Trump’s inauguration to be most frigid since 1985, with coldest air in 2 years moving into Northeast
ABC News
(NEW YORK) — The coldest air of the season is moving into the Northeast and a huge part of the U.S., including the Gulf Coast, after a snowstorm.
At least 40 states, from Oregon to Florida and up to Maine, are on cold alerts on Monday morning.
The inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in Washington will be a cold one, the coldest since President Ronald Reagan’s 1985 inauguration.
That one also had to be pushed indoors due to brutal cold, with the temperature at noon at only 7 degrees with wind chills below zero.
The forecast this year calls for temperature in the mid 20s with wind chills in the mid-teens, which isn’t as cold as it was in 1985, but is about 15 degrees colder than normal for Washington, D.C.
The cold expected on the East Coast is nothing compared to what people in the Upper Midwest are dealing with. Wind chills there are dipping as low as 40 to 50 degres below zero.
The bitter cold has reached the Gulf Coast where freeze alerts are issued and temperatures could reach the lower 20s and even teens this week.
The cold alerts follow a quickly moving little snowstorm that is done with, after most major cities from D.C. to NYC got just an inch or two. More fell inland.
Terra Alta, West Virginia, got about a foot of snow, along with 12.5 inches in Grantsville, Maryland. Boston, Massachusetts, had 4 inches so far, while Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, got about 2 inches.
Central Park in New York City saw about 1.6 inches and Washington, D.C., received less than a foot of snow ahead of Monday’s inauguration.
Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The Mega Millions jackpot surged to $1.15 billion on Wednesday after no ticket matched the numbers drawn on Tuesday, the lottery said.
The next drawing will take place on Friday at 11 p.m. ET, with the cash value of the jackpot estimated to be $516.1 million.
The numbers drawn on Christmas Eve were 11, 14, 38, 45, 46 and gold Mega Ball 3.
The estimated jackpot would make it the seventh-largest in the game’s history and its seventh billion-dollar prize.
It would also be the largest ever won in December, if a ticket matches all six numbers drawn.
The last time the jackpot was won was at $810 million in Texas on Sept. 10. No one has won the grand prize in the last 29 drawings, as the jackpot has ballooned.
The Mega Millions jackpot has only been won on Christmas Eve once before, according to the game. A $68 million jackpot was won in New York on Dec. 24, 2002, though it was never claimed.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350, according to Mega Millions.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $2 for one play.
(WEATHERFORD, OK) — A tornado-producing storm was tearing through southwestern Oklahoma early Monday, with at least one confirmed tornado, the National Weather Service said.
The storm was near Granite, a town with a population of about 1,600, at about 3:37 a.m. CST, the service said.
Tornado warnings were in effect for western Washita County, southwestern Custer County, northwestern Kiowa County, northeastern Greer County and southeastern Beckham County.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — On a call with reporters on Inauguration Day morning, incoming White House officials previewed a series of executive orders and other actions they said the incoming Trump administration plans to take to address immigration and U.S. border issues.
“We will protect the American people against invasion,” one of the incoming officials said during the call. “This is about national security. This is about public safety. And this is about the victims of some of the most violent, abusive criminals we’ve seen enter our country in our lifetime. And it ends today.”
Many of the proposed executive orders revealed on Monday’s call require help from international partners like Mexico and would almost certainly spark legal battles.
Although one of the incoming officials said that the call would “preview a series of actions to be taken today,” it was not clear from the call, during which officials took very few questions from reporters, that everything about which they spoke would actually happen Monday.
Here’s a look at some of the promised executive actions:
Declaring a national emergency at the southern border
The incoming administration will be declaring a national emergency at the southern border. This will allow DoD to deploy armed forces to the region and free up resources to build a wall and other barriers there, as he promised to do during his first administration.
“What this action does is it deploys armed forces, erects physical barriers by directing DOD and DHS secretaries to finish the wall along the border, and allows for counter-UAS capabilities near the southern border in addition,” an incoming White House official said.
It’s not totally clear what the official meant by “counter-UAS capabilities,” but it is important to note that since at least the Obama administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has used drones and other UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) to help conduct surveillance of the southwest border.
The secretary of defense will be directed to deploy armed troops as well as the National Guard to the border, according to the call. In response to a follow-up question, an incoming White House official was unable to say how many troops will be deployed, responding that the decision “is going to be up to the secretary of defense.”
Clarifying the military’s role in ‘protecting the territorial integrity of the United States’
This executive order aims to allow the military to “prioritize our borders and territorial integrity,” an incoming White House official said during the call. The official further said that the order will direct the military to plan operations to maintain territorial integrity by “repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.”
Reinstating ‘remain in Mexico,’ ending ‘catch and release,’ and building the wall
In addition to creating federal and state partnerships to help enforce immigration policies and deportation priorities, this executive order would also aim to end the practice of “catch and release,” and mandates building a wall along the southern U.S. border.
Though often used pejoratively, “catch and release” describes the practice of releasing undocumented immigrants after they’ve been processed at the U.S. border and while they await immigration hearings in court. The term originated during the George W. Bush administration and describes a practice that has been implemented during every administration since, including Donald Trump’s first administration.
Because it’s logistically impossible to safely detain migrants indefinitely, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other authorities release some migrants into the community to wait out their legal proceedings.
Remain in Mexico is a policy implemented during the first Trump administration that required some asylum seekers to wait in Mexico, rather than in the U.S., as their petitions were processed in U.S. courts. This action would require Mexico’s cooperation, which incoming White House officials did not address during Monday’s call.
Trump also promised during his first presidential campaign to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and signed an executive order to that end days after assuming office. Few new sections of barrier along the border were erected during his administration, though many sections of damaged or outdated barriers were repaired or replaced.
Designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations
The incoming administration will sign an executive order to designate drug cartels and other criminal organizations, including the U.S.-El Salvadoran-based MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations or specifically designated global terrorists (SDGT).
An incoming White House official said Monday that the order will direct authorities to specifically remove members of Tren de Agua from the United States. And, citing the Alien Enemies Act enacted more than two centuries ago, the official said Tren de Agua has become an “irregular armed force of Venezuela’s government conducting a predatory incursion and invasion into the United States.”
‘End[ing] asylum … to illegals’ The incoming White House official said the Trump administration is going to “end asylum and close the border to illegals via proclamation.” Essentially, this means undocumented migrants caught between ports of entry will not be able to claim asylum, which in turn will “create an immediate removal process without possibility of asylum,” the incoming official said.
Like other executive orders announced Monday, this one would possibly face legal hurdles for several reasons. Current laws allow asylum seekers the ability to attempt to request asylum or protection once they enter the country, regardless of if they crossed between ports of entry. This has been the basis for several legal battles against some of the more recent asylum restrictions that the Biden administration implemented in June 2024.
Suspending refugee resettlement
The incoming official said during Monday’s call that the incoming Trump administration also plans to suspend refugee resettlements for at least four months.
Ending birthright citizenship
An incoming officials on Monday’s call said “We are then going to end birthright citizenship. This action gives effect to the phrase ‘and subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ in the 14th Amendment to clarify that … the federal government will not recognize automatic birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens born in the United States.”
It was unclear from Monday’s call whether ending birthright citizenship will be part of the day’s announcements or will come later. Trump made the same promise during his first term in office.
Enhanced vetting
The incoming official said Monday that the new administration is also going to “enhance vetting and screening of illegal aliens” and direct agencies to provide recommendations to the president for suspending entry for migrants from “countries of particular concern.”
Creating ‘homeland security task forces’
To help target gang members, criminals and other undocumented migrants, the new administration is planning to establish “federal homeland security task forces” so federal, state and local law enforcement can cooperate further in removing them.
Restoring the death penalty when a law enforcement officer is murdered According to the incoming official, the new administration plans to “restore the death penalty in public safety” by directing the attorney general to seek capital punishment when an undocumented immigrant murders a law enforcement officer or commits other capital crimes. The new administration will also encourage state attorneys general and district attorneys to also pursue the death penalty in such cases, according to the incoming official.
