Transcripts For WRC NBC News Special Report Inauguration Day 20170120

Heres lester holt. And theres a live picture of the white house of the capitol, actually, of course. Ands theres the white house. In a short time, president elect trump and president obama will begin their trip to the u. S. Capitol where mr. Trump will be sworn in around noon eastern time. It will be the start of a new era in washington and this country, what many see as a clean break from the last eight years under president obama. I am joined for our coverage by chuck todd, our political director and moderator of meet the press by tom brokaw who has covered the comings and goings of president s since Lyndon Johnson and by nicole wallace, nbc political news analyst. Tom, let me start with you. We have seen in many, many campaigns where, you know, harsh words were said. But to see the relationship that weve seen between president obama and president elect trump in the last several ek well, i think that president obama wanted to go out on a high note. Hes got very good Approval Ratings as he leaves office. I think he has a great, great sense of the dignity of this moment and the importance of it. And the country he also understands needs to be healed and perhaps hes thinking we can begin the process, the two of us, for all the division that went on during the campaign. Now its time to find ways that we can Work Together. Its a xwolic act, but it can be very important, in my judgment. Chuck, theyre sitting down having coffee right now at the white house. President obama calling donald trump at with one point unfit, woefully unprepared. We know donald trump questioned his citizenship. Talk us through this. Look, it is, in some ways, it may be remarkable that they have forged a relationship, but its they have. Its out of necessity with president obamas motivation, one, i think being what m brought up. The other part is the Serious Business of the transition. Part of it is how he was treated by george w. Bush in his transition and he wants to pay that forward. But this relationship, look, donald trump has reciprocated as barack obama has reached out. Donald trump has also reached back out to him. And by the way, joe biden and mike pence have forged an interesting personal relationship. Look, it is helpful to the country to know and i think for anybody thats not excited, but feeling anxious about today, they probably feel better knowing that president obama and president the next President Trump do get along. This as youre looking at, this is the peaceful transfer of power that we have talked about or even some of the low points of the campaign. This is the way it is done in the United States. Nicole, what about the issue of advice . We know theyve had a lot of conversations. I would suspect what is happening right now is more polite in nature, but how much business has gotten done . How much influence do you think b president obama has had on mr. Trump . Well, listen, that first meeting between the two of them just two days after the election was extraordinary and it went long. It went 30 minutes longer than planned. And there donald trump, who created the Birther Movement sat almost knee to knee and was making the arguments for his lack of fitness for the presidency. But they both stand to gain something important to each of them. Donald trump is not a particularly ideallogical man. And while hes made some idea lod idealogical appointments, theres an opportunity for president obama to shape some of the issues he cares about the most. I know theyve had conversations about the future of obamacare, how President Trump will tweak it, rebrand it in some ways and keep some of the things most important to president obama. And on Donald Trumps part, he is going to have a moment in his presidency where hes going to country that didnt vote for him. You know, it bothers him that he didnt win the popular vote. And we know that because he talks about it incessantly. It bothers him that hes being sworn in with some of the Approval Ratings and we know that because he talks about it all the time. And it bothers him when hes criticized on television and we know that, too, because he talks about it all the time. So when he wants to lay a bipartisan feel on something, he has an open line of communication with president obama and i can see him asking something of the former president. President s dont turn down other president s. Thats just dont. That club is small and it will be interesting. Look, i think that as president elect, he has not used that convening power that he already has to create moments. As president , i think, you know, will he use that . Again, that sort of convening power that you have to get when its necessary. I think president obama will be answering that call when asked. When asked, yes. None of the former presidor s him. I dont know that thats happened before. Well, let me bring in michael benchloss, president ial historian. Michael, on that point and this point of it being a very small club, how much do they ultimately rely on each other, historically . Oftentimes, they do a lot. John kennedy 1961 encountered the huge failure of the bay of pigs, the failure of the cia backed Freedom Fighters to take the island away from castro. He was very embarrassed. The first thing dewas call it dwight eisenhower, the still immensely popular hero of dday who had just retired from the presidency. They were photographed together at camp david. That helped kennedy politically and publicly. Eisenhower said, mr. President , forgive me if im being blunt, but if you ever do this again, make sure we dont fail. And theres a view of the capital right now, people gathering around the west front where the swearing in will take place a little over two hours from now. Thats a choir. Many of those will be taking place, the other end of pennsylvania avenue were keeping a close i eye. That conversation and informal greeting and form yal, if you would, between the current president and first lady and the future president and first lady. You see some of those blank spots in the capitol mall being filled in. Some of that is the vip area. And beyond that, people are filling in up and down the mall to witness this historic event. I was outside just a few minutes ago. It is kind of a damp cold out there. It is a drizzling marchers. As a kid who was in the marching band and played an instrument, the fact that it is not freezing today, the fact that they get instruments. It is a great opportunity. People talk about the devisive, and the tough election. I want to remind folks today, take a step back and witness the spectacle of american democracy. It doesnt matter how tough it gets, how noisy it gets, how loud it gets that were able to do this, a transfer of power. It sounds corny, but im with you. Absolutely. The election nights are special to me. This is almost the way you feel on the fourth of july. Theres an extra bounce in your step about how you feel about Inauguration Day because it is the ultimate celebration of the this countrys democracy. We want to go right mow to Peter Alexander who is outside st. Johns church. Lester, good day to you. Briefly with mike pence about the sermon, which he called very moving and about this day that he said was very humbling. Donald trump didnt say quite as much, but he certainly was all thumbs up, point to go me repeatedly as he said he felt good about this day. I exchanged a couple of Text Messages with his son, eric trump, a short time ago who said that his father is going to do very well and make this country very proud. The family is feeling particularly good, as you can imagine, on this day. And what was notable as they arrived here was just how big that circle is that sort of grew into this office with them. We saw steve bannon, Reince Priebus. In terms of whats happening inside that white house this morm morning, at about roughly 9 30, 8 30, i should say, excuse me, in the morning the president was in the state dining room with his family. It was their opportunity or the last time to say goodbye to their staff. As is tradn, presented with a gift. We have learned exactly what that gift was. It was a Hand Carved Wooden box with the flag that flew above the white house on his first Inauguration Day, as well as the flag that flew above the white house on his final day in office. That is a tradition that dates back decades here as well as they meet right now during that tea, that coffee taking place. As soon as they depart, president obama and Michelle Obama leaving for the last time. Thats when the chaos of the day begins. Its at that moment that the transition of property, as it were, you know, the peaceful transition of power. This is the peaceful transition of property. That begins in earnest. They have roughly five hours in total to swap out all of the property within the residence that belonged to the obamas and replace it with stuff that the trumps prefer. That includes redecorating in the west wing, specifically the oval office today, as well. Lester, back to you. And peter, weve heard a lot about that quick transition, but what about the business of offices in the white house . Do people go right to work . Thats a good question. In fact, at 12 01 today, we are told some of those key individuals, those closest advisers who are already appointees, who are also in these roles will go directly into their office, into their offices. What was notable this morning is that overnight, in fact, we saw some pictures from inside the west wing that was basically barren. Its something that ive never seen before. Having worked in the white house as a reporter, of course, over the course of the last four years, the walls are usually filled with a gallery of photos of the obama a as are there. When President Trump arrives a short time this afternoon, the photos will be replace dollars outside his office by tradition with some photos from the inaugural ceremony today and by the time he arrives, many of his staffers will be in place to assume their responsibilities. A pair of former speakers there walking their way out on to the platform at the capital. Lets go to Hallie Jackson to set the scene. Hey there, lester. The vip platform behind me on the west front is filling up here. Youre watching former speakers newt gingrich, john boehner washingt walking out and taking their positions. A lot of folks are snapping pictures on the phone of everything unfolding. Sheldon adelson is here, as well, a republican donor. He has an aisle seat not too far back from the podium where the president elect, soon so be President Donald Trump will be delivering his inaugural address. I had a brief text conversation with one member of congress and asking how theyre feeling about today. The response was one word, wet. The rain has stopped here at the capitol, although there were some folks out wiping down the seats to make sure everything is comfortable for the people as they get ready for the program to begin not too long from now. Weve talked a little bit about Donald Trumps activities this morning publicly. Privately, we know he started his day where he sometimes does and that is on twitter, sending out a message to his millions of followers saying the movement begins today. We are going to get to work, essentially. And a little bit about this twitter situation. He will take over later today. The official potus account. All the tweets from the last eight years from president obama under that potus account roll over to a new handle and that is po po pot potus44 where those tweets will be archived for the record. Donald trump said he will use both his personal account and the official white house account as well. We expect the inaugural address to be roughly 20 minutes. Thats about how long president obamas prior addresses have been, as well. So thats typically sort of within the time frame we would think as we watch more people walking into the capitol here. We know several governors have arrived, too. Governor Chris Christie, one of the first former rivals to come out and endorse donald trump in the campaign. There was a lot of expectations over the summer that perhaps christie would land a coveted spot in the cabinet or administration. Ultimately, it did not turn out wisconsin governor tom walker has arrived along with john kasich who was one of the leaders of the trump never movements. The marine corps band is playing down below. You probably hear those sounds wafting up tr where we are. More and more people not just 23w4r below the stands, but all the way down. About an hour ago, we saw one of the president elects top aides, steven miller, his policy adviser and speech writing guru stepping to the podium to do some of those lastminute checks making sure the microphone was at the right height, checking the teleprompter. Theyve removed the plastic from the chairs. Everything ready now for the arrival of donald trump. Lets review what has been going on this morning and what is to come. The president elect and his family begin their day leaving blair house to attend a Worship Service at st. Johns church, known as the church of the president. 193 3. From there, mr. Trump and his wife, melania, headed to the white house for morning tea and coffee with the president and first lady before the procession to the capitol. Theyll all be riding together, always interesting to hear about the conversations that take place in that car. The swearing in ceremony starts around 11 30 on the west front of the capitol. Supreme Court Justice john roberts will be administering the oath of office and President Trump at that point will give his inaugural address. Its expected to last about 20 minutes and trumps team says it will be a personal and sincere statement about his vision for the country. And well be turning to our nbc news correspondents throughout our coverage for reporting here in washington and beyond. But right now, were going to take a short break ask be back with more welcome back. A live look at pennsylvania avenue. President obama and first lady Michelle Obama will be taking dick cheney was in a wheelchair on that day of turn over. Its not clear whether there will be any interaction, any chance for an interaction today. This is one of my pal, my partner, mark murray. This will be the first time they are in the same space you dont want to say same indoors since theyre not indoors, same space since the al smith dinner. And there are the cheneys. You were asking. Theres the hat. Ask and you shall receive. Looks great, doesnt he . Looks healthy. Hes doing great. Daughter, liz, a member of congress. Yep. And he looks well. Hes out there fly fishing and holding forth. He lives in jackson hole. Steve scalia and steny hoyer. We listen the in a little bit here. Always fun to eavesdrop. You never know when you get the cool hot mike moment. Well, we are joined here on our panel by hugh hewitt, nbc news and msnbc radio analyst on the salem network. Good to see you. Good to be here, lester. Its fun watching this from this perspective and to see all the old faces. Eight years ago, Vice President cheney was in bad shape and since that time has recovered remarkably well and looks terrific this afternoon, this morning as they gather. And i think chuck said when i was off set, its the fourth of july. It really is the civic pageant. I dont know how anyone can not enjoy it, whatever their policy. And before you break, i wanted to have a conversation about the state of the country with this transition of power versus eight years ago when the country was on the economic brink, the auto indu w will donald trump have more nni honeymoon of some sort, given the fact that the country is not in an emergency state, as it was . He needs to earn this honeymoon. I think he has an opportunity to earn it. But hes im sorry, ive said it before he missed some opportunities these last six to eight weeks to and again, to just erase the asterisk. Whatever you want to say about it and i know some supporters will say, why do us that . But look, when you win an election this way, the split popular vote, you know its a divided company. George w. Bush did a tremendous job to make outreach. Appointing a downtown em to the. That hadnt been done in a while. I think donald trump has gotten a late start here, hewitt. I wonder if hell be thinking about that today. I think the appointments of generals kelly and mattis being nonpartisan are significant. And i think if he contins with the key of we is what i think he should sing in today in this short inaugural address. I think he should be inclusive and not divisive. 1789 is the first inaugural. It took 76 years to get to lincolns second, by most accounts the greatest inaugural speech. 76 years thereafter, it was fdrs third inaugural on the eve of world war i as bombs rained down. And then 76 brings us to this. So its an interesting cycle and in each of those three ones, washington, lincoln and fdrs very inclusive tone. So i hope mr. Trump hits that today. You would not include jfk in 1960 . Rhetorically very high, but not in a moment of crisis in the way 41, lincolns second inaugural its interesting you call ate moment of crisis. You brought up 09 versus today. So in 09, we were in the process of a we were in the brink of an economic disaster, ex at the time, we almost were losing a million jobs. That month that barack obama took the oath of office. Yet this town, this capital, there was a euphoric atmosphere. The economy feels better. The country seems on one hand economically more stable than it was eight years ago, yet theres an uneasiness. But the euphoria. Listen, i spent all last week covering trump. The euphoria is in the places where they got their guy. This town i wouldnt expect to be euphoric. Certain pockets identity will she. But the euphoria was out in america where the experience was like brexit, where this was a celebration and victory against elite against the establishment of both parties. Lets listen in here, Kellyanne Conway greeting people. Oh, i remember that. That is very i do remember that. I didnt see the letter, but i remember that. She is just out of mike range. You mentioned earlier in 1984. The coldest one. I was here for that. Everyone was happy, both republicans and democrats. This looks like theyre on the move now. Ill let the control room confirm that for me, but this looks like i missed the exit from the white house. The first couple and the soon to be first couple riding together along pennsylvania avenue, making their way to the capitol. The fact is Stephanie Gosk is with a lot of folks, very excited folks who have crowded on the mall. Stephanie. Hey, lester, how are you . A lot of people have gathered out here today. Im here with a couple of sisters from pittsburgh who decided that it was important to come to d. C. This is their first inauguration. Carrie, tell me why it was important for you to be here today. I believe in mr. Trump and i believe in what hes trying to do for the country. And i think that we needed a change and im really hoping he does what he says hell do. And dana, for you, what was it about trump that drew you to him . I think the fact that he was not a politician and he was willing to step up and do things that other people havent done. And tell me a little bit about this, as first timers, to be in washington, d. C. On Inauguration Day. What does it feel like . Its really exciting. I love the atmosphere. I just wish we could get to the mall. Thats the only thing we wish. But youve got the capitol right down there. And we have a great view for the parade, too. Excellent. You will have a birdseye view because the parade is going to pass right by here. Nice talking to you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Lester, back to you. All right, stephanie, thanks. We are watching the president ial motorcade there just a few moments ago as they make their way here to the capitol. Things getting upper way in about an hour, the actual ceremony and the swearing this will be around noon eastern time. Vice president , i think, actually gets sworn in before the president. So for a brief moment, i think we will technically have president obama and Vice President pence. For a few minutes. A very brief moment. Well take a break and continue with more of our coverage of the inauguration after this. Happy anniversary dinner, darlin can this much love be cleaned by a little bit of dawn ultra . Oh yeah one bottle has the grease cleaning power of two bottles of this bargain brand. A drop of dawn and grease is gone. Welcome back. The we have the front of the capitol, which will be the site trump as the 45th president of who knew how many they had. Gm makes specifically with these armoreded doors specifically. So i was thinking how did we mix the exit, but we did not. One other bit of business, we saw senator Susan Collins walking in with a medical boot. She broke her ankle, slipped on ice. Its maine. Slipped on her ice in december, broke her ankle in two places. Its a tough recovery. You have to keep moving and keep off your feet. Good luck with that as a smeert. Senator. Good luck with that. We did want to clear that up. Always in such a great mood and optimistic. And that can sometimes mean brutal, brutal cold. We dont quite have that, but we have some drizzle. And al roker is watching the weather for us. What is it going to be like the next few hours . We are going to see a very quick shower, line of showers move through. Right now, things are dry. Thats okay. Weve had some drizzle, as you mentioned. Temperatures are in the mid 40s. Thats not so bad, either. And we are looking, in fact, as we check out right now the radar, you can see that there is a line back to our west that is going to be puin. Shing were in between showers, as you can see. So as that pushes through, its a fast mover. Thats great news. So boom, as we put the future cast into motion, it pushes through. Its a fast moving system. And the good news is, it should just about be out of here as we look at the forecast. There may be a lingering sprinkle or two during the swearing in ceremony. But then for the parade at 3 00, cloudy skies, Cool Temperatures in the mid 40s. But still temperatures nice and a oblem for either the r should swearing in or for whats going on with the parade as it makes its way toward the white house, lester. Thanks so much. Theres a line of folks there. Bob dole has made his way to the capitol. And elizabeth dole. She looks great. Everything ive heard recently on bob dole, hes been feeling very good. Ive been spending a fair amount of time with him. Hes working very hard on the eisenhower memorial for the mall, raising the money. The family finally has signed off on the design. That has taken way too long. But the family signed off on the design and the old warrior is out there raising money for it, talking to everybody that he can find. Mrs. Senator dole, elizabeth dole,s has created a very good program for supporting veter families which need a lot of help. Not just the veterans themselves, but they need help. Shes gotten congress involved, the today show is deeply involved in it. These two people are Public Servants every day of their lives. My favorite thing about senator dole is he is as up to date on the political gossip as anybody. When i interviewed him, he had already that day and a couple of president ial candidates who were about to announce had already called him. As mr. Republican, he was the only living nominee that said im going to the convention. He has been very loyal to the Republican Party and donald trump as the nominee since he got the nomnomination. And also his client, of course, was in china. Taiwan. Taiwan. Thats true. That was important. He got something there. Let me set the scene what youre looking at on the left side. That is the entrance to the white house where we expect to see the obamas and the trumps emerge here shory short trip up to capitol hill for the capitol. Theyre enjoying what is a key coffee and tea moment. Its a formality that has become a tradition on this day. Were watching the new cab threat on the right side. You just saw Rex Tillerson walk through. Scott pruitt. Yeah. So were seeing the new potential cabinet, not all i think we will see at least two or three confirmations today. General mattis may, officially by the end of the day, may be the secretary of defense and john kelly may be officially the secretary of dr. Ben carson. Yeah. Gary cohen. Hes a name you havent heard a lot. Hes going be the president s chair of the economic council. He has already seen he has really earned the trust, im told, of the incoming president in a way very quickly, a real member of that inner circle. You hear ban non, conway, kushner, youll start hearing cohen. He was president of the goldman sachs, which is not exactly a club that you put together overnight. That was a big sophisticated international organization. They both are new yorkers. They both have kind of the same tough toout attitude about how you get things done. And i asked him about how he was doing and he said, well, i think im really making progress. Im trying in some regards to get him not to tweet so much, but im not as successful as that. Hes not an idealogical guy, either, just like donald trump. Thats where you see a bonding there and the two of them think of themselves as doers. And that was a campaign promise. That was exactly the kind of person he promised to populate his government with. Let me get to katie right now who is at the capitol. Were at the foot of the dias where donald trump will take the oath of office. Behind me, we can see unvicingly im here with jim and pam. They were from maryland, a blue state. So how did it feel in a stavotir trump in a state that went towards Hillary Clinton . Great. It was great. Trying to move the needle in a little way. What do you expect to hear from trump when he delivers his inaugural speech . How hes going to unite the company again and bring us all back together. Whatever our differences, this is a great day and he brings us together and makes our economy better and brings us together. What do you think are the issues that can unite you and your fellow voters who maybe didnt cast their vote for donald trump . Tax reform. Lower the taxes, donald. Anything else . Yeah. Just make a Better Business climate so we can all, you know, maybe positive per a little bit more than we have in the last eight years. How do you feel about the transition efforts so far . Do you thinkal made an effort to unite the country . S you wan i think he has. I think it was evident with the stream of people coming in from trump towers, you could see he was reaching across the aisles. And i think he has made a very good effort to try to bring our country together. Did you want to see a democrat in the cabinet . Usually past president s have put a rival in the cabinet. I would not have minded. If he felt there was a qualified person and their political vows were of that party, that would have been perfectly fine. Pam and jim from maryland, obviously a blue state, thank you so much. Katie, thank you so much. I just completed a weeklong tour of different parts of the country talking to people about the changes coming to america. They all talked about this notion of bringing the country back together and healing these wounds. But when you press people, you find the divisions are still pretty sharp. And you start to wonder. Nicole, are we asking too much of any president to bring the country together . I was on a parallel journey. You went north and i went south and i heard the same thing. They are thrilled to have been right. They have thrilled to have prevailed against what felt like, you know, an establishment political class, democratic and republican and the media that was sort of going along. So theyve thrilled by upheaval. But i think they would like to see him do some of the more t traditional things. Hes now the leader of the free world and they want him to stop tweeting at union bosses. If he wants to make a policy case on twitter, thats fine, but they want to see him act a little more president ial. I also saw the division was not just a along ideaal political lines. Lvs the division over character. Some of the people that supported him acknowledge some of the offensive things he had said and done along the way, but said thats not why they were voting. But other people couldnt get past that, even as they might agree on policy issues. Ill be honest, in my own neighborhood, ive heard from parents and teachers on this issue. I have to say, that is something that, look, i think i think b Vice President pence can have a lot of influence on him. It is important that the president of the United States is a role model that all parents want to feel comfortable pointing to. And that is something and i think you need to make an effort on. I think Vice President pence will try to push him in that direction. To point out, were looking at the members of the Supreme Court as theyre walking in. For parents who did vote for him, i went out and talked to mowers before the election. After. They said they werent asking him to raise their children, that was their job. So it divided parents on both sides of the trump teeld. Theres an optimism here that i wish people would get. I think about the last ten years. With the election of barack obama, there was a group of americans that thought, oh, my god, my voice can be heard. In this election, you ran b into have been heard. Lets look at it from 30,000 feet over the last decade and all americans have felt as if their voice can get heard at the ballot box. Thats the up side of all of this. It is now on the shoulders of our leaders, both the next president , trump, as well as it was with president obama to sort of grab that and and grow it, yeah. That is where there is commonality between obama and trump. They both came in as outsiders. Is there a way to forge that, a successful politician. If donald trump can learn to be a successful politician, hell do that, hugh. Yeah. The most intractable institution is the senate. We had a brief picture of Mitch Mcconnell whos has waited for his entire political life for a unified Republican Party here is senator schumer now. If Chuck Schumer and Mitch Mcconnell can make the institution work with this most very optimistic. You know, the irony could be that the way that dirkson and lbj had a bipartisan relationship, and dirkson and lbj were closer than some of the senate democrats, schumer may have a better relationship with mcconnell. May be. For those that dont remember the name of evert dirkson, he was a Senate Majority leader. They disagreed with almost everything, but they would horse trade around the clock. They might be working together on infrastructure, for example. Theres going to be a tension here. The Democratic Party, the base wants to resist. The base wants to fight. Elizabeth warren here. Speaking of fighters. And i think she feels that pressure. You can see in this confirmation. This is going to be chuck schum schumers challenge. Simultaneously, the Democratic Party has to decide what it wato part of this as th i saw a young democrat today who lost in this election cycle and i said what are you going to do . And he said were kind of at sea at this point. The fact of the matter is, there are things that they can do together, but the dirkson lbj, they had served in the senate together. They spoke each others language. But schumer and trump speak new york. Exactly. Thats an important language. But schumer has a different Democratic Party behind him at that point. And here is, again, supreme Court Justice roberts who will be administering the oath. You see Justice Thomas there who will be and we hope he gets it right this time. And in the middle, literally and figuratively is Justice Kennedy who is assuming we know where the vacancy goes with President Trumps eventual appoine toms memory of the chief justice botching up the oath eight years ago, they had to readminister it to president obama the next day. Im guessing hes not going to try to do it from memory any more. How quick do you all think that the President Trump will be moving on the Supreme Court pick . He promised very quickly. By the way, i wouldnt dawdle if i remember him politically. This is something with confirmations and all this stuff, get it done early. Its going to be a painful process, too, lily. And you dont want to have that linger. Here is the trump family now. Its very unusual, Jared Kushner, who is the soninlaw and a very successful new york businessman is going to be in the white house with an official role. The question then is, who will listen to him begin, the presen Kristen Welker is now looking down at the vip arrivals. Striking to see the trump Family Members arrive, lester. Its one of those moments, i think, for everyone here that it starts to feel increasingly more real. Another vip who we just watched enter. Senator Bernie Sanders and sort of reminds everyone of how hard fought this race was. He is, of course, the former rival of Hillary Clinton during the primary. We are highly anticipating her entrance as you were discussing earlier. This will be the first time that she and president elect donald trump are in the the same space since that bitter campaign. So there are going to be a lot of eyes focused on her, as well. President obama has talked so much about the importance of the peaceful transfer of power and thats something that really matters to the clintons, as well. So, of course, they are here because of former president bill clinton, but they think this is part of their responsibility to this democracy. Weve seen a n vips arrive and that will continue. 1600 in all on this platform, lester. As we continue to watch folks make their way, were keeping a close eye on the left side of your screen where the obamas and trumps will be emerging shortly. Senator ted cruz there who waged his own battle against donald trump for the republican nomination. But has climbed on board and said today hes very excited about whats to come in washington. By the way, saw Jared Kushner there, the soninlaw. Another interesting thing, he comes from a family that has deep Democratic Party ties. His father was one of the biggest and most important donors and supporters of a former democratic governor of new jersey named jim mcgreevy. So there are nonidealogical people and that will be an interesting dynamic in the base of your party. I agree. And Reince Priebus arriving. At the same time, Jared Kushner and ivanka trump are not known for being idealogical. I think its an interesting white house. May be the most interesting since reagan brought here comes prt president and roselyn carter. President carter flew her commercially, by the way. In coach. And shook everybodys hand. Talk about medical recoveries, tom. Oh, my god. I mean, how about this . It is i mean, hes cancer free. And the fact is, its a tribute to farm life. Rural life, both dick cheney and jimmy carter. Chuck, were in trouble. Its also a tribute to his faith he will tell you. And his wife. Yes, theyre very, very strong. I saw her at Nancy Reagans funeral and i hadnt seen her for a while, but marco rubio. A young man with a future, marco rubio. But anyhow, jimmy carter has been in terms of his interest around the world, how he does it. The carter organization is extremely organized. And positive. Ive interviewed him on a b number of occasiones and what a great outlook on life. This idealogical question is so interesting. Half of the country is elated and the other half is beyond despair. A lot of people in my twitter feed, oh, i cant watch. Sorry, ill tune in next week. This is this impulse in donald trump to not be idealogical could be a ray of hope. He has said kind things about planned parenthood. He has said things more closely aligned with democrats on trade, on infrastructure, on Foreign Policy. So it will be interesting to see if Jared Kushner takes on the role of protecting the places where he doesnt want to fall in line behind republican orthodoxy or whether he tries to sort of round off those edges and move him closer to the republican establishment. Hes a populist through and through. Hes a populist through and through. He has an ear. Chris matthews has a great line about him. He thinks donald trump has the best ear going right now in politics. And the person that helps him with that here, Jared Kushner, steve bannon who is not idealogical. We would expect to see the obamas and trumps shortly. Keep track of the bidens. I think joe biden will be the democrat that speaks out the most for a while, more so than in the same way if you remember former Vice President dick cheney did, for the first year as the republicans are searching for a leader, i have a feeling biden is going to fill that vacuum for a little while. I have a personal hope. I hope hell say, as well, and launch for cancer. Hes deeply committed and hes worked very hard. Theres a contrast for you right there, Bernie Sanders and jim and that was karen pence we saw walk out with dr. Biden. Here now, the first lady and the soon to be first lady. This is the stuff i love as a history junky. I love that split screen we were showing. Its living history, folks. And reading the expressions of body language. Figuring out what was said wind the scenes. Dont you put your own thought bubbles on there . Right. Lets remember that malelani trump came heres as an immigrant, married donald trump and is now going to become the first lady of the United States. That doesnt happen anywhere and you have to keep that in mind. And were waiting for president obama and president elect trump. But first and their matching blue ties almost. Vice President Biden and soon to be Vice President mike pence. Theyve known each other. They were both in had congress and joe biden has a good regard for him. And its not per funtory. They have spent teen amounts of time for him. Vice President Biden giving his own tour of the world to the next Vice President. I heard another one of Donald Trumps political had a very good meeting with valley jarrett who gave him a brief on what you can expect and what the difficulties are. One thing that might be said, weve heard a lot in this campaign about technology and what that does just to give you a sense of the pace of technology, a hundred years ago, this year, Woodrow Wilson was ininaugural rated for a second term and he came out of that door and got into a horse drawn carriage and rode up to the to the capitol. That was just a hundred years ago. Here the door swings open and here is president obama and president elect donald trump. He arrived in an armored tough. Hes about to step into what is known as the president ial beast, the armored limb know seen. He arrived in washington on an air force plane, not his private 757. So it is all becoming very, very real. Its small steps. About an hour from now, one large step with the swearing in. Those ties mean theyre the leader of red and blue america. President clinton and secretary hillarin but their wives are wearing the reverse, so there you have it. Outreach. Outreach. So michael, have we heard any stories along the way of what occurs in this short car ride . Usually people getting along pretty well. And that was particularly the case in the first one of these which was 1837 which Andrew Jackson was riding with the new president who happened to be his Vice President , martin van buren. They were on great terms. But it has not always been that way. Franklin roosevelt defeated president herbert hoover, 1933. They rode up to the capital. Roosevelt kept trying to engage hoover in conversation and hoover was so depressed he barely spoke. Finally, roosevelt was reduced to saying look at that building being built over there. What wonderful steal. As we look at this picture, of Hillary Clinton, your mind just cant help go there to what shes thinking. She and so many people who thought this would be her day. Uhhuh. And at the same time, what an important symbol this is of i keep coming back to this peaceful transfer of power. And lets not beat around the bush. I dont know if shes over it. I know it took her a long time. I know that and i dont think she is in some respects. You cant especially when you pick up your New York Times today and you see that story about the idea that the Russian Investigation continues. And every time one of those stories hits, you hear through that grapevine that it stings. She got more votes than any losing candidate in history, almost 3 million more in the popular vote. And youre right, its got to sting. Her choice will be very interesting how she lives the next four years and what she decides to involve herself in the politics of the day. And no clues yet, i dont believe, from anyone as to how she intends to do that. And the motorcade is on the move now, leaving the white house grounds, making the short drive to the capitol where a very short time from now, donald trump will become the next president of the United States. Theres former president bush. Laura bush. You know, the bushes and the clintons have become friends. One thing that might make it a little easier today on the clintons is that friendship he between george w. Bush and laura bush and the clintons and, you know, i said this before. None of the former president s on that stage will have voted for donald trump. So when you said that before, nicole, i have to say, it was sort of like was a wonderful observation, but it hit me like a sledgehammer. I mean, it did. This is why i think there has been a difficult time to unify the political world around this moment. And probably very healthy, because i think the people that voted for donald trump and put hi shake up of establishment politics, not just republican or democrat. A big, big piece of why they voted for him, quite honestly, going by the Treasury Department now. On their way to well be looking at the west side of the capitol, which was the Ronald Reagan ininknow vacation invasi f innovation for this day. This is a round trip for donald trump. The next time, he will be going in the opposite direction and will be President Donald Trump. I must say as a reporter, i was never in there, but i would go as part of the pool to the capitol for the state of the union address. It was very exciting. It was one of those things that you look around and say, wow, i picked the right profession after all. All the excitement of going up to the capitol, the anticipation, and youre in the president ial limousine. Before in the back and youre knee to knee with the secret service, as well. They slip in and theyve got a jump seat. Its not as private as youre thinking. And by the way, in a moment, he will be passing his new hotel, which was i believe his first stop when he arrived in washington yesterday. You guys are talking about the limo. Its called the beast because its so heavy. When they fly overseas, they have to take the beast with them. I understand to step inside the one that preceded this one, when that door closes, theres a and you feel like youre its this thick. Tamron hall is right by the trump hotel. Tamron. Hey there. We are right by the trump hotel. Within a few minutes here, we should see what you are referring to as the beast carrying the president elect and president obama. The next route back from the capit capitol, donald trump will be the 45th president of the United States with his hotel perhaps being the first time that the some of the people who are just of trump hotel, formerly the Main Post Office for washington, d. C. Im not hearing cheers here. So as the motorcade passes with the president elect, his family, soon to be first lady, as well. We see dr. Jill biden there and there is Melania Trump with first lady Michelle Obama. And you see there mike pence. Im trying to step out of the way so you can see more here and there you have it. The president elect and the current president headed now to our nations capitol. When they make this our win, the route returns, we will have President Donald Trump. And tamron, in that hotel, not a small matter in the broader conversation about potential conflicts that this president will face from the moment he takes the oath. Theres a reason they cant do a direct shot of pep pen it has to do with the president that maybe donald trump is most modelled after, Andrew Jackson. And he did so much to change this capitol. Thats the argument that people make, this is the new Andrew Jackson and there is a lot about Andrew Jackson, i guarantee you, that does not remind us very much of donald trump but one thing does. That is that jackson is the one who said essentially elect me and i will end this person in which the white house has been held by the elites. The aristocrats. I will bring in the Common People to the point that on Inauguration Day they open the white house to everyone that came in and trashed the place and broke the furniture. Oh, apparently the trump transition, at least inquired about doing something similar. There is an affinity for jackson. They were breaking the windows and having riots on the lawn. Exactly. We saw a picture a moment ago of the crowds passing by. Imagine what life is like as a president. Your who v is in a motorcade. And everywhere you go, you will see people waving. You will see crowds gathered. I had the privilege of pooem being in the obama motorcade a couple of times last week. We were working on our interview about his legacy. And that was one of the things that struck me, eight years. Thats how you see the world. Youre in a world, theres no such thing as a stop light, theres no such thing as waiting in line. After 9 11 and tsa started making you take your shoes off, george bush was already president , obviously. And i ran into the oval office, i was late. I said my flight was late. It takes forever now to take off your shoes. Thanks a lot for that, mr. President. He said what are you talking about . I said the gosh bleep bleep tsa makes you strip naked and because of you you know, you do live in this rarefied well, he knew but he hadnt experienced it. And no one faults him for it. Right. Its for your own security. But in marine one, you take a to go to new york city. You land on wall street. And you complain about traffic and they look at you like youre crazy. Dwight eisenhower, when he left the presidency, went back to his house, picked up the telephone and heard this buzz, which was a dial tone. He had never heard one. For the previous 20 years, he would pick up the telephone, there would be an operator and he would say, get me joe smith. The other thing is that donald trump has had more than a little experience riding in a limousine. Correct. And a private airplane. And a private airplane. Well, no, that is a concern that actually some folks around trump have that, you know, he does sheer a guy that was elected supposedly having this common touch, but he actually doesnt interact that much, hasnt. Will interact even less so as president just because of the nature of sort of the way the theres governor Chris Christie who was seen as quite a while for being a potential rising star and having some major role in this administration. The transition process is sort of a mess with a lot of finger pointing. Some in Chris Christies direction. Some supporters of Chris Christie in the other direction. He ran the process for a year and had an office down here and a staff. And two days after donald trump won, he fired Chris Christie from that job and basically started the work anew. We were looking at the picture of Hillary Clinton a moment ago. She tweeted here recently, she said im here today to honor our democracy and its enduring values. I will never stop believing in our country and its future, inauguration. So if the youre wondering whats on her mind, that was the tweet she issued a short time ago as we see president and laura bush making their way down and being greeted by folks. And her tweet echos the words of al gore when he conceded the election of 2000 when he said for the sake of my democracy win offer my concession. And our thoughts with president george h. W. Bush who res uston after a health care this week. But obviously weve heard nothing but good news from jenna earlier today on the today show. So were very excited to hear that. Obviously, the situation is such that president bush could make this journey. Im sure theyre watching. And here is the arrival of the motorcade now to the capitol where theyll go in. And Chris Jansing is there. Chris. Dramatic images of the peaceful transition of power with the current president and the president elect now arriving at what is known as the carriage entrance. This is a practice that dates back, lester, to 1837 with the current and soon to be president riding together in the same vehicle. Its worth noting that president obama, of course, retains power now until the oath of office is given. Staff at the white house right now. But this is the moment that we have been waiting for. They will arrive through the doors here, greeted by an inaugural which the, military cordon, senate and house sergeants at arms who are here waiting for them. I see Michelle Obama closest to me and Melania Trump, soon to be first lady, being directed around one of these vehicles here. They will go up these stairs and through the door. This is a very finally timed event. They will go into Holding Rooms. Anyone whos has ever been to the capitol, who has taken a tour of the capitol, there is a place in the center of it that has 13 statues representing the 13 colonies. It is called the crypt. They will go in those Holding Rooms and wait for the symbol, the sign to go out. But theyre having a you can see the first ladies together, getting some directions from people. Also some pleasantries. Theyve worked closely with members of this inaugural committee and, obviously, the transition committee. They will go up the stairs, through the doors, down the hall and once that hold is over, of course, the last person who will go out will be president elect donald j. Trump. He will walk down a set of 35 stairs. I walked it just the other day. There will be, right before he goes through the red cartans, a mirror that is hanging on the wall, a member of the inaugural Committee Said to me thats the last checkpoint where he can see how he looks. Theres pete souza. And you will go to take the oath. And here we see them entering inside the capital. President elect trump, president obama. Pick up some of the hello. Hello, everybody. Congratulations, sir. God bless our fellow colleagues there getting that shouting question in. Okay. Were moving. To the question, we are bog to be looking for some here in the next several days. Dont expect it today. I think its i find it somewhat unusual that they have talked that monday should be viewed as the first real day of the presidency. The pences. That theyre not going to do this, quote, hit ground running aspect today. Its really monday that theyre building towards. One of the key aides, however, told me that he would not be surprised if they were challenged on the weekend in some form, econoll challenge that everybody is concerned b about and thats north korea. They are anticipating a test launch of some form soon. Here are the trump children. Theres ivanka and tiffany and donald jr. And eric trump. Somber faces as they prepare to step out ask watch their father become the next president of the United States. And barron there, too. Chuck was talk ago moment ago about the possibility of a challenge from north korea. We talked about the symbolic of a smooth transition, but one thing thats developed in recent years is that the old president and the new president and their people have National Security exercises so that if, god forbid, Something Like this happens one minute after the oath taking, the new president and his staff will be a little bit more up to speed. And these are post 9 11 reforms. I was talk, andy card who was the chief offf and he was talking about they put in some new in order to make this transition smoother, he said that the Obama Administration enhanced it even more. They did an exercise last week. It was basically both teams. They did a essentially a practice emergency exercise, as you call. And that is a sobering moment for all of the advisers. Thats the first time they feel the weight of what theyre about to do. S as we look at the kids come in here, its worth noting ivanka trump was asked about whether she would serve as the pseudo first lady and she shut that down. And emphatically so. And it was the first time she got the to answer that. She will have no official role in this white house. And there is the view. Hallie jackson has got a great view looking on that to that west front where all this is taking place. Hallie, what are you seeing . Hi, lester. We are just across from the view grdia riser. Nd here. As people are watching on the monitors, every time they see a shot of the president elect or his family, a big cheer goes up. There have been announcements now as each of the former living president s has walked in. President carter and president bush and president clinton, as well. The senators who have gathered here on the platform are doing what a lot of people here are doing which is picking up their phones and taking selfies. And here, i believe, is the first time the public is seeing the trump children. I believe theyre about to walk out into public view. There they are. You can hear that applause. Lets listen. The chief of staff is even doing photos there. One of the folks i interviewed this week is texting me from the crowd. He said there were polite cheers for Hillary Clinton when she walked out from the Trump Supporters gathered on the m which leads one of the questions i wanted to ask later on, but lets ask it now, would you expect, as President Trump, to name her in his speech . He should. I would hope so. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying to grow his support by being gracious. Im sorry nothing to lose. Im shocked that they havent had a private meeting, a lunch, a coffee. And they know each other. She went to his wedding. This is, i think, the biggest mistake he made during the transition. She may not have wanted to do it, but theres no way she could have turned down that invitation from the president elect. The fact that they havent done it yet i just think is a mistake. Keep in mind, he never fully closed the door on prosecuting her. Remember, he had thrown that out correct. Before the election. You know, well, it is im glad to hear that about the crowd. I dont you know, i think we were discussing earlier, how feel like a Trump Campaign rally . Would we start hearing some chants that weve gotten used to during the campaign . My feeling is no. I think you i dont care who you are as an american citizen, you walk into this capitol this week and democracy is just raining on you. And you start thinking as an american, not as a and nicole, i dont know if you heard this, but when i was touring the country, one woman said it so articulately. She is against donald trump. This was for clinton. But she said, you know, i hear all this not my president. She goes, he is my president. And, you know, she says, ive got to root for my president to succeed. And you know where you hear that is in the military. And donald trump did really well on military families and among veterans. But he didnt win them all. But they have to live that. They dont get to just say. It. The they have to live with this man as their commander in chief. I know people that say it mean it and they are really still hurting. They feel dispondant about the outcome. But its not a particularly productive sentiment. Yeah. And there is some of the crowd. I know the park service and others, they dont like to get with the crowd counting business. I think there was talk of anywhere from 700,000 to 900,000 to come and witness this. There are protests in various parts of town. There were threats to well get a crowd estimate from somebody. Well probably get one from donald trump. Are you guys kidding me . Thats who i was referring to, nicole. Well get an official estimate perhaps from the podium. We may get some new poll numbers, you guys, a report on how were doing and the coverage of the event. Hes still donald trump. Yeah. Katie is down in the crowd right now as we take a look at jared trump. Katie, what is the mood down there . Have people been staked out for a while . Yeah. Theyve been here for quite a ponchos, theyre wearing hats. Wt the reaction would be when Hillary Clinton and bill clinton walked down. While there wasnt a large cheer in the same way there was for george w. Bush, there was not anybody who was engineering in any way at Hillary Clinton. They said to me that they believe this was probably a pretty hard moment for her. They acknowledged that. But these people are trump voters. Theyre the ones that put him into the office. Theyre the ones that they feel defied the odds. And they feel very vindicated right now. Now theyre going to start chanting usa, which is obviously what we heard quite a bit of on the campaign trail. What can you see with the naked eye fromhere you are, people seeing this on a swrum b jumbotron. We actually have a really good view. We have a direct view of donald trump, easy on to see. But theres a big screen over here so they can see people that are walking down the stairs. Donald trumps cabinet. They were there were a number of cheers as Donald Trumps cabinet dook t took the stage. But they have a great view of donald trump and how he will be taking the oath of office. In terms of the crowd, it looks pretty filled to be here. These folks have been waiting for hours. They are excited. This is a day they hoped they would see come and its a day they feel they deserved. Back to you. Thats an incredible picture of the mall. I cant wait until our folks do the speed up, you know with the crowd filling in. Weve been watching all morning. As 7 00 a. M. , as you might expect, staringelers. Every half hour, its been neat to see it fill in. And jacob is near the far end of the mall. What are you seeing . Yes. You can see the supporters all the way down to the back. When president obama was first ininaugural rated in 2009, 1. 8 Million People were here. And i can show you this way to the washington monument. Its not quite as filled up right now. But everyone has been watching from each and every moment from i guess what you would call the nose bleeds up on these television monitors up here. We can see what you can see from about 1. 1 miles away. Security is very tight. Part of the reason why i took so long for people to fill in here, but the crowds are coming and theyre certainly enthusiastic. Jacob, thank you very much. Just to recap, if youre just tuning in, president obama and first lady Michelle Obama and the trumps have now arrived at the capitol. They are in a holding room. Virtually all the vips have taken their place on the platform on the west front and we will be getting under way quite shortly. I think 11 30 is when the ceremony begins and there is some of the notables, secretary clinton and president clinton. So many members of congress. It has been noted that the members of congress have chosen to boycott this gathering today. I think the last number i heard was around 60 or so. Mainly in reaction to the flap that john lewis had and his comments he made to you originally about the legitimacy of the and and an untold number of people around the country, before we get to kumbaya are not watching. And there will be a large protest in this town tomorrow, and not an insignificant one on that same mall. The womens march all over the country. So lets not forget there are people who look at 3 million margin, but the whole russian hacking episode and they have not given up. And here is first lady Michelle Obama being escorted now along with dr. Jill biden. I believe theyve been very close. Theyve been working on veterans issues, the two of them. They have a high regard for one another and theyve gone to different bases and had seminares and other and dr. Biden has continued to teach. I was at an event with her over the last year and i said what are you looking most forward to when its over . She goes, jogging alone. I remember she says, you know, its weird jogging along and she said you end up getting competitive with the secret Service Agents, as well. And theyre really fit. She said i just want to be le and Vice President s lose their secret servicey. Former president s never lose its. So Michelle Obama and barack, theyll never fully be alone again. And that is a hard thing for former president s. We should check this. I thought at some point they were going to limit how long, how many years. Theres still a full compliment of secret service. I had a classmate who was a secret Service Agent for president ford. That was very good duty. You were at vale in the wintertime for skiing, palm springs for summertime. I remember bumping into laid Lady Bird Johnson and there she was with two agents. This will be a large first family. Rick perry, governor perry, this will be a large first family to protect. Because they live in separate places and all but one are adul be actually, we talk about security. Theres a big question about the trump branded buildings. What extra security, how much is the government this is actually something that still hasnt quite been worked out yet in National Security circles. Ladies and gentlemen, the first lady, mrs. Michelle obama and the wife of the Vice President , dr. Jill biden, escorted by the direct her of the United States Senate Committee on rules and Administration Kelly fado, miss irawanshaw and mr. Paul pelosi. Thank you. Thank you. As they take their seats, michael benchlos has been looking at the security around the trump hotel. Strong with barricades and hundreds of Police Officers and marines. This is a remarkable picture, we talked about the clinton and bush relationship, mrs. Obama and george w. Bush were last together at the Memorial Service in dallas and they were Holding Hands and swaying to some of the hymns at the end. So the bushes have gotten to know the clintons and the obamas quite well. I have to Say Something about mrs. Obama. Her contributions to fashion because im standing next to four men in blue suits. Oh nonfashionable. No, you look great because youre all wearing the same suit. Ouch. Occupational hazard, nicole. Shes been known the world over and watched the world over for picking out designers young and upcoming designers. Melania trump is a beautiful woman and obviously a fashion icon with, a former model. But it will be interesting to see if that is her practice. Women care about stuff like this, you guys. Yall are looking at me dumbfounded. Nicole, im not im getting a thumbs up from the women in the studio. She wears j. Crew, she wears high end. Thats why people love her. Im sure people have al tweeted out where to buy what shes wearing right now. And melania wearing ralph lauren. The first family will be able to shed their coats. Theyre heading to california for a little warmth after this. And that echos jared ford who in 1977 did exactly the same thing, got on the and went to palm springs, right . Went to palm springs and attendsed a Golf Tournament that afternoon. That is a hobby that, you know, barack obama wasnt in the gulf before he became president. He realized golfing was one of the few chances you got to walk alone a little bit. Perhaps it was a place that maybe you could sneak a cigarette or two. Not saying that is what would happen hint, hint, before you quit. And be outside. And he now loves the sport. We havent seen a lot of Melania Trump. She did not make any campaign appearances. She famously spoke at the republicat but has kept a ratlong this ent campaign and the transition. Step out on the worlds biggest stage. She has a 10yearold son and i think she has worked really hard during that campaign to be to make sure, you know, she was mother to her son during this period where, you know, his father was having to travel the country. Shes also very shy and her forret at the convention was a plagiarized speech and it was humiliating for her. Its not her fault. Its the staffs fault for not taking charge of that. Im sure shes hoping take two is more successful. And theres their son, barron. And he will finish school this year in new york. The clerk of the house of representatives, karen hoss, ryan and mrs. Judy mccarthy. Looking at the juxtaposition of former Vice President dick cheney and just in front of them, just to his right is mrs. Obama, of course. Dick cheney was particularly tough on this president and on this add men administration saying, no president in American History has done more to aid our adversaryies, which for someone who is so involved in the launch of the war against iraq, a lot of people were stunned by that judgment and conclusion of him. So its we havent seen donald rumsfeld, by the way. And here is the president and Vice President. Speaker and the democratic leader of the senate. And for most of American History, you could never see this thing behind the scenes because there was no Television Television was oftentimes not of this by the way, nancy pelosi there is wearing a pin, a button, and Many Democrats today are wearing that same button. Im told it says protectourcare. It is their way of just a quiet advocatation of keeping obamacare. Lets listen for a moment as theyre about to be introduced. Donald trump always wears a red tie. Are you noticing that all the democrats have blue ties on tt. Today. And on the take that she conceded, Hillary Clinton wore purple and her husband wore a purple tie. Lets listen. And in a moment, the and president elect trump. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States, the honorable barack h. Obama and the Vice President joseph r. Biden escorted by Senate Charles e. Schumer and House Democratic leader nancy pelosi. The last time a hail to the chi chief will be played before president obama as president. Theres the trump daughters. Thats bo. The entire trump family. Dan quayle, former Vice President. We actually are going to hear from barack obama one last time today. President over at andrews. Thats correct. Sometime later this afternoon. In an exchange between president obama and president obama. They look like theyre ribbing each other. Can you walk by president obama bush and not get ribbed . No. Im thinking the last time we saw them together was at the memorial for the Police Officers in dallas. President obama has talked about the president elect and says theres a big difference between campaigning and governing. And in just a few moments, the weight of the world will be on donald trump. And he will know what governing is about. It takes president s a long time to get out of campaign mode, longer than you think. Listen to the crowd. I dont think the they were silenced, but i think the mike was silenced that was picking them had up. Here we go. Theres some blue ties there on some republicans, tom. Yeah. Right . President elect donald trump. Lets listen. Michael, in the long her of american president ial politics has anyone ever defied greater man with who is about to become i cant imagine one particularly because, you know, there was a law that we would have always said probably was an iron law in politics until the last couple of months, which was you dont get elected president if you dont have seriou military experience or serious experience in Public Office. Donald trump actually speaking to the camera there for a moment. Didnt quite hear what he said, but looked into the lens. This is a man not easily humbled and you have to wonder is this truly a humbling moment for him as he is about to take the oath. Certainly looks like hes feeling weight. He looks like the donald trump we saw that sat next to barack obama that first time. The Vice President elect Michael Richard pence. Never looked better. Never looked better. Vice president elect greeting folks as hes about to take his place. Just a point of fact, i mentioned that barack obama and president bush, the last time they saw each other was in dallas. I stand corrected. They were at the opening of the africanAmerican History museum. And i made the same mistake, so your correction counts twice. I think theyre running so on time, theyre actually, i think, wait to go make sure they hit their marks here. Ladies and gentlemen, escorting the president elect, the staff director from the joint Congressional Committee on inaugural ceremonies, stacey mcbride, frank larkin, house sergeant of arms paul irving, roy blount, rules Committee Ranking member and Senate Democratic leader charles e. Schumer, speaks of the house of the represents, paul d. Ryan, yes, theyve had to do this twice. Theyre escorting people and then they get introduced. Youll get to hear from a couple of them before the oath. Michael, is there anything magical about the time . We talk about noon, the swearing of the oath. Constitutionally . Its the moment that goes all the way back. And an interesting thing is how hard a moment that is because in 1981 when jimmy carter was the outgoing president , as you know, he was trying to get american hostages released from iran. And at 12 0 1, one of the aides called the situation room to ask for a report and they said, im sorry, youre no longer cleared for information. Ladies and gentlemen, the president elect of the United States, Donald John Trump. Can we officially say thats a trademark thing with him, the thumbs up. Thats his version of a wave. A signature. Ladies and gentlemen, the chairman of the joint Congressional Committee for inaugural ceremonies, the honorable roy blunt. Thank you, all. If you have a seat, you can sit down. Mr. President , mr. Vice president , mr. President elect, mr. Vice president elect, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the inauguration of the 45th president of the United States of america. Today, the legislative, the executive, the injury additional branches of our Constitutional Government come th president of the United States. Millions of people all over the world will watch and will listen to this event. 36 years ago, at his first inauguration, it was also the first inaugurationing on this side of the capitol. President ronald rig reagan said both what we do here is both commonplace and miraculous. Commonplace every ur years since 1789 when president George Washington took this executive same oath. Miraculous because weve done it every four years since 1789 and the example it sets for democracies everywhere. Washington believed the inauguration of the second president would be more important than the inauguration of the first. Many people had taken control of but few people had ever turned that control willingly over to anyone else. And as important as the transfer of the the first transfer of power was, many historians believe that the next election was even more important. When in 1801, one group of people arguably for the First Time Ever in history willingly, if not enthusiastically, gave control of the government to people they believed had a dramatically different view of what the government would, should and could do. After that election that actually discovered a flaw in the constitution itself, which was remedied by the 12th amendment, thomas jefferson, at that inauguration, beyond the chaos of the election that had just passed said, we are all republicans, we are all federalists. After four years of civir, theech tried to find reason fo pointed out that both sides prayed to the same god. He had earlier written about those fervent prayers that one of the side must be and both sides may be wrong, but in 1865, he looked to the future and the memorable moment in that speech was with malice toward none and charity for all. In the middle of the depression, the country was told that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself. And president kennedy talked about the obligation in democracy to country. The great question that day was ask what you can do for your country. So we come to this place again, commonplace and miraculous, a National Moment of celebration, but not a celebration of victory, a celebration of democracy. And as we begin that celebration, i call on his eminence Timothy Michael cardinal dolan, reverend hikal Samuel Rodriguez and pastor paula whitecan had e to provide readings and the invocation. The prayer of king solomon from the book of wisdom. Let us pray. God of our ancestors and lord of mercy, you have made all things and in your providence have charged us to rule the creatures produced by you to govern the world in holiness and righteousness and to render judgment with integrity of heart. Give us wisdom. For we are your servants weak and short lived lacking in comprehension of judgment and of laws, indeed, though one might be perfect among mortals, if wisdom which comes from you be lacking, we count for nothing. Now with you is wisdom, who knows your will and was there when you made the world, who understands what with is pleasing in your eyes, what is conformable with your commands. Send her forth prosecute your holy heavens, from your glorious throne dispatch her, that she may be with us and work with us that we may grasp what is pleasing to you, for she knows and understands all things and will guide us mruntly in our affairs and safe fwaurd us by h her glory. Amen. From the gospel of matther the fifth chapter. God blesses those who are poor and realize their need oval him for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble for they were inherit the earth. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice for they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful for they will be shown mercy. He blesses those who are pure in heart. For they will see god. God blesses those who work for peace you for they are chirp of god. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right and god blesses you when people mock you and percent cute you and lie evil things against you for you are my followers. Like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden, no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on its stand where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see that everyone will praise your heavenly taer. Respectfully in jesus name. We come to you, heavenly taer, in the name of jesus with grateful hearts thanking you for this great country that you have decreed to your people. We acknowledge we are a pleased nation with a rich history of faith and fortitude, with a future that is filled with promise and purpose. We recognize that every good and everrf you and the united staof we proclaim our gratitude. As a nation, we now pray for our president , Donald John Trump, Vice President Michael Richard pence, and their families. We ask that you would bestow upon our president the wisdom necessary to lead this great nation, the grace to unify us and the strength to stand for what is honorable and right the had in your sight. In proverbs 21 1, you instruct us that our leaders heart is in your hands. Gracious god, reveal unto our president the ability to know the will, your will, the confidence to lead us in justice and righteousness and the compassion to yield to our better angels. While we know there are many challenges before us, in every generation you have provided the strength and power to become that blessed nation. Guide us in discernment, lord, and give us that strength to persevere and thrive. Now bind and heal our wounds and divisions. And join us nation to your purpose. Thy kingdom come thy will be done. The psalm is declared. Let your favor be upon this one nation under god. Let these United States of america be that beacon of hope to all people and nations under your dominion, a true hope for human kind. Glory to the father, the son and the holy spirit, we pray this in the name of jesus christ. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, the Missouri State University Choral. Here is a place of strangers welcome we who walk in stranger shoes once we were strayed once we were strangers sneets keep faith keep watch take hold take courage it was the chance of a lifetime for central State University students to be front and center at the president ial inauguration. U. S. Senate roy blunt made a stop of Missouri State university today to announce the Missouri State choral will be of the inaugural county. Senator blunt was able to invite the group to perform. The students will be singing in front of some 47 Million People. Students say its a dream come true. No words. I still dont have any words because it was wow. This is definitely a dream and definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. So im very excited about that. The select choir is made up of 50 voices and has toured throughout the United States, europe and south africa. The 45th president of the United States will be sworn in january 20th, 2017. Well, the Missouri State University Choral practices and performs about two blocks from my home in springfield, missouri, so it was easy to find them and were pleased theyre here. Its also a great opportunity for me to introduce my colleague, the senator from new york, Chuck Schumer. My fellow americans, we live in a challenging and ta mull tumultuous time, a quickly evolving and interconnected world, a rapidly changing economy that benefits too few while leaving too many behind, a fractured media, politics frequently cond we face threats, foreign and domestic. In such times, faith in our government, our institutions and even our country can erode. Despite these challenges, i stand here today confident in this great country for one reason. You, the American People. We americans have always been a forward looking, problemsolving, optimistic, patriotic and decent people. Whatever our race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, whether we are immigrant or native born, whether we live with disabilities or do not, in wealth or in poverty, we are all yet fierce devotion to our country. And in our willingness to sacrifice our time, energy, and even our lives to making it a more perfect union. Today, we celebrate one of democracys core attributes, the peaceful transfer of power. And every day we stand up for core democratic principals enshrined in the constitution, the rule of law, equal production for all under law, the freedom of speech, press, religion, the things that make America America. And we can gain strength from reading our history and listening to the voices of average americans. They had always save us in times of strife. One such american was major sullivan blue. On july 14th, 1861, when the northern and south were lining up for their first battle, a time when our country was bitterly divided and faith in the future of our country was at a nader, major balu of the second rhode island volunteers penned a letter to his wife, sara. It is one of the greatest letters in American History. It shows the strength and courage of the average american. Allow me to read some of his words which echo through the ages. My very dear sara, he wrote, the indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days, perhaps tomorrow. If it is necessary that i should fall on the battlefield for my country, i am ready. I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the cause in which i am engaged. And my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the revolution. And i am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to on help maintain this government and to pay that debt. Sara, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me to you with the mighty cables that nothing but omnipotence can break. And yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield. Sullivan blue gave his life on the battlefield a week later at the t it is because sullivan blue and countless others believed in something bigger than themselves and were willing to sacrifice for it that we stand today in the full blessings of liberty, in the greatest country on earth. And that spirit lives on in each of us, americans whose families have been here for generations and those who have just arrived. And i know our best day hes are yet to come. I urge all americans to read blues full letter, his words give me solace, strength. I hope they will give you the same. Now, please stand while the associate justice of the Supreme Court, clarence thomas, adminsters the oath of office to the Vice President of the United States. Just a note, Vice President s take a different oath since theres no requirement in the constitution. They use the same text administered to all federal officials who must take an oath in order to serve. Mr. Vice president elect, would you raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Michael Richard pence, do om emily swear. I Michael Richard pence do solemnly swear. That i will support and defend the constitution of the United States. That i will support and defend the constitution of the United States. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. That i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. That i take this obligation freely. That i take this obligation freely. Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. And that i will well and faithfully discharge. And that i will well and faithfully discharge. The duties of the office of which i am about to enter. The duties of the office on which i am about to enter. So help me god. So help me god. Congratulations. God bless you. Mike pence is now Vice President mike pence. We believe the president ial oath will take place based on where we are on the schedule, it will minutes from now. This is that brief moment where we are president obama and Vice President pence. Either way, donald trump becomes president at the stroke of noon. It was very fortuitous for governor pence, he was governor of indiana when Donald Trumps plane broke down. Almost ran for president himself in 2012. Many people think the only person that might have been able to beat mitt romney that year would have been mike pence. Getting a congratulations from president obama. Ladies and gentlemen, the moreman tabernacle choir accompanied by the United States marine band. Oh beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain for purple mountains majesty above the fruited plain America America god shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea o beautiful for pilgrim feet whose stern impassioned stress a thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness America America god mend thine every flaw confirm thy soul in selfcontrol thy liberty in law so oats beautiful for heros crew in liberating stride who more than served their country loved and mercy murth and mild America America thy called refine nobleness and every day dev e devine oh, beautiful for seas behi s America America god shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea from sea to shining sea in a moment, chief Justice John Roberts will be introduced to administer the oath to donald trump. Chief justice of the United States, john g. Roberts jr. Who will administer the president ial oath of office. Everyone please stand. Please raise your right hand, and repeat after me. I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear. I Donald John Trump do solemn that i will faithfully the office of president of the United States. The office of president of the United States. And will to the best of my ability. And will to the best of my and will, to the best of my ability. Preserve, protect and defend preserve and protect and defend. The constitution of the United States. The constitution of the United States. So help me god. So help me god. Congratulations, mr. President. Heretofore he is president. Donald j. Trump cannons across the. The president of the United States, and commander in chief. The president of the United States. What a great honor to be able to introduce, for the First Time Ever anywhere, the 45th president of the United States of america, donald j. Trump. Chief Justice Roberts, clinton, president bush, aplausos world, thank you. We, the citizens of america, are now joined in a Great National effort to rebuild our country and restore its promise for all of our people. Together, we will determine the course of america and the world for many, many years to come. We will confront hardships, but we will get the job done. Every four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power and we are grateful to president obama and first lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. They have been magnificent. Thank you. Thank you. Todays ceremony, however, has very special meaning, because, today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another, or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from washington, d. C. , and giving it back to you, the people. For too long, a small group in our nations capital, has repeated the reward of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumph is have not been your triumphs, and while they celebrated in our nations capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land. That all changes starting right here and right now, because this moment is your moment. It belongs to you. It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across america. This is your day. This is your celebration. And this, the United States of america, is your country. What truly matters is not which Party Controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. Jay remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. Everyone is listening to you now. You came by the tens of millions to become part of a historic movement, the likes of which the world has never seen before. At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction, that a nation exists to serve its citizens. Americans want Great Schools to fortheir children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves. These are just a reasonable demands of righteous people and a righteous public. But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists. Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities, rusted out factories scattered like tomb stones across the landscape of our nation. An education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge and the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This american carnage stops right here and stops rightow. [002 08 00;00] we are one nation and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our dreams. And their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny. The oath of office i take today is an oath of allegiance to all americans. For many decades, we have enriched foreign industry at the expense of american industry, subsidize the armies of other countries, while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military. We have defended other nations borders, while refusing to defend our own. And spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas, while americas infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We have made other countries rich, while the wealth, strength, and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon. One by one, the factories shuddered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American Workers that were left behind. The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world. And, now, we are looking only to the future. We assemble here today are issuing a new degree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, its going to be only america, first, america, first. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American Workers and the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength. I will fight for you with every breath in my body and i will never, ever let you down. America will start winning again. Winning like never before. We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth and we will bring back our we will build new roads and highways and bridges and airports and tunnels and railways all across our wonderful nation. We will get our people off of welfare and back to work, rebuilding our country with american hands and american labor. We will follow two simple rules buy american and hire american. We will seek friendship and good will with the nations of the world, but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first. We do not seek to impose our way to let it shine. As an example, we will shine for everyone to follow. We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones, and unite the civilized world against radical islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth. At the bedrock of our politics, will be a total allegiance to the United States of america, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other. When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice. The bible tells us how good and pleasant it is when gods people live together in unity. We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity. When america is united, america is totally unstoppable. There should be no fear. We are protected and we will always be protected. We will be protected by the great men and women of our military and Law Enforcement, and most importantly, we will be protected by god. Finally, we must think big and dream even bigger. In america, wend that a nation is only living as long as it is striving. We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action, constantly complaining, but never doing anything about it. The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action. Do not allow anyone to tell you that it cannot be done. No challenge can match the heart and fight and spirit of america. We will not fail. Our country will thrive and we stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the earth from the miseries of disease and to harness the industries and technologies of tomorrow. A new National Pride will lift our souls and sights and heal our subdivisiodivisions. Its time to remember that old wisdom, our soldiers will never forget, that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots. We all enjoy the same glorious freedoms and we all salute the same Great American flags. And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of detroit or the windswept plains of nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty creator. So to all americans in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, from ocean to ocean, hear these words you will never be ignored again. Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams will define our american destiny and your courage and goodness and love way. Together, we will make america strong again. We will make america wealthy again. We will make america proud again. We will make america safe again, and, yes, together, we will make America Great again. Thank you. God bless you and God Bless America thank you. The President Donald Trump concluding about a 16minute remarks there in a speech that, in many ways, was taken from the pages of many of the Campaign Speeches we heard on the road and he is being greeted there by president obama, who, at times, seemed to be biting his lip. I have to say, it was surprisingly divisive for an inaugural address and i say it this way. We said it was a challenge when youre elected as an outsider, youre elected as a possibpulacd channeling your divides its hard to be a populace carrier. He went with poplism but that was not the inaugural address expected to bring this country together. He is reaching out to the people who are gathered there. A new sheriff in town. America first. There was a point there, lester, where it felt as if he almost was insulting every living president that was sitting next to him in very personal ways. He was also insulting all of the republican congressmen and senators who were on stage. He has a majority but he went after politicians point blank. This is rabbi. Bless president donald j. Trump and america, our great nation. Guide us to remember the word of the the ones who may dwell our holy mountain, one who does what it right and speaks the truth, who knows that when you eat the labor of your hands, you are praise worthy that he who sows in tears shall reap in joy, because the freedoms we enjoy are not granted in perpetuity, but must be reclaimed by each generation. As our ancestors have planted for us, so we must plant for others. While it is not for us to complete the task, neither are we free to desist from them. Dispense justice for the needy and the orphan, for they have no one but their fellow citizens. And because a nations wealth is measured by her values, and not by her vaults. Bless all of our allies around the world who share our beliefs, by the rivers of babylon, we wept as we remembered zion. If i forget the old jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. The doer of all these shall never falter. May the days come soon when justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness will abide in the fertile field, and the work of righteousness will be peace, quietness, and confident forever. Amen. Mr. President , in the bible blessing. And it started to rain, mr. And its my prayer that god will bless you, your family, your administration, and may he bless america. The passage of scripture comes from first timothy chapter 2. I urged then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people. For teams for all of those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holliness. Our savior, who wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one god and one mediator between god and mansigned, the man christ jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all people. Now to the king eternal. Immor immoral, invisible. The only god for honor be glory forever and offer. In jesus name, amen. The next benediction from bishop wayne jackson. We thank you for letting us share this great moment together. Let us not take for granted the air we breathe or the life youve given us. We were all created by with one blood, all nation to dwell upon this land together. We are not enemies for brothers and sisters. We are not adversaries with you allies. We are friends and let us be healed by the power of your love and the bond of your spirit. Today, we pray for our 45th president , the Vice President , and their families, and give them the wealth and guide of this great nation, the strength to protect it and the hands to heal it. We bless president donald j. Trump. We ask that you give him the wisdom of solomon, the wisdom of joseph and christ. Solomon kept peace among many nations and joseph dreamt better for the people, and christ who accepted us all. Oh, lord, mend our hearts and stitch together into the fabric of this great country, in the spirit of the legendary gospel songwriter manuel jackson. Oh, deep in my heart i do believe the lord will see us through i do believe we will walk hand in hand i do believe oh, deep in my heart america we have overcome may the lord lebless and keep america and shine upon us and be gracious unto us and give us peace in the mighty name of jesus. Amen. Announcer ladies and gentlemen, please welcome jackie evanko, accompanied by the president s own United States marine band. Please stand for the singing of the National Anthem. [002 25 44;00] o say, can you see by the dawns early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming . Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight oer the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming . And the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air through the night that our flag was still there oh, say, does that starspangled banner yet wave oer the land of the free and the home of the brave . Announcer ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing while the president and official party depart the platform. You will be released by sections shortly. Lady Melania Trump will be now existing the platform, perhaps a few more greetings there. They will leave along with the obamas and bidens and Vice President mike and karen pence. The president greeting members on the platform here. What is going to happen next, they will retreat inside the capitol and there will be a departure ceremony for former president obama and former first lady Michelle Obama. They are on their way to california for vacation. They will be boarding a helicopter that will look quite familiar but it will have a different call sign than the one they have been on last eight years. The president is greeting the doles, bob dole. Doles president obama also there to greet them. There is President Trump walking through the capitol for the first time as president. Everything today will be the first time as president. Lester, we were talking earlier. It is difficult to both channel what the supporters want to hear and sometimes try to bring the moment of unity and its not you cant do both sometimes. And i think that he wanted that clearly was an inaugural that was intended for people. A woman who has looked at a lot of inaugural addresses and might have some frame of reference is doris goodson. Thank you for being with us, doris. Thank you. As i had noted, a lot of the themes we heard in that inaugural address were straight from the campaign. Clearly true to what got in here and speaking to the base. Speech . Well, i think on the one hand, it probably was the best Campaign Speech he ever made in the sense that it wasnt i, i, i, as he usually talked about. He just mentioned we are part of a movement and i will fight for you for every breath of me was one of few times he brought the i in. I agree with you a Campaign Speech to his supporters will love it. He was simple and declarative but he made enemies as populism always does. One is the capitol hill and the politician establishment and the other was the world at large. Somehow, he was saying america is getting itself lost by helping other countries become rich while our middle class is being squeezed. No mention of redistribution of income within the United States and then i think America First is a troubling memory. Obviously, isolationist before world war ii and to use that as a slogan conjures up those scary notions of our not having alliances, even though he end. Fdr brought that up and still it was interesting. I found myself squirming at times because he was indicting many of the people he shared the platform with and clearly by design but heart of his campaign. You did feel awkward at times there, chuck . It was awkward because i guess i expected a little bit more of an effort to i thought Michael Gerson said this earlier. A columnist on the washington post. He was criticizing donald trump and said sometimes it feels as if he doesnt want to talk about the american story enough and he thought in the way he handled the john lewis situation. I was listening to that speech today and somehow it felt di connected a little bit from the american story and i understand. I thought door mace marima running against and that was in that inaugural. If he was looking to build political capitalism i dont think he did. Tom brokaw, any of those uncomfortable with a President Trump . Anything they can take as a youd have to talk to them. I think what he did was this was the core donald trump. I mean, he reached out to those people who were in Mika Brzezinski mccomb county, michigan. But america is different than that because of its voter tapestry. The Auto Industry is charging along. Oil price as low as in the past 25 years pen there is a recovery underway and no question about that. The republican majority he has in the house and senate now, he head slapped them because ed these politicians in washington, they just want to take and dont want to give you anything. It seems to me a very hard door to open and goes back to what happened when he came to see the Senate Leadership when it was clear he might get the nomination. The Senate Leadership said he was pretty good at the beginning and then when we said to him, we would like to talk about some issues that we have for you, he said, no, im not here about that. I put on a show. Thats why people this is a quote from somebody who was in the room. A Senior Member of the republican Senate Leadership. I put on a show. You guys dont get me. So i see what he said today was must put on a show for his core root who did get him there but how you put the country back together again and get everybody moving the same way, am i off base here . No. I resonate with everything you say. I was surprised. Again, im as surprised today as i was on election night. I expected a lot more joy. I was disappointed with how authentic and quintessentially donald j. Trump and it was grim. On inaugural day there is typically more joy on the podium than there was today and typically more coming together. Hugh, i think many people were hopeful he would take a page off your old boss book, Richard Nixon in 69. It was a divisive campaign. It was a divided country and angry country. No doubt a moment like this and he went he decided to go up. Let me ask you this. For a long time, president obama would look back and say, well, the problems were started before i got here. He would remind us of what he inherited. Donald trump gave a very fullthroat speech there about america is going to be great again. How long does he have before he owns it . He gets nine months to to do things and that was definitely a call to arms to the member of congress there, we are not screwing around and this not cumbayaccumulate bcumbayah but people much like me who he had something to say did washington the center of the allegiance and the davos man not understanding the average american man but sometimes you can put honey on there. Youre watching the role reversal there in all its glory there as President Trump now walks the other way with former president obama and they will soon be sending obamas off so we will watch that play out here. He just painted a picture that i think Many Americans dont recognize. There are some americans who think that is the picture and some will say he is painting a war picture and different reality and this goes to the idea there have been two americas. He only painted a picture of one of them. A very important distinction he failed to make. He not the president of the Electoral College but the president of the whole country and the fa had in the important Electoral College states were reasonably narrow and things are coming around a little bit in those areas. Not just the economy but the fact they did want some change but is this the change they want . Let me quickly point out what youre looking at. The helicopter is often known as marine one when the president is on board that will take the former first family away. You can see the folks gathering for the official sendoff. As we watch that, lets go to Kristen Welker there on the platform with some reaction to President Trumps speech. Hi there, lester. Reporter im here with senator david perdue of georgia. The cousin of governor of perdue former governor who was nominated to be the agriculture secretary. Your reaction to that speech. Some people thought it felt a little bit like the Campaign Speech at the end. Did you feel it was unifying enough . He is an outsider and a different approach today but what ed is to the people and the government belongs to the people. Saints that what we are really all about . He called on congress to get things done and get to work. This is a guy used to getting results. I walk away from him listening to one thing. He is calling for unity and stand shouldertoshoulder and independent of your political persuasion and lets pull together and make America Great again. You say unity but to some of the democrats they may not have heard that . Yes. Reporter im getting a hard wrap. Thank you, senator. Lester, back to you. Kristen, thank you. There is former president obama and President Trump here for the departure of the obamas. Typically, we have seen former president s fly out of washington to their next homes and in this case, they are off to vacation in palm springs. And it will be a round trip. They will return to washington, d. C. To begin their life postwhite house. Since reagan and jimmy carter, we have two president s living in washington at the same time that carter stayed to make sure amy carter got through school and similar reason why washington. The biden is to wish their goodbyes as well. This is a symbolic moment. We have seen the official moment but a symbolic moment with a continuation of the transfer of power. Lets listen a bit. The bidens get on the train. They have the bus commute in washington for a couple of. They get on amtrak and ride it to the second stop, baltimore, and then wilmington. Joe has been doing throughout his Senate Career and also his Vice President ial time. Hugs and kisses all around. We certainly know that the obamas and the bidens have become lifelong friends. There is a very, very close bond there and we he saw that with the medal of freedom of distinction awarded by the former president , the former Vice President. Ill get this right. This is like when you get to the new year, you keep writing the last year when you write a check. Im going that process now so forgive me. Departing first in a motorcade. He is going to be setting up shop at university of delaware and penn. Penn will be where with hell pursue some interest in nightly News International affairs and university of delaware. A lot of people look and wonder what if. I dont think joe biden is done. A time when youre in your 70s, its going to be tough to run for president any more. Donald trump got elected at 70. He will be the oldest. Joe is older than 70. He will be 78 in 2020 and donald trump would be 74. I have to to say i didnt think we would have three straight baby boomer president s and technical four but i dont account obama a full baby boomer. There is a difference between 70 and 78, as i will tell you. Tom, run for you. You never know, buddy. Also the Democratic Party is going to have to raise a new generation. The fact is what they have got to do is find the next generation of leadership in the Democratic Party, even with new ideas and the same way bill clinton came up. And joe biden, in fact, was part of that reinvention of the Democratic Party and the case before the Democratic Party. They have some history. Cam la harris and chris murphy, they have very good talented young people but they dont have the talent of that couple, president and mrs. Obama are uniquely gifted so there is always going to be a gap between what follows them. President obama just kind of seems to be taking it all in, as he and the former first lady prepare to depart the capitol by helicopter. They will be going the short board a vip air force jet. It will not be known as air force one but air force jet nonetheless to take them to california for vacation. He is likely to make some remarks there to staffers, former staffers. There has to be a lot of emotions. A lot of certainly a lot of nostalgia. It wouldnt have been easy at times to hear some of the things said in that speech. But the president has, former president has taken the high road certainly in this transition. Here is a lead paragraph in wall street journal today. After eight years in office, barack obama has a market record and a red blooded american capitalist could be proud of. Oil prices have come down and borrowizing cheap and profits are up along with the dollar. Even those who bet against president obama made good money with returns in their investment. Now that the investment group. Along with that came jobs. We know that there has been a recovery. Its imperfect. Its got holes in it but the fact is its not nearly as grim he is speaking to the peggy noonan unprotect today. Lets take in this moment as former president is saluting crew members. The last time that we expectly board that helicopter and make that wave. Chris jansing is out there on that east front of the capital. What have you been able to observe there. This is an emotional time for the people who love the obamas and supported the obamas. They now begin their postpresident ial life. Its described, this moment, in a handbook for the inauguration that dates back to 1889 which says the president leaves the capitol as fast as is practicable after the inauguration of his successor. What it doesnt describe is what this means to the country, this moment, this day that is all about donald j. Trump. This moment is about two people who have served their country for eight years. Getting on that helicopter, as you say, for the last time and going off at a new life that is a young age for the president 55 and 53 for the first lady. They will go to the former air force one, now called executive one. I want to just point out that something happened here that was a tradition the obamas started. It used to be that the goodbyes were said up on the steps. As a sign of respect, eight years ago, president obama walked to the hospital with the bushs and not just said goodbye there, but as was noted at the time he actually hugged george w. Bush after what had been a long and difficult campaign. He had really made a statement that he appreciated the way that the transition was handled, just as donald trump has said that. So perhaps we have seen a new kind of farewell as ee president and Vice President wave, that they will escort them to the helicopter as they make their way to their new life. Lester . I spoke to president obama a little over a week ago who said to me that he thinks the country is in a better place than what it was when he took over and by many measures that he inherited a country with a brink of a financial disaster, shedding jobs, but he certainly has been open to critics of his Foreign Policy and some of the executive actions he has taken. Ironically, toward the end here the progress the American Military has made against isis, particularly in iraq, has been impressive. Even at the end here. What he got hit for early, you might see that strategy that President Trump keeps it in place because it actually it seems to be working. But i direct you to the sp im aware of what it said. We will eradicate radical slauc islamic from the face of the earth. From the face of the earth, especially when youre talking about an ideology. Nonetheless, ed it. When i did a tour this past week talking to people around the country, both for and against, mr. Trump, President Trump, they want him to move quickly and believe in his promises and want to see it and people gave various times as to when they wanted to do tos it. There is the picture of the obamas leaving official washington behind. We are watching it right over our window. Its coming they are coming right to it coming over our studio here. We will find out in the memoirs what they are saying to each other and what they a they take the president around so hts no, what they are saying. Look, there is lester holt right there do you think . No. There has to be a mixture of relief. I suppose some regret. He talks about some of the regrets in office. He wishes that he had done more to organize the grassroots when talking about the democratic loss, the loss of Hillary Clinton. He told me he was surprised that his popularity on the campaign trail did not translate to her. So there is some regret about that. There is always going to be something you didnt get to or something you wish you had spent bill clinton took a long time at oh, my goodness. I wonder if hell respond to President Trumpar . I dont know. We could not get off the air on that day i remember it listen. The president spoke. He wasnt necessarily speaking to all of us in this room. He was speaking to the people and lets get out to jacob who is out on the Washington Mall with some reaction from the folks who came from, in some cases, a long way to hear and see this moment. Jacob . Reporter hey, how are you, lester . Im here with pam and jackie who are from pittsburgh. Two of the i guess, hundreds of thousands of people who are now leaving the national mall. They are donald Trump Supporters through and through. We just stood here and watched former president obama take off and they came here specifically to hear President Donald Trump make those remarks. I got to ask you, pam, what did you think . I thought it was great. I think he will be an amazing president and i for the country. Jackie, you came here from pittsburgh. A very important place for donald trump. Wi what was your most meshlabmorab part of the speech . Oh, yeah. And he used something, he used the word god which is something not done from the president. Were you surprised to hear that from donald trump . I was, i was. But, you know . Pam, jackie, thank you both very much. Lester, just two, like i said, of the many donald Trump Supporters out here heading towards that parade which starts around 3 00. Jacob, thank you. We continue to watch former president and former first lady obama make their way out of official washington and board that helicopter carrying them to joint base andrews, where we do expect to hear from mr. Obama before the family departs on a vacation in a much warmer climate. Something struck me there by the person that jacob was interviewing when she said she hadnt heard god before up there, hadnt heard that in a i dont think ive ever heard a president speak and not say God Bless America after every single speech. The point is it sort of gets at there were two versions of the Obama Presidency that the public saw. There is a version that one public saw and a version the other thinks they saw or perceived. Boy, it is that perceived divide here, almost an informational divide. A woman in there truly believes she had not heard president s talk about god up there any more. Thats just not its just not true but i think it sort of surfaces the information divide we have. She plainly was very enthusiastic. Of course. I take nothing away from that. A supporter of donald trump. It was those kind of voters that got him to where he is. No question about that. What i dont know is what is going on social media. My guess he is getting a well done, high fives and those idiots on television, brokaw and others dont know what they are talking about. They dont understand america. That is whang what t is goin there, they dont get it. This is Sanctuary Hall im sorry. St statwary hall where there is a luncheon. We only can show you a portion as the cameras are shut down as the guests are seated for the len luncheon. Tammy is inside the capitol. We are out here in naples. Hundreds of people big Trump Supporters. This has been a lively crowd and some of the liveliest are these ladies over here. Tell me what today has meant to you. Oh, its thrilling. Its thrilling that we can come together as americans and unite on making american great again. We are so pleased. Yes. That is very thrilling. Im so happy to be here. This has been a great experience. My first. Lester, if we could go out over here. This moment has been a Long Time Coming for many people. Matthew, you are a diehard trump supporter. What does today mean to you . I think its a great celebration of america. I mean, this is an opportunity for the whole country to come together, unify, peaceful transition of power. And we are excited about the changes about to take place. Reporter how did you feel about his inauguration speech . I thought it was really honest and i thought it was to the point. I dont think that it was political. And i like that. I thought it was blunt and its exactly what we elected. Its donald trump. Reporter there you go, lester. A lot of people very pleased what they heard from donald trump today. You are in naples, florida. I apologize. Here is the bidens, dr. Joe biden and former Vice President biden and his wife dr. Jill biden. Would commute back and forth to delaware and the way they are going home. Chris coons who replaced joe biden and sits in his former senate seat there and tom carpenter, the other former senator. Jill biden used to take amtrak quite a bit. I had been on it once in a while when she is on it. You want to see the who withs who of the political, just ride the train from time to time. I have seen some remarkable folks on board. Its everybody that donald trump was running against inside. It is. Corridor. A favorite among a lot of folks who come back and forth. You can fly. You can fly but delays and traffic, it simons takes about the same amount of time. One of the things i wish donald trump, the new president , had talked about today, and we are going to fix the tracks on amtrak. He brought up the railroad. He did bring up that. I know he wants to fix laguardia. We know that he went on the Business Class door, not the first class door. Many Staff Members. We told about 1,800 people at the sendoff for president obama and former first lady. A lot more coverage. This day has hardly begun on this Inauguration Day and our nbc News Coverage will continue from washington after a short cmon in, pop pop happy birthday nbc News Coverage will continue from washington after a short i survived a heart attack. Im doing all i can to keep from having another one. And im taking brilinta. For people whove been hospitalized for a heart attack. I take brilinta with a baby aspirin. No more than one hundred milligrams as it affects how well it works. Brilinta helps keep my platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. Brilinta reduced the chance of another heart attack. Or dying from one. It worked better than plavix. Dont stop taking brilinta without talking to your doctor ses your risk of clots in your stent, heart attack, stroke, and even death. Brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily, or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. Dont take brilinta if you have bleeding, like stomach ulcers, a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. Tell your doctor about bleeding, new or unexpected shortness of breath, any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. Talk to your doctor about brilinta. Im doing all i can. That includes brilinta. If you cant afford your medication, astra zeneca may be able to help. So help me god. Congratulations, mr. President. From this day forward, its going to be only America First. Nbc news live coverage of the inauguration of donald trump continues. Here is lester holt. America has a new president. Donald trump has been sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. He delivered a 16minute stirring speech, sticking close to his values that he has talked about those many months on the campaign trail about america, first. Youre looking at a live picture right now of a vip marine helicopter carrying former president barack obama and former first lady Michelle Obama. They will be des embarking from we expect to hear from them for a jet that takes them to palm we heard about 1,800 people, mostly staffers, are there. Number of goodbyes the last coupf week on his last flight out of andrews aboard air force one, a little over a week ago, before the flight, he spent time in the hangar without the cameras and thanking the people who have maintained and keped air fort a one in the pristine condition its in and he spent time with the members of the helicopter crew as well. He will pull up here shortly and when with he makes his remarks, we will certainly carry them. Im here with tom brokaw and chuck todd and michael besloss joins us. How much do you think barack obama will have in the fults tuf rebuilding the Democratic Party . He has said he wants to go read and write some more. He is a scholar, after all that is how he came into politics in the first place. What he has been saying is im going to be alert to what we need to do about how the country begins to change or not change and i think that will drive it more than him stepping up and saying im here to help. I think he is, without a leader right now, the Democratic Party, he is essentially the default leader of the party. Right. And he fills that vacuum to a point. The question is how often will he choose to speak out . I go back to, i think actually joe biden of the two of them, we will probably hear more from joe biden and he may channel what barack obama might want to say but i do think president obama is mindful and appreciative that president bush didnt do criticism but left to cheney almost and before you respond, i want to let folks know the right side of your screen there, the statuary hall for a luncheon and President Trump and first lady will be attending. President obama goes out on a high high and has good numbers going out and people feel good about him and graceful how they have been treating the incoming president. Anything you do back in the public arena, again, runs a risk of taking that down or diminishing it. You want to cherish what youve got and not risk it at some point. He is going to be very mindful of that, i would think. You know what . He is mindful that the Democratic Party is a mess. He has taken responsibility for it and i actually think he wants to spend time doing some things for the party that i think, in hindsight, he regrets he didnt do as president. You can do that with papers and conferences with people. We were talking about you dont have to put yourself out there and say im going to be the guy on the white horse that repair all of this. That is a risky proposition. One thing that is different in this Democratic Party and my the clintons have been among the leadership of the party and we are now this is now the clintons are in the past. They have no role in this party now. It is what is left, barack obama. Hugh hewitt, as we wait to see the former president and former first lady leave, do you think mr. Obama will take an opportunity to respond all to what we heard on i am so curious. I do believe he wants to acts as eisenhower did as kennedy as a resource for a new president who may notnd the complexity of the job or on the overwhelming pace of the international events. He may want to preserve the opportunity. Subtly . Yes. There was quite an indictment of everything in the president s 16minute speech today, such an indictment that some of his most loyal people will want him to. They will be making eye contact with him. We will see if he resist. They may be upset at him if he doesnt. Some in the democratic base, you president obama didnt, you know, talk more about russia before the campaign, things like that. So that is, i think youre right. I think there is a tension there and i think hes got to give them something. Here are the obamas. The fact of the matter is that all of the attention in the foreseeable future is going to be on the new president and what he does in the oval office and how he interacts with congress and interacts with the American Public and using the bully pulpit that he now has. Let me go to Kelly Odonnell who is getting more congressional reaction what we have seen. Im here with a democrat of michigan who is also part of the leadership team. Debbie, you heard the new president s message. Do you feel that it does anything to unify your state . Of course, had a lot of support for donald trump. You are a democrat. Where do things stand now he is president . Certainly im going to work with him on the things that i feel good from michigan and michigan workers. I was surprised at how dark his it felt depressing and dark when i was hoping as other president s he would be more hopeful and inspiring. Even twice such important wonderful things happening and people working very hard and businesses working very hard and jobs coming back. Things are happening. Yet, once again, he described it as a horrible place. Reporter you would hope for Something Different . I would have hoped for Something Different. Reporter i know you have to get into the lunch so we thank you for your time and look forward to hearing how you respond and work with him in the months to come. Thank you so much. Thank you. Lester, back to you. Kelly, thanks. Kevin tibbles is in ohio and trying to get more reaction as we sweep around the country to the president s speech. Kevin . I am in pemberhill, ohio. This is a town voted for how many president s . Of the last . 30. Is that right in you voted for on donald j. Trump this time around. Bob, what did you hear him to say and did you hear it . I wanted to happier the unity thing is a huge thing. I think the country has got to come together, whether you like him or not. You better hope he is successful. Im not sure you would not want him to be successful. Splobob runs the local groce store and butcher shop and carol repairs piano. You are a republican and you voted republican. I am. Reporter my question he spoke about listen to go Middle America. We are in Middle America. Do you believe that . I think he is listening to the collective voice of Middle America and he hears jobs and we want obamacare dealt back. I think he is listening and hears from people. Laura incomes hes next and i minority because she is a democrat. Youre the towns democrat. Theres a couple. Reporter what were you looking to hear today . Obviously, your candidate was not successful. Are you looking to perhaps heal some of the wounds . I think so. I really want our president to build on the strength of our country i want him to recognize and respect everyone. Reporter everyone . Everyone. Reporter that the voice from pember hill, ohio. They voted for donald j. Trump, our new president. I send it back to you from the opera house. Kevin, thank you and to the folks sticking around and talking to us. Lets go back to the capitol. Kelly odonnell has another guest for us. We are here with rob portman of ohio. He was reelected in the same environment that donald trump won ohio. When you hear the new president speaking today, do you think he is setting a tone he will reach out to those americans who did not vote for him . Absolutely. He talked about unity and the fact we, as americans, are stronger and we are unified. I liked his comments about patriotism. You look out for everyone. Its interesting how he reaches out not just to republicans and democrats and how he reaches out to congress and they reach back to him to Work Together. We have big problems to tackle and i hope that, you know, this is the start of a new relationship where we can actually get things done like tax reform and getting the economy moving. Strengthening our military which he talked about today. Now that the job is his, is there something youd like to see him do differently . Relationship wise . How should he change, if at all, right now . He continues to reach out. The is president of of all americans and this is no longer the campaign. I think he acknowledged that and in his comments today when he talked about unity, i think, you know, that is the step in the right direction. Reporsenater tr rob portman of ohio. All right, kelly. This is being covered and watched all over the world. Certainly high interests in russia which has become a key issue. Certainly in this during this transition. We want to go to Richard Engel who is in red square. Are they covering this walltowall on television there . What is the level of coverage, richard . A lot of people are watching this. In fact, about trump mania in this country. There are viewing parties. There are trump band. There is one town outside of moscow where they have a branded trump sugar. People are very excited that trump could reset relations with washington, with moscow. Vladimir putin, however, reportedly is not watching the ceremonies live according to his official spokesman. The ceremony was too long and that he would catch up on it on the news. Tremendous intp. When you look across the world, however, there is a lot of trepidation. Not everyone is as excited as russia is. In europe they are watching this as a general rise of populism, a symptom of anger that they are feeling within the european union. In the middle east, frankly, a lot of people dont know what to make of donald trump. They hear his comments about that he made during the campaign about banning muslims. They hear the kind of protectionist they might even say authoritarian speech that he gave. There is some comments in libya where they were talking about his fist pumping and said it looks like moammar gadhafi. I think a lot of people outside of russia are trying to take a measure of the man. Richard engel, thank you so much. We were watching on the other side of the screen there briefly former president obama and Michelle Obama. The National Anthem is played this is at joint base andrews. Lets watch. The former president joining a very exclusive and small club of former president s. We expect him to make remarks here in a moment before he and his family depart to vacation in palm springs, california. This is a view on the right side of the capitol. Rudy giuliani, the former new york mayor, is there in statuary hall where a luncheon is honored for the new president in a matter of moments. You are seeing the establishment of the old president and new president in that split screen. Here is barack obama. Hello, everybody you know, michelle and i, we have really been milking this goodbye thing, so it behooves me to be very brief. Yeah. Yes. You know, i said before and i will say again that when we started on this journey, we did so with an abiding faith in the American People and their ability, our ability to join together and change the country in ways that would make life better for our kids and our grandkids. The change didnt happen from the top down, but it happened from the bottom up. It was met sometimes with skepticism and doubt. Some folks didnt think we could pull it off. There were those who felt that the institutions of power privilege in this country were too deeply entrenched. And, yet, all of you came cities, a whole bunch of you remarkable split screen moment. Former president obama speaking on the left and President Trump to sign some orders before attending a lunch op. Who didnt know how to pronounce barack obama. We got to know each other and we went into communities that maybe you had never even thought about visiting and met people on the surface seemed completely indifferent to you. Didnt look like you or talk like you or watch the same tv programs as you. Yet, when you started talking to them, it turned out you had something in common. In a group. People took notice. And throughout, it was infused as soon as the signing begins we will take you full into the trump is about to put his first order of business. Willful ignorance to all of the challenges that america faces. It was hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. You proved and throughout this process, michelle and i, we just been your front men. We have been the face, sometimes the voice lets listen in now. On front on the tv screen or in front of the microphone. Lets listen in now to President Trump. You have to sign that. I know that. I thought it was health care we err signing. Thats next. Just sign. Just underneath that. Anyplace you want. Here are a couple of pens. Good. Good. Very good. Thank you very much. You have more to sign. A popular decision by everybody. Thats great. That is it . General mattis is up first. Thats great. This is for rex. I assume he was approved today . Ipt it its coming, though, right . It looks like you added some letters in your name. We believe what the president is signing now are really the official nominations for his cabinet pick. These are his First Executive actions. We know for sure two cabinet secretaries are confirmed today. The real question mark is mike pompeo of the cia. There was some hope by the republicans and trump transition he could also get confirmed today. To our understanding, at lea one democratic senator is holding that up. Jon cornyn in the senate wants to keep the senate up working through past midnight to get pompeo confirmed but that doesnt seem likely but we will see. Believe it or not there are still some negotiations on that because donald trump stand to go to the cia tomorrow having Mike Pompeo Confirmed today would make that visit a little less awkward. This pictures remind us the president is a grandfather. I believe those are his grandchildren. We will have to check on that. That is ivanka trumps daughter there you see to the right of the president , arabella. She seals to ems to be the keep the pens. A long tradition in washington. How about we do nancy first . Looks like the coming days he is putting his pen to paper on some documents that are going to erase part of the or much of the obama legacy. I think that look. We know he is going to do a bunch of executive order and most of them monday. The ones that are very policy oriented. Maybe one or two today but most of them on monday. Its the immigration ones that actually we still dont know for sure. Either looking for ways perhaps to even Start Building the wall with an executive action. Maybe they can reappropriate money and they are looking into that. But what order does he sign and how quickly the docu order is a bill sponsored by some republicans, the socalled dreamers. Those that were brought over into this country as children by their parents that were undocumented. We will see. Does he rescind it immediately or wait for congress to pass a dreamer bill . Lets listen to some of this dialogue going on. Tom is not no, no. Mr. President , mr. President , the leader wants you to sign that. Ucht the leadyou want the le it . You got a question . Ill take them. Put them back. You did very well yesterday. Rick perry. Okay. Who would like this one . I would. Good. A tough group of people we have. You got that ready for me . They are learning the hard way. The easy way. Betsylp education, right . I think chuck wanted it. Not that one. No, thank you, mr. President. We got a rough group. It is. Im happy for that. Next. I think we are going to need some more pens. Labor. Kelly. Come on. He is going to do a good job. This is a person who has gotten great reviews. Not well known. This is the veterans administration. I think chuck might like that. Ill let you do that one. Thank you. Good pen. This is where a lot of people wanted jim kelly. Hes a good man. Chuck, youre going to put the cap on there or get your shirt stained. Hammer the nail. John kelly. Reince should get something. Are you getting some more pens back there . Who . Its an equal numbers. I think dan should get that one. Right . what youre watching here is President Trump signing some of the official things he has to sign to move ahead with his cabinet, signing the offl nominations, we believe, of his cabinet picks, and as these things go in washington, the pen is very important. You see a whole row of them as he signs, he will pass the pens out to various members of the congress and other folks who are gathered there. And hes got able and ready grandkids helping him with that process. He seems to be clearly enjoying this moment here. Baseball cards. Carson for kelly. Just like a double. Scott is going to do a great job. Absolutely. Speaker would like that. By the way, somewhere in this process today, the new president has found time to tweet on his personal address. Ly transferring power from one administration to another or one party to another but we are transferring power from d. C. And giving it back to you. Pretty much echoing what we heard in his speech. If there was any doubt whether he would continue tweeting, i doubt it has been put to rest. In the rest of president obamas speech, its hard to classify as any sort of response. He didnt do that. Youre talking about the remarks he made at the hangar . We have been watching this and went away from it. In case folks were wondering what ed. More thanks to the staff, things like that. But he did not there was no direct response. After he finishes this, we believe hell go on into the statuary hall for the official luncheon. We are, we have got a parade that is following a lit later on. Inaugural parade. A lot of the folks you saw in the mall will now be lining that route along pennsylvania avenue and claiming their space to watch that particular chapter in i think mickey is going to do a good job. There you go. There are some of the folks there aligned along the parade route and plenty of police as you can see keeping them company. We are running out of people to give these two. To nikki haley . We want a second one . Ill sign it. Governor. China loves him and he loves china. Here is another one. You must know . Never. David is going to do a great job. Okay . Thank you. One more. One more . One more. Proclamation. Patriotism proclamation. I think we are done. Yea applause all around for President Trump as he takes some of his First Official as president of the United States signing a number of documents related to his cabinet picks. And he will now make now make his way into the hall for todays luncheon. On the left side of your screen is the picture from joint base andrews, not too far away, where president former president obama is saying a farewell to the folks, some of the Staff Members, air force and other military people who were there and some of the staffers. A nice sendoff before they head out of town. We notice this is a round trip. They will make washington their residency for approximately the next year. There is the airplane they will be flying on. One they have logged tens and hundreds of thousands of miles on before. It will have a different call sign and be executive one, not air force one. Simply because he is no er the president. That will carry them on this vacation. Its a tradition that outgoing president s ride on the president ial jet for their final trip out of the nations capital. On the right there, there is president clinton in the background and Hillary Clinton in the foreground there. They will be attending a luncheon in honor of the new president. Former pre there. George h. W. Bush has been breathing well on his own and comfortable watching the inauguration coverage together with mrs. Bush, neil, and daughterinlaw maria. Up a there while is still remaining in icu and observation there. We dont know if they are watching us but if they are, we send our well wishes for a speedy recovery. Rudy giuliani. Rosa delora next to her. A congressman from connecticut. Giuliani we watched him to be a shooin for a prominent post, but somewhere along the line, things went down. Wilbur ross, the new commerce secretary there. Rick perry. Governor perry. Energy. Rick perry, who went from trying to get rid of the Energy Department to heading the Energy Department. Not yet but we will see. Yeah. Most likely. He has not been confirmed. If he gets confirmed. A couple of more. President carter in the background there. We keep noting how remarkably good he looks and what with a great story he has to tell about his battle with cancer. Rex tillerson and chief Justice Roberts sharing a table there. Inaugurations make for some interesting pairings and groups sometimes at least. Like i said the new establishment is establishing themselves here a little bit. Putting in their roots. The hard work begins right away. We know that the president is dan quayle there, a former Vice President. The president is expected to make a trip out to the cia over the weekend and begin trying to mend fences with the Intelligence Community that have been damaged regarding some of the russian allegations. If mike pompeo is not confirmed tonight, its my understanding and talking to jeremy bash who is a contributor to us now and used to work over at the cia, the number three person, a careerist, who would be acting director and who would be taking josh earnest, the press secretary for the former president , getting a hug. That is his son. Already looking like a civilian. No tie. Probably couldnt wait to get rid of that. I wrote into washington with bill and Hillary Clinton and tipper and al gore when they came to take their place. We road in an rv. It was a little unsettling. I got off at Memorial Bridge. Members of the family now. Macking their way to the luncheon after the signing ceremony. Anyhow. I got off the rv and Memorial Bridge and realized the president of the United States and the Vice President of the United States are younger than i am. They are on the left. Chief of staffs. Very, very it took president a while to find that chief of staff that is basically him. But he bonded with them. They really did. This is Dennis Mcdonough could channel president obama in ways no other could. He has good relations with his chief of staff and dont get me wrong but dennis had a connection with him. He was a football player. A vikings fan. Its important for those of us to point out who cover these white houses, you have to understand how hard all of these folks really worked. Sacrifice of Staff Members and certainly the trump folks are about to find that on out. Very, very long hours. A real sense of loyalty between a president and staff and we have seen that certainly with this Outgoing White House and im sure we will see it in this new white house. Robert gibbs once said to me this is a Family Friendly white house for one family. The first family and thats how it works. Reince priebus, the new chief of staff. There is eric trump. Tiffany trump in the white coat. Reince priebus, in the political world, gets high fives. He hung in there for a long time. He was there four years ago. He stuck in there this time. He found a way to work with trump. He kept this party together. The pressure he was under at times to dump trump. Yep. And he wouldnt do it. He stuck by. He kept the party from totally fracturing. A few minutes ago you were were talking about the damaged Democratic Party but four months ago we were talking about the Republican Party was in critical condition. Thats right. Its just different now. Ill tell you this, there is a Different Group of people in charge of this party now. It is a different makeup of this party. I think that, you know i think we thought if he loses there is a fight between these two wings of the party. The trump wing won. The trump wing is in charge. So that is and its sort of the question is what happens to the bush republicans . The chamber of commerce republicans others might call them . Do they find a way to fit in . How do they find a way to fit in or vice versa. Does trump find ways to bring them in . There is speaker paul ryan. As we are talking, i look to my left and look who has dropped by . Jackie who sang the National Anthem. Terrific job. Congratulations. Well done. What was it like . Oh, it was crazy. Freezing cold. But it was amazing. It was a great experience. You sang warmly. You warmed us up. Thank you so much that is a very hard im sorry. Im not a singer but i know from all of the singers, very hard one to hit, the notes. It is, but its mainly just because of the pressure of the song, itself, not the notes. Its a big song. You dont want to mess it up. I dont know if you can hear it. There you are. Just a wonderful moment. Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight oer the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming . I think so. They told me that. And the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there i have can i see who want to be instrumentalists. How often do you practice . Every day. Oh, say, does that starspangled banner yet wave tell us about yourself. Ive always known i wanted to be a singer. I just was not always good at it. You could have fooled us. Thank you. Turn it around. What was the moment . Oer the land of the free and the home of the brave . When my voice changed, is when i was 6. That is what is wrong with my singing across america, parents are going lets get rid of the ton sills out of our kids thank you, jackie, for stopping by. Thank you. I hope you get to watch it all in a more comfortable setting but you did a terrific job. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Someone else who has done a terrific job is Hallie Jackson and decided to bring her out of the cold and into our studio. Jackie, thank you. I was across the capitol from w where you were and you didnt look cold. I was freezing. You cant look nervous and cold when youre performing the National Anthem. You did a lovely job. Here is the final farewell for the obamas. They are walking past the honor guards and we will see if he salutes one more time. That is an american journey. You think where he came from. His mother was from kansas and she was raised in chicago in a working class family. Harvard and princeton and then became president and first lady. And leave with a great sense in this country of how what great parents they were and stewards of family values. You can hear the cheers. Place mat. Think about the place mat changed forever in ways. It sent a message to all americans. The obama era is over as he boards the air force jet that will carry them on vacation into the next chapter of their lives, barack and Michelle Obama. President pence and karen pence making their way into the luncheon. In a moment we would expect to see President Trump and the first lady. There they are. You talk about this being the end of the obama era in washington and its the start of the trump era and i think it means a lot for the republicans who are in this room on capitol hill, what this means for a Republican Party for a long time wouldnt accept donald trump and many parts of it refusing to. Now not only force to do but almost excited about the possibility of what they can accomplish moving forward. His speech was very interesting. Some reviews even from one member of congress who i was texting back and forth with thinking that it was so similar. We have been talking about for a Campaign Speech and wondering is that the kind of rhetoric we see from him moving forward or will he try to strike that more inspirational and hopeful tone. You had a pretty good view there. Was there many applause lines that everybody joined in on or was it partisan . President obama at that point and see when he claps and he does. Werent many moments you saw that sort of round applause together. During the oath as we watch this here. Lets watch the introduction. The president greeting president clinton. Here we go. If you could read lips here. The only thing i could read is thank you at the end. Thank you for coming. Seems to be a good place where he reached out and extended his hand to Hillary Clinton. To the best of my knowledge, the first time they have exchanged pleasantries in person. There was the phone call, of course. Welcome to this lunch and if everybody will be seated. Mr. President , say twice ofci honored guest, welcome to this inaugural luncheon. The joint congressional Comm Committee on inaugural ceremonies are pleased to host this lunch since 1953 with president eisenhower. In 1981, president reagans first inauguration, the lunch took its current form and moved to this grand hall, the National Stat uary hall which served until 1857 as the chamber of the house of representatives. The statues that line the walls of this room are placed throughout the capital and they recognize important figures in our national history. The collection and since this lunch was held the last time its had several additions. Rosa parks is now in statuary hall and she is seated, rather than standing, as she should be. When miss parks died in 2005, one of the few people who had never held any Public Office or served in the military to lay her honor in the capital rotunda and several of us were there that day. Another addition, norman berglaw the leader of the green revolution about his great efforts to feed the people, the demands and Food Production and he was really a leader in that area and talking to Governor Perdue last night about what is going to happen as world food demand doubles in 35 or 40 years and the great opportunity we have there. Barry goldwater, a real inspiration to a generation of conservatives, was added to statuary hall the last few years and Thomas Edison of ohio who not to make a light bulb, until he discovered the one way to make that light bulb. The painting in the middle of the room is from a great missouri artist, george caleb bingham. He did three paintings series here. One was stump speaking and one was the county election. This one is verdict of the people. In the 1850s when this was painted, often, it was several days after the election before the results were announced. And all kind of people are in this painting. People from all walks of life, people who are excited, people who are confused, people who wonder what has happened and people wondering what is going to happen are all there. Actually, he painted this painting about the same time that in this very room some of the least successful debates in the history of our countr were being held, and, of course, that we paid the price for not being able to find solutions. One of my favorite statues in the building is in a room that i have here in the capitol right now. I had it in the whips office when i was the whip in the house. And its one of my favorites because nobody knows who it is. And i dont mean nobody here can guess who it is. I mean, nobody knows who it is and nobody has known who it was since about 1930. Couldnt have been in the Capitol Building more than a hundred years before people began to wonder who is this person . And i think its a great reminder that what we do here is a lot more important than who we are. So we have work in front of us. Its a wonderful opportunity. It is a great day and im asking barry black of the chaplain of the senate to come and give us our opening prayer. Let us pray. Eternal lord god, our refuge and strength, we praise you that we have nothing to fear. We can stand fearlessly during this season of peaceful transition because we know your providence will prevail. Lord, we are grateful for this inaugural luncheon and for your providence that has brought president donald j. Trump to this milestone moment. You have admonished us to pray for leaders and governments, so we pray for our new president. Lord, crown his labors with success, leading him to the destination you have chosen. Surround him, his family and the members of his cabinet, with the shield of your divine protection and favor. May President Trump seek your wisdom, justice, and grace, leading with your strength which reaches out to those on lifes margins. The lost, lonely, last, least, and left out. May he remember that those who would leave a legacy of greaes lord, inspire our president to perform his god appointed duties with such reverence for you, that his tenure will be like the sun shining forth on a cloudiless morning, like a rainbow after a storm, and like the singing of the birds at dawn. Bless our food and fellowship. We pray in your sovereign name. Amen. 3 c3 tu nombre, amen that luncheon is about to begin. You heard lunch served. They are going to turn the cameras off there so we will not be able to bring you anything more in this room. We have still got a lot of the day ahead. The inaugural parade down pennsylvania avenue that will carry the new first family to the white house. We will be here for all of the coverage of that. And we will talk more about the speech and about the future of this family when we come back from this break. This is nbc News Coverage of the inauguration. This is the food system. But what if it didnt have to be . At blue apron, were building a better food system. Where we value quality and flavor over quantity and shelflife. Where chefs and farmers Work Together to make farms healthier, grow Higher Quality ingredients, and deliver them inseason, ripe and ready to cook. Because food is better when you start from scratch. Start by taking care of families for 70 years. Earn the trust of 32 nfl teams. Be there for americas toughest and help, when help is needed americas 1 isnt a status earned overnight. Its earned in every wash, and reearned every day. Tide, americas 1 detergent. Issue a new decree that will be and in every hall of power, from defining line arguably in Donald Trumps inaugural speech. President trump. We actually have a word cloud of the entire speech and put it up there. One word dominates. America, american, America First. Theres a history to that phrase. There is. Its checkered in a lot of ways. And he has reactivated it and this speech was a speech how he first began whenfi this is his team and what he wants to do to advance the country. We do live in a different world now, obviously. There is great concern about isolation of america from an economic point of view, as well as from a defense point of view. We have always been the leader of the west and reached out to europe and our allies, including japan, to find our way. There in this white house now a really strong belief that youve got to isolate america out and concentrate on the valleys that make up this country and who we are and how we are going to get to where we are going to go. Lets bring in quickly, doris. America first, doris. There is reworld war preworld. A phrase that sent a signal to Many Americans. Without a question. In those days 1939, 1940, 1941 the America First people were arguing for american isolation after the experience of world war i. If they had not been overdone we would take maybe longer to get mobilized for the war even before pearl harbor. Given after world war ii, we game the became the world leader in part because we had alliances and that is what we need again. We want to go on the streets of washington now where some of the protests are getting a bit out of hand. Jacob, where are you and what can you tell us . Hello, jacob . Oh, my. Im not exactly sure. I cant hear from jacob. You can see what appears to be what appears to be tear gas and Police Moving in on a crowd here. We have had reports of tear gas was used. This is 12th. Go, go 12th and l if youre familiar with the washington, d. C. Area. Police have been wanting to keep away that sound like tear gas shells to me. They have been trying to separate protesters on either side. There were some promises of protesters to shut down some key intersections and try to block access to the parade route but something has instigated this around the area of 12th and l in washington, d. C. Jac jacob, can you hear me . Jacob . Okay. No, we havent heard from him yet but we continue to watch this play out. Several tear gas we got you. Hold on hold on lester, i apologize for the audio issues. All of a sudden, the Police Officers technician so we lost that audio. We were running because they were throwing flash bangs, very, very loud. At the same time they were arresting some people. The protesters in the scene behind us they have been here for hours. Talking about a dozen groups or more of protesters that were trying to block checkpoints this morning and then maybe a couple of hours ago, they started to converge into one group and they started to smash windows that they were running around and throw tables. Thats what with we saw a few hundred Police Officers come up and try to corner them. They were running around for half an hour or so. They finally cornered a lot of them and started making arrests. A couple of hours until just now. They are throwing more flash bombs and youre going to hear them as they do this. They have been trying to control the protesters for hours. At this point, i would guess that there are near a thousand protesters total. Youre going to see things flying because these protesters are throwing bricks or rocks or bottles. You know from the d. C. Police that at least three of their officers were hurt earlier today. We have seen protesters injured because of pepper strikes. I should clarify most of the protesters are not throwing things. A small group of may 50, 60 of them have their faces covered and dressed in black. We look over here and youre going to see them trying to carry a gate. They are trying to throw this. We have moved back a little bit, again, because we were being hit by the pepper spray. Jacob rascone, we didnt hear some groups are throwing flash ba bang grenades and pepper spray disbursed into the area to get people to move back. I see you have moved back, which we are grateful youre okay. Was this a moving demonstration, jacob . Or was it always planned for this area . So, lester, this morning, there were a dozen or more separate groups, as i said trying to shut down checkpoints. At about 11 00 we had a group of maybe 100 protesters mainly dress inside black with their faces covered. They were not just walking. They were running around and tossing chairs and throwing tables. Then there was a they are coming down. We got to move a hammer. That is the protesters and the police surrounding the last couple of hours. More than a couple of hours, i should say, were chasing. As the president was taking the oath of office, they had them surrounded and mostly it was quiet and we were stationary in one intersection for a while until just now. Until five minutes ago when some of the protesters that appeared to be pushing against the police line. Police started to push back and that is when they started to spray more pepper spray. Youre going to see now the line of Police Officers. They are close enough to us. You can see them. I would say that they are shooting right now out of what looks like paint ball guns. Like a pepper spray ball that they spray and it hits and you smell, your eyes can feel it and its difficult to breathe. We were seeing that earlier. Jacob, can you give us some sense as to how far this is from the parade route, from the capitol . Street is probably seven or eight blocks away from the parade route. You see somebody with a hammer smashing things. I apologize for the audio issues here. We are probably about five or six blocks away from the parade route and the inauguration. That is actually a fairly long way. A lot of perimeter and a lot of security. This shouldnt be disruptive to the parade. No. They have shut down a lot of streets certainly in preparation and they have practiced for this kind of thing. It is striking counter to the peaceful transfer of power we witness a little over an hour ago. The audio is jarring on this day. Its just jarring that in the capital city of the United States of america on Inauguration Day, we are hearing this sound. Jacob, have you seen anyone injured at all . We have seen a couple of officers being treated and we have seepn a few protesters carried out by other protesters. Earlier today, at least one protester that was bleeding from the head and was carried off in a stretcher. Up and down i street where the protesters were running around earlier, windows were knocked out of a couple of hotels. On a starbucks they smashed all of the window as they were running buy. All that happened a couple of hours ago. Youre seeing a new team of officers specially trained with riot ger and they are moving in. We see some objects that appear to being tossed at the Police Officers. They seem to be forming almost a moving wall now as they continue to try to move the crowd farther up the street. D again, they have certainly been rehearsing and practicing for civil disobedience and seem to have been controlling that street to some extent. But it is clearly a volatile situation any time that police are forced to use tear gas or some of their nonlethal tactics. It is jarring as chuck points out. Some are anarchists that have nothing to do with wanteding to protest along today. A different type of protests. I think some of these folks are big protests is scheduled for tomorrow and women coming here from all over america. I dont think this has any connection to that. Pete williams is in our Washington Bureau and has a better handle on the situation with the protests overall. What are you hearing, pete . Lester, washington, d. C. Police who are in charge of keeping the peace in the streets here, this is not a secret service or fbi mission. This is washington police. People so far today. One person was arrested last night in a demonstration outside a place where some Trump Supporters were gathering. The washington, d. C. Acting police chief stresses that the number of people arrested and the number of people who have broken windows and taken on other violent acts is a small number of the total number of protesters but pretty much the image that these violent protesters wanted. They wanted these encounters with the police to demonstrate their unhappiness. The police chief says that windows were broken in four or five businesses. This is right around an area called franklin park, about six blocks north of the pennsylvania avenue parade route, so its well away from where the president will be walking a few hours from now. Pete williams, thanks. We will continue to thanks. We will continue to monitor the situation here. The police seem to be we note its a volatile situation and Jacob Rascone and our crew will take the proper precaution. We are back here with our panel and talking 3 c3 pasa, regresamos con nuestro obviously we knew there was going to be a lot of opposition and protests. Theres going to be a reaction to that. And i have to say part of me believes that when you think about some of the folks around donald trump that believe this is a galvanizing moment and that we may view this that he made a mistake not trying to unify, ey their base and realizing this is going to be a political war for four years, keep their troops fired up and ready to go. So you may see there could be at times where we may be in for what feels like more polarizing moments that weve experienced. The Democratic Party, some of the leaders dont want to be as resistant as maybe the rank and file does. I think that tension will play itself out. That tension will increase tension on the right too. And what we dont know is the organizing center of all of this, frankly, how much of this is random. There are several Different Groups that were involved there. But youre quite right, i think that i can see the trump people at home saying get em. This is why we ran, this is why he won. Its not about them in the streets, its about us in the factories and how he wants to change everything in washington. But would a message of unity not directed to the folks in the unity, would that have paid dividends down the road . Look, i believe it depends on what you believe is the best way to succeed as president. You had Ronald Reagan and bill clinton, i always said, wanted to be 60 president s. Meaning they knew they never would get 60 of the vote but the goal was a 60 approval rating. To know that youve got people on the other side that approve of what youre doing. In the bush obama era, it was a 50 proposition. In some ways and some trump people believe this, that we are in such polarizing times, that if you have a core 40 to 45 , maybe thats all you need if you keep the other side off its heels a little bit, a little divided. And ill tell you that i so i think that was the tension in the speech and i have no doubt tension inside trump world. I think steve bannon, that was a marker he wanted to do, chief advisor. Nationalist ideology is an international movement. I think im sure the Reince Priebus side of trumps advisers are thinking, boy, this isnt going to help us get Chuck Schumer to work with us. So those tensions i think are going to continue. We are going to take a break. When we come back, we are going to have a broader discussion about the first family and their direction Going Forward as a family and their impact on america when we come back from washington. eeeeohmumohweh hush my darling. dont fear my darling. the lion sleeps tonight. hush my darling. man snoring dont fear my darling. the lion sleeps tonight. woman snoring take the roar out of snore. Yet another innovation only at a sleep number store. My swthis scarf all thatsara. Left to remem. What she washed this like a month ago the long lasting scent of gain flings everything you need to know about life, you can learn from granola. Keep it simple. Make every piece count. Let other people know what youre made of. Always be real. Dont be fake, dont be artificial, but always be sweet. And of course, wear sunscreen. Nature valley granola bars. No artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners. Just good. So help me god. Congratulations, mr. President. When america is united, america is totally unstoppable. Inauguration of donald trump s. Heres lester holt. And welcome back, everyone. Luncheon under way right now in the honor of the first family. We would expect to see them in just a little bit after that lunch and they will then begin the inauguration parade, which of course well have live coverage. Were also watching some disruption on the streets of washington right now. There have been some protests and apparently a few injuries here. Tear gas or pepper spray being used on the crowd. We also heard what appear to be flash bang grenades, this in the area of 12th and l, several blocks from the parade route today. This is were told there have been some people within groups of protesters who have been throwing objects and Police Responded by moving them back with pepper spray, their shields and these flash bang grenades it appears, swe continue to watch that situation play out, let you know as events warrant. But we want to turn right now to the broader discussion about the first family. For that robin gavonn joins us. Nice to be here. Weve seen the new first lady a lot today but havent seen her a lot during the campaign. She didnt appear a lot. She spoke at the Republican National convention. Shes talked about wanting to champion issues against bullying. How would you expect she will fit into this kind of a role . Well, you know, i think that its all speculation because she really has been not in hiding, but certainly not in the spotlight. And i think the first sense of that we got today just by the way that she sort of handled all the attention, by the choices that she made in terms of how she wanted to be seen on the capitol stage and in the spotlight. And i thought ma sort of smart, subtle choices. By, for instance, deciding that amidst all of the furor about what she was going to wear and designers not wanting to get involved that she would choose someone like ralph lauren, who is extremely bipartisan. He dressed Hillary Clinton for the inauguration as well. And i think those kinds of subtle decisions, those Little Details suggest that she is attuned to the divisiveness of this particular election and possibly, you know, its something that she will be keenly aware of in whatever she decides to take on. You see her as being we saw with first lady Michelle Obama she became somewhat of a fashion icon. This first lady is a former mall model, so more pressure on her . I dont know if its necessarilmo it makes her more removed and is more challenging for her to form that kind of warm real woman relationship with the vast citizenry. Models, after all, are rarefied creatures, they are born, they are not made. And so i think its in some ways something she will have to overcome a little bit. How much of a statement does it make, an important statement, that she is staying in new york for the time being with her youngest son to get him through the school year before moving on. Thats the kind of decision a lot of families have to make when there is a job relocation. I think it says that shes going to do this very much in her own way. You know, as much as people talk about the role of first lady is defined by the woman or the spouse who is in it, i think in general we tend to see them kind of fall within certain parameters. She is falling as far outside of those parameters that i think weve seen in a long time. Ic mom to come help with the kids at the time. They were very young when they moved in. Melanias family, her side of the family, is she going to bring some help with her . It is balancing that duty of being there for your schoolage child and at the same time some of the duties that come with the office. As some would say, you know, thats not a question that you would ask donald trump. Is he bringing along a Family Member to help him care for his son. But as far as we know, theres been no acknowledgement that she is planning to bring a Family Member and she has spoken quite emphatically that she is a mom first and that she doesnt work with a nanny, that shes very handson. So i mean it sounds like that is going to be a significant portion of her role. But just as with Michelle Obama, she balanced that out. She limited the amount of time that she worpu spent a good portion of her time working with her girls when they were younger. Doris kearns goodwin, president ial historian, is with us again. Doris, how long has there historically been this pressure, or not pressure, but expectation on first ladies to have a specific defined role or cause . You know, i think obviously Eleanor Roosevelt started it in a certain way. I remember hearing when she talked to bess truman coming in after her, do you want me to introduce you to the women of the press because i held weekly press conferences with hem, and bess said what . Im not going to be talking with the press. I think its important to give each first lady space to be the kind of first lady they want to be. If balancing the kids is first, if they want a certain issue, it seems as what weve had recently is the first ladies following on one or two particular issues, whether its literacy, alcoholism or obesity. And they have to decide it for themselves. They didnt run for office, and i think both the media and the American People have to let them decide as it fits their life and fits who they are. And, doris, let me expand the conversation to donald trump. He tends to have, you know, kind of one volume. We count or look to our president s to be consolers at times, to inspire us during tough and challenging moments in our history. How will how much will donald trump differ from past president s with regard to that role . I think its something that hes going to have to evolve to learn how to do, because you do need a different kind of i see exactly what youre saying, that one volume and that one kind of fighting spirit. Teddy roosevelt had that similar kind of fighting spirit and he could speak in short, catchy phrases as mr. Trump can as well. But there are times when you have to do Something Different for the nation. You have to be there when theres a killing, you have to be there as a challenger as reagan was. The best president s know how to be funny at times, they know how to be sympathetic at times, they know how to be fighting spirits at time and to be unifying at times. Thats the different hats that a president has to wear. And the voice and the tone will be a very big part of that. Thats why i wish today there had been that other voice as we were talking about earlier, not just the fighting voice today but the one that he showed after the election night. You need to bring those voices together if youre going to be an effective president. Well, theres a lot to learn i guess being a president and youve got to come up to speed very quickly. I think we all wish him the best as he takes his new role. Doris, thank you very much. Weve been on several split screens today for various reasons. One of the situations were watching is an outbreak of some violence, things being thrown and Police Responding around 12th and i here in washington. Lets go back to jacob rascon. Jacob, how are things now . Reporter es in all today weve had maybe a thousand protesters and we have now a small group of protesters wearing all black and they have their faces covered who have been battling back and forth with police now for about a half hour. Off and on, the protesters will throw rocks or bricks or other objects at the police and they will respond by spraying Something Like pepper spray and as well throwing flash bangs, just really loud. Just moments ago, they rushed from where they were, their position, their loiine, and the moved it so they created space in the intersection. As they did that, some of the protesters resisted moving and they were pushed and sprayed with pepper spray. And so now were at a stand still here until people start throwing rocks again, which i expect they might do, because its been a constant over the last half hour or so. Lester. All right, jacob, thanks for keeping an eye there and taking care of you and your crew. Let me go to kate snow right where were group has been out today vowing to protect the president and the parade area from protesters, bikers for trump. Whats going on there . Reporter were about six blocks to the east and six blocks to the south of where jacob is, where youre seeing those protests going on. This is such a different scene. You see all kinds of families here, a lot of make America Great again hats and as you said we have the bikers for trump who got a permit to be here today. Theres a whole bunch of them all behind us here. Ive got with me eddie, shawn, joe, jimmy, jimmy and mark. Weve got a bunch of them. Most of you guys are from new jersey. Yes. Eddie, you came in from new jersey and its your first inauguration. Yes. None of you have been here before. Here for trump. What did you think of his speech. I thought it was incredible. Hes patriotic. Hes looking out for the working man, which is us. What was the message that resonated with you . You were talking about the hes bringing the power back for us. Hesere to us to support looking out for us. One of the things that he said was you will not be ignored again. He tweeted that as well. Is that what you felt when you heard it . Absolutely. Happy nobama day, by the way. You are happy to see obama get on that plane. Absolutely. We are all palt yuts and we believe trump is a true patriot. Hes here for the people from coast to coast, border to border. Hes here from all the people in america. Thats why we love him. What did you think about the protesters . They were here by our checkpoint a little bit earlier and you were all watching them very keenly, occasionally yelling a few things at them. Theyre up right no blocks away from us making a disrupting some stuff and even doing some damage. I think, number one, i dont have the time to protest because i have a job. Number two, their behavior today is the reason that President Trump was elected and the reason he gets elected for a second term. You guys have said that your leader said you will be a wall of meat if youre needed today. So far everything is super peaceful here. Theres been no interaction between the bikers and the protesters . Actually we spent the last couple days just taking picture after picture. The public has been so thankful for us being here and its been its been really great. I do have to say as weve been standing here, lester, waiting for you to come to us, weve been here 40 minutes and people one after the next are coming up and wanting pictures with these guys. Just one other note. Ive talked to a lot of people in the crowd who drove miles and miles. A family from minnesota, others from the carolinas, youre from san diego, and they just wanted to be here. Many, many people, lester, telling me that they have never been to washington, d. C. , before and this is the first time they felt that they were welcome and that they should come for an inauguration. Lester. Theres nothing quite like an inauguration. Kate snow, thank you very much. We are keeping our eye on the capitol. If theyre on schedule right now, the new president and his luncheon there in the capitol. In a short while, we would expect to see the president with a review of the troops before leaving the capitol and beginning the inaugural parade. Well be watching it all for you. As soon as he comes back into view, we will train our cameras on him. But we will take a break. More coverage of the president ial inauguration when we continue on nbc news. Welcome back. Contrast today from the capitol and the pageantry of the dark in my view. These themes about the forgotten man and woman and the line that really sort of grabbed me and took me a minute to sort of process and really understand his connection with his voters was that line about how factories closed, people suffered, and yet in the halls of power, in the halls of Washington People enriched themselves. That was americas sort of anthem or answer to brexit. I thought he really hugged that. Instead of sort of turning away from some of that divisive language, he wants to divide us along new lines, it would seem. He really is embracing the class warfare that republicans have typically rejected. It used to be democrats that tried to Wage National campaigns along lines of class warfare. Hes not just embracing them, hes really doubling down on them. We talked about the speech about how of all the president s on the dais today none of them voted for him, thats because they were against the isolationism and the protectionism and the nativism that were some of the central themes of his speech. Tell me what you think was going through george w. Bushs mind. It felt like at times he was repudiating every single president on that dais. I texted one of our colleagues during the speech and i said does it feel to you like he is really saying, its not lost on me that none of the four of you voted for me. And so im going to lump you in but we cant underestimate how effective it was during the campaign. But i think its legitimate to question how helpful its going to be as he has to now govern. I talk about the incredible split screen moments of the day. Lets go back to that situation on the streets of washington right now. Jacob rascon, it appears theres more action happening. Re is sh . Reporter we want to go now to hang on. All right. We want to welcome you to nbc 4 and we are following some very dramatic scenes in Downtown Washington specifically at 12th and k where police are outnumbered by about 300 demonstrators. Riots we can call many of them now throwing rocks, bottles bricks. We hear explosions as the police in riot full riot gear have let off Something Like 10, 15, 30 concussion grenades to try protesters. Anarchists came in and became disru disruptive. They are trying to neutralize this and its gotten very violent quickly. We saw police charging them. What are you seeing, tracy, where are you . We heard people are running in all Different Directions. Reporter so because were running, you can hear those explosions behind me. What youre hearing there, those are concussion grenades there. Thats some kind of device that the demonstrators are throwing, the rioters are throwing, and when they do it theres a loud sound and this bright light so this causes the crowd to disburse and run away from whats happening. s heard. Thats what the rioters or demonstrators are doing down there on k street. Now, we have folks out here who are protecting us. When they tell us its time to move, we move. So now were around the corner to learn about whats happening. What i explained to you is we were looking at hundreds of people running towards us when those explosions went off. A very dangerous situation. So now theyve moved down k street a bit. I wanted to stop for a moment and remind you that were talking about Inauguration Day. All of this is happening in the nations capitol during the transition of power in what is supposed to be a peaceful transition of power. This kind of demonstration on inauguration is unheard of here in washington. Folks, we are dealing with a large group of people and they are here for all different kinds of reasons. Folks we have talked to here today, some are saying they came for peaceful protests and they wanted to cause this kind action to bring attention to the dissatisfaction with this election. There is a lot you can still see some of the smoke here behind me from the explosions that have happened here. Again, large groups of people who are running and at times when that happens its very dangerous. I also want to tell you this is people of all colors and all ages participating in this action. Back to you all. Also weve heard from mark who is at 12th and k and then as the protesters were being moved to 13th and k, we were told that the New York Park police and more reinforcements from metropolitan police were coming in because for a moment there the riot police were the police in riot gear were outnumbered. There are 200 to 300 protesters. They were taking the mailboxes out in the bol bottles. Trash cans. It was getting out of control. The police were firing off concussion grenades and there was tear gas and pepper spray. Anything to try to disburse these people and send them running. Mark also said that crowds from four Different Directions were coming in toward police. There was a rally earlier in Franklin Square that had let out recently. We saw a limousine that looked like the windows were smashed out of it. We saw one military vehicle there. These it is certainly stepped up within the last half hour we should say. Weve seen a lot more smoke. Mark just where he was at 12th and k the heard 20 to 30 concussion grenades. Tracy couldnt talk because the smoke was hitting her throat and nose too. They were starting to make some arrests, but mark was reporting at 13th and k that they were s the protesters, but we are still waiting to hear from him. Obviously a massive chaotic situation that got out of hand very quickly. The protesters and tracy and mark were both saying that there were two protesting groups. One that was being called legitimate, if you will, that came there with signs to just protest the fact to kind of pushback on let it be known they werent happy with trump becoming president , but then theres a group we see something, a trash can on fire. We know at least two vehicles also caught fire. We saw two Police Cruisers sustained damage and at least one or two Police Officers suffered minor injuries. These folks came loaded with the bricks you mentioned and rocks too either in pockets or backpacks because theyre not finding them o dont think theyre finding them in the trash cans. At one point when this was getting ugly, we were seeing some of the rocks they were throwing at them, we were seeing them on the streets, and they looked like they were substantial. Were not talking about the stuff you have in your driveway. They looked like substantial rocks that you pack in a backpack. This is a live scene right now. Were hoping to get the chief on the phone with us to give us the update on how we get control of this, how they kind of wrap their arms around this and get this crowd to move even further away from that parade route. Again, weve said it before, we are several blocks away from where President Trump and the parade route will be heading down to the white house from capitol hill, but thats supposed to happen begin between 2 45, 3 00. Over on 395 south, they had nothing to do with this, we saw what was a they shut down one side of 395. You saw bumpertobumper traffic on one side and you saw protesters filling out of the lanes, all four, five, six lanes coming the other way. A lot of protests we heard there was going to be at least 60 different protests. We heard that from the protest organize organizers, but we heard they were going to be peaceful and not planning on anything violent. They wanted what does this say for tomorrow when were supposed to have at least 200,000 people coming in from all over the country tomorrow . Of course, no parade, but their march is going to be tremendous in terms of size and number of groups. You mentioned 60 groups. There could be many more from different walks coming in tomorrow. And where is the new president . On capitol hill after being sworn in he went into the capital where he signed some executive orders and he is now dining with so far from protocol perspective official washington is going on as official washington does on a day like this. President obama has taken off from Andrews Air Force base with his wife. Mark, we want to head back to you. You are live. Whats the situation where you are now . Reporter it just keeps getting worse here, jim. This is the intersection at 13th and k. You can see protesters are facing off with police. Were going to make our way through this crowd. At least concussion grenades have been deployed by police in the past five to ten minutes. Things got very very tense here. This is a combination of police here. You can see again a lot of people wiping tear gas out of their eyes. The tear gas is thick in the air right now. You can see the protesters at the other end of k street where there. This is about as tense as its been getting all day and it keeps escalating because protesters continue to throw rocks, bricks and bottles at the police. In fact, our photographer was hit by a bottle a moment ago. We were all hit by bricks. Theyre being thrown from deep in the crowds so its hard to say exactly who is throwing that, police have been deploying the concussion grenades. Again, a very, very tense, very dangerous situation down here. Police trying to remain calm and trying to do the best they can to manage this crowd. They are outnumbered at this intersection. Hundreds and hundreds of protesters here. And only about 50 to 100 officers here. We can tell you a moment ago we saw a trump supporter come through the line of police and face the protesters to start fighting. People were very afraid things were going to get violent wen around around walked away, but again you can see all of the protesters yelling shame on you at the police here. Again, in the past few minutes at least 20 concussion grenades set off by the police. Police are using shields to push the crowds back. Again, the protesters are throwing bottles, bricks, anything they can get ahold. Well show you some of the debris in the road back here when the altercation first happened. You can see boxes, newspaper boxes that were thrown out in the street at police. You can still see smoke rising from the middle of the street back here. Again, a chaotic, tense situation. It appears now somebody has actually started a fire in the middle of the street here in k street. You can see this black smoke these are just pockets. They happened over here. Police respond and then it happens again a block away. This is what the police have been dealing with for the past several hours. Again, this is a newspaper box i can see that has been set on fire in the middle of k street where people are gathering around. We are going to try to get in there and get you a closer look at what is exactly going on here. Again, there are different factions of protesters here. Some who clearly want to cause trouble and others who want to express their First Amendment right and its those protesters who are becoming violent and dangerous that are causing a lot of problems and causing the police to react in the way they are reacting. Weve seen park benches overturned and then you can see this trash can and newspaper boxes. People are gathering around. Its a mix of protesters, spectators and frankly. There are probably 100 members of the press down here in this intersection as well. This odor from this is now getting almost unbearable. Were backing out of this. Its a tense situation down here at 13th and k and it continues to grow and get chaotic and its a dangerous situation. Back to you guys. Be safe, mark. Were going to be checking back with you on air. I got a number in, 95 protesters have been arrested so far in these clashes right now. So that number we were saying several earlier, that number is very likely to swell. Theyve been bringing vans in to arrest people and take them away. Weve been here at the inaugural cafe all morning. Thank you for joining us. Thanks. We are in our studios now. Were still keeping our eye on downtown. Looking at the area of about 11th and k if im not mistaken, where for a couple of hours now i guess you cant call them protesters, call them disrupters have been doing their best to make trouble and cause problems for the police. There is a con continuitingent officers there. This started around 11 00 around 13th and i. Property damage with at least two or three metropolitan Police Officers injured in clashes with some of these folks, windows smashed in, that sort of thing. Police car windows smashed in and this is continuing. It is outside, though. We want to be around where the inauguration and the parade are taking place. And the inauguration activities themselves have been proceeding as they have been scripted so far and at some point in a few minutes from now the parades will begin and we will be covering that as well. Kim mr. Dyne is with us. He was a former chief of capitol police. Thank you for joining us. What we are seeing now, first of all, was expected. I mean, these guys were trying to disrupt things. They made clear their intention some time ago as i understand it. How do the police intend to respond to this as the evening goes on the way things are going now . Well, thanks for having me. As you mentioned, this was expected. The police have been preparing for this for well communicating with all of the state, local and federal Police Departments and as you know weve brought in theyve brought in thousands of extra Police Officers from other departments to buttress the force. The metropolitan police are pretty much in charge. Yes, sir, they are in charge of the streets up at the capital. Have you seen anything so far that causes you any concern in terms of something out of the ordinary as these kinds of demonstrations run their course . No, not really. As you know the mpd officers are well prepared and well trained and use to these kinds of events. The key is communication among the officers and command staff and with the other departments. Thats one of the challenges of bringing in outside agencies is making sure that everybody is communicating and Everybody Knows what the plan is. And youve been in a unique perspective to share your expertise about the security around an inauguration. Youre a forme also capital former Capital Police chief. Are there different preparations for this inauguration than youve seen in the past or is it a pretty standard thing . Its fairly standard, but you have to keep up with all the modern challenges and technologies and most of all the threats, but we do a very good job at making sure that everybody is communicating. There are a number of command centers around the region where everybody is in the same room making sure that up to date information is being shared and thats something that the departments have gotten much better with over time. The challenges in demonstrations or in events past, all the Police Forces and other personnel involved in this werent always able to talk to each other at the same time. Has that kind of thing all been straightened out and thats no the a problem anymore . That pretty much has been taken care of. The issue that you mentioned, thatom much resolved. That is the key. Thats very very important, especially when you bring outside departments. And share your perspective if you will with weve been seeing mark and our reporters out there in the midst of all this. Share your perspective on what its like to be for those mpd officers on the front lines trying to keep it keep things under control without using excessive force, which has been an issue in the past. Its a nation issue. The officers are very well trained in that regard. Again, those of us in this region i will say are very sophisticated. Thats one of the reasons why we send them when i was the chief of police in frederick we started sending our officers down because nowhere else in the country can you get this type of real hands on experience and the controlling the movement not only the protesters, but the officers. Every officer can use their make sure their command control is in place. Scott mcfarland is down there among these moving pieces. Reporter the irritant is in the air is noticeable. We started coughing and getting watery. The flash bombs are incredibly loud. The safety threat on the ground to us is every so often when the flash bangs go off. The crowd rushes back and starts running without looking where theyre going. Weve seen several people get knocked over and barrelled over and scrapes and bruises. Theres a trample risk. When you get close to the police line, its a young crowd, a lot o and theyre being more daring. Give me an estimation, scott, as best you can of the size of the crowd that youre seeing where you are. Reporter i would measure it in hundreds to be sure, but its a moving crowd. Its a running crowd. Every time the police line moves and shifts down 12th street, the crowd takes off and you have a crowd of hundreds of people running in no particular direction, youre going to see a lot of people knocked over. Whats more, im not sure if you can see it from the image on the screen, theres a lot of hazards on the street. Theres trash cans and debris in the road and a lot of tripping hazards. To me thats the safety threat that people here are feeling. Even among the protesters who are moving forward towards the police, they have tears in their eyes. Lets make it clear, scott, how far these people are away from the inaugural action. Give us a read on that. Reporter i think the chief at least a block north of the northern perimeter of this area. So theyre close to the perimeter, but theyre certainly outside of it. The perimeter is shifting. The police are blocking alleys in this area and blocking north and south streets and for some reason people are still trying to drive very close to the perimeter of the inauguration, which is blocked because there are so many Police Vehicles moving in and out. I was going to ask, scott, if you have a censsense or is the p the same group that mark is seeing on k street. Reporter i interviewed a few of them and it appears they were there earlier in the faceoff with Law Enforcement. With that said ive seen several people who clearly were and say they were hit in the face by pepper spray. The protesters are coming back. Can we assume that the people pennsylvania avenue to watch the parade as it goes by, they are not effected by these demonstrations that youre seeing up on k street . Reporter ive been hearing it. Certain members are hearing flash bangs and sirens and the roar from the crowd when they start running, but they shouldnt be able to see this. Everybody in the parade is hearing what youre hearing, Constant Police sirens. One final question, do you know which direction the wind is blowing . Is it blowing south in other words down towards pennsylvania avenue. Reporter theres definitely a breeze. Watch this. Watch this. Wow, wow. Oh my god. Watch yeah. There are some dangerous situations going on down there. Were going to go to Tracy Wilkins now. What are you seeing there, tracy . Reporter were seeing the crowd is starting to move again. My photographer is going to show you here. There was an official vehicle that came through with lights. The demonstrators started bang og that vehicle and tried to stop it. When they did that, the crowd started to move this way. This is exactly what weve been talking about with this being a moving and running crowd. When something happens, somebody throws one of those flash bombs or what we just saw with the vehicle, an official vehicle trying to come down this road, the whole crowd will disburse. Take a look at how thick this crowd is. That smoke is from a fire lit in the middle of k street. This is on Inauguration Day. It looks like theyre burning trash over there. It started off pretty small, but you canee th flames from the fire in the middle of the street and theres a lot of debris floating in the air here. What you are also seeing are journalists documenting whats happening here and folks participating in this demonstration itself documenting whats going on here. People of all races and all ages here demonstrating in protest here today. It has been this way for the last few hours. Weve seen sparks of it. We were here just across the street, they have repaired it now, the bus stop that had all the windows broken out. We saw businesses straight down this street, windows broken out, limousines, windows broken out, and now it has developed into this where were seeing these folks standing here in the middle of k street and what is absolute those flash grenades that they were exploding is adding to what was happening here. Were not hearing that anymore. There was gas in the air and people who have been hit by pellets and people who have had to have their eyes washed out because of a pepper spray like substance. To say this is incredible would be an understatement because i keep stressing the fact that this is happening on what one of the most important time in our country, the exchange of power, the beginning of a brand new presidency and this is how it is starting in our nations capital. We have protests and demonstrations. We dont have things like this. Tracy, we are looking at an extraordinary situation. Were looking at pictures of the pair rarade that will be stg very shortly. My recollection of situations like that is of tear gas lingering in the air for quite a long time. I notice you dont seem to be effected by it and peopleou can i assume that the wind has drifted it away . Reporter i think thats whats happening because from where we were standing, what happened for me is it got in my threat for a while, but i was okay, but i waensnt in an area where it went off while i was standing right there. We got the aftereffects of it, but the people who were, we have seen teenagers and i mean kids, 13, 14, 15, 17 year olds who have their friends washing their eyes out with water, kids that have been impacted by the tear gas and the other things that the police have used to try to disburse the crowd. At one point we were watching the demonstrators antagonizing the Police Officers and throwing things at the Police Officers. They had to disburse the crowd. When that happens, folks start to run and were looking at the possibility of people being hurt out here. So police are still here, around here. Weve noted reporter weve seen the Peaceful Demonstrations of people singing and walking down the road. Weve seen that and then weve seen this, which is just chaos. Thank you. As we have noted theres no police force in the world better equipped to handle those kinds of taunts and teases and temptations as the mpd in a situation like this because god knows theyve seen it all too often. Indeed they have. As we continue to look at these live pictures from 13th and k, i want to bring the chief back into this. Give us some perspective on this. What are the circumstances that the officers use tear gas and what are those flash bangs about . What are the tools that they are using to control the crowds and why . Theyre going to protect the life and property first. Thats really their main goal. If they dont have to make arrests, thats generally a preference, bub things like this start to occur, arrests are appropriate and necessary under the right circumstances. Then theyll use an array of less lethal tools such as flash bangs and various types of gas, if possible, to disburse the crowds. That will be the first effort. They have begun to make arrests. Last i heard theyve made about 95 arrests. That was the last number i heard. And still going strong. Exactly. How do they make the decision to use tear gas . They want to protect life and property and festivities and activities must go on. People need ingres and egress. Theyre there to save lives and protect people. Like all departments the agencies are there to protect peoples First Amendment rights. There are also the taunting and teasing has become a little bit have to react. Theyre very adapt at resisting taunts and teases, but when things become threatening in terms of their safety we have to take appropriate action. We heard tracy talking about young people down there, 13 and 14 year olds. Probably not wise to take a young person down there. No, thats an interesting dynamic thats taking place. There are many people in town to demonstrate against the presidency of donald trump. We have not seen or heard from many of them so far. A march is scheduled for tomorrow. A lot of people in town today who want to demonstrate and exercise their First Amendment right and then as we have noted folks whose intention is not to demonstrate, but rather to disrupt and thats what weve been seeing so screen. We are here this afternoon getting ready to cover an inaugural parade and the demonstrations are happening outside of the secure zone, which is where the inauguration and the parade are taking place and we have no information that anybody is going to disrupt the parade and festivities. They have that corrdoned off and secure as a matter of fact. People who put it together absolutely know what theyre doing. Theres one guy who knows as much as anybody else about these events and that is a guy that i have been known as well and admiring and am happy to say we have been friends for a long time. Brockman who has been announcing these parades since 1957 when a lot of these folks down there their folks werent born. Charlie, youve seen a lot of parades, but theres been a lot of demonstrations too. Have you seen anything like this in your time . Not to this degree, but however as the announcer of the secret service feeds me announcementsened and i try to the announcements. The secret service is also looking to me because im really high up and i can see things that some people cannot see. Under those circumstances, i contact the secret service, they give me a special telephone number and im sitting to the left of the media center, to the right, i let them know this has happened or could happen. Its a dangerous situation. Yav for the security of these events as well announcing them. Hold on one second. We know you have a lot of Great Stories to tell. Right now, though, were going to head over to tom sherwood. Hes on the other side of the studio. You have news about the mayor . Yes, i do. Reporter i asked because of the violence on the city streets shes been meeting with senior aids. They expect they will hold a News Conference soon, but they did put out a statement and ill read part of it. She said going into today our mission was anyone wishing to peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights in d. C. Had a safe environment to do so. Throughout the city hundreds of protesters have done that. Unfortunately a small group of people have engaged in vandalism as well as violence. We are working with our local, state and federal partners to respond to incidents of violence and destruction of property, but violence and destruction of property will not be tolerated. They have not been tolerated at least to the best of their abilities so far and doing a fairly decent job of it. There have been some arrests and two minor injuries to Police Officers involved out there. Another guy in the staudio here with us now and well have to depend on his booming tones who has seen things like this before, prepared for them. Were talking about the guy who used to be the director of Emergency Management here. Thats right. Peter has sat here. How many inaugurations, peter, two . Three . Four . Maybe four . Not back to 1957. No, nobody in the room has that level of experience. Peter, you have some perspective from your Emergency Management role, some perspective on just what the authorities are dealing with here and trying to keep this protest, disruption, whatever you want to call it, under control. Talk to us about what theyre trying to what theyre trying to do to control this situation. Mpd has done a great job so far. Theyve slowly ratcheted up their response. Theyre in riot gear, but that wasnt the case earlier. Theyve taken tactics to attempt to allow those protesters to protest peacefully. Once you get the Property Damage and start getting destruction, fires in the street, they had to take action. Theres 95 plus arrests. Im sure theres more now. And theres a sense that this is going on right on top of the parade route, but thats not the case. They are four, five, six blocks away and the parade route will be secured. Theres three sets of perimeters that people would have to get to to get to the parade ro. With the flash bangs and smoke and smell, a very difficult time, but the Police Officers have been doing a tremendous job. Let me ask you a question. Some of the anarchists, theyre going to come here and cause trouble. Some people have asked me on social media and watching us on different elements here, why dont the police be more aggressive and shut this down . I think youre about to see that. Theyre getting to that point. You saw them massing up around the corner of 13th and i think its k. They are hoping that this kind of brings itself down and peters themselves out, but thats probably not the case. At one point the police were not running, but they were moving rapidly down the street with those concussion explosions. What are those called . Flash bangs. What do they do . Loud, smoke. Disorienting the protesters. Theyre attempting to balance this. Weve had some history in 2002 and the mass arrests that caused the district to look at its policies and procedures about theas. You heard the mayor say this violence against property and individuals will not be tolerated. Are they doing enough yet . Theyre about to. They have significant numbers of officers. One is securing the route, but two dealing with this type of situation to the north of the parade route. I think youre going to see some more arrests and hopefully thats arrests happen sooner than later so as the evening goes on the balls can take place without these type of disruptions. Stand by for a moment. Im told we need to interrupt you with a programming announcement. If you are watching this on kovy tv we invite you to switch over to nbc 4 where our coverage is now live on theoc station. Lets continue with peter, who was once the director of Emergency Management in d. C. Peter, can i assume that all the people involved in this, Capital Police, federal Police Forces, have all been talking and planning for this for, what, months . A year . For how long and can i assume that theres pretty much no con contingency that they havent talked about . Exactly right. The difference here is technology is the new addition, if you will, but the coordination that goes on let by the secret service is just as a National Security event, but the local police all throughout the region have been working together, training together, exercising together and planning out. So there is a policy for mass arrests. There is a policy to respond accordingly. Thats why i bel protesters will ratchet up their activities, rup their. You mentioned the social media. The technology but social media also gives the protesters a chance to talk to each other from blocks away. Exactly. A twoway street no doubt about it. The Law Enforcement has many more eyes in the sky. More cameras so their Situational Awareness being able to respond to things has increased substantially in these inaugural events. That includes our federal partners as well. A reminder d. C. Police officer that i knew some years ago on the motorcycle squad in terms of what you were just saying, peter, and he had a tshirt made up, as did some of his cpatriots said our guys are