In his final remarks as president, Donald Trump on Wednesday preemptively sought to take credit for any early accomplishments by President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration, while pledging to return “in some form” to American politics.
After a roughly 15-minute flight from the White House to Joint Base Andrews, Trump descended the steps of Marine One on Inauguration Day morning and spoke at a campaign-style send-off on the tarmac.
A crowd of several hundred people greeted the president, including supporters, Trump family members and current and former administration officials.
Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Kash Patel, Sean Spicer, Stephen Miller, Mark Meadows, Jason Miller, Hogan Gidley and Tiffany Trump were all in attendance.
After four years of shattering precedent inside the White House, President Donald Trump took part in one final presidential tradition on his way out of office Wednesday: leaving a letter for his successor inside the Oval Office.
Trump spokesperson Judd Deere confirmed Wednesday that the president had written a letter to President-elect Joe Biden and left it for him in the Oval Office's Resolute Desk. The Trump White House did not divulge the contents of what Trump left for Biden to read.
Trump has forsaken other symbolic aspects of the transfer of power between presidents — including skipping Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday and instead heading to his private club in Florida after a farewell ceremony at Joint Base Andrews.
The letter-writing tradition between outgoing and incoming presidents is a relatively recent one, having been started lightheartedly by former President Ronald Reagan for his vice president George H.W. Bush. The message was written on stationary that included the aphorism “Don’t let the turkeys get you down” with a depiction of an elephant surrounded by said birds.
Donald Trump departed the White House on Wednesday morning for the final time as president, walking across the South Lawn and stepping into Marine One shortly after 8 a.m.
In brief remarks to reporters gathered outside the White House, Trump said being president had been a “great honor” and described the job as “the honor of a lifetime.” He did not respond to questions.
In the minutes before Trump’s exit, a small group of White House staffers could be seen carrying boxes to the presidential helicopter.
Trump left the White House en route Joint Base Andrews, where he will participate in a ceremonial send-off featuring current and former administration officials. He is also expected to give remarks there.
Incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday it was personally important to President-elect Joe Biden that a bipartisan delegation of congressional leaders join him at church on Inauguration Day morning.
Psaki said Biden hopes it will signal “the beginning of a path forward” to national healing and political unity at the outset of his term.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy are all expected to attend Mass with Biden at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington ahead of his swearing-in at noon.
Incoming first lady Jill Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and incoming second gentleman Douglas Emhoff will also attend.
More than six in 10 voters approve of the way Biden is handling the presidential transition, and his favorable rating has ticked up since winning the election.
When Joe Biden enters the White House on Wednesday, he’ll be taking office with something President Donald Trump never got: a honeymoon.
Polls — including a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll — show more Americans have a favorable opinion of Biden than during the campaign, a sign that he is riding a wave of increased support ahead of his inauguration as president. Since winning the election, Biden’s favorable rating in POLITICO/Morning Consult polls has ranged between 54 percent and 57 percent, his standing in the latest poll released on the eve of his swearing-in.
Biden’s bounce is still smaller than most other recent presidents, including Barack Obama, whose initial approval ratings were above 60 percent. But he is still easily outpacing Trump, whose poll numbers increased only slightly after winning the 2016 election and tumbled soon after taking office as a result of his combative style and unpopular policies.
Views of Biden, while positive overall, break sharply along partisan lines. Roughly nine in 10 Democratic voters, 91 percent, have a favorable opinion of the president-elect, but only 16 percent of Republicans view him favorably. Among independents, 52 percent view Biden favorably, while 41 percent have an unfavorable opinion.
President-elect Joe Biden is planning a blitz of unilateral action shortly after taking office on Wednesday that will mark his first extensive effort to undo the last four years under President Donald Trump.
On his first day in the White House, Biden will sign 15 executive actions covering the pandemic, economic relief, immigration, climate change and racial equity. He will also move to freeze dozens of last-minute Trump administration regulations and send an immigration bill to Congress that will provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.
The collective effort was characterized by multiple senior White House officials as “undoing” and “reversing” policies implemented by Trump that were “harmful” or “inhumane.” They’re also aimed at addressing the “overlapping and intertwined crises” that the Biden administration inherited, Gina McCarthy, the incoming White House domestic climate policy director, explained Tuesday on a call with other senior officials.
Biden’s orders signal an early willingness to flex his executive authority to advance core policy goals — though he has notably steered clear, so far, of using such powers to tackle the biggest wish-list items from progressives in his party. With a tied Senate, a slim House majority and a lasting Trump imprint on the federal judiciary narrowing the avenues open to Biden to enact his agenda, many Democrats have urged him to lean heavily on his executive powers in the years to come.
"news" - Google News
January 20, 2021 at 09:48PM
https://ift.tt/2XWXW05
Inauguration Day 2021: Live updates, online coverage & highlights - POLITICO
"news" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2DACPId
https://ift.tt/2Wh3f9n
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Inauguration Day 2021: Live updates, online coverage & highlights - POLITICO"
Post a Comment