Pardoned prisoners from Jan 6 Capitol attack to go free on Trump’s first full day in office
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Supporters of US President Donald Trump fighting with members of law enforcement as they storm the US Capitol Building on Jan 6, 2021.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – Supporters of Mr Donald Trump who attacked the US Capitol four years ago will start leaving prison on Jan 21, pardoned by the new US President in a flurry of Inauguration Day executive orders
Mr Trump was likely to sign more executive orders on Jan 21, after measures issued on Jan 20 that included moves to curb immigration and roll back environmental regulation as well as a 75-day delay to enforcement of a ban on short-video app TikTok.
The Republican President’s pardon of 1,500 defendants drew outrage from lawmakers who were endangered in the Jan 6, 2021, attack
The pardons were among orders Mr Trump signed within hours of taking office, returning in a mood of triumph to the White House after winning last November’s election. In his inauguration speech, he slammed Mr Biden’s presidency and portrayed himself as chosen by God to save a faltering nation.
However, he faces a stiff challenge delivering on his Inauguration Day promise of a “Golden Age of America”
Mr Trump did not take immediate action to raise tariffs, a key campaign promise, but said he could impose 25 per cent duties on Canada and Mexico on Feb 1.
Global markets greeted Mr Trump’s presidency with apprehension on Jan 21, with investors highly sensitive to headlines over the US President’s plans for trade relations and tariffs in particular.
US markets were closed for a holiday on Jan 21, so the first reactions were felt during Asian trade on Jan 21. European shares were subdued, as rising financials and healthcare shares countered broader losses stemming from uncertainty over Mr Trump’s tariff moves.
Mr Trump, 78, is the first US president in more than a century to win a second term after losing the White House and the first felon to occupy it. The oldest US president ever to be sworn in, he is backed by Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Immigration crackdown
Mr Trump has made illegal immigration a signature issue since he first entered politics in 2015 and he kicked off a sweeping crackdown on Jan 20.
Shortly after the inauguration, the US border authorities said they had shut down Mr Biden’s CBP One entry programme, which had allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the US legally by scheduling an appointment on an app. Existing appointments were cancelled, leaving migrants stunned and unsure of what to do.
Opponents of Mr Trump’s agenda are likely to challenge it in the courts and the American Civil Liberties Union fired an opening salvo on Jan 20, saying in a federal court filing that Mr Trump’s decision to end the CBP One programme removed the only avenue to asylum at the US-Mexico border.
Mr Trump once again withdrew the US from the Paris climate deal
He also said the US would leave the World Health Organisation
Other orders revoked Mr Biden administration policies governing artificial intelligence and electric vehicles.
He also imposed a freeze on federal hiring and ordered government workers to return to the office, rather than working from home. He also signed paperwork to create a Department of Government Efficiency
Mr Trump said he would issue orders to scrap federal diversity programmes and require the government to recognise only genders assigned at birth.
He vowed to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and repeated his intention to take back control of the Panama Canal, one of several foreign policy pronouncements that have caused consternation among US allies. REUTERS
