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00:00Today, a new era begins in the United States. In the coming hours, Donald Trump will be
00:17sworn in as the 47th US President. It is a remarkable return to power for a politician
00:24who has been impeached twice and convicted of felony crimes. Today, Washington, normally
00:31a liberal city, is packed with supporters of his MAGA movement who have turned out despite
00:37the freezing weather. Now, the ceremony itself has been moved inside to the Capitol building.
00:44That is the very place that Trump's supporters broke into four years ago after he claimed
00:49falsely he had won the 2020 election. The handover of power is a Washington event that
00:58is steeped in history and ritual. To give you a sense of what is happening right now,
01:05Trump and his wife Melania are currently attending a church service at St John's Church, that's
01:10in Lafayette Park, across from the White House. You're looking at the front of it just there.
01:15And in a couple of minutes, we're expecting that service to come to an end, although it
01:20did start a little behind schedule. So there may be some delays, but we are expecting the
01:27Trumps to leave and head to the White House where they will have tea with the Bidens.
01:37Well, let's see now on the programme if we can bring in our guest at the top of this
01:45hour. It is Andrew Yarrow. He joins us live from Washington, D.C. He's a historian, a journalist,
01:52and he previously was a speechwriter during the Clinton administration. Really good to talk to
01:58you today, sir. Thanks very much for making the time. Thank you, Nadia. It's a pleasure to be
02:04here on this very cold day in Washington. Indeed, and plans have been sort of shifted around as a
02:12result of that. But one thing that we understand definitely is going to happen is the slew of
02:18executive orders that Donald Trump will sign in the coming hours once the inauguration ceremony
02:25is over. Look, we've been briefed that they will set the tone for his presidency.
02:32What kinds of things do you think he's going to do? Well, I think he's made it clear that
02:39the executive orders will focus on a couple of areas. Immigration. I think he's going to make
02:47some dramatic moves to begin his policies of deporting illegal immigrants. Energy policy
02:55is another. He's talked about rolling back many of President Biden's climate change initiatives
03:03and to allow offshore oil drilling, oil and gas drilling. And he probably will issue some
03:11executive orders pardoning some of the many people convicted of the January 6, 2021 attack
03:19on the Capitol. And as you'd mentioned, it's certainly ironic that he's holding the ceremony,
03:26the swearing in ceremony in the rotunda of the Capitol, which was ransacked by
03:34his supporters in 2021, four years ago. Look, on the question of those executive orders,
03:42another issue is how many of them will actually be able to stick. Because, for example,
03:48during the campaign last year, he promised to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
03:54But, you know, legally, logistically, surely that will face a challenge, won't it?
04:00Yes, it certainly will. I think there are clearly a lot of states and cities
04:06that have said that they will not support the deportations. They're sanctuary cities. I think
04:14that will be very hard. Clearly, groups like the American Civil Liberties Union will challenge
04:21some of the orders to deport, but his plans to deport are popular among Americans. I saw a
04:29YouGov poll showing at least 55 percent of Americans support deporting illegal immigrants
04:37and more than, I think it's close to 80 percent supporting deportation of those who've committed
04:43crimes in the US. So certainly of those who've committed crimes, that will be harder to
04:50challenge. That will be harder to make legal challenges. So I think we'll see a lot of turmoil
04:58at the border in the coming days and weeks. And look, before we get to those executive orders,
05:04which Trump will sign once he becomes president, we, of course, have the inauguration itself. And
05:11I wanted to talk to you about that because you are a former speechwriter and many viewers will
05:17remember the sort of rather dark, ominous tone that Trump set in his inauguration speech when
05:23he won back in 2017. He talked not only of America first, but of American carnage. Do you think his
05:34speechwriters will be using the same kind of language this time around or will we hear a
05:39rather different tone? It's hard to say. I mean, he's certainly been unpredictable at the Republican
05:46Convention this summer. He began his acceptance speech with a much more conciliatory tone,
05:52but then moved into the more familiar kind of pugilistic tropes that have characterised
05:59his speeches. So I think it will be a mixture. I think he will talk about America coming back,
06:08that this will be the greatest era for America. He'll contrast it with the Biden era, which he
06:15will certainly disparage. I think it's sad and hard to think of him and Melania having coffee
06:26with the Bidens this morning, riding from the White House to the Capitol for the inauguration.
06:32Biden will be there. Of course, Trump was not there for Biden's inauguration four years ago.
06:40And the extent to which he will attack the Biden administration will be interesting to see,
06:47but I imagine he will. And just before we let you go, sir, a thought from you then on the outgoing
06:54President Joe Biden, his legacy. How do you think history will remember the 46th US President?
07:02Well, I mean, there certainly is a lot of negative commentary now about Biden in terms of why he
07:08didn't step down earlier, that the Democrats could have had a better chance to defeat Donald Trump
07:16in 2024 had he kept his promise or his suggested promise that he would be a one-term president.
07:27But I think history will be kind to Joe Biden. I mean, Joe Biden had a long, long career in
07:34Washington, more than 50 years. He was elected as a 29-year-old, only took office as a 30-year-old.
07:43He's now 82. And I think Biden brought America through the COVID crisis and out of the COVID
07:52crisis. The US economy did turn around. It's the strongest economy of the G7 countries today.
08:01And I think his environmental policies and the industrial policies, the CHIPS
08:08Act, will be things that he'll be remembered for. So I think history in the long term will be kind
08:17to Joe Biden, even if his commentary is not so kind now.
08:22Andrew Yarrow, talking to us live from Washington, DC, as we start our special
08:27coverage today. Really good to speak to you. Thank you very much indeed.
08:30Thank you, Nadia.
08:32Well, let's stay in DC then. Our Washington correspondent, Fraser Jackson, is also with me
08:37live on the line. And Fraser, I was just talking there with Andrew Yarrow about the
08:45ritual of the handover of power where you are. We've been looking at images today of the Trumps
08:52arriving at church and after church, they're to go to the White House where they will meet
08:57Joe Biden. And this is part, isn't it, of a sort of tradition in Washington. And it is something
09:03that's happened for generations. Just tell us a bit about what's happening today and why it's
09:09so important. Yeah, it's a tradition which has gone on for decades, centuries. But of course,
09:17it's a tradition that was interrupted the last time around that this transition of power took
09:22place. A lot of the traditions and ceremonies that were awarded to Donald Trump when he took
09:29office and the little things that happened between presidents, for example, didn't take
09:35place when Joe Biden took office and weren't afforded the same things by Donald Trump. Now,
09:40I'm thinking chiefly mainly here about one very small tradition, which is not an official
09:45tradition, but it's become something that is something more common to see in the last couple
09:50of decades. And that is a letter that the president writes and leaves on the Resolute
09:55desk in the Oval Office for his successor. Now, we are told that Donald Trump received a letter
10:01from Barack Obama when he took office in 2017 and was so touched by the letter that he tried to get
10:07in direct contact with Barack Obama. But by that point, the Obamas were already on a plane to
10:11California and the two never actually managed to directly speak about it. Well, we then know that
10:17Donald Trump continued that tradition of having been so touched by what happened to him from
10:21Obama that he then carried that on with Joe Biden and left what Joe Biden described as a very
10:26generous letter on the desk of the Resolute desk. But of course, that was pretty much where the
10:34friendliness kind of ended. After that, Joe Biden was there on the steps of the Capitol on his own.
10:39The transfer pictures that we saw never happened. And something that we're going to see today as
10:43well, which is going to be very emblematic and very symbolic as well, is going to be the fact
10:48that Joe Biden as well, along with his wife, Dr. Biden, is going to accompany the Trumps in the
10:54same car from the steps of the White House, from the North Portico, where they will meet
10:59just in the minutes before that. And then they will make their way down to the Capitol where
11:03that transfer of power will happen. And then we will see Joe Biden leave the Capitol for what will
11:09be his final air mission, the special air mission 46. So he will be then boarding that plane known
11:16as Air Force One when he is president and will also follow in the footsteps of Obama and be
11:20flying to California as well. So we are expecting a lot of tradition to be restored here today,
11:26something that we didn't see four years ago. But of course, Joe Biden is a man of tradition and
11:30is a man who has been surrounded by the trappings of Washington for the best part of five decades.
11:37So it is something that he is keen to bring back to the Oval Office and to the end of his presidency.
11:43And Fraser, look, you're looking rather wrapped up as you talk to us today,
11:48because it's extremely cold where you are in Washington, D.C., and that means that
11:54in terms of that choreography you were telling us about and the traditions, one big thing is
11:58taking place differently this year, and that's the location of the inaugural event itself.
12:08Yes, a lot of disappointed Trump supporters that I'm speaking to over the course of the last 24
12:13hours, but the grand ceremony, the big images that we see from the inaugurations typically
12:20will not be happening this time. This is the first time since 1985 that an inauguration
12:25has taken place inside the rotunda of the Capitol. I actually spoke to one of a very prominent
12:33Democratic lawmaker on my way to the position this morning and asked them about what they
12:39were going to be seeing at the rotunda of the Capitol today, and they said that there's going
12:43to be only space for oligarchs and billionaires. So a bit of an idea as to the kind of selective
12:49guest list that has actually managed to make their way inside the rotunda. Of course,
12:53it is a much smaller venue than the steps of the Capitol itself. So that ceremony that we normally
12:59see attended by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people will not be happening this
13:05time around. And of course, the first time Donald Trump got inaugurated, the crowd size that
13:10gathers at his first inauguration became something of folklore and something that was spoken about at
13:16his very first press conference, his very first press briefing rather by Sean Spicer,
13:20his then press secretary, who said this was the biggest crowd to attend an inauguration.
13:23It becomes somewhat of a joke line, which Donald Trump has been hit with in the years that followed.
13:28Well, that will not be happening this time because all of those tens of thousands,
13:31hundreds of thousands of people who wanted to attend this will no longer be able to do so.
13:35Instead, they will be watching from a watch party inside the Capitol One Arena in downtown D.C.
13:40with a capacity of around 20,000 people. And Nadia, if the lines that I saw yesterday,
13:46just to get into Donald Trump's victory rally or anything to go by, there will be a lot of
13:49disappointed people today who are trying to get inside that arena but won't be able to.
13:54Fraser Jackson for us there live in D.C. Thank you very much indeed. We'll be speaking to Fraser
14:01throughout the day as we keep a very close eye on these historic events in Washington.
14:08So does Donald Trump represent a true threat to American democracy? In the past,
14:14he has spoken in glowing terms about authoritarian leaders around the world
14:19and even said he would be, quote, a dictator on day one in office. But what in practice
14:26might Trump do? France 24's Monty Francis has been talking to
14:30experts on democracy to discuss this moment in American history.
14:37When Donald Trump spoke to a gathering of Christian supporters in late July,
14:41he said something that even for Trump seemed so over the top,
14:45it left many wondering what exactly he meant.
14:48Christians get out and vote just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years.
14:55You know what? It'll be fixed. It'll be fine. In four years, you don't have to vote again. We'll
15:00have it fixed so good, you're not going to have to vote. Democrats said the comments signalled
15:04his plans to be a dictator, while the Trump campaign claimed he was just talking about
15:08uniting the country. Former Republican Representative Liz Cheney, who chaired the
15:13January 6th committee in Congress, has been warning for months that Trump would refuse to
15:18leave office after his term expires in four years' time. Our nation can survive and recover
15:26from policy mistakes. We cannot recover from a president willing to torch the Constitution.
15:32Trump is the first US president to refuse to accept the outcome of an election,
15:37to falsely insist the 2020 race was stolen from him and to encourage his followers to contest
15:42the results, as they did violently on January the 6th. Trump also has an affinity for authoritarian
15:50leaders and has said he would be a dictator on just the first day when re-elected. Experts say
15:56there are numerous warning signs that American democracy is in danger. Because the Republican
16:02party is now an autocratic party that has election denial and corruption and lying about elections
16:09baked into it. But experts say the threat to democracy is broader than just Trump and point to
16:14a recent ruling from the US Supreme Court as a major obstacle. The justices have effectively
16:20shielded the president from criminal prosecution for official acts, which, as one dissenting justice
16:26pointed out, could even include executing one's political opponents. The Supreme Court's decision
16:31on immunity is an extraordinarily broad and sweeping one and really elevates the president
16:38to a kind of king figure, which is clearly not something that the framers would have
16:46wanted having just defeated a king. Experts also say the court has left the door open for a
16:52president to abuse his power. Trump, who is the first former president to be a convicted felon,
16:57has also suggested that he would use the FBI and Justice Department to indict his political enemies.
17:04Trump has dismissed all such concern, claiming it's the Democrats who are the real threat
17:09and that he's the one who actually took a bullet for democracy
17:13when someone tried to assassinate him at a campaign rally.
17:19Immigration was a cornerstone issue for Trump during his re-election campaign last year.
17:25Eight years ago, his promise was to build a wall and impose a Muslim ban. Now, he wants to
17:32establish the largest mass deportation program in the country's history. As a result, many immigrants
17:38who've lived in the United States for years fear for their future, as Delano de Souza now reports.
17:48Cracking down on illegal immigration was one of Donald Trump's main campaign promises,
17:54and as he retakes power in Washington, he's pledging to do just that.
18:16Donald Trump says he wants to carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.
18:22He says he's ready to use the U.S. National Guard and federal troops to achieve this goal.
18:27Migrants who entered the country illegally but have been living in the United States
18:31for decades are now worried about what comes next.
18:35Unfortunately, there are many like me who have been here more than 30 or 40 years.
18:40They bought homes here. They own businesses here and still don't have papers.
18:45I am a bit afraid because I think of my kids. If one day I'm picked up by ICE,
18:52how will they find out? Who's going to pick them up from school?
18:59I believe it would be traumatic for my children.
19:02Trump's mass deportation operation is likely to face legal challenges and resistance from
19:07Democrats in Congress. The move has even been slammed by Pope Francis, who's labeled it a
19:13disgrace. Now on climate and environmental matters, the outlook does appear fairly bleak
19:20for this incoming Trump presidency. During his first term in office, Trump rolled back more than
19:26100 environmental rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals.
19:33Well, to take a look at what he's likely to do during this, his second term in office,
19:37France 24's Charlie James is with me now. And Charlie, look, what has Trump said,
19:42first of all, he plans to do when it comes to the environment?
19:45So Nadia, Trump calls climate change a big hoax. So it's not really a surprise,
19:51he's not expected to be a steward of the environment during his presidency.
19:56He says that the economy needs to take priority over the environment. So he plans to roll back
20:03climate regulations and push forward fossil fuel production. Now, this is something he's
20:08been promising throughout the campaign and that he has said as recently as yesterday
20:14at his pre-inaugural dinner. Have a listen. We will quickly defeat the inflation crisis and
20:23unlock the liquid gold. You know what liquid gold is? We have more than anybody under our feet.
20:29In other words, we will drill baby drill and get those prices down and everything else is going to
20:35fall around. Drill baby drill. It's one of his many slogans. And Trump says that he wants to
20:42create new opportunities for production by dismantling what he sees as unnecessary and
20:47burdensome regulation related to climate. So he's promising to get rid of a lot of the regulations
20:54that President Biden put in place, including ones that were aimed at slashing carbon dioxide,
21:01methane and other emissions from cars, power plants and other industrial sources.
21:05And he says he's going to get started on this immediately through executive orders. And he's
21:10planning to start that, he says, today. Now, executive orders are directives from the sitting
21:15president that become law and they overturn any previous executive orders from other presidents.
21:22So he's essentially just undoing everything that President Biden put in place that worked
21:28towards U.S. climate goals. So it's interesting, Nadia, that during the campaign, Trump also
21:34called himself an environmentalist. He said, we want really clean air. We want really clean water.
21:39But this is in direct conflict with promising to increase the amount of fossil fuel production in
21:45the U.S. And Charlie, we're talking, obviously, because it is Inauguration Day today. And just
21:51to let our viewers know what is happening in the timeline, as Charlie was just speaking there,
21:56we saw the Trumps, Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, leaving St. John's Church there,
22:02not far from the White House. They are now to drive to the White House, where they will
22:06be greeted there by the Bidens. And while we wait for those images for them to arrive,
22:11let's go back to Charlie, who's still with me talking about environmental issues. And so, look,
22:16Charlie, what else did Donald Trump do during that first term that could give us some more
22:20clues as to his plans now? So Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Accords during his first term
22:26after calling it a bad deal for the U.S., bad for the economy. And in the eyes of some in the world,
22:31this really hurt the U.S.'s reputation. It made it hard for other countries to be sure that they
22:37could trust the U.S. to follow through on its commitments when it comes to the climate. So
22:43Biden did reverse that action when he came in and he rejoined the accord. So now the question is,
22:49is President Trump going to withdraw again when he takes power? He could withdraw. The other
22:55option could be that he just ignores the requirements of the agreement. Either way,
23:02the U.S., who is the second biggest emitter in the world, is set to once again stop being a global
23:08leader on climate. And if the U.S. withdraws or ignores the Paris Accords, it could give other
23:15countries that are maybe struggling to hit their own markers permission to withdraw or ignore the
23:22accords themselves. And look, Charlie, finally, who's Trump putting in his cabinet who's going to help
23:28him enact his vision on climate? Right. So the main governmental body in the U.S. that protects
23:34the environment is the EPA. It's called the Environmental Protection Agency. Trump's nominee
23:39to run the EPA is Lee Zeldin. He is a former New York congressman. He's a Trump loyalist. And he
23:46has a resume that you could say is light on environmental experience. During his confirmation
23:52hearing last week, Zeldin did acknowledge that climate change is real, which breaks from Donald
23:58Trump, who, like I said, calls climate change a hoax. But we also heard from Zeldin that he is
24:03very much on board with Trump's climate agenda. Have a listen.
24:09It's simple but essential to protect human health and the environment.
24:15We must do everything in our power to harness the greatness of American innovation
24:19with the greatness of American conservation and environmental stewardship.
24:24We must ensure we are protecting the environment while also protecting our economy.
24:30While also protecting the economy. There you go. We hear again this balancing of environmental
24:36health with economic health. And it very much looks like the economy is going to win out on
24:42the scales there. Zeldin is likely to scrap climate standards for power plants, the oil industry and
24:50cars. And Trump has also indicated that he wants to make big cuts to the staffing numbers at the
24:55EPA. Charlie James, thank you very much indeed. And look, speaking of the economy, that was a big
25:02if not the big issue on American voters minds when they went to the polls back in November.
25:08Our reporters have been to meet one family to get a better sense of why
25:12purchasing power mattered so much back in November.
25:19I mean, you might as well just buy some land with the cost of going out to eat.
25:25Elizabeth and I have come to meet Lily, a mum of three. We're going to do a spot of shopping
25:29and see what her purchasing power is like today.
25:34The reason why I shop here is actually everything's pretty cheap here.
25:40Probably the most expensive products would be like an organic meat
25:44or eggs. It doesn't seem bad to me. It seems like you would get one good meal out of it.
25:51I don't think that's bad. I try to avoid the convenience food
25:54because the convenience food really adds up because you're paying
25:57for them to pre-make it and you're paying for that convenience.
26:12I do like to shop in bulk, but I also like to limit my shopping trips and just buy what I need, you know.
26:19How much did you say that your shopping bills had increased by?
26:22300 a month. 350 over the last four years.
26:27To overcome the problem, the family has had to pick up extra work.
26:31So my husband has two jobs. My neighbours on both sides are working multiple jobs.
26:36Really, I feel like other things have become so much more expensive.
26:40The price of gas has gone up.
26:42Do you think Donald Trump is going to fix the problem?
26:44It's a complicated question. You know, there are a lot of things he promised in 2020 that he never did.
26:49Even Donald Trump has admitted that his campaign promise to lower grocery prices
26:54will be very hard to achieve.
26:57My computer.
27:00Well, let's show you the very latest images coming out of Washington on this historic
27:05inauguration day. Those are the live pictures we have from the front of the White House.
27:11This is because the motorcade, you see it there, Donald Trump's motorcade with Melania Trump,
27:16has now departed from St John's Church and it is heading to the White House.
27:22That's where the incoming and outgoing president are to have a brief cup of tea or coffee
27:28before they head to the Capitol building for the inauguration ceremony itself.
27:35We'll keep a very close eye on those images for you and bring you more
27:39from the United States as soon as we have it.