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Bishop confronts Trump during sermon at inaugural prayer service

January 21, 2025 • 6:51 PM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
By Jason DeRose, Sarah Ventre


Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde arrives as President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance look on during the Service of Prayer for the Nation Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

During a prayer service at Washington's National Cathedral Tuesday, the Episcopal bishop of Washington directly confronted President Trump while he and Vice President J.D. Vance were seated in the front row.

"Let me make one final plea, Mr. President," Bishop Mariann Budde said in her 15-minute sermon. "Millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now," said Budde, as she appeared to look towards the president. ... "There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives."

This came just one day after Trump issued a slate of executive orders, including one which has a section dedicated to "recognizing that women are biologically distinct from men," one that declared a national emergency at the country's southern border and issued several others related to immigration, including one attempting to do away with birthright citizenship. ... Budde challenged these orders and much of the rhetoric that has surrounded them.

"The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they – they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors," said Budde.

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