JOE Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States tomorrow at his Inauguration in Washington DC.
Donald Trump is planning to leave the White House early and says he won't be attending the ceremony – the first president in over 100 years not to hand the job to their successor in person.
Celebs including Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga are expected to perform at the Inauguration, where security will be higher than ever following the storming of the Capitol on January 6.
Follow our Inauguration Day live blog below for the very latest news on Joe Biden's swearing-in
- Debbie White
TIES TO FAR-RIGHT MILITIAS RESULT IN TWO NATIONAL GUARDS REMOVED FROM INAUGURATION
Two US Army National Guard members are being removed from the security mission to secure Joe Biden's presidential inauguration.
A US Army official and a senior US intelligence official said the members have been found to have ties to militias.
But no plot against President-elect Joe Biden was uncovered during the probe.
It's now known what fringe group the Guard members belonged to or what unit they served in.
- Debbie White
JOE EXOTIC 'CONFIDENT' ABOUT PARDON – & HAS BOOKED A LIMO!
Tiger King star Joe Exotic's team is so confident he'll be pardoned by Donald Trump on Tuesday that a limo is already booked to collect him from jail.
Eric Love, who is part of Exotic’s legal squad Team Tiger, believes the Netflix favorite will be freed, so the plan is to whisk him to a secret location from FMC Prison in Fort Worth, Texas.
But first he'll have his hair styled and be medically evaluated as part of his recovery plan in a Texas ranch or luxury hotel.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Love said: “We anticipate notification around the 10am to 2pm mark."
- Patrick Knox
PICTURED: SECURITY ZONE AROUND DC CAPITOL
National Guard troops reinforce the security zone today on Capitol Hill in WashingtonCredit: AP:Associated Press
- Patrick Knox
WHEN IS JOE BIDEN'S INAUGURATION?
Joe Biden's inauguration day will take place tomorrow, January 20, 2021.
Opening remarks tend to begin at 11.30 EST (4.30pm GMT).
Then Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in about noon.
Later in the day, Biden will move into the White House which will be his home for the next four years.
You can watch the inauguration on most major American news networks, including CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS News and Fox News.
You can also follow the event on The U.S. Sun’s Live News Blog.
Major news websites such as Sky News and the BBC are also likely to cover the event.
- Patrick Knox
‘CHINA SPY THREAT TOP PRIORITY’
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's nominee to be the Director of National Intelligence said countering the Chinese counterintelligence threat and foreign influence operations more generally would be top priorities.
Speaking at her nomination hearing, Avril Haines also said that if confirmed as the Director of National Intelligence she would speak truth to power and would work to restore confidence within the intelligence community and among Americans generally.
- Patrick Knox
TRUMP SPENDS LAST DAY IN WHITE HOUSE
He spent his last full day in the White House mulling pardons.
Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden was set to arrive in Washington ahead of an inauguration that his predecessor, in a final break with tradition, will snub.
Trump has not appeared in public for a week and, suspended from Twitter in the wake of his encouraging supporters to march on Congress, has been uncharacteristically silent.
Nor has there been call-ins to his favorite Fox News hosts, interviews with the networks, or speeches celebrating his stormy one-term administration.
In another first, Trump has yet to publicly congratulate Biden on his win, wish him luck, or invite him for the customary cup of tea in the Oval Office.
- Patrick Knox
PICTURED: PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY FOR TENSE INAUGURATION
A person climbs over barriers downtown as members of the National Guard patrol the streets todayCredit: Getty Images – Getty - Patrick Knox
‘ACT BIG’ ON STIMULUS, BIDEN'S TREASURY NOMINEE YELLEN SAYS
Janet Yellen, US President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for Treasury Secretary, will urge lawmakers today to "act big" on the next coronavirus relief package, adding that the benefits outweigh the costs of a higher debt burden.
Biden, who will be sworn into office tommorow, outlined a $1.9 trillion stimulus package proposal last week, saying bold investment was needed to jump-start the economy and accelerate the distribution of vaccines to bring the virus under control.
- Patrick Knox
TWO NATIONAL GUARD REMOVED
They are being removed from the security mission to secure Joe Biden's presidential inauguration.
A U.S. Army official and a senior intelligence official say the two National Guard members have been found to have ties to fringe right group militias.
The Army official and the intelligence official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity due to Defense Department media regulations.
They did not say what fringe group the Guard members belonged to or what unit they served in.
The Secret Service told the AP yesterday it would not comment on if any National Guard members had been pulled from securing the inauguration for operational security reasons.
- Patrick Knox
PICTURED: MARINES HOLD DAMAGED CAPITOL DOORS
U.S. Marine Corps hold the damaged Capitol doors during a rehearsal for the 59th inaugural ceremony for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala HarrisCredit: AP:Associated Press - Patrick Knox
ASSANGE NOT EXPECTED TO BE PARDONED
Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, was also not expected to get a pardon, the sources said.
The U.S. Justice Department in 2019 asked Britain to extradite Assange to the United States to face charges that he conspired to hack government computers and violated an espionage law.
A British judge ruled two weeks ago Assange should not be extradited to the United States, saying his mental health problems meant he would be at risk of suicide.
- Patrick Knox
‘PARDONS LIKELY FOR LIL WAYNE, NONE FOR GIULIANI OR BANNON’
Trump is likely to grant clemency to rapper Lil Wayne today in a final wave of pardons and commutations that is not expected to include lawyer Rudy Giuliani or ex-aide Steve Bannon, sources said.
Trump is expected to issue more than 100 pardons and commutations on his last full day in office.
Two sources familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the out-going appeared to have been dissuaded from pardoning himself or members of his family.
Lil Wayne pleaded guilty last month to possessing a loaded, gold-plated handgun when his chartered jet landed in Miami in December 2019.
He faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison at a January 28 hearing in Miami.
- Patrick Knox
BIDEN PICKS FIRST EVER TRANSGENDER FEDERAL OFFICIAL
The President-elect has chosen Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be his assistant secretary of health.
This will mean she is poised to become the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
A pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general, Levine was appointed to her current post by Biden said: "Dr Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic.
"This is no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond."
Dr Rachel Levine would be the first openly transgender US Senate-confirmed federal officialCredit: Splash News - Patrick Knox
BIDEN TO ATTEND MASS WITH CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS
The President-elect will strike a unity theme before his inauguration as president tomorrow by worshipping with Congress top Republican and Democratic leaders.
The Democratic president-elect has talked throughout the campaign and the post-election period about his goal of uniting a sharply divided country.
Biden's incoming chief of staff, Ron Klain, today retweeted a post that said Biden had quietly extended invitations to Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and to Republicans Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy to accompany him to a Mass at St. Matthews Cathedral.
- Patrick Knox
VIRUS, ECONOMY SWAMP OTHER PRIORITIES FOR US
Containing the coronavirus outbreak and repairing the economic damage it has inflicted are the top priorities for Americans as Joe Biden prepares to become the 46th president of the United States.
This is according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Overall, 53 per cent of Americans name Covid-19 as one of the top five issues they want the government to tackle this year, and 68 per cent mention in some way the economy, which is still reeling from the outbreak.
The findings also suggest Biden's political fate is riding on his administration's response to the pandemic.
- Patrick Knox
WHAT HAS BIDEN SAID ABOUT THE UPCOMING INAUGURATION?
Despite warnings from the FBI and the Secret Service, Biden has not expressed concern about his own security at the inauguration.
“I’m not afraid of taking the oath outside,” he told reporters.
“It is critically important that there’ll be a real serious focus on holding those folks who engaged in sedition and threatening the lives, defacing public property, caused great damage — that they be held accountable.”
- Lottie Tiplady-Bishop
TRUMP’S FINAL VIDEO MESSAGE FOR NATION
President Donald Trump is still adamant that he won the election hours before he makes way for incoming leader Joe Biden, says The New York Times.
CNN reports that Trump has prepared a final video message for the nation, before he leaves the White House.
He has also been holding meetings on pardons, as he prepares to issue a reported 100 pardons on Tuesday.
- Lottie Tiplady-Bishop
TRUMP TO LIFT TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS FROM BRAZIL, UK & EUROPE
Donald Trump will lift entry bans for most non-US citizens who were recently in Brazil and much of Europe from January 26.
Travel restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic barring most visitors from Europe entering the US have been in place since mid-March, 2020, while the Brazilian entry ban was set in May.
The Trump administration had brought in the tough bans to help stem the coronavirus pandemic.
But, this is now set to end under a new proclamation from Trump, on the same day that new Covid test requirements take effect for all international visitors.
- Patrick Knox
WHERE WILL THE INAUGURATION TAKE PLACE?
The inauguration will take place outside the Capitol and will be held on the same risers in the same spot where a violent, pro-Trump mob gathered on January 6.
The inauguration is designated as a “national special security event," which clears the way for communication, funding and preparation between multiple agencies.
Other such events are the State of the Union, the Super Bowl, and the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
- Patrick Knox
WHAT TIME IS THE INAUGURATION OF JOE BIDEN?
The inauguration will take place tomorrow at about 11.30 am.
- Patrick Knox
BIDEN PRESIDENCY IS 'GOOD NEWS' FOR CLIMATE
So says Alok Sharma, who is heading up crucial international talks in Glasgow, UK.
Mr Sharma, who has left his role as Business Secretary to be full time president of the UN Cop26 summit taking place in November, said he welcomed the commitments President-elect Joe Biden has made on climate.
Mr Biden has pledged to bring the US back into the international Paris Agreement on climate change, which outgoing president Donald Trump quit.
Mr Sharma: "A Biden presidency is good news in terms of tackling climate change, I very much welcome the commitments the president-elect has already made in terms of rejoining the Paris Agreement and putting the US on the path to net zero by 2050.”
- Patrick Knox
TRUMP DECORATES BAHRAIN KING ON LAST FULL DAY IN OFFICE
Trump bestowed a rare award on King Hamad of Bahrain today, acknowledging the Gulf state's normalisation of ties with Israel on his last full day in office.
He sees Arab recognition of Israel as a key overseas achievement of his presidency,
The out-going president has already conferred the same award on King Mohammed VI of Morocco last week for his move to restore ties.
Bahraini King Hamad has been recognized for his reconciliation efforts with IsraelCredit: Reuters - Patrick Knox
BIDEN TO REVERSE TRUMP'S TOUGH IMMIGRATION POLICIES
He plans to unveil a sweeping immigration bill on Day One of his administration, hoping to provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. without legal status.
This is a massive reversal from the Trump administration's harsh immigration policies.
It provides one of the fastest pathways to citizenship for those living without legal status of any measure in recent years.
As a candidate, Biden called Trump's actions on immigration an unrelenting assault on American values and said he would undo the damage while continuing to maintain border enforcement.
- Patrick Knox
UK ‘NOT LUKEWARM ABOUT BIDEN’S VICTORY’
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he "looks forward to working with the new administration".
Mr Raab told the Commons: "The resumption of Congress and the certification of Joe Biden's victory on January 7 sent an essential message that the democratic will of the US people cannot be challenged by a violent minority."
He added: "We made clear that the scenes by a small but ugly minority in Washington were disgraceful.”
Labour's shadow foreign minister Catherine West asked what urgent steps can be taken to mend that sense that the UK government was lukewarm around the election result.
Mr Raab replied: "The UK was not lukewarm and she must have missed the Prime Minister's statement where he was very clear."
- Patrick Knox
WASHINGTON DC LOCKED DOWN
Secret Service tightened security in and around the Capitol, and the city center is essentially on lockdown.
Streets have been blocked, high fencing installed and tens of thousands of National Guard and other law enforcement officers are stationed around the area.
But defense officials, worried about a potential insider attack, have pushed the FBI to vet all of the 25,000 National Guard troops coming into the area.
Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said vetting of National Guard troops continues and that the Pentagon has found no intelligence so far that would indicate an insider threat.
Measures continue to be taken against a possible threat from the soldiers on duty at the ceremonyCredit: Getty Images – Getty
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