- President Joe Biden, after being sworn in as the the 46th president of the United States, has entered the White House for the first time during his term, where he is set to sign a raft of executive orders.
- Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has been sworn in as vice president, becoming the first woman, and person of colour, to serve as the US government’s second in command.
- President Donald Trump left the White House for the last time in his presidency early Wednesday and became the first president in over 150 years not to attend successor’s inauguration.
Democrat Joe Biden has been sworn in as President of the United States, vowing to end the “uncivil war” in a deeply divided country reeling from a battered economy and a raging coronavirus pandemic.
While Kamala Harris made history as the first woman, first black person and first Asian American to serve as Vice President.
With his hand on a 12cm-thick heirloom Bible that has been in his family for more than a century, Biden took the oath of office administered by US Chief Justice John Roberts that binds the president to “preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States”.
“Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew, and America has risen to the challenge,” Biden said in his inaugural address.
“Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause: the cause of democracy… At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.”
Biden, 78, became the oldest US president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington DC that was largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus and security concerns following the January 6 assault on the Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.
The norm-defying Trump flouted one last convention on his way out of the White House when he refused to meet with Biden or attend his successor’s inauguration, breaking with a political tradition seen as affirming the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump did not mention Biden by name in his final remarks as president on Wednesday morning – when he touted his government’s record and promised to be back “in some form” – but predicted the new administration will have “great success”.