The US 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-breaking cold temperatures.
Trump flew aboard an Air Force plane sent by outgoing President Joe Biden to the Republican’s base in Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump prepared his transition after winning the Nov. 5 election over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. His wife, Melania, daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, accompanied him on Saturday’s flight.
After arriving at Dulles airport in suburban Virginia, Trump traveled to his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, on the outskirts of Washington.
Elvis Presley impersonator Leo Days serenaded the incoming president and first lady ahead of a reception for about 500 guests and fireworks display. An aide posted a video on social media showing the singer crooning as the Trumps watched.
The 78-year-old Trump is due to hold a rally with supporters inside the Capital One Arena in downtown Washington on Sunday, the eve of his inauguration, as well as a post-inauguration event Monday afternoon.
Frigid weather forecast for Monday prompted Trump to move the inauguration ceremonies from the iconic west front of the U.S. Capitol building indoors to the Capitol Rotunda, and the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capital One Arena.
In the Capitol Rotunda, Trump will be sworn in at 12 p.m. ET (1700 GMT) then deliver an inaugural address, a speech that typically sets the tone for the president’s four-year term. He told NBC News the the theme would be “unity and strength, and also the word ‘fairness.’”
It will be the first time since Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in January 1985 that the big event has been moved indoors.
