Upon returning to the Oval Office, Donald Trump immediately began signing executive orders. These orders included pardons for all defendants involved in the January 6 incident and the classification of Mexican drug cartels as ‘terrorists’. Amongst these orders was also the discovery of a letter addressed to him from Joe Biden.
Trump announced that he would be granting pardons to approximately 1,500 defendants and issuing six commutations. Additionally, he instructed the attorney general to work towards dismissing around 450 criminal cases against those involved in the events of January 6.
The pardons fulfill Trump’s promise to release supporters who tried to help him overturn his election defeat four years ago.
‘These are the hostages,’ he said while signing the paperwork in the Oval Office.
After hours spent celebrating his new administration, Trump invited the press to his first Oval Office appearance.
Trump found a letter from Biden in the Resolute desk, but only after a journalist reminded him to look for it.
As Trump carried out the signing of various executive orders, a reporter inquired about a letter that was meant for him. Initially unsure, Trump proceeded to check the desk drawers and eventually revealed the letter, showcasing it to the cameras present in the room.
‘Maybe we should all read it together,’ Trump said before setting it aside. He said he’ll read it himself before sharing it publicly.
The letter’s envelope had ’47’ underlined, handwritten in what looked like pencil.
He signed an initial flurry of executive orders at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, where thousands of his supporters gathered to celebrate an inaugural parade that was moved indoors due to the cold.
The president signed several other orders, including one overhauling the refugee admission program to better align with American principles and interests and another declaring a ‘national emergency’ at the U.S.-Mexico border, while designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Trump said he favored legal immigration as he signed orders declaring a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border, suspending refugee resettlement and ending automatic citizenship for anyone born in the U.S.
He acknowledged an imminent legal challenge to overturning birthright citizenship, which has been enshrined in the U.S. Constitution since 1868.
Trump said automatic citizenship was ‘just ridiculous’ and that he believes he was on ‘good (legal) ground’ to change it.
‘That’s a big one,’ he bantered with reporters while signing an order declaring the border emergency.
Trump said immigrant labor was needed for investment that he anticipates will accompany higher tariffs.
‘I’m fine with legal immigration. I like it. We need people,’ he said.
Trump has also signed an executive order beginning the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization.
It was the second time in less than five years that he’s ordered the country to withdraw from the organization, despite it being a move many scientists fear could roll back decades-long gains made in fighting infectious diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Experts also warn it could weaken the world’s defenses against dangerous new outbreaks capable of triggering pandemics.
Trump continued to riff and answer questions from reporters in the Oval Office as he signs another round of executive action.
The president said he could place 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Feb. 1. He declined to give a date on China tariffs.
Trump has talked extensively about his tariff plans and his affection for the levies on imported goods during his multiple public remarks today.
He then revoked protections for transgender troops set by Biden.
‘The previous administration has embedded deeply unpopular, inflationary, illegal, and radical practices within every agency and office of the Federal Government,’ Trump said in a statement accompanying his order, which revoked dozens of previous Biden orders, including the transgender protections.
The number of transgender troops known to be serving is possibly from around 9,000 to potentially as many as 14,000.
The Department of Defense has referred queries on the number of transgender troops to the individual services, and because of the different ways transgender troops can identify and whether or not they have received medical procedures, there is no one database that tracks them.
As he sat down to sign executive orders, Trump was asked which former president he would call for advice.
He responded that Bill Clinton was a ‘very interesting politician’ and said he had a ‘great political sense.’
Trump said Clinton was ‘disrespected’ and ‘not used properly.’
Trump was also asked about his friendly chat with former President Barack Obama during former President Jimmy Carter’s state funeral.
‘We were having some crazy conversations,’ he said.
He also said that Elon Musk won’t get a desk in the West Wing.
Trump has named Musk, the Tesla and X CEO, as head of the Department of Government Efficiency.
He also predicted that Greenland would become a United States territory, fulfilling Trump’s long held wish.
‘Greenland is a wonderful place. We need it for international security, and I’m sure Denmark will come along,’ Trump said.
‘I think it’s costing them a lot of money to maintain it,’ Trump said. ‘The people of Greenland are not happy with Denmark. I think they’re happy with us. They can’t maintain it.’
Earlier, Trump turned his rally at a downtown Washington arena into a signing ceremony as he grabbed his pen and issued multiple executive actions to institute major policy changes.
Trump officially halted over 78 Biden-era executive orders, announced a regulatory freeze preventing bureaucrats from issuing regulations until the Trump administration has full control of the government and a freeze on all federal hiring except for military and a few other essential areas.
He also ordered a requirement that federal workers return to full-time in-person work, a directive to every department and agency to address the cost of living crisis, and announced withdrawal from the Paris climate treaty.
Trump also signed a government order restoring freedom of speech and preventing censorship of free speech and one ending the ‘weaponization of government against the political adversaries of the previous administration’
Some of the orders he signed first including a Biden border bill, a regulatory freeze and a freeze on federal hiring.
The setup included a small desk, chair and microphone, where Trump was sitting to attach his signature to official actions.
He showed off his signature as he signs an initial round of executive orders before tossing the pens into the crowd.
Trump declared at his indoor parade that he will sign pardons for ‘a lot of people’ who were convicted for the attack on the U.S. Capitol as the crowd cheered enthusiastically.
‘We won, we won, but now the work begins,’ Trump said to start his remarks at the end of the parade in the packed Capitol One Arena in Washington, DC.
The orders are signed statements about how the president wants the federal government to be managed.
They can be instructions to federal agencies or requests for reports.
Many orders can be unobjectionable, such as giving federal employees the day after Christmas off.
They can also lay out major policies. For example, President Joe Biden signed an order to create a structure for establishing regulations on artificial intelligence.
But executive orders — and their policy sausage-making siblings, the proclamation and political memorandum — also are used by presidents to pursue agendas they can’t get through Congress.
New presidents can — and often do — issue orders to cancel the orders of their predecessors.
On his first day, Trump rescinded 78 orders and actions signed by Biden. Among Trump’s rescissions was a Biden order that canceled some of the orders signed by Trump during his first term.
As the American Bar Association notes, the orders do not require congressional approval and can’t be directly overturned by lawmakers. Still, Congress could block an order from being fulfilled by removing funding or creating other hurdles.
