Donald Trump Inauguration: Penny Wong says attending ceremony in Washington was ‘extraordinary’
Penny Wong and Ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd were front and centre at Donald Trump’s inauguration at the Capitol Rotunda with Ms Wong saying to be in the room was “extraordinary”.
Australia’s Foreign Secretary joined a packed room of foreign dignitaries, tech billionaires and politicians from both sides of congress to watch on as Donald Trump became the 47th President of the United States.
Flying the flag for Australia’s relationship with the US ahead of Mr Trump moving into the White House Ms Wong spoke after the ceremony as the new US President prepares to make sweeping policy changes both domestically and internationally.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“Today I joined Quad Foreign Ministers to represent Australia at President Trump’s inauguration,” Ms Wong said in a post on X.
“The United States is Australia’s closest ally. I look forward to working together with the new Administration to deliver on our shared interests.”
Speaking on Today LIVE from the post-cermony proceedings Ms Wong said being in the room was “extraordinary”.
“It was a pretty extraordinary event,” Ms Wong said.
“I am privileged to be the first Australian Foreign Minister to attend a presidential inauguration and there was plenty of pomp and ceremony.
“I’m looking forward to meeting with Marco Rubio around AUKUS where there has been very positive commentary.”
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch took his place in the main seating area with his wife Elena Zhukova along with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, Apple leader Tim Cook, and Google chief Sundar Pichai were seen taking prime seats at St John’s Church.
Several of the tech billionaires joined Trump at the Capitol rotunda, including SpaceX and Tesla boss Elon Musk, who spent nearly $US300m helping the president campaign and has stuck closely to his side ever since.
TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chou too is expected to attend the inauguration, as his company grapples with the fallout from a US ban, as well as Sam Altman of OpenAI and Dara Khosrowshahi of Uber.
