It was already promising to be a very different experience at this year's inauguration of President Joe Biden because of the pandemic... then January 6th happened. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald has been a long-time friend to Biden and was thrilled to be invited to the ceremony at the nation's Capital. This is a trip that Fitzgerald normally would take alone but this time he decided to travel with his security detail. In the video above, he chronicled the trip to take you inside an Inauguration like we’ve never seen before.
It all started with the drive to Washington, DC on Tuesday morning. On the way into town, they had to stop for a COVID-19 screening. Without a negative test, Fitzgerald wouldn’t be able to attend. Fortunately he was cleared and the next stop was the nation’s capitol.
Upon arriving in Washington, the heightened police presence and National Guard soldiers are seen everywhere. The next morning, guests had to arrive for security screenings nearly three hours ahead of the Inauguration.
In prior years, nearly 200,000 people packed the National Mall for the ceremony. This time only 1,070 tickets were allowed, one for each member of Congress and a guest.
Fitzgerald was the "plus-one" accompanying Rep. Conor Lamb from Pennsylvania's 18th District.
Following the ceremony, Fitzgerald reflected on the peaceful transition of power we witnessed today. See his message at 6:38 in the video above.