Watch| EAM Jaishankar Joins International Leaders, Takes Prominent Seat at Trump's Inauguration

This was the first time ever that international leaders were invited to attend the inauguration of a US President.

India's External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar sat down with international and US leaders, as well as tech titans, at the inauguration of President Donald Trump at the Capitol.

This was the first time ever that international leaders were invited to attend the inauguration of a US President.

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EAM Jaishankar, who arrived as India's Special Envoy, was accommodated at the place of pride, being seated on the first seat of the first right hand row at the swearing-in on Monday.
 

In the morning session, he was present at the prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church where the events of the day started.

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Foreign Ministers Penny Wong of Australia, and Takeshi Iwaya of Japan, whose countries with India and the US make up the Indo-Pacific group, the Quad, were also there.

Wong said the invitation to the Quad Ministers affirmed Trump's "iron-clad commitment" to the Indo-Pacific region.

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The technology leaders drew the most attention at the ceremony, which was moved indoors because of the freezing weather with the thermometer at –8 degrees Celsius.

Then, there is Elon Musk, the owner of X and founder of Telsa and SpaceX, who has emerged as a close confidant of Trump. Then, the Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, CEOs Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta/Facebook, and Sundar Pichai of Google rubbed shoulders with politicians.

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Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Presidents Javier Milei of Argentina and Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, and China's Vice President, Han Zheng, attended the inauguration.

The guest list mirrored Trump's ideological slant, bypassing most of the elected officials in favor of Opposition figures like Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage, France's Reconquete Party President Eric Zemmour, Belgium's nationalist Vlaams Belang Party boss Tom Van Grieken, and former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

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Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was invited, but he could not make it, due to several court orders linking him to being part of the coup plot. He attended in the form of his wife, Michelle.

It was two no-shows for the local leaders that raised an eyebrow.

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Where former President Barack Obama was, the wife, Michelle stayed away without showing any cause.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had a rancorous relationship with Trump also did not attend. At one of Trump's State of the Union speech, she tore up the text of his speech from the podium.

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Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton attended with their spouses.

There were Trump's appointees to the Cabinet and other senior positions, like Tulsi Gabbard being named as the Director of National Intelligence and Kash Patel as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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It was reported that Trump had boycotted the inauguration of Joe Biden in 2021, but the Bidens were gracious enough to come to Trump and his wife for the swearing-in after hosting the couple at the White House for traditional tea.

At the church, EAM S Jaishankar was seen discussing with Vivek Ramaswamy, the entrepreneur who briefly ran for Republican Party presidential nomination but dropped from the race to campaign for Trump.

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Ramaswamy is said to be mulling a gubernatorial run in the state of Ohio.

Read also| Watch| PM Modi Congratulates 'Dear Friend' Trump on Being Sworn In as 47th US President

Read also| Trump Sworn In as President, Declares America's 'Golden Age' Has Begun

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