Trump pardons Capitol rioters, signs order on TikTok

President Donald Trump on Monday pardoned members of the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, and signed executive orders addressing the first priorities of his administration.

Trump gave sweeping pardons to nearly all of the 1,600 rioters charged with storming the Capitol and commuted the sentences of several others, according to New York Times.

His decision appears to cover both people accused of low-level, nonviolent offenses that day and those who committed violence.

Some of Trump’s first executive orders froze most federal hiring, halted new federal rule-making and revoked roughly 80 executive orders issued by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Withdrawing from pacts

Among the orders Trump signed were a pair ordering the country to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and from the World Health Organization.

TikTok ban

Trump said he had signed an executive order to stall a federal ban of the app. The order told the attorney general not to enforce the law for 75 days to give the Trump administration “an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward.”

Administrative actions

Some of the first administrative actions of the Trump administration took place around the time of Trump’s inaugural speech. Federal officials shut down a government app that allows migrants to schedule appointments to use ports of entry, an option that almost a million immigrants used while it was active.

Return to the office

Trump also ordered federal workers to return full time to in-person work. His hiring freeze also specifically targeted the Internal Revenue Service.

Birthright citizenship

Trump signed an executive order defining birthright citizenship. The president cannot change the Constitution on his own, but he has made it clear he wants to deny birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, to the children of noncitizens. It is all but certain to be challenged in court.

Biden pardons

Trump expressed displeasure about a last-minute wave of pre-emptive pardons issued by President Biden to protect some of Trump’s adversaries, including Gen. Mark A. Milley.

Two of those pardoned, Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, and former Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, thanked Biden, saying they had been pardoned “not for breaking the law but for upholding it.”