What happened on the second day of Trump becoming president?

President Donald Trump sought to maintain his early momentum on his second day in office, defending pardons for Capitol Hill riot defendants, planning a purge of DEI programs and announcing an artificial intelligence infrastructure deal.

On Tuesday, Trump also threatened economic action against Russia and China as his choice for top US diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, arrived at the State Department for his first day on the job.

He also met with congressional Republicans at the White House before appearing with tech CEOs to announce a joint venture with OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank to invest billions in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

As Trump’s team settles in, other officials who worked under the Biden administration are expected to depart in large numbers.

In his first press conference of the new administration, Trump discussed his decision to release defendants in the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when his supporters sought to prevent Joe Biden from taking the White House.

The more than 1,500 people he pardoned Monday “spent years in prison,” Trump said, while “even murderers don’t go to prison in this country.”

He also told reporters that he was considering imposing a 10% tariff on imports of Chinese-made goods by February.

He said that China is sending fentanyl, an opioid drug that is increasing the crisis worldwide, to the US via Mexico and Canada.

His announcement was followed by threats to impose 25% import taxes on Mexico and Canada, accusing them of allowing undocumented immigrants and drugs into the US.

Trump is considering issuing more sanctions against Russia if President Vladimir Putin refuses to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine, he said.

Trump said that during a phone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, he pressured China to intervene more to stop the war.

“He hasn’t done much on it… I said, ‘You should figure it out.’ We discussed it,” he said.

At an opening prayer service earlier in the day, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, D.C., looked at him during his sermon and appealed to him to “have compassion” for immigrants, gay and transgender youth.

Trump later told reporters that he “didn’t think it was a good service” and that they “could have done much better”.

In Trump’s first meeting with Republican leaders at the White House, the group discussed legislative strategy and possibly using recess appointments to confirm Cabinet nominees who are unable to go through the normal Senate confirmation process.

On the subject of immigration, the widespread raids and deportations that Trump promised from the first day of his presidency have not yet ramped up, although the administration has changed several rules designed to limit migration flows. Has given.

The Department of Homeland Security announced it was rescinding a rule barring immigration agents from conducting raids at “sensitive locations”, including schools, churches and hospitals.

Four top officials at the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees US immigration courts, were among those fired by the Trump administration on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, all federal employees serving in DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion)-related roles will be placed on paid leave on Wednesday, according to White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt.

A memo obtained through BBC news partner CBS on Tuesday included a template email to affected employees, saying that the DEI programs “divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars and resulted in embarrassing There was discrimination.”

As some of Trump’s high-profile pardons released him from prison, he also issued a new pardon for another famous supporter.

Ross Ulbricht, who operated the deep web marketplace Silk Road, where illegal drugs were sold, and was active in the Libertarian movement, received a full and unconditional pardon.

“The lunatics who worked to convict him were the same lunatics who engaged in the modern weaponization of the government against me,” Trump posted on his Truth social platform.

Ulbricht was convicted of narcotics and money laundering conspiracy in New York in 2015 and sentenced to life in prison.