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President Donald Trump, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, signs his first executive order on health care, Friday, Jan 20, 2017, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump’s First Official Actions As President
On Friday, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. After his inauguration, he wasted no time before he began to issue executive orders. Here’s a list of some of his first official actions as POTUS:
CIA Speech
On the day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, one of his first stops was to speak at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. In front of a wall decorated with stars, memorializing 117 CIA officers who have fallen in the line of duty, our President spent the bulk of his speech talking of his inauguration’s crowd sizes and his perceived “running war with the media.”
The tone of his speech was brought under much condemnation for its politicization, specifically, from former CIA Director, John Brennan. Here are the following comments from Brennan’s former aide, Nick Shapiro:
“Former CIA Director Brennan is deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump’s despicable display of self-aggrandizement in front of CIA’s Memorial Wall of Agency heroes. Brennan says that Trump should be ashamed of himself.”
McCain And Graham Votes For Tillerson Likely Sealing His Confirmation
Republican Senator John McCain and Lindsey Graham said Sunday they would vote for President Donald Trump’s Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson. This all but seals up Tillerson’s confirmation.
This comes after McCain and Graham, along with Senator Marco Rubio, expressed their reservations about Tillerson due to his ties to Russia. Tillerson is the former CEO of ExxonMobil and did a lot of business in Russia. Many have broached concerns about whether or not Tillerson, who received Russia’s Order of Friendship award in 2013, can do the job effectively. Tillerson’s big oil background at ExxonMobil has also concerned environmentalists, seeing how Exxon covered up evidence they discovered about the harmful effects of climate change. A concern that has been reinforced by scientists’ reports that Earth had its hottest year on record in 2016, the first time in the modern era of global warming data that temperatures have blown past the previous record three years in a row.
Sean Spicer Lies About Inauguration Crowds
In Sean Spicer’s first press conference as Press Secretary to the President he condemned the media for reporting on the inauguration accurately. Spicer is quoted as saying, “this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period — both in person and around the globe.”
Kellyanne Conway, a day later, came to the defense of Spicer by backing up these falsehoods and referring to what Spicer said as simply stating “alternative facts.”
Kellyanne Conway now referring to lies as "alternative facts" #AltFacts https://t.co/J48rn1m6gG
As Trump Is Sworn In, His Associates Are Under Investigation For Communications And Money Transfers With Russia
The night before the Inauguration of Donald Trump, The New York Times published a report that revealed U.S. officials are currently investigating Trump’s former associates’ ties to Russia:
“American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are examining intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and associates of President Donald J. Trump, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, current and former senior American officials said…Two others are Carter Page, a businessman and former foreign policy adviser to the campaign, and Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative.”
Russia, Like A Cloud, Hovers Over President Trump’s Inauguration
The Women’s March Took The Country — And The World — By Storm
The Women’s March was one of the largest demonstrations in U.S. history. Over 500,000 people gathered in Washington, DC to protest President Trump and proudly proclaim that their rights would not be infringed upon. Over half a million more demonstrated in states across the U.S. and people around the world marched in solidarity with Americans. There were about 600 marches around the globe, adding up to well over a million people marching. Take a look at this powerful display of resistance:
PHOTOS: The Women’s March Took The Country — And The World — By Storm
