Washington braced for a tense inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday, as more than 25,000 National Guard troops stood watch over a barricaded city, emptied of the spectators who usually throng to the quadrennial ritual.

Republican President Donald Trump left the White House on Wednesday after a tumultuous four years in office, hours before Democrat Joe Biden assumes the helm of a country beset by deep political divides and battered by a raging coronavirus pandemic.

President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday he believed President Donald Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to China - even if he did not agree with all his methods - and endorsed the assessment that it was committing genocide in Xinjiang.

The White House announced early Wednesday that Donald Trump was pardoning his former chief strategist Steve Bannon and 72 others. The last-minute clemency came just hours before president-elect Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony was set to begin. Trump also commuted the sentences of 70 people.

Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday. Along with Biden, Kamala Harris will take oath as the first woman Vice President. The inauguration ceremony will start at 10:30 am (15:30 GMT), news wires reported. Hundreds of thousands of people usually attend the ceremony, but this time around there will only be a small crowd due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has now killed more than 400,000 Americans.

Trying to repair his tarnished legacy, President Donald Trump trumpeted his administration’s accomplishments and wished his successor luck in a farewell video as he spent his final full day in office preparing to issue a flurry of pardons in a near-deserted White House, surrounded by an extraordinary security presence outside.

Central Washington is an armed fortress, fenced off with razor wire and surrounded by 25,000 National Guard troops ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, a stark contrast to previous inaugurations, when the United States capital erupted in days of celebration.

President-elect Joe Biden plans to unveil a sweeping immigration bill on Day One of his administration, hoping to provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people living in the US without legal status, a massive reversal from the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies.

Outgoing US President Donald Trump on Monday said limits on arrivals from Europe and Brazil will be lifted from 26 January, though the incoming Biden administration responded that restrictions would remain in place, dpa reported.

The Trump administration notified Huawei suppliers, including chipmaker Intel, that it is revoking certain licenses to sell to the Chinese company and intends to reject dozens of other applications to supply the telecommunications firm, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.