- Donald Trump Inauguration: Live coverage
- Full transcript of Donald Trump's first presidential address
Washington: Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, succeeding Barack Obama and taking control of a divided country in a transition of power that he has declared will lead to "America First" policies at home and abroad.
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Donald Trump sworn in as US President
Donald Trump takes the oath of office to become the 45th President of the United States.
As scattered protests erupted elsewhere in Washington, Mr Trump raised his right hand and put his left on a Bible used by Abraham Lincoln and repeated a 35-word oath of office from the US Constitution, with US Chief Justice John Roberts presiding.
Speaking as a light drizzle settled over Washington, DC, he pledged during his first address as president to transfer power from Washington back to the people.
"Today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another," he said. "January 20th, 2017 will be 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."
He thanked his predecessor, but said politicians had let America down.
"Washington flourished but the people did not; the people did not share in its wealth," he said in the speech, which he had reportedly written himself.
![Donald Trump, watched by his wife Melania, is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.](/web/20170125041138im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/v/w/5/k/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtvvux.png/1484961155609.jpg)
"The establishment protected itself. But not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been yours.
"That all changes starting right here and right now, because this moment is your moment.
![President Donald Trump waves as he walks with first lady Melania Trump during the inauguration parade on Pennsylvania Avenue.](/web/20170125041138im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/v/y/f/2/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtvvux.png/1485236667160.jpg)
"We citizens of America are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and restore its promise for all our people. Together we will determine the course of America and the world for many, many years to come."
Mr Trump said "we will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action, constantly complaining but never doing anything about.
![Donald Trump delivers his first address after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States on Friday.](/web/20170125041138im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/v/w/8/1/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtvvux.png/1484955033273.jpg)
He went on to pledge to keep America's borders secure and to protect American industry and jobs.
"From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this moment on, it's going to be America First," he said.
![New US President Donald Trump after being sworn in.](/web/20170125041138im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/v/w/5/q/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtvvux.png/1484955033273.jpg)
He said he would make Americans "winners" again. Mr Trump also vowed to defeat Islamic State.
"We will seek friendship and goodwill 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," he said.
![President-elect Donald Trump and US President Barack Obama prior to the inauguration.](/web/20170125041138im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/v/v/u/0/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtvvux.png/1484955033273.jpg)
Moments earlier Mike Pence, a former congressman and governor from Indiana, was sworn in as Vice-President by Justice Clarence Thomas.
Waving to crowds
![The motorcade carrying President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump down Pennsylvania Avenue.](/web/20170125041138im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/v/v/v/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtvvux.png/1484955033273.jpg)
During their escorted trip from the Capitol to the White House, after the swearing-in ceremony, Mr Trump and first lady Melania Trump twice got out of their vehicles to walk and wave to the crowd.
They first walked for about a block before reaching the Trump International Hotel, where the crowds on both sides of the street were at their loudest. As the Trumps neared the hotel, agents urged the couple to get back into their sedan.
![Former President Jimmy Carter, Rosalynn Carter, former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Former President ...](/web/20170125041138im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/v/v/v/b/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtvvux.png/1484955033273.jpg)
A large crowd of protesters had gathered on the opposite side of the street, while supporters and employees of the hotel cheered on the hotel side of the street.
Later, the Trumps exited their sedan with their children and grandchildren in tow. An announcer roared, "Welcome home, Mr. President."
![President-elect Donald Trump's children, from left, Tiffany, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.](/web/20170125041138im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/v/v/w/1/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtvvux.png/1484957031145.jpg)
Violent protests, arrests
Hundreds of protesters with varying agendas marched through downtown streets, and some groups clashed with police, throwing rocks and bottles which police responded to with tear gas and concussion grenades. A helicopter hovered low overhead.
At one flash point, a protester hurled an object through the passenger window of a police van, which quickly sped away in reverse as demonstrators cheered. Earlier, activists wearing masks used chunks of pavement and baseball bats to shatter the windows of a Bank of America branch and a McDonald's outlet, all symbols of American capitalism.
Multiple vehicles were set on fire, including a black limousine and a television truck. A knot of people dragged garbage cans into a street a few blocks from the White House and set them ablaze, later throwing a red cap bearing Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan into the flames.
Police said that at least 95 people were arrested and two officers injured in scuffles with activists.
The protests played out just blocks from Pennsylvania Avenue, where Trump proceeded in the traditional parade a newly sworn in president takes from the US Capitol to the White House.
The various protest groups scattered around the city chanted anti-Trump slogans and carried signs with slogans including "Trump is not president" and "Make Racists Afraid Again."
"Trump is not going to be stopped at the top, he's going to be stopped from the bottom, from people rising up," said Ben Allen, a 69-year-old retired teacher from San Francisco. "We support the right of everybody in this country, no matter what nationality, what religion, the color of their skin, to be respected as a human being, and this guy doesn't respect anybody."
On Twitter
Mr Trump – or a member of his staff acting on his behalf – took to Twitter shortly after his swearing-in to reinforce the key messages in his address. The tweets came from his personal account and not the official @POTUS account, which now bears his name.
January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 20 January 2017
We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth - and we will bring back our dreams!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 20 January 2017
Also online, the official White House website was transformed moments after the oath of allegiance was taken, with Mr Obama's climate change policy deleted.
"President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the US rule," the White House website now reads. "Lifting these restrictions will greatly help American workers, increasing wages by more than $30 billion over the next 7 years."
Mr Obama's climate plan proposed cuts to US carbon dioxide emissions, in part by preserving forests and encouraging increased use of cleaner renewable fuels. Mr Trump instead plans to boost the oil and gas industry to raise revenues for new infrastructure.
The website was also updated to showcase key Trump policy pledges that offered the broad contours of the new administration's priorities – a list that notably did not include mention of Mr Obama's Affordable Care Act.
Two presidents: the past and the future
Mr Trump and Mr Obama had ridden in the presidential limousine to Capitol Hill in keeping with tradition on a day filled with familiar rituals designed to ease the transfer of power.
Mr Obama and his wife, Michelle, hosted the Trumps for morning tea at the White House before the motorcade, another custom of the day.
Mr Trump, 70, the nation's first billionaire president and a former reality-TV star, comes to power presenting himself as the champion of working-class, white Americans who rejected Mr Obama and his ally Hillary Clinton.
Tens of thousands of people began assembling on the National Mall in the early morning hours, though crowds appeared to be notably smaller than for Mr Obama's two inaugurations. Trains on Washington's subway system, Metro, were largely uncrowded and traffic in the city was light. Inauguration Day is a holiday for most federal workers.
There was a heavy security presence in the Capitol, with parked buses, dump trucks and humvees blocking intersections downtown. Police and soldiers patrolled Metro stations in the vicinity of the Mall. There were scattered protests around the city by activists for the Black Lives Matter movement, gay rights and women's rights, and others.
Television networks broadcast footage of protesters dressed in black overturning garbage cans and smashing the windows of businesses about three blocks from the White House.
Prayer service
Like past presidents-elect, Mr Trump spent the night before his inauguration at the historic Blair House, a quick walk from the White House. He attended a morning prayer service at St John's church, known as the President's Church, across Lafayette Square from the White House. The Trumps are to attend three inaugural balls in the evening.
Minutes before the Trumps arrived for tea with the Obamas, painters walked in to the White House West Wing carrying gray buckets, as workers rushed through a carefully orchestrated rapid turnover of the presidential residence from one tenant to the next.
Mr Obama walked from the West Wing along a colonnade connecting to the residence, followed by Vice President Joe Biden. Asked if he felt nostalgic, Mr Obama replied, "Of course."
The president left a letter for Mr Trump in the desk of the Oval Office, as is tradition for the outgoing chief executive, Mr Obama spokesman Eric Schultz said. He declined to provide a copy of the letter.
Mr Trump invited Christian and Jewish clergy to speak at the inauguration: Reverend Franklin Graham, the Southern evangelical and son of Billy Graham; Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles; and Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, an African-American pastor from Detroit.
Dozens of Democratic US lawmakers planned to boycott Mr Trump's inauguration, and law enforcement prepared for protests throughout the day and the weekend. Mr Trump's advisers hope his opening remarks as president will calm and unify the nation.
Mr Trump has pledged to overturn or revamp almost all of Obama's policies – on health care, US relations with Russia, China and European allies, his counter-terrorism strategy and environmental protections. He also has pledged to shape a more conservative Supreme Court over time.
Former presidents and their spouses always are invited to inaugurations, but the tradition carried extra poignancy this year. Former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara, fellow Republicans who publicly refused to back Mr Trump, are hospitalised and were be absent. Mr Trump's general election rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, was present.
Bloomberg, AP, Reuters