The Latest of Inauguration Day: Trump Sworn In as America’s 45th President
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president of the United States (all times EST):
6:30 p.m.
The District of Columbia police chief says 217 people have been arrested and charged with rioting and six officers suffered minor injuries during demonstrations against President Donald Trump.
Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham provided the update at a news conference Friday.
Meanwhile, protesters in downtown Washington linked arms, facing off from the police line and chanting, “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA.”
Metropolitan police have deployed streams of pepper spray against demonstrators marching along the streets of the nation’s capital – a disgruntled parallel to the ongoing inaugural parade.
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6:25 p.m.
Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington is tweeting a photo of flag-waving staffers welcoming the new president, and that’s not sitting well with a prominent government ethics lawyer.
The tweet reads: “We are waiting for you Mr. President! Thank you!”
Former chief White House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen says the tweet “puts the lie” to Trump’s vow that his company would avoid even the appearance of using the presidency to promote his business.
Trump made the pledge in a six-page “White Paper” released last week to avoid conflicts of interest. He promised his company would not take “any actions that actually exploit, or even could be perceived as exploiting, the Office of the Presidency.”
The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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5:30 p.m.
A group of protesters in downtown Washington jumped on the hood of a limousine, smashed its windows and then set it on fire, while hundreds of others waved signs and chanted slogans voicing their displeasure of their new president.
The protests came as President Donald Trump’s inaugural parade continued blocks away.
Pockets of demonstrators broke out into screaming matches with Trump supporters. Police deployed flash bang grenades. Helicopters circled above, taking in the scene.
A line of police officers wearing riot gear watched demonstrators marching. The officers moved in once the limo was set afire to allow fire officials to extinguish the blaze. A pile of overturned newspaper boxes, trash cans and a tire were also set alight.
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5:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and their wives are arriving at the reviewing stand near the White House to watch the inaugural parade.
Trump said the day was “unbelievable,” as he and wife Melania made their way along the North Lawn to the stand on Pennsylvania Avenue. Trump also flashed a thumbs-up.
The first couple are surrounded in the enclosed stand by their family members.
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5:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump twice got out of their vehicles to walk and wave to the crowd during their escorted trip from the Capitol to the White House.
They first walked for about a block before reaching the Trump International Hotel, where the crowds on both sides of the street were at their loudest. As the Trumps neared the hotel, agents urged the couple to get back into their sedan.
A large crowd of protesters had gathered on the opposite side of the street, while supporters and employees of the hotel cheered on the hotel side of the street.
Later, the Trumps exited their sedan with their children and grandchildren in tow. An announcer roared, “Welcome home, Mr. President.”
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5:10 p.m.
A man who described himself as an American nationalist says his friend was knocked out after he was hit on the head with a stick by an anti-Trump protester in McPherson Square.
Samuel Hyde of Jacksonville, Florida, says he and his friends ventured into the anti-Trump protest “just to see what was going on. We figured out quickly we weren’t welcome.”
The pro-Trump supporters were quickly surrounded. The man who was struck, who did not give his name, told Army soldiers who came to his aid, “I was worried they were going to bash my brains out.”
Araquel Bloss, lead organizer of the Occupy Inauguration protest in McPherson Square, also came to the man’s aid. She says the protest was nonviolent and the man who struck the victim is not representative of the protesters.
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5:05 p.m.
A watchdog group is asking the General Services Administration to determine whether President Donald Trump has violated his lease for the government-owned building that houses his luxury hotel a few blocks from the White House.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington issued the letter Friday shortly after Trump took the oath of office.
The 2013 lease Trump signed for the Old Post Office building specifically bars any “elected official of the Government of the United States” from benefiting. Trump announced earlier this month that he would hand over day-to-day control of his multibillion-dollar business empire to two of his sons, but there is no indication he has relinquished his ownership stake in the $200 million project.
A spokeswoman for the GSA declined to comment.
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4:35 p.m.
At least one vehicle is on fire as protests escalate in downtown Washington.
A plume of thick black smoke is billowing from a vandalized limousine at the corner of K and 13th Streets Northwest. Riot police are working to remove people from the area, which is just a few blocks from President Donald Trump’s inaugural parade route.
Police are using what appear to be flash bang grenades to help control the scene.
The activity follows a brief period of relative calm in the area.
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4:25 p.m.
The leader of Taiwan’s delegation to the U.S. presidential inauguration has dismissed China’s strong objections to his attendance as “small-minded.”
Former Premier Yu Shyi-kun (YOO SHEE-KOON) says: “It’s hard to believe that a country with 5,000 years of history and its glorious background is so focused on this. It just shows how petty they are.”
Yu was interviewed by The Associated Press after watching Trump’s swearing-in. He says he had a good seat, directly in front of the ceremony at the Capitol.
The U.S. has no formal relations with self-governing Taiwan in deference to China, which claims the island as its own. However, the two maintain robust informal ties. China is concerned that President Donald Trump could seek to redefine relations between Beijing, Taipei and Washington.
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4:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump has stepped out of his limousine to briefly walk along the inaugural parade route.
Trump was joined by the new first lady Melania Trump and their 10-year-old son, Barron.
The president rode in his official vehicle for the first portion of the parade and stepped out in front of FBI headquarters along Pennsylvania Avenue.
He got back in his vehicle just before the motorcade drove past his newly opened hotel in the Old Post Office building.
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4:05 p.m
President Donald Trump is making his way down Constitution Avenue with a military escort as his inauguration parade begins in Washington.
The president will review the parade from a viewing stand near the White House.
He and first lady Melania Trump are riding in the presidential limousine nicknamed “The Beast.”
Trump is being cheered by supporters as his car passes.
Others are shouting “Media sucks” while a group of protesters chants, “Not my president, not my president.”
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3:50 p.m.
Military bands representing all the service branches are playing and marching outside the Capitol, signaling the start of the inaugural parade.
Police officers on motorcycles are following closely behind as the parade participants begin the slow trek down Constitution Avenue.
Hundreds of police officers have lined both sides of the street. Service members are also standing at attention on both sides.
There are only a few onlookers along the first couple of blocks but the crowds appear to grow as the parade approaches the National Mall.
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3:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump – in brief remarks at his inaugural lunch at the Capitol – says he was honored that Hillary Clinton, his rival in the White House race, came to the event.
The bipartisan crowd of lawmakers and other dignitaries gave Clinton a standing ovation after Trump asked her to rise.
Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, sat with members of Trump’s family at the event.
Trump ended by saying he has “a lot of respect for those two people.”
Contrast that with some of his rhetoric during the campaign.
Back then, Trump repeatedly said Hillary Clinton deserved to be in jail because of her private email server issues. And Trump invited women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault to sit in the audience of one of the presidential debates.
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3:10 p.m.
Far fewer people were at President Donald Trump’s inauguration than attended President Barack Obama’s first swearing-in eight years ago.
Photos of the National Mall from Obama’s inauguration in January 2009 show a teeming crowd stretching from the West Front of the Capitol all the way to the Washington Monument.
Photos taken from the same position on Friday show large swaths of empty space on the Mall.
Thin crowds and semi-empty bleachers also dotted the inaugural parade route.
Hotels across the District of Columbia reported vacancies, a rarity for an event as large as a presidential inauguration.
And ridership on the Washington’s Metro system didn’t match that of recent inaugurations.
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3:05 p.m.
Partisan rivalries in Washington appear to have eased for at least one meal.
President Donald Trump is dining with a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the Capitol shortly after his inauguration.
Trump has spent much of the lunch in animated conversation with Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer, who’s threatened to slow votes on some Cabinet nominees.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat, walked up to the head table at one point to join the conversation.
Trump’s rival in the presidential election, Democrat Hillary Clinton, sat with Trump family members.
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3 p.m.
The Washington Post is reporting that one of its video journalists was taken to the ground by police while recording video of the large protest going on in downtown Washington.
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2:40 p.m.
The large Inauguration Day demonstration in downtown Washington is taking place at the edge of a zone where vehicles aren’t allowed to drive Friday.
So motorists are getting caught in the confrontation between protesters and police.
Some are trying to turn around, but in at least one place, newspaper boxes and trash cans were overturned in the street and a fire set.
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2:25 p.m.
District of Columbia police are using tear gas canisters in a confrontation with protesters in downtown Washington.
Some people are being treated for exposure to tear gas and some people are vomiting.
Police have blocked off both sides of the street. Protesters were throwing bricks and concrete at police. One protester wearing a mask smashed a bank window. And demonstrators have blocked streets with newspaper boxes.
Another protester was standing on a mailbox and waving a rainbow flag.
Police are in riot gear, and that includes helmets and body shields.
Protesters have blocked streets with newspaper boxes.
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2:05 p.m.
Police in the nation’s capital have again clashed with demonstrators – this time with a larger group than earlier in the day.
Well over 1,000 protesters are in the streets of downtown Washington for a confrontation with police. Authorities are again using pepper spray, and some demonstrators appear to have difficulty breathing.
Some in the crowd are throwing cups, water bottles and objects – including chunks of concrete. Some protesters have rolled large steel trash cans at police.
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2 p.m.
Rick Perry -the former Texas governor who’s in line to be energy secretary – was seen chewing gum and blowing bubbles as a rabbi spoke during Donald Trump’s inauguration.
That image has drawn lots of attention on social media.
It comes on the heels of Perry’s comments at his confirmation hearing Thursday when he told Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., that he enjoyed meeting him at Franken’s Senate office. And Perry then said: “I hope you are as much fun on that dais as you were on your couch.”
Franken, a former comedian, paused for effect as Perry asked to rephrase. “Please,” Franken said.
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