Donald Trump is being sworn in today as the nation’s 47th president, capping a remarkable comeback bid for the White House.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will each take the oath of office inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Frigid temperatures forced the festivities indoors for the first time since 1985, when Ronald Reagan assumed a second term.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Politics team is in Washington capturing today’s developments and what they mean for Georgia. Follow along below.
Donald Trump plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Mount Denali as part of a sweep of executive orders he will sign Monday, his spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, said on social media.
The returning president will dub the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America" and Denali, the continent's highest peak, Mount McKinley. That was how it was federally recognized until President Barack Obama rechristened the mountain in 2015.
Bernice King urged people to "stay woke" during Donald Trump's second term.
The daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. told the crowd at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church on MLK Day that "we are living in a time where anti-woke rhetoric has become a weapon to divide us and distract us from the real issues of injustice."
"But let me be clear," she said. "To be woke is to be aware of oppression and committed to justice."
King said that "we will remain woke because too much is on the line," including voting rights, housing affordability, civil rights and "the learning of our true history."
After frigid weather upended plans for an outdoor inauguration, many Georgians who trekked to Washington to watch Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony were resolved to make the most of their trip.
Some waited in lengthy lines to get a coveted seat in Capital One Arena, where Trump is set to deliver remarks after he’s inaugurated. Some are watching the ceremony at parties scattered around the city. And some are taking it in from their hotel rooms.
“I’m up here to celebrate,” said Mark Williams, one of about 80 Georgians who camped for days in an RV park in suburban Maryland. “We’re up here to have a good time, and we’re going to do it right.”
Guests are starting to arrive in the Rotunda ahead of President Donald Trump’s swearing-in.
One of them was former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who once represented a metro Atlanta district. With him was his wife, Callista Gingrich, who Trump has nominated as ambassador to Switzerland.
Other Georgians who have arrived are Republican U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Austin Scott, as well as U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, a Democrat.
On this special edition of the Politically Georgia podcast, the hosts cover the historic convergence of Donald Trump’s return to the White House on the same day as the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Mother Nature nearly got the final word on House Speaker Mike Johnson's plan to raise the flags atop the Capitol to full-staff for Donald Trump's swearing-in today.
According to the Wall Street Journal's Olivia Beavers, the Speaker's office confirmed this morning that cords used to raise the flags had frozen in the bitter Washington cold, making them difficult to raise.
Shortly thereafter, the issue was resolved, and the flags were raised to full-staff for the day. They will return to half-staff tomorrow to continue to honor Georgia's own President Jimmy Carter, who died last month. The flags in Georgia will remain at half-staff, no matter the weather.
The niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is expected to read scripture at St. John's Church, where Donald Trump is in the pews.
Alveda King is a longtime Donald Trump backer whose support for the returning president has often put her at odds with the King family. She's one of the president’s biggest African American boosters on Fox News, where she is a paid contributor.
And she was aboard Air Force One in 2018 as Trump signed the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park Act, creating Georgia’s first national historic park.
She is also to be co-host of a Sunday inaugural ball hosted by the Black Conservative Federation.
Will Donald Trump issue pardons for the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021?
He dropped a hint at Sunday's rally.
"I think you'll be very, very happy," Trump said to supporters at the Capital One Arena, referring to the J6 defendants.
Of the roughly 1,600 people charged in the massive U.S. Department of Justice investigation, about 40 have ties to Georgia. Half of them have yet to have their cases fully adjudicated.
When President-elect Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived at St. John's Church for the traditional Inauguration Day service, America's most powerful tech titans were waiting inside.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, and Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post and founder of Amazon, sat together in a single pew, while Telsa CEO Elon Musk and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, sat in different pews further ahead. Podcaster Joe Rogan also landed a spot at the intimate service, which Trump's children and grandchildren also attended.
The next stop for the President-elect today is the White House, where he'll be greeted by President Joe Biden to begin the peaceful transfer of power.
At Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, the epicenter of the official annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Service, things got underway at 9 a.m. sharp.
The service has to be over by 11 a.m. to accommodate the noon swearing-in.
Tamika Patton set the tone with a stirring rendition of “America the Beautiful,” before the musical group, Thriii, led parishioners in a solemn singing of “The Negro National Anthem.”
The church's lead pastor, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, was in Washington for the inauguration.