Trump will sign a slew of executive actions, including on the border, Jan. 6 pardons, energy and the economy.
| Published Jan 20, 2025 | Updated Jan 20, 2025
Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th US President in the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, on Jan. 20, 2025. SAUL LOEB/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Here is the latest
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Trump Announces ‘Gulf of America’ Name Change
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Trump Vows to End Government Censorship
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Trump Announces Immediate Action on US Border
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Trump: ‘I Was Saved by God to Make America Great Again’
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Trump: ‘Government Confronts Crisis of Trust’
Trump Announces ‘Gulf of America’ Name Change
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WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump announces the Gulf of Mexico will be renamed “Gulf of America” and that Alaska’s Denali will be renamed back to Mount McKinley.
Ahead of Inauguration Day, Trump said he would look into taking back U.S. control of the Panama Canal. He did not rule out using military force. The United States gave the canal to the country in 1999.
Trump Vows to End Government Censorship
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In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump said he will sign an executive order to “stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.”
In his remarks, given on Jan. 20, Trump said there has been an “unconstitutional” federal effort to restrict free speech.
“Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents, something I know something about,” Trump said. “We will restore fair, equal, and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law.”
Trump Announces Immediate Action on US Border
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President Donald Trump said he will kick off his second presidency by signing a series of executive orders to secure the U.S. border.
“With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense. It’s all about common sense,” he said, noting that his first action will be to declare a national emergency at the southern border.
The announcement prompted a standing ovation among many inside the Capitol and at the nearby Capital One Arena. Notable exceptions included former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and other Democrats.
Trump: ‘I Was Saved by God to Make America Great Again’
By Ryan Morgan
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President Donald Trump, in remarks following his swearing-in, reflected on challenges he’s faced over the course of his political career, including an attempt on his life at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
“Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom and indeed to take my life,” Trump said.
Trump survived the assassination attempt with a grazing wound to his ear, while an attendee at the event, Corey Comperatore, sustained a fatal gunshot wound. Two others were hospitalized.
Trump: ‘Government Confronts Crisis of Trust’
By T.J. Muscaro
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President Donald Trump stated in his post-inauguration address that the U.S. government is currently confronting a “crisis of trust.”
“For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens while the pillars of our society lay broken and, seemingly, in complete disrepair,” he said.
He criticized the previous administration for its involvement in “catastrophic events abroad” and for providing protection to criminals who entered the country illegally, while failing to protect law-abiding American citizens, and failing to provide basic services to those affected by disasters.
Trump: ‘The Golden Age of America Begins Right Now’
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Newly inaugurated President Donald Trump began his first speech as president by stating that America’s best days are beginning.
“The golden age of America begins right now,” Trump said inside the Capitol Rotunda.
“From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer.”
He reiterated his promise to put America first “every single day,” pledging to restore safety, justice, and the nation’s sovereignty.
“Our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud, prosperous, and free,” Trump added. “America will soon be greater, stronger, and far more exceptional than ever before.”
Trump Sworn In as 47th President
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President Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.
On Jan. 20, in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Trump took the oath of office on the Lincoln Bible and a Bible given to him by his mother, Mary Trump. As First Lady Melania Trump held the bibles, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts conducted the swearing in, making Trump the second president in U.S. history to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms in the White House.
Trump is expected to give remarks following the swearing-in ceremony.
Biden Pardons Family in Final Act as President
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President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the US Conference of Mayors during the 93rd winter meeting in Washington on Jan. 17, 2025. (Photo by Ting Shen / AFP) Photo by TING SHEN/AFP via Getty Images
Outgoing President Joe Biden’s final act as president was to preemptively pardon several members of his family.
The sweeping pardon covers the president’s brother, James B. Biden; sister-in-law, Sara Jones Biden; sister, Valerie Biden Owens; brother-in-law, John T. Owens; and brother, Francis W. Biden.
“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” the president said in a statement.
The pardons were announced just minutes before President-elect Donald Trump was sworn in.
“My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end,” Biden said.
He suggested that his family members would be subject to “baseless and politically motivated investigations” under the Trump administration.
Vance Sworn In as Vice President
By Ryan Morgan
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JD Vance has been sworn in as the Vice President of the United States.
Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, held a copy of the Bible for her husband as Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh administered the oath of office.
Klobuchar Touts America’s ‘Enduring Democracy’
By T.J. Muscaro
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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) opened the 60th Presidential Inauguration, praising the “enduring democracy” of the United States as it nears its 250th anniversary.
“It is the moment when leaders, elevated by the will of the people, promise to be faithful to our Constitution, to cherish and defend it,” Klobuchar said. “It is the moment when they become, as we all should be, the guardians of our country, through war and peace, through adversity and prosperity, we hold this inauguration every four years.”
Highlighting that Jan. 20 is also Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, she called it a reminder to uphold freedoms, liberties, and values enshrined in the Constitution.
She acknowledged the three past presidents and past vice presidents in attendance, as well as the nine Supreme Court justices. She also credited the system of checks and balances, the three equal branches of government, and the power of the people for the endurance of the “great American experiment” that has endured.
“As we inaugurate a new president and vice president, let us remember that the power of those in this room comes from the people,” Klobuchar said. “The construction workers who build our country, the teachers and health care workers who nurture us, the troops defending our freedoms, and yes, the firefighters In Los Angeles putting themselves on the line for us.”
“Our democracy’s strength and grit must match theirs,” she concluded.
No New Tariffs on Trump’s Day 1
By Terri Wu
52 mins ago
President-elect Donald Trump arrives for services at St. John’s Church in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2025. Scott Olson/Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump will not impose new tariffs on day one of his new term in office. Instead, he will sign a memorandum directing federal agencies to investigate unfair trade practices by foreign countries and recommend associated trade policies.
The memo singles out China for a review of its compliance with the 2020 Phase One trade deal and includes an assessment of the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement trade pact, which is up for renewal in 2026, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Previously, Trump has repeatedly said he would impose 10 percent additional tariffs on all goods imported from China and 25 percent on those from Canada and Mexico.
The trade policy memo is one of Trump’s many executive actions expected on day one.
He is also expected to declare a national energy emergency and issue an executive order enabling drilling in Alaska. At a press conference in the morning, an incoming White House official said the emergency declaration is justified because the current high energy costs are unnecessary and impede the United States from competing with China in the artificial intelligence race, which is crucial for America to remain the global leader.
During Trump’s first term, the president used various laws to impose tariffs.
He invoked Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which gives the president the authority to impose tariffs to address unfair foreign practices affecting the U.S. economy. After a review by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, he imposed tariffs on Chinese imports worth approximately $300 billion annually. The Biden administration kept all the duties and added more last year following the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s statutory four-year review.
In March 2018, Trump used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent levy on aluminum from all countries except Canada and Mexico. The law allows the president to impose tariffs if the Commerce Department determines that certain imports harm U.S. national security.
In October 2021, President Joe Biden reached an agreement with the European Union and the United Kingdom to replace tariffs with quotas in return for lifting the retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports.
The Biden administration collected $77 billion in tariff revenue in fiscal year 2024, which ended in September 2024. This accounted for about 1.6 percent of total government income.
Trump Arrives In the Rotunda
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President-elect Donald Trump has arrived in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol for his official swearing-in as president of the United States. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will preside over the oath of office ceremony.
The Rotunda is filled with political and business figures as well as members of the Trump family. Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are present at the event.
A number of Trump’s Cabinet nominees are in the room. Leading technology figures Apple CEO Tim Cook, former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai are present, too.
Harris and Biden Make Identical Final Posts on Social Media
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President Joe Biden delivers remarks as Vice President Kamala Harris looks on, at the White House on July 14, 2024. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Outgoing President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both made their final posts on social media on Monday ahead of the inauguration ceremony for the 47th president, Donald Trump.
“It has been the honor of our lifetimes to serve you, the American people,” Biden and Harris, who was the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in the 2024 election, both wrote in identical posts on Monday on their official X accounts.
The two posts both featured a portrait of Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Harris, and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
After President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, X handed off the official “POTUS” and “VP” X accounts to Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Jill Biden’s official account was to be handed over to now-First Lady Melania Trump.
X’s owner, Elon Musk, a vocal supporter of Trump in the latter stages of the 2024 presidential campaign, attended the inauguration at the U.S. Capitol along with other tech company executives and founders. They include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, and others.
Others who attended the event included former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as Bush’s wife, former First Lady Laura Bush, attended the inauguration. Former First Lady Michelle Obama did not attend.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, his wife, Karen Pence, as well as former Vice President Dan Quayle attended the event. Dick Cheney, Bush’s vice president, did not show up.
The Bidens met with Trump earlier in the day and traveled with him to the U.S. Capitol for the ceremonial transition of power.
In January 2021, days before Trump left office for the first time, he posted on his personal account on Twitter, which has since been renamed X, about the election and inauguration.
“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” Trump wrote on Jan. 9, 2021.
Later that day, he added: “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th” during that year.
Trump was later banned by Twitter, Facebook, and Google-owned platforms. His social media account’s access was restored in mid-2023 after Musk purchased Twitter.
Trump, however, did not use the platform in earnest until the latter half of 2024, as campaigning ramped up ahead of the Nov. 5, 2024, election. He mostly opted to post comments and statements on Truth Social, a social media platform he founded several years ago.
Trump to Declare There Are Only 2 Genders, Eliminate DEI
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President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden greet President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melan Trump, as they arrive at the White House in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2025. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Ending federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and declaring that there are only two sexes will be among President-elect Donald Trump’s first actions after he is sworn in as president on Jan. 20, according to incoming White House officials.
The Trump administration will define a female as “a person belonging at conception to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell,” with the large reproductive cell being an egg cell or ovum.
Notably, the definition does not rely on chromosomes—a fact that should clear up confusion regarding intersex individuals, who may have an irregular combination of chromosomes.
On a phone call with reporters, Trump’s team advised that federal officials would continue to distinguish between sex and gender, due to the social element involved with discussions of gender norms and roles.
Agencies will be directed to enforce laws that protect men and women as “biologically distinct” sexes.
The government will not “promote” gender ideology, however, and will rescind the Biden administration’s policy expanding the protections of Title IX to include gender identity.
The executive action will also protect women’s privacy in intimate spaces and safeguard against the enforcement of pronoun policies that infringe on individuals’ free speech rights.
The DEI directive will end all federal programs and preferences based on race, sex, gender, or other immutable characteristics.
Asked if the new policies would address the subject of conversion therapy—a practice the Biden administration banned—officials said they would not.
They said, however, that additional actions on DEI will be coming “very soon.”
This story will be updated.
Trump to Declare National Emergency, Issue 10 Executive Orders on Border
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A caravan of migrants of different nationalities heading to the United States leaves the city of Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, on Jan. 12, 2025. Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump will begin making good on his campaign promises with 10 executive orders on border security to be signed after being sworn in Monday, including declaring a national emergency at the U.S. southern border that will pave the way for military deployment.
Trump’s executive orders will set the stage for a mass deportation operation and crack down on illegal immigration and crime.
Incoming White House officials said besides declaring a national emergency and directing troops to the border, Trump would reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy, end catch-and-release of illegal immigrants, build a border wall, designate criminal cartels as global terrorists, end refugee resettlement and birthright citizenship, and bring back the death penalty for certain crimes against federal agents.
Specifically, the national emergency declaration will allow the military and National Guard troops to build barriers and finish the wall along the U.S.–Mexico border.
It directs the secretary of defense to deploy additional personnel to the border, including members of the armed forces and the National Guard.
The executive order defines the military’s role in protecting the “territorial integrity of the United States.”
It includes sealing national borders by directing the military to repel “forms of invasion, including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling, and other criminal activities.”
During his campaign for the presidency, Trump vowed to end the catch-and-release policy, which allows illegal immigrants to stay in the country after being processed.
Critics said the measure under President Joe Biden attracted some 11 million illegal immigrants into the country and created a border crisis.
“On Day One, I will terminate every open borders policy of the Biden administration,” Trump said during a campaign rally in January 2024.
To help curb illegal immigration, Trump will also bring back one of his most successful border measures during his first term as president—what’s commonly known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
Formally called the Migrant Protection Protocols, the policy requires asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while awaiting a hearing.
Trump campaigned on bringing the policy back, with many saying it eliminated one of the draws for illegal immigrants—the ability to live and work in the United States for months or years before an immigration judge heard their case.
On Jan. 16, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing examining the program, signaling its importance in Trump’s plans.
The committee passed a resolution along party lines asserting that Trump, as president, has the power to secure the border with laws already in place and use policies such as “Remain in Mexico.”
It’s unclear whether Trump has an agreement with Mexico to implement the policy, as he did during his first term.
By designating criminal organizations such as Tren de Aragua (Venezuela), MS13, and others as terrorist groups, the executive order will facilitate the removal of gang members.
Under the Alien Enemies Act, Venezuelan gangs, for example, will be considered an irregular armed force of Venezuela’s government “conducting a predatory incursion and invasion into the United States,” according to incoming officials.
Trump promised during his New York City rally at Madison Square Garden that he would end criminal enterprises run by violent, illegal immigrant gangs such as Tren de Aragua.
Additional Deterrents
Another executive order will restore the death penalty in public safety, directing the attorney general to seek capital punishment for the murder of law enforcement officers and capital crimes committed by illegal aliens.
The order also encourages state attorneys general to bring capital state charges for these crimes.
Officials said the order is in response to victims of illegal immigrant crime, such as Laken Riley.
In February 2024, the 22-year-old nursing student was murdered by an illegal immigrant while jogging at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.
Congress passed the Laken Riley Act earlier this month with bipartisan support.
The legislation requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain illegal immigrants who have committed certain crimes, such as theft, burglary, or shoplifting.
Incoming officials said the order will address “some of the most violent, abusive criminals we’ve seen enter our country in our lifetime.”
The refugee resettlement executive order would “end asylum and close the border to illegals,” officials said.
Trump’s proclamation would create a process for immediate removal without the possibility of asylum.
Ending birthright citizenship would be a way to dissuade millions of illegal immigrants, though its legality is likely to be challenged.
Birthright citizenship is addressed under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which says “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”
Trump’s executive order hinges on the “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” part of the amendment, meaning the federal government will not recognize automatic birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens born in the United States.
The idea of birthright was decided in the 1898 Supreme Court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark. The High Court ruled that children born in the United States to immigrant parents are citizens, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
Trump to Declare National Energy Emergency, Sign Alaska Executive Order
By Andrew Moran
1 hour ago
Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a campaign rally at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Nov. 5, 2024. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump will sign “close to 100” executive orders in the hours after taking office, including the declaration of “a national energy emergency” with an “Unleash American Energy” executive order and a corresponding slate of policy directives and actions designed to animate his “drill baby drill” energy agenda.
During a call, a White House official confirmed Trump would declare a national energy emergency because “the high costs of energy are unnecessary.”
“They are by design. It is a cause of policy. We can address that,” the official said.
The official said the “overall theme” of Trump’s “Unleash American Energy” executive order is national security. The urgency of an executive order “is crucial because we are in an AI race with China, and our ability to produce domestic American energy is so crucial such that we can generate the electricity and power that’s needed to stay at the global forefront of technology, that national energy will unlock,” teh official said.
In addition to cutting red tape and regulations, this executive order will end the electric vehicle mandate.
When returning to the Oval Office, the 47th president will likely issue an executive order specifically targeting Alaska, a state rich in natural resources and a crucial component of America’s national security.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy requested in November 2024 to expand fossil fuel development in Alaska’s 23 million-acre National Petroleum Reserve and 19.6 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to “make both Alaska and America great again.”
Trump will direct the Department of Interior to restore oil and gas leasing availability to 13,000 acres of the National Petroleum Reserve and adhere to federal law in expanding Arctic National Wildlife Refuge leasing, reversing President Joe Biden’s orders that reversed Trump’s first-term orders.“It’s a crucial place on which we could export LNG [liquefied natural gas], not only to our United States but through our friends and allies in the Asia Pacific region,” the official said.
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