President Donald Trump is going to issue a series of orders aimed at remaking America’s immigration policies on his first day in office Monday — ending asylum access, sending troops to the southern border and ending birthright citizenship, an incoming White House official said.
It’s unclear how he would carry out some of his executive orders, including ending automatic citizenship for everyone born in the country, while others were expected to be immediately challenged in the courts.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to preview some of the orders expected later Monday.
Immigrant communities were bracing for the crackdown that Trump had been promising throughout his campaign and up through a rally Sunday just ahead of his inauguration.
The Trumps held hands as they filed out of the church and the president-elect nodded and offered smiles to the churchgoers as he exited the sanctuary.
Hours before Trump and Vance are expected to be inaugurated, seats designated for Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson and others were among the closest to the platform where Trump will be taking the oath of office.
Even Musk’s mother, Maye Musk, had a better seat than the majority of House and Senate lawmakers.
“Good, it’s a beautiful day,” he said.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden greet Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff upon their arrival at the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Biden and first lady Jill Biden greeted the vice president and her husband Doug Emhoff at the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House.
The prayer for Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance asked that God give them “wisdom and strength to know and to do.”
Trump’s team released the video online on Monday ahead of his swearing-in and it portrays him as an outsider who overcame his legal problems to win a comeback to the White House, ushering in a new chapter for America.
The video stitches together footage of his courthouse appearances for his criminal trial last year, his mug shot from another criminal case in Georgia and images of prosecutors and judges involved in some of the other cases he faced, along with images of his visits to UFC matches, his campaign and the Republican National Convention.
In a voice-over, Trump tells his supporters they have to “never ever, ever give up” and “treat the word impossible as nothing more than motivation.”
The video was first reported by Fox News Digital.
“Having the cameras off is a gift. The rest of the day will be very public,“ he said.
Cupboards and drawers have been emptied, the walls are bare and all personal items have been boxed up, including in press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s office.
Most of the press office staff wrapped up their government service last week.
A couple of press secretaries and assistants remain to see Biden through tea with Trump, the ride to the Capitol for the inauguration and Biden’s departure ceremony afterward.
President-elect Donald Trump talks with Vice President-elect JD Vance and Usha Vance before a service at St. John’s Church, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President-elect Donald Trump has entered St. John’s Episcopal Church with his wife, Melania, for a service ahead of the inauguration, taking part in a long presidential tradition.
The Trumps spent the night at Blair House and will head to the White House for a coffee and tea with President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden following the service.
Biden had ordered that flags at federal facilities be lowered for 30 days out of respect for Jimmy Carter. The former president died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
Many governors also lowered the flag on state buildings.
But Trump complained that flags at the U.S. Capitol would fly at half-staff when he takes the oath of office to begin his second term.
Many Republican governors since have said the flag will be raised for the inauguration and lowered again afterward to respect Carter.
The White House had said Biden would not consider reversing or reevaluating the flag order.
Ivanka Trump and her family arrive for a church service to be attended by President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania at St. John’s Episcopal Church across from the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, on Donald Trump’s inauguration day. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Elon Musk and several of President-elect Trump’s Cabinet picks are already in the pews awaiting his arrival and the start of the service at the historic church on Lafayette Square.
Among the other guests are Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio, Argentina President Javier Milei and the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump. Family members are also starting to arrive.
Long lines stretched around the icy sidewalks and security perimeters of Capitol One Arena where ticket holders hoped to be among the 20,000 to get in.
Inside the arena before 8:30 a.m. the atmosphere was calm — the seats largely empty as workers finalized preparations and the media set up cameras and lights on the arena floor.
Security and inauguration staff scolded members of the press inside for stray equipment in the hallways, saying doors would be held for the general public until it was cleared. Around 8:25 a.m., the public started to take their seats as the Katrina and the Waves song “Walking on Sunshine” blared on the speakers.
Pam Pollard, a former National Committeewoman from Oklahoma City, arrived in Washington nearly a week ago and said she was in line to sit in a reserved section at the inauguration before it was moved inside.
She agreed with the change because people could get so caught up in the moment that they might endanger themselves.
Pollard, 65, who was at the state convention and the Republican National Convention that formally nominated Trump to be the party’s candidate, suggested people break up into watch parties.
“We all believe God’s hand has been on this man to be elected,” she said. “We don’t have to stand out here on the lawn to show our support, our unity.”
“Trans-Atlantic relations are of the utmost importance for Germany and for Europe,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Rheinische Post. “And NATO is the guarantor of our security. That is why we need stable relations with the USA.”
Scholz’s comments came hours before Trump’s inauguration.
The German chancellor also said that “as the European Union, we can also build on our own strength. As a community of more than 400 million Europeans, we have economic weight.”
He said he had already talked to Trump on the phone twice without elaborating when the calls took place.
Retired Gen. Mark Milley says President Joe Biden issuing a pardon to shield him from potential revenge by the incoming Trump administration means he won’t have to spend time avoiding “retribution for perceived slights.”
“I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights,” Milley said in a statement.
Milley is the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He called Trump a fascist and detailed Trump’s conduct around the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Milley said he was “deeply grateful for the President’s action.”
Vince Filippone, 71, and his wife, Diane, 68, came to the inauguration from their central Florida home — a gift from their sons, who joined them.
Filippone quipped he hadn’t worn a heavy coat in years as they braved the frigid temperatures.
They rode the Washington Metro subway into the district’s downtown area and joined the thousands of people who began lining up before sunrise to get into the viewing arena where Trump’s victory celebration was held Sunday.
Far beyond being disappointed, the cancer survivor said he was “past excited. This is the trip of a lifetime.”
FILE – The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 21, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Biden pardoned members and staff of the Jan. 6 committee that investigated the attack, as well as the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the committee about their experiences that day, overrun by an angry, violent mob of Trump supporters.
The committee spent 18 months investigating Trump and the violent insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. It was led by U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Republican Liz Cheney, who later pledged to vote for Democrat Kamala Harris and campaigned with her. The committee’s final report found that Donald Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol.
Trump may be breaking a tradition on Inauguration Day. No heads of state have previously made an official visit to the U.S. for the inauguration.
It’s not clear whether foreign leaders will attend the swearing-in ceremony or other events related such as inaugural balls.
Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni have spoken about being invited. The offices of Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña have also said they were invited and were planning to attend. The Salvadoran ambassador to the U.S. said there had been an invitation to the country’s President Nayib Bukele, but he is not likely to attend.
Last month, Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, had been invited. Jinping is unlikely to attend and it’s not clear whether he would send another official.
The “transfer of families” is a frenetic Inauguration Day ritual of approximately five hours where the White House is turned over from the outgoing presidential family to the incoming one.
In that time, while the outgoing and incoming presidents are together for the inaugural ceremony — White House residence staff hustle to inventory belongings, pack and move out one family and prepare the residence for its new occupants.
The process wasn’t always so efficient, though.
After the disputed election of 1876, outgoing President Ulysses S. Grant suggested that his successor, Rutherford B. Hayes, take the oath of office two days early to prevent potential unrest.
Hayes did that but then took a second oath as scheduled. Grant, though, didn’t actually vacate the White House until after Haye’s second swearing-in.
President Joe Biden speaks at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Biden has set the presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued; he announced on Friday he would commute the sentences of almost 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses.
He previously announced he was commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office. In his first term, Trump presided over an unprecedented spate of executions, 13, in a protracted timeline during the coronavirus pandemic.
An assortment of law enforcement were working near the Metro Center, including the New York Police Department inside the station and the California Highway Patrol near the crowd lining up near the arena.
FILE – Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks during the presentation of his book “On Call” at Lincoln Theatre Friday, June 21, 2024, in Washington. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
President Joe Biden has pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, using the extraordinary powers of his office in his final hours to guard against potential “revenge” by the incoming Trump administration.
The decision by Biden comes after Donald Trump warned of an enemies list filled with those who have crossed him politically or sought to hold him accountable for his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and his role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has selected Cabinet nominees who backed his election lies and who have pledged to punish those involved in efforts to investigate him.
“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden said in a statement. “Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”
▶ Read more about Biden’s last-minute pardons
The White House’s official X account, and its 37 million followers, will shift around midday from Joe Biden to Donald Trump.
The process is similar to Inauguration Day 2017 when the @POTUS account — created during Barack Obama’s tenure — was transferred to Trump’s first administration.
The same will be true for @WhiteHouse, the first lady’s @FLOTUS and @VP for the vice president.
FILE – Twitter’s blue bird is seen on its headquarters building in San Francisco, July 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)
Twitter suspended Trump’s personal account, @realDonaldTrump, in 2021, after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
But Trump supporter Elon Musk later bought Twitter, renaming it X, and Trump rejoined the platform last summer — though he uses his Truth Social network more.
Congress directed in September 1788 that the presidential swearing-in ceremony occur on the first Wednesday in March. But George Washington wasn’t actually inaugurated until April 30, 1789, on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City, then the nation’s capital.
The capital was moved to Philadelphia in 1790 before construction was completed on the White House in 1800. There, Washington was sworn in for his second term in,1793, and John Adams was inaugurated in 1797.
Most inaugurations took place on March 4 until the ratification of the Twentieth Amendment in 1933, which set the ceremony for noon on Jan. 20.
Where inaugurations took place also traditionally varied. But they’ve been held on the Capitol’s western front, facing the National Mall, since Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981.
“The people who are coming out and participating directly are still a small subset of the entire universe of what we call celebrity,” said Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University. “But we’re seeing a lot more celebrities who are coming out and supporting Trump. There may not be that distinct division that we saw before.”
There may still be a tinge of stigma, however. Thompson pointed to the statement from The Village People, in which they offered a justification their involvement, which he likened to an apologia.
Also, Thompson said, “The idea of being featured in a big national civic ritual perhaps can transcend political identity.”
The participation of people like Underwood is not going to change anyone’s mind about Trump, Thompson said. It could, however, change minds about the artist. On social media, some declared they were going to delete Underwood’s songs from their playlists.
President-elect Donald Trump appears on screen as he speak at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Addressing a packed crowd at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., Trump stayed consistent with the framing he often used in his campaign.
He criticized Biden’s term as a “failed administration” and promised to “end the reign of a failed and corrupt political establishment.”
“Tomorrow, at noon, the curtain closes on four long years of American decline and we begin a brand-new day of American strength and prosperity, dignity and pride,” he told supporters.
Carrie Underwood might not be Beyoncé or Garth Brooks in the celebrity superstar ecosystem. But the singer’s participation in President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration is nevertheless a sign of the changing tides, where mainstream entertainers, from Nelly to The Village People are more publicly, more enthusiastically associating with the new administration.
Eight years ago, Trump reportedly struggled to enlist stars to be part of the swearing-in and the various glitzy balls that follow. The concurrent protest marches around the nation had more famous entertainers than the swearing-in.
There were always some celebrity Trump supporters, like Kid Rock, Hulk Hogan, Jon Voight, Rosanne Barr, Mike Tyson, Sylvester Stallone and Dennis Rodman, to name a few. But Trump’s victory this time around was decisive and while Hollywood may always skew largely liberal, the slate of names participating in his inauguration weekend events has improved.
Kid Rock, Billy Ray Cyrus, The Village People, Lee Greenwood all performed at a MAGA style rally Sunday. Those performing at inaugural balls include the rapper Nelly, country music band Rascal Flatts, country singer Jason Aldean and singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw.
Trump forecast signing as many as 100 executive orders on his first day, possibly covering deportations, the U.S.-Mexico border, domestic energy, Schedule F rules for federal workers, school gender policies and vaccine mandates, among other Day 1 promises made during his campaign. He’s also promised an executive order to give more time for the sale of TikTok.
Trump has asked Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., to write an order stopping the development of offshore windmills for generating electricity.
Many of the Republican’s measures are likely to draw Democratic opposition.
And in several major cases, the orders will largely be statements of intent based off campaign promises made by Trump.
▶ Read more about Trump’s planned executive orders
President-elect Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance appeared solemn as they placed wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery Sunday.
The U.S. flag over the Capitol will be flying at full-staff for Donald Trump’s swearing-in.
That’s despite an order from President Joe Biden that flags be lowered for 30 days following the Dec. 29 death of former President Jimmy Carter.
A flag flies at half-staff on main street in the aftermath of former President Jimmy Carter’s death, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Plains, Ga. Carter died Sunday at the age of 100.(AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
After Trump rejected the idea, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that flags would fly full-staff on Inauguration Day “to celebrate our country coming together” and return to half-staff the next day.
Meanwhile, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, flags were initially lowered to honor Carter — but returned to full height more than a week before Inauguration Day.
Donald Trump, who overcame impeachments, criminal indictments and a pair of assassination attempts to win another term in the White House, will be sworn in as the 47th president on Monday, taking charge as Republicans assume unified control of Washington and set out to reshape the country’s institutions.
Trump is expected to act swiftly after the ceremony, with executive orders already prepared for his signature to jumpstart deportations, increase fossil fuel development and reduce civil service protections for government workers, promising that his term will bring about “a brand new day of American strength and prosperity, dignity and pride.”
