Here is how events are unfolding. All times Eastern.
Jan 19, 2021, 10:17 AM EST
Bipartisan congressional leaders accept Biden's church invitation for Inauguration Day
Biden, the second Catholic to be elected president, has invited the bipartisan congressional leadership to church with him on Wednesday morning ahead of his inauguration, and all parties have accepted, sources tells ABC News.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy have separately accepted the invite and plan to attend -- a move that is sure to project unity ahead of the official transfer of power.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are also expected to attend.
President-elect Joe Biden speaks about the violent protests in Washington from Wilmington, Del., Jan. 6, 2021. Biden has called the violent protests on the U.S. Capitol "an assault on the most sacred of American undertakings: the doing of the people's business."
Susan Walsh/AP
Punchbowl News first reported the invite.
President Trump is skipping Biden's inauguration and traditional handover of power at the White House to hold his own sendoff at Joint Base Andrews while he still bears the title of president ahead of noon on Wednesday -- making him the first president to skip his successor's swearing since an impeached Andrew Johnson in 1869 snubbed Ulysses Grant.
-ABC News' Trish Turner and Benjamin Siegel
Jan 19, 2021, 10:05 AM EST
Biden HHS nominee poised to become the first openly transgender federal official if confirmed
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have chosen to nominate Dr. Rachel Levine as assistant Secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, the transition announced Tuesday.
Levine currently serves as secretary of health for Pennsylvania. She would be the first openly transgender federal official confirmed by the Senate, if approved.
Dr. Rachel Levine has been nominated by President-elect Joe Biden as Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Levine would be the first openly transgender Senate-confirmed federal official.
Courtesy Biden Transition
"Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability — and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond. She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration's health efforts," Biden said of Levine in a statement.
-ABC News' Molly Nagle
Jan 19, 2021, 10:04 AM EST
Overview: Biden heads to Washington as impeachment looms over final full day of Trump's presidency
Biden is waking up in Wilmington, Delaware, before heading to Washington for his inauguration as the 46th president of the United States.
President-elect Joe Biden speaks about his plan to administer coronavirus disease vaccines to the U.S. population as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris listens during a news conference at Biden's transition headquarters in Wilmington, Del., Jan. 15, 2021.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
On President Trump's final full day in office, he's expected to end his term bunkered behind the White House, as he has for the last week, focused on who will benefit from his pardon powers. He is expected to issue pardons and commutations, potentially more than 100 before he departs Wednesday, but sources tell ABC News that a self-pardon and pardons for family are unlikely.
Trump is also expected to release a taped video message to the public at some point Tuesday, after first lady Melania Trump on Monday afternoon tweeted a nearly 7-minute long farewell video looking back on her time in the White House.
With just hours to go until his departure, and potentially the start of his impeachment trial pending Pelosi sending the article of impeachment to the Senate, Trump is still set to skip his successor's swearing-in -- the first president to do so since Andrew Johnson in 1869 -- and hold a large sendoff of his own hours before Biden takes the oath of office at noon on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump waves as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Jan. 12, 2021 in Washington, D.C. Following last week's deadly pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol, President Trump is making his first public appearance with a trip to the town of Alamo, Texas to view the construction of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images, FILE
Sources say Trump plans chopper via Marine One to Joint Base Andrews where he is expected to give brief remarks to supporters and departing members of his administration. Sources add that Trump has requested the event to have a "military-like feel" and will have a military band, red carpet and an honor guard. The president will then fly down to Mar-a-Lago in Florida aboard Air Force One with a small number of staffers who will be part of his post-presidency operation, according to the sources.
One of Trump's final actions as president taken Monday night was to lift travel restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, but in a sign of what's to come, the incoming Biden administration said the lift will be reversed before it even takes effect.
Tuesday will also see five of Biden's Cabinet nominees before Senate committees handling their confirmation hearings including Avril Haines to serve as director of national intelligence, Janet Yellen to serve as treasury secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas to serve as the homeland security secretary, Tony Blinken to serve as secretary of state, and Lloyd Austin to serve as secretary of defense. The committee schedule is ramping up at the same time Trump's impeachment trial is expected to start -- a challenge for the Senate, which is also reeling from the attack on the U.S. Capitol less than two weeks ago.
-ABC News' Ben Gittleson
Jan 18, 2021, 9:06 PM EST
Biden, Harris to honor lives lost to COVID
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will mark the lives lost to COVID-19 in a special event in Washington the night before the inauguration, according to their transition team.
The two will speak at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Tuesday evening, according to a schedule.
As of Monday evening, 398,879 Americans have died from the coronavirus, according to data from John Hopkins' Coronavirus Resource Center.
