'Do not move seat cards': Inside the Capitol Rotunda where Trump was sworn into office
WASHINGTON – Instead of looking out over a sea of people when he took his oath of office on Monday, President Donald Trump raised his right hand in front of an elite − and largely enthusiastic − audience crowded inside the Capitol Rotunda.
A chant of “USA! USA!” broke out after Trump became the second person in history to serve two non-consecutive terms as president.
The crowd made up primarily of members of Congress repeatedly stood to give Trump a standing ovation for his promises not to enter any new wars, to "drill baby drill," to designate cartels as terrorist organizations, and to send a mission to Mars, among others.
The last-minute change to an indoor ceremony made an invitation to the swearing-in even more coveted. Many members of Congress and other VIP guests, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams and brothers Jake and Logan Paul, were placed in the Capitol Visitor Center underneath the rotunda.
But even inside the room, who Trump prizes was on clear display: Tech billionaires Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Elon Musk of Tesla and X, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Sundar Pichai of Google had seats closer to the podium than future members of Trump's cabinet.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., chair of the inaugural ceremony committee, began the ceremony with a bipartisan message, even as Democrats are still stung by their loss against a political foe they thought they'd vanquished four years ago.
“Every one of us is in a position of responsibility… to view others with a generosity of spirit despite our differences,” she said in her opening remarks.
But Franklin Graham, son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, referred to the years Trump was out of office as "pretty dark."
“Look what God has done,” he concluded, as Republicans in the chamber cheered.
After taking his oath, Trump declared that "the golden age of America begins right now." Trump repeatedly said that God saved his life after he survived an assassination attempt last year, earning a standing ovation from Republicans.
"Yes!" members of the crowd shouted.
Outgoing President Joe Biden appeared to chuckle when Trump said that his inauguration will be considered "liberation day."
Long before the ceremony started, a few Republican House members − including Reps. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., Brian Babin, R-Texas, and Michael Guest, R-Miss – milled around the ornate round room, chatting and checking out the front seats reserved for high profile guests. Those meriting the best views included former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and conservative media personalities Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham.
“Do not move seat cards,” instructed a list of etiquette rules placed on each of the approximately 600 folding chairs. The rules also directed those with seats on the stage to refrain from holding up phones or other recording devices when Trump was sworn in. Those in the general audience showed no such restraint.
The first guests to take their seats were former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. The relationship between McConnell and Trump has at times been as nippy as the weather that forced the inauguration inside.
The red scarfs wrapped around the necks of the members of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Combined Choir might have been originally planned for the ceremony’s traditional location, the Capitol’s West Front.
The choir filled the air with the harmonies of “One Voice” in an interlude before the room began to fill.
Designed to evoke the Pantheon, the rotunda’s curved sandstone walls are divided by fluted Doric pilasters with wreaths of olive branches carved in the frieze above.
Massive paintings depicting scenes from the nation’s early history – the creation of the Declaration of Independence, General George Washington resigning his military commission, the discovery of the Mississippi River – ring the room.
Statues of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant stood guard behind the blue carpeted platform where Trump became president for a second time.
Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, had chatted on the stage as they waited for the event to begin. Trump tapped Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, with Elon Musk. But he's expected to announce soon that he's running for governor or Ohio.
Many GOP lawmakers were visibly excited to witness the inauguration. They took videos of themselves speaking to constituents back home and photo-bombed each other's selfies. Republican Reps. Nathaniel Moran of Texas, Laurel Lee of Florida and Juan Ciscomani of Arizona were among the many lawmakers photographing themselves grinning in the crowd.
These sorts of events are a potent reminder of the pecking order for members of Congress. House members filled much of the crowd, including rows packed back up against the wall near the small group of reporters allowed to attend. Senators got their own spot to the right of the rotunda.
Members of Congress couldn’t bring their spouses, but the tech executives could, drawing more attention to the role these billionaires could have in the new administration.
Others in the room included Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former lawyer who was disbarred for repeatedly making false claims about the 2020 election, and Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News. Multiple current and former Fox employees are joining the administration.
All nine members of the Supreme Court attended, as did former Justice Stephen Breyer.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh administered the oath of office to Vance whose wife, Usha, clerked for Kavanaugh when he served on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Usha Vance, who held her daughter in her arms during her husband's swearing in, also clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
When technical difficulties forced country music star Carrie Underwood to sing "America the Beautiful" a capella, she asked the crowd to join her − and clapped her approval at the end of the song.
The new pecking order was glaringly apparent as the announcer asked everyone in the rotunda to stay put until Trump departed.
As Trump's family filed out, former President Bill Clinton shook hands with everyone. Hillary Clinton and Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter, briefly chatted.
Trump and Vance were headed to the Capitol Visitors Center where Trump could address hundreds of supporters who'd had to watch his swearing-in remotely.
"You're a younger, far more beautiful audience than I just spoke to," Trump told the roaring crowd, joking that his comments were off-the-record so the "big shots" who had been in the rotunda won't think "you're more powerful than them."
Trump also told the crowd they would have been "very unhappy" if the ceremony had been outside because past audiences have often had to suffer through the January weather.
"There was no suffering in that room," he said. "It was perfect."