Biden’s Inauguration: Live Updates

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have arrived at the Capitol ahead of their swearing in.

Vice President Mike Pence is now present among those awaiting the ceremony.

Officer Eugene Goodman, the Iraq war veteran and Capitol police officer who kept the mob from reaching the Senate chamber on January 6, has a role escorting Kamala Harris at the inauguration:

The Supreme Court received a bomb threat this morning ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration, but a search of the grounds resulted in no bomb being found.

One of the executive orders President Biden will issue today, according to the Biden transition team, will “direct agencies to take all lawful steps to make sure that federal anti-discrimination statutes that cover sex discrimination prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

What does that mean? Ryan Anderson, the incoming president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, tells National Review: “It doesn't take a crystal ball to know how Biden administration officials will interpret and apply these policies: men who identify as women must be allowed in women-only spaces, boys who identify as girls must be allowed to compete in the girls’ athletic competitions, healthcare plans must pay for gender-transition procedures, doctors and hospitals must perform them, adoption agencies may not seek only married moms and dads to care for children in need.”

Paul Ryan, the last Republican speaker of the House, is at the inauguration today. He tells Bloomberg: “Our institutions were tested this year and our institutions passed the test. I'm here out of respect for the peaceful transfer of power and for the institutions. Joe Biden is the legitimately elected president of the United States.”

On January 3, Ryan said that “efforts to reject the votes of the Electoral College and sow doubt about Joe Biden’s victory strike at the foundation of our republic. It is difficult to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act than a federal intervention to overturn the results of state-certified elections and disenfranchise millions of Americans. The fact that this effort will fail does not mean it will not do significant damage to American democracy.”

We are now less than two hours away from Joe Biden taking the oath and becoming president. This always struck me as one of the oddest periods in American governance, as one presidency is effectively but not technically over, and another is almost, but not quite, in place. I'm pleasantly surprised that no foreign entity has ever tried to pull some stunt during periods like this, hoping that the divisions between the outgoing team and the incoming team would hinder a U.S. response to an invasion, terrorist attack, or other provocation.

For a comprehensive overview of the Biden executive order list expected to be signed this afternoon, read more here.

The Bidens are currently attending Mass with Congressional leaders as former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have arrived at the Capitol.

As we await Biden’s swearing in and speech — expected to be between 20 and 30 minutes — Andrew McCarthy has a comprehensive piece looking back at “the tragedy of Trump's presidency.” You can read it here.

For much of the past year, if I referred to a potential Biden presidency, someone would inevitably respond “Joe Biden will never take the oath of office.” Sometimes that was an expression of utter confidence Trump would win the election, sometimes it was scoffing that Biden wouldn’t be physically or mentally healthy enough to assume the presidency, and sometimes it was confidence that some way, somehow, Kamala Harris would take over for Biden before his presidency began. Barring some dramatic development in the coming hours, Biden will take the oath of office.

But taking office in these extraordinary circumstances — with crowds barred because of the pandemic and downtown Washington turned into a heavily-armed fortress because of the Capitol Hill riot — makes today a little sad for Biden and Harris. For a politician, winning the presidency or vice-presidency is the equivalent of winning the Super Bowl — the ultimate triumph and vindication over the critics and doubters. In ordinary circumstances, every family member, friend, longtime ally, conditional ally, and come together and have one joyous day, with roaring crowds and an elaborate parade, before the real work begins. Biden and Harris will get their ceremony, but it will look, and probably feel, different from all the inaugurations we've witnessed before.

And for many presidents, Inauguration Day is the best and easiest day on the job. It’s all downhill from here – nominations withdrawn, legislative proposals failing to pass, frustrating compromises, setbacks, crises, defeats, headaches. Inauguration Day is a little bit of a fantasy, envisioning an ideal presidency, before messy reality intrudes.

Though he will not attend his successor's inauguration, Trump did leave Biden a note, per multiple reports.