Inauguration Day

Was Trump's hand on the Bible during his inaugural oath of office? What to know

The Trump administration's swearing-in ceremony was rushed after delays Monday morning made the president-elect slightly late in fulfilling tradition inaugural duties.

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Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.

Donald Trump raised his right hand while his left hand hovered underneath a pair of bibles during an inaugural ceremony that was slightly delayed Wednesday at the Capitol Rotunda.

Trump took the oath of office shortly after noon in Washington, and was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Trump said after Chief Justice John Roberts had asked him to raise his right hand to take his oath.

Like he did in 2017, Trump was sworn in using the Lincoln Bible and another Bible that belonged to his mother.

President-elect Donald Trump is announced as he enters the Capitol rotunda.

But did Trump actually place his hand on top of the stacked Bibles?

The president raised his right hand and began the swearing-in before his wife, Melania, had even raised the two bibles up, and it's unclear whether or not he put his hand on the Bibles at some point during the oath ceremony.

So, the next question is: What happens now? Does this mean he will have to redo his own inaugural ceremony?

Not exactly. Let's take a deeper look on why Trump might be off the hook for this Inauguration Day faux pas.

Is a Bible required to take office in the U.S.?

Whether Trump did or did not get his left hand on top of the Bibles actually doesn't matter as the U.S. Constitution says “no religious Text shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or Public Trust under the United States.”

All the Constitution requires is that the President-elect, in this case Trump, must take the oath of office and recite the specific words.

The rest is up to those participating in the ceremony.

Has a president ever passed on being sworn in with a Bible?

George Washington took the oath on a Masonic Bible loaned to him by a local lodge and set a precedent of kissing it afterward. That Bible went on to be used in the inaugurations of Presidents Warren G. Harding, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush. Franklin Pierce broke the precedent of kissing the Bible in 1853 and affirmed rather than swore the oath. 

Who didn’t use a Bible? John Quincy Adams took his oath in 1825 on a law book. Theodore Roosevelt — who was sworn in at the Buffalo, New York, home of his friend Ansley Wilcox in 1901 after President William McKinley was assassinated — did not use any book at all. Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office aboard Air Force One after John F. Kennedy’s assassination with a Roman Catholic missal or prayer book belonging to Kennedy that was found on the plane.

What is the Lincoln Bible?

The Lincoln Bible was provided during Lincoln’s 1861 inauguration by William Thomas Carroll, clerk of the Supreme Court. That’s because Lincoln’s family Bible was still packed and on its way to Washington from Springfield, Illinois, along with the Lincoln family’s other belongings.

In 2017, Trump stacked a family Bible atop Lincoln’s while taking the oath.

That recalls Barack Obama, who also used the Lincoln Bible during his first swearing-in in 2009. During his second in 2014, he paired it with a Bible that had belonged to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

JD Vance is sworn in as the 50th Vice President of the United States.

Where did Trump's family Bible come from?

Trump's inauguration committee says the text was given to the president by his late mother two days before his ninth birthday.

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