INAUGURATION DAY | 46th President of the United States Joseph R. Biden Jr. – WDEL 1150AM

Biden says he'll fire White House staff if they don't treat each other with respect

President Joe Biden listens during a virtual swearing in ceremony of political appointees from the State Dining Room of the White House on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington.

President Joe Biden warned new White House employees he would terminate them if he found them trashing one another.

Making explicit he wanted to break with the toxic environment that pervaded the West Wing during the previous administration, Biden said he wanted his staff governed by collegiality and respect.

If youre ever working with me and I hear you treating another colleague with disrespect, talking down to someone, I will fire you on the spot," Biden said in the State Dining Room during a ceremony swearing-in officials.

He said he wanted his staff to treat each other with decency, something he said had "been missing a big way the past four years."

Earlier in the ceremony, Biden said he wanted his staff to treat everyone with "dignity."

"History measures us and our fellow Americansby how decent, honorable and smart we have been in looking out for their interests," he said.

"Oh my god, it was one for the record books," said U.S. Senator tom Carper. "A healing environment, and Joe was at the top of his game...it was just a terrific day."

Carper said Biden's trip to church that morning with Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, and other leaders helped start that healing process, and he hopes that momentum carries on for as long as possible.

"We've been divided for way too long," Carper said. "This is a chance to start building some bridges, and seeing how we can work together. And there's really any number of things we can work on together coming right out of the starting gate."

Carper pointed to transportation and infrastructure works he'd like to see progress, and called Biden a "uniter."

"He's a uniter, not a divider. He treats people with respect, he's what I call a 'golden rule' guy, treat other people where you want to be treated. And he leads by example. He will set a good example of how we can work together, should work together...I think we'll get the right kind of leadership from our new president, and we're anxious to get to work. There is a common agenda with a lot of stuff that we can agree on coming out of the starting gate. And my hope is we'll do that. We'll do that."

President Joe Biden signs his first executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington.

President Joe Biden told reporters he is signing "bold" executive actions during his first appearance in the Oval Office.

"Theres no time to start like today," Biden told reporters.

He said these actions are meant to keep his promises to the American people.

"Were going to need legislation for a lot of the things," Biden said.

Biden planned to take 15 executive actions and two agency actions during his first hours in office, moving faster and more aggressively to dismantle his predecessor's legacy than any other modern president.

Biden will sign a flurry of executive orders, memoranda and directives to agencies, making his first moves to address the coronavirus pandemic and undo some of Donald Trump's signature policies.

"This is going to be the first of many engagements were going to have in here," Biden told reporters, appearing for the first time in the Oval Office. "I thought with the state of the nation today theres no time to waste. Get to work immediately."

Biden signed an order requiring masks on federal property, one meant to ensure racial equality and another rejoining the Paris climate accord.

Biden said they would be the first of many during his first days in office.

"As we indicated earlier were going to be signing a number of executive orders over the next several days to week," he said.

"Some of the executive actions that Im going to be signing today are going to help change the course of the COVID crisis and combat climate change in ways we havent done so far," he went on.

He called the moves "starting points" that fulfilled his promises during the campaign.

"I think some of the things were going to be doing are going to be bold and vital and there's no time to start like today," he said. "Theres a long way to go. These are just executive actions," he went on. "But were going to need legislation for a lot of these were going to do."

Delaware's Governor John Carney describes 'glorious day' for Biden's inauguration

"It was a glorious day for Delaware, and for our country, in Washington today," said Governor John Carney, who was i n attendance in DC for the Biden/Harris inauguration.

"It was amazing today, of course. The last three inaugurations, they're usually very festive. A lot of bipartisanship, there was some of that today, but the outgoing president, the incoming president, are there the transition of power, very symbolic, very triumphant, the survival of our democracy, kind of putting our differences aside for a day. Everybody's hopeful and optimistic," Carney said. "And our own favorite son brought that to the podium today. His speech was--he just killed it. Knocked it out of the park, the themes and the messages of hope, reconciliation, healing the divisions between us. That doesn't say, 'we're going to always agree, but we need to move together as Democrats and Republicans as Americans. it really was very uplifting, and it got a lot better than it did back in 2009."

Carney called a unified approach to politics the "Delaware Way," and was certain that's what Biden would bring to nation's highest office.

"I certainly hope it's a harbinger for the future, a good one. I believe that it is. That's really what Joe represents. He was born for this moment, if you will. That's the way he's always approached politics. It's kind of the Delaware Way. At the end of the day, after elections, we put our differences aside--we don't forget about them, but we come together to find the best solutions for our state," he said. "You could just feel the sincerity in what he was saying to people on both sides of the aisle. Whether you voted for him or you didn't vote for him, he's the president of everybody here in the United States of America. It was just a really powerful, uplifting, hopeful message today. And a dramatic change from what we've seen over the last four years--which frankly, has been, I think, depressing for most of us."

For Delaware, Carney said it just brings an overwhelming sense of pride for the recognition he brings to the First State.

"Everybody recognizes that, when you talk about Wilmington, Delaware, now they know what you're talking about," Carney said. "You're talking about the home of the President of the United States, and that's an important part of it. But it's just an incredibly uplifting thing for all of us, for the stake of our political climate, the way most of us here in Delaware approach governing and certainly, it's the style that Joe brought to the podium today."

President Joe Biden is in the Oval Office for the first time since being sworn in, according to the White House official. One of the first things President Biden will see when he sits down in the Oval Office for the first time today is a letter left there by his predecessor.

A former White House official said former President Trump left his departure note for Biden on the Resolute Desk, given that's the same place Barack Obama had left his.

Kamala Harris left the White House for the Senate floor, visiting for the first time since becoming vice president. She swore in three senators: Georgias Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, as well as Harris replacement in California, Alex Padilla.

The swearing-in of the three new senators will be groundbreaking. Warnock and Ossoff will be the first Black and first Jewish senators, respectively, representing Georgia, while Padilla will be California's first Latino senator.

Ossoff, 33, will also be the youngest senator in the chamber, and the youngest Democrat to serve in the Senate since President Joe Biden, who was sworn into the chamber at the age of 30 in 1973.

After Warnock, Ossoff and Padilla are sworn in, the party breakdown of the Senate will be 50-50. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer will become the first New Yorker and first Jewish lawmaker to become Senate majority leader.

Harris will wield power as the Senate's crucial tie-breaking vote, helping the Biden administration confirm its appointments and giving Democrats the gavels of committees in charge of holding oversight hearings and crafting far-reaching legislation.

President Biden signed three documents while in the Presidents Room at the Capitol.

These are the documents hes signing:

Following this signing ceremony, Biden, hosted by the Commander of Joint Task Force-National Capital Region, will review the readiness of military troops on the East front of the Capitol. Every branch of the military will be represented in this event.

Biden will then travel to Arlington National Cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Bidens will be joined by former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and former first ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.

"President Joe Biden, grounded by faith and family and love for country, assumes our nation's highest office at a moment of enormous challenge and significant possibility," said Coons, who was in attendance, in a released statement. "President Biden, a man who knows tragedy and pain and how to grieve and mourn and get back up, is the right man to lead us through this moment. All of us here in Delaware, who know him, support him, and believe in him, stand proudly with our president, the favorite son of the First State."

To WDEL Wednesday afternoon, Coons said Biden's visions for the future of this great nation are clear and hopeful.

"It was a glorious day, and Joe Biden gave a stirring inaugural address on a sunny afternoon," he said. "He is clear eyed about just how great the challenges are that he faces from a pandemic--it's ravaging our country and has killed 400,000 people--to the racial divides that led to protests nationwide last summer, to the more than 10 million Americans who are unemployed. But he challenged us to look back at the moments in our history where we had to overcome comparable challenges, and to look forward to how much we could accomplish together if we would move past this moment of national division."

To bring unity to the country, Coons said, would be challenging, but if there's a man with the experience and heart to handle the job, it's Biden.

"It'll be challenging, it will not be easy at all. If there is anyone who can get this done, it's the man who served Delaware for 36 years, and is Barack Obama's vice president," Coons said. "Joe Biden was elected because millions of Americans see in him someone who can deliver a compassionate and competent response to the pandemic...Someone who's never forgotten where he's from, who fights for the middle class, and someone who is an authentic and caring human being capable of bringing people together, by being able to walk a mile in other people's shoes."

"We all know 40 years ago that Delaware sent Joe Biden to the Senate, to Washington. But today America has sent him to the White House," the congresswoman said to WDEL Wednesday. "I am just, first of all, so proud; secondly, overjoyed, particularly to have Kamala Harris as our Vice President, knowing that she represents so much and so many. And I believe they will both do such incredibly great things for our country. We need them now more than ever. So today, I am proud, I am excited. I am overjoyed, and I am ready to get to work with them."

She also celebrated how much this means to the small First State.

"I think all of us thought at that moment, how incredible is that, that the Vice President is from Delaware? But to see the journey, and for so many of us in Delaware to have been on that journey with this entire family--I mean Dr. Jill Biden, the entire family, we know them, we see them in Target. We see them at the beach. We know the Biden family, and we know their legacy of service. And so as the governor said, I think all of us are like, could it get better than that? And today, truly, it did."

She said the most important thing moving forward is Biden's message of coming together for unity, because the challenges faced will require it to be overcome.

"You can't crush a pandemic, you can't get people back to work and help save their businesses, and deal with our racial and justice issues, or the climate, if we don't do it together," Blunt Rochester said. "I think it starts with him setting that tone, as he did. But it requires each and every one of us to play our part in doing that. Even as we go back into session [Thursday] in the House, and we will have to start voting on a package of things such as the President's relief package, to really deal with this pandemic, both the health-side and the economic-side, I think even on issues of infrastructure, you see common ground. But we also have to heal, and that healing comes from also what he mentioned in his speech, which is truth. We have to also have the truth and have accountability. That helps with the healing as well. So I think you always have a honeymoon period. But knowing Joe Biden, knowing Kamala Harris, beyond the honeymoon, they will be working until the last day, eight years from now."

Blunt Rochester, a co-chair of the Inaugural Committee, also said the day went off without a hitch, thanks to some local help.

"Ihave to give great kudos and props to President Tony Allen from Delaware State University, who has been the CEO of the Presidential Inaugural Committee," she said. "Everything from making sure people are safe to ensuring that we uphold the rich traditions about peaceful transfer of power. I really have to give such credit to the staff and the team and Tony Allen, as well as President Biden's vision for what this day could be. And and so far, so good."

There are obvious differences between President Biden and Vice President Harris (race and gender), but its really worth thinking how different they are in terms of their political background.

Biden has waited forever for this moment. He first ran for president more than 30 years ago. He was first elected to the Senate nearly 50 years ago.

Harris trek to the vice presidency was much shorter in political life. She was elected attorney general of California only 10 years ago. Harris came to the Senate just four years ago.

Its one of the most lopsided differences in favor of the president in terms of electoral experience for any president and vice president.

Usually, presidents choose vice presidents who have more experience than they do (e.g. Trump and Pence or Obama and Biden).

You probably have to go all the way back to the Nixon/Agnew administration to see an instance of a president having so much more elected experience than the vice resident.

Itll be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out this time around.

The White House the morning of Joe Biden's Inauguration in Washington, DC on January 20, 2021.

The inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris wrapped up.

President Joe Biden tweeted from the @POTUS account for the first time following the inauguration ceremony, writing: There is no time to waste when it comes to tackling the crises we face.

He continued: Thats why today, I am heading to the Oval Office to get right to work delivering bold action and immediate relief for American families.

There will be an inaugural parade although it will be largely a virtual one. Biden and Harris will have a presidential escort from 15th Street to the White House including the US Army Band, a Joint Service Honor Guard and the commander in chiefs Guard and Fife Drum Corps. The drumlines from the University of Delaware and Howard University will join that event to honor the alma maters of the incoming president and vice president.

The parade will be hosted by Scandal actor Tony Goldwyn and will feature comedian Jon Stewart, New Radicals and DJ Cassidys Pass the Mic with performances by Earth Wind & Fire, Nile Rodgers, Kathy Sledge, The Trans Chorus of Los Angeles, The Washington Chorus and The Triumph Baptist Church Choir.

Amanda Gorman, the nations first-ever youth poet laureate, delivered a message of the countrys resilience through her poem at President Bidens inauguration ceremony.

We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be, a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free. We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will become the future, she continued.

Typically, Gorman, who is 22 years old, said it takes her days to craft a new poem. She finished this one immediately.

We will rebuild, reconcile and recover, Gorman said in the poem.

Gorman is no stranger to grand stages. Shes recited her poetry at the Library of Congress, Bostons Symphony Hall, the Empire State Buildings observation deck and all across the country, performing for such luminaries as Hillary Clinton, Al Gore and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Gorman started writing poems when she was a child, but found it terrifying to perform due to a speech impediment. Biden has struggled with a stutter, Gorman said, and another inauguration poet Maya Angelou who delivered the poetry reading for Bill Clintons first inauguration was mute for several years when she was a child.

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After taking the oath of office, Joe Biden said that the Inauguration Day was a celebration of democracy and that the the will of the people has been heard.

As Joe Biden is set to officially become President at noon ET, he called today Americas day in his speech at the US Capitol.

This is democracys day, a day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve, Biden said.

America has been tested anew, and America has risen to the challenge, he added.

He said the cause of democracy is celebrated today.

The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded, Biden said.

President Joe Biden thanked his predecessors from both parties in his inauguration remarks to the nation, including those who couldnt be present.

I thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here today. I thank them from the bottom of my heart And I know the resilience of our Constitution and the strength, the strength of our nation, as does President Carter, who I spoke with last night, who cannot be with us today, but whom we salute for his lifetime in service, Biden said.

He acknowledged the power that comes with taking the sacred oath that was taken by former presidents.

I have just taken a sacred oath each of those patriots taken. The oath first sworn by Washington. But the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us. On we, the people, who seek a more perfect union. This is a great nation. We are good people, Biden said.

Biden offered a forewarning during his inaugural address Wednesday, describing the nation as weathering a winter of peril amid a generational pandemic and other ailments.

Biden said the predicaments currently facing the nation were historic, and said few Americans have found a time more challenging than the time we are in now.

He said coronavirus silently stalks the country and noted more lives have been lost to the disease than were lost in World War I.

He also talked about the importance of unifying the country, saying my whole soul is in this.

The President called on Americans to come together to overcome the extraordinary challenges that face the nation an idea that he often mentioned on the campaign trail

To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words and requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy, unity, Biden said.

Uniting to fight the foes we face. Anger, resentment and hatred, extremism, lawlessness, violence, disease, joblessness and hopelessness. With unity we can do great things, important things, he added.

He said that through tough times in US history the Civil War, the Great Depression, both world wars and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks our better angels have always prevailed.

Biden said that in every instance, Americans have been able to come together for the greater good.

History, faith and reason show the way, the way of unity, Biden said.

Referencing the current plight of America Biden noted that the country has much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build, and much to gain.

As the coronavirus American death toll surpassed 400,000 this week, Biden noted that few people in our nations history have been more challenged or found a time more challenging or difficult than the time were in now.

Speaking specifically of the Covid-19 pandemic, Biden referenced a once-in-a-century virus, that silently stalks the country. Its taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War II.

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INAUGURATION DAY | 46th President of the United States Joseph R. Biden Jr. - WDEL 1150AM