WAHINGTON, Jan 18 : President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration will take place inside the U.S. Capitol on Monday rather than outdoors because of severe cold, the first time in 40 years that U.S. presidential inaugural ceremonies will be moved indoors.
The move upends months of meticulous planning for a massive outdoor event set for hundreds and thousands of ticketed people.
Outlining the reasons for the swearing-in ceremony being moved indoors, Trump wrote in his Truth Social post: “The weather forecast for Washington DC, with the wind chill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows.
“There is an Arctic blast sweeping the country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way.
“It is dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands of law enforcement, first responders, police K9s and even horses, and hundreds of thousands of supporters that will be outside for many hours on the 20th.
“In any event, if you decide to come, dress warmly.”
It means the roughly 250,000 people who had tickets to watch the inauguration from around the Capitol grounds will no longer be able to do so.
The last time an inauguration was moved indoors because of the bitter cold was in 1985 for former Republican President Ronald Reagan’s second swearing-in when the afternoon wind chill fell into the range of minus 10 to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 to minus 29 degrees Celsius).
The forecast for Washington on Monday is for a temperature at the time of Trump’s swearing-in around 19 F (minus 7 C) but it is expected to feel even colder with wind chill.
A spokesperson for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) said in a statement that it will “honour the request of the President-elect and his Presidential Inaugural Committee to move the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies inside the US Capitol to the Rotunda”.
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