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Barack Obama leaves the Oval Office for last time...after commuting sentences of 330 drug convicts Barack Obama cracked a joke as he left the Oval Office for the very last time
(35 minutes later)
Barack Obama has left the Oval Office for the very last time after making a history again yesterday. Barack Obama has left the Oval Office for the last time – leaving a letter for Donald Trump and cracking a joke after walking out.
America’s first black president cut short the sentences of 330 federal inmates convicted of drug crimes, the highest total for a single day in history, on Thursday. The Obamas greeted the Trumps at the grand North Portico, the column-lined entrance facing Pennsylvania Avenue. 
Mr Obama told Mr Trump it was good to see him and they exchanged pleasantries.
Moments before, Mr Obama was filmed appearing to leave a letter in the Oval Office for his successor to pick up before he walked out for the last time.
A relaxed Mr Obama also found time to crack a joke, switching the order of the four as they posed for pictures while saying: "Now we can take the picture, I'm always on the left."
Mr Obama leaves power hours after making history by cutting short the sentences of 330 federal inmates convicted of drug crimes, the highest total for a single day in history.
It brings his total for his entire eight-year tenure to 1,715, which again stands at more than any other president in US history.It brings his total for his entire eight-year tenure to 1,715, which again stands at more than any other president in US history.
“He wanted to do it. He wanted the opportunity to look at as many as he could to provide relief,” Neil Eggleston, Obama's White House counsel, said in an interview in his West Wing office. “He wanted to do it. He wanted the opportunity to look at as many as he could to provide relief,” Neil Eggleston, Mr Obama's White House counsel, said in an interview in his West Wing office.
“He saw the injustice of the sentences that were imposed in many situations, and he has a strong view that people deserve a second chance.”“He saw the injustice of the sentences that were imposed in many situations, and he has a strong view that people deserve a second chance.”
Protests against Mr Trump's presidency meanwhile are gaining momentum just a few hundred metres from The Mall.
Groups dressed in black and balaclavas can be seen rushing away from Capitol Hill after seemingly minor clashes with police.
Shortly before Senator Roy Blunt's opening remarks as inaugural committee chairman however, police could be seen deploying tear gas as at least two protestors could be seen smashing glass windows.