President Donald Trump is kicking off his first full day in office on Tuesday, starting his second term with a wave of executive actions and orders and a push to get his top Cabinet officials confirmed.
Trump on Monday declared a national border emergency; issued a sweeping pardon for nearly everyone convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot; helped give TikTok a reprieve and signed dozens more executive orders overhauling how the country deals with immigration, the economy, global health, the environment and gender.
On Tuesday, Trump is expected to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the GOP leaders charged with helping turn his agenda into law.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also starting a new job. He’s the first of Trump’s Cabinet picks to secure Senate confirmation. Others could be soon behind, including Kristi Noem at the Department of Homeland Security and Pete Hegseth running the Pentagon, though he still faces questions over accusations of sexual assault and excessive drinking.
Keep up with the USA TODAY Network’s live updates.
Elise Stefanik, Donald Trump’s pick to serve as ambassador to the United Nations, promised at her confirmation hearing to “stand with Israel” and called United Nations resolutions aimed at Israel are “antisemitic rot.”
“I was interested in this position because, if you look at the antisemitic rot within the UN, there are more resolutions targeting Israel than any other country, any other crisis combined,” she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The UN has accused Israel of “extermination” and possible war crimes in Gaza.
Stefanik also touted that she voted to defund UNRWA, the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians. The agency was the largest humanitarian organization still working in Gaza, until its operational ability in the enclave was hit when Israel banned it in October after around a dozen of its members were found to be on Hamas’ payroll or involved in its Oct. 7 attack.
She praised then-U.S. ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan for opposing a UN resolution passed 50 years ago that classified zionism as “a form of racism and racial discrimination” and said she would hope to embody “that type of leadership” in the position.
– Cybele Mayes-Osterman
Trump is attending a service of prayer for the nation on Tuesday at Washington’s National Cathedral, joined by Vice President JD Vance and other dignitaries.
Afterward, he’ll meet with congressional leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, before delivering remarks on American infrastructure.
– Francesca Chambers
Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance are attending a prayer service at the National Cathedral, alongside their spouses, first lady Melania Trump and second lady Usha Vance.
The cathedral calls the gathering a “service for the nation, not any politician or political party.”
“This service was designed to pray for unity, reconciliation and bridge-building in our divided nation,” the cathedral says on its website.
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde is preaching at the service, but it will also feature worship rooted in Jewish, Muslim and other faith traditions.
– Marina Pitofsky
Usha Vance, 38, is the nation’s new second lady, but she’s been out of the spotlight more than the first couple or her husband, Vice President JD Vance.
Chilukuri, 38, was born and raised in San Diego as the child of Hindu Indian immigrants. She met her husband at Yale Law School, when they were assigned as partners for their first major writing assignment.
Before Usha Vance hit the campaign trail with her husband, she worked at Munger, Tolles & Olson, a law firm that specializes in litigation, corporate, professional liability, employment, financial restructuring, tax and executive compensation. She left the firm when JD Vance secured the vice-presidential nomination.
– Amaris Encinas
The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday gave their stamp of approval to Scott Bessent, Trump’s nominee to lead the Treasury Department.
Two Democrats, Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, joined their Republican colleagues in voting for Bessent.
If Bessent is confirmed by the entire Senate, he’ll be the first openly gay Treasury secretary in U.S. history, as well as the highest-ranking LGBTQ official.
– Marina Pitofsky
Some of the richest people in the world were among the guests invited to witness President Donald Trump take the oath of office for the second time on Monday.
As some of Trump’s top allies, the tech billionaires were given VIP seating next to top U.S. officials and his family for the swearing-in ceremony in the Capitol rotunda. Seated in front of Trump’s incoming Cabinet were Amazon Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.
Their presence in Trump’s orbit underscores not only the incoming administration’s pro-business agenda, but the likely influence the world’s wealthiest tech leaders could have on U.S. policy.
Read more: Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg attended Trump’s inauguration: What are their net worths?
– Kathleen Wong
Donald Trump turned an executive order signing ceremony into an impromptu press conference Monday, answering dozens of questions from reporters.
Trump talked about imposing 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada starting Feb. 1, mulled sending military special forces into Mexico to fight drug cartels and said he’s not confidant a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas will hold. He also reiterated his desire to acquire Greenland from Denmark.
The press conference came after a long day of events that saw Trump sworn into office at the U.S. Capitol, where his inauguration ceremony was moved because of frigid temperatures.
– Zac Anderson
Elise Stefanik, Donald Trump’s pick as the U.S. ambassador at the United Nations, will face senators on Tuesday morning at her confirmation hearing begins.
Stefanik, a Republican lawmaker from New York and top Trump ally, has served five terms in Congress. Her close relationship with Trump briefly stirred speculation that he was considering her for vice president.
Stefanik garnered praise in conservative circles for now-viral questions she posed to the heads of three Ivy League schools at a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism, as protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza rocked colleges nationwide.
After Stefanik asked the three presidents – of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania–- whether calling for the genocide of Jews called for disciplinary action, they waffled and gave indirect answers. Two of the three later resigned.
– Cybele Mayes-Osterman
Donald Trump discovered a personal letter Monday in the Oval Office from former President Joe Biden.
The letter-writing tradition from outgoing to incoming presidents dates back to 1989, when Ronald Reagan left a brief letter for George H.W. Bush.
Trump declined to reveal the contents of Biden’s letter Monday.
– Zac Anderson
People convicted in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, began to be released from prison overnight after President Donald Trump approved pardons Monday for nearly 1,600 people charged in the riot.
Trump commuted the sentences for 14 defendants, including Stewart Rhodes, the former leader of the Oath Keepers militia who received the second-longest sentence of 18 years. Rhodes left a federal prison in Cumberland, Maryland, early Tuesday.
Relatives of Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the Proud Boys who received the longest sentence of 22 years for seditious conspiracy, said they expected his release on Tuesday.
Neither Rhodes nor Tarrio entered the Capitol, but they were convicted of seditious conspiracy for helping plan the attack.
–Bart Jansen and Reuters
President Donald Trump pardoned nearly all the 1,600 people charged in the Capitol attack Jan. 6, 2021, fulfilling a campaign pledge critics said would “endorse attacks on democracy.”
The total includes hundreds of people convicted of felonies for attacking police and temporarily interrupting Congress from certifying the 2020 election victory of former President Joe Biden.
“These are the hostages,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “Full pardon. This is a big one. We hope they come out tonight.”
About 1,270 have been convicted and 1,100 had been sentenced in the riot, according to the Justice Department. About 600 people were charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement.
The list of those receiving clemency included 14 people receiving commutations to end their sentences, including top members of two militia groups, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. Stewart Rhodes, who was leader of the Oath Keepers, had been sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy.
“We’re excited about it,” Ed Tarpley, a Rhodes lawyer, told USA TODAY. “This is an answered prayer and we’re all very happy.”
Nayib Hassan, a lawyer for Enrique Tarrio, who received the longest sentence of 22 years for seditious conspiracy as a leader of the far-right Proud Boys gang, said he wasn’t sure if Tarrio got a pardon or commutation.
– Bart Jansen
President Trump sported a tuxedo and bowtie and first lady Melania Trump wore a black and white dress as they concluded Inauguration Day at a trio of balls in downtown Washington, D.C.
Just before 10:30 p.m. Monday, the first couple shared their first dance to an Elvis-style rendition of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at the Commander in Chief Ball. Vice President JD Vance, also in a tuxedo, and second lady Usha Vance, in a sparkly blue dress, joined the president and first lady for a spin on stage.
Trump later made an appearance at the Liberty Ball and ended his night at the Starlight Ball at Union Station. In one of his final dances of the evening, the president took to the floor alongside his family members and the Vances to Frank Sinatra’s “I Did It My Way.”
– Rebecca Morin
President Trump began signing his first wave of executive orders around 7 p.m. Monday, after his swearing-in ceremony and a parade, and just before the evening’s inaugural balls that stretched well past midnight.
He started by rescinding 78 executive orders approved by his predecessor Joe Biden, including efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, protect federal lands from oil drilling and reduce the cost of prescription medications.
Trump also declared a national border emergency and ordered the U.S. armed forces to repel “forms of invasion” at the U.S.-Mexico border, including illegal migration and drug trafficking. The new president’s moves also include halting enforcement of a ban on TikTok in the U.S. for 75 days, mandating how the U.S. government recognizes gender on federal documents and change official names of Mount Denali in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
– Laura Villagran and Bart Jansen
Donald Trump said during his inauguration ceremony in the Capitol rotunda that he believes “a tide of change is sweeping the country.”
“I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success,” he said.
But the president also laid out a list of conservative priorities and campaign promises, including declaring an emergency on the southern border, rolling back climate change priorities and more. He also hit Panama’s management of the Panama Canal and vowed to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
− Marina Pitofsky
Donald Trump had his left hand down at his side – and not on one of the two Bibles his wife Melania held up for him – during his swearing-in ceremony.
Does it matter? Not according to the Constitution.
Article II of the Constitution says the incoming president must swear an oath of office, saying: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
But the Constitution also protects religious freedom and holds that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
− Josh Meyer
