By Steve Holland and Gabriella Borter
STERLING, Va. (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump arrived in the Washington area on Saturday evening to celebrate his return to power, ahead of an inauguration ceremony disrupted by record temperatures.
Trump flew on an Air Force plane sent by outgoing President Joe Biden to the Republican base in Palm Beach, Florida, where the Republican prepared for his transition after winning the election on November 5 against Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris. His wife, Melania, daughter Ivanka and husband, Jared Kushner, accompanied him on Saturday’s flight.
After arriving at Dulles Airport in suburban Virginia, Trump headed to his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, on the outskirts of Washington.
On Saturday evening, some 500 guests will watch fireworks and musical performances including Leo Days, an Elvis impersonator, and Christopher Macchio, a tenor whom Trump has previously featured at political events.
Trump, 78, is scheduled to hold a rally with his supporters inside the country. Capital one (NYSE:) Arena in downtown Washington on Sunday, the day before its inauguration, as well as a post-inauguration event Monday afternoon.
Frigid weather forecasts for Monday prompted Trump to move inauguration ceremonies from the iconic west front of the U.S. Capitol building to inside the Capitol rotunda, as well as the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capital One Arena.
In the Capitol Rotunda, Trump will take the oath of office at 12 p.m. ET (5 p.m. GMT) and then deliver an inaugural address, one that typically sets the tone for the president’s four-year term.
It will be the first time since Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in January 1985 that the big event will take place indoors.
SEATLESS CROWDS IN DC
Most of the more than 220,000 ticketed guests who were scheduled to attend the ceremony from the U.S. Capitol will not be able to watch the swearing-in inside the building. Only a fraction will be able to enter the 20,000-seat Capital One Arena, where the inauguration will be broadcast and parade entertainers and participants are expected to perform.
On Saturday, Trump fans who had planned to attend the inauguration were already walking around downtown Washington.
Arthur Caisse, a 78-year-old retired professor, and his brother Richard Caisse, a 64-year-old small business owner, had come from Connecticut to attend Trump’s second inauguration, after coming to kick off his first term in 2017.
“It’s so disappointing because we all traveled so long and far to get here and then to go through the congressional process to get tickets to the inauguration. Finally, we got tickets, now, boom. They say we might not even be able to go to the (National) Mall,” Arthur Caisse said.
“I am not disappointed because on Monday, we get our country back,” added Richard Caisse.
Debbie Koch, a 60-year-old information technology professional who came from Wisconsin with her sister, said they still planned to attend Sunday night’s arena rally if they could get in.
“We’re not sure,” she said. “We’re just excited to be here.”
Asked Saturday how it would handle crowds of ticket holders for Trump’s inauguration who would not fit into the Capitol rotunda or stadium, the Secret Service referred the question to event organizers.
Trump’s inauguration committee did not respond Saturday to requests for additional information.
Once he returns to the White House on Monday afternoon, Trump is expected to begin signing dozens of executive orders and directives to crack down on immigration, boost U.S. energy production and other priorities.
Trump, whose first term lasted from 2017 to 2021, refused to attend the inauguration of Biden, who defeated him in 2020. He left Washington for Florida before the ceremony, vowing that “we will return under one form or another.”
Two weeks earlier, his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, seeking to delay lawmakers’ certification of Biden’s victory.
Biden will attend Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Monday.
