Trump pardons Capitol rioters on busy first day of presidency
In his first day in office as US president, Donald Trump has signed a host of executive orders on issues such as immigration, justice and energy. He also pardoned 1,600 people who stormed the Capitol in January 2021 and declared his intention to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization.
Executive orders carry the weight of law, but can be overturned by subsequent presidents or the courts. Many could face legal challenges.
“The golden age of America begins right now,” Trump said in his inaugural address, adding that he will be a “peacemaker and a unifier”.
The first two people involved in the storming of the Capitol were released from a Washington prison on Monday night, a White House spokesperson confirmed to US media.
State of emergency
Trump declared a state of emergency on the border with Mexico and asked the department of Defence to send troops to the border to assist the department of Homeland Security. He also rescinded a decision by his predecessor, Joe Biden, that imposed sanctions against Israeli illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
For the second time, he signed an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization. “Oooh, that’s a big one,” he said as he signed the document.
Trump was critical of how the institution handled the Covid-19 pandemic and began the process of leaving it during his first term. President Biden later reversed that decision.
He has also vowed to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, the global commitment to tackle rising temperatures. In the meantime, the White House announced a “national energy emergency”, with a series of changes that will reverse climate regulations and increase oil and gas production.
Among the many orders signed on Monday is one that reinstates the death penalty at federal level. Thirteen prisoners were executed in the last six months of Trump’s first term as president, more than under any other president in 100 years. Biden recently commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 death row inmates to life imprisonment.
Trump also signed a directive postponing the implementation of a law banning Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok for 75 days, and another ending the practice of “catch and release”, a policy that allows migrants to live in US communities while they await their hearings.
Early on Tuesday, he sacked four senior government officials appointed by his predecessor and warned that more than 1,000 others were at risk of losing their jobs, in the first message posted on his Truth Social network since his inauguration.
The members of the previous administration “are not aligned with our vision to make America great again”, he said, adding “YOU’RE FIRED!”
US president Donald Trump signs an executive order during the inaugural parade at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC, 20 January 2025 © PHOTO JIM WATSON / AFP