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Key events
New Zealanders are not typically ones for splitting hairs, but when it comes to who split the atom, you had better have your facts straight – particularly if you have just been sworn in as the 47th US president.
During his inaugural address on Monday, Donald Trump reeled off a list of US achievements, including a claim that its experts split the atom.
However, as the Guardian’s Eva Corlett writes, that honour belongs to revered physicist Sir Ernest Rutherford, a New Zealander who managed the historic feat in 1917 at Victoria University of Manchester in England. The element rutherfordium was named after him in 1997.
Read about New Zealand’s diligent factchecking here.
Trump’s January 6 pardons
President Donald Trump on Monday issued “full, complete and unconditional” presidential pardons for about 1,500 people who were involved in the January 6 attack on Congress, including some convicted of violent acts, making good on his promise to act in such cases on day one of his second term.
“This is a big one. We hope they come out tonight, frankly,” Trump said while signing the pardons in the Oval Office on Monday night after he referred to those convicted as “hostages”.
Trump also directed the justice department to dismiss all pending indictments against people related to January 6.
The Liberty Ball – in pictures
President Trump and first lady, Melania.
Guests enjoy the party.
Vice president, JD Vance and his wife Usha.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
Trump and ‘The Golden Era’.
‘Fast and furious’ foreign policy on Trump’s first day
Newly inaugurated president Donald Trump wasted no time signing off on a number of consequential foreign policy moves, from withdrawing from the World Heath Organization to reversing sanctions on violent Israeli settlers.
The Guardian’s David Smith has this handy recap of what you ned to know in terms of Trump’s foreign policy moves so far.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Donald Trump’s inauguration and first day in office.
Immediately after his swearing-in ceremony on Monday the new US president set into motion a slew of executive orders seeking to make good on his campaign promises and undo the legacy of his predecessor Joe Biden, including the pardoning of January 6 defendant and a crackdown on immigration to the US.
Trump signed multiple executive orders in front of a raucous crowd of his supporters at the Capital One Arena in DC. “Could you imagine Biden doing this? I don’t think so,” he asked the crowd gleefully at one point. He then signed more during a press conference in the Oval Office.
The blossoming relationship between Trump and Elon Musk was also on full display at the inauguration; the billionaire sat with other tech titans including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos next to Trump family members and ahead of cabinet nominees.
Trump said that walking back into the already-remodelled Oval Office after his inauguration was “one of the better feelings I’ve ever had.”
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. Here is a rundown of how he was greeted by international leaders.
Here’s a rundown of his executive orders:
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Trump pardoned about 1,500 January 6 defendants facing prosecution for their role in the 2021 storming of the US capitol. Among those pardoned is Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison on seditious conspiracy charges. Trump also commuted the sentence of Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers militia, who had been sentenced to 18 years in prison on sedition charges.
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He also signed an executive order seeking to revoke birthright citizenship – automatic citizenship for people born in the US – for the children of undocumented immigrants. Birthright citizenship is protected by the 14th amendment and the order will almost certainly be challenged in court.
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One order declared a “national emergency” at the southern border, paving the way to send US troops to the area and another that designated drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
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He signed an executive order to, for a second time, withdraw the US from the Paris climate accords. He also declared a national energy emergency as part of a barrage of pro-fossil fuel actions and efforts to “unleash” already booming US energy production.
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Another order will remove the US from the World Health Organization (WHO). “World Health ripped us off, everybody rips off the United States. It’s not going to happen any more,” Trump said at the signing. The withdrawal of the US would dramatically cut funding from the global public health organization.
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He issued an executive order requiring federal agencies revoke the use of “gender” and “gender identity” and instead use a binary definition of “sex” in implementing policy – including in issuing passports, a move that LGBTQ+ rights groups have vowed to challenge in court.
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Another order reclassified thousands of federal employees as political hires, making it much easier for them to be fired. Key aides to Trump have called for mass government firings. Project 2025 made attacks on the deep or administrative state a core part of Trump’s second term.
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One order renamed the 617,800 sq mile Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s 20,000ft Denali. The Gulf of Mexico will be renamed the Gulf of America, and Denali, the highest mountain in North America, will revert to Mount McKinley, which it was called before Barack Obama changed the name in 2015. The order will have no bearing on what names are used internationally.
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Trump also signed an executive order temporarily delaying the enforcement of a federal ban on TikTok for at least 75 days. “I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok that I didn’t have originally,” Trump said at the White House.