Trump signs slew of executive actions after being sworn in

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President Donald Trump said he was “not confident” the Gaza ceasefire deal would last, despite claiming credit for brokering the agreement between Israel and Hamas.

“I’m not confident. It’s not our war, it’s their war, but I’m not confident. I think they’re very weakened on the other side,” Trump said from the Oval Office early Monday when asked by a reporter whether the US could help maintain the truce.

Both the Trump and Biden administrations cooperated on the deal, in a rare intersection of interests between the bitter rivals. After the agreement was announced, they both claimed victory.

When asked what he wanted the government in Gaza to look like going forward, Trump indicated that Hamas should not be part of any future governance.

Trump also said he “might” help rebuild Gaza before talking about its “phenomenal location on the sea.”

The comments echo remarks made by his son-in-law Jared Kushner in February 2024 when Kushner called the waterfront property in Gaza “very valuable” and suggested Israel should move Palestinians out of Gaza and “clean it up.”

Paul Ingrassia, White House liaison to the Justice Department speaks to members of the press at the D.C. Central Detention Facility in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2025 following President Donald Trump's pardons and commutations for defendants in the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riots.

Two brothers convicted for their roles in the attack on the US Capitol were released from a DC jail Monday night, hours after President Donald Trump issued a sweeping set of pardons for January 6, 2021 rioters.

Andrew Valentin and Matthew Valentin, who were each sentenced last week to two and a half years in prison, walked out of the DC Central Detention Facility on Monday night, according to Paul Ingrassia, who identified himself to reporters as the Trump White House’s liaison to the Justice Department.

“The first two January 6 defendants have been released,” Ingrassia told reporters gathered outside the jail. He also posted about the brothers’ release on social media, including a picture of them in a vehicle after leaving the jail, giving thumbs up.

“This is a few hours after President Trump signed his historic pardon,” Ingrassia said, adding that billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk had helped the brothers’ release.

CNN previously reported that Matthew Valentin had tried to tear a baton from a police officer on January 6, and Andrew Valentin threw a chair at a police line. Both pleaded guilty in September to assaulting police.

CNN has reached out to attorneys for the brothers as well as the DC jail.

Trump, just hours after he was inaugurated for the second time, pardoned about 1,500 people charged in the insurrection and commuted the sentences of leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy.

US President Donald Trump speaks as relatives of Israeli hostages look on in the Capital One Arena during ceremonies on the inauguration day of his second presidential term.

Freed Israeli hostage Noa Argamani and families of hostages held in Gaza joined President Donald Trump on stage at an inauguration event at the Capital One Arena in Washington on Monday.

The relatives, wearing yellow scarves to raise awareness for the Israeli hostages still in Gaza, greeted Trump and shook the president’s hand.

Argamani, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023 and rescued by the Israeli military in June, stood directly behind Trump as he delivered his speech.

Trump then immediately announced that he would be pardoning the “J6 hostages,” referring to the convicted January 6 rioters. Trump pardoned about 1,500 people charged in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol, and commuted the sentences of leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy.

Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on Monday.

On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump signed actions that remove the US from the Paris climate agreement, freeze hiring in the federal government and require federal workers to return to the office.

Here are some of the actions Trump took on his first day in office:

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk at the Commander in Chief Ball in Washington on Monday.

Melania Trump once again turned to stylist and fashion designer Hervé Pierre for her evening gown — a strapless white silk dress with thick black bands that zig-zagged across her torso and trailed down to the floor.

The French-American designer, who also created the cream dress Trump wore to the 2017 inauguration balls, confirmed his involvement in a statement to Women’s Wear Daily, saying it was an “honor” to collaborate with her.

The look continued the first lady’s black-and-white theme from the swearing-in ceremony, with Pierre saying it was “true to her own style and vision.”

As well as being Trump’s longtime stylist, Pierre is a couture designer in his own right.

He previously worked for labels including Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera, and worked on outfits for first ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.

Second lady Usha Vance’s embroidered dégradé gown was created by New York-based Lebanese designer Reem Acra. In an email to CNN, Acra described Vance as “a true vision of grace and style on this monumental evening.”

Read more on the day’s fashion.

Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban attends a press conference in Vienna, Austria, on July 28, 2022.

Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán has announced an offensive to “occupy” the European Parliament, following the return of US President Donald Trump to the White House.

Orban, a nationalist who has criticized European Union sanctions on Russia and maintained close relations with Moscow despite its invasion of Ukraine, is among the most prominent of Europe’s populists to voice his support for Trump.

“I hereby launch the second phase of the offensive that aims to occupy Brussels,” Orban added, indicating Trump’s presidency will trigger a new right-wing surge in Europe, according to Reuters.

More context: Trump repeatedly touted Orban’s backing on the campaign trail, even noting it during September’s presidential debate. Trump also hosted the Hungarian leader at his Mar-a-Lago club in March and December.

Many of Europe’s populists hope that the return of Trump – a transatlantic ally who promotes the same conservative Christian values and shares their disdain for progressive politics – will help to serve their interests back home and further normalize their anti-immigrant, nation-first rhetoric.

Read more about the European far-right’s hopes for Trump’s presidency.

In the very last hours of President Joe Biden’s time in office, a prisoner exchange years in the making was finally struck: The Taliban agreed to swap two Americans being held in Afghanistan for one Taliban member serving a life sentence in a US prison.

But there was an unexpected delay, in part due to bad weather in Washington and Kabul, and Donald Trump was officially back in the White House when Americans Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were handed over and on their way home early Tuesday, exchanged for Afghan Taliban member Khan Mohammed who was convicted in 2008 on narco-terrorism charges.

Mohammed had been flown by officials from the US to Doha. Qatar facilitated the trade by hosting several rounds of US negotiations with the Taliban and provided logistical support to the operations to get the two American men out of Kabul, according to multiple people familiar with the details of the swap.

The outgoing administration’s plan for the trade with the Taliban was communicated to Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz by Biden’s adviser Jake Sullivan.

A senior Trump administration official pushed back on their approval of the swap.

Read more about the deal.

President Donald Trump’s executive action to immediately end the use of an app that facilitated the legal entry of migrants to the United States left many waiting at the Mexico-US border in shock and feeling defeated.

Luis, a Venezuelan migrant who has lived in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez for the past nine months, said he was “trying to do things the right way,” before learning that his appointment scheduled for Monday through the CBP One app had been abruptly canceled.

Venezuelan Yenyile Díaz, who has also spent months living in Ciudad Juarez with her family, said they had all lost their appointments following the shutdown of CBP One.

“So many months waiting for everything we went through and now, it was all for nothing, just four days, or as we say, so much swimming and swimming to die on the shore.”

Johana Conde, from Cuba, told CNNE from the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras that she now plans to return home but is unsure of what her future holds.

“They say they do want immigrants in the United States, but legal ones. Obviously, we did all this legally… Right now we don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said.

Colombian Margely Tinoco appealed to Trump, saying: “We are all human.”

“I know that the president is human and that he should put his hand on his heart,” he said.

Some context: The shutdown of CBP One on Monday closed a key pathway for migrants looking to enter the US. Homeland Security Department officials have cited the app as helping to drive down migrant crossings by providing an orderly way to apply to the United States.

More than 936,500 people have successfully used the app to schedule appointments to present at ports of entry since January 2023, according to US Customs and Border Protection. Existing appointments have been canceled, the agency said.

Read more about Trump’s shutdown of the app.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump dance on Monday.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived at the Liberty Inaugural Ball around 11:20 p.m. ET Monday.

The Trump family danced on stage and were joined by Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance.

Following the dance, Vance introduced Trump who took the mic for brief remarks: “This is a hell of a day we’re having,” Trump said.

Trump went on to thank and introduce his family, saying “I have a great family. I really do.” He also thanked Vance.

Before exiting the stage, the president introduced the Village People who performed their song Y.M.C.A.

President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends his Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, on Monday.

President Donald Trump wasted no time signing an executive order Monday that aims to give him more control over the federal workforce — whom he has long vilified as the “deep state.”

The order, in a highly unusual move, seeks to wipe away a rule former President Joe Biden put in place last year and is expected to face multiple legal challenges.

The new order revives an executive order Trump signed shortly before the 2020 election that created a category for federal employees involved in policy — known as Schedule F — that would make those workers easier to fire. Biden had quickly reversed that order and then last year finalized a new rule that further bolstered protections for career federal workers.

However, Trump’s latest executive order directs the Office of Personnel Management to rescind any changes made by the rule that would impede or affect the implementation of Trump’s 2020 directive. Trump also revoked his predecessor’s 2021 executive order that rescinded the original Schedule F order, a more conventional move.

Like the 2020 executive order, Trump’s new directive is expected to swiftly wind up in court. Traditionally, undoing or revising a rule requires a new rule, a process that can take months, and cannot be done by executive order, experts said.

A coalition of civil rights and immigration rights groups sued the Trump administration on Monday over an executive order signed hours earlier by President Donald Trump that seeks to end birthright citizenship in the United States.

The lawsuit tees up what is expected to be a lengthy and unprecedented legal fight over the issue, which is a central pillar of Trump’s immigration agenda.

Brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, various state ACLU chapters and several other groups on behalf of immigration groups with members who are impacted by Trump’s order, the 17-page suit argues that Trump’s action violates both federal law and the US Constitution.

The groups are asking a federal court in New Hampshire to declare Trump’s order unlawful and to temporarily and permanently block it.

The order signed earlier Monday by Trump says that the federal government will not “issue documents recognizing United States citizenship” to any children born on American soil to parents who were in the country unlawfully or were in the states lawfully but temporarily.

The order said it would “apply only to persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order.”

The lawsuit filed Monday said some of the immigration groups’ members “are currently expecting children who may be deemed to be covered by the Order.”

The executive order, the groups’ attorneys wrote, “may also render children legally or effectively stateless.”

President Joe Biden attends a Department of Defense Commander in Chief Farewell Ceremony in Arlington, Virginia, on Thursday.

When President Donald Trump assumed office on Monday, former President Joe Biden had been in the role for four years or 1,462 days.

CNN is taking a look at how Biden spent his time as president — by the numbers.

Delaware: During Biden’s presidency, he took 136 trips to his home state of Delaware — often spending time at his Wilmington home or his Rehoboth Beach vacation home.

Those trips included the late-July weekend that Biden made the decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race while he was recovering from Covid. The president shared that decision with Americans through a letter on social media during the fourth day of his diagnosis, having flown to Delaware to isolate.

States: Biden, a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, says he came from “modest upbringings” in both the Keystone State and in Delaware. He made a number of trips to Pennsylvania during his tenure as president — CNN has counted 50 trips to the state. It’s a battleground state that Biden won in 2020, but Vice President Kamala Harris lost in 2024.

For the other blue wall battleground states, he made 13 trips to Michigan and 13 trips to Wisconsin.

Foreign countries: His first international trip as president came in June 2021, when he traveled to Cornwall in England for the G7 summit. He left Cornwall to spend several days in Belgium for the NATO Summit and then Geneva, Switzerland, for a summit with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

The country the president visited the most often was the United Kingdom — where he traveled 7 times over the course of his presidency. That’s followed by Germany, where the president traveled 5 times, including several times when Air Force One used Ramstein Air Base as a refueling stop. Those countries are followed by Israel, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Japan — all countries the president visited twice.

State dinners: As president, Biden hosted 6 state dinners at the White House during his presidency. The first was with French President Emmanuel Macron in December 2022.

In 2023, the president hosted 3 state dinners for the leaders of South Korea, India and Australia. In 2024, the president hosted 2 state dinners — one in April for Japan’s Fumio Kishida and another for Kenya’s William Ruto in May.

Consoler in chief: The president, who lost his son Beau Biden to cancer in 2015 and his first wife and daughter in a car crash more than five decades ago, has often been called upon to deliver eulogies for his closest friends as well as former presidents.

By CNN’s count, the president delivered 8 eulogies, most recently delivering remarks in January at Washington National Cathedral during the funeral service for former President Jimmy Carter.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive for Biden's inauguration as the 46th President on January 20, 2021.

Outgoing President Joe Biden attended President Donald Trump’s inauguration today, but four years ago, then-President Trump became only the 4th president to boycott his successor’s regularly scheduled inauguration and the first in more than 150 years.

Two other presidents missed their successors’ scheduled swearing in, Martin Van Buren and Woodrow Wilson. The reason for Van Buren’s absence is unknown but was not seen as malicious by historians, while Wilson’s was for health reasons. Richard Nixon did not attend Gerald Ford’s inauguration at the White House after he resigned in the middle of his second term in August 1974.

These are the four presidents who are known to have boycotted their successors’ regularly scheduled inaugurations:

Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, told CNN the refusal to attend a successor’s inauguration was an “unfortunate precedent set by Adams, not copied again until his son did it in 1829.”

For both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Johnson, the political landscape was defined by an “unusual amount of enmity” between the parties, according to Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow in the governance studies program at the Brookings Institution.

Trump cuts a cake during the Commander-in-Chief ball on Monday.

Donald Trump thanked service members at the Commander-in-Chief inaugural ball, the first of three events the president was scheduled to attend Monday night.

The president and first lady Melania Trump danced on stage before they were joined by Vice President JD Vance and Usha Vance.

Trump also briefly mentioned Pete Hegseth, his pick for secretary of defense.

Trump also spoke via video feed with troops stationed at Camp Humphreys in South Korea.

“How is it going in South Korea right now? How is it doing? You have somebody with pretty bad intentions, I guess you know you would say that, although I developed a pretty good relationship with him, but he’s a tough cookie. How is it going over there?” Trump asked.

The Trumps and Vances then participated in a cake-cutting ceremony before leaving to attend the Liberty Inaugural Ball.

A federal official involved in the January 6 cases told CNN that they felt “disappointed but not surprised” and “deflated but not defeated” by the mass clemency President Donald Trump granted to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged or convicted in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

The source said they believe Trump’s pardons for violent offenders and commutations for far-right extremists convicted of seditious conspiracy sends a signal “to the country and to the world, that we now need to reckon with.”

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump share a first dance at the Inaugural Ball in Washington.

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Watch: President Trump and first lady Melania Trump's inaugural ball dance

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Watch: President Trump and first lady Melania Trump's inaugural ball dance

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Telsa, SpaceX and X CEO Elon Musk arrives to the inauguration of US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on Monday.

One of President Donald Trump’s first executive actions formally established the Department of Government Efficiency as an entity within the federal government after a recent change in thinking, according to two sources familiar with the DOGE plans.

The order temporarily renames the United States Digital Service as the United States DOGE Service for 18 months and directs the entity to overhaul the software used at federal agencies as part of a “Software Modernization Initiative” to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”

It also directs the federal agencies to establish their own DOGE teams. “Each DOGE Team will typically include one DOGE Team Lead, one engineer, one human resources specialist, and one attorney,” the executive order states.

But the executive order does not include references to slashing the federal budget, workforce or regulations, which Trump touted were DOGE’s prime directives when he announced the initiative in November. Further executive orders could still address those objectives.

Some context: Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was tapped to lead the effort, has said he could cut at least $2 trillion from the federal budget, though he recently revised that goal to $1 trillion. And Vivek Ramaswamy, who was co-leading DOGE until recently, repeatedly promised that it would cull burdensome federal regulations and the bureaucrats who oversee them.

Making DOGE a part of the executive branch is a development in recent days, the sources told CNN. When Trump unveiled the initiative, he said it would “provide advice and guidance from outside of Government.”

The new development raises questions about how Musk, whose companies have billions of dollars in federal contracts, will fit into the structure.

If he remains an outside advisor to DOGE, he would not be subject to the financial disclosure and conflict of interest disclosures that a government employee would have. But if he does become a special government employee as the leader of DOGE, conflict-of-interest concerns would arise, said Max Stier with the Partnership for Public Service, a government watchdog group.

Syria’s de facto leader and Lebanon’s new president congratulated President Donald Trump Monday, with both leaders expressing hope for closer relations with the United States.

“The past decade has brought immense suffering to Syria, with the conflict devastating our nation and destabilizing the region. We are confident that [Trump] is the leader to bring peace to the Middle East and restore stability to the region,” former rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a statement “on behalf of the New Administration of Syria.”

“We look forward to improving the relations between our two countries based on dialogue and understanding,” the statement added.

Al-Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, became the de facto head of Syria’s interim government after his Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), toppled longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad in December. The US later removed a $10 million bounty on Al-Sharaa following a high-level US delegation meeting with the former jihadist.

Meanwhile, Joseph Aou, Lebanon’s new president, also congratulated Trump, expressing hope that his presence in the White House would give bilateral relations a boost.

Some context: Earlier this month, Lebanon’s parliament elected Aoun, a US-backed army chief, to be the country’s new president, ending a years-long political stalemate and presidential vacuum. His election came after robust efforts by Saudi Arabia and the US to rally support for Aoun, who is close to Washington and Riyadh.

Read more about the new leadership in Lebanon.

CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan reports from outside a prison in Washington, DC, where a large crowd has formed awaiting the release of prisoners who were convicted of crimes committed during the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.