Inauguration Day 2025 date, running order and more

Inauguration Day 2025 will take place today
The swearing-in ceremony is set for 12pm ET
Donald Trump’s sentencing date has also been announced

When is inauguration Day 2025? Find out when Donald Trump will become President again. Credit: Imago

Inauguration Day 2025 is here and will take place at the United States Capitol later today, Monday, 20 January 2025.

The Inauguration falls on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day – only the second time the state holiday honoring the civil rights leader has landed on the same day as the inauguration.

Events will begin at around midday as Republican Donald Trump, who defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, will be sworn into office by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

Trump will be the 47th president of the United States. Vice-president elect JD Vance will take the oath of office first, which has been in use since 1884 and is the same oath as taken by senators, representatives, and other federal employees.

What is the presidential oath of office?

Donald Trump at his 2017 inauguration ceremony. Credit: Imago

The vice-president-elect is sworn in first and repeats the following:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

The president-elect recites the following oath:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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.”

Trump, who survived two assassination attempts during his 2024 presidential campaign, will then deliver his inaugural address to the people. This will outline his goals for the nation and mark the beginning of his second four-year term as president.

However, there is a shadow hanging over Trump’s big day. A New York judge set 10 January as the day he will face sentencing for his hush money case – a day after he’s scheduled to attend a memorial service in Washington for the late President Jimmy Carter.

The President-Elect was found guilty in May 2024 on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The records related to reimbursement payments to his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet over an alleged affair before the 2016 election. Judge Juan Merchan has made it clear that Trump won’t be doing any jail time but he will be the first convicted felon in history to become president.

Trump may appear virtually for his sentence hearing over concerns about the mental and physical demands of his transition into the Oval Office with it being only 10 days before his Inauguration.