Trump Sets Out To Erase Biden's Legacy With Pardons And Orders

Donald Trump began erasing Joe Biden's legacy immediately after taking office as the nation's 47th president on Monday, pardoning nearly all of his supporters who rioted at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and issuing a blizzard of executive orders that signal his desire to remake American institutions.

- Associated Press

WASHINGTON:

It was an aggressive start for a returning president who feels emboldened and vindicated by his unprecedented political comeback. Four years after being voted out of the White House, Trump has a second chance to launch what he called "a golden age" for the country.

He signed orders for increasing border security, designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, limiting birthright citizenship, freezing new regulations and establishing a task force for reducing the size of the federal government. He also rescinded dozens of directives issued by Biden, including those relating to climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Trump said that walking back into the already-remodelled Oval Office after his inauguration was "one of the better feelings I've ever had." Unlike during his first term, when new staff members scrambled to figure out what exactly their president was trying to achieve, Trump moved rapidly and methodically to advance his agenda on Monday.

His first action after arriving at the White House was pardoning about 1,500 people charged in connection with the January 6 attack, even if they had been convicted of assaulting police officers. Trump commuted the sentences of another 14 people, including leaders of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.

Trump's inauguration combined formal ceremony and freewheeling rhetoric, a reminder of how Trump can abide solemnity for only so long before going off script with a blend of humor and vitriol. Before leaving the White House for an evening of inaugural balls, Trump spent nearly an hour parrying questions by reporters.

He promised that tariffs on Canada and Mexico were coming, suggested that he might visit China and praised the decorators for the new look of his Oval Office. Among other changes, a portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt that had been hung by Biden was replaced with one of George Washington.