Trump inauguration moves indoors as arctic chill bears down on DC

Justin Papp, CQ-Roll Call on Jan 17, 2025

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WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday’s inaugural ceremony will be held indoors, with temperatures in the teens to low 20s forecast for the region.

The move, which will spare visitors and workers from the frigid cold, also means many who had planned to come to the Capitol grounds will be left disappointed.

The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, chaired by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., confirmed the venue change on Friday, saying it would “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.”

The vast majority of ticketed guests will no longer be able to attend in person. Members of Congress and those with tickets for the Presidential Platform will still be allowed to attend, according to the JCCIC.

While large crowds of guests will no longer be converging on the grounds, Capitol Police said the force would “still have a heightened security posture with an increased law enforcement presence and layers of physical security.”

Earlier Friday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to explain why he called for the indoor switch.

“There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way,” he posted. “It is dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands of Law Enforcement, First Responders, Police K9s and even horses, and hundreds of thousands of supporters that will be outside for many hours on the 20th (In any event, if you decide to come, dress warmly!).”

Though in recent memory the inaugural ceremony has typically taken place outside on the West Front of the Capitol, there is precedent for moving the event inside. Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration, in 1985, was also held in the Capitol Rotunda due to extreme cold.

Capital One Arena will be open Monday for a “live viewing” of the inauguration, according to Trump’s post.

“I will join the crowd at Capital One, after my Swearing In,” he wrote.

Details about the gathering at Capital One Arena, as well as the inaugural ceremony itself, remained scarce Friday afternoon, causing confusion for lawmakers, visitors, media and staff.

“If you have an inauguration ticket … I don’t know if that gets you in the Capital One Arena. So if you haven’t flown yet … I would say stay tuned,” Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., said in a post on X, adding that he would keep updating his constituents as more information became available.

Rep. Ed Case, a Hawaii Democrat, said he’d been welcoming around 170 constituents who were coming to Washington for the inauguration and stopping by his office to pick up their tickets.

“Scrambling now to adjust to Inauguration just being moved inside cause of expected bitter cold,” Case wrote on X.

According to guidelines issued by the JCCIC earlier this month, more than 220,000 tickets would be distributed for Trump’s second inauguration. Capital One Arena, meanwhile, seats 20,000, and the Capitol Rotunda can fit only a fraction of that. Many who planned on attending the ceremony will literally be left out in the cold, though the JCCIC urged visitors to attend indoor events, saying the Presidential Inaugural Committee would provide more information on places to watch.

“Many, many calls to congressional offices — which will be closed through Monday — from people who had tickets to the inauguration, and nobody has any information to share because Trump did this last minute with no backup plan,” wrote Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff to Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va. “What a way to treat his own supporters.”

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