Live updates from Trump’s first full day of second term

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik is facing senators’ questions on Tuesday as she defends her record and qualifications to become the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. 

Stefanik, one of Mr. Trump’s most reliable allies in Congress, goes before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations for her confirmation hearing less than 24 hours after Mr. Trump was sworn into office. Mr. Trump hopes his key Cabinet picks will sail through confirmation and take their posts once he’s president on Jan. 20. Stefanik is likely to be confirmed when the full Senate takes up a vote. 

Stefanik, 40, would be the youngest-ever U.S. ambassador to the UN. The New York Republican has served in a leadership position as Republican conference chair, and she was on the House Armed Services Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. And that skillset honed in Congress will serve her well, said John Alterman, senior vice president and director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

Watch her confirmation hearing here. 

Marco Rubio, confirmed unanimously by the Senate Monday as secretary of state, said his “singular focus” will be to ensure American interests are at the center of State Department priorities.

“Our foreign policy, once again, needs to focus on the national interest of the United States, Rubio said on “CBS Mornings.”

Rubio represented Florida in the Senate since 2011 and resigned Monday. He was officially sworn in as secretary of state Tuesday morning.

Rubio sidestepped questions about Mr. Trump’s far-reaching pardons of Jan. 6 rioters, saying his focus is on his new role and the nation’s foreign policy approach. 

“I work for Donald J. Trump, the new president of the United States, the 47th president who has a clear mandate to reorient our foreign policy to one that, once again, puts America and our interests at the center,” Rubio said. 

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said his entire life and career has been influenced by his parents’ decision to come to the U.S. in 1956, with nothing but “dreams of a better life.”

 “I think it reminds us that this remains the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything,” Rubio said. 

Vice President JD Vance swore Rubio in as secretary of state on Tuesday morning, after the Senate confirmed him Monday night in a 99-0 vote. 

Rubio said Mr. Trump has “given us a very clear mandate,” saying “everything we do must be justified” by whether it makes the nation stronger, safer or more prosperous. Rubio said that is the promise his government will help him keep. 

The secretary of state said “it’s a transformational moment,” adding that the U.S. is “heading into a new era that I think will make the world a safer place.”

“Yesterday, President Trump made clear in his inaugural speech that one of the primary goals of American foreign policy is the promotion of peace,” Rubio said, adding that includes “peace through strength” and the promotion of peace without “abandoning our values.”

President Trump on Monday granted clemency to roughly 1,500 defendants who had been convicted of crimes on Jan. 6, 2021, following through on his longtime promise to absolve those who participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol of wrongdoing. 

The president’s action comes on his first day back in the White House and just hours after he was sworn in for a second term. Mr. Trump has repeatedly sought to downplay the events of Jan. 6, when a mob of his supporters breached the Capitol in an effort to stop Congress from reaffirming Joe Biden’s victory over him in the 2020 presidential election. 

Mr. Trump extended clemency to those convicted of violent and serious crimes, including assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy. He also ordered the attorney general to dismiss all pending indictments related to the Capitol riot, essentially eradicating the Biden Justice Department’s massive effort to hold accountable those who participated in the assault.

“These are the hostages, approximately 1,500 for a pardon, full pardon,” Mr. Trump said during remarks from the Oval Office. “This is a big one.”

Read more about the Jan. 6 pardons here. 

— Melissa Quinn, Rob Legare 

President Trump delivered his second inaugural address Monday, vowing a “revolution of common sense” and announcing “we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success.”

In the 30-minute speech in the Capitol Rotunda, he promised a “tide of change” and salvation from what he said was the “decline” brought on by the policies of his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. 

To that end, he’s expected to sign about 200 executive orders, actions and proclamations following his address. 

“The golden age of America begins right now,” Mr. Trump said. “From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world.”  

Read the full transcript here of Mr. Trump’s second inaugural address, provided by the Associated Press, and watch the full speech in the player below.

Mr. Trump signed roughly 200 executive actions, memoranda and proclamations on his first day in office, undoing Biden administration mandates and implementing his “America first” policies. 

Mr. Trump signed executive actions related to immigration, including invoking presidential powers to launch a sweeping crackdown on immigration, tasking the military with border enforcement, designating cartels and gangs as terrorist groups and shutting down asylum and refugee admissions,  declaring a national emergency at the southern border, ordering the Defense Department to more heavily involve military resources there, tasking officials to deploy additional troops to the border. 

Mr. Trump also moved to dismantle birthright citizenship, which the U.S. government has long interpreted the Constitution to mean that those born on American soil are citizens at birth, regardless of their parents’ immigration status, meaning the executive action is likely to be challenged legally.

Mr. Trump also signed executive action ordering federal workers back to the office, ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the federal government and telling the Justice Department not to enforce the TikTok ban for 90 days.