President Donald Trump addressed House Republicans at his golf club in Miami on Monday as they gathered for a GOP retreat. Trump told the gathering that his administration will have “a lot of people bidding on” TikTok, in order to buy the app and spare it from being shut down. He boasted to the Congress members about the many executive orders he issued upon taking office and defended his move to end birthright citizenship, perhaps the most controversial of all of them. The White House said Sunday that it had backed off from imposing wide-reaching tariffs and sanctions on Colombia after the country’s president, Gustavo Petro, agreed to accept U.S. military aircraft deporting Colombian migrants.
Trump is also pushing this week to get his top Cabinet officials in place. The Senate on Monday confirmed Scott Bessent, Trump’s Treasury Department pick, followed Tuesday with a vote to confirm Transportation Secretary nominee Sean Duffy. But later in the week, some of Trump’s most controversial nominees are set to face questions from senators in committee confirmation hearings. That includes Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr. and Kash Patel. And on Monday Acting Attorney General James McHenry fired Justice Department officials who assisted in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Trump’s alleged crimes during and after his first term. Keep up with live updates from across the USA TODAY Network.
Dozens of top USAID workers placed on leave, accused of circumventing Trump
Dozens of top career employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development were placed on leave Monday after they were accused of trying to circumvent the direction of the Trump administration, the Washington Post and Politico reported. USAID is the federal agency responsible for overseeing foreign aid operations. The moves come after Trump last week issued a broad executive order to freeze all foreign aid, at least temporarily halting programs involving AIDS, nutrition, maternal and child health and a range of other areas. “We have identified several actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the President’s Executive orders and the mandate from the American people,” the newly installed acting administrator, Jason Gray, said in an email obtained by the Washington Post.
“As a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further notice.” -Joey Garrison
Transportation secretary nominee Duffy’s Senate confirmation vote set for Tuesday
President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Transportation, Sean Duffy, will receive a final confirmation vote from the full Senate at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. The Senate voted 97-0 to invoke cloture and end debate on Duffy’s nomination Monday evening. Duffy’s confirmation process has been largely uneventful. After Duffy promised during his Jan. 15 confirmation hearing to allow investigations into Tesla, run by Trump deputy Elon Musk, to continue, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation unanimously voted in favor of moving his nomination forward for full Senate consideration. The former Wisconsin Republican congressman previously worked as an attorney and as a television personality.
-Davis Winkie
Trump announces new executive orders for military
Trump told lawmakers he would be signing four new executive orders that direct his newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to make changes to the Armed Services. One of the actions will instruct the Pentagon to construct an Iron Dome-style air defense system. Another will get “transgender ideology” out of the military, Trump said, without providing specifics on what the forthcoming rollback of LGBTQ+ rights would look like. A third order will prevent “critical race theory” from being used in the military, he said, and a fourth one will offer full reinstatement to service members who were dismissed from the military for refusing to comply with the COVID vaccine mandate. -Francesca Chambers
Trump DOJ fires Jack Smith prosecutors, launches Jan. 6 probe
The Justice Department under President Donald Trump is firing more than a dozen officials who assisted special counsel Jack Smith in prosecuting Trump before he won the 2024 election, according to a Justice Department spokesperson. Acting Attorney General James McHenry sent a termination letter to each official, the spokesperson confirmed Monday. “Acting Attorney General James McHenry made this decision because he did not believe these officials could be trusted to faithfully implement the President’s agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the President,” a separate department official told USA TODAY in a statement. The acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Ed Martin, has also opened a probe into the Justice Department’s decision under the previous administration to bring felony obstruction charges against hundreds of individuals who were allegedly involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, according to reports by the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. Martin asked prosecutors in a Monday email to turn over files, documents, emails, and notes related to the cases, according to the reports. He referred to his probe as a “special project” and described the obstruction charges as a failure. -Aysha Bagchi
Trump says ‘bidding’ will take place to buy TikTok
Trump said his administration is going to have companies “bidding” on TikTok as he seeks an America buyer for the wildly popular social media app. “We’re going to have a lot of people bidding on it,” Trump said at retreat with Republican lawmakers Monday at Trump Doral Miami. “And we can save all that voice and all the jobs, and China won’t be involved. We’ll see what happens.” On his first day in office last week, Trump signed an executive order that delayed the enforcement of a ban on TikTok, which was triggered when ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, did not sell TikTok to an American buyer by a Jan. 19 deadline. Trump delayed enforcement for 75 days. “I have a little bias toward TikTok right now,” Trump said, pointing to gains he made with youth voters during the 2024 election. “I think TikTok has something to do. So pardon me, if I’m a little bit, I became a little bit jaded toward TikTok.”-Joey Garrison
Trump brings up the 14th Amendment defending his order to end birthright citizenship
Many legal scholars think Trump’s order to revoke citizenship at birth in the United States is unconstitutional, saying it violates the text of the 14th Amendment, but Trump disagrees. “It’s ridiculous,” Trump said in Miami. “We’re the only country that has it, and certainly the only country that has it to that extent. And it wasn’t meant — if you look, it was really meant for children of slaves.” -Joey Garrison
Trump touts his executive orders
Speaking to House Republicans in Miami, President Trump boasted about the flurry of executive orders he issued upon taking office, including recognizing only two genders, renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, and eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government,” Trump said. “We got rid of 60 years of prejudice and anger through the signing of one order,” he said. “The United States is a meritocracy again.” He also complained about the investigations into his alleged crimes since he left office in 2021, comparing himself to Al Capone. “Now this was a serious killer,” he said,” but Scarface was not investigated as much as your president was investigated.” -Riley Beggin
Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter killed by police in Indiana traffic stop
JASPER COUNTY, Indiana — An Indiana man recently pardoned for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol was fatally shot by police during a traffic stop Sunday. The Jasper County coroner has identified the dead man as Matthew Huttle, 42, of Hobart. The shooting occurred about 4:15 p.m. Sunday after a deputy with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department stopped Huttle’s vehicle near the Pulaski County line, according to a release sent out by Indiana State Police. While the deputy was attempting to arrest Huttle, an altercation broke out between them, resulting in the deputy shooting Huttle, according to the state police. The initial investigation found that Huttle had a firearm in his possession. Huttle was arrested in November 2022 after investigators said he was identified on video inside the Capitol building going into “multiple” offices, the Crypt area and hallways on Jan. 6, 2021. He was sentenced in November 2023 to six months in prison and a year on supervised release after pleading guilty to entering and remaining in a restricted building. -Noah Padilla and Sarah Nelson, Indy Star
Senate’s top Republican sees ‘a way for’ RFK to be confirmed
Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told a CNN reporter Monday he believes President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has a path to the 50 required votes for Senate confirmation. Kennedy’s first confirmation hearing before the Senate Health Committee is set for 9 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30. The committee must vote to advance Kennedy’s nomination before the full Senate can consider him for confirmation. The former independent presidential candidate’s nomination has raised controversy – even within the GOP – due to his stances on health matters, such as vaccines, fluoridation of drinking water and raw dairy products, among others. Senate Republicans have largely closed ranks in support of Trump’s cabinet nominees thus far, however, new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s confirmation Friday required a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance after three GOP senators voted against the former “Fox & Friends” host. – Davis Winkie
Trump planning iron dome strategy on U.S. soil, Hegseth says
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Monday at the Pentagon that the military planned to move forward swiftly with President Donald Trump’s plan for an iron dome defense strategy on U.S. soil, which would protect against long-range missiles. The newly-minted Cabinet member lauded at a briefing the military’s swift response to Trump’s declaration of an emergency at the U.S. southern border. He promised to “hold people accountable” and execute Trump’s orders “swiftly and without excuse.” New executive orders would come on Monday, he said, including mandates to remove diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the Pentagon, reinstate troops who refused to heed COVID-19 mandates and establish an “iron dome for America” to protect against foreign attacks. Hegseth told USA TODAY during the press event that military training would be “will be focused on the readiness of what our troops in the field need to deter our enemies,” including “more rapid fielding, more rapid opportunity to train as we fight.” These comments come after a USA TODAY report on Saturday detailed how the Army is training new soldiers in mindfulness, coping skills and personal boundaries. “Our job is lethality and readiness and warfighting,” Hegseth said.
– Cybele Mayes-Osterman
Trump to ban DEI in military, reinstate troops who refused COVID shots
President Donald Trump is planning to soon sign executive orders reinstating U.S. service members who were kicked out for refusing to take a COVID-19 vaccine and also removing diversity, equity and inclusion from the military, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday. Hegseth confirmed Trump’s executive orders were coming for the military while speaking to reporters upon his arrival at the Pentagon for his first day on the job. The Senate narrowly confirmed the former Fox News personality and decorated military veteran on a 51-50 vote on Friday night. Trump’s upcoming executive orders for the Pentagon will fulfill campaign promises that the Republican reiterated during last week’s inaugural address. “Our armed forces will be free to focus on their sole mission, defeating America’s enemies,” Trump said inside the U.S. Capitol last Monday. – Phillip Bailey
Senate Democrats unveil resolution condemning Trump’s J6 pardons
Senate Democrats are looking to make political hay out of President Donald Trump’s pardon of violent Capitol rioters. One of Trump’s first actions upon returning to power was to pardon or commute the sentences of about 1,500 people charged in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack. The Democratic-led resolution, which seeks to formally denounce letting off people convicted of assaulting and injuring police, isn’t likely to pass the Republican-controlled Senate. Instead, the hope is to get GOP lawmakers on the record about one of the returning president’s more controversial decisions.
Early Monday, a copy of the measure shared on X showed 45 Democratic senator’s names (along with two independents who caucus with them) as co-sponsors, with one exception: Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, whose maverick streak has aggravated progressives as he has publicly warned his party against responding to every Trump action. Fetterman’s name was later added to the resolution, according to NBC News. – Phillip M. Bailey
What’s President Trump’s schedule for today?
President Donald Trump will be speaking Monday afternoon at a House Republican conference in Miami, a three-day retreat to overcome internal party differences about how to pay for sweeping tax cuts while also cutting trillions from federal spending. Trump campaigned for a second term last year on tax cuts totaling $6 trillion over the next 10 years. Simply extending his 2017 tax-cut package, to continue existing policy rather than having the cuts expire at the end of the year, is projected to cost $4 trillion.
Trump has also proposed to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits, which could cost another $1.8 trillion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Trump held a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday repeating the 2024 campaign pledge about tips. One option to pay for the tax cuts is a Trump proposal to set 10% tariffs on imported goods, which could raise $1.9 trillion. But some conservatives oppose raising tariffs. Republicans currently hold a narrow 218 to 215 majority in the House, so party unity will be key for any contentious issues during the next two years. But if Republicans can agree on budget policy, they can approve tax and spending priorities without support from Democrats.
Which Trump Cabinet officials have already been confirmed?
So far, four of Trump’s nominees have been confirmed: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe. Noem was confirmed with a bipartisan vote of 59-34 on Saturday. Seven Democrats joined Republicans in voting to confirm her. Hegseth, who faced sexual assault and excessive drinking allegations was confirmed as secretary of defense in a 51-50 vote on Friday night. Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote. Both Ratcliffe and Rubio easily glided through the Senate. Senators confirmed Ratcliffe by a vote of 74-25 on Thursday, while they confirmed Rubio by a vote of 99-0 on Monday.
