Inauguration Day: Ongoing coverage as Joe Biden’s presidency begins

Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday after several tumultuous, but unsuccessful, weeks of attempts to overturn the official results of the U.S. election.

Inauguration Day 2021 has not been the grand affair of past years, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event itself is relatively empty — there are no excited supporters gathered beneath a platform at the Capitol. Many of the roughly 1,000 guests in attendance are members of Congress and their guests, and former presidents, vice-presidents, and first ladies.

The Jan. 6 rampage on Capitol Hill only made event-planning matters worse. Up to 25,000 National Guard troops were in place by Wednesday in response to further security concerns that followed the riot by a pro-Trump mob.

The event is considered the largest security presence of any inauguration in U.S. history.

2:50 Biden inauguration: Joe Biden takes presidential oath of office

• Biden inauguration: Joe Biden takes presidential oath of office
• Biden inauguration: Kamala Harris takes vice-presidential oath of office
• Biden inauguration: Sen. Klobuchar says American democracy moving forward from Capitol riot
• Biden inauguration: Clintons, Bushes and Obamas arrive at Capitol Hill
• Biden inauguration: VP Mike Pence and Second Lady arrive at Capitol Hill
• Biden inauguration: Youngest ever inaugural poet tells crowd ‘there is always light’
• Biden inauguration: Biden signs proclamation for Inauguration Day, cabinet nominations
• Biden inauguration: Congressional leaders present flags, portrait to President Joe Biden, VP Kamala Harris
• Inauguration Day: Biden, Harris review U.S. military’s ‘Pass in Review’

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Biden and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, were inaugurated shortly before 12 p.m. ET, making Harris the first Black and first East-Indian American woman to assume the role.

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Biden delivered his inaugural address shortly after being sworn in. It was the new president’s first chance to lay out an official agenda to Americans watching from home.

He vowed to end the “uncivil war” in a deeply divided country reeling from a battered economy and grappling with a historic pandemic.

1:07 Biden inauguration: ‘Europe has a friend in the White House,’ says European Commission president

• Biden inauguration: ‘Europe has a friend in the White House,’ says European Commission president
• British prime minister says he’s looking forward to working with Biden as inauguration day arrives
• Trudeau says Biden’s inauguration marks ‘new chapter’, looking forward to working with him

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“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.”

Follow along with our live blog below for all the details. 

— with files from the Associated Press and Reuters