WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump has arrived in Washington Saturday evening for an inauguration celebration, taking place amidst record-breaking cold temperatures.
Trump was on board an Air Force plane sent by outgoing President Joe Biden to his home in Palm Beach, Florida, where the Republican had worked on his transition to power after winning the Nov. 5 election over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. His wife Melania, daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared are accompanying him on the plane.
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.
A blast of frigid weather forecast for Monday prompted Trump to move the inaugural ceremonies from the iconic west front of the US Capitol building to indoors in the Capitol Rotunda, and the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capital One Arena.
Trump will be sworn in at 12 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) and then delivers his inaugural address, a speech that typically sets the tone for the president’s new four-year term, from the rotunda inside the US Capitol.
It will be the first time since Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in January 1985 that the big event has been moved indoors.
