anthony? >> paula, thank you. the new president will take his oath in a city under lockdown. bridges into downtown washington have been closed, and streets are barricaded. no one is allowed on the national mall, and the u.s. capitol itself is surrounded by thousands of national guard troops. there is even a growing worry about a threat from the air. jeff pegues reports on the security operation which already includes removing at least 12 troops. >> reporter: national guard troops from across the country arrived in droves this week to help protect the inauguration. >> i do think that it is prudent to make sure that they're being vetted. >> reporter: the fbi is vetting the more than 25,000 national guard troops monitoring the city over concerns of an insider attack. at least 12 have been removed

from their posts. two were identified for possible ties to extremist groups. the other ten were flagged for e'reot takg anychances.ndingalo. they're being removed from the line. we'll ask questions later. >> reporter: a law enforcement source tells cbs news that there is growing concern over domestic violent extremists using drones to disrupt the inauguration which could be weaponized or crash into targets. the fbi has made more than 100 arrests following the capitol assaults, including brendan hunt of queens, new york, who according to the crimina complaint called for the public execution of members of congress. hunt faces up to ten years in prison if convicted. the justice department has also filed its first major conspiracy case linked to the riots. charging thomas caldwell, an apparent leader of the anti-government group the oath keepers. investigators say suspected members of the group moved toward the capitol in an

organized and practiced fashion. it alleged caldwell helped plan the attack days before the siege. and the threat this morning from extremists far from over. we got a long way to go here today. but law enforcement appears to be ready. you have a mix here of cvp officers here, national guard there. they have their humvees blocking the roads, and this is really a typical intersection that you're seeing around washington, d.c. this may be the norm going forward, at least for the next 30 days. the pentagon is telling members of the national guard, at least some of them, about 6,000 of them, that they will have to stay here in washington for the next 30 days. gayle? >> wow, jeff. a little jarring tod see them i person. thank you so much. michigan governor gingrretc

whitmer in washington. thank you for joining us, appreciate you taking the time. >> i'm glad to be here. >> listen, we're very glad to be here, too. you're part of a bipartisan group of governors that is going to the inauguration today. why do you think it's so important to showhihaticula day. bruised feelings, breezed egos. >> it has been. it's been activity onic and dangerous. yet we as a nation recognize the transfer of power. today is an important moment. it is certainly in the middle of a pandemic. it is in the middle of what we've seen in terms of domestic terrorism threats. and yet we must move forward. and i know that joe biden is the right person at the right time. kamala harris to be his right hand. i just think this is a chance for us to really talk about how we unify this nation. how we take on domestic terrorism, how we address racial inequity and get our kids back

in school and get our people back to work. but it starts with getting our arms around this voyeirus, and know that's what joe biden and kamala harris will be talking about. that impacts us all. >> i want to talk about the unity question, governor, for a second. as you know, president trump is not going to the inauguration today. a large group of his supporters do not believe that he is even a legitimate president to the united states. so how do you unite the country when there is a large chunk of people who do not believe the facts? >> it's not going to happen overnight, but it starts with having a leader who speaks to our common ground and our ideals and does the hard work of reaching out as difficult -- it's incredibly hard in this moment. however, it's more important than ever. we have a common enemy that is a virus. we have to rally to this cause. had the current occupant of the white house rallied us to this, we would have saved untold

number of lives and be in a much stronger position economically. he didn't do that. now the hard work is even harder for the biden/harris administration, but i know they're up to this task. starts with that outreach which begins in earnest the day after he was elected president and continues today, the day he is sworn in as president. >> you know, a lot of states have had trouble with the covid vaccine distribution. how's it going in your state in do you have what you need? >> no. no state has what we need. unfortunately the trump administration just like ppe and testing did not have a national strategy when it came to vaccine administration. and we are -- we're running out of vaccines every day. people want to get this vaccine, but we need access to vaccines. we're getting about 60,000 a week. we want to do 50,000 a day. so we need a lot more. i'm hopeful that the next administration -- i'm confident they will be able to get us what we need so we can get people

inoculated and eradicate this virus once and for all. >> governor, i'm curious about how you're feeling today. i think you have some kind of superpower. you were so calm, so cool, so collected when that very disturbing story broke about the plot to kidnap you and possibly do you bodily harm. what were your thoughts as you watched what was happening at the -- at the united states capitol that day? i was watching wondering what you were thinking and feeling, if you could share that with us. >> well, to listen to so many people say they couldn't believe this was happening. it's been happening. i've been trying to get attention to this. i've been trying to call people who hold office both sides of the aisle to talk about domestic terrorism, call it out for what it is. i actually asked mike pence directly, asked republicans in my own state, we need to lower the heat. it's getting dangerous. then of course there was that plot to kidnap and kill me. this is the culmination of these things. and that's why no matter if you're a democrat or republican, anyone who is a person of

goodwill and has a platform needs to say domestic terrorism will not stand. we have differences, sure. this is never acceptable. >> you're right about that. thank you very much, governor whitmer, thank you. we have much more ahead for

when joe biden becomes president today, he will take th helm of a deeply divided nation. coming up, we visit the place where our country was born for some perspective on where things stand and how people are feeling about them. you're watching "cbs this morning." nge juice has a million little sips of sunshine. it's 100% of your daily vitamin c and 100% delicious. making every moment in the morning brighter. tropicana sip your sunshine. if you have obstructive sleep apnea and you're often tired during the day, you could be missing out on amazing things. sunosi can help you instay awake for them.r. once daily sunosi improves wakefulness in adults with excessive daytime sleepiness due to obstructive sleep apnea.

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♪ welcome back to a special "cbs this morning." we are live in washington, d.c., with unprecedented security and pandemic restrictions. today's inauguration, you already know this, will look so different from anything that we've ever seen in the past. that includes a traditional parade down pennsylvania avenue. national correspondent jericka duncan joins us from the parade route which means you're in washington, too. i'm so glad you're here. we're all glad to be here. >> reporter: yes, so good to see you. that's right. >> good to see you, too. what can we expect? >> reporter: in just a few short hours, you can expect to see that new president and the new first lady walking down pennsylvania avenue. it will be a very short parade before it turns virtual. but one highlight that we were

able to witness yesterday was a sneak peek of one of the bands that will be escorting the new president and vice president kamala harris. that's the howar a nod to vice president-elect harris' alma mater. the group had been rehearsing virtually all this time. last night's practice was the first time they'd seen each other in about nine months. junior karla bonnick plays the ball iss in the drum line. she is proud to be part of vice president-elect harris' historic win. >> i saw this school as a place where black excellence is. and this election and kamala harris winning the election just goes to show what can come from this university. >> reporter: now this will no doubt be a secure perimeter. again, that virtual parade will get under way after the short one here. gayle? >> i'll take it. thank you very much. good to see you. president-elect joe biden, of course, faces a daunting task, reuniting americans after

a bitter election and a bitter four years. most of us now say -- get this -- that the biggest threat to our way of life is not economic collapse or natural disasters or even a foreign invasion, it's us, fellow americans. 54% cite fellow americans. if there's good news, peewe've n here before. time doesn't move any differently at the birthplace of america. [ bell tolling ] a lot of history is collected here at the building where both the declaration of independence and the u.s. constitution were signed. in colonial started. >> reporter: how do you think it's going? >> america is in turmoil right now. >> not too good. >> terrible. >> reporter: we came to learn something about america today. how's it going in the country? >> horrible right now. >> reporter: and found that people who journeyed here from all across the country are unified on at least one point -- >> america's [ bleep ] right

now. >> reporter: could you rephrase? they didn't all use language like that, of course. but the sentiment was clear as a bell. >> this doesn't feel like america. the america i was raised to love and believe in. >> i'm not exactly sure that we're in the place that the founding fathers would have wanted us in. >> we're supposed to be on liberty and justice for all it doesn't feel like that's going on now. >> it should be america under one nation under god, indivisible. i don't see it that way now. >> reporter: our national mood not to mention our 220-year tradition of peaceful transfers of power took a blow this month as rioters overran the u.s. capitol. but jessica roney, professor of early american history at temple university, says don't go getting nostalgic. >> we've never been a unified country. we've always had these huge fractures. if anything what we have now is a recognition of them. and in some ways that's hard and painful and scary. in some ways it's the only way forward. >> reporter: it feels worse, but

in fact divisiveness is american history, not the exception to american history. >> yes. >> reporter: with that in mind, a goal of the constitution was to somehow prevent us from collapsing. >> the only question was not how to prevent corruption and decay but how to delay it for as long as possible. >> reporter: thought it would decay inevitably. >> this is a world that believes in corruption. right now we think about our conspiracy theories as like a 21st century thing. it's not. the 18th century was all about conspiracy theories. it was all about this idea of tyranny and the usurpation of liberty and the same kind of heated rhetoric that we're used to today. there's a lot of that in the 1780s and '90s where people are concern today the imminent demise of the republic right now tomorrow if the other guy is elected. >> reporter: we also asked people to put today's america in context with america's past. we got the answers you might have feared -- is there any moment from american history that comes to mind as a point of

comparison with today? >> maybe the american revolution. >> reporter: really? >> or the civil war. there's a fracture that i don't think we've seen in over a century. >> i guess the civil war when it was like the north versus the south. that's what it feels like again. it's just -- it's not a matter of like location trying to get together, it's like people fighting against people over a president. >> reporter: roney says there's a lesser known moment that may give us hope. >> what i'm proud of in american history, what a moment i look to, i always said the election of 1800. it's a phenomenal moment. >> reporter: the first peaceful transfer of power between opposing sides in american history. and in his inaugural address, thomas jefferson made a now-famous appeal for unity among the parties of the time saying, "we are all republicans. we are all federalists." >> there will be no blue states and red state -- >> reporter: as joe biden prepares to hit a similar note in his inaugural address, not

every american is ready to believe him. >> how is he unifying america when he was supporting everyone who started the riots back over the summer? i don't see that as being fine at all. >> reporter: are you hopeful that he will be president for all americans, not just the people who voted for him? >> i hope so. i hope so. >> reporter: you think it's likely? do you expect so? >> no. >> reporter: but then again, we also found susan sandler literally basking in front of independence hall. what is the thing that you're basking in? >> that we are so lucky to be in the united states. >> reporter: she's optimistic, she says, in part because of the ideas ratified long ago in this very building. >> i personally was not a trump supporter. i supported the right of other people to believe in him and to give him a chance. i personally, i don't like how that worked out. so what did we do? we voted. that's what we do in the united states, right? and then we respect that vote. and then we move forward.

if we don't like it, we vote again. that's what we do in the united states. so there we are. back to our basics. >> reporter: i like that approach. >> she was great. >> wonderful. >> was she literally sitting out there like that? >> we came over to her because she was in a purple jacket basking in the liberty of independence hall. taking it in. >> a lot of people feel like the other woman. >> i know. the woman from arizona. >> can't forget the structure we have. amazing what it's endured. ahead, national youth poet amanda gorman tells us about making history at the presidential inauguration. that's coming up on "cbs this morning." ody of proof. proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... ...with humira. humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage and clear skin in many adults.

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♪ this morning amanda gorman will become the youngest known inaugural poet when she performs at the 59th presidential inauguration. as the nation's first youth poet laure laureate, you may recognie her. she's performed five commissioned poems for "cbs this morning" over the past few years. today she'll deliver her original competition "the hill we climb" at the capitol in front of joe biden, kamala harris, and the entire nation. we spoke to her ahead of her big moment. >> and the declaration's pages, with lights in new order for the ages, where out of many we are one. bright as the sun and bold as an eagle. a natiiti nation of all people people for all people. >> amanda gorman has written poems for historic occasions. now she's making history herself. how cool is this? >> it's amazing.

especially at my age. no one really gets to say at 22 i am the inaugural poet. >> gorman researched the speeches of abraham lincoln and dr. martin luther king jr. as she began writing. >> and then on the wednesday in which we saw the insurrection at the capitol, that was the day that the poem really came to life and i really put pedal to the metal. >> did that change the poem for you? >> definitely. i wanted it to be minimum wage of hope and unit -- a message of hope and unity, and i think that wednesday for me just underscored how much that was needed, but to not turn a blind eye to the cracks that really need to be filled. [ applause ] >> gorman was named the nation's first youth poet laureate at 19. at 16 she was youth poet laureate of los angeles. >> i sing a neighborhood anthem for the silenced -- >> where she was raised by a single mom, joan, an english teacher.

>> the anthem will sing, amanda drop your oars -- >> and writing became her way over a daunting obstacle. >> i had a speed impediment so i couldn't use myvo w ar thpage. it's really been lifeline for me. >> lou how did you overcome it? >> poetry. to put it short, spoken word became my own type of pathology. so once i arrived at the point in my life in high school where i said you know what, writing my poems on the page isn't enough for me, i have to give them breath and life, i have to perform them as i am, that was the moment that i was able to grow past my speech impediment. >> gorman who had particular trouble with the letter "r" also used music as therapy. >> my favorite thing to practice was the song "aaron burr sir" from "hamilton." ♪ let me offer free advice ♪

>> jam packed with rs, and i said if i can keep up with, you know, leslie in this track, then i'm on my way to being able to say this "r" in a poem. we wild, we want, we stunt, we strive, we hustle, we hungry, we run free, here we come we, one country -- >> how do you feel when you are performing these poems? >> when i am on stage, i feel electric. i feel like i can breathe fire. like i am summoning the energy not only of myself but of my ancestors. but the point of protest isn't winning, it's holding fast to the promise o en when fast victory isn't promised. poetry is a weapon. it is an instrument of social change. and poetry is one of the most political arts out there because it demands that you rupture and destabilize the language in

which you're working with. inherently you are pushing against the status quo. and so for me it's always existed in that traditiontein r united states capitol. how do you prepare for something like this? >> one of the preparations that i do do always whenever i perform is i say a mantra to myself which is "i am the daughter of black writers, we're descended from freedom fighters who broke through change and changed the world, they call me." that the way in which i prepare myself with the duty that needs to get done. >> do you say that inside your head, or do you say it aloud? >> if i can and i'm not going to scare anybody off, i say it out loud. i'm usually in a bathroom or dressing room. if we're backstage and i imagine if i'm like standing next to joe biden, i might keep it here.

don't have worry about craziness. i don't want secret service to think amanda's gone. no. >> she is so amazing. >> love this. >> amanda said she battled that speech the way into college. she graduated harvard in spring. she has a children's book comes out in september. 2036, long-term plan, running for president. she has a hash tag #comandainchief. >> i told oprah you were doing her. she reached out to amanda. because when maya did the speech at the inaugural for bill clinton, oprah bought maya a pretty blue coat. she said she would like to carry on the tradition. amanda said, i already have a coat, it's my favorite color. oprah got her gold hoop earrings and a ring shaped as a birdcage, nod to maya, "i know how the caged bird sings." when you're watching headquarters we'll see that.

>> that's exciting. >> our special coverage of the inauguration of joe biden continues. ahead, the latest on what to expect from today's swearing-in. major garrett and at panera, when we make a pizza... we don't just “make a pizza.” we use fresh, clean ingredients... to make a masterpiece. order our new pepperoni and four cheese flatbread pizzas for delivery or pickup today. panera. managing type 2 diabetes? you're on it. staying fit and snacking light?

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. good morning everybody. it's 4:56. dozens of restaurants in napa and sonoma are suing the governor in an attempt to open outdoor dining again or have the governor provide proof that it's unsafe. local businesses say that the ban is driving businesses to the ground. firefighters in the santa cruz mountains are making progress on containing five new fires kicked up by yesterday's extreme winds. the fires have burned nearly 90 acres in total. the largest, 37 acres in watsonville is now 20% contained. good morning.

calmer conditions as we start off the day. check out the temperatures. we are in the 30's, 40's and 50's with clear skies. showing you the winds, a big difference compared to yesterday. just calm to light conditions out there. it's because of this ridge of high pressure building in. we will see plenty of sun and mild temperatures. again, much calmer today compared to yesterday and check out the daytime highs looking at warm temperatures again. low 60's along the coast. mid6o's along the bay. on future cast you can see all of that sun as we go through the day today. here we go with that extended forecast. more clouds for tomorrow and then much cooler on friday, all of us will be down to the 50's with shower chances, dry day on saturday and then more shower chances on sunday and early next week.

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♪ you are looking at the white house at this moment where donald trump is about to leave for the very last time. look at that marine one waiting. there's the red carpet that he said he wanted. one of them anyway. welcome to a special "cbs this morning" from washington, d.c., on this inauguration day. i think about the president waking up at the white house for the very last time. joe biden at blair house, which is really right across the street. they've only seen each other maybe three times, the two debates. they're not going to see each other today. what must each of them be feeling as they're waking up this day. >> i've wondered about that moment. leaving the white house, what you think that morning, what you think as you leave. the president will get on marine one. he will fly to joint base

andrews. he will make remarks there, and effectively say good-bye to everyone before he flies to florida. >> you mentioned they hadn't seen each other. the president has not said joe biden's name in a very long time. >> that's right. >> one of the things we'll be looking in the speech from andrews is whether or not there's an acknowledgment of the transition but the recognition of the human being taking the office. >> my guess is no. >> we'll see. >> we will see. we will see. we will see. it was surprising to your point, tony, that when he made the speech yesterday, the farewell address, that he talked about the new administration. that jumped out to me immediately. and never mentioned joe biden by name. >> yeah. >> true. >> it's an interesting moment because we also saw on social media yesterday vice president pence say good-bye to people and post four pictures, none of which included the president. he did not mention the president by name. so there is -- there's some tension there. it will be interesting to see if the president says anything about vice president pence. >> a lot of reading of the tea leaves today. >> all right. as we mentioned, mr. trump is breaking a long-standing

tradition of the outgoing president inviting his successor to -- inviting his successor to the white house and attending the inauguration. ben tracy is at joint base andrews where president trump will head when he leaves the white house. ben, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, guys. that helicopter that you have on the screen there, he's going to fly here to joint base andrews, he'll land just over here on the tarmac, walk over here and give about 20 minutes of remarks at what looks like a very small trump rally. they have a stage set up here. they're going to put about 500 people here. supporters of the president. you can hear the music playing now -- ♪ some of the songs they play at trump rallies. now it's strange, it's the ave maria." you were talking about the president mentioning president-elect joe biden by name. we have seen his prepared remarks. in those prepared remarks, he does acknowledge the president-elect by name for the first time since the election. it will be very notable if the

president carries on with that or if he ad libs and takes that out of the speech. we are expecting the president to talk about some of his accomplishments during his time in office. he's also going to get a bit of a military sendoff. there's going to be a 21-gun salute here, ed carpet that will lead to air force one there. he'll board for the last time for his final taerown to florid. of course, the president has all the powers of the presidency until 11 11:59:59 later today. that include his pardon and commutation power which he used extensively in the early hours of this morning. he issued more than 140 pardons and commutations. notably he pardoned his former political strategist steve bannon. also notable that the president did not issue any preemptive pardons for himself or for any of his adult children. back to you. >> all right.

thank you. chief washington correspondent, that's major garrett, joins us now. let's pick up where ben just left where he said for the first time if he stays on script, and sometimes the president does not do that, that he's going to mention president-elect joe biden by name. he has shattered so many norms, so many things that we take -- that we value, that we honor. what does it mean that he has not honored the tradition of the handoff to the successor? >> what is the common thread in what you described, gayle? the self-generating drama of donald trump. we're all hanging around to see if he will do something we know he should have been weeks and months ago. every one of the outgoing predecessors did without worry or concern at all. he's built up and created a false drama about whether he's going to say the thing that is so obvious, so clear cut and so deeply a part of our ingrained traditions of a transition of power. it is an act of extravagant selfishness. you can't describe it as anything else.

he's entitled to it. he retains the powers of the presidency. this is a moment and politics is a place where you have to do things you don't want to sometimes. in human life we respect people who we know, gosh, if i was there, it would be hard to do that. but grace matters. grace matters. >> it does -- >> and history records it as such. >> this is a day of the president's own creation, the drama built up around it. >> entirely. >> i think the question that comes to mind is is this a character flaw as some republicans have come to term it, or is it something strategic that the president wants for attention, for attention's sake? >> it is a character reality. let me go back to a greek philosopher you might have heard of. hereclitis. a man's character is his fate. the smallness of this moment -- i talked to so many trump supporters, people really worked inside the white house really close to the campaign last night, they were unbelievably sad about this moment, how small it is. how it could have been about a transition of power and a recognition of accomplishments. all that is so diminished because of the president's own actions.

he has diminished the exit of his presidency. he could be large and gracious and talk about the things he has done, which are not insignificant. >> yeah. >> but all that is lost because of this false hyper generated drama about nothing. >> major, he's leaving the white house here in a moment. but he is still going to be president in washington. the subject of an impeachment trial. >> yes. >> mitch mcconnell on the floor of the senate yesterday blamed him again directly for the assault on the capitol. what did you make of those remarks? >> that was an extraordinary moment i thought to hear mitch mcconnell. >> so there are a lot of people in town who consider mitch mcconnell kind of a cynical inside player, very mechanistic. there are moments when he protects the institution of which he serves and loves. he is an institutionalist. whether you regard him as positive or negative i'll leave to the partisans to fight out. what i heard in the remarks were, mr. president, launched an attack on my home. the legislative branch of our government. the first branch of our government outlined in the constitution. i will not forget it, and it is a very good chance i won't

forgive it. and the instrument of my not forgiving you is laying before this body in the next couple of days. it's called impeachment. >> isn't he sending others a message, too, that, you know what, we should vote -- >> he is certainly giving them ample room to have an open mind about the underlyilraidyes, the president incited mobs, the mob was fed lies by the president. >> i was so struck by the fact he did this on the president's last full day in office. >> yes. >> could have said nothing. >> he could have said nothing. inthink for the senate majority leader, the relationship of the president has always been strained. but the majority leader has said, look, i've given you lots of latitude to do your presidency in your particularly combative way. >> what does it say -- >> i've lived with that, but i can't live with this. i can't abide this, and i won't let it go. >> mitch mcconnell's very carefully chosen words on his last day as majority leader do raise the question, and we'll put this to reince priebus

later, the former chief of staff, of whether there is a permanent fracture under way in the republican party. we heard someone yesterday in a piece from manny bojorquez refer to themselves as a trump-lican. is that the future? >> it might be. in the remarks the president's about to give, he will talk about the movement and that it's in the earliest days. it's going to continue and grow. around what? is it going to grow around the toxic lies of the last days of his presidency which can only be described as a -- an assault, not only on democracy at the capitol but on facts and truth and this reluctance to embrans the transition of power and someone new has been elected president? is that what your new party is about? is that your definition of patriotism? are you going call out the patriot party? that's a tough sell. that's not an enduring american political message. if it gets to immigration and trade, maybe it can last. but republicans are going to have to make a decision about what they stand for. conspiracy theories, lies, and

anti-constitutionalist behavior or something that's much more common to the republican party, i don't know, for about 160 years. >> i thought it was interesting when mitch mcconnell said not only lies by the president but lies by people -- >> other powerful people -- >> people in power. i thought he was sending messages there, as well. >> yes. you can read between the lines. ted cruz, josh hawley. president's departure from the white house and we're on the day when joe biden and kamala harris will be inaugurated it really underscores the degree to which this is a break in what is normal in washington on. a typical inauguration day, we wouldn't have multiple cameras and far-flung correspondents. we have have a single shot of the incoming and outgoing president exchanging gifts and pleasant trees on the white house steps. >> right. it doesn't mean we have to assume everything is pleasant and everyone loves each other. that's not the point. the point is in america we have a lot of campaigning, and we say lots of tough things about one another. when the voters have made their verdict clear, we don't come apart, we come together, even if

it's ever so briefly. even if it's just for ceremony. we do it to show the world and to show ourselves that these underlying traditions, not only matter in a historic sense, but they matter in a future sense. repeating them inculcates us in behavior that's central ton our political futures, ton our political parties but to the country itself. >> valerie jarrett made the point yesterday when he/she joi us. she said it was difficult for the obamas to greet the thank you very muches. she wrote in the book, michelle obama said she chose grace at that time. >> if you look at president trump's inaugural address, the very beginning of it he turns and says, "i want to say how magnificent president obama and first lady michelle have been to us. the transition busy been excellent. you have been magnificent." big round of applause. >> then in the speech we heard the phrase "american carnage."

>> still, the point of that, what i just said, is that they acknowledged one another as difficult as it was, and the ss democracy was visible. it is rent this morning. it will be torn. and the president is tearing it. he's not going to be there. >> and what that sets up -- to the point you're making now, this is joe biden's day. the focus should be on joe biden, and we're spending time talking about the fact that donald trump won't go to the inauguration. >> you know what, we can turn -- >> maybe we should not do that. >> we can turn the hourglass over right now. >> yes, we can. >> this artificial drama which keeps the president at the center of it. that's the common thread. >> let's do that. let's turn the hourglass and go to nancy cordes on the west front of the capitol where preparations are in full swing for the inauguration for the 46th president of the united states. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. now that the sun has risen, the inaugural platform is full of people doing last-minute preparations. they are testing out the music. there's even a gentleman who has

been assiduously cleaning out the bulletproof glass, take a look, that surrounds the podium where president-elect joe biden will be delivering his inaugural address and b i i just a few hours. in less than an hour, president-elect joe biden is going to depart the blair house, that's across the street from the white house where he spent the night, and attend a service at the cathedral of st. matthew the apostle. he's then going to head here to the capitol where he and vice president-elect kamala harris will be sworn in just before noon. harris by associate justice sotomayor and biden by chief justice roberts. they're then going to head to arlington national cemetery to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. they'll be joined by several former presidents, as well, and finally mr. biden will travel to the white house by military escort followed by a virtual inaugural parade. people performing from many of the 50 states. once he's in the white house, mr. biden is going to get right to work. he's signing a raft of executive

orders, including a nationwide mask mandate on federal lands and in federal buildings. the creation of a white house office to deal with the pandemic, and rejoining the paris climate accords. >> nancy, thank you. now as you can see, president trump and the first lady exiting the back of the white house, leaving the red carpet, going over to -- >> the press corps looks like -- >> is that the press corps? >> yeah. that's where we stand. yep. >> major, is that where you are normally standing? >> on his way about to board marine one. >> roughly on schedule. we expected him to leave about 8:05, for the remarks to begin at 8:20 at andrews. he's maybe ten minutes behind. not bad for any politician i would say. >> how long is the flight, guys? john dickerson has just joined us at the table on this special edition of "cbs this morning." how long is the flight from the white house to joint base andrews? >> it's about 15 to 20 minutes.

>> quick. >> okay. >> it's quick. the president will deliver -- >> we go another way when we're going to the white house -- >> what must the president be inking he walks the l t final t? >> whatever he's thinking, what matters for america today is this is how it happens. >> uh-huh. >> this is the living embodiment of a campaign, election, votes counted, and a verdict rendered. and since 1800, the very first time we had a peaceful transfer of power, it has been our great example to the world of what this moment means and what we're capable of even though we're not happy about it. >> and one of the things that's striking about being here today even with after the assault on the capitol with all the barricades up and the national guard here and the covid restrictions in place is the extraordinary effort that washington goes through to make this happen and make it as familiar as it has always been. >> right. in 1981 when ronald reagan

opened his inaugural address, he said, "what we regard as commonplace, the world beholds as a miracle." >>miracu i don't dewy eyed about it, but it's important how we do this, that we do this, and that we observe traditions not for ourselves but to take a word that we all remember -- >> i think it's natural to -- >> i'm feeling dewy eyed. i think that's a good way to describe how i'm feeling. >> that's what we saw your piece in the last hour, the woman who was basking out in front of independence hall in philadelphia. that's what she was feeling. >> yeah. >> and we have all these traditions because it's not -- this is joe biden's day, but actually it's not joe biden's day. it's the country's day. >> yeah. >> we keep all of the traditions and do them the same way, and that's the reason we have all these monuments, too. they are the physical manifestation of all the values at the center of the government. and people come and go, but the traditions and the values are

supposed to stay. and that's why when you try and grab too much of the day for yourself, you're taking it away from the country. you're taking it away from the voters and the people. >> yeah. >> john, i do think -- i think dewy-eyed is the word for it because this is a transfer of power, a day for the country. it's also a moving day. we saw 12 bags come out with aides moving them. moving days are always -- >> transitions in life are difficult. it goes back to the ceremony. this is a transition. we are at the transom of one to the other. in transitions what gives you stability is routine and history. >> and tradition. >> and tradition. and you go all the way, major was talking about reagan. if you read the inaugural addresses, almost all of the presidents refer back to the very beginning of the country and the founding. and basically say we are drawing a line back to the beginning. and that line gives us hope before going forward no matter how dark times. i like what you said, john, that -- major said it, too, that it is america's day.

america really can't participate the way we normally do. i think it's beautiful that the biden campaign has come up with a way to put the 200,000 flags on the mall because i think -- i love the flag, and i think it's a beautiful sight. but normally that place would be packed with people who would be there celebrating. even if you didn't vote for joe biden, there are people that come just because they enjoy the pomp and circumstance of what this means. so when i look at that, i do feel kind of dewy-eyed about what we're missing. i think it's beautiful. i think it was a great save, great solve. still, there would normally be people there. >> the reason they stand there is it's a covenant with them. >> yes. >> it's the president saying you've given me power, and i'm promising to you by all of these structures set up to make sure this promise sticks, that i'm going to act responsibly with all this power you've given me. and i'm going to act in your name even if you didn't vote for me. and they have to be there in a sense for that covenant to take place. i mean, obviously today there's extenuating circumstances. >> marine one lifting off now at

the white house, with the president and first lady on board. >> it is exactly 8:17 east coast time. i'm going to timehe arrival. how long it takes. i've never been on marine one and flown from the white house. >> this is an extraordinary thing, though. it is not the shot we usually have on inauguration day. >> headed to joint base andrews where the president will give his final remarks before boarding air force one to head to florida. >> you know, we've had unusual circumstances around this moment. so gerald ford was an accidental vice president, accidental president. but when jimmy carter defeated him in 1976, gerald ford not only made sure the transition was super smooth, he gave jimmy carter, the incoming president, an office inside the white house within which he could work preparing to become president. >> my gosh. >> that's how gracious they were. >> yeah. and jimmy carter was defeated by ronald reagan and had to go to that inauguration. >> yes. >> that is not pleasant -- >> and sit and hear ronald

reagan say the government isn't the solution to our problems, government is the problem. essentially saying jimmy carter, the government you led for four years, is what got us here. this a tough thing to hear. but you hear it anyway. >> he did it. >> i do wonder if any hijinx at the staff level were pursued in the white house. >> like what? >> you'll recall when the clinton transition occurred and bush two came in, reportedly -- i think the government accountability office found this -- that the ws were removed from many of the keyboards. i think file that under hijinx. >> yes. let's just say that i'm not sure if it's hijinx this time around or just incredibly bad staff work, but to have anthony scaramucci invited to the ceremony at joint base andrews, john bolton invited to the ceremony, john kelly -- >> something tells me there's an automatic mailing list. >> yeah. >> please bring five people -- >> five people. when have you ever been anywhere where you're told to bring five guests? as a matter of fact, if you're trying to get tickets to someplace, to ask for five you

-- you're told you're from the greedy school. >> we've got five of us here. does anybody have -- >> america would be lucky if all that -- the mischief that went on was a couple of ws or a couple of keys missing from a keyboard. it is extraordinary in the middle of a pandemic the way this transition has been treated. and one of the things that joe biden has going for him at least is that he's got a lot of his staff in place, and he has a lot of experience because he faces such an incredible set of challenges when he walks in -- >> and yet the workday at this white house is going to be different than any that john and i have seen. people will not be coming in in large numbers. >> that's right. >> most of the president's domestic staff will work rem remotely because of the pandemic. the national security staff will be in the west wing. but the eisenhower executive office building, across the street, and the west wing will not be as populated, people will not be getting their real estate which is so very important when you come to work in the white house, in the ways they typically did in the past because the pandemic. and there will be new procedures

at this white house, mask wearing, distancing, things that the trump white house did not follow, to set an example for the nation, and that will mean within the white house itself it's not going to be an ordinary day even though many of the traditions will apply. >> don't you sense as difficult and rocky and awkward as this is, the biden team just wants to get in there and get going and get to work because they've got a very full plate of hot mess that they need to figure out. and i sense that they just want to -- whatever it takes, let's get in there and let's get started. >> yeah. i mean, if you look at the president-elect's first day schedule, i mean, it's packed. not just with activities, but just the schedule that was released is packed with information. i think they're going to have a kind of just the facts, ma'am, presidency that gets to what you're talking about. not only is there a lot to do, but it shows symbolically a different kind of presidency. i'm struck looking at the pictures of preparing the ceremony that we are watching a ceremony come in and drama go out which is to say the drama of

the trump presidency, the constant, unrelenting, 24 hours a day drama -- >> it's not entirely over, john, because we're going to have an impeachment time as this president starts. >> sure. that is one of the challenges with the impeachment trial is that it retains that kind of on-edge drama of the last immediate when joe biden is des-- last period when joe biden is trying to turn the page. >> move past it. >> we have a president outgoing who is an expert in creating drama. we have an incoming president who has a good chance, you wrote, of being boring. what do you mean? >> boring in the sense, paneleo panetta said, you know, a compe be ve boring. because the job -- for example, one of the important things of the job is building a team. you can't put pictures on tv of a team-building. but what this president-elect joe biden has done is he has built a team that can manage a white house. that can deal with the problems and challenges ahead of them. and what leon panetta was essentially saying -- this is somebody with secretary of

defense, director of the cia, white house chief of staff -- is that the basic business of the presidency is not to get high ratings, not to keep everybody on edge. >> yes. >> but allow days to go by where the public mind is not ated by activitf the president. where people are not left constantly agog. and just doing that will be a real change, and it means perhaps that the president is sticking to the president's work which often is things that people aren't -- don't know are happening. >> yeah. >> secret things and -- >> i think a lot of people aspire to boredom right now. >> right. >> i was going to say boring is -- who knew, such an attribute. >> and comfortable. >> it doesn't -- boring doesn't mean a limited agenda. it doesn't mean that life isn't going to be crazy. it is precisely because you have an ambitious agenda and because life is going to be crazy that you want steady competence. >> yeah. >> already there was conversation about because president trump is no longer -- has access to twitter, that there's been a noticeable difference in the tenor of the country and the language that's used in the country. that you can tell that there's a difference with that.

>> yeah. >> that could be considered a very good thing. >> this is not breaking news. i love my wife. my wife is a political scientist. she's a brilliant writer, thinks a lot about the presidency and american leadership. >> mrs. garrett, yes -- >> she has a wonderful phrase about the presidency. the presidency is the background music of our country. how the president talks and communicates to the country creates a bed of music behind the country. not my phrase, it's hers. well, okay, if we take that as a metaphor, it's been a pretty loud four years. >> yeah. >> part of what the presidency does in its communication is adjust that volume level and adjust how loud it is ringing in our ears. and there's a lot of competency tests that this president coming in is going to have to pass. the first one is delivering the vaccine more competently than the predecessors. and almost everything else that either works or doesn't work about this biden presidency is going to be determined by the success of that and how that's communicated, what does that music sound like, how are we

able to follow the notes and sing the song as we get -- >> to that point i'm struck by the event yesterday at the reflecting pool honoring all the victims of the coronairus and how beautiful that was and how deeply as gayle pointed out -- >> how much we needed it. i didn't know how badly we needed to see that. >> there's going to be a lot of that, seeing things you haven't seen for four years. you're going to forget what music sounded like -- to pick up on the metaphor -- that you haven't heard for four years. >> yeah. >> events that are created maybe not to say a bunch of words but to turn the country's head to what's important. and in so doing, sending a signal to the country that i care and value this as president, i care and value this thing that you are worried about and care about, too. and just that simple head turning, that's essentially what joe biden will do today is stop looking at the thing that was making you frantic, and i'm

going to ask you to look over here. and physically he'll have the wound of the insurrection at his back, but in front of him will be the country, all of the examples of keeping the faith that we've seen through the pandemic and through the election. >> how do we do that, john? i'm going to steal that term dewy-eyed. i feel such a confluence of emotions here today. so on one hand you have people, many people say, great, let's turn the corner. on the other you have people so angry because they feel joe biden does not deserv and shouldn't be president. how do you figure out to meld those two together? >> you need people in the party of the people that are most angry to first of all take the thorn out of their shoe, which is to say this election was not stolen. it's a lie and anybody who continues to say it's stolen is lying. until you take that out, people will think that joe biden is illegitimate. >> yes. >> until you reset the idea that there's verifiable truth, you have none of the buildin blocks on which you can make future

agreements for government. >> so true. but we're in an unfortunate situation where the claims of irregularities in the election debunked though they are, they were made before the election happened. and so how do you remove something that was never vetted in the first place, and even after vetting seems permanent? >> repetition. i mean, what senator mitch mcconnell said yesterday was interesting not only about what it said about the president, but what he said about his colleagues. which is he essentially said they knew something was a lie, they knew the country had been fed a lie, and they treated it like it was true for the purposes of their own political success. >> and guess what, there are plenty of members of congress who were elected in that same -- >> we should -- marine one about to land at joint base andrews where president trump will give remarks. he did make some remarks at the white house before he left. let's listen to those. >> let's watch this, though. >> the honor of a lifetime. the greatest people in the world. the greatest home in the world.

we've had an amazing four years. we've accomplished a lot. we love the american people, and again, it has been very special. i want to say good-bye, but hopefully it's not a long-term good-bye. we'll see each other again. thank you all very much. >> mr. president -- >> marine one in the background. chopper talk is what you call that. >> when he walked to the press saying i hope it's not a long good-bye. let's go to ben tracy now at joint base andrews where the president will be speaking shortly. what are we expecting from the president there? >> reporter: we saw the president's helicopter land here, marine one. we know the president is here because his walk-on song as of late, laura branigan's "gloria" playing here, as well. we're expecting the president to take the stage here in just a couple of minutes. they put about 500 people down here.

he's giving them american flags. i want to tell you about two things you can't see from the camera angle that we have. over here there's a large military band. they are expected to play "hail to the chief" when the president gets off the helicopter and walks on the stage. on the other side over here, we have several howitzer cannons that are going to give a 21-gun salute for president trump before he departs on air force one for the last time. i will tell you there are no teleprompters set up here. so it will be interesting to see what kind of speech we hear from the president and how much he sticks to the script or if he goes off script as he is known to do. but i can tell you the people here are excited to see the president. we should mention, though, the people who are not here and it's very telling. the president's own vice president, mike pence, is not here at this farewell. the republican leaders of congress are not here. that is very surprising given before the assault on the

capitol, you would have expected those people to be here to see the president off. instead, they are involved in the inauguration ceremonies for president-elect joe biden. as you can see, marine one there, people getting off. the president should be taking the stage here momentarily. >> it is interesting, john and major, the people that aren't there because they're saying they're going to participate in joe biden's inauguration. but that officially starts at noon. >> yes. >> there is 8:00 a.m., 8:30 eastern time. by the way, the flight went from 8:17 to 8:28. >> 11 minutes. >> 11 minutes. you were pretty much on the money. if they wanted to, if they wanted to, couldn't they have done both things? >> yes. people in high places can get whisked around washington some somewhat efficiently. more than john or i can. >> what does it say that they are not there? >> what we've been talking about matters. that the arc of our history and our traditions matter, and where

you place yourself within those traditions matters more than this particular president who wants to occupy some certain part of the space for himself. and not adhere to the traditions and customs that are part of this day, that would make it more of a unified america's day, not a split-screen donald trump/joe biden, everyone else day. >> and the decision not to participate in the peaceful transfer of power makes him unworthy of their presence at his departure. >> uh-huh. >> they're still invested in the whole peaceful transfer of power, longest peaceful democracy part. and the president -- >> john, they're still staying. >> they're staying. and at some level they believe in the basic values of the government which were threatened on january 6th. and the leader of the president's party in the senate says he contributed to. >> as we can see there, the president's family clearly there in the front row. jared kushner, ivanka trump, president's son-in-law and

daughter, the back of donald trump jr. on the right and eric. roughly as ben said i think about 500 other visitors, many, many were asked. conspicuous absences as we note. the president now getting off marine one. >> i'm struck by something that we didn't have on tape but that te president said to the press as he was leaving the white house and major and john, i'd love to hear your thoughts. he says good-bye, hopefully it's not a long good-bye. >> yes. yes. >> seems significant. >> he also said yesterday, tony, that this movement is just beginning. that's what i mean. he keeps throwing out little barbs. >> we don't have to catch them. >> yeah. >> right. >> he's squeezing one last thing out of the stone. >> we don't have to catch them,s fleet being this, that things are slipping through his fingers. he knows this is his last chance to occupy our attention by himself. everything else will now be discretionary.

we will now have a decision about whether or not what he says is or is not relevant. >> yeah. >> his relevancy is dimming by the minute. >> i often struggle to name that tune, but i will say, is it not bizarre to see the pomp and circumstance of an outgoing president with this -- sort of like bar music playing in the background? this is what -- ♪ >> that's "gloria" now, tony. >> don't dislaura branigan. >> this was playing in my college years -- >> i do wonder about the choice. >> it's a bit jarring for me. >> you haven't been to enough trump rallies. >> of the conspicuous -- >> this is an act of state. >> don't confuse -- >> in the course of the conversation, we've hit on what is the truth which is the president has turned the presidenty into a rally for an -- >> there's president trump. >> yep. >> coming down -- coming down to "hail to the chief." we all know that song. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the president and first lady of the united states, donald j. trump and melania

trump. [ applause ] >> we're told his speech is about 15 minutes i think i heard. >> yeah. ♪ >> as written. >> yeah, you heard ben say there's no teleprompter there. >> very interesting. ♪ >> ben had seen an advance copy. he wanted that salute. all of this was orchestrated by donald trump who said at one point he asked for a flyover. i didn't know you could do that, major. i didn't know you could say this is what i want as i'm leaving s. that typically -- nothing is typical -- >> he's president for a few more hours. >> you can make requests, and as on tak sure --are in >> get what you want. >> major, you've covere the president a lot. how many ceremonial moments of defeat, essentially what this is, has he ever in his life

participated in? >> none. and this is why it looks as least like a defeat as possible. that21-gun salute is so how we ring in the new president into office. this is trying to look as least like what it is, a defeat and a setback, as it can. >> final remarks here. >> 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. hard -- you. [ cheers ] 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's here someplace right there. i want to thank mark. but 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. [ cheers ] and so popular with the people. so popular with the people. in fact, honey, would you like to say a few words, please? [ cheers ] >> 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 this beautiful nation. thank you. [ cheers ] >> 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. [ cheers ] 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 va, 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 we the bill. they can go out and see a doctor, if they have to wait long periods of time. we've 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. [ cheers ] i hope they don't raise your taxes. if they do, i told you so. and if you look at the regulations which i consider the regulation cuts to be made even more important, that's why we have such good and have had such good job numbers, the job numbers have been absolutely incredible. what we started, had we not been hit by the pandemic, we would haveadum 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. and 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 can just 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, if you would. remember us because i'm looking at -- i'm looking at elements of our economy to a ro shi upit's a in economy in the world, and as bad as the 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 iannly says -- we have worked hard, we've left it all as the athletes would say, we've left it all in the field. we don't have to -- [ cheers ] -- 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 don't work harder. we had a lot of obstacles, and we 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 en. [ cheers ] 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 three great supreme court justices. [ cheers ] that's a very bigmb that's a record-setting number. and so we've done a lond 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, 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 ] [ chants ] [ chants ]

>> 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 19 19 1917, over 100 years ago. despite that, despite that, the beent ed c have done it v without you. so just a good-bye, we love you,

we will be back in some form. [ cheers ] 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 do want to thank congress. and i want to thank 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. [ cheers ] ♪ >> there was president trump's final remarks as he's leaving the white house. you know, we had seen the remarks that he was going to deliver. he clearly went off script from the very beginning. in the prepared remarks that we

were given, he did mention joe biden. >> by name. >> by name. >> and kamala harris -- >> yeah -- >> and kamala harris, which he did not do. it was sort of a rambling speechment i sort of felt he was trying to figure out on the fly where to go and how to land the plane, so it spto speak. >> i've licensed to the president's remarks in many years. that is him making it up as he's going. starting with -- how about vets, okay, let's start -- where do i go, where do i go? oh, the taxes, how about that? that was -- >> everything we heard, major, i heard him say before. was like a greatest hits of his accomplishments while he's been in office -- ♪ >> now we have the village people playing and the final word "have a good life." >> two things struck me. we were not a regular administration. >> yes. >> came in to disrupt, and his departure is -- >> irregular -- >> in terms of traditional presidential departures. and then, of course, i mean, oxygen -- his rallies, major's heard this a billion times from

staffers, but nay said they sai were his oxygen. this is a thin and weak dose of oxygen. and when he says "remember us," that is something he hasn't said before because he hasn't been on his way to the exits. >> right. >> it was very interesting, too, i thought. his take on the coronavirus. it means a lot to him to get credit for the covid vaccine. listen, and i think he should be given credit in terms of how the vaccine was developed and so quickly. we can definitely credit donald trump for that. and he wanted to make sure that we understand that he did that, and now he's set up the bienden campaign -- >> he downplayed the virus itself, and then not bask in or vaccine. >> well, and let's also remind ourselves of a couple of things. one, as the campaign was winding down, what did the president of the united states tell the country? after election day you'll never heard about coronavirus again. >> yeah. >> yes. >> false, false, false.

it's a real virus with real harms, real hospitalizations. real deaths. >> worse than ever -- >> he spoke again improvisational as though they were, as though the virus was erased. it's complicating their initial approach to policy in washington. one other thing -- the president did encourage and put federal dollars behind the development of a vaccine. he deserves credit for that. when it came to the mechanisms of government, working with states and building a mechanism by which you could distribute that which you have created, they fell down. in ways they fell down with testing and other component parts of a federal response to the pandemic. those things are also consistent patterns of this administration. >> ascending the stairs for the last time. i am really struck by the power of this. >> as mentioned in, in the prepared remarks, he wish the

incoming president biden and the incoming vice president kamala harris by name, he wished them success in his off-the-cuff remarks, he wished them success, but said the new administration. he did express gratitude to his vice president, mike pence, who by all reports they had a difficult last few weeks. >> extremely -- >> well -- >> remind everyone that's because the president put a target on mike pence's back and yell -- and they yelled "hang help" at the insurrection. >> and now this right on cue. take it away, gayle. >> here's president-elect joe biden and his wife, dr. jill biden, heading to the service. it's inaugurationy. here's no jukebox apparently. >> no. it is interesting, though, just to watch -- think of the images that we just saw, donald trump in front of a very, for him, a very sparse crowd. >> yes.

>> very sparse crowd. keep in mind that everybody was told you could bring five people. and even with five people, the crowd was still very sparse. >> yeah. >> you see president-elect joe biden and jill biden heading to the service. so the inauguration day officially gets under way. they've got a jam-packed day today. the bidens -- >> as you pointed out, john, i think 17 executive orders in the chute once that oath is taken. >> yeah. >> and also there are other things that are occupying the president-elect's mind. by now he's probably gotten a briefing on how the nuclear football works. usually you get it before you leave blair house. >> right. >> that means and all the president's write about this in biographies what it's like to learn that you can detonate nuclear weaponry. that you have the power to launch those -- that kind of strike. even though they know it's coming, even though they -- joe biden's been around a lot of things, it's a very heavy moment. >> isn't that the nuclear football there going up the steps? you know, they did a whole big

rundown this morning about how it g alit's handed off at noon. but now you cannot get it until you're president. the president with the nuclear football has to fly to florida, john. has to fly to florida. >> but i think the instruction booklet, you get that before you actually get it. usually they get -- they get the briefing in the morning before the actual inauguration has taken place. so i guess -- >> think that the football now has to go to florida and then back again. >> right. >> but it's in the president-elect's head now. when you think about this day, all the things he'll see through his eyes. and then there will be the clockwork inside of his head, going through what he n jenas o obama's inauguration. president obama had a piece of paper in his pocket with evacuation instructions if there was a terrorist threat that went through. the job was hitting him before he even had the job. and that's a sense of how immediate and high stakes the

job is once you get it. >> yes. he wrote in his book that they'd been given some indication that that was a possibility. >> that's right. >> so imagine trying to process that as you're standing there looking out at the mall and trying to act like everything is fine, everything is going according to plan. >> and to this point, it's worth spending a second or two to talk about how this nation ae's capi is right now. the buildings, of course, but the sense of security, the sense of sort of snarling police/military presence here is unlike any i've seen, and i've lived here since 1990. it is so much different. it is a more secure environment, a more intensely so after 9/11, the first inauguration after 9/11 was twoo2005. i spoke with the head of the inauguration saying we had more then. there could be some kind of -- it's more securitized. and we should point out state

capitols around the country are unnerved -- >> the incoming administration and i think a mark on the legacy of the outgoing is that the threat that americans perceive to be most significant is not a foreign terror attack. it is, in fact, a threat from their fellow americans. >> right. >> something to your point about the troops, when we reported the other day that there are more troops on the ground in washington than troops that are in afghanistan, syria, and iraq, that was just stunning to me. and when we landed, just seeing the guys, the military people, at every street corner where you're going, and they are very serious. there's no engagement. we have a job to do. it's comforting, but on the other hand it's unsettling and maddening that it's come to this on inauguration day. >> around the city yesterday, there are prerimeters around th perimeters, there are layers of fences. >> and in the meantime, how did this happen? how did it get to a point in our

country where we have more troops in washington, d.c., than we do in overseas wars? >> which, john, just brings to light the scale of what joe biden has to deal with. he's not only becoming president in the middle of a raging pandemic which right now is worse than it was a year ago, which is hard to believe, but hehe also has to convince a segment of the american public that he's a legitimate president. even though factually, of course, he is. and the country that, as tony's piece earlier showed, isn't convinced that you can unite it anymore. >> right. one of the advantages he will have -- and he doesn't have many in terms of this mt -- is that he is instinctually a politician. he knows this background music that major was talking about. he has marinated in it for his whole career, and he's suffered personal crises, loss, so a lot of his instincts will be the instincts that a nervous country needs.

but to your point, the real challenge, of course, will be that the energy behind donald trump, the base that he was supporting, is still pretty much where it was. >> yes. >> we see a lot of politicians that joe biden's going to try and work with still planie i pl the political market of the party that donald trump created. if that still exists, there's not a lot of opportunity for cross-party dealmaking because republicans making a deal with an -- a president that their base js sees as illegitimate, they'll see the fundraising drop, all of the structures that poisoned american politics are in place. it will be a long, slow, patient process of joe biden trying to ease some of that. and that's one of his biggest challenges. if he can't get that right, all of the things he'd like to do on immigration, on poverty, all of those things, you can't get through the legislature. >> what's the significance of joe biden -- every president has done it, they start, they go to church on this inauguration day. this is a very important part of the day, too. >> oh, it's interesting, they're

not at st. john's. president's church. they're at st. matthew's. >> that is interesting. >> st. john ap's, of course, th scene of president trump's after clearing lafayette square of peaceful protesters, held up the bible. this is a beautiful catholic church, yes, with a gorgeous dome. the inside feels like it's bigger than the outside. so it's a -- it's a majestic place for a catholic president, the second only catholic president to have his first service. >> and we should note that's where john f. kennedy's funeral was held. it's a somber place in the history of our presidency. and for joe biden to go there and to have i think it's also symbolically very, very important, the combined congressional bipartisan leadership with him is a moment of i'm here, this is my faith, i'm asking god for help, it's a big job ahead, and at least for

a moment i have the bipartisan congressional leadership with me -- >> that matters. it may be ceremony. >> may be symbolic. >> but it can lead to feeling. it can stir feeling. >> that's what the whole day is. imagine your house runs out of power, the fuses blow. you tick each one off. this is the first fuse being ticked back on that has been off. it is just basically ceremony, tradition, all the stuff that holds america up in moments of crisis, that endures through administrations, that's what joe biden is trying to rebuild symbolically, rhetorically today, and which a lot of people want rebuilt. even people who maybe didn't vote for her. >> look at the symbolism. you have joe biden and dr. jill biden at st. matthew's church. on the other side of the screen you have donald trump and melania trump heading off to mar-a-lago where we did a story yesterday where even in florida they're saying, wait a minute, not so fast, not so fast. it's going to be interesting to see what happens to trump after he leaves office.

>> yeah. and will he feel a weight without the presidency and the protections that come with the presidency from legal exposure, civil, and criminal? >> what air strstrikes me, too,n when we were dealing with the assault on the capitol, you could wonder that day whether you'd see this play out. >> yeah. >> you know? there was a lot of question about whether you'd see the president leave in an orderly fashion. but now it's even more powerful to -- >> and to that point, several trump advisers that i've spoken to in the last couple of days, they hoped he would say president biden's name, say kamala harris' name, he didn't. what they would tell us all is it's the best he could do. >> the best he could do. >> it's the best he could do. did he end as best as we might hope? these are trump supporters' words and ad sidesors, not mine, no. but it's the best he could do. was he where peaceable than not in the last waning days, did he sort of hide within the white

house behind these manufactured videos instead of take questios and engage the public directly, yes, that's all his ego could allow. it's the best he could do. but the best he could do is so much shorter than the moment. and so much shorter than our historical moment when even mediocre, forgettable presidents rose to the personal occasion on behalf of the country, its traditions, and its means of transferring power, not only peacefully but nobly and gracefully. >> uh-huh. >> air force one taxiing there, ready to take off. president-elect joe biden inside the church -- >> going back to your point, anthony, you know, so this is a moment to turn the page. we just have never seen a president who tried to hold on to the book. >> yes. >> over the course of four years, there were so many of those things where you expected, oh, this will go this way and this way because of 230 years of tradition, and then it didn't go that way.

>> yeah. >> striking a new tone. a new tone today for president trump. the office will change him. the campaign is over. silly season is done. did it ever end? i don't know. >> no. as i said in my piece yesterday, to recount the five years i've spent on this odyssey, to meet donald trump the first time is to meet him forever. he is the exact same person. he does not change. the office didn't change him. the office did not institutionally soften him or redirect him or create with him a well of empathy that he didn't possess previously. it did not change him at all. as a matter of fact, within that -- the confines of that office, he tried to consistently push out against it and say you can't change me, you won't change me, i won't bow to the these institutional pressures, that is a very different approach to the presidency. in his remarks, gayle, as wandering as they were, there was something that i've heard before which is it's all about what i did, nothing came before me, and nothing will matter after me. >> yeah. that struck me, too. that struck me, too. >> even though for obama

administration officials, they would say, wait a minute, you said the incoming president biden you're going to have this great foundation beneath you, what do you think we left you with when you came in? >> you know, major, when you said he hasn't changed. maya angelou used to always say when people show you who they are, believe them the first time. >> believe them. >> i thought that was a classic example. we're looking now inside st. matthew's church. the biden family is there. you can see the president-elect and dr. jill biden standing there. go ahead, john. >> there's an apocraphal quote that i'll butcher -- he says there are times in this job where i've been driven to my knees because i had nowhere else to go stand in a pew. and what that has done in his life and what that means to him. this is is ceremony, of course,t it is also every ceremony today,