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Donald Trump has been sworn in for a second term as president of the United States at noon local time (17:00 GMT) in Washington, DC.

Because of frigid temperatures, Trump relocated the ceremony indoors, under the Capitol rotunda, rather than on the marble steps outside, as usual.

Trump, the first US president convicted of criminal charges, replaced Democrat Joe Biden following his victory over Kamala Harris in November’s presidential election.

“I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear 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, so help me God,” he says.

The 78-year-old’s return to the White House comes four years after his previous re-election attempt ended in defeat.

In the lead-up to Monday’s inauguration, Biden pardoned several individuals feared to be targets under Trump’s incoming administration: Dr Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley and members of the January 6 committee, including Liz Cheney.

Referring to the assassination attempt against him in July of last year, the US president has said he believes he was saved by God “to Make America Great Again”.

Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The Republican leader also faced four criminal indictments linked to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election that he lost to Biden.

In May, Trump became the first former president ever convicted of a crime for falsifying business documents related to hush-money payments, but he has avoided any penalties for that conviction.

In his inauguration speech, Trump repeated the campaign claim that the Biden administration provided “sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions that have illegally entered our country from all over the world.”

The claim is Pants on Fire! There is no evidence that countries are emptying their prisons, or that mental institutions are sending people to illegally migrate to the US.

Immigration officials arrested about 108,000 noncitizens with criminal convictions (whether in the US or abroad) from fiscal years 2021 to 2024, federal data shows. That accounts for people stopped at and between ports of entry. Not everyone was let in.

The president has quickly slammed the outgoing Biden administration, saying that the US government has failed to defend Americans and American interests.

“We have a public health system that does not deliver in times of disaster,” he said. “And we have an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves; in many cases, to hate our country despite the love that we try so desperately to provide to them.

“All of this will change starting today and it will change very quickly,” he continued to applause.

Trump added: “From this moment on, America’s decline is over.”

“The golden age of America begins right now,” the US president says.

“From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer.”

Echoing a promise he made on the 2024 election campaign trail, Trump added that he will “put America first”.