WASHINGTON D.C.

1,000 join Indivisible Bemidji's peaceful 'No Kings' demonstration

TJ Rhodes — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 00:42:25 GMT

BEMIDJI — On Saturday morning, Minnesota officials asked residents not to attend "No Kings" rallies, which were slated to take place in multiple cities across Minnesota and over 2,000 cities across the nation.

This request followed the breaking news of two Minnesota legislators who were targeted and shot at their homes earlier in the day.

Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, tragically died as a result of their injuries. Minnesota Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, survived the attack and are recovering.

The perpetrator impersonated a police officer and "No Kings" flyers were discovered in the suspect's car, seemingly placing one or more rallies under threat. The suspect was later identified as 57-year-old Vance Boelter and was captured by police near Green Isle, Minn., on Sunday.

The shootings did not stop grassroots organization Indivisible Bemidji from hosting its rendition of a "No Kings" rally, which took place from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Northwest Indian Community Development Center on Saturday with one caveat: Minnesota Auditor Julie Blaha was slated to speak at the event, but canceled following the shootings in the Twin Cities area.

Regardless, around 1,000 people lined Bemidji Avenue from Erbert & Gerbert's to the NWICDC for a peaceful demonstration.

"We had input from our team members, as far as continuing to hold our event today, and we decided to go with it," said Sherry Kloha, Indivisible Bemidji organizer. "We felt like a lot of people wanted to show up and be together with people that felt the same way, to be with others in their community and just say 'No, we are not going to cower in our basements and be afraid.' This is more important than ever, (to) stand up for what we believe in."

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This rally, planned weeks in advance, honed in on the military parade held Saturday in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the U.S. Army's 250th birthday, which also coincides with President Donald Trump's 79th birthday.

Many Americans did not view the parade favorably, especially after Trump stated that protesters would be met with "very big force" during a June 10 Oval Office press conference. In response to the nationwide day of protest, Trump said he did not feel like a king since he goes "through hell" to pass things through Congress.

His comments did not stop the king comparisons.

"I'm here today because the United States of America has no king," Bemidji State University alum and Lake of the Woods resident Patrick Fish said. "We need people to understand they have to give up a little bit of their comfort if they want to keep it. People (may say) 'It's not me,' but (Trump Administration decisions) affect all of us."

'This isn't a combat mission'

The timing of the parade did not help, as it occurred amid heavy backlash following a multitude of issues coinciding with one another.

For instance, protests in Los Angeles have sparked to highlight and stop ICE raids. Trump sent in the National Guard without consent from California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He also claimed that he was going to send troops everywhere within the United States to combat ICE protests.

It is unclear how Trump managed to do this without invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807; however, a federal judge later ruled that Trump acted illegally and must relinquish control of the National Guard back to California.

His mobilization of the National Guard was not viewed highly by some veterans.

"This administration, Trump is militarizing the military, the law enforcement, sending people in these illegal deportations," said Jesse Amo, Veterans for Peace member and Iraqi veteran. "Illegally mobilizing the National Guard and then getting stopped by a federal judge ... This isn't a combat mission, and citizens should not be treated like hostiles. That's just not who we are.

"This country is about liberty and justice for all. This country is about so many good things (like) equality and opportunity."

Other issues currently swirling around the Trump administration include a public falling out between Trump and Elon Musk, the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency, and rising tensions between Israel and Iran, with Trump calling for peace on social media.

The military parade just adds to the amalgamation of news.

And it did not come out of nowhere; Trump has requested one since his first term.

Typically, such parades serve to welcome troops home or celebrate a successful military excursion. The last military parade in Washington, D.C, occurred in 1991 to celebrate victory after the Gulf War.

Thus, some veterans believe the parade is offensive and is not a celebration of the military.

"What (the parade) says to me is Trump is using the military and the anniversary of the United States Army for his own glorification," said Rob Maas, Indivisible Bemidji member and Vietnam veteran. "(Trump) is taking a lot of military people and making them reorder their lives so that they can stand out in the hot sun for no reason, whatsoever. The American people know the U.S. Army, the Marines and so forth. They don't have to have a military parade."

Republican perspective

Doug Henry, chair of the Beltrami County Republican Party, spoke to the Pioneer ahead of the rally and expressed opposing views to many out demonstrating on Saturday.

"I don't know of a single Republican that would want to spend umpteen millions celebrating Donald Trump's birthday on the taxpayer dime," Henry said. "I'm not celebrating Donald Trump's birthday at all. As far as celebrating the United States military, celebrating the army, and having pride in our nation, that we do celebrate."

Another issue with the parade concerns cost. It has been estimated that the parade comes at a price tag of $25 to $45 million, with an additional $16 million worth of damage to the roads as tanks and other military vehicles make their way through D.C.

Henry believes the cost is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

"I think just about everybody agrees that our government spends too much," Henry began, "but I guess I would say that the money is better spent honoring our military and people who've died in the service of our country than some of the other things we spend money on. It's not a great amount of money."

Rally participants tended to disagree.

"Spending tens of millions of dollars on something to glorify military power is not what America is about," Amo said. "Pride in the military is standing up for the Constitution. ... That money should be spent on cuts that are happening in Medicaid, Medicare, the VA hospital."

Overall, Henry feels the protesters should be allowed to peacefully assemble, but that their efforts will not amount to much.

"My opinion on it is they can protest all they want ... (I don't) have a problem at all," he said. "I just don't think it's effective for the 2026 election at this time because it's too far out and too many things are going to happen."

But Kloha believes that if protesters continue to peacefully assemble and have their voice heard, a positive change could follow.

"What needs to happen next is people need to be showing up and speaking," Kloha said, "whether it's a rally, whether it's a letter to the editor, whether it's talking to your neighbor and or your family, and just saying, 'Is this the kind of country we want to live in? Does this sound like democracy to you?' That's what we need to do, just keep at it."

The "No Kings" rally was the fourth Indivisible Bemidji rally since April. Organizers felt the event had a positive turnout and should lead to similar events in the future.

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Anti-Trump, Musk protests kick off around the nation

Faith E. Pinho, Terry Castleman and Summer Lin / Los Angeles Times — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 00:36:59 GMT

LOS ANGELES — Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across the country on Saturday , April 5 to protest President Trump and a wide range of his administration’s actions, including government downsizing, attacks on immigrants and transgender people, and tariffs that are roiling global economies.

More than 500,000 people nationwide have RSVP’d to attend one of the 1,200 protests in all 50 states, an effort organized by Hands Off!, Indivisible, Move On and other grassroots organizations.

By midday, they had taken to the streets in New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Atlanta, San Francisco and dozens of other cities from coast to coast.

In Los Angeles, several hundred people with signs lined two busy intersections in Los Feliz. “We the people are pissed,” one sign read. “Canada not for sale,” read another. Sporadic chants punctuated a steady stream of tambourines, car horns, applause and cheering.

Dunbar Dicks, 47, helped organize the protest. He has volunteered with Indivisible Hollywood since 2016 and said that the group came back to life and “started organizing soon after the inauguration.”

The coordinated “Hands Off!” protests were the first big demonstrations in opposition to Trump’s second term. “We feel like we have a duty to exercise our First Amendment rights and we are just doing this in between our day job and picking our kids up from day care,” Dicks said.

Behind him, dozens chanted “This is what democracy looks like.”

Dicks, of Studio City, said his main concerns are the “dismantling of the social safety net and governing by fiat.”

“This mass mobilization day is our message to the world that we do not consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies,” according to the event description for the “Hands Off” protest. “Alongside Americans across the country, we are marching, rallying, and protesting to demand a stop the chaos and build an opposition movement against the looting of our country.”

In Washington, D.C., home to the biggest swath of employees whose agencies have been gutted by tech mogul Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, a sea of people swarmed the National Mall, chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, Musk and Trump have got to go.”

Others carried signs reflecting their status as federal workers, including “I took an oath to defend the constitution” and “Feds’ Jobs Matter.”

“It does give me hope to see this many people here making this protest,” said Terry Manzo, 86, who sported a hat covered in political pins. “In the D.C. area, there are so many [federal employees] who are so afraid.”

Manzo handed out pink postcards she’d handmade to send to elected officials, blasting them for not curtailing the actions of Musk and Trump.

Musk’s DOGE has led the effort to drastically reduce the scope of the federal government through large-scale job cuts and mass layoffs of tens of thousands of employees.

The White House rescheduled spring garden tours intended for Saturday, “out of an abundance of caution and to ensure the safety of all within proximity to public demonstrations planned near the White House,” according to a news release.

Whitney Sherman, 38, who traveled from Philadelphia to D.C. for the protest, said she has been despairing over Democrats, who have largely failed to assemble a coordinated response to Trump and Republican-controlled Congress. She pointed to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who have toured the country in recent weeks for rallies they’ve dubbed “Fighting Oligarchy.”

While their events have drawn thousands, they’re only “independent voices,” said Sherman.

“For all the bad things you can say about [Republicans], they have rallied around a single person. Not saying falling in line is a good thing … but it’s effective,” she said. “We need our own project 2029.”

In Atlanta, thousands marched toward the Georgia State Capitol, holding signs that read, “Trade war makes us poor” and “Honk if you hate Elon Musk.”

David Williams, 79, who attended the rally, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had built up his retirement savings for more than 45 years. He called the Trump administration’s handling of the economy, and what he said was an “attack on Social Security nothing but outrageous.”

“They’ve gone way way too far,” he said. “It’s so obvious he’s destroying our basic rights with no regard for the rule of law. He’s a train wreck.”

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Minnesota attorney general sues to reverse firings of probationary federal workers

Max Nesterak / Minnesota Reformer — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 21:17:49 GMT

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit with 19 other attorneys general on Thursday challenging the Trump administration’s mass layoffs of federal probationary employees — those hired or promoted in the past year or two.

The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Maryland, names 20 of Trump’s cabinet members and department leaders and argues the firings violated rules governing mass layoffs. The lawsuit says the terminations have inflicted “immense harm” on the workers and state governments, which will have to review and pay unemployment benefits to thousands of recently fired employees.

“Whether Donald Trump likes it or not, there are laws governing large-scale reductions in the federal government’s workforce that his administration must abide by,” Ellison said in a news release announcing the lawsuit. “Trump’s unlawful mass firings have been needlessly cruel, chaotic, and harmful to many people, including the state of Minnesota.”

The attorneys general are asking a judge to reinstate tens of thousands of fired employees and halt similar terminations.

The Trump administration has not released exact figures of how many employees have been fired and from which agencies — there are more than 18,000 federal civilian employees in Minnesota.

Out placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas tallied up more than 60,000 from 17 different government agencies. That makes up more than one-third of the more than 170,000 layoffs in February, the highest number since July 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was roiling the job market. The layoffs threaten to send shock waves through the greater economy as laid off federal workers cut down on spending and struggle to make mortgage and rent payments.

The Trump administration and its so-called Department of Government Efficiency, led by world’s richest man Elon Musk, have attacked the size of the federal workforce — with Musk wielding a chainsaw for dramatic effect at a recent right-wing conference — as they aim to privatize government services and use any cost-cutting savings for tax cuts that will mostly benefit the wealthy.

Agency leaders told probationary workers they were being terminated for unsatisfactory performance, even those with stellar reviews and no record of discipline or poor performance. Ellison and the attorneys general argue the firings were clearly not for performance reasons but rather an effort to hack down the size of the federal workforce. Therefore, they argue, the Trump administration should have followed rules governing large-scale “reductions in force” that require 60 days notice and offer protections to personnel such as military veterans.

A federal judge’s ruling in a separate case brought by labor unions and civic groups led the Trump administration to revise its directive that kicked off the firings but not reinstate the fired workers.

The Jan. 20 memo now says that the Office of Personnel Management, which is the federal government’s human resources department, is not directing agencies to take any specific action regarding probationary employees.

Following the ruling, the head of the union representing some 800,000 federal workers called on agency heads to rescind the terminations.

Some agencies did reinstate some workers, including the National Science Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to NPR.

Joining Attorney General Ellison in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawai‛i, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.

This story was originally published on MinnesotaReformer.com.

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Agent who shielded president and first lady during Kennedy assassination dies at 93

Staff reports — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 20:51:29 GMT

GRAND FORKS — Clint Hill, who grew up in North Dakota, became a Secret Service agent and was on duty and nearby when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, died Friday at his home in California.

His death was announced Monday by various news agencies, including The Associated Press. He was 93.

“Clint Hill embodied the qualities of courage, service and sacrifice. His loyalty to his country and his devotion to his solemn duty to protect the president continues to inspire us to this day,” Gov. Kelly Armstrong said Monday in a statement. “North Dakota has lost a legendary native son.”

Hill was born in Larimore, North Dakota, and grew up in Washburn, north of Bismarck in the central part of the state. He graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and joined the Secret Service after a stint in the U.S. Army.

His Secret Service tenure started during the administration of Dwight Eisenhower and lasted through Gerald Ford, spanning five presidents. But it was his time with Kennedy that earned him notoriety.

Hill was accompanying Kennedy in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963, when the president was shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.

Hill climbed onto the presidential limousine and used his body to shield first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and the mortally wounded president. A photo of Hill climbing toward the Kennedys as the limousine lurched forward remains an indelible image of that day.

When Hill came to North Dakota in 2018 to receive the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award – the state’s —highest honor — that day in 1963 came up frequently.

As reported at the time by the Grand Forks Herald, “for all the praise Hill has received, he said he struggled to come to terms with the assassination, and only decades later did he accept that there was nothing more he could have done to save the president’s life.”

The late Wayne Stenehjem, who was North Dakota’s attorney general in 2018, was among those who nominated Hill for the award. During the ceremony, Stenehjem said “though it was not possible for him to save the president, it is likely that Agent Hill saved the life of the first lady.”

Joe Scargill, an administrator with the Secret Service, at the time described Hill as a “legend.”

Also during the 2018, ceremony, then-Gov. Doug Burgum praised Hill as an ambassador for North Dakota.

"Agent Hill has traveled the world representing the United States and at every opportunity has stood proudly for our great state," Burgum said at the time. "His exceptional record of honorable service has earned him our everlasting respect and gratitude as fellow North Dakotans."

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Applications for Beltrami Electric's Washington DC Youth Tour due Feb. 3

Pioneer Staff Report — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 20:44:45 GMT

BEMIDJI — Beltrami Electric Cooperative is accepting applications from eligible high school juniors to attend the 58th annual Washington, D.C., Youth Tour set for June 16-21.

"The annual Washington Youth Tour is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event for Minnesota high school juniors,” Angela Lyseng, youth tour coordinator for Beltrami Electric, said in a release.

Since 1964, America’s electric cooperatives have sent students to the nation’s capital to give future leaders in co-op communities a front-row seat to the American government.

Students on the tour will participate in leadership training, engage in one-on-one conversations with elected officials, jumpstart their national peer network and tour Washington, D.C.

Minnesota sent 35 students to the tour in 2024. Students travel to Washington, D.C., by plane, the release said.

To qualify, applicants must be high school juniors whose parent/guardian is a member of Beltrami Electric Cooperative. Students can apply online at www.beltramielectric.com/youth-tour. The deadline to apply is Monday, Feb. 3.

For questions, contact Angela Lyseng at (218) 444-3689 or alyseng@beltramielectric.com.

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IN PHOTOS: Trump's historic return to the White House

Ian Riley & Amber Holritz, for Forum News Service — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 01:06:58 GMT

Washington, D.C. — Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, making history as the second president to serve non-consecutive terms, following Grover Cleveland. The ceremony, originally planned for the Capitol’s West Front, was relocated to the Rotunda due to unseasonably cold weather.

Donald Trump Sworn In as 47th President of the United States

Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States on January 20, 2025, making history as the second president to serve non-consecutive terms, following Grover Cleveland.

The event drew a mix of political leaders, dignitaries and supporters. In his inaugural address, President Trump focused on themes of combating "woke culture", stimulating economic revitalization and strengthening America’s global standing. He emphasized his commitment to "restoring prosperity and pride" across the nation.

Donald Trump Sworn In as 47th President of the United States

Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States on January 20, 2025, making history as the second president to serve non-consecutive terms, following Grover Cleveland. Crowds gathered on the National Mall to witness the historic event, despite the frigid temperatures.

The inauguration featured several notable moments, including a performance of "America the Beautiful" by country star Carrie Underwood and the attendance of former President Joe Biden, underscoring a peaceful transfer of power.

Security was heightened in Washington, with thousands of law enforcement officers and National Guard troops ensuring the safety of attendees. Crowds gathered on the National Mall in large numbers to witness the historic event, despite the frigid temperatures.

Donald Trump Sworn In as 47th President of the United States

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Trump officials asked over a dozen senior career diplomats to step down, sources say

Humeyra Pamuk / Reuters — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 19:26:59 GMT

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's transition team asked more than a dozen senior career diplomats to step down from their roles, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said, as the newly inaugurated president moves quickly to shape his foreign policy and the diplomatic corps.

Among those expected to step aside as Trump was inaugurated on Monday were the agency's No. 3 official John Bass, who was acting undersecretary for political affairs overseeing policy from Asia to Europe and the Middle East, sources said. His planned departure was first reported by the Washington Post.

One of the sources said all undersecretary and assistant secretary level officials — effectively the entire two layers of officials under the secretary of state — were asked to step down.

Reuters reported last week that the team overseeing the State Department's transition to the new administration asked three other senior career diplomats who oversee the department's workforce and internal coordination to resign from their posts.

Trump has pledged to "clean out the deep state" by firing bureaucrats he deems disloyal. The staff changes appear to be in line with a broader effort to seize greater control of the federal government than any modern president.

Neither the State Department nor the Trump transition team responded to a request for comment.

The White House issued a statement shortly after Trump's inauguration on Monday listing the new president's first priorities, among them improved accountability for government bureaucrats.

"On the President’s direction, the State Department will have an America-First foreign policy," the White House said.

Trump is likely to adopt a more muscular foreign policy and has vowed to bring peace between Ukraine and Russia, and give more support to Israel. He has also pushed for unorthodox policies such as trying to make Greenland part of the United States and pressing NATO allies for higher defense spending.

A diplomatic workforce that dutifully implements rather than pushes back will be key to achieving his goals, experts say.

Marco Rubio, Trump's pick for secretary of state, during his confirmation hearing last week said the State Department was "marginalized" and that the agency's staff should have a bigger role in setting and implementing foreign policy.

The officials leaving their roles remain as State Department officials but their future is uncertain. They have the option to retire, but if they wish to stay in the foreign service they would need to find new jobs within the department and be reassigned. That will be up to the new leadership.

Career officials

While political appointees typically submit their resignations when a new president takes office, most career foreign service officers continue from one administration to the next, even as the incoming president has the right to install new officials to those positions.

Many of the diplomats who were asked to step down have worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations throughout the years.

"Closely monitoring reports that senior diplomats were asked to step down from leadership roles in advance of the inauguration," Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a Jan. 19 X post.

"These non-partisan public servants have decades of experience serving under Republicans & Democrats & are key to US national security," she added.

To have personnel aligned with Trump's agenda, the transition team was installing scores of "senior bureau officials" to lead the department's key bureaus, a development first reported by Fox News and confirmed to Reuters.

The transition team has also asked Lisa Kenna, who served as executive secretariat under Mike Pompeo, Trump's second secretary of state during his first term, to take over Bass' duties and fill the role of undersecretary for political affairs, one of the sources said.

She also served throughout Biden's tenure, first as the U.S. ambassador to Peru and most recently as the principal deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the State Department.

Tim Lenderking, Special Envoy for Yemen, was set to take over the Near East Affairs bureau and serve as the Department's interim top official for the Middle East, one of the sources said.

Trump is expected to nominate Joel Rayburn, who had served at the State Department and the National Security Council during his first administration, as the assistant secretary for Near East affairs, a second source said.

Among those who are leaving were Geoffrey Pyatt, assistant secretary for the Department's Energy and Natural Resources Bureau, whose diplomatic career spans over more than three decades. During the first Trump administration, he was Washington's ambassador to Greece.

Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs and effectively the department's top Asia diplomat, was also stepping down and retiring at the end of the month.

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Trump sworn in a second time, vows 'golden age of America'

David Morgan, Gabriella Borter, Jeff Mason and Joseph Ax / Reuters — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 17:21:40 GMT

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump pledged to rescue America from what he described as years of betrayal and decline in his inaugural address on Monday, prioritizing a crackdown on illegal immigration and portraying himself as a national savior chosen by God.

"First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border," he said. "All illegal entry will be immediately halted and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came."

The speech echoed many of the themes he sounded at his first inauguration in 2017 when he spoke darkly of the "American carnage" of crime and job loss that he said had ravaged the country.

Trump, 78, took the oath of office to "preserve, protect and defend" the U.S. Constitution at 12:01 p.m. ET inside the U.S. Capitol, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts. His vice president, JD Vance, was sworn in just before him.

Trump will be the first felon to occupy the White House after a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to a porn star.

Trump intends to sign a raft of executive actions in his first hours as president, incoming White House officials said on Monday, including 10 focused on border security and immigration, his top priority.

In addition to declaring an emergency, the president will send armed troops there and resume a policy forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their U.S. court dates, officials told reporters.

He will also seek to end so-called birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children whose parents lack legal status, a move some legal scholars have said would be unconstitutional.

The inauguration completes a triumphant comeback for a political disruptor who survived two impeachment trials, a felony conviction, two assassination attempts and an indictment for attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss.

"The journey to reclaim our republic has not been an easy one, that I can tell you," Trump said, before referring to the assassin's bullet that grazed his ear in July. "I was saved by God to make America great again."

The ceremony was moved inside the Capitol due to the cold, four years after a mob of Trump supporters breached the building, a symbol of American democracy, in an unsuccessful effort to forestall Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden, 82.

Biden and outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November, were on hand inside the Capitol's Rotunda, along with former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, arrived with her husband Bill, but Obama's wife, Michelle, chose not to attend.

Numerous tech executives who have sought to curry favor with the incoming administration - including the three richest men in the world, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg - had prominent seats on stage, next to cabinet nominees and members of Trump's family.

Trump, the first U.S. president since the 19th century to win a second term after losing the White House, has said he would pardon "on Day One" many of the more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. He skipped Biden's inauguration and has continued to claim falsely that the 2020 election he lost to Biden was rigged.

Biden, in one of his last official acts, pardoned several people whom Trump has targeted for retaliation, including former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, former Republican U.S. Representative Liz Cheney and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley.

Trump will restore the federal death penalty, which Biden had suspended, and require that official U.S. documents such as passports reflect citizens' gender as assigned at birth, incoming administration officials told reporters.

They said he will also sign an order ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the federal government on Monday, which is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday in memory of America's most famous civil rights leader.

But Trump will not immediately impose new tariffs on Monday, instead directing federal agencies to evaluate trade relationships with Canada, China and Mexico, a Trump official said, an unexpected development that unleashed a broad slide in the U.S. dollar and a rally in global stock markets on a day when U.S. financial markets are closed.

Donald Trump inauguration 2025

Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump holds the Bible during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington.

U.S. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance applauds as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump reacts on the day of his Presidential Inauguration at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris stands at the White House, on the inauguration day of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's second presidential term, on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff hugs First lady Jill Biden as they arrive for the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington.

US President-elect Donald Trump kisses Melania Trump as he arrives for the inauguration ceremony before he is sworn in as the 47th US President in the Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington.

U.S. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump react on the day of Trump's Presidential Inauguration at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington.

Merchandise with an image of Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk is displayed on the inauguration day of Donald Trump's second presidential term on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington.

U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump entering the state of his inauguration as the 47th president of the United States inside the Capitol Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington.

People attend the Inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington.

People sit at the National Mall, on the inauguration day of Donald Trump's second presidential term, on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington.

Some of the executive orders are likely to face legal challenges.

Even as he prepared to retake office, Trump continued to expand his business ventures, raising billions in market value by launching a "meme coin" crypto token over the weekend that prompted ethical and regulatory questions.

Earlier Trump and incoming first lady Melania Trump arrived at the White House, where Biden and outgoing first lady Jill Biden greeted them with handshakes.

"Welcome home," Biden said.

Disruptive force

As he did in 2017, Trump enters office as a chaotic and disruptive force, vowing to remake the federal government and expressing deep skepticism about the U.S.-led alliances that have shaped post-World War Two global politics.

The former president returns to Washington emboldened after winning the national popular vote over Harris by more than 2 million votes thanks to a groundswell of voter frustration over persistent inflation, though he still fell just short of a 50% majority.

In 2016, Trump won the Electoral College - and the presidency - despite receiving nearly 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton.

Trump, who surpassed Biden as the oldest president ever to be sworn into office, will enjoy Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress that have been almost entirely purged of any intra-party dissenters. His advisers have outlined plans to replace nonpartisan bureaucrats with hand-picked loyalists.

Even before taking office, Trump established a rival power center in the weeks after his election victory, meeting world leaders and causing consternation by musing aloud about seizing the Panama Canal, taking control of NATO ally Denmark's territory of Greenland and imposing tariffs on the biggest U.S. trading partners.

His influence has already been felt in the Israel-Hamas announcement last week of a ceasefire deal. Trump, whose envoy joined the negotiations in Qatar, had warned of "hell to pay" if Hamas did not release its hostages before the inauguration.

Unlike in 2017, when he filled many top jobs with institutionalists, Trump has prioritized fealty over experience in nominating a bevy of controversial cabinet picks, some of whom are outspoken critics of the agencies they have been tapped to lead.

The inauguration took place amid heavy security after a campaign highlighted by an increase in political violence that included two assassination attempts against Trump, including one in which a bullet grazed his ear.

The traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House will now take place indoors at the Capital One Arena, where Trump held his victory rally on Sunday. Trump will also attend three inaugural balls in the evening.

Some diehard Trump followers slept in the street in frigid conditions to make sure they were in line to get a seat at the arena.

A desk and chair sat on the stage, where Trump was expected to sign some of his first executive orders in front of his supporters before heading to the White House.

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Biden declares Equal Rights Amendment US law, even though it is not

Jeff Mason and Susan Heavey / Reuters — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 16:45:49 GMT

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden called the Equal Rights Amendment "the law of the land," on Friday, backing an effort to enshrine the change into the U.S. Constitution even though it long ago failed to secure the approval of enough states to become an amendment.

"Today, I affirmed the Equal Rights Amendment to have cleared all the necessary hurdles to be added to the U.S. Constitution now," Biden said. "The Equal Rights Amendment is the law of the land now. It's the 28th amendment to the Constitution now."

It was unclear what practical impact Biden's comments might have. The White House issued his statement just three days before he leaves office, handing off to President-elect Donald Trump on Monday. In December, the National Archivist, which is tasked with certifying and publishing new amendments, said it could not add the ERA to the U.S. Constitution.

The ERA declares that "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

Its supporters say it is needed to protect against sexual discrimination and would help women achieve equal pay. Opponents note that the original timetable to have it become part of the Constitution has passed and argue that the amendment is no longer needed.

Republicans and Democrats have been fighting for years over the viability of the amendment. In response to a reporter's question, Biden said Friday he had not acted sooner because "I had to get all the facts."

The ERA was proposed in 1923 and passed Congress in 1972. Under U.S. law, amendments to the Constitution must be ratified by three-fourths, or 38 of the 50, state legislatures. They do not require presidential approval. By a 1982 deadline, only 35 states had ratified the amendment.

It was not until 2020 that Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it. Opponents of enshrining the law said the deadline to include it in the Constitution had passed, while supporters argued the Constitution has no guidelines for how long states can take to ratify an amendment.

Trump is not expected to support the amendment. In 2020, the Trump administration issued a legal opinion that it was too late to renew an effort for it to be ratified and any amendment process would need to be started anew.

Most recently, in 2023, the U.S. Senate blocked a measure to remove the 1982 deadline. A full century after the law was proposed, it voted 51-47 in favor of removing the deadline, nine votes shy of the 60 needed to clear the 100-member chamber's filibuster hurdle. Two Republican women joined Democrats to vote in favor.

The National Archivist weighed in on Dec. 17, 2024, saying the ERA cannot be certified as part of the Constitution due to "established legal, judicial and procedural decisions."

In 2023, the median pay for U.S. women working full-time year-round jobs was 84 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to Department of Labor reports. Black women made 69 cents for every white man's dollar.

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Biden commutes more sentences, this time for 2,500 non-violent drug offenders

Costas Pitas / Reuters — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 16:21:43 GMT

President Joe Biden, who leaves office next week, announced on Friday that he was commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses, saying he has now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any predecessor.

Those benefiting from Friday's action "are serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice," Biden said in a statement.

The move provides clemency relief to individuals who were sentenced based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine and outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes, according to the statement issued by the White House.

In December, Biden commuted the sentences for 37 out of 40 federal inmates on death row, converting them to life in prison without parole, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump returning to the Oval Office on Jan. 20.

He also announced in the same month that he was pardoning 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes and commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 others who were serving long prison terms.

Biden has faced criticism for pardoning his son, Hunter, who had pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted on firearms-related charges.

Defense attorneys and civil rights groups had ramped up efforts to highlight compelling cases and launched campaigns to help those they believe were wrongly convicted or are serving excessive terms for nonviolent offenses.

Presidents typically order a round of pardons toward the end of their time in office.

Trump has promised to grant clemency to at least some of his supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in a failed bid to block Congress from certifying Biden's 2020 election victory.

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