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CNN Live Event/Special
Live Coverage of Inauguration Day. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired January 20, 2025 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: His vice president, Kamala Harris, was defeated by Donald Trump, he has grown increasingly imbittered, we are told by sources, at the blame that he has gotten for Donald Trump's eventual return to the White House.
And one thing importantly that President Biden has been absolutely consistent about is this belief that he believes that had he stayed in the race, he would have defeated Donald Trump again.
Now, all of this adds up to, I would say, a mood of sadness and sort of this sense of tragedy here at the White House, those around him, believing and actually hoping that when history judges President Biden years from now, that it will be a little bit more forgiving than how the president is being widely judged, at least today.
Jake.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, MJ.
And what you're look at right now is a still photograph just released from President-elect Trump and First Lady to be Melania Trump inside St. John's Church. You can see their son Barron standing behind the first lady to be. You see Jared Kushner sitting in one of the pews. Other members of the Trump family sitting there in the pews. The church service is a tradition that has been going on in this country since FDR began Inauguration Day in 1933. Not every president has done it at St. John's Church, but it is a time-honored tradition.
Dana Bash.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: And that's quite a picture. You see the soon to be president again coming in with his wife, Melania, and Barron, who was quite small.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: He was 10 years old.
BASH: Ten years, eight years ago.
PHILLIP: And now he's towering over both of his parents.
BASH: And now he is the opposite of small.
TAPPER: He's a college student at - I believe he's at NYU. BASH: Yes.
TAPPER: He's a freshman at NYU.
BASH: And with Jared Kushner and Ivanka, his wife. Oh, and there you see a different picture.
TAPPER: There's J.D. There's - let's put back, guys, let's put back the one that we just - you just popped up, the one with President Trump there.
BASH: Yes.
TAPPER: President-elect Trump with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance sitting in the pews. The vice president, a member of the millennial generation.
BASH: Yes.
TAPPER: Donald Trump's completely skipping over gen x, going right to the millennials.
BASH: But - but can I just also make one other point if we go back to the - sorry, control room, we're driving you crazy. But the fact is that eight years ago Ivanka and Jared were going into the White House.
PHILLIP: Right.
BASH: This time they have made it very clear they are going to be members of the first family, and they are not going to officially go into the White House. They - she's talked very openly about how difficult it was.
TAPPER: And you see right there in between J.D. Vance, the vice president-elect and the president-elect is Usha Vance, the incoming second lady. It looks like she is smiling at First Lady to be Melania Trump, they are - they are smiling back and forth. And there, of course, on the - on the right side of your screen, Barron Trump, the first couple's son, who is a college freshman.
PHILLIP: This Trump family, as Dana was just pointing out, I mean the last time around too, two members of the Trump family came into the White House in official positions. But one of the differences now also is that you have the two other sons, Eric and Don Jr., who are playing really an outsized role in Trump's political life.
BASH: Yes.
PHILLIP: And even if they may not ever come to Washington, come into the White House, they are key members of the Trump inner circle. He said to his son, Don Jr. - or Don Jr. went on a trip to Greenland as Trump was talking about wanting to buy Greenland, and I think that the Trump family being this kind of unit, which is both now official and also they have enormous private businesses that are global in nature, is extraordinarily unusual. They're all gathered here in this church. But this family unit that is involved both in the public and the private is a feature of Trump world, and one that I think the country will be getting very accustomed to over the next four years.
TAPPER: Jamie Gangel can talk more about the decision of Jared Kushner and the first daughter, Ivanka Trump Kushner, to not enter the White House this time as they did last time.
Jamie.
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, as Dana said, look, we know they played very large roles in the first Trump administration. And they've said they're staying out officially.
That said, I think it's very important to not underestimate the influence the two of them have. Jared Kushner's father is now the ambassador - will be after confirmation - he's the nominee to be the ambassador to France. And Ivanka Trump, sources close to both of them have told me that behind the scenes they are both still playing a large role, that Jared is quite active, he weighs in on staffing, appointments, policy, and that Ivanka speaks to her father very often, and that she will weigh in as well.
[09:05:20]
So, they, you know, they won't have offices there, but they will be weighing in, Jake.
BASH: And I - we're going to do a lot of substance today and a lot of policy -
TAPPER: There's another picture.
BASH: Oh, there's a new picture.
TAPPER: There's another picture of the inside of St. John's Church. And you can see there, Ivanka Trump, the first daughter, also you see Eric Trump and Lara Trump a couple pews back.
BASH: And Marco Rubio.
TAPPER: Senator Marco Rubio, the secretary of state to be. We believe he - his confirmation will take place today.
BASH: Right.
TAPPER: He'll be the first member of the Trump administration to be confirmed by the Senate. I don't know if he's going to be confirmed unanimously, but it - but I do anticipate it will be a very overwhelming vote of support, Marco Rubio, in the U.S. Senate.
BASH: And as I was saying, we are going to do a lot of substance. But I don't know about you, the texts that I'm getting the most about is Melania and the soon to be first lady again. And I just want to say, I don't know if we have a picture -
TAPPER: About what she's wearing?
BASH: About what she's wearing because she has used her fashion to send messages really for eight years.
TAPPER: There she is, walking in.
BASH: The last - the last time that the -
TAPPER: Video from earlier today.
BASH: Donald Trump was elected she had kind of a Jackie O look going. This is definitely not a Jackie O -- I guess then Jackie Kennedy look.
TAPPER: OK.
BASH: Not - not even close. She's making some statement.
TAPPER: The number of - the number of texts I'm getting about what Melania Trump is wearing is zero, but -
BASH: Abby back me up here.
PHILLIP: Well, you know, look, I - one of the things about Melania Trump as a first lady is that she's honestly tried to be a kind of unconventional first lady. She did not play much of a role in the president-elect's campaign. Some of that perhaps could have been because - for personal reasons. Her mother passed away a year ago now. So, this last year was a difficult, personal year for her.
But in recent weeks, she's come out. She's put out a memoir. She's announced a $40 million movie deal with Amazon. She has said publicly that she plans to stand on her own two feet. I think she is - she - and she said some of this, she wants to push back on the people who think that she is just a silent person by her husband's side. And she is going back into the White House despite some questions about whether she would move back to Washington if he won. She is coming back to the White House and she has been very outspoken that she wants to do it in her way, to have her own opinion, to have staff who work for her, who are loyal, because, in the past, some of her staffers have changed their view on her and have spoken out against her since leaving the White House.
So, this is a very, I think, potentially very consequential first lady. We know that Donald Trump listens to her. She offers her advice and counsel. But she also understands him well and is very clear on the degree to which he listens to her, but he is his own person as well.
TAPPER: Here's another picture from inside St. John's Church. You see there from left to right, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and his wife, the incoming second lady, Usha Vance, President-elect Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Barron Trump, and then other members of the Trump family scattered throughout the pews. There's an image of Ivanka Trump and her family, as well as Eric Trump a couple pews behind as well.
Kaitlan Collins, we are anticipating after this church service there will be a procession of the president-elect and vice president-elect, their spouses, visiting the White House and the Trumps will be hosted by the outgoing president and first lady, the Bidens, for tea and coffee.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, a tradition, Jake, that we did not observe four years ago, of course, because Trump and Melania skipped Joe Biden's inauguration.
But I should note, Jake, we're looking at the St. John's Church right now. I've been in there several times. It's a very small church once you're actually inside the room. There's a bit of a balcony where guests can also be seated upstairs. And essentially every seat in that church is filled right now for this service.
And, Jake, there are some notable names in there that you can see that are not just in those pictures that you saw - showed where it's the cabinet officials. Of course, you expect Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and all of the officials who are going to be staffing Trump to be inside that room.
There is also people that you couldn't have imagined being in there four years ago or eight years ago. And that is some of the top tech executives in this country, including Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg I'm told are all inside the room for the church service this morning.
[09:10:11]
And what that speaks to, Jake, is just how different things are this time around. I mean four years ago a lot of these were companies that were issuing statements condemning January 6th and Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Now that he has won, and not only won the election, but also won the popular vote, which is a key dynamic as you're thinking about Trump coming back to Washington, and certainly in the way he's viewing it, is the access of influence around him. And these are three people who have been, in addition to others certainly who have made the trip to Mar-a-Lago, have been at all of these balls, and are also working to really curry favor with the incoming administration.
TAPPER: All right, Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much.
Let's go inside the Capital One Arena where we find our own CNN anchor Brianna Keilar.
And, Brianna, as Trump supporters, the American people start to trickle in to the arena for the inauguration viewing event, what are you hearing about what they're actually going to be able to see from inside the arena?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: There is going to be a parade which is actually news to a lot of the people who were initially trickling in and then kind of flooding in and then running for the seats because these very good seats here on the floor were actually first come, first serve.
So, there is going to be a parade, we're told. It's drastically paired back from what it was going to be outside. But there are going to be marching bands in here. How is that going to work? It's - it's sort of - you kind of have to
imagine how it might work, but there actually is quite a bit of floor space that is open. It's difficult to see. But the stage and the chairs behind me only take up about half of that. And the folks who are in here, who are filling up the Capital One Center, when I asked them about that, they didn't know. They're here to hear Donald Trump. They're - they are very excited about that. But they're also very excited about seeing any festivities that they can see. And they have been waiting so long, Jake.
I talked to some folks who said that they gathered at 4:15 a.m. I thought that was pretty early, that's pretty cold. It is freezing. It is below freezing here in Washington, D.C. But I spoke to some folks from Florida who so far have taken the cake when it comes to this. A woman who was up at 9:30 p.m. last night, a couple of guys who were - started waiting around midnight to get in here. Those are the folks who are sitting in the very front rows. So, that's really what it takes.
They have been up and they have been out for hours in this very, very cold weather to get the best seats in the house, Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Brianna, thanks so much.
It was, of course, the inauguration of 1841 where President William Henry Harrison gave a long inaugural address amidst the cold, wet weather, and caught a cold himself and died of pneumonia days later. The weather here in D.C. during an inauguration can be very, very challenging. And bitter cold temperatures here in D.C. today have clearly reshaped President-elect Trump's inauguration festivities and the inaugural itself.
CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is monitoring it all for us.
Derek, will today go down as one of the coldest inauguration days in history? Actually, we're having problems with Derek's signal, so let's - let's take that back.
And, Dana Bash, I mean, it is not a small thing that President Biden is hosting President-elect Trump.
BASH: No.
TAPPER: President Trump did not do the same for him four years ago. First Lady Melania Trump, pardon me, did not do the same for First Lady Jill Biden four years ago. And nonetheless, the Bidens are doing it for them.
BASH: There are so many contradictions happening this morning. On the one hand, you have President Biden, as you said, continuing to do things for Donald Trump that were not afforded to Biden from Trump. They met right after the election in the White House. And then, of course, they're having these traditional meetings, whether it is the tea, or the ride over to the White House. And that is Joe Biden's commitment to showing the world that democracy still works, that a real peaceful transition of power is still possible in the United States of America. And yet he began his last morning in office protectively pardoning people who he is worried that Donald Trump will go after in a way that is perhaps not in keeping with what a president of a democracy should or would do. And so that is - those are sort of the twin contradictory realities and dynamics that these men are facing as they face one another.
[09:15:04]
TAPPER: Let's - we're looking at - on the right side of your screen, St. John's Church, inside there. President-elect Trump standing there. And if you look closely, in the middle of your screen, back toward the stained glass, you'll see a face that looks a lot like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The genuflecting by tech CEOs coming to Donald Trump hat in hand, wanting to make friends with the new administration, has been something to behold.
Is that Joe Rogan to the right?
PHILLIP: I can see Tim Cook also there as well.
TAPPER: That looks like Joe Rogan to the right. To the bottom of the screen there.
Eric Trump, obviously. His wife Lara Trump. Their attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi, also in that shot, which for some reason they just broke away from even though I was talking about it.
BASH: Yes.
TAPPER: Abby Phillip.
PHILLIP: Yes, the first point I just - to touch on what Dana was saying, I mean, Donald Trump has always been the beneficiary of American traditions. And people around him honoring American traditions. And today is one more example of that, even when he does quite a few things to try to tear down those very traditions.
But then the second thing on the folks who are in that church, we are about to enter an incredibly consequential era for this country. And Donald Trump knows that. The question is, how is it going to go? The reason that those folks are in that room -
TAPPER: Here is President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden. This is the White House. They are expecting President-elect Trump and First Lady to be Melania Trump. They are hosting them, inviting them for coffee and tea. They will be in the Blue Room of the White House, after which the current first couple, the Bidens, will depart and they will go back to Delaware. We're expecting that to be The Beast containing President-elect Donald Trump and First Lady to be - oh, this is - this is Vice President Harris, I'm being told. Vice President Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman.
So, we're expecting them to come out. They did not host the Vances at the vice presidential residence at the Naval Observatory. There are - there are the Vances right now leaving the church. Vice President- elect J.D. Vance and Usha Vance. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where's Elon?
TAPPER: And here we see the vice president - outgoing vice president and second gentleman, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff greeting the Bidens. It has been a long, complicated history between these two families.
And then, of course, after Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21st, Vice President Harris became the nominee. And there has been all sorts of awkward back and forth about whether or not he could have won instead of her. Hopefully they are not thinking about that right now. This is a moment in history.
BASH: And what a moment it is. She was hoping that she would be the one coming from the church service on the way to her inauguration. And instead, she is the outgoing vice president.
PHILLIP: Yes, I mean, but, you know, just to emphasize, I mean, this is what this country is supposed to be able to do. The sitting vice president ran against someone who was a president, lost, and is there at the White House to welcome him and his wife and family into the people's house.
And this is all very symbolic, but it's extremely important because this process is what distinguishes the United States from a lot of other parts of the world. And it is done hand in glove, the outgoing with the incoming. There is a turnover so that there is a seamless transition for the American people at all levels of government. And we can - there's a lot of bad feeling in the country right now. A lot of feelings of vindication and retribution on the right, of anger and disappointment on the left. But we should sit here and remember that once the election is over, this is the moment that makes us an American democracy.
And when you go back to just the inaugural that people here at CNN have covered, you remember Jimmy Carter hosting the Reagans in 1981.
BASH: Yes.
TAPPER: After a bitterly fought election. And you - and you remember all of the tough election fights. Even if somebody didn't run against directly, for instance, George W. Bush didn't run directly against Bill Clinton, but his election was in many ways a repudiation of Bill Clinton, I mean his campaign was.
[09:20:00]
Still, this tradition that you speak of, Abby, endures as an important one to show the American people that at the end of the day we all are American people. We are more than just rival political parties or systems of belief. We are together Americans. This was something that was denied the American people four years ago. It is good to see it again today.
BASH: Deny the American people and deny President Biden and the first lady and their administration. And as much as this is a moment to behold, to celebrate as part of the tradition of America, it can't be forgotten what happened four years ago. We won't dwell on it, but we have to remember it because it is part of history.
TAPPER: And it can't happen again. I think that's one of the important parts of the reminder of what we're watching now with this - these important traditions, celebrating and representing the peaceful transfer of power. This was not the result that Joe Biden wanted. This was not the result that Kamala Harris wanted. And yet they are respecting the will of the American people, which is that Donald Trump legally, lawfully, and with no credible evidence of anything untoward was elected overwhelming by the American people.
PHILLIP: And say what you will about Joe Biden's policies, his decisions while in office. This is a man who spent 50 years in public life. He - we're looking at pictures here of Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, sitting next to each other, it looks like by the image, inside of St. John's Church, as this church ceremony is ongoing there. It's not open to the press, but we're seeing a few images trickling out.
BASH: And, Abby, this is what, in his final speech, Joe Biden referred to as the tech industrial complex.
PHILLIP: Yes. Yes.
I mean I was saying earlier about just these guys here and -
TAPPER: Just because I don't know that everybody - so - so, we should just note, so, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and founder of Facebook or Meta. Tim Cook, you only see the top of his head there, he's the head of Apple. Jeff Bezos, on the right there, the bald guy, looking to his side, he is the CEO of Amazon.
PHILLIP: Yes.
TAPPER: Amazon, which we should note, has a multimillion dollar documentary deal with the -
BASH: $40 million.
PHILLIP: $40 million.
TAPPER: $40 million with - with First Lady -- incoming First Lady Melania Trump, who is coming out of the church right now, St. John's Church, with President-elect Trump.
They are going to go back to Blair House, we're told. And then, after that, there will be a procession to the White House where the Trumps will greet - or the Bidens, rather, will greet the Trumps and welcome them back to the White House.
PHILLIP: This era for the country, the next four years, is going to be pivotal. Those gentlemen are in the church and several other tech leaders are in Washington because, as a globe, we're dealing with the development of artificial intelligence. And that man right there on the screen, the incoming president of the United States, is going to be one of the most pivotal players in determining how that develops.
This is going to be potentially transformational for the globe, for the economy. And Donald Trump understands that he has that power. He has welcomed them in. But - but they're - but they're not all holding hands necessarily, OK. They are in competition with one another. They are trying to obtain government contracts. And as President Biden warned, it is important for, you know, the private sector to have a role. But - but there is concern about unfettered power, of people who have profit motive that are different from the needs and the best interests of the American people.
BASH: And that is really the key. The about face of pretty much all of those tech leaders, those tech giants, among the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world being not just in that church, being at all of these events, hosting events, giving a lot of money for this inauguration, changing, in the case of Mark Zuckerberg in particular, entirely the way that he and his platform, which is incredibly influential, are approaching things like freedom of speech, things like fact checking, in a way that is going to please - intended to please Donald Trump. And that's the entire reason that he is doing it.
He's trying to keep up with the times. And these are Trump times. It's also about self-preservation and making sure that he is not the target, and a lot of these guys are not the target of Donald Trump, as Trump has warned.
TAPPER: So, let's go to Pamela Brown, who was outside St. John's Church, and also was able to hear some of what took place inside.
Pamela.
[09:25:01]
PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, so, Jake, just feet from me is the suburban where incoming President Trump and incoming First Lady Melania Trump are sitting. They just left this service here at St. John's. And I was able to shout to Donald Trump and asked him how he was feeling today, and he said very good as he opened the door to allow his wife, Melania Trump, to go inside the suburban.
So, he didn't answer other questions. We did ask about what he thought about the pardons from President Biden today. Of course, as you know, he is going to the White House to have tea and coffee with President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. So, that should be interesting in the wake of those preemptive pardons.
But there is very - lots of family members inside from the Trump family, Ivanka, Eric Trump, Don Jr. And we know Elon Musk inside as well. Dana White inside. And as Kaitlan reported, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, some of these tech executives who have - we have seen try to curry favor with Donald Trump this time around. This is certainly a different inauguration for Donald Trump than it was eight years ago.
I asked him about that, how it felt different, he didn't - he didn't answer that question. But he did say he is feeling very good today.
Jake.
TAPPER: Yes.
If I could just - before I throw it to Anderson, just bring back the photograph of the tech bros inside St. John's Church. There's just one other thing I want to show. So, we see Mark Zuckerberg on the left with the curly hair, CEO of Meta. Tim Cook, his face is blocked, but he has the white hair, CEO of Apple. Jeff Bezos on the right there, the bald gentleman looking his right, the CEO of Amazon.
The gentleman behind Mark Zuckerberg is Sunder Pichai. He's the CEO of Google. And, Anderson, between those four people plus Elon Musk from Twitter or X, those five people that I just mentioned, the four in the photograph and also Elon Musk, control so much of the information that we receive. So much is in their hands when it comes to ascertaining, monitoring, or refusing to monitor what is real, what is not real.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
TAPPER: And we're about to enter an era of deepfakes, and all sorts of misinformation. And the degree to which those five gentleman play a role or do not play a role will be pivotal in terms of where the American people are four years from now in terms understanding - in terms of understanding what is true and what is false.
COOPER: You're also - you said we, not - you're not just talking about we, the United States, you're talking about the world. All the human beings on the planet. They control access to information. They're the gatekeepers in many ways to information for the entire planet.
Van, you had some thoughts seeing that picture of all of them there.
VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, look, I mean that picture is going to be historic. I call it the revenge of the nerds. Don't forget, all four of those gentlemen, four years ago, were supporting the Democratic Party.
And untold story here is how the Democrats go from four years ago to having the White House, the Senate, the House and Silicon Valley, to now all four are in the hands of Donald Trump. This is not the brilliance of Donald Trump alone. The amazing political genius of Donald Trump alone. The Biden administration pushed out the tech sector by having a view that all crypto is a scam and all big business is bad. And what happened is, those - those folks went begging to Donald Trump - not to Donald Trump, to the Biden administration, would you please, for crypto, just give us rules, regulations, clarity. We'll do a good job. The Biden administration never gave them clear rules, but instead would do a regulation by enforcement. It drove -
COOPER: Sued them.
JONES: It sued them, sued them, sued them. Drove them nuts. Elon Musk was an Andrew Yang Democrat. But when Joe Biden did his EV summit, he left Elon out. There were so many unforced errors on the part of the Biden administration, who I love, Joe Biden, who I love. But I'm a California Democrat. I'm an innovation first Democrat. Those four are all our folks who got pushed out of our party because we didn't have an innovation first approach from the Biden White House. And we're now paying the price.
It's not just that we lost the White House, the House, the Senate, we lost Silicon Valley in the past four years, and you got nobody to blame at the end of the day but us.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There is - there is - point well taken. There's another element, though, to this, which is, Donald Trump has made very clear that he is willing to use the regulatory power, the power of the Justice Department, all levers of power to reward allies and friends, punish enemies, and that has brought a lot of the business community to heel.
[09:29:59]
COOPER: Yes. Well, (INAUDIBLE) -
AXELROD: And one of the hindrances that Democrats have is that they believe in rules and laws and norms and institutions.
COOPER: Yes, it's a -
AXELROD: Trump does not.
COOPER: Look, it's -
AXELROD: And that is an advantage