Trump’s first full day back in White House includes firings, infrastructure announcement

Washington — President Donald Trump is spending his first full day back in the White House meeting with congressional leaders, making an infrastructure announcement and demonstrating one of his favored expressions of power: firing people.

The new president posted on his Truth social media platform early Tuesday that he would fire more than 1,000 presidential appointees “who are not aligned with our vision,” including some high-profile names.

Trump fired chef and humanitarian Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, retired Gen. Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, former State Department official Brian Hook from the board of the Wilson Center and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council.

“YOU’RE FIRED!” Trump said in his post — his catchphrase from his reality TV show, “The Apprentice.”

Former President Joe Biden also removed many Trump appointees in his first days in office, including former press secretary Sean Spicer from the board overseeing the U.S. Naval Academy.

Trump planned to continue to build on his barrage of Inauguration Day announcements, with the White House promising a “massive announcement” on infrastructure. Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to detail the announcement in advance, but she said in an interview on Fox News that it would send a message to the world.

“You won’t want to miss it,” she said.

“Infrastructure week” became a punchline during Trump’s first administration as White House officials promised repeatedly — over years — to train a focus on major public works projects, only to have Trump himself quickly shift emphasis elsewhere while major legislation on infrastructure never materialized.

It was enough of a pattern that Biden joked about how his predecessor couldn’t pull off even a week of focus on infrastructure while his administration oversaw passage of billions of dollars for bridges, tunnels, roads and other projects for the coming 10 years.

“He didn’t build a damn thing,” Biden said frequently of Trump, adding that his own administration delivered “infrastructure decade.”

Trump wants to ban Chinese companies from owning vital U.S. infrastructure in sectors such as energy, technology and agriculture, and he says he will force Chinese owners to sell any holdings “that jeopardize America’s national security.”

Trump also attended a national prayer service Tuesday morning at Washington National Cathedral, a customary visit for new presidents and one that will wrap up his four days of inauguration-related events.

Later in the day, the president was expected to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other GOP (Republican) legislators. It’s the first formal sit-down for the GOP leadership teams including Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso and the new president as they chart priorities for using Republican power in Washington.

Despite an ambitious 100-day agenda, the Republican-led Congress is not on the same page on some ideas and strategies as they rush to deliver tax cuts for the wealthy, mass deportations and other goals for Trump.

Trump used the first hours of his presidency on Monday to sign a series of executive orders and memorandums, moving quickly to show that his new hold on the U.S. government would be a stark change from his predecessor.

He pardoned hundreds of people for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accords and the World Health Organization, began his immigration crackdown by declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and sought to end automatic citizenship for anyone born in America, which is expected to run into constitutional challenges.

He also signed an order that intends to pause a ban on TikTok for 75 days to give its China-based parent company more time to find an approved buyer.

EU, China warn against trade friction at Davos after Trump return 

Davos, Switzerland — EU chief Ursula von der Leyen declared Tuesday that Europe was ready to negotiate with the United States and seek to improve ties with China as Beijing warned against damaging trade wars in the face of Donald Trump’s protectionism.

Trump returned to the White House on Monday, and while he may not be physically present in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos, he is the elephant in the room for the executives and leaders hobnobbing at the annual World Economic Forum.

With Beijing and Brussels facing some of the biggest risks from the return of self-professed tariff-loving Trump, China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen took to the stage first at the forum.

“Protectionism leads nowhere and there are no winners in a trade war,” Ding said, without mentioning Trump directly.

Trump threatened on Monday to impose tariffs if Beijing rejects his proposal to keep Chinese-owned app TikTok online on condition that half of it is sold off.

China is taking a cautious approach to Trump and after the TikTok threat, Beijing said it hoped the United States would provide a fair business environment for Chinese firms.

After Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to Trump by phone on Friday, he said he hoped for a “good start” to relations with the new US administration.

Meanwhile, von der Leyen took a conciliatory tone. She said the EU’s “first priority will be to engage early, discuss common interests and be ready to negotiate” with Trump.

“We will be pragmatic but we will always stand by our principles, to protect our interests and uphold our values,” she said.

The European Commission president also stressed that Europe “must engage constructively with China – to find solutions in our mutual interest” despite escalating trade tensions between the two.

Brussels has provoked Beijing’s ire with a raft of probes targeting state subsidies in the green tech sector, as well as slapping tariffs on Chinese electric cars.

In an apparent reference to the European Union measures, Ding warned against “erecting green barriers that could disrupt normal economic and trade cooperation.”

More trade deals

On the campaign trail, Trump said he would impose extra customs duties on allies including the EU, as well as on China.

After his inauguration, Trump raised the possibility of imposing 25-percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

Von der Leyen reiterated her commitment to free trade during her speech, pointing to recent EU deals with Switzerland, the South American bloc Mercosur and Mexico.

She also said she and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to “upgrade” their partnership.

Trump announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, which von de Leyen defended as the “best hope for all humanity” and vowed: “Europe will stay the course.”

Ukraine is also keeping a very close eye on what Trump’s second mandate will involve.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to call on world leaders and company executives to maintain – and ramp up – their support for his country’s war against Russia.

Zelensky said on Monday he was hopeful Trump would help achieve a “just peace.”

Embattled German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was also to address the Davos forum, likely his last as leader ahead of elections next month.

Also speaking on Tuesday will be conservative leader Friedrich Merz, the favorite to succeed him as chancellor.

‘Better understand’ Trump

Middle East conflicts will likewise be high on the agenda as Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani speak in separate sessions during the first full day of the forum.

As a fragile ceasefire holds in the Israel-Hamas war, the WEF will host a discussion on how to improve aid delivery to the Palestinian territory of Gaza and how to kickstart the reconstruction and recovery after heavy bombardment.

Despite suggestions Trump’s return would overshadow the forum that began on the same day as his inauguration in Washington, WEF President Borge Brende said the US leader had brought fresh attention to the gathering.

“It has increased the interest in Davos because people feel they need to come together to better understand what’s on its way,” Brende told AFP in an interview.

 

Trump orders include withdrawing from WHO, halting US foreign aid

U.S. President Donald Trump issued a series of executive actions after taking office Monday, including moving to withdrawal from international health and climate bodies and directing a suspension of U.S. foreign aid.

A set of orders focused on immigration, such as declaring an emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border, ending asylum and halting birthright citizenship for some children born in the United States.

Trump also ordered vetting and screening “to the maximum degree possible” all those who want to enter the United States, and for the government to identify countries that may have screening procedures deficient enough to warrant blocking their nationals from entering the United States.

In his first term in office, Trump pursued an “America First” form of foreign policy, and an order he signed Monday directs new Secretary of State Marco Rubio to focus State Department efforts on that mission.

“From this day forward, the foreign policy of the United States shall champion core American interests and always put America and American citizens first,” the order said.

Trump ordered the United States to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate accord, a repeat of a move he also made in his first term. Trump said the U.S. has a successful record of “advancing both economic and environmental objectives” that should be a model to other countries.

Nearly 200 countries signed the agreement aimed at limiting global warming with each country providing its own plan for limiting greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

In another repeat from his first time in office, Trump ordered the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization due to complaints that the agency mismanaged the COVID-19 pandemic and gets too much funding from the U.S.

Calling U.S. foreign aid “not aligned with American interests,” Trump issued an order to pause foreign development assistance for 90 days and for the programs to undergo reviews.

Funding for many programs has already been appropriated by Congress, so it was not clear how much aid would be initially affected by the order.

Trump also reversed an order signed by former President Joe Biden last week that had removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terror.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel responded to Trump’s move Monday by calling it “an act of arrogance and disregard for the truth.”

On trade, Trump issued an order calling for a review of a number of trade agreements, including one with China and the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

He also specifically called for an assessment of “unlawful migration and fentanyl flows” from Canada, Mexico and China. Ahead of taking office, Trump said those countries would need to act on those areas in order to avoid tariffs on goods sent to the United States.

In response to a law passed during Biden’s term that would have blocked TikTok in the United States in connection with national security concerns, Trump signed an order telling the Justice Department not to enforce that ban until his administration can “determine the appropriate course forward.”

The law directed a TikTok ban unless its China-based parent company sold it to an approved buyer. U.S. officials promoting the ban expressed concerns that the Chinese government could obtain Americans’ digital data.

Trump himself tried to carry out a similar ban during his first term, but in recent weeks has championed keeping TikTok available to U.S. users, including the potential for the U.S. government to acquire a stake in the company.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters

In day steeped with tradition, Donald Trump is sworn in

WASHINGTON — Amid frigid temperatures in the nation’s capital, the peaceful transfer of power from one presidential administration to the next took place Monday.

The inauguration events, starting with a church service and culminating in an oath and inaugural speech at the Capitol building, were attended by former presidents and their families, foreign dignitaries, and tech billionaires.

Members of the “press pool” — a group of reporters, photographers and video journalists — were on hand to capture the day’s events for the media outlets that make up the White House Correspondents’ Association.

Through the press pool, accredited journalists take turns covering the president’s daily activities to ensure 24-7 coverage of the American leader. VOA White House correspondent Misha Komadovsky was assigned to Monday morning’s inaugural events.

“Today, I’ll be your eyes and ears during the first steps of Donald Trump’s inauguration,” Komadovsky emailed at around 8 a.m. local time as part of his assignments.

 

The pool report had noted that the inaugural events were to follow a traditional course: a morning church service and a meeting between the outgoing and incoming first families before traveling to the inauguration.

The service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lafayette Park across from the White House has been a part of inauguration events since 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt attended a service before being sworn in as the 32nd president.

Trump, as the 47th U.S. president, followed in his predecessors’ footsteps. He and first lady Melania Trump sat in the front row of the church, alongside his vice president, JD Vance, and second lady Usha Vance.

Melania Trump wore a navy suit by New York-based designer Adam Lippes, paired with a wide-brimmed hat by American designer, Eric Javits.

Dressing the first lady was an honor, Javits said, adding that his background in art has informed his ability to bring “harmony and balance to the face” with his designs.

In Melania Trump’s case, he told the AP, the designing was not difficult because the first lady is “blessed with great bone structure, beauty and a wonderful sense of style.”

Also attending Monday’s service — which took place the same day that the U.S. marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day — were members of the Trump family, including his children Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany and Barron Trump. Individuals whom the president has nominated for key roles in his administration also filled the pews, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel and Marco Rubio.

Foreign dignitaries were also present. Leaders seen by the press pool included President Javier Milei of Argentina, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy, and Britain’s former Conservative Party prime minister Boris Johnson.

Some of the world’s richest individuals were also there, including Elon Musk of Tesla, social media platform X, and SpaceX; Apple CEO Tim Cook; and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew attended the service, as did media personality Tucker Carlson.

TikTok had briefly gone offline Saturday evening following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding a law ordering the Chinese social media platform to sell to an American owner. Trump indicated he planned a “joint venture” to allow TikTok to operate.

Service was restored on Sunday, with a message to users that said that “as a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.”

Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who earlier this month was held in contempt of court twice over a defamation case stemming from Trump’s failed 2020 election, was also spotted at the service.

Giuliani last Thursday settled the $148 million defamation judgment granted to two election workers in the U.S. state of Georgia.

During Monday’s 25-minute church service, the choir sang “America the Beautiful.” After the service concluded, Trump walked down the aisle, greeting guests along the way. He was seen patting Milei of Argentina on the shoulder.

Next, keeping with tradition, outgoing President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden met with the incoming president and first lady at the White House.

The First Families shared tea in the White House Blue Room before departing together for the U.S. Capitol.

Because of extreme cold weather, the inauguration was held inside the Capitol rotunda, with music from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Combined Choir and the U.S. Marine Band. Opera singer Christopher D. Macchio sang “Oh, America!” and singer Carrie Underwood performed “America the Beautiful” with the Armed Forces Chorus and U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club.

Former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were on hand for the inauguration, along with many members of the church service congregation and the Trump family, as faith leaders offered prayers.

Tech billionaires including Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were spotted at the inauguration, alongside the president’s supporters and U.S. lawmakers.

Chief Justice John Roberts swore in the 47th president, on a Bible held by Melania Trump. The president was flanked by his children.

Following the oath of office, a luncheon took place, followed by a military troop review and parade.

As the ceremonial swearing in took place, new staffers at the White House were seen moving into their new offices and unpacking images of the president and first lady.

Trump lays out vision on first day of second term

White House — On the historic first day of his second term in office, President Donald Trump laid out his vision for a bolder — and larger — United States.

“The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations, and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons,” he said in his inaugural address Monday. “And we will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.” 

Then he got to work signing a stack of executive orders. He said they included a declaration of a national emergency at the southern border that would allow the deployment of troops, and a national energy emergency that would allow more domestic oil and gas extraction. He also declared that there are only two genders, male and female, and said he would order that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America. 

Historians say that Trump made history on his second Day 1 by using what is historically a unifying speech to portray a future that many Americans may disagree with. 

“Donald Trump did not do that. This was one of the most partisan presidential inaugural speeches — it was less an inaugural speech and more a State of the Union. He just listed a series of bullet points of projects he wanted to undertake, from deporting immigrants to seizing back the Panama Canal,” said Jeremi Suri, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Shortly after his inaugural speech, Trump spoke to a smaller group of supporters at the Capitol and reiterated claims that the 2020 election was “totally rigged” — a claim without proof. He also pardoned some of those convicted over the violent events of Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters attempted to disrupt the certification of the election Trump lost. 

“I think this was a better speech than the one I made upstairs, OK?” Trump said.

Some of Trump’s powerful supporters expressed their joy. 

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was among the billionaires who packed into the Capitol for the ceremony and hailed Trump’s victory. After Trump was sworn in, Musk took to the stage of the rally at Capital One Arena to praise him.

“This was no ordinary victory,” he said. “This was a fork in the road of human civilization.”

Consumer advocacy groups are sounding alarms about some of the new president’s quieter moves, ones they say seek to loosen regulations and benefit the extremely wealthy.

“When we think about why the incoming Trump administration wants to freeze regulations and halt public protections wholesale, it is at the behest of the wealthiest among us, corporate special interests,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen. “They are who benefits when we don’t have guardrails on the books.”

Trump did not, on Monday, directly address foreign policy concerns such as Ukraine and competition with China — but Suri said his expansionist rhetoric sent a message.

“It’s hard for the United States to tell [Russian President] Vladimir Putin or [Chinese President] Xi Jinping that they should not seek expansion when our president is talking about expansion, but insofar as we don’t follow through on that rhetoric, we still are on very strong ground to say that invading your neighbor, as Putin has in Ukraine, or as China might potentially do in Taiwan, that is verboten, that crosses the line, so long as it’s just words from us,” he said. “If we were to go to war to try to seize the Panama Canal, that would certainly give a kind of carte blanche to Putin and Xi Jinping, because they make the same arguments for Ukraine and Taiwan.”

No day-one tariffs coming from Trump, but trade overhaul planned, official says

President Donald Trump will issue a broad trade memo on Monday that stops short of imposing new tariffs on his first day in office but directs federal agencies to evaluate U.S. trade relationships with China, Canada and Mexico, a Trump administration official said.

After weeks of intense global speculation over which duties Trump would impose immediately after being sworn in as U.S. president, news that Trump would take more time on tariffs drove a relief rally in global stocks and a dive in the dollar against major currencies.

Trump mentioned no specific tariff plans in his inaugural address but repeated his intention to create the External Revenue Service, a new agency to collect “massive amounts” of tariffs, duties and other revenues from foreign sources.  

“I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families,” Trump said. “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”

Trump added that his policies would make America “a manufacturing nation once again.”

During his election campaign, Trump vowed to impose steep tariffs of 10% to 20% on global imports into the U.S. and 60% on goods from China to help reduce a trade deficit that now tops $1 trillion annually.

He said after his November election that he would sign “all necessary documents” upon taking office to impose an immediate 25% import surcharge on imports from Canada and Mexico if they failed to clamp down on the flow of illicit drugs and migrants entering the U.S. illegally.

Such duties would tear up long-standing trade agreements, upend supply chains and raise costs, according to trade experts.  

The official, confirming a Wall Street Journal report that cited a summary of Trump’s memo, said the new president will instead direct agencies to investigate and remedy persistent trade deficits and address unfair trade and currency policies by other nations.  

The memo will single out China, Canada and Mexico for scrutiny but will not announce new tariffs, the official said. It will direct agencies to assess Beijing’s compliance with its 2020 trade deal with the U.S., as well as the status of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the official said.

Relief rally

The U.S. dollar slumped broadly on the news against a basket of major trading partners’ currencies, with particularly large upswings in the euro, Canadian dollar, Mexican peso and Chinese yuan. MSCI’s measure of global stock markets rose. U.S. financial markets are closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

Some industry groups and trade lawyers in Washington had speculated that Trump would invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law with sweeping powers to control imports in times of national emergency, to impose immediate tariffs.

But the forthcoming trade memo signals a more methodical approach that would likely involve trade investigations under other legal authorities such as the Section 232 national security trade law and the Section 301 unfair trade practices statute. Trump invoked these laws during his first term, and probes on steel and aluminum and Chinese imports took months to complete.

“It sounds like maybe he’s been listening to the people telling him that immediate tariffs would really hurt the financial markets,” said William Reinsch, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

But Reinsch and other trade analysts say they still expect Trump to press ahead with a global tariff early in his administration.

“The universal tariff was a core part of the economic plan he ran on, and I think he’s going to do what he said he would,” said Kelly Ann Shaw, a former White House trade adviser during Trump’s first term.

“This is an idea he’s supported for a long time,” Shaw, now with the Hogan Lovells law firm, said in an interview last week.

Past trade playbook  

In his 2017-2021 first term, Trump’s administration used investigations to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and launch duties on some $370 billion worth of Chinese imports, igniting a tit-for-tat tariff war between the world’s two largest economies.

The U.S. and China ended the conflict in 2020 with a deal for Beijing to boost its purchases of U.S. exports from farm goods to aircraft by $200 billion annually but never followed through as the pandemic hit. The forthcoming memo indicates that Trump’s administration will try to push China to keep those commitments.

Trump also had threatened to quit the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, blaming it for draining U.S. manufacturing jobs to Mexico and prompting a renegotiation of the trade pact with tighter rules of origin for autos and stronger labor and environmental standards.

Trump won a sunset provision in USMCA that will allow him to renegotiate it again in 2026, and the tariff threats against Mexico and Canada are seen by some trade analysts as a gambit to open those talks early. 

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Biden commutes sentence for Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, convicted in killing of FBI agents

WASHINGTON — With just moments left before he leaves office, President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents. 

Peltier was denied parole as recently as July and wasn’t eligible for parole again until 2026. He was serving life in prison for the deaths of the agents during a standoff on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He will transition to home confinement, Biden said in a statement. 

The fight for Peltier’s freedom is entangled with the Indigenous rights movements. Nearly half a century later, his name remains a rallying cry. 

An enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota, Peltier was active in the American Indian Movement, which began in the 1960s as a local organization in Minneapolis that grappled with issues of police brutality and discrimination against Native Americans. It quickly became a national force. 

The movement grabbed headlines in 1973 when it took over the village of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation, leading to a 71-day standoff with federal agents. Tensions between the movement and the government remained high for years. 

On June 26, 1975, agents came to Pine Ridge to serve arrest warrants amid battles over Native treaty rights and self-determination. 

After being injured in a shootout, agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were shot in the head at close range, FBI has said. Also killed in the shootout was American Indian Movement member Joseph Stuntz. 

Two other movement members, Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted of killing Coler and Williams. 

After fleeing to Canada and being extradited to the United States, Peltier was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced in 1977 to life in prison, despite defense claims that evidence against him had been falsified.

Biden pardons Fauci and Milley in effort to guard against potential ‘revenge’ by Trump

Washington — President Joe Biden has pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, using the extraordinary powers of his office in his final hours to guard against potential “revenge” by the incoming Trump administration.

The decision by Biden comes after Donald Trump warned of an enemies list filled with those who have crossed him politically or sought to hold him accountable for his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and his role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has selected Cabinet nominees who backed his election lies and who have pledged to punish those involved in efforts to investigate him.

“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden said in a statement. “Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”

It’s customary for a president to grant clemency at the end of his term, but those acts of mercy are usually offered to everyday Americans who have been convicted of crimes. But Biden has used the power in the broadest and most untested way possible: to pardon those who have not even been investigated yet. And with the acceptance comes a tacit admission of guilt or wrongdoing, even though those who have been pardoned have not been formally accused of any crimes.

“These are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing,” Biden said, adding that “Even when individuals have done nothing wrong — and in fact have done the right thing — and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances.”

Fauci was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health for nearly 40 years and was Biden’s chief medical adviser until his retirement in 2022. He helped coordinate the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and raised the ire of Trump during that time. He has become a target of intense hatred and vitriol from people on the right, who blame him for mask mandates and other policies they believe infringed on their rights, even as tens of thousands of Americans were dying.

Mark Milley is the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and called Trump a fascist and detailed Trump’s conduct around the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Biden is also extending pardons to members and staff of the Jan. 6 committee, including former Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both Republicans, as well as the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the committee.

Biden, an institutionalist, has promised a smooth transition to the next administration, inviting Trump to the White House and saying that the nation will be OK, even as he warned during his farewell address of a growing oligarchy. He has spent years warning that Trump’s ascension to the presidency again would be a threat to democracy. His decision to break with political norms with the preemptive pardons was brought on by those concerns.

Biden has set the presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued; he announced on Friday he would commuting the sentences of almost 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. He previously announced he was commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office. In his first term, Trump presided over an unprecedented spate of executions, 13, in a protracted timeline during the coronavirus pandemic.