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CNN Live Event/Special

CNN's Special Coverage on the Inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 20, 2025 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[03:00:00]

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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Erica Hill, in New York.

We are just hours away now from a historic moment. Donald J. Trump is set to take the oath of office for a second time to complete his return to the White House. He'll be sworn in as the 47th president inside the Capitol Rotunda, freezing temperatures, forcing the ceremony indoors this time around.

We've also learned that outgoing President Joe Biden and Trump will ride together from the White House in the same limo to the Capitol. Biden will also follow presidential tradition, we've learned, by leaving a letter for Trump in the Oval Office.

The President-elect, for his part, getting his celebration started a bit early with a campaign-style rally on Sunday on what he called the eve of taking back our country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: We won. What a good feeling. We like winning, don't we?

I'm thrilled to be back with so many friends, supporters and true American patriots on the eve of taking back our country. That's what we're going to do, take back our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Trump spoke to supporters at the Capital One Arena in Washington. He also laid out an aggressive plan Sunday night to tackle his top priorities, including immigration reform.

Sources tell CNN Trump intends to issue more than 100 executive orders and actions on his first day in office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Oh, you're going to have a lot of fun watching television tomorrow. Somebody said yesterday, sir, don't sign so many in one day. Let's do it over a period of weeks. I said, like hell we're going to do it over weeks. We're going to sign them at the beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Trump also told the crowd the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas happened only because he won re-election. He also took a victory lap for getting TikTok back online after promising to issue an executive order to delay the app's ban in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When this audience goes with TikTok, many are very popular. And frankly, we have no choice. We have to save it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Later on Sunday, Trump again pledged to deliver those executive orders and actions, this time at a glitzy candlelight dinner in Washington. Trump made the remarks in front of guests, including Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, as well as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Musk, of course, has grown very close to Trump, spending a lot of time there and will help to lead Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency Agency.

Joining me to discuss, CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein, Republican strategist Noelle Nikpour, and CNN political commentator Maria Cardona. It is going to be a very busy day in Washington, kicking things off, of course, with the inauguration. But then, as Donald Trump has promised, there will be a flurry of activity.

Ron, let's start, though, if we could, on sort of the little bit of pomp and circumstance that we will see. Right. We'll see the inauguration leading up to that.

The Bidens are hosting the Trumps for tea and coffee, close to the press, but ought to be a fly on the wall. And then the fact that the two will be -- they will be riding in the same vehicle to the Capitol.

This is an effort, I suppose, to continue some of the norms. I wonder, Ron, is it still necessary? What does it mean to do this?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST AND SR. EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC": Yeah. Look, I think there are a lot of you know, there are no shortage of Democrats who are frustrated that Biden has normalized the transition in the way and in some respects view this as the extension of the entire four years.

I mean, the desire to kind of the belief in the Biden administration, that reestablishing all of these kind of norms that Trump shredded as president, including, you know, his actions on the final days of 2021, the reestablishing those norms would somehow win them, you know, support among voters. And that's how you got Merrick Garland and a very kind of tentative

Justice Department that I think Maria can talk to. Many Democrats still believe that the key reason Donald Trump is returning to the White House is because Merrick Garland waited so long, really only when his hand was swept by the January 6th committee to look at, you know, investigating Trump's actions after the 2020 election.

Speaking of the pomp and circumstance, I just want to note that historical trivia point. I was actually at inside the rotunda when the Reagan inaugural was moved inside in 1985 through a strange sequence of events.

I was a pool reporter for the White House. That was very improvisational. Last minute. I don't think they announced it till the day before.

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It'll be interesting to see how they handle this, because, you know, that was you go from a podium where a lot of people are expecting to be there next to the president to the rotunda. We're talking about a few hundred people.

I remember, as I recall pretty clearly, there was a senator sitting next to me on the edge of the press riser, you know, on the wood under all of the cameras. So, in terms of pomp and circumstance, it we need to see how Trump handles it.

Also, the speech -- you know, it's a different kind of speech when you're in a room that small than when you're kind of speaking to the masses out on the mall. So, it's a different beast and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

HILL: Yeah, it's a great point just in terms of that small room and small number of people versus when you're out there having been at a couple of inaugurations, but never went inside myself. So I love having that perspective from you, Ron.

The speech, we're told, will be about unity, Noelle, will be about bringing the country together. And then the work sets in. Donald Trump has talked about the number of executive orders and actions that will be there.

And there's been a lot of focus on these mass deportations. Look, we know that overwhelmingly the American people in polling do support deporting people who have come here illegally. That being said, there's a big difference between people who have come here illegally and people who are here illegally and have committed crimes in terms of these mass deportations.

Is there any sense or any concern, I should say, that it could backfire depending on how those go down?

NOELLE NIKPOUR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think that Tom Holman knows that all eyes are going to be on him. He is extremely aware of the situation. He's a strong patriot. And I think that, you know, he has said numerous times he is going to

be focused on the criminals that are here. I mean, that is the number one top priority.

Republicans are not looking to just drag people that are here and families and separate the children and that. They are focused on getting the bad actors here. The people that are in the gangs.

We've had a lot of gang violence here. We've had a lot of people coming from all kinds of countries that are doing criminal activities with drug and murders and all kinds of things.

Tom Holman is focusing on the bad people, the bad immigrants that are here that are criminals. And they have stated over and over again that that is their number one focus.

And you've got Stephen Miller. You've got Kristi Noem, you know, Kristi Noem. These people have children. They have families. They're not going in with the intentions of trying to break up families and separate children.

They are focused, number one, on getting these criminals out of our country. So that's the first thing. And Tom Holman knows that all eyes are on him.

And how he handles this is extremely important. That's why he has stated over and over again that his focus is on getting the illegal criminals out of here.

HILL: Maria, what are you anticipating?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I actually anticipate we're going to see a lot of pain, a lot of cruelty in communities across the country, because both Stephen Miller and Tom Holman have said that they want to go beyond the criminal undocumented immigrants.

They want to get rid of all undocumented immigrants. And even when they say, quote unquote, "criminal," that is a very large top -- a very large category. And let's be very clear, getting rid of criminal undocumented immigrants has always been the priority of every administration, Republican and Democrat.

That has never been a policy that has not been in place. Republicans and Donald Trump talk like it's something that the Biden administration never did or the Obama administration never did, when in fact they deported to the chagrin of many Democratic activists. And Ron knows as well, more undocumented immigrants and more criminal undocumented immigrants than any Republican predecessor had before them.

And so the focus for what Donald Trump wants to do, per Stephen Miller, is to get rid of every undocumented immigrant that is here. And in fact, Stephen Miller wants to go beyond that. If you look at the list of what Donald Trump has said he wants to do on immigration, it includes getting rid of birthright citizenship. It does include going beyond the criminal elements among the undocumented population. And so by definition, that is going to mean separating families.

[03:10:02]

There are millions of families in this country that are mixed status families that are made up of U.S. citizens, residents and people without documents. Those families are going to suffer. And so this is where I think you're going to see a big backlash among the American people, because, yes, in general, if you ask them in a vacuum, they do support deporting undocumented immigrants.

But where it becomes a problem is when they start understanding what that actually means for the communities that they live in. It means deporting the teachers, the people who run the markets on the weekend, the people who work in construction, the people who take care of their children, the people who work in the hotels that they go and spend their vacations in.

And so that is where I think that Donald Trump is going to run into this problem from the words that he speaks to the reality of what this is going to mean and the images that are going to be on television. And I think it's going to create a massive backlash for the Trump administration.

Very similar, similar to what happened in 2017 and 2018 when they started ripping babies from the arms of their mothers. And so they need to be really careful about that.

HILL: I do want to quickly play one other moment from earlier Sunday or from Sunday evening, I should say, at this celebration that Donald Trump held. He talked specifically about DEI, which has become a four letter word, it seems. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to stop the destructive and divisive diversity, equity and inclusion mandates all across the government and private sector and return our country to the merit system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Ron, it can be a great buzzword, sort of like woke that has lost its meaning. How important is that?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, it's interesting, I mean, certainly from the beginning, going back to 2016, one of the binding points of agreement in the Trump coalition has been the belief that discrimination against whites is now as big a problem as discrimination against minorities.

Two-thirds or more of Trump voters have historically said that there are a lot of not to the point I made in the last hour. There are a lot of nonwhite voters who probably don't agree with that, but who voted for Trump anyway because they consider inflation and to some extent the chaos at the border a bigger concern.

But, you know, this is really you know, this is whatever the politics of this at any given moment.

Here's the reality. A majority of high school graduates have been kids of color since around 2018. We're very soon getting to the point where a majority of entering college first year students will be kids of color. Majority of all college students will be kids of color.

And it is very difficult to run a society that is increasingly diverse at the base and in the mass and have, you know, a kind of a world in which most of the positions at the top in the public and private sector are still held by whites. I mean, that is just a formula for social tension stretching out for decades.

So, you know, there is a clear backlash against DEI that Trump and Republicans are benefiting from. But in the long run, as a society, we have to figure out a way to kind of diversify the room at the top, because that is what our society is becoming. It is becoming a more diverse place.

And it won't work very well if you basically are telling the majority of the majority of kids, the majority of kids under 18 are kids of color, that there are very few pathways for them to the top.

HILL: Rohan, I just renamed you, Ron. Ron, Noel, Maria, thank you. Stick with us. We've got more to discuss later in the hour.

Also ahead here, in addition to the dozens of executive orders and actions that Donald Trump has outlined, he and his team have drafted a list of day one pardons for convicted January 6th rioters. We're going to take a closer look at that.

Also ahead, I'll speak with an expert on what the Trump presidency could mean for the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. That's ahead.

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HILL: As this fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas enters its second day, President-elect Donald Trump is claiming full credit for the Gaza ceasefire hostage deal, saying it happened as a result of his, quote, "historic election victory."

Meantime, as it is unfolding, so many emotional scenes coming out of the region today from both Israel and the West Bank, as well as Gaza. The three freed hostages, Israeli hostages, as you see here, being reunited with their family members after spending 471 days in captivity. Large crowds in the West Bank, greeting the first group of 90 Palestinian prisoners to be released as part of the deal.

While in Gaza, Palestinians are beginning to return to their bombed out neighborhoods and what's left of them, frankly, in hopes of rebuilding their lives as aid trucks also resume deliveries in the enclave.

Paula Hancocks is following all the latest developments for us from Abu Dhabi at this hour. So, Paula, bring us up to speed on where things stand.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, over the last 24 hours, we have seen some true scenes of joy, something that has been sadly lacking for well over a year in this region.

Now, there were emotional reunions and images that the families of hostages had been dreaming of for all that time and also for more than two million people in Gaza had been dreaming of the guns falling silent.

So we have seen some very positive images. But of course, the challenges ahead remain incredibly high.

Now, we did hear from the head of UNRWA. He's the head of the U.N. agency in Gaza, which looks after Palestinian refugees.

[03:20:01]

And he said it is a good first day of the ceasefire, hearing children play as opposed to hearing ordinance in the sky.

Now, we did also hear from the Red Cross. They were very much involved in Gaza when it came to helping the hostages. And they said that it was a very complex operation to facilitate the release of those three female hostages, saying it required vigorous security measures.

We did see a number of Hamas militants and great crowds surrounding those jeeps as they were released. So we are getting more details about exactly how it did happen.

Now, we also saw when the 90 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli prisoners, there was celebration, there was jubilation surrounding that release.

We saw the buses carrying those prisoners being followed by huge crowds. Now, these were scenes of celebration that Israel had said that they did not want to see, but it was simply impossible to prevent. Erica.

HILL: Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, thank you.

Let's take you down to Bahrain, where I'm joined by Hasan Alhasan, a senior fellow for Middle East Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Good to have you with us at this hour. As we look at where things stand, you know, two days into this ceasefire, there are questions about next steps. But overall, how are you feeling about these first two days?

HASAN ALHASAN, SR. FELLOW FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: Well, I think it's very difficult not to feel a very significant degree of relief and elation that the ceasefire deal has finally materialized, that the suffering of innocent civilians is finally coming to an end.

Let's remember that the toll of this war has been extremely significant, unprecedented in many ways. Over 46,000 Palestinians killed, many hundreds of thousands displaced, maimed, injured.

And I think the most tragic aspect of this war has been the fact that it's been children who have been disproportionately targeted and affected by the conflict.

So I think there is an overwhelming sense of relief. But there is at the same time, I think, a realization that as a matter of fact, the ceasefire could have happened quite some time ago.

The framework of the current ceasefire has been in place since May. Israeli military leadership, whether former Defense Minister Gallant or Chief of Defense Staff Halevi, have been saying for months that Israel has achieved its military objectives in Gaza.

And so, in fact, it was obvious that the missing ingredient was decisive and serious, credible U.S. weighing in on and using its leverage to push Hamas, but especially Israel, to accept a ceasefire agreement. And it's, I think, highly tragic that the Biden administration failed to do exactly that.

HILL: Do you think that that leverage will continue to be used by the Trump administration to prevent a return to war?

ALHASAN: That's the hope, but there is significant risk, actually, that this ends up being a one-phase deal. The idea at the moment is that this is the initial phase of the deal with an initial exchange of captives and prisoners and hostages. And then what should begin is a good-faith negotiation for a second phase and eventually a permanent ceasefire.

Now, it's clear that there are many, especially among Netanyahu's right-wing coalition partners, perhaps Netanyahu himself, who actually want a permanent conflict, a permanent war as opposed to a permanent ceasefire.

There's been talk that there have been guarantees that Israel would return to resume hostilities once the initial exchange of hostages and prisoners is completed. We've already heard Netanyahu roll back on one of the commitments and the ceasefire agreement as it stands to withdraw Israeli troops from the Philadelphi corridor.

And he's already said that there will be no such withdrawal in the current phase. And so, I think the real risk is that this ends up being a one-phase deal where we see a release of prisoners, detainees and captives on both sides, but then the hostilities resume and continue.

And for that not to happen, we will have to see the Trump administration continue to use its leverage to ensure a good-faith progress towards a permanent ceasefire. HILL: There's also, you know, we look at these pictures of

Palestinians returning home. I mean, home is tough because in many cases there is nothing left of what was their home.

The talk of what could come next, even just the rebuilding, is a massive undertaking. The fact that aid is now getting in. This is going to last for some time, whether it resumes or not.

Where should they start in this moment to rebuild?

[03:25:05]

ALHASAN: Well, I think the immediate priority is obviously for the guns to fall silent. And once that happens in a sustainable manner, humanitarian, urgent, basic humanitarian aid and assistance can come in. And so that's cleaning -- clean water, food, basic medicines.

Of course, the task of clearing the rubble, let alone reconstruction, is going to be absolutely momentous. I think north of 70 percent of all infrastructure, of all buildings, of all structures in Gaza have been destroyed. Most homes have been destroyed. Most schools and hospitals have been destroyed.

And so the effort to clear the rubble, to begin to build some of the basic infrastructure is going to take years. It's going to take a significant commitment by regional Arab donors, by Western donors as well. But I think none of that can happen if we don't have a sustainable, a permanent, a lasting ceasefire.

Because if the hostilities were to resume, if there was a significant chance of that happening, then you might see a significant degree of reluctance by donors to reinvest money in building the infrastructure and structures that will simply get destroyed by the next cycle of violence.

HILL: Dr. Hassan Alhasan, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

ALHASAN: Thank you.

HILL: As we are counting down now to the inauguration of Donald Trump for his second term, we'll take a closer look at some of those goals that he has set for just the first 24 hours of his administration.

Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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[03:30:00]

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Welcome back to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. Half past the hour, I'm Erica Hill, joining you from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT; Tomorrow, everybody in this very large arena will be very happy with my decision on the J6 hostages. Very happy. I think you'll be very, very happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: President-elect Donald Trump, they're at a victory rally in Washington on Sunday, highlighting just one of his many day one priorities after he is sworn into office a few hours from now.

The ambitious agenda includes about 100 executive orders and actions in just the first 24 hours of his second term. They range from tightening border security to tackling issues with U.S. energy production.

Trump's swearing in is expected around midday. It takes place inside the Capitol Rotunda. The ceremony, of course, has been moved indoors due to the bitter cold weather that is in the forecast for today.

In that moment that you just heard from the rally on Sunday night, you heard Donald Trump reference the J6 hostages. That is how he refers to the convicted January 6th rioters. According to two sources familiar with Trump's plans, the president-elect and his team have drafted a slate of pardons for some of the people associated with storming the Capitol four years ago.

The full extent of those initial pardons is still unclear, but he has long vowed to deliver on a campaign promise, telling Time Magazine in December, quote, "I'll be looking at J6 early on, maybe the first nine minutes."

Welcome back to our panel, CNN senior political analyst Rob Brownstein, Republican strategist Noelle Nikpour, and CNN political commentator Maria Cardona. Good to have all of you with us.

I just want to put up, I hope we can put up these numbers that we have. When we look overall at the number of people who were charged, convicted and sentenced, it is large.

Some 1600, about 80 percent, ultimately resulting in guilty pleas or trial convictions. At least 600 of these, of the 1,600 people charged, were charged with serious felony offenses.

And there is not a lot of appetite for overturning, for pardoning those people, as we have in recent polling, which I think we can put up as well, showing those numbers. Look at that. Just 35 percent would approve of pardoning them.

Noelle, you noted last hour that this is not something you would advise needs to be a top priority for Donald Trump on day one. Is this simply a way of getting it out of the way?

NOELLE NIKPOUR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, you know, there's something I was thinking about. And if you're going to release a lot of actions, if you're going to have a rapid fire, so to speak, like we were talking about, of different executive orders and different things going on, the, you know, January 6th might kind of get lost in the shuffle because, you know, you're in the media, you cover the news.

If you've got all kinds of things coming at you at once, you're probably not going to, you know, pick this one issue to focus on. So maybe that's part of the strategy is to release these things, he said, within the first nine minutes, maybe.

You've got a lot of orders. You've got a lot of things coming down the pipe. They're going to be moving fast.

You've talked about, you know, we talked about in the first half of the hour talking about immigration and what's going to go on there.

There are so many things to focus on. If you're in the media, maybe the strategy is roll them all out there because you're not going to be able to really focus on one thing for too long. So maybe this is what they're going to do.

HILL: Ron, to Noelle's point, does it help to sort of muddy the waters with throwing so much out there on day one that it is tough to pick up all the threads?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST AND SR. EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC": Now, Steve Bannon, remember in the first term, talked about flooding the zone with, you know, look, I think this is actually a kind of reflective of a larger question.

There's no doubt that Donald Trump comes back into the presidency with a bigger potential audience than he had the first time. I mean, the pretty broad sense among a lot of groups and a lot of places that the Biden presidency, rightly or wrongly, the sense that they did not deliver the results they expected has given Trump a bigger audience, more people who are open to him than when he first got there.

And in many ways, it is similar to the opportunity that the sense that Jimmy Carter failed created for Ronald Reagan. But that is the word to underline opportunity. I mean, because you have more voters who are open to you doesn't mean you can ultimately speak to them and hold them.

[03:35:08]

Ronald Reagan did. I mean, he built a very broad coalition that ultimately got him to 59 percent of the vote and 49 states in 1984. And the question for Trump is whether, you know, someone who has been a base politician, a very divisive politician, really has the bandwidth to try to craft an agenda that does reach beyond and hold people beyond his core supporters.

And, you know, starting off your presidency, allowing Democrats to say in two years and four years that the first thing he did when he got behind the desk was pardon the people who, you know, rioted in the Capitol and attacked police officers is not really the kind of instinct that that would reflect meeting the moment, meeting the opportunity that the sense of disenchantment with Biden has opened for him. HILL: I was struck by something else that was brought up on Sunday

night at that rally, talking specifically about investigations into assassinations. And this is what the promise was from President-elect Trump. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: As the first step toward restoring transparency and accountability to government, we will also reverse the over classification of government documents. And in the coming days, we are going to make public remaining records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other topics of great public interest. It's all going to be released, Uncle Sam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: So I will note in his first term, Donald Trump actually agreed not to release the full tranche of JFK documents at the request of national security agencies, which is typically how it goes, even when things have been declassified before.

You've got CIA, Pentagon say -- a number of them saying, hey, you have to be careful here, right, because this could expose the identities of confidential sources. Why are there still alive may still be alive? Maria, how much of a priority do you think this is?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think it's a priority for Donald Trump to protect national security if it's about something that he really wants to do, that he'll get, in his mind, a lot of credit for and be hugely popular for, which could be something that could come out of this.

But I think this goes to the bigger issue about the danger of Donald Trump in a second term where he is a lame duck president, where he doesn't have to worry about getting reelected, where he doesn't even have to worry about keeping either the expansion of voters that he was able to achieve in this election or even his base, because he's lame duck.

He's got four years essentially to do whatever the hell he wants. And we have already seen the kinds of things that he wants to do. And we've already also seen that he is not just going back on his campaign promise to deal with people's groceries, gas and rent and the lowering of those prices, which is what he said he would do.

And frankly, the reason why he got people beyond his MAGA supporters to vote for him, he's already admitted that he can't really do that, but that he's focused on other things that will bring him either popularity, grandiosity, get other people to bend the knee and genuflect at the altar of Donald Trump, like the oligarchy has done, like the world's billionaires are doing, like leaders from across the world, authoritarian leaders who want to be in good with him have done.

And so things like acquiring Greenland and going after the Panama Canal even by force if needed, those are not things that are going to bring down the cost of Americans' groceries, gas and rent.

And so to Ron's point, I think this is exactly right. This is a big opportunity for Democrats to underscore to the American people just how much Donald Trump does not have their interests in mind. He doesn't really care about their groceries, gas and rent.

And that's going to give Democrats a huge opportunity going into the midterm elections to say we're the ones who actually know how to govern, respect the Constitution, will bring back for real our democracy.

And we will continue to bring down the price of groceries, gas and rent the way that we did working with Joe Biden during his presidency.

HILL: Before we get to all of that, there is, of course, going to be an inauguration later today. Ron, before I let all of you go, I love the fact that we had you inside as the pool reporter for the last inside inauguration. But what are you watching for?

[03:40:06]

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, I think I'm really watching for the tone, right? I mean, is it American carnage redux or is it someone who believes he can reach beyond his core base and in some way cement that into his movement?

You know, as I say, Trump has been throughout his career a base politician, one who has focused more on energizing his core supporters by demonizing people outside of his coalition than he has about trying to woo them in.

He did broaden the coalition. I mean, he made historic gains among nonwhite voters, especially men, largely because of their discontent over the economy.

And, you know, I don't think, you know, at 78, there's not going to be a new Donald Trump. You know, that that's not really on offer, but there is the chance for a different nuance, you know, and a lot of what we saw in the transition was the continuation of kind of very polarizing approach on a lot of, you know, whether it's the wildfires in California or other issues.

And I think, you know, we'll have to see the inauguration. The inaugural address is not always a perfect, you know, guidepost for what's coming. But if you don't go big, broad and inclusive in the inaugural address, it's probably not coming later.

HILL: Ron Brownstein, Noelle Nikpour, Maria Cardona, it's been lovely spending the last couple of hours with you. Thank you all.

CARDONA: You too, Erica. Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

NIKPOUR: Thank you. HILL: Donald Trump's agenda is, of course, full of plans to wipe away

Joe Biden's legacy. The outgoing president, however, doesn't want to fight fire with fire when he hands over the reins.

So how will that play out with a little bit of a handover at the White House? We'll take a closer look.

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[03:44:54]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Tomorrow, we will end four years of failure, disaster and decline. And we will begin the four greatest years in the history of our country. We're going to turn it around. We're going to turn it around quick and we're going to do things that nobody thought even were possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: That was President-elect Donald Trump speaking in Washington yesterday, vowing to undo the work President Biden has done over the last four years, as you just heard, after being sworn in later today. He does intend to roll back a number of the Biden administration's policies, tackling everything from energy to immigration.

Despite Trump's digs, Biden plans to restore the peaceful power -- transfer of power that Trump, of course, denied to him four years ago. He will uphold some inaugural traditions for the man he has not too long ago described as a threat to democracy.

Among those traditions, leaving a letter for Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Also, riding in the same limo as Trump to the Capitol, as former President Barack Obama did with then-President-elect Trump in 2017, as well as hosting a morning tea reception for the Trumps at the White House.

Joining us now, Leslie Vinjamuri, who's the head of the U.S. and the Americas program at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.

Leslie, nice to have you here. These few norms, right, which are being upheld, how important are they overall? They almost seem like quaint niceties at this point.

LESLIE VINJAMURI, HEAD OF THE U.S. AND AMERICAS PROGRAM, CHATHAM HOUSE: Oh, I think they're tremendously important in terms of signaling. Remember, we had 77 million Americans vote for Donald Trump, but we had just shy of 75 million that did not vote for Donald Trump.

And so, President Biden playing that role is a signal to all of Kamala Harris's voters to America and to the rest of the world that this is an important, peaceful transition that he has accepted and the voters who voted Democrat have accepted that transition. And if you put that in contrast to, as we all reflect back on January

6th, 2021, it is a remarkably important symbolic move. Couldn't be more important.

HILL: There's also, you know, you talk about looking back to January 6th of 2021. There is also the not just in the United States and what it means for voters in the U.S. as you rightfully lay out, but the symbolism that it has on the global stage.

VINJAMURI: Absolutely, people are watching the United States, they're preparing. Never have I seen people here in the U.K., across Europe, across Asia, in Mexico and Canada spend quite so much time focused on and preparing for what they anticipate will come from President Trump.

But they also look at America's democracy and there is a concern about the polarization, about the division across any number of dimensions.

People outside of the United States also have that memory. They're looking to see whether this will be a peaceful transition, how people on the streets will respond, how America's Congress, its institutions will function, what the level of, you know, so-called resistance will be or whether this is going to be less chaotic than I think many people anticipate, an extraordinary amount of chaos.

And they're reading each one of these signals to try and understand what the nature of governance will be. And obviously, there's a deep fixation on the concrete policies that people anticipate coming the way. Most especially, I think number one is tariffs and more generally, the questions of war and peace.

Obviously, what Donald Trump will do when it comes to reaching out to Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, on the question of Ukraine, it looms very large here in Europe. It has very significant and potentially immediate consequences and costly ones that Europeans are almost existentially concerned about.

So the people are watching. They've been preparing. This is not like last time. They've been anticipating the arrival of President Trump, obviously, since November. It's not like last time, you know, for the rest of the world, right, as they're watching.

HILL: It's also not like last time for the incoming president, because he, too, has a much better understanding of how things work in Washington. And by all accounts, we'll be using that to his advantage.

We're a little ahead of time. But before we go, you mentioned tariffs. We are told there could be some movement on that tomorrow in one of these executive orders or actions. Immigration as well is a big one. How much does immigration figure into what the discussion is outside of the U.S.?

VINJAMURI: I think the question of how hard these crackdowns will be, what will the deportations look like? How nasty will they be? How measured will they be?

[03:50:04] It matters here in Europe, certainly, because there are all sorts of political groups and social organizations that very much would like to mirror and mimic that very strong anti-immigration sentiment.

And the people again, people watch what the United States does. They take it as a symbol. Some take it as an opportunity to adopt similar tactics or policies. Immigration is a very, very difficult issue.

You know, here in Europe, there's an aging population. There's a need for immigration, but there's also a demand to be very strong on borders. And people, again, they always look to the United States.

Now they will be looking to President Trump to see what is possible, what is acceptable, what is desirable and what people will and won't tolerate.

HILL: Leslie, really appreciate your insight. Thank you.

VINJAMURI: Thank you.

HILL: Well, as we've noted, President-elect Donald Trump will be taking the oath of office indoors, of course. Inauguration attendees will be squeezing into the Capitol Rotunda because of the snowfall and the below freezing temperatures in the forecast.

Just what is the weather in D.C. that was so bad it had to move everything inside? We'll take a closer look.

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[03:55:00]

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HILL: A winter storm dusted Washington, D.C. with snow on Sunday ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration. Earlier in the week, Trump announced the ceremony would be moved indoors. Forecasts warn of the coldest inauguration day since Ronald Reagan swearing in for a second term in 1985.

And those temperatures expected to continue dropping today with freezing winds reaching up to 30 miles per hour. That's about 48 kilometers an hour. The mayor of D.C. has issued a cold weather emergency across the district.

And the windchill is expected to make the air outside feel like 10 degrees Fahrenheit or negative 12 Celsius.

The same day Donald Trump is sworn in as president, the U.S. is also honoring the life of a civil rights legend. Government agencies and some businesses are closed, along with schools, to commemorate the 96th birthday of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

King was assassinated in 1968. He was just 39 years old. His death on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis came five years after he gave his historic "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Erica Hill. Please stay tuned. Our

special coverage of the inauguration of Donald Trump continues on the other side of this quick break.

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