berlin. tonight, americans in -- america's reconciler in chief becomes president of the united states, promising to bring unity. to a divided nation. >> protect, defend. >> the constitution of the united states. >> the constitution of the united states. >> so help you god. >> so help me god. >> congratulations, mr. president. brent: with that oath, joe biden became the 46th president of the

united states. he told the nation there is much work to do and much to repair. also coming up, history made at the u.s. capitol thanks to him and her. >> the duties of the office upon which i am about to enter. >> so help me god. >> so help me god. brent: kamala harris comes the first woman vice president and the first first in of color to be -- first person of colored to become president of the united states. donald trump leaves the white house after four turbulent years. the 45th president along with his wife departed the white house a final time early on wednesday morning. trump did not attend biden's inauguration. the first president to skip an inauguration in more than 100 years. ♪

i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs in the united states and our viewers around the world, welcome. unites states has a new president. joe biden took the oath of office, becoming america's 46th president. he made a call for unity to his fellow americans. . he takes power at a time when the u.s. is reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. . the country faces deep divisions over racial justice and is confronting the threat of right wing extremism. the inauguration went ahead with fewer dignitaries than usual and no huge crowds of spectators because of covid-19 restrictions. thousands of troops provided security with washington, d.c. on edge after pro-trump rioters stormed the capital exactly two weeks ago.

u.s. president biden held a moment of silence for the victims of the pandemic. he said americans have to come together to confront these challenges. >> with unity, we can do great things, important things. we can write wrongs. we can put people to work in good jobs. we can teach our children in safe schools. we can overcome the deadly virus. we can reward work and rebuild the middle class and make health care secure for all. we can deliver racial justice and we can make america once again a leading force for good in the world. brent: lots of promises from the new president. it's take this to washington, d.c. our bureau chief has been following events today. a plea for unity coming from the new president. joe biden clearly made unity the core theme of his inaugural speech. are some who doubt he can unite

the u.s.. how will he go about unifying the country? >> it is a very huge task and he pointed it out. he addressed all the major crises country is in. there is overall, covid-19. he actually mentioned in his speech, acknowledged what his successor, his predecessor, donald trump, never did. he has to be able not only to reach out to the other aisle but also to unify his own party. we tend to forget the democratic party is really a big tent and he has to be able to bring the rather right-leaning or more conservative part of his party together with the left-leaning part of his party. there are many challenges on many levels. on a personal level, i think he delivered a really strong and powerful speech.

that was a good beginning of this presidency. brent: a call for unity and a rejection of alternative facts. take a listen to this clip. >> politics does not have to be a raging fire. destroying evething in its path. every disagreement does not have to be a cause for total war. and we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are related and even manufactured. [applause] brent: he got applause by saying we must reject the culture where facts are manipulated. that is a clear condemnation of the divisive nature of american politics under donald trump. you think biden's presidency will be able to reduce the divisions we have seen starting in u.s. politics? >> he has to.

after these four years, this country is more divided then maybe ever before in modern times. he addressed a core issue in that conflict. it is the issue in which reality people live. we experience that two weeks ago. i was there at the mall when the people stormed the capitol and i asked them why they were doing that and they told me stories that are not true because they are fed by false information. by lies that we have to say came out of the white house. this is one of the core tasks he has to find an answer for. how does he get information out to his people, to the american people? so that they can build their own opinion on facts and not online's. brent: this is a battle between the truth and lies. i want to take a listen to part of what biden said about that

today. >> there is truth and there are lies. lies told for power and for profit. each of us has a duty and a responsibility as citizens, as americans and especially as leaders. leaders who have pledged to honor our constitution and protect our nation. to defend the truth and defeat the lies. brent: it was very clear. biden talking about lies told for power. surely that was a reference to his predecessor, donald trump. >> absolutely. this is how he kind of started his whole presidency during his campaigning five years ago. that is what we experienced over the last four years. that is what we are experiencing since one year since the outbreak of covid-19. that is what we experienced

until his very last minutes as being a president. his very last speech when he again told things that are just not true. as he helped the stock market to grow and the stock market will break down now with president joe biden in power. he addressed a core issue of this united states. brent: always measuring economic health by the stock market and not the employment rate for example. history was also made in the form of the first woman vice president. the first person of color becoming vice president. that is a big moment in history. >> it is absolutely. not only during the swearing in ceremony at the capital. also later when they paid respect at the arlington cemetery. this is the first time a woman

stood there with the president together to pay respect to all the fallen soldiers. that is huge. i am sure that not only many women but many americans see that as one of the most moving moments of this whole day. brent: that is very true. it is hard to overstate the importance of that. it has almost been covered up by all the talk about the pandemic and the controversies surrounding donald trump. donald trump did not attend today's inauguration. he did observe a tradition of leaving a note we understand for joe biden. do we know what is inside that note? >> not yet. this is probably the best hidden secret worldwide. that is a tradition. that is what presidents do. they leave a note for their successors.

i really do hope joe biden posts that on twitter and donald trump then will not be able to comment on it, will he echo brent: that is a very good point. he would not be able to send out a tweet about that. we will find out what is inside that note may be sooner rather than later. thank you. as joe biden is the 46th president, the world is watching to see what kind of country he will lead back on to the world stage. his replacement's first task will be to rebuild and reshape some crucial relationships. >> chaos in washington. a pandemic out of control. an economy on the brink. a nation profoundly divided.

the u.s. has enough crises going on at home to take up the energy of any new president, at the rest of the world looks every bit as daunting. china is now a rival superpower. russia is openly hostile. and climate change threatens everything. unveiling his foreign-policy team, joe biden said he would tackle all these challenges by rejecting trump's slogan of america first and reviving american leadership at the head of the western alliance. >> america is back, ready to lead the world. not retreat from it. once again sit at the head of the table. ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies. >> this new spirit from biden is being warmly welcomed in berlin and other capitals around europe. on this crucial issue of china, europeans have started doing their own thing.

that you has just agreed a sweeping investment trey with beijing ignoring requests from the biden team to wait here angela merkel herself was the driver of the deal. it is not a great open for biden's plan to hold a summit of democracies. he wants free societies to line up together to challenge china, seeing as a growing threat to democracy everywhere. he will want europe fully on board. european leaders often condemned china over human rights abuses, but that rarely turns into action. many are wary of being sucked into a long-term conflict between the u.s. and beijing. any european hedging on this could expose the underlying tensions in the transatlantic relationship, which burst into the open under dald trum f europeans belie they can remain neutral in arowing

rivalry between t united states and china have equally good relations wh beijing and washington and at the same time expect the uted states to be the first responder whenever anything happens in eure, i think they are living in dream world. that is not going to be possible. >> this was the heart of the crisis between u.s. and europe during the trump years. trump scorned european allies as freeloaders and that has shaken trust perhaps permanently. because one day, trump or someone like him could be back. >> if europeans look at the transatlantic alliance, there is stronger degree of caution than there was before the trp years. europeans need to build up their own resourc and their own strategies to be able to act in a more independent way. >> the death throes of the trump

administration has added to fears that the u.s. has become fundamentally unstable, a power that allies can never depend on in quite the same way. ultimately, that means that biden's success or failure at home will profoundly affect can achieve abroad. he says america is back, but the bet -- but the rest of the world is asking, is it too broken to lead? brent: let's take this to our chief political correspondent. good evening to you. it is amazing. four years of donald trump. it feels like it has been a lot longer than that. now we are talking about rebuilding transatlantic relations between europe and the u.s. what will that look like? >> those were pretty much exactly the words joe biden uttered in his inaugural address saying we must repair. the u.s. must repair relations with its allies in order to tackle challenges of the present

and the future. one thing this is going to look like is a return to multilateralism. trump's credo was transactional. he went so far as to refer to the europeans as rivals and opponents. that certainly will change. joe biden has made it very clear that he wants and needs partnership and he certainly will be looking toward europe, which is the world's biggest collection of democracies. he will certainly be looking to work with europe. i think what we will see is a great deal more reliability, meaning with trump, you never know what you got. you never knew where things were going to go.

certainly that will change now. there will be differences of opinion. but i think for sure, oath germany and europe can count on the fact that the communication processes will once again begin to work. brent: joe biden is considered a solid partner. what about german-american relations moving forward? >> i think germany as the biggest economy in europe is absolutely going to be a key partner for the biden administration. what is important to remember is joe biden has decades of experience. he knows the leaders of all european countries pretty much. we are told that when european leaders would visit the senate, they would be going from person to person. they would say hello, senator. when they got to him, they would say hi, joe.

those lines of communications are already up. they are ready to move. that will certainly be helpful in terms of german-u.s. relations. there had been many people hoping that biden might come to the munich security conference. it is not going to be held because of the pandemic. i know there are going to be a lot of people hoping this is one of the first places joe biden travels to. brent: what about the north stream two pipeline between germany and russia? joe biden is an opponent of that project. that is something he and trump had in common. is there any sign that is going to change? >> there are a couple of things joe biden and trump have in common that will create some challenges. in german-u.s. and european-u.s. relations, we are hearing about china policy. there will certainly be pressure

on europe and germany to be tougher on china. at the same time, there are opportunities to work together on china. the same goes for norge stream. what we do know is europe would like to see the u.s. return to the fold when it comes to the wto. if joe biden is serious about multilateralism, he needs to be looking into how he can work with his european allies to reform the wto. that has broad implications for trade policy on many levels. the u.s. imposed sanctions on german company involved -- german companies involved in this project. it is not clear these are in conformance with wto rules. there may be an initial impulse on the part of the biden administration to leave those sanctions in place. it does not like the norge stream project. we will see the communication

open up in terms of norge stream, in terms of china and all the other difficult areas including common security and defense policy contributions to nato. all those could remain sticky issues, but the multilateral approach will be back and that will certainly help. brent: melinda with greater analysis on this historic day. thank you. donald trump has arguably been the most divisive president in living memory. he leaves office as the only president to be impeached twice. he upended america's position in world politics, attacking long-standing alliances and building a wave of support back home with his america first promises. how will history remember donald trump? we take a look at his legacy. >> i am officially running for

president of the united states, and we are going to make our country great again. >> it was this campaign slogan that became his mantra. once in office, did donald trump make america great again? ask a trump supporter and they will say yes. and point above all to job creation and tax cuts as major achievements. ask an opponent and they will disagree, likely citing trump' handlings of the coronavirus pandemic as proof of his failure. >> d.c. hospital just said they were at 90% capacity limit. >> there is a range of issues that defined trump' legacy ands divide opinion. some of them will continue to shape american society long after he is gone. such as the new makeup of the u.s. supreme court. his appntment of three new judges has ensured a conservative majority for years

to come. on the streets, police brutality continues to enrage people and racial tensions are running high. a recent study by the fbi found hate crime is at its highest level for more than a decade. critics say trump has done nothing to bring people together. >> proud boys, stand back and stand by. i will tell you what. somebody has got to do something about nt fan the left because this is not a right wing problem. >> trump also leaves a controversial legacy when it comes to the environment. he has reversed more than 100 protective regulations and left the parish climate accord. environmentalists say it has caused damage that will be difficult to reverse. as the sun sets on his time in the white house, the united states is a deeply divided nation and donald trump stands accused of having undermined dialogue and democracy itself.

his distrust of science and journalism and his complicated relationship with the truth have not only polarized u.s. society by been connected to the spread of conspiracy theories around the world. >> look at all of the fake news. >> and that may end up in donald trump's most profound and enduring legacy both in and outside of the united states. brent: there is other news around the world. it's take a look at some of the stories making headlines. the iranian president has called on u.s. president joe biden to return to the 2015 nuclear agreement and to lift sanctions against iran. he says his country promises to fulfill its commitments under the deal if the united states does so as well. he was quoted saying quote, the ball is now in the court of the u.s. rescuers in china are redoubling

efforts to communicate with a group of miners trapped underground for days. a note requested they be given another phone. 22 miners were trapped. at least three people have died after an explosion ripped through a building in central madrid. when building partially collapsed and the residents of a neighboring nursing home were evacuated. the mayor says initial investigations suggest a gas caused the blast. we want to head to the black sea and a sprawling palace that has its own amp theater, a teahouse and a helipad. who owns it? the kremlin critic alexey navalny has released a two hour video, the results of an investigation claiming the palace was built for russian president vladimir putin using

taxpayer money. the kremlin has denied the allegations. >> they are calling it the new versailles. in the video, he explains how his anticorruption foundation haveeenble to fm the property from abov for the first time using a drone. he says there is nothing like it anywhere in the country. without exaggeration, it is the most secretive and guard in russia. it is not a country house or residence. it is an entire city. it has its own harbor, guards, a church, and even its own border point. it is a separate state inside russia. details were linked by -- were leaked by construcon workers. among its many features, it is reported to house underground ice hockey rink. this is an amptheater. he points out the exit of a

tunnel used by putin to access the beach. he also emphasizes not just the size of the palace but also the vastness of the area it occupies , which is three and a half times the size of the nearest city. the kremlin rejects all the claims, calling them nonsensical. >> these are allegations. they are nonsense and nothing else. that is the principal goal of such documents. such pseudo-investigations. we went all the people taking into account the big number of views. >> but navalny insists not only doeshis property belong to putin. but tt it was finced thrgh corruption and the misuse of public funds, calling it the biggest ride in history for which the russian president must be held to account. brent: you are watching dw news.

after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. complete coverage of the u.s. president and vice president. at first, some of the most memorable images from this historic day. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president-elect of the united states, joseph biden jr. and dr. jill biden. ♪ >> ♪ what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous -- ♪ >> we are a people of many creeds, colors, national backgrounds, colors and styles.

help us under our new president to reconcile the people of our land. >> so help me god. >> ♪ gave proof through the night that our flag was still there jose does -- oh say does that >> so help me god. >> congratulations, mr. president.

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>> you are watching "france 24" live from paris with live coverage of events on inauguration day in d.c. democracy has prevailed, those were the words of joe biden as he became the 46th president of the united states after the most tense transition in living memory. the last few moments he walked up pennsylvania avenue greeting crowds and into the white house. just moments ago, joe biden along with his whife jill entering the white house. more on that, coming up.