President Obama

Trump will be at the head of a nation with a relatively healthy economy and a health care system he has promised to overhaul, and he will be facing a slew of international tensions.

Obama dodged a question about the more than five dozen Democrats in Congress who are boycotting the inauguration on Friday. "All I know is I'm going to be there, and so is Michelle," he said.

In cramped offices near the White House, a brigade of staff, volunteers and former interns is scrambling to read every letter sent to President Obama — especially the letters from children.

President Obama has shortened the 35-year prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the Army private who leaked military secrets to WikiLeaks. Obama also pardoned a general who lied to leak investigators.

The Lincoln Bible was purchased for the 1861 inauguration by Supreme Court Clerk William Thomas Carroll.

Confirmation hearings scheduled before Inauguration Day including Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos and Scott Pruitt, nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Critics have long raised concerns about Gen. Michael Flynn's relationship with Moscow. The nominee for national security adviser was in regular contact in December with Russia's ambassador to the U.S.

Calling Biden "the best vice president America's ever had" and a "lion of American history," Obama gave his White House partner the nation's highest civilian honor in an emotional ceremony.

The NPR Politics team and reporters across the newsroom will be live-annotating President Obama's farewell address in Chicago on Tuesday night, scheduled to begin at 9 pm.