Maria bartiromo saying the president did not overreach. this turned into a purely political vote. whether you support the border or support the president. it s to secure our homeland. hopefully they will express the same concern about any executive having that broad emergency power whichs president had and he exercised. i did not believe the president was operating outside his authority. reporter: president trump and the first lady are commemorating the holiday across the street at the st. johns episcopal church. while the president is there, the debate over his national emergency declaration continues to rage. particularly the $3.6 billion he plans to divert from military funding to construct the border
Five-term senator, dead seven months now, jet for some reason president trump seems obsessed with him. take a look, in a series of tweets president trump accused mccain with thes do say on trump s alleged ties to russia, but now he s falsely claiming that mccain was working with democrats and the media to have the dossier printed before the election. during his tweet storm, the president slammed the special counsel a total of six times this weekend. for more, let s head out to nbc mike viqueira va care row at the white house. what was going on? what s in the water there at the white house? reporter: well, i mean, it s not all that unusual for the president to unleash a tweet storm and just sort of send these messages out into the howling void, kendis. the president did do something unusual late this morning, he headed across the street with first lady melania trump to services at st. john s episcopal
Traditional. it is full of customs that have been going on for decades, and in some cases hundreds of years having to do with the peaceful transfer of power, the traditions of going to st. john s church, the traditions of having tea and coffee with the outgoing president and that mayor mo ceremony bids ado on marine one where the income iing wave good-bye. it will take place shortly before noon right behind us here on capitol hill. dana, you re here with us as well. almost every minute of this important daye is scripted out. a big challenge for a man who is notoriously unscripted. he s most comfortable when he s off-the-cuff. at the end of his campaign, he was much more disciplined and staying on his teleprompter than in the past. this will be the ultimate test
Is customary on this very important day, the trumps will take a short drive around the corner to st. john s episcopal church to attend a private service. it s one of many inauguration traditions being honored by the president-elect. in about an hour, the trumps will head over to the white house for a truly iconic moment. they ll be greeted by president and mrs. obama before they all go inside for some tea and coffee. we ll carry all the big inauguration events live throughout the day. we have a team of correspondents in place. they re spread out across the nation s capital including over at blair house and over at st. john s church. they re awaiting the president-elect of the united states, donald trump, just hours before he takes charge at the white house. extensive live coverage coming up. jake, this is going to be an historic moment because we will see the full magistery, but it begins with a church service.
Rise this morning with one commander in chief and will set with another. the peaceful transfer of power, really one of the hallmarks of our democracy. and right behind us, donald j. trump will become the 45th president of the united states. this is a jam-packed day with schedules that will be under the tightest of security. cnn s athena jones has more. good morning, john, you said it. a jam-packed schedule on this inauguration day all kicking off at 8:30 a.m., at st. johns episcopal church, right across from the blair house which is where the trumps stayed last night. i should mention that the pastor that is to preach is more controversial. a southern baptist who has a long history of inflammatory remarks about mormons, catholics and gays, and is expected to preach at that service this