Donald Trump’s former vp ditched the ex-president’s farewell to attend in inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

By the looks of it, Harris was happy to see her counterpart as the ex- and current vice presidents shared this moment during the transfer of power.

For the history books, here is the final report from the press pool in Mar-a-Lago covering the final moments of the White House of Donald Trump. By some “mystical powers”, the Potus pool magically re-appeared in Washington DC at midday:

“Pool is holding outside Mar-a-Lago. By some mystical powers the POTUS pool will dissolve in Palm Beach at midday to be replaced by POTUS pool in DC. For IT reasons, I am handing over to in-town Biden pool now, so that the messages can all be passed on OK. But the pool will monitor things here until midday just in case. It just remains for me to thank my fellow poolers on this historic day, for keeping things on the straight and narrow. And in particular to thank wrangler extraordinaire Margo Martin who kept us all in the right places and on time during her final day with the White House.”

Donald Trump was barely out the door when China issued sanctions on his top leadership, including Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Steve Bannon and Robert O’Brien, among others.

The report comes via White House correspondent Nicholas Wadhams, who says the sanctions prevent them traveling to, or doing business, with China. 

It comes after former secretary of state Pompeo officially recognised that China was committing genocide against Uighur Muslims.

In one his final acts in the white house, ex-president Trump pardoned the husband of Fox news host Judge Jeanine Pirro

Albert Pirro, was convicted of conspiracy and tax evasion in 2000, according to The Daily Beast, which confirmed the last-minute pardon.

“I’m in shock. I went to bed last night having read the list assuming I wasn’t getting a pardon,” Pirro told The Daily Beast. “It certainly is a nice act on the part of the president. It has been 20 years since I served my time and it allows me to engage again in public companies which I haven’t been able to do previously.”

For Indy Premium, Sean O’Grady considers the future for post-Trump America.

For a farewell look at the truly extraordinary last four years, might I humbly suggest you check out my 21-part Independent Premium series The Trump Review?

You can find links to all 21 articles in the summary below.

The presidency of Donald J Trump is dead. Long live the presidency of Joseph R Biden.

Oh look, Fox News host Judge Jeannine Piro’s husband got clemency at the very last minute.

The president and his family are about to step out of Air Force One for the final time, returning to life as private citizens.

Former presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama have all taken their seats with their wives for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s big day in DC.

Joining them are several of the Trumpist GOP senators who cheered on the Capitol rioters and continued to insist on their opposition to Biden’s election win even after the siege had taken place, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and Jim Jordan among their craven number.

Chris Riotta has the latest.