The bishop leading the inaugural prayer service on Tuesday urged President Donald Trump to "have mercy" on his constituents, specifically naming LGBTQ people and immigrants.
The sermon by the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, was part of a larger post-Inauguration Day interfaith ceremony at Washington National Cathedral. Trump was seated in the first row alongside first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance during the service, a tradition undertaken by presidents of both parties.
“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” said Budde, who was looking directly at the president. “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families. Some who fear for their lives.”
She added: "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. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues."
When Budde finished her sermon, Trump leaned over to say something to Vance, who shook his head in response.
Later, as Trump was walking through the White House colonnade with his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, reporters asked him what he thought of the sermon. He asked the group, “Did you like it? Find it exciting?” He then added that he “didn’t think it was a good service, no” and said they “could do much better.”
Early Wednesday morning, Trump responded to the sermon in a post on Truth Social, where he called Budde a "so-called Bishop" and "Radical Left hard line Trump hater."
“She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way,” Trump said. “She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”
A spokesperson for the Trump administration did not return a request for additional comment.
In an interview with ABC’s “The View” on Wednesday, Budde said she wanted Tuesday's sermon to serve as a call for national unity.
“I wanted to emphasize respecting the honor and dignity of every human being,” she said. “I was trying to counter the narrative that is so divisive and polarizing and in which real people are being harmed.”
Budde's sermon came a day after Trump was sworn in and signed roughly 100 executive actions, some of which included policies affecting LGBTQ people and immigrants.
Regarding LGBTQ people, Trump signed a sweeping executive order proclaiming that the U.S. government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, and a second order ending “radical and wasteful” diversity, equity and inclusion programs inside federal agencies.
The Trump administration also removed LGBTQ resources from government websites, including a page formerly on the State Department's website dedicated to advancing LGBTQ rights around the world.
On immigration, Trump signed a flurry of executive actions, including ones that sought to end birthright citizenship, halt all refugee admissions and send the military to the southern border.
Several of Trump's orders are likely to be subject to extensive legal battles. A coalition of over a dozen Democratic attorneys general sued Tuesday to block the birthright citizenship order, which critics have said violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
The Trump administration also discontinued functionalities of a government app, CBP One, used by migrants to submit their information and schedule appointments at southwest border ports of entry, according to a statement posted on the Customs and Border Protection website. It is unclear if that change will be permanent.
Tuesday's sermon was not the first time Budde, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, has criticized Trump. In June 2020, she wrote an op-ed for The New York Times criticizing the then-president for clearing Lafayette Square, near the White House, amid the George Floyd protests and then posing for photos on the grounds of nearby St. John's Church while holding a Bible.
"The God I serve is on the side of justice. Jesus calls his followers to emulate his example of sacrificial love and to build what he called the Kingdom of God on earth," she wrote in the op-ed. "What would the sacrificial love of Jesus look like now?"
