Trump’s swearing-in will move inside the Capitol Rotunda because of intense cold weather

WASHINGTON —  President-elect Donald Trump will take the oath of office from inside the Capitol Rotunda on Monday because of forecasts of intense cold weather.

“The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way.”

The Rotunda is prepared as an alternative for each inauguration in the event of inclement weather. The swearing-in was last moved indoors in 1985, when President Reagan began his second term. Monday’s forecast calls for the lowest Inauguration Day temperatures since that day.

President Biden, members of Congress and other dignitaries and notable guests will be able to view the ceremony from inside the Capitol Rotunda. But even if they are standing shoulder to shoulder packing the Rotunda as in 1985, many will be forced to watch the swearing-in from elsewhere.

Alternative plans were being devised to accommodate as many guests as possible. More than 250,000 guests are ticketed to view the inauguration from around the Capitol grounds, and tens of thousands more were expected to be in general admission areas or to line the inaugural parade route from the Capitol to the White House.

Trump said some supporters would be able to watch the ceremony from Washington’s Capital One Arena on Monday, a day after he plans to hold a rally there. He said he would visit the arena, which has a capacity of about 20,000, after his swearing-in, and host a modified inaugural parade there.

Trump said other inaugural events, including the Sunday rally and his participation in three official inaugural balls on Monday night, would take place as scheduled.

The National Weather Service is predicting the temperature to be about 22 degrees at noon Eastern time during the swearing-in, the coldest since Reagan’s second inauguration, when temperatures plunged to 7 degrees. Barack Obama’s 2009 swearing-in was 28 degrees.

“The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies will honor the request of the president-elect and his Presidential Inaugural Committee to move the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies inside the U.S. Capitol to the Rotunda,” a spokesperson said Friday.

Miller writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Seth Borenstein, Michelle Price and Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.