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45th president

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Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 45th US president after taking over from President Barack Obama in a ceremony at the Capitol Hill.

The new president has delivered his inaugural address before leading a parade to the White House.

He has painted a bleak picture of a broken country speaking of abandoned factories, crime and a failed education system as problems of the past, pledging that his presidency would bring about change.

President Trump said on the steps of the Capitol: “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.”

Thousands of Donald Trump supporters travelled across the country to witness the occasion from the National Mall.

The moment marks the end of an improbable journey for the billionaire after a campaign marked by controversy.

Shortly after the ceremony Donald Trump was seen signing his first official actions as the 45th president.

He sent his Cabinet nominations to the Senate as well as a signed a proclamation for a national day of patriotism, according to Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

Donald Trump also signed into law a waiver allowing retired Marine General James Mattis, his pick for defense secretary, to serve in the post.

In his inaugural address, President Trump promised to be the voice of the “forgotten people”, ignored by Washington politicians.

Today, he said, was “the day the people became rulers of this nation again”.

Image source CNBC

“I will fight for you with every breath left in my body and I will never ever let you down,” said President Trump after Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath.

“America will start winning again, winning like never before.

“We will bring back our jobs, bring back our borders, bring back our wealth and we will bring back our dreams.”

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence waved goodbye as the Bidens and Obamas left the Capitol.

Barack and Michelle Obama held hands as they boarded a military helicopter that took them to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

Barack Obama delivered remarks to staff and supporters before he and his wife flew to Palm Springs, California, for vacation.

He told a crowd they “proved the power of hope” and that “this isn’t a period, it’s a comma in the continuing story of building America”.

The historic moment drew congratulation messages from dignitaries around the world including Pope Francis, who said he was praying Donald Trump’s decisions would be guided by the “rich spiritual and ethical values” that have shaped America’s history.

Hillary Clinton, who lost to Donald Trump in a dramatic upset in November’s election, attended the ceremony with her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Former presidents and first ladies, including George W. Bush and his wife Laura as well as Jimmy Carter, were in attendance.

The only absences were 92-year-old George Bush Senior, who is in hospital being treated for respiratory problems, and his wife Barbara.

Members of Congress were also in attendance, although more than 50 House Democrats had refused to attend the ceremony in protest.

Donald Trump takes power at a time when the country appears to be deeply divided. He enters the presidency with historically low approval ratings.

He has vowed to roll back many of his predecessor’s policies, including repealing Barack Obama’s signature health care law and building a wall along the US-Mexico border.

Authorities arrested nearly 100 people protesting against the inauguration, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

Many were apprehended for “vandalism and destruction of property”, said spokesman Lieutenant Sean Conboy.

Sean Conboy also said two police officers were hurt during clashes.

Earlier, about 150 protesters dressed in black marched through Washington, smashing windows and rolling rubbish bins into the street to form blockades.

The Women’s March on Washington on Saturday – for racial and gender equality, and other issues perceived to be under threat from Mr Trump’s administration – is expected to draw about 200,000 people.

Meanwhile in New York, thousands of people attended a rally where dozens of celebrities and politicians voiced their concerns about the president-elect.

Some spectators had waited for hours, although crowd numbers seemed to be lower than some other recent inaugurations.

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More Democrats said they will boycott Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

The number of Democratic members of Congress boycotting the inauguration ceremony has increased to 26.

Many have cited as a reason Donald Trump’s recent attack on civil rights icon and fellow congressman John Lewis.

The president-elect lashed out at John Lewis on Twitter on January 13 after the civil rights campaigner said he was not a “legitimate president”.

Donald Trump said that John Lewis was: “All talk, talk, talk – no action or results.”

John Lewis was a prominent member of America’s civil rights movement and is a hero to many Americans. He was among those beaten by police during the infamous Selma-Montgomery voting rights march of 1965.

He joined the House of Representatives in 1987 and has served Georgia’s fifth congressional district, which Donald Trump went on to call “crime-infested”, ever since.

Image source Flickr

Donald Trump’s insults, made just days ahead of Martin Luther King Day, were the final straw for a number of Democrats who will break with tradition by missing the inauguration ceremony on January 20.

Yvette Clarke, one of five representatives for New York who will boycott the event, said: “When you insult Rep. John Lewis, you insult America.”

There are 535 members of Congress, across both houses.

California representative Ted Lieu said: “For me, the personal decision not to attend Inauguration is quite simple: Do I stand with Donald Trump, or do I stand with John Lewis? I am standing with John Lewis.”

Illinois representative Luis Gutierrez was the first member of congress to say he would boycott the inauguration – announcing his decision in December.

Luis Gutierrez told the House: “I could not look my wife, my daughters, or my grandson in the eye if I sat there and attended, as if everything that the candidate said about the women, the Latinos, the blacks, the Muslims, or any of those other things he said in those speeches and tweets, and that all of that is okay or erased from our collective memory.”

He has said he will attend the alternative Women’s March on Washington on January 21.

John Lewis’ announcement of his own boycott in an interview with NBC News, in which he said that Donald Trump was an illegitimate president, prompted the outburst from the president-elect.

Donald Trump’s inauguration will be the first not attended by John Lewis in all his 30 years in congress. He cited alleged Russian interference in the election among his reasons for regarding Donald Trump as illegitimate.

“You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong,” he told NBC News.

Sales of John Lewis’ memoir soared to the top of Amazon’s US bestseller list following Donald Trump’s attack, eventually selling out completely.

John Lewis led a sit-in protest at the House of Representatives in July 2016 to demand a vote on gun control legislation, in the wake of the deadly Orlando shooting.

Republicans adjourned the House early to try to quash the sit-in, switching off the TV cameras, but the C-Span network picked up live streams from some Democrats’ phones.

Katherine Clark, a representative for Massachusetts, was among the first to join John Lewis for the gun control protest. She said last week she would skip Donald Trump’s inauguration.

In a statement, Katherine Clark said: “Families in my district are fearful that the anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and divisive promises that drove the Trump campaign will become the policies affecting the health and safety of every American.

“I do not feel that I can contribute to the normalization of the president-elect’s divisive rhetoric by participating in the inauguration.”

Donald Trump has struggled to book any established musicians to perform at his ceremony, despite his team appearing to have cast a wide net.

The event will feature Jackie Evancho, a 16-year-old America’s Got Talent contestant, alongside military bands and the Radio City Rockettes, although some members of the Rockettes troupe have publicly refused to take part.

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