The inauguration and speeches are over, and Donald Trump has pardoned almost all of the January 6 rioters. But the president continues to issue executive actions, along with vows to bend Washington to his will. Amid the blitz of activity and pushback, it might be hard to figure out what’s really going on. Here’s what happened on Trump’s first full day back in the White House.
NBC News reports that senators have received an affidavit from Danielle Hegseth, the former sister-in-law of Trump nominee Pete Hegseth, detailing new allegations against him from when she was married to his brother.
The Wall Street Journal, which also reviewed the affidavit, reports that she recounted several instances when she witnessed Hegseth’s excessive drinking firsthand:
The sworn statement, submitted in response to a request from Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was signed by Hegseth’s former sister in law, Danielle Hegseth. It states that she was with Hegseth when he passed out from drunkenness in the bathroom of a bar in Minneapolis in about 2013. It also describes another night, when she said Hegseth drank so much at a restaurant in Minneapolis that the Uber driver had to pull over on Interstate 94 so he could throw up.
Though Trump started off his first full day as president by unceremoniously firing four prominent appointees from Biden’s administration, several of them pushed back on his characterization of events.
Celebrity chef José Andrés responded to Trump on social media, saying that he had already left his role with the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. “I submitted my resignation last week … my 2 year term was already up,” he said.
Similarly, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a statement that she resigned from her position with the President’s Export Council weeks earlier. “You can’t fire someone who has already resigned,” she said.
Eighteen attorneys general have joined together in a joint lawsuit challenging Trump’s controversial executive order seeking to revoke birthright citizenship. ABC News reports that the lawsuit describes Trump’s action as a “flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage.”
Trump revoked the Secret Service security detail for John Bolton, his former national-security adviser, within hours of taking office. Bolton, who has been critical of his former boss, was under the agency’s protection after an alleged Iranian plot against his life was discovered following his departure from the Trump administration.
“I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has made this decision,” Bolton said in a statement to CNN. “Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden’s national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to once again extend Secret Service protection to me in 2021.”
At a church service President Trump attended on Tuesday, Bishop of Washington Marian Edgar Budde preached a message of generosity, per Reuters reporter Nandita Bose:
“There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives … and the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals…”
Needless to say, Trump was having none of that:
Trump’s move to provide clemency to some of the most violent offenders on January 6 showed the stark differences between the outgoing and ingoing leadership of the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune appeared to downplay Trump’s move in comments to CNN. “We’re not looking backwards, we’re looking forward,” he said. However, Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell, who led the chamber for numerous years, told Semafor that he agreed with Vice-President Vance’s previous comments that the violent defendants of that day should not be pardoned.
“No one should excuse violence. And particularly violence against police officers,” he said.
GOP senators on the Hill took different approaches to questions about President Trump’s decision to issue mass pardons and commutations for the January 6 rioters on his first official day in office. Some opted to not answer questions at all:
Others pointed to Biden’s last-minute pardons of his family members. Iowa senator Chuck Grassley told Semafor, “I’m just talking about the Biden pardons, because that is so selfish.”
However, several Republicans took issue with Trump pardoning some of the most violent offenders from that day. “I saw an image today in my news clippings of the people who were crushing that police officer. None of them should get a pardon,” North Carolina senator Thom Tillis told Reuters.
Senator Susan Collins of Maine opposes this use of Trump’s pardon power, telling Punchbowl News that yesterday was a “a terrible day for our Justice Department.”
Senator Bill Cassidy also cited the attacks on Capitol police officers in an interview with HuffPost. “It’s not right. People who assault police officers, if they do the crime, they should give the time,” he said.
Trump’s actions did have its defenders in the Senate.
It looks like Trump’s infrastructure announcement has been revealed. CBS News reports that the president will reveal a new $500 billion private-sector investment to grow artificial intelligence in the United States. The outlet notes OpenAI, Softbank, and Oracle are reportedly planning a new joint venture called Stargate.
Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia told reporters that he believes that Trump’s pardons and commutations for the January 6 rioters are “an abomination.” He notes that Trump once opposed a defense bill because it would rename bases named after Confederate generals, claiming that it would rewrite history.
“I guess he’s okay with rewriting histories,” Kaine said.
Less than 24 hours into Trump’s second term, his administration removed Admiral Linda Fagan, citing, among other things, her “excessive focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies,” CNN reports.
In their first post-inaugural event, President Trump, Vice-President Vance, and their families attended an interfaith prayer service held at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau indicated to the press Tuesday that Canada is prepared to respond to any potential tariffs from Trump’s administration.
“Our focus is remaining calm, remaining strong, and responding as necessary to actions by the U.S.,” he said, per The Wall Street Journal. “Our response will be robust, and rapid, and measured, and very strong.”
On Tuesday morning, the Senate Finance Committee voted 16-11 to advance Scott Bessent, Trump’s nominee for Treasury secretary. Two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Maggie Hassan, voted in favor of moving his nomination out of committee.
Punchbowl News reports that the Senate is teeing up more confirmation votes for Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Senate Majority Leader Thune told the outlet that former Texas representative John Ratcliffe, Trump’s CIA-director nominee, could be voted on as soon as Tuesday.
In the immediate aftermath of the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, then-Senator Marco Rubio declared that it was “one of the saddest days in our history.” Now, as Trump’s newly confirmed secretary of State, Rubio batted away questions on ABC’s Good Morning America as to what the world’s leaders would think of the president pardoning the rioters on his first day in office.
“I don’t anticipate a single one of our partners will ask about it, obviously,” Rubio said. “My job is to focus on the foreign policy of the United States.”
As Trump enters the first full day of his second term, two more of his Cabinet appointees are slated to sit for their confirmation hearings. At 10 a.m., New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Trump’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations committee while former Georgia Congressman Doug Collins will testify before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs for his Secretary of Veterans Affairs nomination.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Trump administration is mulling big changes to the General Services Administration, which owns and leases a significant portion of the federal government’s real-estate holdings:
The Trump administration is considering selling two-thirds of the federal government’s office stock to the private sector, according to people familiar with the transition operations.
About three-quarters of the 70 million square feet of office space the GSA leases from private landlords in D.C. is also likely to be canceled, according to Don Peebles, a longtime Washington, D.C.-based developer. A sharp rise in GSA canceled leases would pressure D.C. landlords, many of which count on the GSA as an anchor tenant.
Punchbowl News reports that Trump is set to meet with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson and the full Republican congressional leadership this afternoon.
Marco Rubio, confirmed by a unanimous vote on Monday, was officially sworn in as secretary of State by Vice-President J.D. Vance Tuesday morning.
A little after midnight on TruthSocial, President Trump said his first day back in office wasn’t complete and singled out several prominent Biden appointees that he intended to dismiss.
“Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, Brian Hook from the Wilson Center for Scholars, and Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council—YOU’RE FIRED!,” the post read.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed on Fox & Friends Tuesday morning that President Trump will be making an announcement on infrastructure at 4 p.m.
