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New president declares emergency at southern border, pardons 1,500 January 6 convicts, withdraws US from World Health Organization and Paris climate accord and delays TikTok ban among flurry of orders
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Donald Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk has responded after being accused of performing a Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration celebrations on Monday, dismissing the accusations as “dirty tricks”.
The new president signed a deluge of executive orders last night, just hours after being sworn in as the 47th president at the Capitol rotunda and delivering an address that both chastized Joe Biden’s outgoing administration and promised a new “golden age of America.”
Trump then set to work, just as he had promised, by signing a stack of executive orders.
On immigration alone, Trump moved to declare a national emergency at the southern border, end birthright citizenship, designate Central America’s cartels terrorist organizations, reinstate his “Remain in Mexico” policy, and end “catch and release” practices.
He also pardoned 1,500 “J6 hostages”, withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization and Paris Climate Accord, affirmed that the government recognizes only two genders, renamed the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Mount Denali, overturned 78 Biden-era regulations, froze federal hiring and postponed the implementation of a law banning Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok for 75 days.
Yesterday, General Mark Milley’s portrait — which was only unveiled on January 12 — was removed from a wall at the Pentagon as Donald Trump took office for his second term.
Today, the wall received a fresh coat of paint, as if the portrait had never been there…
Milley, formerly Trump’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was a fierce critic of the president and received a preemptive pardon from former President Joe Biden as he left office:
Outgoing president issues advanced reprieves before leaving White House
One day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, Judge Aileen Cannon, whom he appointed in his first term, blocks the Justice Department from allowing four members of Congress to review Volume 2 of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report into the Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation.
Read her full ruling here.
Judge Cannon earlier allowed the release of Volume 1 of Smith’s final report, which covered Trump’s involvement in the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021.
Here’s Alex Woodward’s earlier report:
The special counsel resigned after submitting his two-volume report days before Trump returns to office
Vice President JD Vance swore in Marco Rubio as secretary of state this morning, making him Donald Trump’s first Senate-confirmed cabinet member.
Giving remarks in Spanish after the ceremony, Rubio couldn’t help but make a joke…
Why indeed.
Here’s Io Dodds with the official explanation.
The 47th president is wading back into a century-long dispute over the name we give to North America’s tallest mountain
Along similar lines to the Melania mockery, Trump’s daughter’s outfit for the big day also attracted a deeply unfortunate parallel.
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ fans compared Donald Trump’s daughter to Serena Joy
Karoline Leavitt, the new White House press secretary, spoke to Fox & Friends Tuesday morning and said President Donald Trump will make a “massive” infrastructure announcement at 4 p.m. when he speaks with the press.
Here’s what the president is up to today:
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