Donald Trump‘s presidential swearing-in ceremony will be moved indoors, as brutally cold weather is anticipated to descend on the D.C. region on Monday.
Trump confirmed the change in plans on Truth Social.
The parade will be moved to Capitol One Arena, and attendees also are being invited to watch the swearing in ceremony from there.
“The weather forecast, with the windchill factor, could take temperatures to severe record lows,” Trump wrote. “There is an Arctic blast sweeping the country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way.”
The forecast is for a high of 24 degrees on Monday, but the windchill is expected to be in the teens.
CNN and other outlets first reported on the change in plans, and a source familiar with the arrangements confirmed that the switch was underway.
Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance instead will be sworn in at the Capitol Rotunda, where prayers and other speeches will take place.
The change poses a logistical challenge for the networks, which have been planning for months on how to dispatch reporters and crews at the Capitol and the parade route down Constitution Avenue. An inaugural platform has been constructed on the west side of the Capitol and a parade reviewing stand in front of the White House.
Holding the inauguration indoors is not unprecedented. In 1985, which the expectation of single-digit temperatures, President Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration was moved inside.
This will be the second inauguration in a row where traditional plans have been scrambled. Four years ago, for Joe Biden’s inauguration, attendance was scaled way back because of the ongoing Covid pandemic. Instead of people on the Mall, small flags were placed throughout. Security also was dramatically increased in the aftermath of the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
Trump’s inauguration has been declared a National Special Security Event, with an extensive security fence installed around the Capitol and streets along the Mall. Some of Trump’s allies also had been urging him to move the swearing in inside, given that he has been the target of two assassination attempts.
