Here’s what to expect when Congress convenes to certify the presidential vote
Lena Klimkeit/picture alliance via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Congress is gathering for a joint session to certify the results of the 2024 election, the final step before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, after some major changes to security for the ceremony and the law that dictates how it’s carried out.
Before 2021, the Congress’ constitutionally mandated responsibilities to count electoral certifications from the states and certify the results on Jan. 6 often passed in less than an hour with little notice from the public.
But the events of four years ago make this a more closely watched affair.
Washington, D.C., is under heightened security — not only for the certification of the vote, but also for the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter at the end of this week and Trump’s inauguration in two weeks.
There are no known threats to the certification of the electoral votes, authorities say, but police are preparing for the possibility.
And the Washington area is forecast to get its heaviest snowfall in a few years on Monday, which could impact government operations, but it isn’t expected to prevent certification.
Here’s what we expect to happen on Monday:
Security
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request to designate Washington a National Security Special Event for the counting and certification of the vote, which was approved in September. This allows for significant resources from the federal government, as well as state and local partners, to be utilized in a comprehensive security plan, with the U.S. Secret Service as the lead agency.
The Secret Service is deploying agents and specialists from field offices across the country to supplement staffing. D.C. Police will be fully activated beginning Sunday morning and are bringing in nearly 4,000 additional officers from across the country to assist with policing for the special events. Drones will be in use for both events and training preparations.
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger told reporters, “The United States Capitol Police [are] better staffed, better trained, better equipped than ever before, to protect our Capitol and protect our Congress.”
“The legislative process will proceed without disruption, and our government will have a peaceful transfer of power,” he said.
Capitol Police has completed more than 100 recommendations its inspector general made after the Jan. 6 attack, including increasing staffing, training, and building a new intelligence operation.
The D.C. National Guard confirmed to ABC News that it has been activated and will assist with events this month. Some 500 members of the Guard are on standby for Jan. 6 and Carter’s funeral. A request for 7,800 members of the military for Trump’s inauguration is pending approval.
Fencing is installed around a perimeter that goes beyond the office buildings on both sides of the Capitol, and there’s an inner perimeter that surrounds the immediate Capitol complex. The fencing was implemented for the first time after the 2021 insurrection and will be similar to what was installed for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress last summer.
The fencing on Capitol Hill and near the White House is expected to remain through February, sources told ABC News.
No major groups have applied for permits or announced any protests for the election certification.
Snow day
D.C. is expected to get between 8 to 12 inches of snow through Monday but members are expected to get to the Capitol.
House Republican leaders urged members to stay in Washington over the weekend and Speaker Mike Johnson is plowing ahead with Monday’s certification.
In an appearance on Fox News on Sunday, Johnson said he’s hoping for full attendance.
“Whether we’re in a blizzard or not, we are going to be in that chamber making sure this is done,” Johnson said.
The role of the vice president
Vice President Kamala Harris will preside over the certification, putting her in the unenviable position of certifying the victory of her 2024 opponent. Congress enacted a law in 2022 to define the role of the vice president as purely ceremonial.
The Electoral Count Reform Act modified some of the provisions that Trump attempted to use to challenge the electoral count on Jan. 6, 2021.
The law also makes it harder harder for Congress to challenge a state’s electoral votes. The law raised the threshold required to object to a state’s electoral votes from one senator and one representative to one-fifth of each chamber and it takes one half of each chamber to sustain objections.
Though there were objections to states’ electors that led to the dissolution of the joint session in 2021, none were sustained by a half-chamber vote in either the Senate or the House.
The law also cleaned up vague language about what date states must select their electors and created an expedited procedure for federal courts, or the Supreme Court when necessary, to hear cases with over state executives’ duty to issue and transmit to Congress the certification of appointed electors.
Certifying the vote
Procession of the ballots: The sealed votes arrived at the Capitol addressed to the vice president in her role as president of the Senate. The votes are placed in ceremonial leather-bound boxes and processed from the Senate to the House by a group of Senate pages.
Procession of senators to the House: Senators follow the electoral boxes to the House to convene the joint session.
Members convene for joint session: Federal law stipulates that members must convene at 1 p.m. for the opening of the presidential election results. The House sergeant at arms announces the president of the Senate (Harris) and senators as in the State of the Union address, and then the president of the Senate takes the dais and becomes the presiding officer of the ceremony. The speaker of the House usually sits behind the vice president.
“Tellers” come to the dais: Two House members and two Senate members who have been selected by the speaker and Senate majority leader help shepherd the ceremony by reading out the votes alphabetically by state. This is typically the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Rules and House Administration committees.
Harris reads the votes by each state in alphabetical order: Starting with Alabama, Harris will open the certificates and hand them down to one of the tellers. After the teller announces the result, Harris will ask if there are any objections. If there are objections as there were in 2021, this would be when they’re heard.
If the threshold for an objection is reached: Harris would announce that the two chambers will deliberate separately on the pending objection and report its decision back to the joint session. The Senate would withdraw from the joint session and return to its chamber. Both chambers would get up to two hours to debate whether to uphold the objection. It requires the vote of half of each chamber to sustain an objection.
Never in their history has either chamber sustained an objection.
Completing the process: The vice president will announce the whole number of electoral votes (538) and what constitutes a simple majority (217) and announce how many electoral votes each candidate got, then do the same for vice president.The vice president will declare the joint session dissolved. Usually there is applause, and the certification is complete.
How long does all this take?: There have been instances in which certification has taken less than half an hour. In 2017, the certification of President Trump’s first term, presided over by then-Vice President Joe Biden, took 41 minutes.
In 2021, Congress convened at 1 p.m. in a joint session and, because of both a prolonged recess due to the breach of the Capitol and multiple state objections, did not complete its work certifying the election until 3:39 a.m. on Jan. 7.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The stopgap spending plan negotiated between House Republicans and Democrats to avoid a government shutdown appears to be dead two days before the deadline after it was condemned by President-elect Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk.
Johnson’s original plan called for extending government spending at current levels until March and added other provisions like relief for disaster victims and farmers and a pay raise for members of Congress.
In a joint statement Wednesday afternoon, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance called on Congress to “pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.”
“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and [President Joe] Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief,” Trump and Vance said.
Later Wednesday evening, Trump threatened any Republican in the House who voted for a clean bill.
“Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried,” he posted on his Truth Social platform. “Everything should be done, and fully negotiated, prior to my taking Office on January 20th, 2025.”
In another post, Trump also pushed Republicans to deal with the debt limit before he takes office, saying if they don’t, “he’ll have to ‘fight ’til the end’ with Democrats.”
“This is a nasty TRAP set in place by the Radical Left Democrats!” he wrote. “They are looking to embarrass us in June when [the debt limit] comes up for a Vote. The people that extended it, from September 28th to June 1st, should be ashamed of themselves.”
Scalise says ‘hopefully tomorrow’ the House will have deal Congress faces a deadline Friday, when the current government funding extension expires, to pass a new bill before a government shutdown kicks in.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters late Wednesday that negotiations on government funding remained ongoing after a “productive” late-night meeting in Speaker Mike Johnson’s office.
“We are going to continue to work through the night to the morning to get an agreement we can bring to the floor,” Scalise said, adding “hopefully tomorrow” the House can “get it resolved.”
Among those in the speaker’s office for negotiations was Vance, who told reporters the conversation was “productive,” adding, “I think we will be able to solve some problems here.”
In his remarks to reporters, Scalise said Trump “wants to start the presidency on a sound footing, and we want him to as well. And I think that’s one of the things we’re all focused on,” he said.
Scalise added, “There’s a lot we want to get done starting in January. But obviously we’ve got to get through this first. And we are going to get it resolved.”
Asked if the debt limit is going to be part of any new agreement, as Trump has called for, Scalise said: “We are not there yet. We are still having conversations with our members with a lot of other folks too just to make sure that everybody is on the same page. But we are still talking about some good ideas that will address some of the issues our members raised today. And then make sure we take care of the disaster victims.”
What Elon Musk said
Earlier Wednesday, Musk came out against the bill, going so far as to threaten lawmakers who voted for it.
After posting on X that “This bill should not pass,” Musk escalated his rhetoric, warning that “any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!”
“Please call your elected representatives right away to tell them how you feel! They are trying to get this passed today while no one is paying attention,” he implored his over 200 million followers.
He later posted that “No bills should be passed Congress until Jan 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes office.”
Republican leaders had been discussing a clean short-term funding bill, but specifics are unclear, sources told ABC News. This comes less than a day after Republicans unveiled the legislative text that was the product of bipartisan and bicameral negotiations.
What Democrats are saying
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries signaled Democrats were not inclined to vote for a clean bill.
“An agreement is an agreement,” Jeffries told reporters.
“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country,” he said. “House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown or worse.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked about Musk’s post during an interview on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning. He appeared to not worry about Musk’s post influencing the ability of the funding bill to get through both chambers ahead of a partial government shutdown deadline at the end of the day Friday.
“I was communicating with Elon last night. Elon and Vivek [Ramaswamy] and I are on a text chain together and I was explaining to them the background of this. Vivek and I talked last night about midnight, and he said ‘look I get it.’ He said, ‘We understand you’re in an impossible position,'” Johnson said.
Johnson said Musk and Ramaswamy, the two DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) leaders, are aware of the tough spot the speaker is in with a slim majority and Democratic control of the Senate and White House. DOGE is an outside-of-government (or private) operation.
“We gotta get this done because here’s the key. By doing this, we are clearing the decks, and we are setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with the American first agenda. That’s what we are going to run with gusto beginning January 3 when we start the new Congress,” he said.
Johnson, whose speakership has been characterized by beating back criticism from his far-right flank, had originally promised a clean bill that would solely extend current levels of government funding to prevent a shutdown. However, natural disasters and headwinds for farmers, necessitated additional federal spending.
In the end, the bill included $100 billion for recovery efforts from Hurricanes Helene and Milton and another $10 billion for economic assistance for farmers.
Johnson at an earlier press conference said his hands were tied after “acts of God” necessitated additional money.
“It was intended to be, and it was, until recent days, a very simple, very clean [continuing resolution], stopgap funding measure to get us into next year when we have unified government,” he said. “We had these massive hurricanes in the late fall, Helene and Milton, and other disasters. We have to make sure that the Americans that were devastated by these hurricanes get the relief they need.”
Still, Republican spending hawks cried foul, accusing Johnson of stocking the bill with new spending without any way to pay for it and keeping the bill’s creation behind closed doors.
“We’re just fundamentally unserious about spending. And as long as you got a blank check, you can’t shrink the government. If you can’t shrink the government, you can’t live free,” Texas Rep. Chip Roy said.
Musk, too, mocked the size of the bill.
“Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?” he posted on X, along with a picture of the bill stacked on a desk.
ABC News’ Rachel Scott and Katerine Faulders contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s rapid reshaping of the federal government continues with executive orders and action from his acting agency heads.
Federal departments face a 5 p.m. deadline Tuesday to cease spending on any financial assistance programs, according to a memo from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. More firings of career officials at the Justice Department unfolded on Monday and Trump signed four military executive orders, one targeting transgender service members.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined immigration enforcement operations in New York. More Trump Cabinet nominees, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, will face highly-anticipated confirmation hearings later this week.
Nonprofits, health groups and more sue to block memo freezing financial aid
A group of nonprofit groups, public health organizations, small businesses and LGBTQ advocates have asked the federal district court in Washington for an emergency injunction and temporary restraining order to block implementation of the White House Office of Management and Budget memo freezing all federal grant and loan distributions.
The lawsuit invokes the Administrative Procedures Act, which says that federal agencies must undertake changes in policy by providing justification for the action, adequately consider the real-world impacts, and accept public input.
The groups allege the Office of Management and Budget has done none of these things and has exceeded its authority.
-ABC News’ Devin Dwyer and MaryAlice Parks
State officials report trouble accessing health, emergency funds
The White House memo on ceasing spending for federal financial aid programs is sparking alarm for some across the country.
Multiple state agencies are reporting they are encountering error messages as they try to access online portals that they typically use to draw down funds for emergency aid, community health centers, Head Start and even Medicaid — despite the memo’s explicit carve out for Medicare and Social Security.
“This is sowing chaos and confusion everywhere,” one state official told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Steven Portnoy
EPA temporarily pauses disbursement of federal financial aid
The Environmental Protection Agency is “temporarily pausing” its disbursement of federal financial aid in response to the order from the White House Office of Management and Budget, the agency confirmed in a statement to ABC News.
The EPA grants fund a wide array of national, state and tribal programs, including some to assist with air and water quality. A list of its grant programs can be found here.
The agency said it is “continuing to work with OMB as they review processes, policies, and programs, as required by the memorandum.”
-ABC News’ Kelly Livingston
Karoline Leavitt, youngest WH press secretary, to hold 1st briefing
Karoline Leavitt will make her first appearance behind the podium in the James S. Brady briefing room on Tuesday.
Leavitt, 27, is the youngest White House press secretary in history. She served as the spokesperson for Trump’s 2024 campaign and transition team.
On Monday, she held her first gaggle with reporters aboard Air Force One. There, she fielded questions on Trump’s upcoming moves on FEMA and his attempts to end birthright citizenship. She’ll face more questions, likely about Trump’s recent actions regarding the military and federal aid programs, at 1 p.m.
Trump weighs in on possible deal for Microsoft to buy TikTok
President Donald Trump discussed a possible deal for Microsoft to buy TikTok while speaking with reporters by phone from Air Force One on Monday evening.
Trump was asked whether Microsoft was in discussions to acquire the embattled social media app amid its looming U.S. ban deadline.
“I would say yes,” Trump said, before adding, “A lot of interest in TikTok, there’s great interest there.”
When asked whether he liked the idea of a bidding war for the app, Trump said he likes bidding wars.
“I like bidding wars because you make your best deal,” he said.
“It’s very clear, if I sign, then somebody’s going to buy it, pay a lot of money, have a lot of jobs, keep a platform open and have it be very secure. If I don’t sign, then it closes,” Trump added of TikTok’s future in America.
He was asked about what other companies were looking to buy the app, and he declined to respond but said that they are all “top of the line.”
White House budget office suspends federal financial aid programs for internal review
The White House budget office is ordering federal agencies to cease any financial assistance spending if they suspect the program might conflict with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
In a memo obtained by ABC News, Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the Office and Management and Budget, told agency chiefs that they must report back by Feb. 10 on all programs that apply.
“The memo requires federal agencies to identify and review all federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the President’s policies and requirements,” according to the document.
The memo says it is directed at programs providing “financial assistance for foreign aid, non-governmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology and the Green New Deal.”
The order does not specify which financial aid programs would have to be suspended, although it could have sweeping implications. The federal government funds thousands of programs, including research programs, housing subsidies and educational grants.
Quakers sue to keep ICE out of houses of worship
Five Quaker congregations sued the Department of Homeland Security on Monday over last week’s policy reversal that allows immigration agents to conduct searches and arrests in so-called “sensitive areas” like churches and schools.
The Quaker groups, known as the Religious Society of Friends, alleged that the policy change harms their congregations by deterring immigrants from worshipping in person, violating their First Amendment rights to freely associate and exercise religion.
“Allowing armed government agents wearing ICE-emblazoned jackets to park outside a religious service and monitor who enters or to interrupt the service and drag a congregant out during the middle of worship is anathema to Quaker religious exercise,” the federal lawsuit filed in Maryland said.
Quaker worship generally involves multiple congregants sitting together in silence to await a message from God, which can be received and shared by anyone in attendance, according to the lawsuit.
“Being able to receive those messages is fundamental to Quaker religious exercise,” the lawsuit said.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman said in a statement announcing the policy change on Jan. 24. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous, James Hill and Laura Romero
Trump says he wants to deport ‘repeat offenders’ in US legally
Trump said Monday he wants to deport repeat criminal offenders who are in the U.S. legally, offering that they be held in foreign jails.
“I don’t want these violent repeat offenders in our country any more than I want illegal aliens from other countries who misbehave,” Trump said during his remarks at the House GOP retreat.
“This is subject to getting it approved, but if they’ve been arrested many, many times, they’re repeat offenders by many numbers, I want them out of our country,” he added. “We’ll be seeking permission to do so. We’re going to get approval hopefully to get them the hell out of our country along with others.”
Trump suggested that they could be maintained in a foreign country “for a very small fee.”
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow
ICE arrests 1,179 undocumented immigrants on Monday
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it arrested 1,179 undocumented immigrants on Monday.
That marks an increase from Sunday, when the agency said it made 956 such arrests.
ICE is operating at an increased tempo since the new administration took office.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Trump says DeepSeek is a ‘wake-up call’ for American companies
During his remarks at the House GOP retreat, Trump discussed the emergence of Chinese AI technology DeepSeek, saying it should be a “wake-up call” for American companies.
“The release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win, because we have the greatest scientists in the world, even Chinese leadership told me that,” Trump said.
He also cast the technology as an “asset” for how it could revolutionize technology due to its less-expensive method.
Trump said that he hoped American companies could come up with the “same solutions” without investing billions of dollars and repeated his promise to “unleash” American tech companies to “dominate the future.”
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
CDC officials told to cease communications with the WHO
Public health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been told to cease communications with the World Health Organization, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to ABC News.
This comes after Trump signed an executive order on his first day of office ordering the withdrawal of the U.S. from the WHO. The U.S. is the biggest financial contributor to the global public health organization and public health experts immediately denounced the move as a risk to national security and pandemic outbreak prevention.
Any country’s withdrawal from the WHO is supposed to be preceded by a one year advance notice, which experts interpreted Trump’s executive order to serve as. But the recent order for CDC public health officials to immediately stop communicating with their WHO counterparts suggests that Trump is not adhering to those governing rules.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Trump addresses new executive orders on the military
Trump said “in a little while” he will be signing four new executive orders addressing the military, during his remarks at a retreat of House Republicans at his Doral golf resort in Miami on Monday.
One will direct Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to “immediately begin” the construction of an “Iron Dome” missile defense shield, a nod to the Israeli missile defense system.
“We protect other countries, but we don’t protect ourselves,” he said.
Trump said his administration will also “get transgender ideology the hell out of military” and “stop our service members from being indoctrinated with radical left ideologies such as critical race theory.”
Trump didn’t go into detail, though the White House earlier Monday said that Trump is expected to sign an order directing the Department of Defense to update its guidance “regarding trans-identifying medical standards for military service and to rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.”
The order will also end the use of pronouns in the Department of Defense and will also prohibit males from “sharing sleeping, changing, or bathing in facilities designated for females.”
Another order that Trump is expected to sign takes aim at diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. The order will ban the use of “discriminatory race- or sex-based preferences,” according to a fact sheet about the move.
Trump also addressed another order that will offer a “full reinstatement” to service members who were expelled from the armed forces due to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Scott Bessent confirmed as treasury secretary
The Senate on Monday evening confirmed Scott Bessent to serve as secretary of treasury by a vote of 68-29.
Bessent becomes the fifth member of Trump’s team to be confirmed by the Senate, following Marco Rubio, John Ratcliffe, Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem.
The Senate is now taking a test vote on Sean Duffy’s nomination to lead the Department of Transportation. He’s expected to easily clear this procedural hurdle to tee up a final vote likely on Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Trump: ‘Am I allowed to run again?’
During his remarks at a retreat of House Republicans at his Doral golf resort in Miami on Monday, Trump raised the questiion whether he could run for a third term.
“I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100% sure, because I don’t know,” he said to some laughs in the crowd. “I think I’m not allowed to run again. I’m not sure, am I allowed to run again?”
Last week, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn. introduced a House joint resolution to allow a president to be elected for no more than three terms, instead of two.
Air Force chief of staff releases statement on Tuskegee Airmen videos
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin wrote a statement Monday regarding curricula on the Tuskegee Airmen and women pilots, saying no such material has been removed from basic military training.
“Allow me to clearly dispel a rumor — while we are currently reviewing all training courses to ensure compliance with the Executive Orders, no curriculum or content highlighting the honor and valor of the Tuskegee Airmen or Women Air Force Service Pilots has been removed from Basic Military Training,” Allvin wrote. “The historic legacy and decorated valor these Airmen embodied during World War II and beyond will continue to guide our newest recruits and all who serve in our ranks.”
The statement comes after an Air Force spokesperson confirmed to the Associated Press that training courses with such videos were removed last week after Trump’s executive order to eliminate DEI initiatives in the federal government. The Air Force later clarified to the AP that the courses were edited but that the Tuskegee Airmen and WASP content would still be shown.
Allvin also said in his own statement on Monday that the Air Force is “faithfully executing” all of Trump’s executive orders, including on DEI.
JD Vance surveys hurricane damage in Virginia
Vice President JD Vance’s first official trip since taking office was to Damascus, Virginia, to survey damage from last year’s devastating Hurricane Helene.
In remarks alongside Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Vance said he was heartened by the stories he’s heard on the ground of “good people helping their neighbors rebuild.”
Without providing evidence, he also criticized the federal response to the flooding, claiming federal agencies had acted as “a barrier, as opposed to a facilitator” of getting resources into the communities who needed it.
This comes on President Donald Trump’s assessment of storm damage in North Carolina last Friday. During that visit, he floated getting rid of FEMA. He also signed two executive orders Friday that focused on emergency response, one of which creates a task force to conduct a “a full-scale review” of FEMA.
Vance was asked about what changes he would like to see made to FEMA, including possibly eliminating the agency. Vance did not mention the agency being terminated, which Trump could not do unilaterally, but once again reinforced the idea that bureaucrats were getting in the way of rebuilding.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
Trump spoke with India’s Modi
President Donald Trump spoke with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, continuing his calls with foreign leaders since taking office. Trump’s first call was to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Trump and Modi discussed “expanding and deepening cooperation” between their countries along with “a range of regional issues, including security in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe,” the White House said.
“The President emphasized the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship,” according to a readout of the call.
The two leaders also talked about plans for Modi to visit the White House. The prime minister visited the White House as well as former President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington during the previous administration and made visits to the White House during the first Trump administration.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Mexico’s received 4,094 migrants deported from US, president says
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country has received 4,094 migrants, most of whom are Mexican nationals, deported from the U.S. since Jan. 20.
“Mexico has a very important history of repatriation with the United States. First with the Trump administration and then with the Biden administration. There are coordination mechanisms,” Sheinbaum said. “We ask for respect for human rights.”
Sheinbaum said four planes with deportees arrived this past weekend. But she noted it has happened in the past and that there has not been “a sustained increase” of deportations.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
VA says 60 employees placed on leave after DEI order implementation
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced it has completed its initial implementation of ending its DEI program, which has included placing nearly 60 employees on paid administrative leave. The release said the employees in question had been solely focused on DEI initiatives.
According to the release, the combined annual salary of those employees totals more than $8 million, an average of more than $136,000/year per employee. One such employee is making more than $220,000 per year.”
Additionally, the VA has identified other DEI-related expenses totaling more than $6.1 million, which the department said it is working to cancel.
This comes after President Donald Trump signed an order last week to eliminate DEI initiatives in the federal government. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier Monday indicated Trump would take more executive action toward “fully removing DEI inside the Pentagon.”
-ABC News’ Nathan Luna
Trump to sign executive order reinstating service members removed for refusing COVID vaccine
President Donald Trump will sign two executive orders relating to the military, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
The first executive order Trump is expected to sign will reinstate service members removed from the military for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, restore their rank, and provide back pay.
The second executive order directs the Department of Defense to determine a policy regarding transgender service members based on readiness. It does not put an immediate ban on trans service members. It simply directs the DOD to come up with a policy.
Last week, Trump revoked a Biden administration order allowing transgender people to serve in the military.
– ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Trump cabinet confirmation hearings this week
All eyes will be on the Senate this week as confirmation hearings continue for Trump’s cabinet choices.
Health and Human Services pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be facing the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday morning.
On Thursday, FBI nominee Kash Patel’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee will take place, in addition to Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard’s hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Army Secretary nominee Daniel Driscoll’s confirmation will also be voted on Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Texas Gov. Abbott to send 400 troops, military resources to Rio Grande Valley
Texas Gov. Abbott is sending an additional 400 soldiers from military bases in Forth Worth and Houston to assist Border Patrol and the Trump administration’s mission to “secure the border.”
The 400 soldiers join the thousands of troops Abbott has already deployed under his border mission, Operation Lone Star.
In addition to troops, he’ll also be sending C-130s and Chinook helicopters.
“Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border,” Abbott said in a statement, thanking Trump for his “decisive leadership on the southern border.”
– ABC News’ Armando Garcia
Hegseth responds after uproar over removal of Tuskegee Airmen video
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday had to respond to criticism after videos of Tuskegee Airmen and Women Air Force Service Pilots were removed from basic training courses, according to a report from Reuters.
An official told Reuters the videos were removed pending a review to comply with Trump’s order to eliminate DEI efforts in the federal government. Hegseth, too, has made eliminating DEI from the military a top priority.
But uproar quickly grew over the removal of the videos, including from Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt. Britt called the removal of the videos “malicious compliance” that had to be corrected.
“We’re all over it Senator. This will not stand,” Hegseth said in response. Hours later, he posted, “This has been immediately reversed.”
Reuters reported on Sunday that the Air Force said the videos will be taught.
Trump signs executive orders for ‘full-scale review’ of FEMA, seeks control over California water system
President Donald Trump signed two executive orders Friday focused on emergency response, one which creates a task force to conduct a “a full-scale review” of FEMA to “recommend to the President improvements or structural changes to promote the national interest and enable national resilience.”
The task force — which is intended to be no larger than 20 people — is expected to “meet regularly” for a year. Among the directives in the order is to evaluate “whether FEMA can serve its functions as a support agency, providing supplemental Federal assistance, to the States rather than supplanting State control of disaster relief.”
They could recommend that FEMA be dismantled, but Congress would need to act in order to do away with the agency.
The second executive order, called “Emergency Measures To Provide Water Resources In California And Improve Disaster Response In Certain Areas,” calls for a plan for the federal government to assert power over California’s water system.
One section outlines actions for the government to go around state and federal law to more directly assert control of California’s water management — though it’s not clear how much of an impact this order will have.
– ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Pete Hegseth arrives for 1st full day at Pentagon as defense secretary
Arriving for his first full day at the Pentagon as defense secretary, Pete Hegseth stopped to talk to reporters to lay out some of his priorities.
“It’s an honor to be here,” Hegseth said after being greeted by Gen. CQ Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Hegseth said that would include removing DEI efforts inside the Pentagon, reinstating service members discharged because of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and building an Iron Dome — though experts have said the latter may not be realistic for the U.S.
He also said the Pentagon would provide “whatever’s needed” at the southern border as Trump carries out his immigration crackdown.
Hegseth previously suggested the firing of Brown as well as other senior officers who were involved either in the chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan or “woke” DEI initiatives.
Asked on Monday if he wants to fire Brown, Hegseth said: “I’m standing with him right now. Look forward to working with him.”
(WASHINGTON) — The future of TikTok in the U.S. hangs in the balance at the Supreme Court on Friday when the justices hear a last-ditch challenge to a law that would ban the video-sharing app in nine days unless its Chinese-based parent company sells its stake.
The momentous case — TikTok v. Garland — pits one of the world’s most popular social media platforms against all three branches of the U.S. government, which have aligned over the idea that the app poses a serious risk to national security.
Congress passed the law last April with large bipartisan majorities last year to target foreign adversary-owned platforms that collect troves of data on individual Americans and disseminate propaganda or disinformation. President Joe Biden signed it; lower federal courts have upheld it.
ByteDance, which owns TikTok and is headquartered in China, denies any malign activity in the U.S. and has argued the law violates free speech rights of the 170 million Americans it says use the app each month. It has previously ruled out a sale.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll last spring showed 34% of adults said they used the app, which matches an estimate from the Pew Research Center. Pew also reports that 63% of 13- to 17-year-olds use the platform. Together, these add up to about 103 million users.
The poll showed just 12% of adults reported using TikTok “often,” 10% said they used it “occasionally” and 12% said they use the app “rarely.”
Lower courts have rejected the company’s First Amendment challenges, saying the government’s justifications are compelling, given evidence of China’s extensive cyber espionage efforts and covert content manipulation.
“Unless TikTok executes a qualified divestiture,” Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote for the D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, “TikTok’s millions of users will need to find an alternative media of communication. That burden is attributable to the [People’s Republic of China’s] hybrid commercial threat to U.S. national security, not to the U.S. Government.”
The Supreme Court is hearing the case on an unusually fast track, just days before a ban on TikTok is set to take effect on Jan. 19. A ruling is likely, though not guaranteed, this month.
If the ban is allowed, it would become unlawful for app stores run by U.S. companies like Apple and Google to offer TikTok downloads or updates with new features or technical fixes. It would not become a crime to use TikTok, and users who have downloaded the app could likely continue to use it for now, technology experts said.
More than a dozen countries, including India, Canada, Australia, and Taiwan, have already blocked or restricted TikTok. In 2023, the U.S. government banned the use of TikTok on any federal devices.
If the ban is put on hold, it would signal that the court has serious concerns about free speech.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has historically been highly deferential to the government’s position on matters of national security, but the justices are also likely to be cautious about a precedent-setting decision that could silence a wildly popular communication tool.
One wild card in the case may be the position of President-elect Donald Trump, who once unequivocally supported banning TikTok in the U.S. but now calls it a “unique medium for freedom of expression.”
Trump asked the court in a filing late last month to pause the divestiture deadline in order to give him a chance to reach a “negotiated resolution” to save the app once he takes office on Jan. 20.
In an amicus brief, Trump’s nominee for solicitor general, John Sauer, unusually invokes Trump as someone who “alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the Government.”
Trump does not take a position on the constitutionality of the law and, legal experts said, does not provide a legal basis for the justices blocking or delaying otherwise lawfully enacted legislation unless they find it patently unconstitutional.
Both sides have already spent years trying to reach a deal to institute new privacy protections and independent oversight mechanisms that would assuage concerns of U.S. officials. TikTok had proposed creating a data security subsidiary, based in the U.S., and establishing strict limits on what user data could be accessed by Chinese authorities.
Top U.S. national security agencies ultimately deemed the proposals insufficient.
