January 21, 2025 | By Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch |
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| ▪ Trump's "shock and awe" efforts are put into place ▪ Rubio confirmed as secretary of State ▪ Tech titans shape policy agenda ▪ Biden issues "protective pardons" on the way out |
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©️ The Associated Press | Kevin Lamarque, Reuters |
Trump's whirlwind second term begins
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President Trump stormed into office for his second term with soaring rhetoric and sweeping orders that shattered records for Day 1 executive action. Borders are closed. More oil and gas drilling. Halts to "government censorship" as well as new outer continental shelf offshore wind leases. Trump issued pardons and commuted some sentences for most of the nearly 1,600 rioters he has called "patriots" who were sentenced after the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. (Read the executive order HERE.) Trump, ever the storyteller, flooded the zone and dominated news media coverage both in imagery and deeds. Among Trump's clemency recipients: Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the Proud Boys who was convicted of helping to mastermind the Jan. 6 insurrection and was serving a 22-year sentence. He was released Monday from a federal prison in Louisiana and heads today to Miami. Trump commuted the sentence of Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right militia group Oath Keepers. With his eyes on voters' worries about inflation, Trump on Monday issued vague instructions to his Cabinet to "rapidly bring down costs and prices." Meanwhile, former Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) became the president's first confirmed Cabinet secretary. Trump's picks to be CIA director and secretary of Defense cleared Senate committees Monday, a necessary step before floor votes anticipated this week. On a bipartisan vote of 64-35, senators also agreed to send Trump a bill to crack down on migrants without legal status who commit serious crimes. Democrats complained that Trump and GOP allies outmaneuvered them on an emotional national issue that will provide the new president with a high-profile bill signing. During a peaceful inaugural ceremony that shifted from the cold outdoors to the warm security of the Capitol rotunda, Trump, reading from a teleprompter, declared just feet away from a seated former President Biden that "America's decline is over." Republicans, elated by their party's political comeback, applauded. Biden cupped his chin with one hand, his gaze impassive and lowered. The Hill staff: Photos captured during Inauguration Day. The outgoing chief executive saved his applause for Trump's mention of the release Sunday by Hamas of three Israeli hostages as part of a ceasefire agreement that took months to negotiate. Trump depicted the nation in disrepair and laid out what he called "golden age" policy changes he believes are validated by the more than 77 million voters who returned him to the White House, The Hill's Brett Samuels reports. "Our recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal, and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy and, indeed, their freedom," Trump said. The Hill's Niall Stanage in the Memo: Five takeaways as Trump returns to power. Now comes the hard part. Plenty was woven into the president's remarks, but specifics are ahead. Trump pumped the brakes on his promise to deliver wide-ranging tariffs as soon as he took office, wielding threats Monday with a Feb. 1 trigger date. He ordered reviews of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, searching for evidence of "weaponization." He will need Congress to enact major tax changes, a challenge because of Republicans' wafer-thin majorities in Congress. He vows to forge a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Trump wants to expand U.S. territory, shrink government and replace civil servants throughout government with loyal political appointees. The Hill: Trump signs executive orders on federal workforce, telework. Here's a list of Trump's key executive initiatives, as described by the administration on Monday. And a list of existing executive orders Trump rescinded. Trump embraced a declaration of a national energy emergency as his umbrella authority to ease regulatory requirements to "drill, baby, drill" and to increase exports. "It's not clear what the emergency is," Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, told The New York Times. "The U.S. is producing more oil and gas than ever before, more than any other country in the world. We have no gas lines, we have no widespread electricity blackouts." He described Trump's emergency order as "mostly performative." The Hill: Trump for a second time as president withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement to combat climate change. Here's a transcript of Trump's address. The Hill: Highlights from the president's speech. |
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Smart Take
with Blake Burman |
| President Trump came right out of the gate announcing changes his administration will make on a host of major policy items, like the southern border and energy. Executive action is a way for any president to use their first days in office to make sure they immediately institute change. However, it is Congress that now has to take up the tricky part: legislating. I spoke with Marc Short, who knows a thing or two about the connection between the Trump White House and congressional Republicans, as he was the White House director of legislative affairs at the start of Trump's first term. Short told me he doesn't think people appreciate just how tight Republicans' majority is in the House, especially when it comes to one of Trump's main priorities. "The legislation is going to be difficult," Short said. "We lost 12 House Republicans in passing tax reform [in 2017]. He has a two-seat majority in the House right now to extend [the tax cuts]. It's going to be a very long, challenging year." Burman hosts "The Hill" weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation. The Hill & NewsNation are owned by Nexstar Media Group. |
Burman hosts "The Hill" weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation. The Hill & NewsNation are owned by Nexstar Media Group. |
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- Trump is expected Thursday to address via video the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where heads of state, politicians and business moguls mix.
- American Ryan Corbett, held in Afghanistan since 2022, was released by the Taliban, his family said early today while thanking Biden and Trump. Corbett was part of a negotiated swap for Khan Muhammad, who had been serving a life sentence in California after conviction in 2008 on narcoterrorism and heroin charges. The Taliban said it freed more than one U.S. citizen.
- At the outset of Trump's new term, ethics experts are tracking his national security conflicts of interest, which are expected by observers to be more numerous, blatant and perhaps riskier than during his first term.
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©️ The Associated Press | Alex Brandon |
CABINET: The Senate on Monday unanimously confirmed Rubio as secretary of State. He represented Florida in the Senate since 2011 and resigned Monday ahead of the inauguration. He has extensive foreign policy experience and was widely considered to have among the smoothest paths to confirmation. "No one on this body can doubt that Marco Rubio is an intelligent man with remarkable understanding of American foreign policy and a very deep commitment to the American dream," Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in remarks on the Senate floor. Meanwhile on Monday, Senate committees approved Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary and John Ratcliffe to head the Central Intelligence Agency. Hegseth, whose confirmation is among the rockiest, was approved 14-13 by the Armed Services Committee. The Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee cleared South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security with a vote of 13-2. It also approved Russell Vought for director of the Office of Management and Budget by a vote of 8-7. Any plans by the GOP to move quickly could get gummed up if Democrats work to slow the nominations, potentially giving Trump and his team an early headache as they push to get his top national security officials in place sooner rather than later. "We'll find out what the traffic will bear," Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told The Hill's Al Weaver. "We're prepared to move and do what's necessary to get them on the forward path." RESISTANCE 2.0: House Democrats are bracing for major fights in the coming year as the second Trump administration takes office and Republicans control all levers of power in Washington. Trump's proposed agenda touches on virtually every major policy issue governed by Washington — from immigration, energy and health care to law enforcement, taxes and trade — and Democrats are already girding to protect their favored programs, including a long list of initiatives adopted by Biden in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. "We're getting ready for a broad scale assault," said Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. "It seems like the whole Trump party has now adopted the 'flood the zone' philosophy." The Hill's Mike Lillis breaks down Democrats' biggest fights in the next four years. ▪ The Washington Post: These are the legal challenges against Trump's executive orders. ▪ The Hill: ACLU sues over Trump order aimed at ending birthright citizenship. Meanwhile, the House GOP's Main Street Caucus has turned into a critical behind-the-scenes force for striking deals in the fractious, slim majority, writes The Hill's Emily Brooks, and it is set to grow even more important as its leaders prioritize being in Trump's orbit while Republicans plot an ambitious legislative agenda. TECH INFLUENCE: Even before his inauguration ceremony concluded, Trump's new "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) was sued multiple times in D.C.'s federal district court alleging the advisory panel doesn't comply with federal transparency laws under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The cases were led by progressive consumer watchdog Public Citizen, the American Public Health Association and National Security Counselors, a public interest law firm. They seek to block Elon Musk from moving forward or coordinating with the new administration. "DOGE's stacked membership, far from being fairly balanced, reveals that only one viewpoint is represented: that of 'small-government crusaders' with backgrounds in either the tech industry or Republican politics," the National Security Counselors' lawsuit states. "This shortcoming renders DOGE's membership imbalanced and unfit for the function it has been directed to perform." Musk has pledged ambitious plans to cut $2 trillion in government spending and restructure federal agencies. Vivek Ramaswamy, his erstwhile co-leader, will leave DOGE as he runs for Ohio governor. Politico: "Everyone wants him out": How Musk helped boot Ramaswamy from DOGE. In addition to helming DOGE — and moving into a West Wing office — Musk was front-and-center during Trump's inauguration and the festivities surrounding it. He and other tech leaders — including Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's Tim Cook and Google's Sundar Pichai — were present for the inauguration on Monday, with their attendance coming after many top Silicon Valley executives have met with Trump ahead of his second term. Tech executives and investors were given rare and extended access to lawmakers, Supreme Court justices and Trump's top aides at the post-inauguration luncheon on Monday. It was a striking picture, as many of their companies are actively battling government regulation. Democrats publicly hit back at the seating decision. "Big Tech billionaires have a front row seat at Trump's inauguration. They have even better seats than Trump's own Cabinet picks. That says it all," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote on the social platform X. And some Republicans are skeptical about the message it sends to embrace the tech CEOs who previously had been adversaries. "Why is Zuckerberg all of a sudden in our fold? My concern is, if we hadn't won, where would he be? Would he be on the other team?" a GOP lawmaker told The Hill's Emily Brooks. "At least Elon was in the fight." The Washington Post: Under the Rotunda, a historic concentration of wealth salutes Trump. TIKTOK: Trump's plan to save TikTok is putting him at a crossroads with some Republicans amid questions about his legal authority to postpone a ban on the popular video-sharing app. His executive order seeks to extend the deadline for the ban on TikTok for 75 days. Some China hawks in Congress are already breaking from the newly inaugurated president on the issue, standing firm that the app should not be available in the U.S. without an official divestiture deal on the table. "We commend Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft for following the law and halting operations with ByteDance and TikTok, and we encourage other companies to do the same," Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) wrote in a statement. "The law, after all, risks ruinous bankruptcy for any company who violates it." That deal may now be easier to achieve, as China's Foreign Ministry on Monday said that private companies can make their own decisions about whether to sell or merge, reversing its previous statement that it opposes any effort by ByteDance to sell the U.S. version of TikTok to a foreign owner. China's unwillingness to let ByteDance sell TikTok's U.S. entity had tied the company's hands in the face of the ban. With Trump's pledge to stave off the ban, potential buyers — such as billionaire Frank McCourt — now have three months to propose a sale that would comply with the ban. ▪ The New York Times: TikTok, RedNote and the crushed promise of the Chinese internet. ▪ The Hill: The Rev. Al Sharpton on Monday called on all Americans to boycott companies that do not support diversity, inclusion and equity (DEI), now officially opposed by Trump. |
- The House convenes at noon. The Senate meets at 10 a.m.
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©️ The Associated Press | Chris Kleponis |
BIDEN'S EXIT: In the last moments of his presidency, Biden on Monday issued pardons for members of his family as Trump's inauguration was already underway. The blanket pardons were granted to his brother, James Biden; his sister-in-law, Sara Jones Biden; his sister, Valerie Biden Owens; his brother-in-law, John T. Owens; and his youngest brother, Francis Biden. Biden said the pardons do not acknowledge any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be viewed as an admission of guilt. The pardon for the Biden family members came after a number of them testified before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee as it investigated both former president Biden and son Hunter Biden — whom he pardoned in December — in a probe of influence peddling. "My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics," the elder Biden said in a statement. "Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end." Biden also issued protective pardons for retired Gen. Mark Milley, Anthony Fauci, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and other lawmakers who investigated Trump and others as part of the House select committee examining the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol. He also pardoned U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police officers who testified before the committee. Biden described the risks of political "retribution" and potential injuries to reputations and personal finances in explaining the pardons. Trump has lobbed numerous threats and insults at the members of the panel. He suggested Cheney should be shot by a firing squad and said Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) was part of the "enemy within." "These public servants have served our nation with honor and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions," Biden said in a statement. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Cheney, the two leaders of the now-disbanded Jan. 6 committee, thanked Biden for the pardons on Monday, which they said were "not for breaking the law but upholding it." Meanwhile, Trump entertained supporters gathered at Washington's Capital One Arena Monday with a mocking impression of Biden. ▪ Politico: Biden said his pardon of family was meant to shield them from Trump. That's not the full story. ▪ The Hill: Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso (D) is stoking speculation about his political future as he becomes one of the most vocal Democratic critics of the handling of the wildfires that have ravaged parts of the region. |
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©️ The Associated Press | Jehad Alshrafi |
GAZA CEASEFIRE: After a Sunday ceasefire took effect in Gaza, thousands of displaced Palestinians began to return to their bombed-out neighborhoods and homes, some searching for the bodies of relatives. Meanwhile, a surge of desperately needed humanitarian aid carried by more than 630 trucks entered the enclave, according to United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher. The U.N., which said it has 4,000 trucks ready to enter Gaza, says the availability of food is not the problem, but that the delivery mechanism faces obstacles. "Barely any food has gone into besieged North Gaza for more than two months. Winter cold and rain are further reducing people's ability to survive," the U.N.'s World Food Programme warned. But the U.N. agency responsible for administering aid to Gaza said that the first full day of the ceasefire agreement was running smoothly. Three female hostages — captured during Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel — were reunited with their families, the first of 33 hostages to be released by Hamas in the first, 42-day stage of the deal. In return, 90 Palestinian prisoners were freed from Israeli jails. Fifty-seven people are believed to remain hostage in Gaza, but Israel has not given the full basis for its estimates. ▪ The Times of Israel: Trump said Monday that he's "not confident" the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that came into effect the previous day would be upheld through all three phases. ▪ The New York Times analysis: Fighting has halted in Gaza, but the war is not over. Sunday's delayed start to the truce was a minor problem compared with the difficult choices and American leverage needed to get both parties to the second phase, which could end the war. ▪ Foreign Affairs: How Trump could reshape the Middle East. UKRAINE: Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Trump on taking office Monday and said he was open to dialogue with the new U.S. administration on Ukraine and nuclear arms. Putin, who said he wanted to secure a long-lasting peace in Ukraine rather than a short ceasefire, made the comments during a meeting of Russia's Security Council. Trump has pledged to end the war in Ukraine within his first 100 days in office, but so far, Trump and his team have offered no details of what a deal might look like. Kyiv and Moscow, meanwhile, have expressed incompatible terms for a ceasefire. Ukraine has demanded a full withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory and immediate NATO membership. Russia said it will not return land, and wants Ukraine written out of NATO. ▪ The Wall Street Journal: The Trump administration views China-owned infrastructure as leverage over the Panama Canal. Panama and some former U.S. officials say concerns are overblown. ▪ Politico: Trump pushes Europe into a lose-lose choice between the U.S. and China. |
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©️ The Associated Press | Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images |
And finally … It was the hat tip heard 'round the world. First lady Melania Trump's wide-brimmed, boater-style hat took social media by storm on Monday. Comparisons and memes abounded, from Zorro to the Hamburglar and even the Pizza Hut logo. New York magazine quipped that her navy-blue hat and coat ensemble bore resemblance to Carmen Sandiego — the titular character of an '80s video game franchise and geography-focused PBS children's show. Meanwhile, The New York Times noted the hat's brim was so wide it shaded her eyes, and made it impossible for the president to kiss her cheek. And an enterprising staffer at NBC managed to track down an impressive copycat, which Jimmy Fallon donned Monday night during his "Tonight Show" monologue. ▪ The Hill: Watch Carrie Underwood sing "America the Beautiful" a capella in the Capitol Rotunda. ▪ The New York Times: Despite an order by Trump to fly all flags at full-staff for his inauguration, frigid temperatures in Washington, D.C., left some with frozen strings. Flags had been flying at half-staff in honor of former President Carter, who died in December. |
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