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() With just under 24 hours before Monday’s inauguration, the Capitol Rotunda was full of activity Sunday afternoon.
The majestic room is being turned into the site of the inauguration, which was moved inside because of concerns about the frigid cold.
Instead of hundreds of thousands of people being able to watch the ceremony outside, now a room housing about 2,000 max will be the site for Donald Trump’s swearing-in as the 47th president.
Congressional officials were figuring out where exactly Trump should stand on stage as he takes the oath.
Inauguration committee staff were mapping out where entertainers would enter the room, and who would escort family members to the stage.
The decision Friday to move the ceremony inside forced organizers and security agencies to re-do hundreds of decisions meticulously laid out for months to new ones decided within days, such as: Who will get the coveted seats and who won’t?
Various agencies are now figuring out where security entrances will now be. What road closures now need to be in effect? A new road closure map was released late Saturday.
For the Secret Service, which is in charge of the security for the inauguration, the switch of venues means the swearing-in ceremony is an easier event to safeguard because it means fewer people in attendance and takes away the uncertainty of an outside site.
Capitol staff, who are in charge of setting up the ceremony, were seen unloading new batches of chairs as they see how many seats could be jammed into the area.
Meanwhile, the decision to move the ceremony is causing repercussions across Washington.
Congressional offices are being inundated with constituents who had received inaugural tickets but now won’t be able to attend and want to know if there is anything they can do.
As part of the move inside, jumbotrons set up across the National Mall allowing thousands without tickets to view the swearing-in and feel like they are part of the event were taken down by the Presidential Inaugural Committee because of the weather, a spokesman for the National Park Service said.
As for the Rotunda preparations, workers will be probably working through much of the night putting on the final touches because just like every other inaugural- at noon the new president will be sworn in.
