President Biden took the oath of office shortly before noon, at an inauguration like no other, amid a raging pandemic, in a city that has become a fortress of fences, concrete barriers and security checkpoints.
Vice President Harris’s historic swearing-in, just before Biden’s, shattered gender and racial barriers.
“Democracy has prevailed,” Biden said on the Capitol steps
President Trump, who refused to concede, left the White House for the final time hours earlier and flew to Florida — making him the first president to skip his successor‘s swearing-in since 1869. “We will be back in some form,”
Trump told a modest crowd that showed up at Joint Base Andrews for his departure. Vice President Pence eschewed Trump’s send-off for the inauguration
