Donald Trump has been sworn in as the United States’ 47th president. The inauguration ceremony was held inside the Capitol Rotunda, for the first time in the past 40 years.

“I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear 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, so help me God,” he pronounced the presidential oath.

Trump has become the second US president after Grover Cleveland (the 22nd and 24th US president in 1885-1889 and 1893-1897), to take office with a four-year break.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by foreign leaders, Argentinian President Xavier Milei, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa. China was represented by Vice President Han Zheng, India – by Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Japan – by Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya. Russian officials did not take part.

Minutes before Trump’s oath, James David Vance, 40, was sworn in as vice president.

Pardons January 6 rioters

Trump signed an executive order granting pardons in the Oval Office on Monday, hours after he was sworn in for his second term.US President Donald Trump has pardoned around 1,500 people involved in the storming of the Capitol building in 2021.

The president granted “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” the order said. Additionally, 14 people got their sentences commuted. “We hope that they come out tonight, frankly,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump instructed the attorney general to dismiss “all pending indictments” related to the riot. He described the pardons as a measure to rectify “a grave national injustice” and a step towards “national reconciliation.”