DIPLOMACY
After taking office, Trump pardons 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants
Donald Trump pardoned about 1,500 of his supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol four years ago as he moved swiftly to impose his will on the U.S. government just hours after reclaiming the presidency on Monday.
After a day of ceremony, Trump signed a series of executive actions to curb immigration and roll back environmental regulations and racial and gender diversity initiatives. He did not take immediate action to raise tariffs, a key campaign promise, but said he could impose 25% duties on Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1.
His decision to pardon supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is sure to enrage police, lawmakers and others whose lives were put at risk during an unprecedented episode in modern U.S. history.
Roughly 140 police officers were assaulted during the attack, with some sprayed with chemical irritants and others struck with pipes, poles and other weapons. Four people died during the chaos, including a Trump supporter who was shot dead by police.
Trump ordered 14 leaders of the far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys militant groups, who were serving long prison sentences, released from prison early, but left their convictions intact.
Earlier in the day, Trump, 78, took the oath of office in the Capitol Rotunda, where a mob of his supporters had rampaged on Jan. 6 in an unsuccessful attempt to reverse his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.
At the ceremony, Trump portrayed himself as a saviour chosen by God to rescue a faltering nation.
“I was saved by God to make America great again,” he said.
Trump is the first president in more than a century to win a second term after losing the White House and the first felon to occupy the White House. The oldest president ever to be sworn in, he is backed by Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Trump moved quickly to clamp down on illegal immigration, a signature issue since he first entered politics in 2015.
Shortly after he took the oath of office, U.S. border authorities shut down a program that allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the U.S. legally by scheduling an appointment through a smartphone. Existing appointments were canceled.
Nearly 1,660 Afghans who had been cleared by the U.S. government to resettle in the U.S., including family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel, were having their flights canceled under a Trump order suspending U.S. refugee programs, a U.S. official and a leading refugee resettlement advocate said on Monday.
BORDER EMERGENCY DECLARED, CLIMATE DEAL NIXED
At the White House, Trump signed an order that declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, which would unlock funding and allow him to dispatch troops there. He signed an order that would end a policy that confers citizenship to those born in the United States, which is certain to trigger a lengthy court fight. Another executive order designated Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
Trump once again withdrew the United States from the Paris climate deal, removing the world’s biggest historic emitter from global efforts to fight climate change for the second time in a decade.
“We’re getting rid of all the cancer … caused by the Biden administration,” Trump said as he signed a stack of executive orders in the Oval Office.
His inauguration amounts to a triumphant return for a political disruptor who survived two assassination attempts and won the election despite a criminal conviction and a prosecution stemming from his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Other orders revoked Biden administration policies governing artificial intelligence and electric vehicles. He also imposed a freeze on federal hiring and ordered government workers to return to the office, rather than working from home. He also signed paperwork to create a “Department of Government Efficiency,” an outside advisory board headed by billionaire Elon Musk that aims to cut large swaths of government spending.
In the State Department, more than a dozen nonpartisan senior diplomats were asked to resign as part of a broader plan to replace nonpartisan civil servants with loyalists.
He also said he would issue orders to scrap federal diversity programs and require the government to recognize only genders assigned at birth.
While Trump sought to portray himself as a peacemaker and unifier during his half-hour speech, his tone was often sharply partisan. He repeated false claims from his campaign that other countries were emptying their prisons into America and voiced familiar grievances over his criminal prosecutions.
With Biden seated nearby, Trump issued a stinging indictment of his predecessor’s policies from immigration to foreign affairs.
“We have a government that has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders, but refuses to defend American borders, or more importantly, its own people,” Trump said.
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 founder Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg – had prominent seats on stage, next to cabinet nominees and members of Trump’s family.
Trump said he would send astronauts to Mars, prompting Musk – who has long talked about colonizing the planet – to raise his fists.
Trump vowed to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and repeated his intention to take back control of the Panama Canal, one of several foreign policy pronouncements that have caused consternation among U.S. allies.
RETURN TO POWER
Trump took the oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend” the U.S. Constitution at 12:01 p.m. ET (1701 GMT), administered by Chief Justice John Roberts. His vice president, JD Vance, was sworn in just before him.
Outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November, was seated next to Biden in a section with former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, sat with her husband Bill. Obama’s wife, Michelle, chose not to attend.
The ceremony was moved indoors due to the extreme cold gripping much of the country.
Trump 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 threatened with retaliation, including General Mark Milley, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who Trump has suggested should be executed for holding back-channel talks with China. Milley’s portrait was removed from the Pentagon shortly after Trump’s inauguration.
He also pardoned five family members minutes before leaving office, citing fears that Trump would target them.
Reuters
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Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, Nasser Bourita, has reaffirmed that the security and stability of Gulf Arab states are inseparable from Morocco’s own national security.
Speaking during an extraordinary ministerial meeting of the League of Arab States held on Sunday to discuss Iran’s attacks on Arab states, Bourita stressed that Morocco views any threat to Gulf countries as a direct threat to itself.
“What harms you harms us, and what affects us affects you,” Bourita said, reiterating Morocco’s long-standing commitment to the security of Gulf nations.
The meeting, attended remotely by the Moroccan minister, was convened to address what participants described as Iran’s aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Arab countries.
Bourita noted that Morocco’s position reflects the policy consistently articulated by King Mohammed VI, who has repeatedly emphasised solidarity with Gulf partners. He revealed that the Moroccan monarch recently held telephone conversations with leaders of Gulf states to express Morocco’s support for their sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.
The minister also recalled the king’s remarks during the Moroccan-Gulf Summit on April 20, 2016, where Mohammed VI declared that defending shared security among Arab nations is “not only a common duty but an indivisible one.”
During the emergency session, Bourita strongly condemned what he described as “brutal Iranian attacks” on Arab countries, calling them a blatant violation of their sovereignty and a serious threat to regional stability. Morocco, he said, stands in full solidarity with the affected states and supports any legitimate measures they deem necessary to safeguard their citizens and territories.
He further accused the Iranian regime of pursuing destabilizing policies across the region, alleging that Tehran seeks to create and support militias and groups loyal to it in order to undermine the stability and interests of neighboring countries.
Bourita urged Arab nations to strengthen unity and collective action through the League of Arab States as the most effective means of protecting regional security and safeguarding national sovereignty.
Concluding his remarks, the Moroccan foreign minister called for a unified Arab stance against actions that threaten regional stability and demanded the immediate cessation of Iranian attacks, saying such a move would open the door for diplomacy, dialogue and de-escalation in the region.
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Mohammed VI has reaffirmed Morocco’s “full support and solidarity” with several Arab Gulf states following what he described as “blatant attacks” on their sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In a statement issued Saturday by the Royal Cabinet, the Moroccan monarch disclosed that he held separate telephone conversations with key Gulf leaders, including Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates; Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa; Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia; and Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
According to the Royal Cabinet, King Mohammed VI strongly condemned the attacks targeting the sovereignty of the “brotherly states” and reiterated Morocco’s readiness to stand by them in any legitimate measures they consider necessary to safeguard their security and ensure the safety of their citizens.
The statement underscored the “deep fraternal ties and enduring solidarity” binding Morocco to the Gulf nations, stressing that the security and stability of the Arab Gulf region are inseparable from Morocco’s own national security.
“Any infringement upon their integrity constitutes a serious and unacceptable aggression and a direct threat to regional stability,” the statement read.
Morocco has long maintained close political, economic and security ties with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, with cooperation spanning investment, energy, defence and diplomatic coordination on regional issues.
Saturday’s high-level consultations signal Rabat’s intention to reinforce those alliances at a time of heightened regional tensions, while affirming its position that threats to Gulf states are viewed as threats to broader Arab and regional stability.
The Royal Cabinet did not provide further details on the nature of the attacks referenced in the conversations, but the statement reflects Morocco’s consistent diplomatic posture of collective Arab solidarity in times of crisis.
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On High Royal Instructions from Mohammed VI, the Moroccan government has rolled out a major aid and support programme valued at approximately $328 million (MAD 3 billion) to assist communities affected by exceptionally severe weather conditions over the past two months.
The extreme weather, which particularly impacted the Gharb plain and Loukkos regions, caused widespread flooding and large-scale displacement across several provinces.
According to a press release from the Office of the Head of Government, His Majesty, mindful of safeguarding citizens’ safety and improving their living conditions, directed authorities to implement an urgent and comprehensive response plan, alongside the necessary regulatory measures required in such circumstances.
In line with these instructions, the Head of Government issued a decree declaring the weather conditions a catastrophic event. The most affected communes in the provinces of Larache, Kénitra, Sidi Kacem and Sidi Slimane have officially been designated disaster areas.
The aid and support programme, equivalent to roughly $328 million, was designed following an in-depth field assessment and a detailed evaluation of the economic and social repercussions of the disaster.
The breakdown of the package includes:
- $85 million (MAD 775 million) for rehousing affected families, compensating for loss of income, rehabilitating damaged homes and small businesses, and reconstructing collapsed houses.
- $25 million (MAD 225 million) in in-kind assistance and reinforced emergency interventions to meet immediate and essential needs.
- $33 million (MAD 300 million) in targeted support for farmers and livestock breeders.
- $186 million (MAD 1.7 billion) allocated for the rehabilitation of roads, hydro-agricultural infrastructure and basic public service networks.
The statement further emphasised that the King has instructed the government to ensure the programme is executed in an exemplary, swift and responsible manner, enabling affected citizens to return to normal living conditions as quickly as possible.
Official figures indicate that the severe weather caused flooding across more than 110,000 hectares of land and displaced nearly 188,000 people in the four affected provinces.
The large-scale intervention underscores Morocco’s commitment to rapid recovery and long-term reconstruction following one of the most significant weather-related disruptions in recent years.
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