US updates: First Jan 6 rioters freed after Trump pardoning

Donald Trump's administration ordered federal employees in diversity, equity, and inclusion roles (DEI) to be placed on paid leave by Wednesday evening.

The Office of Personnel Management also instructed heads of departments and agencies to develop plans to lay them off.

It comes a day after the president issued a series of executive orders to end diversity programs, which attempt to promote opportunities for women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people and other traditionally underrepresented groups.

The executive order accuses former President Joe Biden of forcing "discrimination" programs into "virtually all aspects of the federal government."

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who created the Silk Road drug marketplace.

Ulbricht was serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 2015 on charges that included distributing narcotics on the internet.

During sentencing the judge said Ulbricht's site, that was used by thousands to conduct over $200 million (€194.7 million) worth of illicit sales using Bitcoin, caused at least six drug-related deaths.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that he spoke to Ulbricht's mother.

"It was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross," he wrote.

"The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me."

President Donald Trump again threatened to impose tariffs against the European Union (EU) for treating the US "very, very badly."

Reacting to reporters' questions during a media briefing at the White House, Trump said, "We have a $350 billion (€336 billion) deficit with the European Union."

According to Eurostat data, the EU exported more goods to the United States than it has imported, and the US trade deficit stood at €155.8 billion in 2023. However, in services, the US has a surplus of exports over imports with the EU of €104 billion in 2023, according to Eurostat.

After assuming office on Monday, Trump issued an order that directed agencies to "investigate and remedy" the US trade deficits. 

Speaking at the World Economic Forum earlier in the day European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU's "first priority will be to engage early" and "be ready to negotiate" with Trump.

US President Donald Trump continued to exact revenge on his critics Tuesday by stripping former National Security Advisor John Bolton of both his security clearance and his secret service detail.

Bolton, who has been the target of Iranian assassination plots, said, "I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection previously provided by the United States Secret Service." 

In 2021, then-President Joe Biden extended Bolton's protection due to ongoing serious threats to his life. In 2022, Biden's Justice Department charged an Iranian official with trying to orchestrate his death.

"That threat remains today, as also demonstrated by the recent arrest of someone trying to arrange for President Trump's own assassination," Bolton said.

Speaking of receiving protection under Biden and having it revoked by Trump, Bolton said despite being critical of Biden, "he nonetheless made the decision to extend (Secret Service) protection to me in 2021. The American people can judge for themselves which president made the right call." 

Bolton, one of the main architects of the US war on terror and its invasion of Iraq, served under Trump for nearly a year and a half.

He made his way onto Trump's enemies list in 2020 when he released a White House memoir accusing Trump of being unfit for office, publicly embarrassing him as he sought reelection.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his counterparts from India, Australia, and Japan as the Trump administration began its formal foreign policy engagements with discussions involving the Indo-Pacific "Quad."

Rubio, and India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japan's Iwaya Takeshi, sadi "international law, economic opportunity, peace, stability, and security in all domains including the maritime domain underpin the development and prosperity of the peoples of the Indo-Pacific."

"We also strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion," they said in a not-so-subtle reference to China.

The "Quad" has gained prominence in recent years amid efforts to counter China's growing power in the Indo-Pacific.

President Donald Trump said he intends to remove more than 1,000 appointees from the administration of former President Joe Biden.

Celebrity chef Jose Andres, former top general Mark Milley, Trump-selected former Iran envoy Brian Hook and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms were fired immediately.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social overnight, Trump named the four, saying: "Let this serve as a notice of dismissal. "YOU'RE FIRED!"

"My Presidential Personnel Office is actively in the process of identifying and removing over a thousand Presidential Appointees from the previous Administration, who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again." 

In response to Trump's "You're fired" message, Andres urged Trump on X "to put politics and name calling aside…and instead lift up the everyday people working to bring America together."

Milley was a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who Trump has previously suggested should be executed for holding back-channel talks with China. 

On Monday, he said he was grateful for a preemptive pardon by Biden. 

As the spate of firings continue, Trump's administration also fired US Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Lee Fagan, the first female uniformed leader of an Armed Forces branch.

The head of the US Transportation Security Administration David Pekoske, who was first appointed by Trump during his first White House term in 2017, was also forced out.

Several lawsuits have been filed by Democratic-led states and civil rights groups in response to executive orders President Donald Trump signed on his first day office.

A coalition of 18 Democratic-led states along with the District of Columbia and the city of San Francisco took on an executive order that seeks to roll back birthright citizenship in the US.

They followed similar suits put forward by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and immigrant organizations, as they argued the Republican president's effort to end birthright citizenship is a violation of the US Constitution.

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement: "State attorneys general have been preparing for illegal actions like this one." 

"Today’s immediate lawsuit sends a clear message to the Trump administration that we will stand up for our residents and their basic constitutional rights." 

The lawsuits argue that the executive order violated the right enshrined in the Citizenship Clause of the US Constitution's 14th Amendment. It states that anyone born in the United States is considered a citizen.

A Supreme Court ruling from 1898 in United States vs. Wong Kim Ark, bore a decision that children born in the United States to non-citizen parents are entitled to US citizenship.

If Trump's new executive order be allowed to stand, it would mean that more than 150,000 children born annually in the United States would be denied for the first time the right to citizenship.

"President Trump does not have the authority to take away constitutional rights," Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement.

Former Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who was Trump's first confirmed cabinet appointment, arrived at the State Department to loud applause and cheers as he addressed his new employees.

Rubio called on US diplomats to defend and execute President Donald Trump's 'America First' policies.

"The voters decide the course of our nation, both domestically and abroad, and they have elected Donald J. Trump as our president when it comes to foreign policy on a very clear mission," Rubio said.

"That mission is to ensure that our foreign policy is centered on one thing, and that is the advancement of our national interest, which (was) clearly defined through his campaign as anything that makes us stronger or safer or more prosperous."

Trump has been publicly skeptical of the value of the State Department since his first term in office. He has accused some in the diplomatic corps of working to blunt or derail his policy priorities.

Donald Trump has been fast to act on promises he made ahead of his inauguration, signing numerous executive orders as he took office as the 47th president of the United States on Monday.

They clearly indicate his priorities and include:

• Rescinding 78 regulations established by his predecessor, Joe Biden
• An order to all federal departments to tackle the cost-of-living crisis
• An order to stop government censorship
• The withdrawal of the US from the Paris Climate Agreement
• The withdrawal of the US from the World Health Organization
• The declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border
• Making it US policy to recognize only two genders, male and female

Trump also signed pardons for almost all 1,600 defendants who stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the transfer of power on January 6, 2021, after elections that Trump has falsely claimed were rigged.

But as DW correspondent Carla Bleiker notes in an article about Trump's first acts during his second term, not all of the orders will mean immediate change for the country, with many subject to mandatory study and review.

Read more here: Trump's first executive orders point to his goals

Donald Trump, an avowed climate skeptic, has made no secret of his plans for his second presidency. As he assembles his governing team, environmental analysts have been looking for signs of what to expect from his second term, and, for many, the outlook is bleak.

On the campaign trail and since his reelection, he has pledged to boost fossil fuel exploitation, cancel tax credits for electric vehicles and clean energy projects, unravel environmental regulations, and claw back unspent funds from what he has called the "green new scam," landmark climate legislation passed by outgoing President Joe Biden.

Read DW's analysis what Trump's second term means for the climate.

Trump has repeatedly stated that he will impose 10%-20% tariffs on all goods entering the US in an attempt to boost domestic manufacturing and close the trade gap.

But critics have warned that the tariffs would hit US consumers while also putting pressure on other global economies, such as Germany.

DW takes a deeper dive into the possible impacts of Trump's tariff threats.

The first group of far-right leaders who had been handed lengthy prison sentences for their roles in the January 6 Capitol riots in 2021 have been released from prison after being officially pardoned by President Donald Trump.

Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the violent extremist group Proud Boys, and Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the militant Oath Keepers, had been sentenced for seditious conspiracy convictions following the largest investigation in Justice Department history.

Tarrio had been sentenced to 22 years and Rhodes to 18. Neither were at the Capitol on the day, but were convicted of plotting the attack.

As one of his first acts in office, Trump signed an executive order to pardon, commute the sentences of or dismiss the cases against the more than 1,500 people charged with federal crimes for their role in the riot.

The January 6 rioters gathered at the White House in 2021 to protest and in some cases hope to overturn the election of Joe Biden as president following Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election — a loss he repeatedly and falsely denied.

Trump had pledged to pardon his supporters during the campaign trail, with Monday evening's flurry of executive orders showing the likely intent for the rest of his term.

lo, ab/jcg (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)