The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times EST):
6 p.m.
President Donald Trump will meet with his first foreign leader as president on Friday: British Prime Minister Theresa May.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer says Trump has also scheduled a meeting with Mexican Prime Minister Enrique Peña Nieto later this month.
The two are scheduled to meet on Jan. 31 to discuss trade, immigration and security.
Trump has proposed building a wall along the southern border and insists that Mexico will pay for it.
Trump and Peña Nieto met in Mexico City during Trump’s campaign.
Spicer also says Trump spoke on Saturday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and plans to set up meetings in the coming days.
—
5:15 p.m.
Nielsen estimates that 31 million viewers watched TV coverage of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
That’s better than Barack Obama’s second inauguration but well short of his first.
The most-watched inauguration since 1969 was President Ronald Reagan’s first oath-taking in 1981, which was seen by 41.8 million people.
The audience total measures continuous coverage by 12 broadcast and cable networks.
In 2013, 20.6 million viewed Obama’s second inauguration. His first inauguration, in 2009, was seen by 37.8 million people.
For Trump’s big day, NBC was the most-watched broadcast network with 5.8 million viewers, followed by ABC with 4.9 million and CBS with4.6 million.
On cable, Fox News Channel was far ahead, with 8.43 million viewers. CNN had 2.46 million and MSNBC had 1.35 million.
—
4:45 p.m.
Backstage photos from the black-tie inaugural balls.
A quick peek out the Truman Balcony to admire the view of Washington.
A visit to the basement White House bowling alley.
President Donald Trump’s grown children, who all spent his first night in office sleeping at the White House, have reveled in the first 24 hours of their father’s term, and they have enthusiastically documented it on social media.
Donald Trump Jr. posted video of his wife bowling in the White House’s basement alley while Ivanka Trump shared a photo of her family riding in a presidential limousine for the inaugural parade.
The children were a constant presence at the president’s side during the inaugural festivities.
—
4:25 p.m.
President Donald Trump is accusing the news media of lying about the size of the crowd that attended his inauguration.
Addressing employees at CIA headquarters in Virginia, Trump wrongly said the crowd had stretched all the way to the Washington Monument in the middle of the National Mall.
Photos taken of the Mall on Friday showed large swaths of empty space compared to Barack Obama’s inauguration eight years ago.
Trump says the inauguration crowd looked to be about a million and a half people. The National Park Service doesn’t provide an official estimate, but such a figure is highly dubious. Other events that filled more of the Mall have not drawn a crowd of that size.
He says the news media will pay a « big price » for what he claims was dishonesty.
—
3:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump is telling CIA employees whose work he has publicly doubted that no one feels stronger about the intelligence community than he does.
Trump is addressing about 400 CIA employees at their headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on his first full day in office.
Trump told the workers that they are really special and amazing people and that « I am so behind you. »
The meeting follows Trump’s repeated and sharp public criticism of U. S. intelligence agencies before and after the election. He challenged and at times belittled their conclusions that Russia attempted to influence the election to help him win the White House.
—
2:45 p.m.
An online petition seeking the release of President Donald Trump’s full tax returns has garnered more than enough signatures to merit a White House response.
The petition was created on Inauguration Day and had more than 135,000 signatures by midday Saturday. Under rules established by former President Barack Obama, a petition needs 100,000 signatures within 30 days to get a response. It’s unclear whether Trump’s White House will respond.
The petition says the public must be aware of « unprecedented economic conflicts » by the administration, including documentation related to foreign influences and financial interests that could put Trump in violation of parts of the Constitution.
Trump has refused to release the tax returns until the IRS completes an audit. He also says journalists are the only people interested in seeing them.
—
2 p.m.
President Donald Trump has arrived at CIA headquarters in Virginia, where he’ll speak to intelligence agency workers.
The visit from the new president could be awkward.
During the campaign and after he was elected, Trump repeatedly voiced skepticism about findings by U. S. intelligence agencies — including conclusions that Russia attempted to influence the election to help him win the White House.
Trump is expected to address a group of about 300 people at the headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
—
1:10 p.m.
Israel’s president has congratulated President Donald Trump on his inauguration and invited him to Jerusalem.
Reuven Rivlin sent a letter Saturday, at the end of the Jewish Sabbath, and thanked Trump for being « a longstanding friend » of Israel.
Israel made great efforts to refrain from taking sides in the election. But after repeated clashes with ex-President Barack Obama, Israel’s nationalist right has high expectations for Trump.
Trump’s chosen ambassador to Israel has close ties to Jewish West Bank settlements, as does the foundation run by the family of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Tax records show Trump himself also donated money to a Jewish seminary located in a settlement.
—
12:30 p.m.
President Donald Trump has had some trouble with his spelling.
Trump tweeted Saturday that « I am honered to serve you, the great American People, as your 45th President of the United States! » He misspelled « honored » by swapping in an « e » for an « o. »
The president posted the incorrectly spelled tweet at 11:57 a.m. Twelve minutes later, it was deleted and the message was re-posted, this time with the correct spelling.
Trump posted the incorrect tweet from his original @realdonaldtrump account, not his new @POTUS handle. He then posted the same message, with a photo, from the new account.
The deletion raises questions about whether a deleted Trump tweet would run afoul of the Presidential Records Act, which requires the preservation of presidential communications.
—
11:25 a.m.
The State Department says the American ambassador to Kazakhstan will represent the United States at international talks on Syria set for Monday in the Kazakh capital.
The talks are being sponsored by Russia and Turkey. The invitation for the U. S. to be an observer came from Russia’s ambassador in Washington in a telephone call with Michael Flynn, the new White House national security adviser.
That call took place on Dec. 29 — the same day the Obama administration levied sanctions on Russia in relation for election-related hacking in the 2016 White House campaign.
The talks are seen as a prelude to a new round of U. N.-led negotiations in Geneva next month between the Syrian government and the opposition.
The U. S. envoy in Kazakhstan is George Krol, a career foreign service officer.
The State Department’s acting spokesman, Mark Toner, says a U. S. delegation isn’t attending because of the presidential inauguration and the « immediate demands » of the transition between the Obama and Trump administrations.
—
10:45 a.m.
President Donald Trump is opening his first full day in office by attending a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral.
