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US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has granted pardons to more than 1,500 of his supporters who stormed the Capitol on 6 January, 2021, in a bid to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
He also announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate accord for a second time, a rejection of global efforts to combat planetary warming as catastrophic weather events intensify worldwide.
These are some of the many orders Trump signed on the first day of his new term.
In addition to granting pardons to over 1,500 of his supporters who storms the Capitol, Trump also ordered that all pending criminal cases against Capitol riot defendants be dropped.
Among those receiving a pardon was Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for directing a military-style assault on the Capitol.
Stewart Rhodes, the leader of another far-right group, the Oath Keepers, had his 18-year prison sentence commuted to time served. Both Tarrio and Rhodes had been convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Describing the rioters as “hostages,” Trump said at a White House signing ceremony that he had granted “full pardons” to more than 1,500 defendants.
“We hope they come out tonight, frankly,” he said.
A total of 1,583 people were charged in connection with the assault on Congress by Trump supporters seeking to disrupt certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.
Trump repeatedly pledged during his election campaign to pardon those who took part in the attack, calling them “patriots” and “political prisoners.”
Trump, whose first term as president ended under the cloud of the Capitol assault, has repeatedly played down the violence of 6 January, even going so far as to describe it as a “day of love.”
More than 140 police officers were injured in hours of clashes with rioters wielding flagpoles, baseball bats, hockey sticks and other makeshift weapons along with Tasers and canisters of bear spray.
The Capitol assault followed a fiery speech by then-president Trump to tens of thousands of his supporters near the White House in which he repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 race.
He then encouraged the crowd to march on Congress.
Former Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the pardons, calling them “an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol.”
“It is shameful that the president has decided to make one of his top priorities the abandonment and betrayal of police officers who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power,” Pelosi said.
In addition to withdrawing from the Paris Climate accord, Trump also declared a “national energy emergency” to expand drilling in the world’s top oil and gas producer, said he would scrap vehicle emissions standards that amount to an “electric vehicle mandate,” and vowed to halt offshore wind farms, a frequent target of his scorn.
“I’m immediately withdrawing from the unfair, one-sided Paris Climate Accord rip-off,” he said to cheering supporters at a Washington sports arena after being sworn in. “The United States will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity.”
He also signed an order instructing federal agencies to reject international climate finance commitments made under the previous administration, and issued a formal letter to the United Nations notifying it of Washington’s intent to leave the agreement.
Under the accord’s rules, the United States will formally exit in one year.
Critics warn the move undermines global cooperation on reducing fossil fuel use and could embolden major polluters like China and India to weaken their commitments, while Argentina, under libertarian President Javier Milei has also said it is “re-evaluating” its participation.
The move comes as global average temperatures over the past two years surpassed a critical 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold for the first time, underscoring the urgency of climate action.
Trump previously withdrew the United States from the Paris Accord during his first term. Despite this, the agreement – adopted in 2015 by 195 parties to curb greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change – appears poised to endure.
“The US withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is unfortunate, but multilateral climate action has proven resilient and is stronger than any single country’s politics and policies,” said Laurence Tubiana, a key architect of the accord.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell added the “door remains open” for Washington.
Trump also signed a flurry of sweeping energy-related federal orders aimed at undoing former president Joe Biden’s climate legacy as he pledged to “drill, baby, drill!”
He also attacked “big, ugly windmills” and said he’d take on Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which channels billions of dollars into clean energy tax credits.
In addition, Trump vowed to reverse offshore drilling bans, unpause permits for liquefied natural gas facilities, and resume drilling on protected land in Alaska.
Elsewhere, Trump signed various orders aimed at reshaping how the US manages immigration and citizenship.
One declared a national emergency at the southern border, and Trump also promised a mass deportation operation involving the military, which he says will target those he called “criminal aliens.”
In the Oval Office, Trump signed an order revoking birthright citizenship.
But automatic US citizenship to people born in the country is enshrined in the Constitution, and Trump’s action is certain to face a legal challenge.
Trump revoked sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank accused of abuses against Palestinians, undoing an unprecedented action taken by Joe Biden’s administration.
He also signed an order for the United States to exit the World Health Organization, insisting Washington was unfairly paying more than China into the UN body, and repealed various executive orders promoting diversity programs and LGBTQ equality, in line with his promised attack on “woke” culture.
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I don’t see the issue here. Giving back to society after being jailed for taking something from it. Better than sitting in a cell playing the PlayStation.
@Luke Littler: I should’ve clarified, that part of my comment was inferring to the scr0tes in Irish prisons.
@Padhraic McLaughlin: Take it easy Padraic – you will have the Irish Council for civil liberties for prisoners and law breakers and that outfit penal reform on ranting for the evening.
Prisoners being useful to the community that the committed crimes against. A good idea.
They are trained and when released have new skills to help them stay on the straight and narrow.
Yu cannot pay them the same but they could be insured in case of serious accidents or worse.
A lot better than making coffee tables and cake stands like our lot do!
Cheap prison labour is economically important in the USA and it is not about Rehabilation or Giving Back to the Community. That is PR. It is a big part of why the USA has such a high imcarceration rate.
@Des Hanrahan: the so called ‘Land of the Free’
@Dave G Doe: Prison is about rehab, not revenge..
Now this might seem harsh, but I honestly don’t think that they should be getting paid at all. We don’t pay people for community service, why should taxpayers foot the bill for people who have committed even more heinous crimes which required incarceration? The fact that some inmates are getting $30 per day despite possibly being serial abusers or violent murders/robbers just doesn’t sit right with me. Incarceration is not meant to be a reward but a consequence of their actions. Taxpayers are already funding their housing, food, healthcare, and security, why add a paycheque on top of that for work that’s part of their restitution? Work in prison should be seen as part of paying their debt, not as an opportunity to draw a salary funded by the very people they’ve wronged.
A morally bankrupt country
@Fergus O’Donnell: should help with the DEI inclusion targets also !
Activity is part of helping people In institutions cope with waiting to get back on track. Laundries were a standard activity for girls gardening for boys but firefighting is another level.
The 13th amendment to the US Constitution is widely taught to have ‘ended’ slavery, but it merely converted it into “convict leasing”, and US prisons need a steady supply of prison labour so the US has one of the highest proportions of its population incarcerated, and all of the work they do is for profit, not for rehabilitation: https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-alabama-3b2c7e414c681ba545dc1d0ad30bfaf5 Of course, work placement can be an essential part of prisoner rehabilitation, but that’s not what’s happening in the US.
@Stephen Wallis: All work is for profit. Anyone who works for nothing will never be out of work.
Bodie will get the gal, it’s all gonna be just fine! Don’t look up!
some things never changed.
This is what you get when you prioritise paying for wars in foreign lands
have your say