WASHINGTON — Just hours into his second term, President Donald Trump signed some of his first executive orders as an arena crowd of thousands cheered a U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and a mandate for federal workers to return to the office full-time.
Trump scrawled his signature on nearly 10 portfolio-bound documents at a desk on the floor of the Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C., following an indoor inauguration parade at the 20,000-seat venue. Monday’s ceremonies were moved indoors because of cold temperatures.
The orders included rescinding 78 Biden administration actions, freezing federal hiring and new regulations, and “restoring freedom of speech,” among others that the White House press office dubbed “America First Priorities.”
“Could you imagine Biden doing this? I don’t think so,” Trump said to the crowd.
Trump threw his ceremonial pens into the seats after signing the orders.
Earlier Monday, surrounded by lawmakers from both parties who bantered with him in the President’s Room at the U.S. Capitol, Trump signed an order mandating all U.S. flags fly at full height during future presidential inaugurations. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, ordered flags at full staff for Trump’s inauguration despite the recent death of the late President Jimmy Carter.
A long campaign of promises
Trump told a packed arena in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the inauguration that they were “going to see executive orders that are going to make you extremely happy, lots of them.”
Trump said he would “act with historic speed and strength and fix every single crisis facing our country.”
As a candidate and Republican presidential nominee, Trump promised his supporters that on day one he would launch a mass deportation of immigrants, end Russia’s war on Ukraine, and pardon those convicted and who pleaded guilty to crimes committed during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
In one of his last actions in office, Biden issued preemptive pardons for lawmakers and staff who served on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, as well as the police officers who testified before the panel.
