Trump’s Inauguration Day: Blog updates

NewsNation’s Brian Entin reports live from the scene outside the Central Detention Center in Washington, D.C., where family and supporters were waiting for Jan. 6 inmates to be released after their pardons.

Entin reports that so far two inmates have been released and more will come tomorrow.

Trump is scheduled to meet with Republican congressional leaders Tuesday, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, sources tell NewsNation.

It will be his first formal meeting with legislators in his second term.

President Trump, Melania Trump and their family, along with Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, arrived at the second ball of the evening, the Liberty Ball.

Michael Fanone, a former District of Columbia police officer who was attacked by Jan. 6 rioters, spoke out against the sweeping pardon issued Monday.

“I have been betrayed by my country, and I’ve been betrayed by those that supported Donald Trump, whether you voted for him because he promised these pardons, or for some other reason, you knew that this was coming. And here we are,” he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday night.

“Tonight, six individuals who assaulted me, as I did my job on Jan. 6, as did hundreds of other law enforcement officers, will now walk free.”

Trump will travel to Asheville, North Carolina, on Friday, a source tells NewsNation’s Libbey Dean.

He is expected to visit the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. He’s also expected to visit Los Angeles the same day, following the deadly fires that scorched tens of thousands of Southern California acres and killed at least 27 people.

The American Civil Liberties Union has launched a lawsuit aimed at President Trump’s executive order regarding birthright citizenship, NewsNation partner The Hill reports.

Earlier Monday, the president signed an order to end birthright citizenship. The U.S. would no longer recognize the citizenship of children born in the United States to parents lacking legal status.

It’s important to note this is a right protected by the Constitution and would require the repealing of the 14th Amendment.

“Denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional — it’s also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values. Birthright citizenship is part of what makes the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is. This order seeks to repeat one of the gravest errors in American history, by creating a permanent subclass of people born in the U.S. who are denied full rights as Americans,” Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

“We will not let this attack on newborns and future generations of Americans go unchallenged. The Trump administration’s overreach is so egregious that we are confident we will ultimately prevail.”

The Hill contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, were joined by Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, to kick off the first of three post-inauguration balls.

Trump delivered an address praising the U.S. military, his supporters and his family.

“I’ve had no higher privilege in life than to serve as your commander in chief, not once, but twice,” Trump said, earning applause.

It’s the first of three inaugural balls he’s expected to attend.

According to press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Trump so far:

• Signed more than 200 executive actions
• 42 executive orders, memoranda or proclamations
• 115 personnel actions
• Took media questions for nearly an hour
• Gave three speeches, with three more expected at balls

NewsNation’s Brian Entin is live outside of the Central Detention Facility in Washington, D.C., jail, where family members and supporters of the Jan. 6 participants are gathering in the bitter cold.

Video shows dozens of people lining up outside as security yells for them to move back.

NewsNation correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera tells NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that the Department of Government Efficiency’s main goal is to enforce President Trump’s executive orders regarding workforce changes.

“It will put enormous pressure on the federal employees and their unions. It will show that Trump means it,” Rivera explained. “He can pick on them because they live in places like D.C. that don’t vote for him, anyway.”

Some of Trump’s executive orders Monday include issuing a temporary federal hiring freeze and requiring federal employees to work fully in person.

Singer Nelly tells NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that performing at the Liberty Inaugural Ball is not about campaigning or politics, but more “about the respect and the honor of being invited for what I like to call the greatest country on the planet.”

When asked whether he was concerned about backlash for performing in Trump’s honor, Nelly said he’s received heat his entire career.

“We just want to have a good time,” Nelly said.

The United States attorney general must help states get lethal injection drugs used during executions, one of Trump’s executive orders signed Monday mandates.

The order claims “politicians and judges who oppose capital punishment have defied and subverted the laws of our country.”

A moratorium on federal executions had been in place since 2021.

The Trump administration carried out 13 federal executions during Trump’s first term, more than under any president in modern history.

For a full list of executive orders signed Monday, click here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In an executive order signed Monday, Trump asked the Secretary of the Interior to, within 30 days, “take all appropriate actions” to rename the Gulf of Mexico, the “Gulf of America.”

The order also calls for the name of Alaska’s Mount Denali to be reverted to Mount McKinley. Its name changed in 1975 by request from the state of Alaska.

President Trump on Monday called Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., “guilty as hell,” referencing her response to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

Hours later, he pardoned nearly all Jan. 6 rioters and commuted more than a dozen others.

Pelosi took to X to respond, saying in part: “It is shameful that the President has decided to make one of his top priorities the abandonment and betrayal of police officers who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power.”

Pelosi skipped the 47th president’s inauguration.

Immigration

The president Monday signed multiple executive orders about the United States’ southern border. One was a proclamation invoking “various executive powers relating to the ongoing invasion at the southern border.”

He also signed a national emergency declaration for the U.S.-Mexico border.

When asked by a reporter if he’s concerned about the executive order being blocked by courts, he said they are “straight up,” and he’s not concerned.

About potential ICE raids, Trump refused to answer when raids could happen but assured they would.

“It has to happen, or we’re not going to have a country left,” Trump told reporters.

Birthright citizenship

Trump signed an order to end birthright citizenship, which would no longer recognize the citizenship of children born in the United States to parents lacking legal status.

It’s important to note this is a right protected by the Constitution and would require the repealing of the 14th Amendment.

Health

Trump signed an executive order to withdraw from the World Health Organization.

The official document cites the “organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises” and the cost of United States membership.

“The World Health ripped us off … it’s not going to happen anymore,” Trump said.

DEI

A hiring order proclaims that “merit is the lone star of hiring decisions,” a jab at diversity, equity and inclusivity hiring practices that Trump has frequently denounced.

Gender Ideology

Trump signed an order “protecting women from radical gender ideology,” though he did not take any questions on the order.

Energy

One order aims to make Alaska the energy reservoir for the nation. Another would declare a national energy emergency.

“That means you can do whatever you have to do to get out of that problem,” Trump said.

Other orders:

• Designating cartels as “terrorist organizations”
• Creating and implementing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)
• Extending TikTok’s lifespan for 90 more days
• Reforms to the federal workforce

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has removed the Chief Diversity Officers Executive Council page on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s official site.

DOGE shared the update in a post on X with the caption: “Progress.”

Trump: ‘I’ll be meeting with President Putin’

When asked how long it will take for the Russia-Ukraine war to end, Trump responded, “I have to speak to President Putin. We’ll have to find out.”

“Zelenskyy wants to make a deal,” Trump said about Ukraine’s president.

The commander in chief added he believes Putin is destroying Russia by not making a deal.

Gaza must ‘be rebuilt in a different way,’ Trump says

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that, if he were in power, the Oct. 7 attacks could not have transpired.

On Gaza’s future, he said: “Gaza is like a massive demolition site. It’s got to be rebuilt in a different way.”

“It’s a phenomenal location, on the sea, best weather, some beautiful things could be done with it,” Trump said. “Some fantastic things could be done with Gaza.”

President Trump in the Oval Office Monday signed approximately 1,500 full pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, including multiple commutations.

The order requires the Bureau of Prisons to act immediately.

Per the White House, the commutations include:

•    Stewart Rhodes

•    Kelly Meggs

•    Kenneth Harrelson

•    Thomas Caldwell

•    Jessica Watkins

•    Roberto Minuta

•    Edward Vallejo

•    David Moerschel

•    Joseph Hackett

•    Ethan Nordean

•    Joseph Biggs

•    Zachary Rehl

•    Dominic Pezzola

•    Jeremy Bertino

Bill O’Reilly believes President Donald Trump “knows he humiliated” outgoing President Joe Biden and that the act was driven by “vengeance.”

“That was a brutal speech,” O’Reilly said on NewsNation’s “On Balance” Monday. “It’s a unique moment in American history. I can’t find any other inaugural address that humiliated an outgoing president as much as this one did.”

Former White House press secretary and NewsNation contributor Sean Spicer added that Trump’s administration “knows exactly what they want to do on Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.”

“NewsNation Now” anchor Connell McShane is at the Commander in Chief Ball, one of three President Trump is expected to attend tonight.

He tells “On Balance” host Leland Vittert there is “less resistance” and more “acceptance” in Washington, D.C., regarding Trump’s ascent to the White House.

“There’s no denying that it’s different,” he said, referencing the mass protests following Trump’s 2017 win.

The mother of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, Zuny Tarrio, posted to X: “My son has is being released!!!! Omg! Lord thank you!!! TARRIO IS FREE!!”

Her post comes after President Trump promised to pardon those who participated in Jan. 6. He has signed several executive orders into action but has not yet officially issued a pardon.

President Donald Trump will put pen to paper Monday, signing a slew of executive orders relating to ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the federal government, strictly defining two sexes and enforcing heightened border security, among many others.

For a full list of executive orders, click here.

President Donald Trump is returning to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for the first time since he left office in 2021.

Once he is officially back at the residence, the president is expected to sign more sweeping executive orders in the Oval Office.

The Senate on Monday unanimously confirmed Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as America’s 72nd secretary of state, putting in place the first member of President Trump’s Cabinet on the day of his inauguration.

He passed with bipartisan support, 99-0.

NewsNation partner The Hill contributed to this report.

In the hours since his first round of executive orders, Trump has outlined what he plans to sign next.

Here’s what he’s put pen to paper on so far.

• Revoking nearly 80 “destructive and radical” executive actions from the Biden administration
• Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement
• Presidential memorandum directing “every member of my Cabinet to marshal every power at their disposal to defeat inflation”
• Issuing a temporary federal hiring freeze
• Implementing an immediate regulation freeze
• Requiring federal employees to return in-person work
• Ending ‘weaponization of the federal government’
• Restoring freedom of speech, ending censorship

The Senate’s first move following President Donald Trump’s inauguration is the passing of the Laken Riley Act, 64-35.

The legislation — which mandates the federal detention of immigrants without legal status who are accused of theft and burglary, among other things — was a priority for Republicans after immigration emerged as a signature issue for Trump.

Twelve Democrats, along with every Republican, voted in favor of the bill.

NewsNation partner The Hill contributed to this report.

In his speech following the inaugural parade, Trump said he would sign several executive orders.

Here’s what he claims they will do.

Workforce

• Issue temporary federal hiring freeze, including the hiring of any new IRS agents
• Federal workers must return to the office in person

Economy

• No tax on tips
• Presidential memorandum directing “every member of my Cabinet to marshal every power at their disposal to defeat inflation”

Energy

• Withdraw from the Paris climate accord

Federal reform

• Revoke nearly 80 “destructive and radical” executive actions from the Biden administration
• Implement an immediate regulation freeze
• “Immediately end federal government censorship”
• Direct federal agencies to “preserve all records pertaining to political persecutions” under the Biden administration

He also referenced pardoning the Jan. 6 rioters again, calling them “hostages.”

Trump said he will pardon Jan. 6 Capitol riot participants tonight.

“And as soon as I leave, I will be going to the Oval Office and will be signing pardons for a lot of people,” he said at the Capital One Arena.

Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, discussed the administration’s goals and introduced the president at the Capital One Arena.

“President Trump’s leadership has redefined what is possible in the pursuit of progress and stability in the Middle East,” Witkoff said, giving Trump credit for the release of three Israeli hostages Sunday.

Families of hostages crossed the stage, shaking hands with Trump.

Julia Manchester, a national political reporter for The Hill, tells NewsNation’s Blake Burman the ceasefire is unique because it began on the cusp of a new administration.

Dan Kanninen, former battleground states director for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ campaigns, echoed that thought: “Trump coming in certainly added something to the soup. … But this is a joint effort.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 14-13 to advance President Donald Trump’s secretary of defense nominee, Pete Hegseth, to the floor.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who is on the committee, called the Monday vote “disappointing.”

The 14-13 vote was strictly along party lines, NewsNation partner The Hill reports.