Closing summary
This is blog is closing now, thanks for joining us. We’ll be back tomorrow with more breaking news. In the meantime, here are today’s main developments:
Donald Trump has threatened Russia with taxes, tariffs and sanctions if a deal to end the war in Ukraine is not struck soon, as the new US president tries to increase pressure on Moscow to start negotiations with Kyiv. Writing in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said Russia’s economy was failing and urged Vladimir Putin to “settle now and stop this ridiculous war”.
Trump suggested that states should take care of their own disasters, hinting at a reduced federal role, in his first interview since the inauguration. “FEMA is gonna be a whole big discussion very shortly, because I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems,” he told Sean Hannity on Fox.
House Republicans will continue investigating the January 6 insurrection, attempting to undermine the prior investigation that found Donald Trump responsible and rewrite the narrative about the deadly Capitol siege. House speaker Mike Johnson announced on Wednesday that a new select subcommittee will be formed to investigate “all events leading up to and after January 6”.
Three federal judges denounced Trump’s pardons of January 6 rioters in stark terms in court orders formally dismissing cases before them. The US district judge Tanya Chutkan wrote that “no pardon can change the tragic truth of what happened on January 6, 2021”.
The US House gave final approval to a bill requiring the detention of undocumented immigrants charged with theft-related crimes, sending the proposal to Donald Trump’s desk and giving the new president his first legislative victory as he presses his hardline immigration agenda on multiple fronts.
Trump signed an executive order effectively closing the US-Mexico border to migrants, including people seeking asylum, part of a flurry of actions targeting immigration. The Pentagon is also set to deploy up to 1,500 active-duty troops to the US-Mexico border, marking a significant militarisation of the southern border.
The US justice department is ordering federal prosecutors to target state and local officials who resist the administration’s planned mass deportation campaign. The acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, directed prosecutors nationwide, in a document obtained by the Washington Post and the Associated Press, to investigate and potentially bring criminal charges against officials in “sanctuary” jurisdictions for “harboring” undocumented immigrants or withholding immigration information from federal authorities.
Trump criticized the Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde as a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” and said her tone as “nasty” after she implored him to “have mercy upon” immigrants and LGBTQ+ people”, at the National Cathedral prayer service for the inauguration.
The US Coast Guard (USCG) and the state of Florida have started referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America – a new label pushed by Donald Trump – despite the name of the body of water not yet being formally changed.
Refugees approved for resettlement to the United States have been stranded around the world after the new administration cancelled travel plans, with advocates warning it puts lives in danger and has left families devastated.
Democratic senators have called for the Senate to hold off on confirming Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, saying revelations about his behavior during his second marriage and excess drinking are cause for concern.
Multiple agencies sent versions of an apparent form letter to federal employees on Wednesday warning of “adverse consequences” if they fail to report on disguised efforts to continue promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.
“These programs divide Americans by race, waster taxpayer dollars and result in shameful discrimination” letters sent to staffers at Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and the State Department all read, according to reporters who shared images of the letters.
Asked by Hannity about his pardons for violent supporters who attacked police officers on January 6, Trump says Capitol rioters were simply protesting because “they knew the election was rigged”.
“They were treated like the worst criminals in history. Do you know what they were there for? They were protesting the vote”, Trump says. “They knew the election was rigged and they were protesting the vote. You should be allowed to protest the vote.”
When Hannity suggests that some of the rioters should not have been allowed “to invade the Capitol”, Trump downplays the extent of the violence and says that they had already served long enough in prison. “Some of those people with the police— true— but they were very minor incidents” Trump says.
The president then argues that his pardons were fine because he said, during the election campaign, that he would do it, and won.
Trump then boasts about the success of a recording of the Star-Spangled Banner, sung by a group of defendants jailed over their roles in the January 2021 insurrection, in which he provided a voice-over.
Updated
Hannity is struggling mightily to keep Trump focused on the latest things that Fox viewers are outraged by, but the president cannot help himself and is using much of the interview to rehearse old grievances.
In response to a question about Joe Biden’s pre-emptive pardons for figures like Dr. Anthony Fauci, for instance, Trump meanders into a diatribe about Senator Adam Schiff, who was also pardoned by Biden, and moves onto the subject of how unfair it was that he was impeached, thanks in part to Schiff’s investigative work, for the phone call in which he tried to extort Ukraine’s president. “It was a perfect phone call” Trump said, as he has many, many times before.
Trump then tells Hannity that he “heard” that Schiff, who said publicly that he did not want a pardon, secretly begged for one. Hannity, unsurprisingly, does not press Trump for any evidence to support his story.
Trump dismissed the threat of TikTok spying on America’s youth, as Hannity suggested that it could be a way for the Chinese communist party to spy on Americans.
“Is it that important for China to be spying on young people, on young kids watching crazy videos?” Trump asked.
“ I don’t want China spying on anybody” Hannity replied.
“But they make your telephones and they make your computers, and they make a lot of other things. Isn’t that a bigger threat?” Trump asked.
During the same part of the interview, Trump asserts once again that he is fond of TikTok because he believes, wrongly, that he won the youth vote “by 36 points”, an entirely fictional victory he attributes to his support on the app. In fact, Trump narrowly lost voters 18-29 to Kamala Harris by about 5 percentage points, according to exit polling.
Updated
Trump says FEMA is 'getting in the way of everything'
Speaking to Sean Hannity on Wednesday, President Donald Trump suggested that states should take care of their own disasters, hinting at a reduced federal role.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Trump said, was a problem, “because all it does is complicate everything.”
“FEMA is gonna be a whole big discussion very shortly, because I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems” he added.
After boasting about how well he did in the last election in Oklahoma, Trump said that it would be better for even a state that supports him so broadly to simply take care of its own recovery efforts following natural disasters, with some funding from the federal government.
“The FEMA is getting in the way of everything” Trump said.
Trump’s remarks surprised some viewers, but making radical changes to the agency was mentioned in the Project 2025 agenda drawn up to guide Trump’s second term.
“The bloated DHS bureaucracy and budget, along with the wrong priorities, provide real opportunities for a conservative Administration to cut billions in spending and limit government’s role in Americans’ lives”, Ken Cuccinelli, who served as Trump’s acting director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services in his first term, wrote in Project 2025.
“These opportunities include privatizing TSA screening and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program, reforming FEMA emergency spending to shift the majority of preparedness and response costs to states and localities instead of the federal government”, Cuccinelli added.
Updated
Trump gives first presidential interview with Sean Hannity
Trump’s interview with conservative commentator Sean Hannity begins at the top of the hour. We will be watching and will bring you any significant developments here.
Given Hannity’s reputation as Trump’s “shadow chief of staff” during his first term, it is unlikely to be challenging to Trump in any way. Here is a preview clip released by Fox, in which Trump claims that there would have been no inflation in the United States, no invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin, no attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, and no catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan had he been in office for the past four years.
Updated
National Institutes of Health study sections, which review applications for fellowships and grants, were suddenly canceled on Wednesday, according to social media posts from participants and reporting from STAT.
A meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, which advises the leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services on vaccine policy, was also canceled.
“My NIH study section that was to meet tomorrow was one of those canceled”, Dr. Esther Choo, an emergency medicine doctor, wrote on Bluesky. “This represents many months of work by the applicants and by the NIH staff and reviewers. Devastating is the correct word.”
The moves have confused and unsettled scientists and the he $47.4 billion research agency, which has become a target for Trump’s political allies. “The impact of the collective executive orders and directives appears devastating,” one senior NIH employee told Science.
NIH also imposed an immediate ban of travel and a hiring freeze.
According to Nsikan Akpan, a health and science editor, the NIH grants placed on hold “fund the work/salaries of 300k people at more than 2,500 institutions.”
Days after freeing hundreds of supporters who attacked Capitol police officers, President Trump pardoned two DC police officers convicted of murder for killing an unarmed Black man in 2020.
Trump granted full and unconditional pardons to both Terence Sutton and Andrew Zabavsky, former officers of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, who were convicted of second-degree murder for killing Karon Hylton-Brown, a 20-year-old Black man, during an unauthorized police pursuit that ended in a crash on Oct. 23, 2020.
Hylton-Brown was riding a motorbike without a helmet as Sutton pursued him in an unmarked car, federal prosecutors said. Eventually, Sutton followed Hylton-Brown down an alley at what prosecutors called unreasonable speed causing Hylton-Brown to be hit by a car.
After the collision, prosecutors said, Sutton and Zabavsky conspired to cover up what happened.
Sutton was the first DC police officer to be convicted of murder for actions on duty. Zabavsky, a police lieutenant, was sentenced last year for conspiring to cover up the deadly chase.
Trump had hinted at the pardons a day earlier, when he told reporters who pressed him on his pardons for rioters who had attacked police officers on Jan. 6 that he was “a friend of the police” and was about two free two DC officers. But Trump seemed confused about the details of the case, saying, incorrectly, that the officers “were arrested, put in jail for five years, because they went after an illegal”. Hylton-Brown was a native-born American citizen, a lawyer representing the mother of his child in civil litigation related to his death told the Washington Post.
Hylton-Brown’s mother, Karen Hylton, told News4 Washington that she was stunned by news of pardons. She repeatedly said, “There is no way. This can’t be happening.”
Federal judge says Trump pardons for January 6 rioters 'cannot whitewash' the reality
Three federal judges denounced Donald Trump’s pardons of January 6 rioters in stark terms in court orders formally dismissing cases before them.
The US district judge Tanya Chutkan, who was set to preside over Trump’s own criminal prosecution for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election until the supreme court stepped in, wrote that “no pardon can change the tragic truth of what happened on January 6, 2021”. Trump’s action, forcing her to dismiss the case against John Banuelos, who was charged with firing a pistol into the air during the riot, Chutkan added, “cannot whitewash the blood, feces, and terror that the mob left in its wake … And it cannot repair the jagged breach in America’s sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power.
“In hundreds of cases like this one over the past four years, judges in this district have administered justice without fear or favor,” she added. “The historical record established by those proceedings must stand, unmoved by political winds, as a testament and as a warning.”
Similarly, the US district judge Beryl Howell scoffed at Trump’s claim, in the pardon language, that his action “ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation”.
In an order dismissing the case against two January 6 defendants who pleaded guilty to felonies, Howell wrote: “No ‘national injustice’ occurred here, just as no outcome-determinative election fraud occurred in the 2020 presidential election. No ‘process of national reconciliation’ can begin when poor losers, whose preferred candidate loses an election, are glorified for disrupting a constitutionally mandated proceeding in Congress and doing so with impunity”.
The US district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly agreed that Trump’s action could never change the reality of the crimes. “What occurred that day is preserved for the future through thousands of contemporaneous videos, transcripts of trials, jury verdicts and judicial opinions analyzing and recounting the evidence through a neutral lens. Those records are immutable and represent the truth, no matter how the events of January 6 are described by those charged or their allies.”
Updated
Here’s more from the news conference with Capitol police officers reacting to Donald Trump’s pardons of January 6 rioters.
Harry Dunn, a former officer, explained that another former officer, Sgt Aquilino Gonell, wanted to be present but was unable to do so. “He’s struggling, like a lot of us are,” Dunn said.
Representative Daniel Goldman, a New York Democrat, read a statement from Gonell, who stressed that Trump pardoned rioters who attacked the police that day even though “many of the officers who guarded his inauguration were violently assaulted by the people he pardoned later that day”.
Dunn also said that he was most outraged by the submission of Republican members of Congress he had helped protect that day, and who say privately that they disagree with the pardons. “That’s not good enough,” Dunn said. “His enablers in Congress didn’t say anything when Donald Trump told you exactly what he was going to do,” he added.
But Dunn finished with a defiant statement that he would refuse to be silent as Trump tries to rewrite the history of January 6. “The winner writes history; he didn’t win. I’m not going away,” he said.
Updated
January 6 police officers hit back at Trump's pardons for rioters
Daniel Hodges, a serving Capitol police officer, and Harry Dunn, a former officer, who both defended the Capitol against the pro-Trump mob on January 6, just reacted to Donald Trump’s pardons for the rioters at an emotional news conference with Democratic lawmakers.
Dunn, who said that it was difficult to speak about the pardons, given the violence he experienced that day, said that Trump made it clear four years ago, and during his campaign for the presidency last year, that he “was proud of the people who stormed the Capitol on Jan 6”. Even still, Dunn noted, many of the Capitol police officers “that Donald Trump sent a mob to attack are the same people who made sure he was safe on Monday”.
Hodges, who was one of the officers who spent the previous several days protecting the Capitol for the inauguration of Trump, said that he had done so even though, “everything he is everything he stands for is anathema to me, but he is the president.” He seemed stunned when he noted that one of the first things Trump did after the inauguration at the Capitol was to pardon everyone “who tried to stop the transfer of power” in that same building four years earlier.
Hodges added that while Trump “is going to leverage the power he has in terrible ways” the public still has the power to apply pressure to Republicans in Congress. “Those in Congress who enable him, still answer to you”, Hodges said.
“The people who attacked us on Jan 6 are free now,” Hodges said. “They can try it again.”
Updated
Republicans to set up new January 6 investigation, Mike Johnson says
Mike Johnson, the House speaker, announced on Wednesday that he is setting up a new select subcommittee “to continue House Republicans’ investigation into all events leading up to and after January 6”.
The new panel, Johnson said on social media, will be dedicated to “exposing the false narratives peddled by the politically motivated Jan 6 Select Committee”, that investigated the Capitol riot and issued its final report in 2022.
Johnson said the new panel to investigate the previous panel, and search for evidence that the Capitol riot was, as Trump supporters have suggested, somehow orchestrated by federal agents, would be chaired by Representative Barry Loudermilk of Georgia.
Updated
California attorney general Rob Bonta said Donald Trump “cannot bully” the state into carrying out the president’s mass deportation agenda.
He was responding to a new DoJ memo that directs federal prosecutors to investigate any state or local officials who stand in the way of beefed-up enforcement of immigration laws under the Trump administration.
“This is a scare tactic, plain and simple. The President is attempting to intimidate and bully state and local law enforcement into carrying out his mass deportation agenda for him,” Bonta said, adding that his office was reviewing the memo and was “prepared to take legal action if the Trump Administration’s vague threats turn to illegal action”.
California law limits how state and local law enforcement can assist federal immigration authorities. The state has the largest population of undocumented people in the country. Bonta said Trump already tried – and failed – to undermine the state law during his first term when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held that it “did not conflict with federal law or violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution”.
Bonta continued: “California law is clear – SB 54 prohibits state and local law enforcement from using taxpayer funds to enforce federal immigration law, subject to several narrow exceptions. SB 54 does not prevent state and local law enforcement from investigating and prosecuting crimes. Nor does it prevent federal agencies from conducting immigration enforcement themselves; what it says is that they cannot make us do their jobs for them.”
Trump and his team have also suggested using the threat of withholding federal disaster assistance as a way to force the state to cooperate.
The American Civil Liberties Union also announced that it is joining the legal effort to derail Trump’s deportation plans. “We’re suing to stop the Trump administration’s attempt to massively expand fast-tracked deportations without due process,” the ACLU declared in a Bluesky post. “This policy was illegal when Trump enacted it in his first term and it’s illegal now.”
Laken Riley Act passes Congress, awaits Trump's signature
The House has passed a bill to require the detainment of unauthorized migrants accused of theft and violent crimes. It marks the first legislation that President Donald Trump can sign as Congress, with some bipartisan support, swiftly moved in line with his plans to crackdown on illegal immigration. The Laken Riley Act is named after a Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan man. Its passage shows just how sharply the political debate over immigration has shifted to the right following Trump’s election victory.
Representative Tom Emmer, the House Republican whip, posted the final vote on X, showing that it passed with 263 votes in favor to 156 against, with 14 members not voting.
In an impassioned floor speech against the bill before it passed, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued that the law would be a financial windfall for private prison companies, by mandating detention for minor offenses. “I want folks at home to look, look at what members of Congress are invested in private prisons companies, who receive this kind of money, and look at the votes on this bill. It is atrocious that people are lining their pockets with private prison profits in the name of a horrific tragedy and the victim of a crime. It is shameful.”
Updated
Trump draws attention to the fact that former president Joe Biden did not pardon himself.
“This guy went around giving everybody pardons,” Trump told the conservative commentator Sean Hannity in a preview clip from the Oval Office interview that will be broadcast later today. “You know, the funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn’t give himself a pardon. And if you look at it, it all had to do with him.”
Trump is, of course, correct that the former president pardoned a slew of officials and six members of his own family, but not himself. But the fact that he brought Biden’s legal exposure up, unprompted, will raise eyebrows. Trump’s comment could be simply an observation, but could also be taken as a signal to his supporters in government that a criminal investigation of the former president is not out of the question.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, Donald Trump’s nominee for health secretary, has a financial stake in ongoing litigation against the drug company Merck over Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, The New York Times reports, citing court documents and ethics records made public Wednesday.
A series of three doses of HPV vaccine is currently recommended by the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for young people ages 15 through 26 years to prevent cervical and other cancers. If confirmed, Kennedy would oversee the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, which approved the vaccine, and have direct authority over a special vaccine court that compensates injuries.
“CDC is aware of public concern about the safety of HPV vaccine” a message on the CDC website says. “Since the vaccine’s introduction in 2006, vaccine safety monitoring and studies conducted by CDC, FDA, and other organizations have documented a reassuring safety record.”
As Reuters reported last week: “Details of the Gardasil litigation show how Kennedy took action beyond sowing doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines in the court of public opinion and helped build a case against the pharmaceutical industry before judges and juries.”
According to the Times, ethics records show that Kennedy “would continue to collect fees for cases in which he referred clients to Wisner Baum, a law firm suing Merck over Gardasil”. Ethics disclosures related to Kennedy’s confirmation hearings show that he has made more than $2.5m in recent years from the arrangement with the law firm.
In 2022, Kennedy recorded a social media video urging people who believe that they suffered injury from the vaccine to go to a Wisner Baum website to join a consolidated federal lawsuit against the drug company.
Updated
Afternoon summary
The impacts of Donald Trump’s return to the White House are being felt across the United States, and the world. The president just ordered the southern border closed to migrants, the justice department has threatened to investigate state and local officials who do not cooperate with immigration enforcement efforts, while refugees approved for resettlement to the United States have been stranded globally by the new administration’s policies. Trump’s first interview since taking office, with conservative commentator Sean Hannity, will air at 9pm this evening, but the president took to Truth Social a few hours ago to warn Russia that he will impose sanctions and tariffs if they do not end their war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Democrats have launched a renewed plea not to confirm Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon, pointing to new details of his behavior during his second marriage.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
The US military plans to expand its troop numbers along the US border, with a deployment of 1,500 active duty soldiers.
Elon Musk and Sam Altman, both billionaires friendly with Trump, feuded on X over a big AI infrastructure project the president unveiled yesterday.
Mike Johnson said he was “looking forward” when asked about Trump’s blanket pardons to January 6 rioters – but had plenty to say when it came to Joe Biden’s pardons to his own family.
Deporting undocumented immigrants accused of crimes and securing the border are relatively popular with Americans, a new poll found, but Trump’s most extreme actions are less so.
Read the note Biden left for Donald Trump in the White House – a tradition for outgoing presidents to their successors.
Updated
Trump signs order to 'immediately repel, repatriate, and remove' migrants
Donald Trump has just signed an executive order effectively closing the US-Mexico border to migrants, including people seeking asylum.
“President Trump is authorizing and directing the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Department of State to take all necessary action to immediately repel, repatriate, and remove illegal aliens across the southern border of the United States,” the White House said.
“Through the exercise of his authority, President Trump has further restricted access to the provisions of the immigration laws that would enable any illegal alien involved in an invasion across the southern border of the United States to remain in the United States, such as asylum.”
The administration specifically blamed Joe Biden for border crossings, saying:
States, such as the Great State of Texas, have asked the Federal Government for protection against invasion during the Biden Administration, but it failed to protect them from millions of illegal aliens entering the United States, invading their communities, and imposing billions of dollars of costs upon State and local governments.
Democrats demand Senate hold off on confirming Hegseth after new details of behavior emerge
Democratic senators have called for the Senate to hold off on confirming Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, saying revelations about his behavior during his second marriage and excess drinking are cause for concern.
In a joint statement, Elizabeth Warren, Tim Kaine, Mark Kelly, Mazie Hirono, Richard Blumenthal, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen and Kirsten Gillibrand demand meetings with Hegseth before the full Senate votes on his confirmation:
In a sworn statement under the penalty of perjury, a new report shows U.S. Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth was ‘erratic and aggressive’ toward his second wife over many years, to the point that she feared for her safety. The report also details repeated instances of his drinking alcohol in excess, including the need to be dragged out of a strip club while in uniform. This affidavit is part of a disturbing pattern of behavior that has been documented through numerous public and private reports. The affidavit also raises additional questions about the thoroughness of his FBI background check during a rushed confirmation process.
Despite repeated requests, Mr. Hegseth has refused to meet with the vast majority of Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. We request that Mr. Hegseth meet privately with every interested lawmaker on the committee before the Senate votes on his nomination so that we can have frank discussions about the new information that has come to light. It would be irresponsible and contrary to our constitutional duty for the Senate to vote to confirm this nomination before such meetings have occurred.
On Monday, the Senate armed services committee approved Hegseth’s nomination, and he awaits confirmation by the full chamber.
Updated
Trump administration plans to reimpose rule allowing immediate expulsion of migrants
Stephen Miller, a top White House adviser to Donald Trump and an architect of his hardline immigration policies, said the administration is looking for a way to reimpose a federal rule allowing for the immediate expulsion of border crossers, even if they are seeking asylum.
According to the Associated Press, Miller told Republican senators at a lunch today that the Trump administration is looking for a legal rationale to reinstate rule, known as Title 42. The president approved the rule during his first term in office as a measure against the Covid-19 pandemic, before Joe Biden allowed it to lapse.
Here’s more about Title 42, and what it would do:
Progressive Democrats insisted the party is unified in holding Donald Trump accountable for his actions as they search for a new leader and a new message.
At a press conference on Capitol Hill, members of the House Progressive Caucus blasted Trump’s “hateful and xenophobic” immigration agenda and implored Republicans to approve disaster aid for fire-torn California.
“I visited some of the burn sites. … It looks like a war zone out there,” said congresswoman Luz Rivas, a Democrat who represents Los Angeles. “What we saw and what we heard from our constituents has made it clear that our communities need federal disaster aid quickly and now without any conditions attached.”
Texas congressman Greg Casar, chair of the caucus, said progressives were not divided in their approach to immigration, as many Democrats joined with Republicans to approve enforcement bills that advocates and legal experts argue would strip individuals accused of theft-related crimes of their due process rights.
“Our goal as a progressive caucus is to recognize that many of these Republican bills are intended to divide the American people and to try to put frontline Democratic members in a difficult place,” he said. “And the way the progressive caucus and the progressive movement in this country can help is by telling the truth.”
He said progressives could start by reminding Americans “every single day” of Trump’s decision to pardon January 6th rioters convicted of assaulting police officers as well as his repeal of a Biden-era action to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
Here's what Joe Biden wrote to Donald Trump
Fox News obtained the text of the letter Joe Biden left to Donald Trump upon his return to the presidency.
Leaving a letter for your successor is an American presidential tradition. Here’s what Biden wrote:
Dear President Trump,
As I take leave of this sacred office I wish you and your family all the best in the next four years. The American people - and people around the world - look to this house for steadiness in the inevitable storms of history, and my prayer is that in the coming years will be a time of prosperity, peace, and grace for our nation.
May God bless you and guide you as He has blessed and guided our beloved country since our founding.
Joe Biden
1-20-25
There is some uncertainty over the number of extra troops being sent to the US southern border. US officials told AP the Pentagon would deploy as many as 1,500 active duty troops in the coming days.
Acting defense secretary Robert Salesses was expected to sign the deployment orders on Wednesday, but it wasn’t yet clear which troops or units will go, and the total could fluctuate. It remains to be seen if they will end up doing law enforcement, which active-duty troops have not done since their response to the Rodney King riots in 1992.
The troops are expected to be used to support border patrol agents, with logistics, transportation and construction of barriers. They have done similar duties in the past, when both Trump and former president Joe Biden sent active duty troops to the border.
Updated
US military plans to send extra troops to Mexico border, reports say
The military is planning to increase the number of active-duty troops deployed to the US-Mexico border as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants, Reuters reports.
Here’s more:
The U.S. military is preparing to send about 1,000 additional active-duty troops to the border with Mexico, a U.S. official said, just two days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on immigration.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not say when the troops would be deployed.
They would be joining the roughly 2,200 active-duty and thousands of National Guard troops already on the border.
During his first term, Trump ordered 5,200 troops to help secure the border with Mexico. Former President Joe Biden deployed active-duty troops to the border as well.
Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order instructed the Pentagon to send as many troops as necessary to obtain “complete operational control of the southern border of the United States.”
“Within 90 days, the heads of the Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security will need to recommend whether additional actions, including invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, might be necessary,” it said.
The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows the U.S. president to deploy the military to suppress domestic insurrection.
As an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prohibits military forces being used for domestic law enforcement, the 1807 act has been used in the past to quell civil unrest. The last time was in 1992, when the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers in the beating of Black motorist Rodney King led to deadly riots.
Updated
The day so far
The impacts of Donald Trump’s return to the White House are being felt across the United States, and the world. The justice department has threatened to investigate state and local officials who do not cooperate with immigration enforcement efforts, while refugees approved for resettlement to the United States have been stranded globally by the new administration’s policies. Trump’s first interview since taking office, with conservative commentator Sean Hannity, will air at 9pm this evening, but the president took to Truth Social a few hours ago to warn Russia that he will impose sanctions and tariffs if they do not end their war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Democrats have launched a renewed plea not to confirm Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon, pointing to new details of his behavior during his second marriage.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
Elon Musk and Sam Altman, both billionaires friendly with Trump, feuded on X over a big AI infrastructure project the president unveiled yesterday.
Mike Johnson said he was “looking forward”, when asked about Trump’s blanket pardons to January 6 rioters – but had plenty to say when it came to Joe Biden’s pardons to his own family.
Deporting undocumented immigrants accused of crimes and securing the border are relatively popular with Americans, a new poll found, but Trump’s most extreme actions are less so.
Democratic senator Tim Kaine of Virginia barraged Pete Hegseth with questions about his personal life and alleged misconduct at his confirmation hearing last week.
Kaine had this to say about the latest allegations about the defense secretary nominee, in an interview with CNN:
It’s completely consistent with other material that the committee had available to us and other witnesses who have come forward who have shared their own experiences – their direct knowledge of this situation – with committee members. Now, many of them have been too afraid to go public, but Danielle Hegseth, who I did not know, not met, or not talked to her until I saw this affidavit yesterday. Her account is very consistent with other accounts we’re hearing. And that’s why we are encouraging our colleagues don’t rush on this one. We think this latest confirmation of erratic and irresponsible behavior by Pete Hegseth would make him very, very dangerous as the Secretary of Defense, and we need to get to the bottom of these allegations before we try to rush a confirmation vote.
Democratic senator reveals details of new abuse allegations against Pete Hegseth
Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate committee considering Pete Hegseth’s appointment to lead the defense department, has released details of alleged abuse by the former Fox News host towards his second wife.
In a statement, Reed, the ranking member on the Senate armed services committee, said he had received an affidavit from an unspecified individual detailing Hegseth’s behavior in his second marriage. Media outlets have earlier reported that the individual is Hegseth’s former sister-in-law.
“As I have said for months, the reports of Mr Hegseth’s history of alleged sexual assault, alcohol abuse, and public misconduct necessitate an exhaustive background investigation. I have been concerned that the background check process has been inadequate, and this affidavit confirms that fact,” Reed said in a statement.
Here are the details of Hegseth’s alleged behavior, from Reed:
Mr Hegseth abused alcohol regularly and his volatile behavior caused family members to fear for their safety.
Mr Hegseth’s second spouse had an ‘escape plan’ that involved texting a ‘safe word’ to friends and family to urgently request assistance without putting herself in more danger with Mr Hegseth. This escape plan was executed on at least one occasion.
On at least one occasion, Mr Hegseth’s second spouse hid in her closet out of fear of him.
While drunk in his military uniform – a violation of military laws – Mr Hegseth was so inebriated that his brother had to carry him out of a Minneapolis strip club. This occurred during a drill weekend with the Minnesota national guard.
Mr Hegseth regularly became so drunk that he passed out, threw up, and had to be carried out of family events and public settings, sometimes shouting sexually and racially offensive statements.
Mr Hegseth said that women should not vote or work, and that Christians needed to have more children so they could overtake the Muslim population.
Several other accounts of abusive behavior and public drunkenness.
Here’s more on the new allegations against the defense secretary nominee, who currently appears on track to be confirmed by the Senate:
Updated
Yesterday, Donald Trump announced a big infrastructure project to build data centers for AI technology.
Now, two billionaires are fighting about it on X. You won’t be surprised to learn that one of the two combatants is the billionaire megastar and apparent Trump White House official, Elon Musk. Responding to a tweet announcing the infrastructure project from OpenAI, Musk wrote:
They don’t actually have the money
And:
SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, a fellow billionaire who is nonetheless worth much less than Musk, the world’s richest man, wrote back:
wrong, as you surely know.
want to come visit the first site already under way?
this is great for the country. i realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role i hope you’ll mostly put [america] first.
Here’s more about the project at the heart of the squabble:
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson earlier in the day downplayed Donald Trump’s blanket pardons for January 6 rioters, and said, “We’re not looking backward, we’re looking forward.”
But the speaker did not hesitate to glance in the rearview mirror when asked to comment on Joe Biden’s pardons, in his final minutes as president, to members of his own family.
“It was shocking what President Biden did on the way out, pardoning his family for more than a decade of whatever activity, any non-violent offenses. It was breathtaking to us. I don’t think that’s anything like that’s ever been anticipated,” Johnson said.
“It probably proves the point, the suspicion that, you know, they call it the Biden crime family, if they weren’t the crime family, why do they need pardons?” The House will investigate the decision, he said.
Updated
What do Ukrainians think of Donald Trump’s claims that he can swiftly bring peace to their country? The Guardian’s Luke Harding asked around Kyiv to find out:
People in Kyiv expressed a mixture of hope and scepticism on Tuesday that Donald Trump can end the war in Ukraine, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the US president as a “decisive” leader who would bring about a “just peace”.
Trump described himself as a “peacekeeper” who would avoid entangling the US in damaging foreign wars in his inauguration speech, but did not mention Ukraine, or explain how he might persuade Vladimir Putin to engage in negotiations almost three years after his full-scale invasion.
Speaking later to reporters in the White House, Trump claimed 1 million Russian soldiers had died in the war and suggested that it was in the interests of both sides to stop fighting. “He [Putin] is destroying Russia. He should make a deal. Zelenskyy wants to make a deal,” Trump said.
Ukrainians outside Lukianivska metro station in Kyiv the next morning – where a Russian missile killed three people on Saturday – said they were anxiously waiting to see what happened next. Behind them was the wrecked facade of an office building and a damaged branch of McDonald’s, the first in the Ukrainian capital.
“I think a deal is unrealistic. Trump is blah blah blah,” Valeriia, a 23-year-old shop worker, said. “He promised to end the conflict in 24 hours. That won’t happen. My friends are split 50-50 between those who think he can do something, and those who don’t.”
Trump threatens tariffs on Russia and allies unless they end war in Ukraine
In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump has threatened to impose “high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions” on Russia and its allies if it does not stop its invasion of Ukraine.
The post comes after Trump failed to achieve his campaign promise of ending the war in the country within 24 hours of taking office. Here’s what the president wrote:
I’m not looking to hurt Russia. I love the Russian people, and always had a very good relationship with President Putin – and this despite the Radical Left’s Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX. We must never forget that Russia helped us win the Second World War, losing almost 60,000,000 lives in the process. All of that being said, I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a “deal,” and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries. Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way – and the easy way is always better. It’s time to “MAKE A DEAL.” NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!
Updated
Donald Trump’s blanket pardons for January 6 rioters have put congressional Republicans in a somewhat uncomfortable spot.
The president freed from jail and dropped charges against both violent and nonviolent rioters, a decision that does not quite square with the GOP’s stated fidelity to “law and order” policies. House speaker Mike Johnson was asked for his thoughts on the pardons at the Capitol today. Here’s what he said, from NBC News:
Everybody can describe this however they want. The president has the pardon and commutation authority. It’s his decision. I think what was made clear all along was that peaceful protests and the people who engage in that should never be punished. There was a weaponization of the Justice Department. There was a weaponization of the events — the prosecutions that happened after January 6. It was a terrible time and a terrible chapter in America’s history. The president’s made his decision. I don’t second-guess those. And yes, it’s kind of my ethos, my world view, we believe in redemption; we believe in second chances ... We’re not looking backward, we’re looking forward.
Trump to sit for Oval Office interview with conservative commentator Sean Hannity
Donald Trump’s first sit-down interview since being inaugurated president will be with conservative Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, the network announced.
The (undoubtedly friendly) interview will air at 9pm today, and take place in the Oval Office.
Trump executive order leaves refugees cleared to enter US stranded globally
Among the many executive orders Donald Trump signed on Monday was one that has prevented refugees who have been cleared to resettle in the United States from reaching the country, the Associated Press reports.
It’s a situation not unlike what played out at the start of his first term, when he signed a similar executive order to stop refugees from coming into the US. Here’s more on the latest move, from the AP:
Refugees who had been approved to travel to the United States before a Jan. 27 deadline suspending America’s refugee resettlement program have had their travel plans canceled by the Trump administration.
Thousands of refugees are now stranded at various locations around the globe.
The suspension was in an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Monday. It left open the possibility that people who had undergone the lengthy process to be approved as refugees and permitted to come to the U.S., and had flights booked before that deadline, might still be able to get in under the wire.
But in an email reviewed Wednesday by The Associated Press, the U.S. agency overseeing refugee processing and arrival told staff and stakeholders that “refugee arrival to the United States have been suspended until further notice.”
Among those affected are the more than 1,600 Afghans cleared to resettle in the U.S. as part of the program that the Biden administration set up after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. That number includes those who worked alongside American soldiers during the war as well as family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel.
Trump’s order had given the agency until Jan. 27 before it began to halt all processing and traveling. Now, however, it appears the timing in the order was moved up. It was not immediately clear what prompted the change.
Updated
A new poll finds that increasing border security and deporting undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes are relatively popular proposals with Americans.
But Donald Trump’s hardline approaches to immigration more broadly – including ending birthright citizenship and deporting all undocumented immigrants, even those who have not interacted with the criminal justice system – are more divisive, the survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found.
What it found about border security:
Half of U.S. adults think increasing security at the border should be a high priority for the federal government, according to the poll, and about 3 in 10 say it should be a moderate priority. Just 2 in 10, roughly, consider it a low priority.
The vast majority of U.S. adults favor deporting immigrants convicted of violent crimes, and the Trump administration’s deportation efforts may begin there. But Trump’s initial executive orders have gone far beyond that — including efforts to keep asylum-seekers in Mexico and end automatic citizenship.
And Trump, a Republican, is continuing to signal an aggressive and likely divisive approach, with promises to deport millions of people who entered the country illegally while declaring a “national emergency at our southern border.” About 4 in 10 American adults support deporting all immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, and a similar share are opposed.
And about Trump’s more extreme actions:
Removing immigrants who are in the country illegally and have not committed a violent crime is highly divisive, with only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults in support and slightly more than 4 in 10 opposed.
And relatively few Americans, about 3 in 10, somewhat or strongly favor changing the Constitution so children born in the U.S. are not automatically granted citizenship if their parents are in the country illegally. About 2 in 10 are neutral, and about half are somewhat or strongly opposed.
…
The poll finds that a shift toward arresting people in the country illegally at places like churches and schools would be highly unpopular. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults somewhat or strongly favor arresting children who are in the country illegally while they are at school, and a similar share support arresting people who are in the country illegally while they are at church. Solid majorities, about 6 in 10, oppose these kinds of arrests.
Even Republicans aren’t fully on board — less than half favor arrests of children in schools or people at church.
Updated
Yesterday, the homeland security department released a memo that allowed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants at hospitals, churches, schools and other sensitive locations where they were prohibited from doing so under Joe Biden.
In an interview today with CNN, Chad Wolf, a former acting homeland security secretary, said that any actions by Ice agents at those locations would be “targeted”:
What we’re talking about is targeted enforcement operations. And if you have a criminal aliens that is, you know, near a school, near a church, near a court house. What I think the Trump administration is saying is that it’s OK to arrest that individual, to remove them out of that community, to remove them out of that situation and – and deport them. So, I think it’s important – again, we’re not talking about raids here, we’re not talking about just wandering through neighborhoods. That’s not how ICE conducts their operations.
Here’s more about the new policy:
Justice department may investigate attempts to block immigration enforcement
Federal prosecutors could investigate state and local officials who do not cooperate with Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies, the Associated Press reports, citing a justice department memo authored by an appointee of the new president.
The policy marks an attempt by the new Trump administration to overcome local efforts to resist his plans for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. Some cities and states have passed laws or approved policies that limit their cooperation with immigration authorities, and the memo from acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove signals prosecutors could be tasked with going after officials who follow those laws.
Here’s more, from the AP:
The Justice Department is directing its federal prosecutors to investigate any state or local officials who stand in the way of beefed-up enforcement of immigration laws under the Trump administration, according to a memo to the entire workforce obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Written by Emil Bove, the acting deputy attorney general, the memo also says the department will return to the principle of charging defendants with the most serious crime it can prove, a staple position of Republican-led departments meant to remove a prosecutor’s discretion to charge a lower-level offense.
Much of the memo is centered on immigration enforcement. Bove wrote that prosecutors shall “take all steps necessary to protect the public and secure the American border by removing illegal aliens from the country and prosecuting illegal aliens for crimes” committed in U.S. jurisdiction.
The memo also suggests state and local officials who stand in the way of federal immigration enforcement could themselves come under scrutiny. It directs prosecutors to investigate any episodes in which state and local officials obstruct or impede federal functions.
“Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” the memo says. “The U.S. Attorney’s Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution.”
Donald Trump’s blanket pardons to January 6 rioters have been condemned by a major police union that had endorsed his candidacy, the Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt reports:
The largest police union in the US, which endorsed Donald Trump during his campaign, said Trump’s decision to pardon more than 1,500 people convicted over the January 6 insurrection “sends a dangerous message”, in a statement on Tuesday.
The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which endorsed Trump in September 2024, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) warned that the blanket clemency offered to rioters – including those convicted of violent offenses, and several leaders of the attack on the Capitol – threatened Americans’ safety.
“The IACP and FOP are deeply discouraged by the recent pardons and commutations granted by both the Biden and Trump administrations to individuals convicted of killing or assaulting law enforcement officers. The IACP and FOP firmly believe that those convicted of such crimes should serve their full sentences,” the IACP and FOP statement said.
It continued: “Crimes against law enforcement are not just attacks on individuals or public safety – they are attacks on society and undermine the rule of law. Allowing those convicted of these crimes to be released early diminishes accountability and devalues the sacrifices made by courageous law enforcement officers and their families.
The top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, Dick Durbin, met with Kash Patel yesterday, and released a statement saying that Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director is the wrong man for the job.
Here’s what Durbin had to say:
Kash Patel has neither the experience, the temperament, nor the judgment to lead the FBI.
We were reminded on 9/11 that the FBI is the first agency we rely on to keep America safe. The 30,000 professionals at the FBI have the skills and resources to protect us. They deserve a leader who understands the gravity of their mission.
Mr Patel’s political grievances make him a favorite of the MAGA world, but they have not prepared him to work night and day to keep us safe from violent crime, drug trafficking, terrorism, and other threats. Mr. Patel is the wrong choice to lead the FBI.
Politico reports that Patel’s confirmation hearing before the committee has been scheduled for 29 January.
Trump's second inauguration had smallest US TV audience since 2013
Associated Press reports the Nielsen Company says an estimated 24.6 million people watched coverage of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in the US.
It says that is the lowest audience since 2013, when Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term. Nielsen says it is also down from the 33.8 million who saw Joe Biden’s inauguration, and the 30.6 million who saw Trump take office for the first time in 2017.
President Trump issued an executive order earlier this week instructing the federal government to ensure passports only reflect two sexes, preventing the use of taxpayer funds for gender-affirming healthcare, and mandating that prisons are designated by sex assigned at birth.
Alaina Demopoulos reports for the Guardian on the reaction of the trans community in the US, with one trans man describing the move as “a twist of the knife”.
Read Alaina Demopoulos’ report here:
Updated
There has been some dissent among Republican ranks about Donald Trump’s decision to issue a blanket pardon to people involved in the January 6 Capitol riot, including those who were convicted of violent crimes.
North Carolina’s senator Thom Tillis expressed concerns with pardons for “people who did harm to a police officer”, while Alaska’s senator Lisa Murkowski said she was “disappointed” that the pardon included “those who caused harm – physical harm – to our police officers.”
Indian and US diplomats are trying to arrange a meeting in February between Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and US president Donald Trump in Washington, two Indian sources familiar with the discussions have told Reuters.
Trump demands apology from bishop who asked him to show mercy
Overnight on social media Donald Trump responded to Bishop Budde, the leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, calling on him to show mercy, by saying that “she brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way.”
In a post to his Truth Social network, Trump said:
She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.
He added that “the so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater … she and her church owe the public an apology!”
The Right Rev Mariann Budde had said “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives. You have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy on the people in our country who are scared now.”
Updated
Trump executive order lays groundwork for Muslim ban repeat, civil rights group says
One of the largest Arab American civil rights organisations in the US has spoken out against one of the executive orders issued by Donald Trump on Monday, warning that it lays the groundwork for a repeat of Trump’s so-called Muslim ban in 2017.
Signed as part of Trump’s barrage of executive orders, the new order instructs top homeland security and national intelligence officials to jointly submit a report within 60 days identifying countries whose vetting and screening processes are deemed “deficient.”
The list could then trigger either partial or full bans on nationals from these countries, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said in a statement.
The organisation also expressed concern that the new order is seemingly wider-reaching than the 2017 ban, in that it targets perceived ideologies. The new order would allow the government to be allowed to deny visas or entry based on perceived political opinions, religious beliefs or cultural background, it said.
“Such practices echo some of the most troubling chapters in our nation’s history, when the government barred and scrutinized people solely for their viewpoints or associations rather than any credible security concern,” the committee noted.
Others groups in the US have also expressed concerns about the order. On Tuesday the National Iranian American Council warned that the order sets the stage for a ban to be announced any day through March. As it instructs officials to report on visas issued in the past four years, the council worried that it could pave the way for the deportation of Iranians and other individuals who lawfully secured visas after Trump’s previous ban was repealed in 2021.
Updated
The Wall Street Journal has spoken to some federal workers affected by the slew of executive orders signed by president Donald Trump at the outset of his second term as president, and reports “a sense of anxiety and confusion” among staff.
One person, a product-support manager for the US navy, said “It’s leaving a lot of uncertainty that folks have never really had to feel. It seems like there is a level of distrust with how things are working.”
Workers at the Food and Drug Administration White Oak campus in Maryland said it was unclear how they would accommodate a directive for all staff to return to in-person working, as the office does not have enough desk space and parking for everybody.
The Wall Street Journal reports that a federal worker at another agency said to the paper “I guess we will all be sitting cross-legged on the floor.”
Ruaridh Nicoll reports from Havana
The families of Cuban protesters jailed in anti-government demonstrations are waiting anxiously to see if the government will continue with a planned prisoner release after Donald Trump reneged on a deal made last week by Joe Biden.
Activists from the human rights group Justicia 11J believe about 150 prisoners have been released so far of the 553 agreed with the Catholic church.
Less than a week after it was taken off a US list of state sponsors of terror (SSOT), Cuba was returned to sit alongside Syria, North Korea and Iran – with grim implications for tourism and trade. Trump reversed Biden’s decision late on Monday, amid a flurry of executive orders overturning domestic and international policies of the previous administration.
Trump’s order was presaged by comments from Marco Rubio, Trump’s Cuban-American secretary of state, during confirmation hearings last week. “There is zero doubt in my mind that [Cuba] meets all the qualifications for being a state sponsor of terrorism,” he said. Outside the US, the designation is widely seen as baseless.
Read more from Ruaridh Nicoll in Havana here: Families fear for Cuban prisoners after Trump reneges on release deal
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez has asserted this his country is a “reliable partner” in the Nato alliance after criticism from Donald Trump earlier in the week.
Reuters quotes Sánchez, the secretary-general of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party, saying the Spanish army’s participation in Nato operations was “well above the average”, and arguing that “We are a reliable partner and I think you have to look more broadly to see if a country is committed or not with the security of Nato’s allies.”
Trump, who has been a highly vocal critic of defence spending levels among the alliance, on Monday said “Spain is very low” when asked about their contribution. Trump also confused Spain for being in the Brics grouping led by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, said the state would join a lawsuit against Donald Trump’s executive order that would end birthright citizenship in the US. Here is a video clip of him announcing the move.
Russia sees 'small window of opportunity' to make agreements with Trump administration
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump was critical in public of Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying “He’s not doing so well” in the war on Ukraine. This morning there has been a response from Russia.
Reuters reports Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that Moscow sees a small window of opportunity to forge agreements with the new administration.
Speaking at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies, a thinktank in Moscow, Ryabkov said:
We cannot say anything today about the degree of the incoming administration’s capacity to negotiate, but still, compared to the hopelessness in every aspect of the previous White House chief there is a window of opportunity today, albeit a small one.
It is therefore important to understand with what and whom we will have to deal, how best to build relations with Washington, how best to maximise opportunities and minimise risks.
Russia has not had an ambassador in Washington since October when Anatoly Antonov left his post.
Trump, who campaigned for election saying he would end the war in Ukraine, said on Tuesday of Putin and Russia:
He should make a deal. I think he’s destroying Russia by not making a deal. I think Russia is going to be in big trouble. You take a look at their economy. You take a look at their inflation in Russia. I got along with him great. I would hope he wants to make a deal.
He can’t be thrilled. He’s not doing so well. He’s grinding it out. It’s not making him look very good. I think he would be well off to end that war.
On Tuesday Putin held a lengthy phone call with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, during which diplomats said they discussed Ukraine and the two countries’ relationships with Trump and the new US administration.
Updated
Here is the video clip of the Episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Edgar Budde, pleading with Trump during a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral to protect immigrants and respect gay rights.
If you would like something to listen to, today’s episode of our Today in Focus podcast features our senior political reporter Joan E Greve talking through the string of radical executive orders on immigration enacted by Donald Trump on his first day in office. You can listen to it here.
Trump administration orders all federal DEI program workers to be placed on paid leave
The Trump administration is ordering federal employees in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program roles to be put on paid leave by Wednesday evening, NBC is reporting.
A new memo from the Office of Personnel Management also asks federal agencies to submit plans to dismiss all DEI program employees by 31 January. Websites and social media accounts for DEI programs are to be closed.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was a “promise kept”, and “another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds.”
She added “President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit based society.”
Updated
Trump threatens China with 10% tariff over fentanyl claims
Donald Trump has threatened to ignite a trade war with China after suggesting he intends to impose a 10% tariff on goods imported to the US from the country over the issue of fentanyl.
Trump said “We’re talking about a tariff of 10 percent on China based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada.”
In response, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday that “we always believe there is no winner in a tariff or trade war” and that her country would safeguard its interests.
During his election campaign Trump suggested he would seek 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada.
Welcome and opening summary
Welcome to the Guardian’s rolling coverage of US politics. Here are your headlines …
President Donald Trump has claimed he intends to impose a 10% tariff on goods imported from China from 1 February
He has also moved to put all federal staff working on DEI programs on paid leave
Trump says immigration authorities can arrest people at churches and schools
Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders are among January 6 prisoners released early after Trump pardon
The Episcopal bishop of Washington appealed directly to the president to “have mercy upon” communities across the country targeted by the new administration’s immigration and LGBTQ+ policies
The Trump administration is being sued over order making it easier to fire federal workers
Trump announced on his social media platform that he has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who created and ran the Silk Road drug marketplace
The influence of the super rich on Donald Trump’s presidency is a threat to global stability, a new poll of millionaires has found
