By Steve Holland and Tim Reid
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump will take a victory lap on Sunday with a campaign-style rally in Washington, D.C., a day before he is sworn in for a second term four years after losing the White House to Joe Biden.
Trump’s “Make America Great Again Victory Rally” – scheduled for 3 p.m. ET (1900 GMT) at the Capital One Arena – marks his first major speech in Washington since he urged his supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in protest against his defeat.
Thousands of people breached the building in an unsuccessful effort to prevent Congress from certifying the results. Trump has vowed to pardon many of the more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the attack.
His rally remarks, along with his inaugural address on Monday, could offer a preview of the tone he plans to adopt in the early days of his second term in office. In recent weeks, Trump has disconcerted foreign allies by musing aloud about taking over Greenland and the Panama Canal and turning Canada into a U.S. state.
The rally is likely to resemble the free-wheeling arena speeches that have been a Trump staple since his first White House campaign in 2016.
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who has become a close Trump confidant since spending more than $250 million to boost his campaign, is scheduled to speak at the event, along with Vice President-elect JD Vance, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, conservative activist Charlie Kirk and conservative commentator Megyn Kelly.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew also plans to attend the rally, amid uncertainty over whether Trump will take steps to rescue the app from a U.S. ban set to take effect on Sunday. Chew is expected to join other tech executives at Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Singer and rapper Kid Rock, disco group The Village People, singer Billy Ray Cyrus and singer Lee Greenwood are all scheduled to perform at the rally.
President Joe Biden will meanwhile make his last official trip as president on Sunday to Charleston, South Carolina, to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is on Monday, the White House said. He will attend services and speak about King’s legacy at Royal Missionary Baptist Church.
Earlier on Sunday, Trump will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. In the evening, he will address well-heeled supporters at a dinner in Washington.
The inauguration is scheduled for noon ET (1600 GMT) on Monday, when Trump will take the presidential oath of office inside the rotunda of the Capitol building, after the cold weather prompted organizers to move the ceremony indoors. Approximately 25,000 law enforcement personnel will be on hand to provide security.
(Additional reporting by David Shepardson and Trevor Hunnicutt; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Daniel Wallis)
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