Decision to move ceremony indoors has upended months of carefully deliberated planning with staffers, supporters working to adapt
President-elect Donald Trump lived up to his reputation of being predictably unpredictable Friday when he abruptly announced that he ordered his inauguration ceremony be moved indoors to the Capitol Rotunda ahead of next week's expected frigid temperatures.
The announcement set off a flurry of makeshift planning with congressional staffers forced to throw out the window months of carefully deliberated logistics, and upended the plans for the hundreds of thousands of the president-elect's supporters who traveled to the national capital to take part in the festivities.
"There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don't want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way," he said on his proprietary social media website, Truth Social. "Therefore, I have ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather."
Throngs of supporters typically gather en masse on the National Mall to watch the ceremony from large screens erected on the sides of the lengthy historic park. But Trump said those who come to Washington can now gather at the nearby Capital One Arena, the home of the NBA's Washington Wizards and NHL's Capitals, to view the ceremony live.
The president-elect further said the venue will "host the Presidential Parade," a ceremonial march that presidents normally take from the Capitol to the White House on their first day in office. It is unclear what he meant from his Truth Social post, but he said that after he is sworn in he will join the crowd at the Capital One Arena.
Before Trump takes to the Capitol for his swearing-in around noon Monday, he will start the day with a church service at St. John's Episcopal Church, which is located across from the White House on the other side of Lafayette Park. He will then participate in a White House tea alongside his wife, Melania, and outgoing President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden.
After those events have concluded Trump will make his way to the Capitol for his last-minute rally with supporters. He will then head to the White House to commence his official first day in office with an expected flurry of executive actions. The day's events will conclude with a trio of invite-only inaugural balls held across Washington -- the Commander in Chief Inaugural Ball, the Liberty Inaugural Ball and the Starlight Ball.
Trump is expected to address each of the gatherings, which are geared toward military service members, his supporters and major donors, respectively.
