Up close with President Biden, then President Trump. What I saw on a historic day.
| Washington
It was an Inauguration Day like no other I’ve witnessed. By happenstance, the Monitor’s turn to serve in the White House press pool fell on Jan. 20. That meant I was part of a small group of reporters tasked with covering the president’s activities up close on behalf of the wider press corps.
Before noon, I covered President Joe Biden, who most notably and controversially issued preemptive pardons for his siblings and their spouses moments before his term expired. After noon, I covered President Donald Trump, including as he signed an explosive order pardoning more than 1,500 participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, which happened after he lost the 2020 election.
Why We Wrote This
My job, as the pool reporter representing print media Jan. 20, was to track presidential movements. Typing up a pool report at one point with frozen thumbs into my iPhone, I could only think, “I’m so glad I dressed for the weather and not for the occasion!”
We traveled in the motorcade, at times careening down Washington streets at high speed. We were in the Oval Office Monday night as President Trump signed executive orders and held a news-packed, 50-minute impromptu press conference. We dropped in at three inaugural balls and watched Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance greet fans and dance with their wives.
Oh, and I met Kid Rock.
It was an Inauguration Day like no other I’ve witnessed. By happenstance, the Monitor’s turn to serve in the White House press pool fell on Jan. 20. That meant I was part of a small group of reporters tasked with covering the president’s activities up close on behalf of the wider press corps.
We traveled in the motorcade, at times careening down Washington streets at high speed. We were in the Oval Office Monday night as President Donald Trump signed executive orders and held a news-packed, 50-minute impromptu press conference. We dropped in at three inaugural balls and watched President Trump and Vice President JD Vance greet fans and dance with their wives.
Oh, and I met Kid Rock.
Why We Wrote This
My job, as the pool reporter representing print media Jan. 20, was to track presidential movements. Typing up a pool report at one point with frozen thumbs into my iPhone, I could only think, “I’m so glad I dressed for the weather and not for the occasion!”
At our first inaugural ball – the Commander in Chief Ball – the pool reporters began to smell cigar smoke. Turning around, I saw Kid Rock, who had performed at the inauguration eve rally, standing behind us on the small press riser, cigar and beverage in hand.
The day was full of other unforgettable moments. My job as the pool reporter representing print media was to track presidential movements. Before noon, I covered President Joe Biden, who most notably and controversially issued preemptive pardons for his siblings and their spouses moments before his term expired. After noon, I covered Mr. Trump, including as he signed an explosive order pardoning more than 1,500 participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, which happened after he lost the 2020 election.
At that moment, I thought of the family and supporters outside the Washington, D.C., jail whom I had recently interviewed – and who prayed for such pardons.
Throughout the day, I described the in-person events as they happened. As President Biden and the first lady greeted the Trumps upon their arrival for morning tea at the White House, I was standing on a riser outside the North Portico. Mr. Biden was asked, “What’s your message today?”
“Joy,” he said. And then after a pause, “Hope.”
Typing up my pool report with frozen thumbs into my iPhone, I could only think, “I’m so glad I dressed for the weather and not for the occasion!”
It was 23 degrees Fahrenheit outside and windy, which is why the inauguration ceremony was moved inside. But I knew I’d be spending time outside anyway, which turned out to be more than I expected. Not only was there an arrival by the Trumps, but there was also the arrival of Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband. Not on the schedule was the arrival of incoming Vice President Vance and his wife, for a greeting with the soon-to-depart second couple.
I knew we’d be attending inaugural balls that evening, and I didn’t want to look like a slob. But wearing a dress and heels in the bitter cold didn’t make sense. So I wore black jeans, fur-lined Ugg boots, and a scruffy L.L. Bean barn jacket.
That night, as we parted the sea of gown- and tuxedo-clad ballgoers at each gala to head to our press stations, I didn’t care what I looked like. I was just glad not to have frostbite.
As soon as Mr. Trump took the oath of office inside the Capitol rotunda, around noon on Monday, I had a feeling that we had gone through the looking glass: All we can expect is the unexpected. I wasn’t actually in the rotunda for that portion of the day. A separate Capitol press pool handled that reporting, while the White House pool sat in a hearing room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building and watched the proceedings on C-Span.
I was just glad to be indoors and able to eat something. Soon we were outside again, watching the Bidens say their farewells and fly off in Nighthawk 46, a Black Hawk military helicopter. With that, the Biden era was over, and the Trump era had resumed.
The inaugural parade that evening, held inside Washington’s 20,000-seat Capital One arena, was a sight to behold. Marching bands from Mississippi, Tennessee, and Mr. Vance’s hometown high school in Middletown, Ohio, performed, as did a corps of whirring bagpipes from New York. First responders from Butler, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Trump survived an assassination attempt last July, also marched.
Mr. Trump’s return to the Oval Office that evening, for the first time in four years, created the biggest news of the day, as he signed orders and fielded press questions. He seemed completely at home, almost as if he had never left.
At one point, prompted by a reporter’s question, Mr. Trump reached into the Resolute Desk – made of timbers from the British ship HMS Resolute and given to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria – and pulled out a letter from Mr. Biden. This letter from the departing president to the incoming one has become a tradition.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Biden had declined to say what he had written to his successor. Mr. Trump started to open the letter in front of the press, and then thought the better of it. Some things, it seems, are better left for later.
