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President-elect Donald Trump will have his hand on two Bibles during his swearing-in ceremony on Monday, the culmination of the 60th Presidential Inauguration.

Trump will use his Bible, given to him by his mother in 1955, to ‘mark his Sunday Church Primary School graduation at First Presbyterian Church, in Jamaica, New York,’ a press release from his inaugural committee states. 

The religious text is a 1953 revised standard version that was published by Thomas Nelson and Sons in New York. Trump’s name is embossed on the lower portion of the front cover, and inside the cover are signatures of church officials, an inscription of the president’s name and details of when it was presented to him.

In addition to the sentimental Bible, the Lincoln Bible, first used in 1861 to swear-in the 16th U.S. president, will be used.

‘It has only been used three times since, by President Obama at each of his inaugurations and by President Trump at his first inauguration in 2017,’ Trump’s team states. ‘The burgundy velvet-bound book is part of the collections of the Library of Congress.’

President Obama also took the oath of office on two Bibles back in 2013, the Associated Press reported. One was owned by Martin Luther King Jr. and the other was the Lincoln Bible.

When Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States inside the Capitol’s rotunda, he will do so facing a bust of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the federal holiday commemorating King’s legacy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Germany’s ambassador to the U.S. has warned that President-elect Trump’s administration will ‘undermine’ democratic principles with a ‘maximum disruption’ agenda, according to a report.

Reuters reported that it viewed a confidential briefing document signed by Ambassador Andreas Michaelis that describes the incoming Trump agenda as ‘a redefinition of the constitutional order – maximum concentration of power with the president at the expense of Congress and the federal states.’

‘Basic democratic principles and checks and balances will be largely undermined, the legislature, law enforcement and media will be robbed of their independence and misused as a political arm, Big Tech will be given co-governing power,’ reads the document, which was dated Jan. 14.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump transition team for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Michaelis said recent actions by Trump and billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk could lead to a ‘redefinition of the First Amendment.’ 

‘One is using lawsuits, threatening criminal prosecution and license revocation, the other is having algorithms manipulated and accounts blocked,’ the document reads, per Reuters.

Musk supported Trump throughout the election, and was tapped by the president-elect to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency. 

Last month, Germany accused Musk of attempting to interfere in the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections on behalf of the country’s far-right political party, German Alternative for Germany, citing recent social media posts and a weekend op-ed doubling down on his endorsement.

Meanwhile, Michaelis even claimed that Trump could force his agenda on states using broad legal options and that ‘even military deployment within the country for police activities would be possible in the event of declared ‘insurrection’ and ‘invasion’.’

The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, however, bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement unless Congress overrides the federal law.

Despite what Michaelis says in the reported document, the German foreign ministry has acknowledged Trump won the democratic election and said it will ‘work closely with the new U.S. administration in the interests of Germany and Europe.’

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President-elect Donald Trump campaigned in 2024 as an anti-establishment populist prepared to take on the political class and act on behalf of working families. When Trump is prepared to move forward in that direction, I will gladly support him. When he does not, I will vigorously oppose him.

Trump has said the United States should not be paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. He’s right. Under President Biden, we have made some good progress in lowering the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs in this country, including having Medicare negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical industry. But much more needs to be done. I look forward to working with President Trump on legislation that would end the absurdity of Americans paying, by far, the highest price in the world for prescription drugs.  We must have the courage to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and lower drug prices substantially.

At a time when many financially strapped Americans are paying 20 or 30% interest rates on their credit cards, President Trump has stated that he wants to cap credit card interest rates at 10%. He’s right. I will soon be introducing bipartisan legislation to protect Americans from being ripped off by the credit card industry and look forward to his support. 

President Trump has rightfully pointed out that disastrous trade agreements like NAFTA and PNTR with China have cost millions of American jobs as corporations shut down manufacturing in this country and moved abroad to find cheap labor. As someone who strongly opposed those agreements, I look forward to working with the Trump administration on new trade policies that will protect American workers and create good-paying jobs in our country.

Some of Trump’s nominees have also made important points. Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is right when he says that food corporations are ‘poisoning’ our young people with highly processed foods that are causing obesity, heart disease and other serious health problems. The Trump administration and Congress must take on the greed of the food industry and create a healthier America.

At a time when many large corporations are routinely breaking the law and engaging in illegal union-busting, Trump’s Labor Secretary nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer has been supportive of the PRO Act, which would protect a worker’s right to join a union and bargain for better pay, benefits and working conditions. She is right. Workers must have the right to join a union without illegal interference by their bosses. I look forward to working with the Trump administration to pass the PRO Act into law.

No one denies that we must end waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, for example, is correct when he points outthat the Pentagon has failed seven audits and cannot fully account for its budget of over $800 billion. We must make the Defense Department far more efficient, save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars a year and cut spending.  

But let me be clear. While I am more than prepared to work with the Trump administration in areas of agreement, I have some very strong disagreements with positions that Trump has proposed.

At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, when the wealthiest people have never had it so good, it would be an outrage to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in additional tax breaks to large corporations and the wealthiest people in this country.  Any new tax cuts should go to the working families of this country.  Billionaires and large profitable corporations must start paying their fair share in taxes.

Further, we must not throw millions of people off of the health care they have by making massive cuts to Medicaid and other public health programs, which is how some Republicans want to pay for their tax cuts for the rich.  Medicaid is a lifeline not only for millions of low-income Americans, but also for over a million seniors in nursing homes and people with disabilities.

The last 10 years have been the warmest on record and, as a result, we have seen unprecedented extreme weather disturbances throughout the United States and the world.  While Los Angeles experiences devastating wildfires and North Carolina is still recovering from destructive flooding, Trump is dangerously wrong when he claims climate change is a ‘hoax.’ Virtually the entire scientific community understands that climate change is real, is caused by carbon emissions and is an enormous threat to the well-being of our kids and future generations.  We must, with the entire global community, combat climate change.

We must not engage in the mass deportation of 20 million people in this country, many of whom have worked and lived here for virtually their entire lives and are a vital part of our economy. We need to stop illegal crossings with strong border enforcement and should deport people who commit serious criminal offenses. But we must not break up millions of families, put children in cages, or use the U.S. military unconstitutionally to round up immigrants in door-to-door searches. 

Trump Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent is wrong when he opposes the need to raise the federal minimum wage. At a time when the $7.25 minimum wage has not been raised in 15 years, it is unconscionable that millions of Americans continue to work for starvation wages. We must raise the minimum wage to a living wage: $17 an hour.

We must not allow billionaire oligarchs to buy our government. Trump has repeatedly claimed that he wants the Republican Party to represent the needs of working people. Well, you don’t do that by surrounding yourself with the richest people in the world and putting 13 billionaires in your cabinet, many of whom have a direct financial stake in the industries they are charged with regulating.  Further, we need real campaign finance reform which prevents billionaires in both parties from buying elections.

Let us never forget we are the wealthiest country in the history of the world. There is no reason why 60% of Americans should live paycheck to paycheck, why we have massive and growing income and wealth inequality, why 85 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, why 25% of seniors in America are trying to survive on $15,000 a year or less, why young people leave college deeply in debt, or why childcare is unaffordable for millions of families. We can do better. We must do better. 

I look forward to working with President Trump when he stands with the working families of this country. I will vigorously oppose him when he represents the needs of the billionaire class and wealthy special interests.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Friday recounted a meeting with President Biden from early last year when the president appeared to forget he signed an executive order pausing the export of liquified natural gas (LNG).

Johnson publicly recalled the story for the first time to Bari Weiss during an episode of her podcast ‘Honestly’ for The Free Press after saying that through his ‘personal observation’ in dealing with Biden, the president ‘has not been in charge for some time.’ Johnson’s story was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in June, though the newspaper’s reporting relied on anonymous sources at the time.

When Weiss asked Johnson to elaborate on his observations, the speaker began his tale of how Biden’s staff kept brushing off his attempts to schedule a meeting with the president in January 2024 amid ‘big national concerns’ that Johnson said he ‘was losing sleep over.’

Johnson said that Biden’s staff finally relented after some pressure from the media and invited him to the Oval Office to meet with the president. Johnson, however, said the meeting did not start as expected.

‘I show up and I realize it’s actually an ambush ’cause it’s not just me and the president,’ Johnson said. ‘It’s also Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem, you know, The CIA Director.’

Johnson said the group began to ‘hot box’ him on Ukraine funding when Biden asked if he could have the room with him, a request that Johnson said left the president’s staff visibly concerned.

Once Biden and Johnson were alone in the Oval Office, the speaker asked the president about his pause on LNG exports. 

‘I cannot answer this from my constituents in Louisiana,’ Johnson recalled telling Biden. ‘Sir, why did you pause LNG exports to Europe? Liquefied natural gas is in great demand by our allies. Why would you do that? Cause you understand we just talked about Ukraine, you understand you are fueling Vladimir Putin’s war machine, because they gotta get their gas from him.’

Johnson recounted how a stunned Biden replied: ‘I didn’t do that.’

Biden initiated a pause on new LNG export permits in January 2024, a move which has been widely criticized by the oil community and bipartisan lawmakers in the House.

Johnson said that when he reminded the president of the executive order he had signed just weeks ago, Biden denied that what he had signed was a pause on LNG.

Johnson said he argued that the pause would do ‘massive damage to our economy, national security,’ and he even suggested that the president’s secretary print out a copy of the order so that the two of them could read it together.

‘He genuinely did not know what he had signed,’ Johnson said. ‘And I walked out of that meeting with fear and loathing because I thought, ‘We are in serious trouble—who is running the country?’ Like, I don’t know who put the paper in front of him, but he didn’t know.’

Biden’s LNG pause threatens nearly 1 million jobs over the next two decades if the restriction remains in place, according to a study by the National Association of Manufacturers, which Fox News Digital previously reported on.

The export ban would stifle the U.S. GDP by between $122.5 billion and $215.7 billion in 2044, while between $26.9 billion and $47.7 billion in tax and royalty revenues to federal, state and local governments would be at risk in 2044 if the permit pause persists, the study found.

President-elect Trump, however, reportedly ‘plans to go strong on the issue’ of LNG exports when he assumes office, sources told Reuters in November.

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady and Eric Revell contributed to this report.

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To be or not to be, that is the question for social media giant TikTok’s future in the United States.

The fate of the Chinese Communist Party-controlled app is one of very few issues that seem to divide Americans on both sides of our most fundamental ideological divides, which is roughly to say, pro-Donald Trump and anti-Donald Trump.

This is a pretty good sign that there are legitimate competing interests for axing the app and letting it flourish in the U.S. Those in favor of the short-video platform see themselves as champions of free speech; those opposed as guardians of national security. Both may have a point.

For the decision on TikTok to be thoughtfully and honestly reached, it must be fully understood and acknowledged just how much damage this Chinese spying and propaganda operation has already wrought.

The fact that Chinese owner ByteDance is refusing to sell TikTok is kind of confirmation that it was a CCP operation all along. It wasn’t launched by a Chinese entrepreneur looking to make money, or he would jump at a $50 billion dollar offer – especially when it is either that or go dark in the United States.

No, the real value of TikTok for the CCP was always as an informational attack on the U.S. intended to steal our private data, including that of millions of our children, and to promote anti-American ideology. Remember the ‘Osama Bin Laden wasn’t so bad’ TikTok craze?

Information is serious national security business. According to the Defense Department, America’s levers of international power are described by the DIME paradigm as Diplomatic, Informational, Military, and Economic.

In three of these, the U.S. is dominant. But, owing to our First Amendment and the free nature of our society, we are always at a disadvantage against our authoritarian foreign foes when it comes to the use of information as a weapon.

This is not a two-way social media street with China. As Elon Musk, owner of the competitor platform X noted this week, ‘The current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but X is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced. Something needs to change.’

Nobody should hold their breath waiting for China to liberalize its internal social media censorship, but Musk’s point is well taken. This is asymmetrical informational warfare. 

All of this is why the ban on TikTok, should Bytedance continue its refusal to divest, was passed by a big bipartisan majority and why Trump was on board at that time. Now, with TikTok choosing to go dark on Sunday in the U.S., the rubber has met the road.

Sure, there are plenty of Americans who use TikTok in completely non-nefarious ways to run their business, keep up on hobbies, or just to be mindlessly entertained, and they understandably don’t want it to disappear.

For his part, Trump has come to believe that TikTok played a significant role in securing his election win. There isn’t a whole lot of hard evidence to back this up, but there are those in Trump’s inner circle, such as Kellyanne Conway, who have lobbied for TikTok in Congress.

If Trump can strike a deal that saves TikTok in America by eliminating the national security threat it poses, then great. That would be a double win. But while these competing interests are both legitimate, they are not equal, and our country’s defense must clearly come first.

For his part, Trump seems to understand this, posting on Truth Social on Sunday that he wants the ‘United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to stay up. Without U.S. approval, there is no TikTok.’

Deal or no deal, whether TikTok survives or not, you have to tip your cap to Communist China for one of the most effective information operations ever executed against the United States. Endless bytes of data stolen, millions of hours of propaganda poured into the eyes and ears of our kids.

It took our government years to understand what TikTok was really doing, longer to act, and now, even after it has decisively acted, we just can’t seem to pull the plug on the listening device. And one potential solution is to give China upwards of $50 billion for its trouble.

Trump wants 90 days to make a deal, and nobody does it better. But after that, either the CCP is out of the TikTok business or TikTok must be out of the U.S. There really is no third option.

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Top members of the three branches of government will come together in a rare display of national unity and tradition when the presidential and vice-presidential oaths of office are delivered at Monday’s inauguration. A swear-in rookie, and perhaps funny hats, will be indispensable parts of the ceremonies.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh will continue a nearly 240-year-old tradition of administering the oaths to President-elect Trump and his No. 2, JD Vance. The other seven members of the high court are expected to attend the event in the Capitol Rotunda, all in their judicial robes. 

Whatever political differences exist, they surely will not be on display at this most cordial and dignified of ceremonies. After all, the first person the president thanks will likely be the chief justice. But an undercurrent of tension remains.

During his first run for high office in 2016, candidate Trump took the unusual step of attacking a member of the federal judiciary, labeling Roberts ‘an absolute disaster’ among other personal insults. This will be the ‘Chief’s’ fifth presidential swearing-in, his second with Trump.

The choice of Kavanaugh is no surprise: incoming second lady Usha Vance clerked for Kavanaugh when he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.

She then went on to a prestigious law clerkship at the Supreme Court with Roberts. Sources say Kavanaugh gave an especially strong job recommendation for Usha Vance to his now bench colleague.

In an August interview with ‘Fox and Friends,’ Usha Vance said Kavanaugh was ‘such a good boss’ and ‘decent person’ who ‘hired people from all over the political spectrum.’

‘My experience working for him was overwhelmingly positive,’ she added.

Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Clarence Thomas are among recent justices who have performed similar vice-presidential swear-in honors.

While chief justices have normally sworn in the president, a broader mix of officials have handled the vice-presidential duties. Then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert swore in Vice President Dick Cheney in 2005.

Thomas did the honors when Mike Pence was sworn in 2017 as vice president for Trump’s first term.

Justice served

Article VI of the Constitution requires executive officers, including the president, as well as members of Congress and federal judges, to ‘be bound by oath or affirmation,’ but nothing mandates that a Supreme Court justice administer it. When it comes to the presidential inauguration, they just have, most of the time.

There was no Supreme Court yet formed when George Washington took the first oath of office in 1789, so New York’s highest ranking judge did the honors at Federal Hall on Wall Street. Four years later, Associate Justice William Cushing swore in Washington for a second term, beginning the Supreme Court tradition.

Early swear-ins were usually conducted in the House or Senate chamber. The 1817 inaugural was held outdoors for the first time when James Monroe took the oath in front of the Old Brick Capitol, where the legislature met temporarily after the original Capitol was burned by invading British troops in the War of 1812. The Monroe swear-in site is now occupied by the Supreme Court, which opened its building in 1935.

The man who handled the duties more than 200 years ago was John Marshall, widely acknowledged as the most influential chief justice in U.S. history. He participated in a record nine swear-ins, from Thomas Jefferson to Andrew Jackson. For Roberts, this will be his fifth.

The Constitution lays out the exact language to be used in the 34-word oath of office: ‘I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.’

Many judges have tacked on four little words, ‘so help me God.’ It is not legally or constitutionally required, unlike other federal oaths that invoke the words as standard procedure. Historians have been at odds over whether President Washington established precedent by adding the phrase on his own during his first acceptance, but contemporary accounts mention no such ad-libbing.

Abraham Lincoln was reported to have said it spontaneously in 1861, and other presidents over the years have followed suit. A Bible is traditionally used, with the president placing one hand on it while raising the other during the oath of office.

The 16th president and Chief Justice Roger Taney shared a mutual animosity. When the oath was administered just days before the Civil War erupted, many attending the ceremony noticed the frosty demeanor both men showed each other, befitting the late winter chill. Several historians have said Lincoln later that year secretly issued an arrest warrant for Taney, who tried to block the president’s suspension of habeas corpus during the conflict. The warrant was never served.

President Barack Obama used Lincoln’s Bible for his two swear-ins.

Trump is expected to again use the Lincoln Bible and a family Bible.

Getting it right      

Roberts, administering his first presidential oath in 2009, strayed slightly from the text, which prompted its re-administration for protective purposes the following day, in a private White House ceremony.

Those Jan. 20 ceremonies at the Capitol also ran long, so that the presidential oath was not completed until five minutes past noon. Nonetheless, Obama under the 20th Amendment had officially assumed the presidency at noon.

At the time, a California atheist, Michael Newdow, objected and went to federal court to prevent Roberts from prompting Obama to repeat the ‘so help me God’ phrase. Newdow, along with several non-religious groups, argued the words violated the constitutional ban on government ‘endorsement’ of religion.

The high court ultimately rejected the lawsuit, and no such legal challenges are expected this time.

Four years later, Justice Sonia Sotomayor swore in Biden for a second term as vice president in 2013. She was asked by Vice President Harris to do the honors again, with the first female vice president citing the fact both women once served as government prosecutors.

Pence used the family Bible of the late President Ronald Reagan, telling Fox News at the time, ‘It’s just very humbling for me. We are approaching it with prayer, but with deep, deep gratitude to the president-elect for his confidence and deep gratitude to the American people.’ 

Trump also broke tradition by not attending the swear-in of his successor four years ago.

Lyndon Johnson’s swear-in from 1965 marked a change from tradition. His wife Claudia – known as Lady Bird – held the Bible, a job previously managed by the high court’s clerk. Spouses have since had the honor, and Melania Trump and Usha Vance are expected to continue that role.   

Hopefully, nerves won’t result in a repeat of the 1941 goof, when then-clerk Elmore Cropley dropped the Bible just after Franklin Roosevelt took the oath to begin his third presidential term.

What to wear, what to say

It usually is not hard at the inauguration to spot the justices, who are normally shielded from broad public view in the camera-barred court. They are announced as a group, arrive wearing their black robes – usually covering bulky winter coats – and are given prominent seats on the specially built platform on the West Front of the Capitol.

Before Marshall took over the court in 1801, the justices wore red robes with fur trim and white wigs in all public settings. His practice of a simple black silk robe without wig remains the American judicial standard.

And if there is any doubt about their identities, look for some unusual-looking headgear several justices may be sporting. The large black ‘skullcaps’ have no brims and can be made of wool, silk or even nylon. Perhaps to keep them from looking like a Jewish yarmulke, the hats are usually pleated upward, which one federal judge privately told Fox News made him look like he was wearing a dirty napkin.

Given the inauguration ceremony is indoors this year because of expected frigid weather, the skullcaps may be an afterthought.

They have been around in British courts since the 16th century, and at least a century in the United States. Only judges wear them, and only at formal ceremonies, not in court.

Official records are hazy on the hats, but Chief Justice Edward White proudly wore one in 1913 when Woodrow Wilson became president. The ‘age of the skullcap’ peaked in 1961 when seven of the nine justices wore them at the bitterly cold inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.

The last time around, only now-retired Justice Stephen Breyer was brave enough to sport one, though Thomas, Anthony Kennedy, and the late Antonin Scalia had worn them previously. None of the six current or former women justices ever used them.

Scalia told an audience a few years ago why he favored skullcaps. ‘If you’ve ever seen an inauguration, you will see me wearing the old hats judges used to wear. It’s a ridiculous-looking hat, but it’s a tradition. Yes, it’s silly looking.’

Scalia’s headgear was a replica of one worn by St. Thomas More, a gift from the St. Thomas More Society of Richmond, Virginia

The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist also sported them, not surprising, given his role as an unofficial historian of court procedure and tradition.

He made one of the most dramatic appearances in inaugural history while suffering from thyroid cancer in 2005. There was speculation he would be too ill to attend, but he assured officials he would be there, and he kept his word.

After three months away from the public eye while he received chemotherapy, the ailing 81-year-old chief was introduced to the audience just before President George W. Bush was to take the oath. Using a cane, Rehnquist walked slowly to the podium without assistance – wearing a dark baseball cap – and did the honors. His voice was clear but raspy, because of a trachea tube in his throat, which was hidden by a scarf.

Afterward, Rehnquist wished Bush good luck, then was quickly escorted out of the cold.

Rehnquist also swore in President Bill Clinton eight years earlier. Unbeknownst to Clinton or the public, the justices days earlier had taken a private vote in Clinton v. Jones. Their ruling said the president could not refuse to testify in an ongoing civil lawsuit against him by Paula Jones, who alleged sexual harassment. That triggered a series of events leading to Clinton’s 1999 impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate, presided over by Rehnquist himself, without the skullcap.

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A visibly agitated Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., (AOC) had a busy day on social media on Sunday, taking to Instagram to make a series of rants related to President-elect Donald Trump.

She started out early scolding TikTok for sending a notification thanking ‘President Trump’ for restoring the app.

‘A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned,’ the notification stated.

In her Instagram stories, she says that Trump is not yet the president and is still currently a private citizen, suggesting that referring to him as such raises concerns about TikTok’s word.

‘First of all, Donald Trump is not president right now. He is a private citizen. He does not have access to presidential powers, he does not have the ability to do any of that,’ AOC said.

She claims that the app is ‘signaling that they have agreed to privately collaborate with Donald Trump and the Trump administration’ by mentioning him in the notification.

‘And for all of those concerns that people were saying that TikTok is going to be used as a propaganda tool by the Chinese, understand they’re using it as a propaganda tool for the right,’ she added.

She warned her followers, ‘We are on the eve of an authoritarian administration. This is what 21st century fascism is starting to look like.’

Later on in the evening, she once again ranted on Instagram about her frustration with being asked if she would be attending Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

‘All these journalists were like congresswoman, are you going to the inauguration? Congresswoman are you going to the inauguration? Are you going to the inauguration? Let me make myself clear. I don’t celebrate rapists, so no, I’m not going to the inauguration room,’ she expressed in what appeared to be an agitated tone.

She also clapped back on X after the Libs of TikTok account reposted her remarks and said that Trump should sue her after she called him a rapist. 

‘Oh, are you triggered? Cry more,’ the congresswoman wrote.

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Millions of people across the country are expected to tune in to President-elect Trump’s second inauguration ceremony. Television networks, online publications and social media outlets are preparing for the big event. The way inaugurations have been presented to the public has changed drastically over the years.

‘We must think big and dream even bigger,’ Trump said during his first inaugural address in 2017.

Tens of millions of people watched his first address in real time – both on television and through online streaming. But inaugural addresses and analysis of the speeches were not always available immediately. In 1789, when George Washington was sworn in for the first time, his speech was not available to the public until several days later.

Thomas Jefferson became the first president to have his inauguration speech printed in a newspaper the same day he gave his address in 1801. The National Intelligencer printed the speech on the morning of Jefferson’s inauguration.

James Polk was the first president to have his address reported by telegraph. It was also the first time a speech was shown in a newspaper illustration, by the Illustrated London News.

Drawings were the main visual for inaugurations for another 12 years, until photography became more frequently used. James Buchanan was the first president to have a photograph taken at his swearing-in. Another 40 years later, video was used to record inaugurations for the public.

William McKinley was the first president to appear on a movie camera during his inaugural address in 1901. Only silent films were available then, but that would change over the years as inaugural addresses began to incorporate audio.

In 1921, Warren Harding was the first to use loudspeakers to address the crowd attending his inauguration in person. Four years later, Calvin Coolidge was the first to have his inaugural broadcast nationally by radio. The White House Historical Association estimates his 1925 address reached more than 23 million radio listeners. Herbert Hoover gave the first multimedia inaugural. His 1929 address was the first recorded on a talking newsreel.

‘It is a dedication and consecration under God to the highest office in service of our people,’ Hoover said during his address.

After World War II, an increasing number of Americans bought television sets for their homes. By 1949, almost all major cities had at least one local television station, and 4.2 million American homes had TV sets. Harry Truman became the first president to have his inauguration broadcast live that year. More than a decade later, John F. Kennedy had his address broadcast in color for the estimated 500,000 Americans who had color television sets.

‘Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country,’ Kennedy famously said during his inauguration speech.

Ronald Reagan sought to bring the pageantry of inauguration events to Americans across the country. His inaugural committee hosted around 100 satellite inaugural balls that were broadcast in 32 cities.

‘Almost 200 years ago, at the first inaugural, people came by stagecoach. This time, people all over America, millions of people, are attending this one by satellite,’ Reagan said during a ball at the Washington Hilton Hotel.

More than a decade later, Bill Clinton’s second inauguration in 1997 was available on the internet via livestream. Clinton had signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 just a year before at the Library of Congress.

‘Ten years ago, the internet was the mystical province of physicists; today, it is a commonplace encyclopedia for millions of schoolchildren,’ Clinton said during his inaugural address. ‘As we look back at this remarkable century, we may ask, ‘Can we hope not just to follow, but even to surpass the achievements of the 20th century in America?”

With the growth of the internet, social media use also expanded.

‘We have always understood that when times change, so must we,’ Barack Obama said at his second inaugural address in 2013.

Obama was the first president to join Twitter. His 2013 address generated more than 1 million tweets. According to Pew Research, around 51% of Americans owned a smartphone at the time. When Trump was sworn into office in 2017, that percentage rose to 77%. Cellphone carriers installed extracellular antennas ahead of the address for the massive crowd that would be sharing photos and videos from the day’s events on social media.

When Joe Biden gave his address in 2021, his inaugural committee relied on technology for nearly every aspect of the event. The coronavirus pandemic forced much of Biden’s festivities to move online.

‘The world is watching all of us today. So, here is my message to those beyond our borders: America has been tested, and we have come out stronger for it,’ Biden said during his address.

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: President-elect Trump will sign more than 200 executive actions on Inauguration Day—a massive, first wave of policy priorities focused on border security, energy, reducing the cost of living for American families, ending DEI programs across the federal government, and more, Fox News Digital has learned. 

A senior administration official who is familiar with the executive actions and authorized to brief Fox News Digital said Trump on day one will end ‘Catch and Release;’ pause all offshore wind leases; terminate the electric vehicle mandate; abolish the Green New Deal; withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord; and take several major steps to assert presidential control over the federal bureaucracy.

The official said Trump will sign multiple ‘omnibus’ executive orders that each contain dozens of major executive actions. 

‘The president is issuing a historic series of executive orders and actions that will fundamentally reform the American government, including the complete and total restoration of American sovereignty,’ the official told Fox News Digital. 

On day one, the president-elect will declare a national border emergency; direct the U.S. military to work with the Department of Homeland Security to fully secure the southern border; and establish a national priority to eliminate all criminal cartels operating on U.S. soil. 

Trump will close the border to all illegal aliens via proclamation, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Trump will also create task forces for the protection of homeland security with officers from the FBI, ICE, CEA, and other agencies to ‘fully eradicate the presence of criminal cartels.’ 

Trump will also direct designations of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which the official said will unlock new authorities to achieve the Trump homeland security mission. 

Fox News Digital has learned that Trump will re-institute ‘Remain in Mexico,’ and direct the military to construct a new area of border wall. He will grant emergency authorities to suspend the entry of illegal aliens across the southwest border, allowing for individuals apprehended to be ‘swiftly returned to their countries of origin.’ 

Trump will ‘fully unleash’ Alaskan energy, which the official described as essential to U.S. national security. 

The senior official told Fox News Digital that the energy executive order deals with ‘every single energy policy,’ and addresses liquid natural gas, ports, fracking, pipelines, permitting and more, while also terminating President Biden polices he said ‘have constrained U.S. energy supply.’ 

The official also said Trump will fully reform the federal bureaucracy by reestablishing presidential control over the career federal workforce and make clear to federal workers that they can be removed from posts for failing to comply with executive directives. 

Trump will sign an executive order to strengthen presidential control over senior government officials and implement a new merit-based hiring review. Trump will also take action to return federal workers to in-person work. 

The official also said Trump will end the ‘weaponization of the federal government,’ and ‘restore freedom of speech’ and ‘end federal censorship.’ 

Trump, on his first day, will also suspend the security clearances for the 51 national security officials who ‘lied’ about Hunter BIden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 presidential election. 

He is also expected to establish biological sex definitions; rename places like the Gulf of Mexico, which will become the ‘Gulf of America,’ and more.

Trump, on day one, will also end all Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs across the federal government. 

Trump will also establish a new Department of Government Efficiency hiring freeze and, the official said, gain control over foreign aid and NGO funding. 

‘He is reasserting muscular control of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government,’ the official told Fox News Digital. 

As for reducing the cost for American families, Trump will sign a presidential memorandum directing all agencies and departments to remove all federal actions that increase costs for families and consumers, which the official told Fox News Digital will be the beginning of Trump’s ‘historic de-regulatory effort’ of his second term.

‘This is a massive, record-setting, unmatched first wave,’ the official told Fox News Digital. ‘Even after this, there is a whole host in the queue to continue the restoration of America.’ 

The official added: ‘This is the most extensive list of executive actions in American history, all guided by a relentless commitment to deliver on the campaign promise.’ 

The official told Fox News Digital that ‘everything’ voters voted for ‘is being translated into executive policy.’ 

‘There is a massive federal workforce that has been moving its objectives at expense of the American people–and President Trump is taking command, saying you will serve the American people and only American people,’ the official said. ‘This is about stopping corrupt, abusive behavior and re-focusing the government on its fundamental duties to the American people.’ 

Incoming Trump administration officials told Fox News Digital that the overarching theme of his Day One actions is ‘promises made, promises kept.’

‘As soon as President Trump places his hand on the Bible and swears the Oath to the United States Constitution, the Golden Age of America will begin,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital. ‘The American people will have a leader who will deliver on the promises he made to restore our country’s greatness.’ 

The president-elect on Sunday, previewed one of his Day One executive orders related to the popular video-sharing app TikTok, which was forced to go dark in the United States following a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Trump said he will sign an order on Monday that will ‘extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.’ Trump also said the order would confirm that there ‘will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.’ 

A Trump official described the wave of actions as ‘shock and awe on a scale never seen before.’

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The Department of Justice said Friday that it sued pharmacy giant Walgreens over allegedly dispensing millions of unlawful prescriptions.

The DOJ said that Walgreens from August 2012 until the present “knowingly” filled those prescriptions, which “lacked a legitimate medical purpose, were not valid, and/or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice.” 

“This lawsuit seeks to hold Walgreens accountable for the many years that it failed to meet its obligations when dispensing dangerous opioids and other drugs,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, head of the DOJ’s Civil Division.

Boynton said that Walgreens pharmacists filled millions of prescriptions with “clear red flags that indicated the prescriptions were highly likely to be unlawful.”

The company “systematically pressured its pharmacists to fill prescriptions, including controlled substance prescriptions, without taking the time needed to confirm their validity,” Boynton said. “These practices allowed millions of opioid pills and other controlled substances to flow illegally out of Walgreens stores.”

Some Walgreens patients died of overdose deaths shortly after getting invalid prescriptions filled at Walgreens, the DOJ alleges.

The 300-page lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Walgreens in a statement said, “We are asking the court to clarify the responsibilities of pharmacies and pharmacists and to protect against the government’s attempt to enforce arbitrary ‘rules’ that do not appear in any law or regulation and never went through any official rulemaking process.”

“We will not stand by and allow the government to put our pharmacists in a no-win situation, trying to comply with ‘rules’ that simply do not exist,” Walgreens said.

“Walgreens stands behind our pharmacists, dedicated healthcare professionals who live in the communities they serve, filling legitimate prescriptions for FDA-approved medications written by DEA-licensed prescribers in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.”

The suit alleges that although Walgreens issued written policies that reflected its understanding of legal obligations, the company took other actions which it knew prevented its pharmacists from complying with them.

“Walgreens prioritized profits over safety and compliance by implementing policies and practices that required pharmacists to fill prescriptions quickly and left pharmacists without enough time or resources to exercise their corresponding responsibility,” the suit said.

“One such metric was ‘Verify By Promise Time’ (VBPT), which expected a pharmacist to fill a prescription within 15 minutes for a ‘waiter’ (a customer waiting in the pharmacy store for the prescription),” the suit alleges.

“Walgreens also tracked pharmacists that dispensed a low rate of controlled substances through its ‘Non-dispensing Pharmacist Report,’” the suit said.

“Walgreens created this metric in part because it believed pharmacists who refused to fill controlled-substance prescriptions compromised Walgreens’s customer service.”

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