Transcript of President Trump signs executive orders and withdraws US from Paris climate agreement | BBC News

Do you have that other one to sign? Do you have the other one to sign? We don't have it over here yet, sir. We'll have it for you. The first is the recisions of '78 Biden era EOS and presidential memoranda. I want to call her out. Do you want to say it? If you want me to, sir. Why don't you say what I'm signing? Sure. The first item that President Trump is signing is the recision of '78 Biden era executive actions, executive orders, presidential Miranda and others. Thank you, sir. Thank you. The second item, President Trump, is a regulatory freeze, as you announced in your speech, preventing bureaucrats from issuing any more regulations until we have full control of the government in this administration. I'm here today, Mr. Deeser.

Thank you, sir.

Sir, can I have a pen? The next item, sir, is a freeze on all federal hiring, accepting the military and a number of other excluded categories, again, until full control of the government is achieved and we understand the objectives of government going forward. Thank you. Can you I'm not going to pay something.

Could you imagine Biden doing this? I don't think so. I don't think so.

Sir, the next Next item, as you announced in your speech, is a requirement that federal workers return to full-time in-person work immediately. Thank you, sir. Next, we have a Give to every department an agency in the federal government to address the cost of living crisis. Thank you, sir. The next item here is the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Treaty. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We're going to save over a trillion. We're going to save over a trillion. We're going to save over a trillion. We're going to save over a trillion dollars by withdrawing from that treaty. The next item, sir, is a letter that will be transmitted to the United Nations explaining that we are withdrawing from the Paris Climate Treaty. Thank you, sir. This next item is a directive to the federal government, ordering the restoration of freedom of speech and prevent speech going forward. Lastly, sir, before we go back to the oval office to sign a large number of other items, is a directive to the federal government ending the weaponization of government against the political adversaries of the previous administration, as we've seen. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you very much.

Appreciate it. It's a pretty fun job. One more time. I'm going to high-tail it for a moment.

You're watching our special coverage of Donald Trump's inauguration day on Christian Fraser picking up coverage. Tonight, we're going to continue to watch events here in Washington. We've just seen the signing of nine or 10 executive actions. Let me quickly We're going to walk down through what we heard over the last few minutes. The President rescinding their 78 Biden era executive orders and presidential actions, freeze on regulation within federal government, freeze on all federal hiring until the Trump administration has got a handle on the size of government, a return of federal workers to the office, a directive for each department to address the cost of living crisis which has affected so many families here in the United States. One that affects the international community, of course, the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Treaty, which he did back in 2017. It is worth noting that actually it did take them all the way to the end of the first administration until the United States fully withdrawn. But this time, the feeling is that it will be much quicker. There was a directive to the UN explaining that they were doing that, a directive to the federal government ordering the restoration of the freedom of speech here in the United States, and a directive to federal government to stop the weaponization of the judicial system.

So there you see the presidential party leaving Capital One. On the way to a series of in I'm here for the inaugural dinners tonight, there is one for the military, another for the Trump supporters, and of course, one for the high rolling donors who are here to watch the inauguration in Washington with me here in the studio. Axios contributor Margaret Tannard, and also Lance Trover, who was spokesman for Doug Burg and the North Dakota. Governor, who is Donald Trump's nominee, of course, to be the next interior secretary. Welcome to your vote. What did you make of that?

Quintessential Donald Trump made for TV moment. What more would you expect from him to go in front of his supporters, 20,000 strong, and sign a bunch of executive orders that he promised to do in the campaign? I thought it was just a classic made for TV moment for Donald Trump.

Two big sets of actions and orders that I actually fully expected we're on that desk, but I think we're going to have to wait till later tonight. One, he's certainly intimated that there's going to be a blanket wave of pardons or commutations or a combination of both.

Tell me about that. There was a thought that they would look at each case by case. A certain Jim Jordan from House Judiciary Committee intimated that yesterday, but he's saying it will be a blanket. He's not-A blanket order?

He's hinting and floating, and there's been a number of reports. Until I read the order, I don't want to guess. Maybe that is still to be decided. And there are many, many more executive actions or orders awaiting him upon his return to the White House, which we actually thought would happen hours ago. So we are hours behind already But one is what's going to happen to people who participated in January sixth, both nonviolently and violently, some already sentenced and some not yet. So that's a big thing we're waiting for. And two, these border actions that he's been talking about all a declaring the emergency at the border, so on and so forth. But what's the language and when will he sign those? Sort of a side issue. If you live in Washington, DC, in the nation's capital, it's a Democratic city. It's a liberal city. The mayor, a mayor, Muriel Bowser, no great ally of Donald Trump. In the course of the last month, she's gotten two huge gifts from... One is the Congress signing over the old RFK Stadium site to her so the football team can perhaps move home and be redeveloped. And then the other, this requirement for federal workers to immediately return to work in person every day.

I mean, since COVID, downtown vacancy rates are a disaster. Restaurants are closed. Traffic has been better, blissfully. So that's about to be over. But this sounds like a good economic shot.

I can tell you it's very much an active debate in the UK as well within the civil service of the UK. I'll tell you one more thing.

As we were talking and as the President was just talking, as he was signing this initial stack of orders, the Senate did confirm President Trump's first cabinet nominee, Marco Rubio, former Senator from Florida. Now, the Senate has voted for-The first cabinet nominee. Unanimously, and that's going to be the only unanimous vote I think you're going to get from these colonies. Things are about to get partisan real fast, put by partisan support.

Just as we watch this, it is a celebration in the hall. It is worth noting that this today has been a much more intimate affair. You would expect in an ordinary inauguration, the President to make a speech from the dais and then everybody to drift off home. But today, they They've been part of the entire day, this crowd, and they've seen something that they wouldn't be party to in a traditional inauguration.

Well, I think that goes to the special relationship that Donald Trump has with his supporters. They are the core of everything he is. He makes a lot of his decisions based on where his supporters are and what they're saying on social media, and that's the reaction you see. I think this was really part of just who he is and the gift back to them because they have been with him for eight long years. For them, some vindication, I think, on their part, and certainly for Republicans. That's why you're seeing him welcoming them in and doing this ceremonial stuff right there. It's really a gift to them.

But he talked earlier today about unity and bringing the country together. This was more like a campaign speech to the faithful. Is that the speech that will resonate across the country?

Well, I would make the argument. He got what? 78, 79 million votes. I mean, those are not new speeches for him. What we heard today is what he's been saying on the campaign trail for two years. Voters are not blind to who Donald Trump is. They know exactly who Donald Trump is, and they went out and voted for him in droves anyway on November fifth.

This was not a Unify the Country moment. He was cracking jokes about whether Joe Biden would be able to do the stuff he was doing and making fun of Kamala Harris. This was definitely read me to the base, but it's populist. The appeal is populist at a moment when the Republican Party, led by Donald Trump, has successfully flipped the narrative and shaped themselves as the party that cares about at least the white working class. It's been their message, and it's carried him in this last election. If you are a member of the working class, you don't get an invite to the White House to watch someone sign orders. So he brought the orders to the arena where 20,000 people who got in line at 4:00 in the morning could come in.

I would just add, though, to your populace note, that's absolutely right. A vast majority of this country believes we are on the wrong track, and that has been consistent for at least two years. And so I think, yeah, there a lot of talk about unity, but I think, again, voters are going to give him a lot of leeway. You've seen the polls that have come out since his approval in the transition and the approval of some of his policies. I think they're going to give him a lot of leeway in these coming days ahead.

I'm just hearing, actually, that Marco Rubio, while we've been talking, has been unanimously confirmed. Would you expect that all these colonies now will be unanimously confirmed?

No, I don't expect that. I think this is probably a one and done. There are everyone else, by increasing degrees, is going to get controversial. There are some Republicans who still aren't saying whether they will vote to confirm Pete Hagsith at the Pentagon. But Rubio clearly met the standard of You know, he's a Senate colleague, and senators from both parties recognize that a President has a right to have his nominees. This was certainly the best Secretary of State candidate that Democrats, from their perspective, were going to get from Donald Trump.

Since we're talking about Marco Rubio, before I came in here, I know you both might not have heard it, but Steve Wykow was an interesting choice to introduce the President. Of course, was brought in by the Biden administration as part of the negotiations in the last two weeks. I thought the framing of that was quite interesting, that at an inauguration parade, you frontline the Middle East peace process, you put the families behind. Why do you think they did that?

Well, this is going to be an ongoing issue for them. Just because we had the deal from over the weekend doesn't mean there's still a lot more to be done with this Middle East issue. It's going to be one of the major issues. It's going to be one of the major issues. I think this is going to be at the top. Obviously, it's something Donald Trump wanted completely off of his plate, and he got a good chunk of it off his plate over the weekend. That doesn't mean we're still far from over on that issue.

The language, though, he said, We expect respect for sovereignty, economic prosperity in the region, courageous diplomacy, reciprocity, and accountability. He didn't talk about any particular group or country in that, but it seemed to me as if he was saying as much to Israel as to the Palestinians, we need meaningful progress.

It's very interesting to try to understand. If you just heard him talking about no blank checks, you would imagine he was talking about NATO or Western allies or Ukraine or some of the broader conflicts where Trump himself has talked about everyone paying their fair share. But Whitkoff is the envoy to the US. He was involved with Brett McGurk, Biden's envoy, in those closing deals, helped push it over the line. He was the one who had the meeting with be Netanyahu. Was he talking to Netanyahu there? And what did he mean? President Trump and his supporters like to talk a lot about the Abraham Accords, this rapprochment between the Saudis and the Israelis. But the whole underpinnings of the Abraham Accord was seen at the time, long before the October 7th's attacks, to marginalize the Palestinians in the process, almost to cut them out of the loop or diminish their role to say this is really between Saudi and Israel now, and their business alliances, and their regional alliances, anti-Iran alliances. After October seventh, after the attacks and Israel's response, does that change the dynamics of the Abraham Accords? Can the Saudis move closer to the Israelis with all those civilians in Gaza dead, with Gaza destroyed?

What's the path forward for the Abraham Accords? So I think it's very interesting, too. But I think as a baseline, Trump and Biden, this was not their finest moment for either one of them, each vying to say, no, it got done because of me. No, it got done because of me in the closing days of of the Biden presidency, I think part of Wykowff and the setup here was for Trump to say that he should be seen as the one credited for making that deal possible, especially since he will inherit it now.

He certainly will, whether he likes it or not. Yeah. Standby, because we can bring in Gary Donogh, who is in the Capital One arena. Gary, that was something else. We saw the President throwing out the pens that he'd signed the documents with with in the last few minutes. I was talking to Brian Lanza, who was part of the the 2017 inauguration committee today, and he was saying that there was a feeling last time out that they'd stumbled out of the gate. Not this time. Over the next few hours, we're going to see them very much upping the pace, and the pace will continue because they've a limited amount of time to do this.

That's right. Donald Trump has said in the last few days that they wanted him to spread this stuff out, and he said, no, let's do it all in one go. I think it's worth remembering that this is a whole mixture of different actions, if you like. Some of these proclamations, presidential proclamations, It's basically just like the President saying, I think this is the case. Some of them are executive actions which are intentional, and some of them have the force of law. For example, in front of the crowd now, he's just withdrawn from the Paris Climate Change Treaty. Now, he can do that, and that is something that will happen. He's written to the UN as well saying he's doing it. Some of these things could get bogged down in the courts because he cannot wish away statutes with a stroke of the pen. He cannot wish away the Constitution with a stroke of the pen. Some of the things he's trying to do may well be challenged in court. Other things may be easier. Other things may come to nothing. So it's a real mismatch. But yeah, he's setting a pace, I think, because if you remember at the beginning, way back in 2017, how long ago that feels now, he was bogged down in the early weeks with real problems with his own attorney general, with his own national security adviser, who ended up being fired about three weeks in, I think.

They want to take control, and they think they've got the personnel around him now and the experience of that time to actually get it right this time.