Trump returns to office and kickstarts ambitious and controversial agenda

Geoff Bennett:

Welcome to the "News Hour."

Donald Trump has returned to office as the nation's 47th president. His inauguration today marked the first time since Grover Cleveland that a U.S. president will serve nonconsecutive terms and the first time in 40 years an inauguration had to be held indoors because of freezing temperatures.

Amna Nawaz:

President Trump's second term officially kick-starts with an ambitious and controversial agenda that's expected to bring mass deportations, aggressive tariffs on imports from competitors and allies alike, and a promise of retribution against political foes that led to last-minute pardons from outgoing President Joe Biden.

Laura Barron-Lopez reports.

Donald Trump, President of the United States: Preserve, protect and defend…

John Roberts, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: The Constitution of the United States.

Donald Trump:

… the Constitution of the United States.

John Roberts:

So help me God.

Donald Trump:

So help me God.

John Roberts:

Congratulations, Mr. President.

(Cheering)

Laura Barron-Lopez:

President Donald Trump's improbable comeback now complete.

Donald Trump:

I stand before you now as proof that you should never believe that something is impossible to do. In America, the impossible is what we do best.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

From attempting to overturn the legitimate election results four years ago, to embattled criminal defendant and convicted felon, to president of the United States once more, today marked a political turnaround not seen in modern times.

Trump's second inauguration also had an atmosphere not seen in decades. Outside, the West Front of the Capitol, where inaugural ceremonies are typically held, stood nearly empty. With the temperature below freezing, the cold weather moved the inaugural ceremonies indoors for the first time in 40 years…

John Roberts:

Repeat after me.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

… where Trump took the oath of office in the Capitol Rotunda, images that echoed Ronald Reagan's second inauguration.

Ronald Reagan, Former President of the United States: The office of president of the United States.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Trump had previewed a theme of unity for his address, but his messages quickly changed to one of condemnation, while his predecessor, Joe Biden, sat feet away.

Donald Trump:

As we gather today, our government confronts a crisis of trust. For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens, while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

It was a theme reminiscent of his message eight years ago.

Donald Trump:

This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

This time, Trump claimed his mission was divine.

Donald Trump:

Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin's bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.

(Cheering)

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Promising to completely and totally reverse the Biden era, Trump put particular focus on the justice system.

Donald Trump:

Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents, something I know something about. We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again under my leadership.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

He pledged quick deployment of troops to the southern border for a crackdown.

Donald Trump:

All illegal entry will immediately be halted and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

And following his anti-transgender campaign promises, Trump railed against what he's called gender ideology.

Donald Trump:

It will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.

(Cheering)

Laura Barron-Lopez:

In the audience were former presidents, former speakers and a who's-who of Trump's Cabinet nominees. Even former Vice President Mike Pence attended in the very Capitol halls where January 6 rioters chanted "Hang Mike Pence."

Attendees also included notable foreign dignitaries, including adversaries, China sent its vice president, and billionaire tech moguls including Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's Tim Cook and one of Trump's closest advisers, Elon Musk.

J.D. Vance, Vice President of the United States: So help me God.

Brett Kavanaugh, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice:

Congratulations, Mr. Vice President.

(Cheering)

Laura Barron-Lopez:

It was an historic day for running mate J.D. Vance as well, sworn in is the first millennial and the third youngest vice president ever to serve.

Thousands of people waited in line throughout the day hoping to catch a glimpse of the president-elect. But many had to settle to watch the festivities inside local restaurants like Jack's Deli, where the mood was still one of excitement.

Nick Jeffery, Trump Supporter:

It was disappointing that we couldn't see in person, but I think it was still worth it.

Brandon Pals, Trump Supporter:

He's brought a lot of excitement, woke a lot of people up. So it's not really like voting for a political party. It's voting for turning the political system upside down on its head that has become so elitist.

Ashley Nelson, Trump Supporter:

I want to see the economy thrive and I want to see my daughter participate in the direction of politics.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

In spite of Trump's criticisms against him for outgoing President Biden, the day began and ended restoring the traditions of a peaceful transfer of power, hosting the Trumps for tea before arriving at the Capitol together, and standing alongside the first spouses on the Capitol East Front before Biden's honorary departure.

Joe Biden, Former President of the United States: We're leaving office. We're not leaving the fight.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

For his final acts in office, Biden ordered preemptive pardons to a number of Trump's most high-profile targets, Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired General Mark Milley, as well as Liz Cheney and other members of the House January 6 Committee. Biden also pardoned members of his family from Trump's threats of prosecution and revenge.

Meanwhile, in remarks to his supporters, Trump again promised pardons for some of the rioters who violently stormed the Capitol four years ago.

Donald Trump:

I was going to talk about the J6 hostages, but you will be happy, because it's action, not words, account. And you're going to see a lot of action on the J6 hostages.

(Applause)

Laura Barron-Lopez:

President Trump is moving quickly to the business of governing, expected to issue a flurry of executive orders in his first day, among them, declaring a national emergency at the border, intending to send the armed forces there to enforce it, also declaring a national energy emergency, ending President Biden's strict pollution standards for tailpipe emissions, and ending all diversity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government.

Many of these executive actions are expected to see legal challenges.

Amna Nawaz:

And Laura joins us now from the White House, along with Lisa Desjardins at the Capitol and Stephanie Sy at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., where Trump supporters gathered for a watch party after the inauguration was moved indoors.

Stephanie, let's begin with you.

Just give us a sense of what it's been like inside that arena, what you have heard from there, Trump supporters there, and how they reacted when they finally saw President Trump.

Stephanie Sy:

Well, Amna, all day, these 20,000 Trump supporters that have been packed into Capital One Arena have kind of been on the sidelines watching the inauguration festivities on a livestreaming screen.

Now the party is here. President Trump is in the house. In fact, he is scheduled to speak shortly. The parade just ended. It was a joyful, jubilant, optimistic display of Americana, high school marching bands from Trump's hometown, Palm Beach, New York City, J.D. Vance's hometown.

And I will just mention also just a feeling of optimism and hope. These are people that have waited for 24 hours in some cases to see the president in person. Now, when he and J.D. Vance walked through, they actually walked in between the stands. So they came out from the crowds. Vice President Vance was holding his baby girl in his arms.

The crowd is extremely happy to see Barron Trump, for some reason. So, all in all, even though it's been a tiresome day for a lot of the folks here, they have been relatively patient waiting for the president and certainly a sense of celebration among all the folks here.

Geoff Bennett:

And, Stephanie, there was a now-controversial moment earlier today where Elon Musk gave these back-to-back gestures that people are saying mimicked a Nazi salute. You see it there. Elon Musk has not directly addressed this, but he has appeared to edit out that gesture from the video that he posted on X, the platform he, of course, owns.

Help us understand what transpired.

Stephanie Sy:

Yes, and it's interesting that Elon Musk does not appear to be on the podium with the president now, even though he was with him throughout the day. I don't know if that was scheduled or not.

We did see Mr. Musk during that speech, and we saw the gesture. I don't know whether the audience here interpreted it the way it was subsequently interpreted on social media. It certainly appears to be a "Heil Hitler."

But, at the time, what he was saying, we went back to the transcript, and I remember him saying it, is he was saying, my heart goes out to you. So he was gesturing to his chest, and then, of course, there was the hand straight out, which hearkens back, of course, for a lot of folks to the Nazi salute.

But we didn't see that reaction here. There wasn't like a gasp or a pause or any even reinforcement of the gesture. So it's a little hard to tell from where we sat the meaning of it.

Geoff Bennett:

OK, Stephanie Sy, our thanks to you.

Amna Nawaz:

Let's turn now to Laura Barron-Lopez at the White House.

Laura, it's already been a busy few hours since President Trump took office. We have seen a flurry of executive orders. We expect to see more. Just break down for us what we have seen and what we will see.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Amna, the new White House announced 10 executive orders focused on the border and immigration, and some of those key orders include the declaration of a national emergency at the border that gives Trump the ability to deploy armed forces in National Guard, additional forces there, some are already there.

Another executive action ends asylum and immediately deports arrivals, also one that would attempt to end birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of undocumented parents, and, lastly, one that designates cartels as foreign terrorist groups. Those are some of the main ones.

He also is reinstating that remain-in-Mexico policy from his first term, which requires asylum seekers to wait out their cases in Mexico. And he also is going to suspend refugee resettlement for at least four months.

Geoff Bennett:

And, Laura, how legally feasible are these executive orders?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

President Trump has broad ability, Geoff, to declare a national emergency at the border.

And he used those powers, the powers to use military construction for the border wall during his first term. It was challenged then and it was considered illegal by some of the courts. Now, when it comes to Trump's executive action to attempt to end birthright citizenship, my producer Shrai Popat and I spoke to many legal scholars and constitutional scholars, who said that that is a violation of the 14th Amendment.

And it will likely, they said, be stopped by a federal judge, at least initially. But I also spoke to a former ICE official and immigration lawyers who told me that, in the meantime, Trump could direct the State Department and immigration services to stop issuing passports to those children of undocumented parents and also pressure states to stop issuing birth certificates.

So, big picture is that most of these orders are designed to test the limits of the Constitution and federal statutes.

Amna Nawaz:

Laura, from your reporting, how are we already seeing, if we are, in fact, seeing any impact to some of these actions already so far?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Today, the Trump administration ended the Biden administration's CBP-1 app, canceling existing appointments. That app was used by migrants to get appointments for legal entry into the United States.

And, already, the ACLU has filed a motion against the Trump administration for ending that use — the use of the CBP-1 app, saying in that filing that the right to seek asylum at the border no longer exists. They filed that inside of an existing lawsuit that they have against the Biden administration's asylum restrictions.

But the actions today have also created fear and some confusion, Amna. And our colleague Ryan Connelly Holmes spoke to undocumented migrants in Chicago — one in particular was a woman in Chicago who has been in the U.S. for 26 years — about the anxiety she's experiencing.

Woman (through interpreter):

I'm scared. I'm scared. It's ugly. This week, I do not plan on going out. I don't know when will it happen, but anything to stay indoors in my home. I will stay in to avoid this type of insecurity of going out to the streets and not knowing what will happen to you.

This is a constant worry. It's ugly. It's as if there was a mouse living in your home. The mouse will only come out when it knows you're not near.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Another undocumented migrant in Chicago told NewsHour that she cannot return to her country of origin, for fear of dying, and said that she's worried that, if she and her husband are deported, that they may be separated from their children.

Amna Nawaz:

All right, Laura Barron-Lopez at the White House for us.

Laura, thanks.

Geoff Bennett:

And let's head from the White House over to Capitol Hill, where we find our Lisa Desjardins.

So, Lisa, some other big issues for Republicans in this Congress are energy and the economy. What is President Trump promising to do on both those fronts?

Lisa Desjardins:

That's right.

A White House official today made it clear that first agenda for the economy is energy. Here are the executive orders we're expecting on that. As Laura reported, first, the president to declare a national energy emergency.

Secondly, on electric vehicles, Trump will end the Biden emissions standards, some of those to go into effect in more of the out-years. But those were basically to mandate that cars no longer could have emissions and help electric vehicles.

Third, there will be a separate order on Alaska. Now, you might be asking, what are the details of all those, Lisa? We don't have them yet. And when asked this morning on a call, Trump officials would not give the details yet. But they did say that they think energy is the way to bring down prices writ large overall.

The other economic issue for members of Congress, of course, is taxes. President Trump did not mention that in his inauguration speech, but that is something they're working on here, potential tax cuts that Republicans may offer.

Amna Nawaz:

Lisa, the Republican-led Congress is also meeting tonight. So just take us through the business that they hope to be able to tackle in this first week of the Trump administration.

Lisa Desjardins:

Yes. The joint is jumping here, Amna.

Let's go right to the Senate floor. The Senate is now voting on what may be the first bill that President Trump could sign. This is the Laken Riley Act. It is an immigration law. We have spoken about it before. It does need to go back to the House, but I expect that to move pretty quickly after this vote tonight in the House.

But, also, let's talk about nominations. Cabinet agencies now are all under acting leadership. So let's talk about The Five nominees that are moving the most quickly. Look at these. These are all nominees we expect to get votes today. Senator Rubio, now secretary of state nominee, has gotten through committee. So has Pete Hegseth for Defense just an hour or so ago on a partisan vote.

And then, finally, at the end, John Ratcliffe, CIA director, also passed out of committee a short time ago. The other two in the middle could be imminent. And we could expect a secretary of state vote on the Senate floor tonight — Amna, Geoff.

Amna Nawaz:

Lisa Desjardins on Capitol Hill, Laura Barron-Lopez at the White House, and Stephanie Sy at the Capital One Arena, our thanks to you all.