Washington DC [US], January 20 : US Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson on Monday showed the 'behind the scenes activity' before the inauguration of US President-Elect Donald Trump.
In a video posted on X, Johnson revealed the grandeur of the Capitol and said that he acknowledged the sentiments of the people who wanted to attend the inauguration ceremony but couldn't.
In a video captioned as "Tomorrow begins a new Golden Age in America!", Johnson showed the interior of the US Capitol building.
"Hey everybody, Speaker Mike Johnson here. We're right outside the people's house in the people's rotunda. As you can see as we pan around, there's a lot of activity being done here for the inauguration of our 47th President," he said.
Johnson said that the weather would be 'fierce' on the inauguration day, and hence the event would take place indoors.
"We had to kind of call an audible here. The weather outside is pretty fierce. It will be really even worse tomorrow. And so I know there are a lot of people disappointed because they wanted to be out on that national mall. We would have had hundreds of thousands of people, but we had to do it this way. And I think it's better as President Trump said because of the weather for everyone in their best interest. But I just wanted to show you very briefly this stage here in the rotunda. Many of you I'm sure have been here before. This is normally a blank and open," he said.
Johnson also acknowledged the work put in by the staff who made a lot of arrangements in the last 24 hours.
"They built this entire apparatus in about a 24-hour period. Staff's done an extraordinary job having called this audible to do this. Haven't been done like this in 40 years, since 1985 under Ronald Reagan. This one, they tell me though, will be even more grand," he said.
Johnson pointed at the entrance and said that he would be walking the President-Elect from there, and the beautiful design on the roof.
"So I'll be walking the President out here tomorrow for a glorious day and the beginning of a new golden age in America. The Capitol building. This Capitol Dome is the most recognized symbol in all the world. It recognizes, it symbolizes freedom to people everywhere. And tomorrow, we will celebrate our great republic here and the inauguration of our 47th president, Donald J Trump. We're so excited. You can watch along on television, but I know so many of you will be here in spirit. God bless you. Go America," he said.
https://x.com/SpeakerJohnson/status/1881125695491084674
As meteorologists predicted one of the coldest inauguration days in recent history, Trump moved his upcoming inauguration ceremony indoors, Al Jazeera reported.
"There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don't want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way," Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.
Yet, many of his supporters braved the icy polar vortex on Saturday (local time) to catch a glimpse of the inaugural events leading up to his swearing-in ceremony.
Several supporters were seen filming the fireworks that took place at Trump National Golf Club and wearing "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) caps.