Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, January 20, 2025

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world.

I Donald John Trump do solemnly swear. I Donald John Trump do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute. That I will faithfully execute. The Office of President of the United States. The Office of President of the United States. And will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend. Preserve, protect, and defend.

The Constitution of the United States. United States. The Constitution of the United States. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Mr. President. Thank you.

Thank you. with special coverage of the second inauguration of President Trump as he becomes the 47th president of the United States. Today, caps off a stunning political comeback for Trump four years after losing the White House. The president promising to lift the nation from decline, immediately acting on his new agenda, and he'll have a significantly easier time doing so

with Republicans, also taking control of the House and Senate, and a Supreme Court with a conservative majority. The president just signing dozens of executive orders. You see it right here and actions on key issues. making good on his promise to get right down to business on day one. The blitz of orders are wide-ranging, including the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords. He's expected to sign more on immigration, energy, the economy, and gender policy, some of which are expected to face swift legal action. The president greeted by thousands of supporters who waited hours inside the Capital One arena to catch a glimpse of him.

Trump choosing to move the celebrations indoors due to that extreme cold. At this hour, supporters of those convicted in the January 6th attack on the Capitol standing outside the jail in D.C. Trump promising time and time again that once he was in office, he would get to work to get them out. Here's what he said to say tonight. And, you know, tonight I'm going to be signing

on the J6 hostages, pardons to get them out. And as soon as I leave, I'm going to the Oval Office and we'll be signing pardons for a lot of people, a lot of people. And this just in Florida, Senator Marco Rubio, now confirmed as Secretary of State. He is the first cabinet member to be confirmed, and the first Latino to serve in that role.

The vote was 99 in favor. Yes, the only person who didn't vote was, of course, Vice President Vance. President Trump sworn in just afternoon inside the Capitol Rotunda, becoming the second president ever to serve non-consecutive terms, and the first convicted felon to hold office. The peaceful transfer of power marking an end to now, former President Biden, half-century political career in Washington. But in his final minutes as officer-in-chief, Biden issuing preemptive pardons to his family members.

In stark contrasts from past ceremonies, some of the most exclusive inauguration seats were filled with powerful billionaire tech CEOs, the president painting a clear picture of his alignment with big business during this administration. Everything is changing minute-to-minute. We will bring you the very latest as we get it. We start our coverage with Garrett Hake, who is live for us tonight on Capitol Hill. Garrett, I'm going to start with a question you may not be able to answer, but you're pretty good. I know you're going to try. So we had expected so much on immigration, so much on other executive orders that we thought we're going to come tonight.

It's unclear if it's happening so far. What's your understanding and what's going on right now? Well, I think we're going to see a good deal more of these executive orders, Tom, once the president gets back to the White House. The ones that we've seen so far are kind of the low-hanging fruit. They're mostly about the functioning of government, things like a hiring freeze, with some exceptions within the federal government, ordering federal workers back into the office. It's possible that the things we're going to deal with on immigration have a little bit more density to them. They may want the Oval Office backdrop. I can't say with any certainty, but in terms of why the decision was made to put some at the parade and some back at the Oval Office. But if the president doesn't do these immigration executive orders tonight, I think that would be a huge departure from everything we've been told that are his priorities and everything that he ran on, frankly. I think we're going to see these splashy immigration orders before the close of business,

whenever that happens tonight. And then what is your sense of what happens with the people he calls the quote-unquote J-6 hostages, those people that were convicted and locked up for storming the Capitol on January 6th? Yeah, look, we're reading tea leaves here, mostly based on what he has told us publicly and what J.D. Vance, the vice president, have told us publicly. And that is that we're going to see a large number of pardons and commutations of sentences. That's something that both Trump and J.D. Vance has said. Vance has gone a little bit further and more specific and said for folks who are convinced,

of violent crimes don't expect to see it go that far. So what we could be talking about in terms of numbers, Tom, if you want to just pardon or commute the sentences of people who've already finished their sentences, you could get 700 people off the books just like that. If you wanted to pardon people just convicted of nonviolent offenses, the number's around 1,000. So Donald Trump could hit a big round number, which we know he likes, with, I think, perhaps relatively little political blowback. When you start getting into commutations or pardons for people convicted of things like assaulting capital police officers. It definitely gets a little bit more hairy.

That may not be where Trump wants to go. That's certainly what his allies, like former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have been publicly arguing that he not do. But at this hour, I think only the folks in and very close to the Oval Office know the answer to that question. It's been a fairly closely guarded secret. Gary, I got 30 seconds with you. Anything surprised you about today that the president said?

Well, one thing that he didn't say is that we haven't heard more specifics on tariffs. This has been something that Donald Trump has run on for years. It's his favorite economic tool. Really nothing specific about planned or upcoming tariffs in the works at all from him today. Garrett Hakef, for us, Garrett, we love you leading us off tonight in the special coverage. We appreciate that for more in President Trump's first few hours back in office. I want to bring in our political pros tonight. Steve Hayes, he's editor and CEO of the dispatch and an NBC News political analysts.

Rob Blewey, president and executive editor of The Daily Signal, and Simone Sanders Townsend, a former senior advisor, chief spokesperson to former Vice President Kamala Harris and co-host of the weekend on MSNBC. We thank you all for being here. Steve, I'm going to start with you. You've not been a fan of Donald Trump, but you'll take Donald Trump, I think, over Joe Biden. Anything surprise you about what happened today? And I guess my bigger question is, is this a new Trump?

Is this the same Trump? He's 78 years old. He's a little older, a little wiser. He's been to this rodeo before. Yeah, there is no new Trump, right? I mean, we've heard again and again and again, this is a new Donald Trump. There is no new Donald Trump. This is the same Donald Trump.

Now, I thought the speech today was interesting in part because it felt much more like a State of the Union than it did an inaugural speech. I mean, it wasn't sort of big and soaring. It was sort of small. He walked through his agenda, felt a little bit like a campaign rally, and really laid out what he hopes to do. He took some real partisan shots at Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, as they sat on the dais with him, but basically laid out what his agenda will look like in a way that

felt a lot more like a state of the union or a rally speech than an inaugural. Simone, I want to go next to you, and I want to talk a little bit about President Biden, right? Today was President Trump's day. But just hours before the inauguration was going to start, President Biden issues those blanket pardons. And then when we thought it was over, he starts partying more people, preemptive pardons, if you will. Of course, for those representatives that investigated January 6th, also for people like Dr. Fauci, for people like his own brother and then his in-laws as well. You know, for the last two months, President Biden has known that this day was going to happen.

Why do you think he issued those pardons today? I mean, to be honest, I think he issued them today at the time that they were issued so that it is not, you know, a leading story for a week or two weeks. You know what I mean? And there are lots of Democrats that feel different ways. We heard from a number of members of Congress, specifically senators. I saw a statement from Senator Tim Cain that noted he was disappointed in those pardons because, He feels like it makes it harder for Democrats to, rightfully, in his estimation, criticize what the president has said he's going to do in relation to January 6 folks who have been convicted. And then I saw some statements from Democrats that said, hey, well, look, Donald Trump is saying that he is going to go after individuals, and these folks did nothing wrong in terms of the folks that worked on the January 6th committee.

And when asked, because I did, I've reached out and a number of our news colleagues reached out and asked specifically why the pardons for the family members, what changed is my understanding from the president's estimation is that the President Biden's estimation is that President Trump had noted that he would appoint, he would like to see a special prosecutor appointed to go after specifically the Biden family. People will have lots of feelings about those pardons today. But at the end of the day, Joe Biden is now the former president of the United States. And I, I think it's safe to say he will not be running for election again. And now this is President Trump's show. And we are watching the Motorcade right now make its way into the grounds of the White House. And the president is going to go into the Oval Office. He's going to sit at the Resolute Desk, and he's going to sign some additional pardons and more executive orders. And I am waiting with bated breath to see exactly what the president does. Because he has said a lot.

I want to see what he does. Simone Sanders, answering questions and also anchoring some of the live coverage. I appreciate that, Simone. I'll always take the help from you. Rob, I want to turn over to you. Listen, Trump can only serve one more term, right? But he raised the bar pretty high. Usually in politics you want to keep the bar low.

He talked about putting flags on Mars, right? He talked about, I mean, all the great things he's going to do when it comes to the economy, when it comes to the immigration. Basically, my question is, did he raise the bar too high? And he's hitting expectations too high for this term. Well, lofty goals, Tom. And I think that this is expected of Trump. I mean, let's face it, as Steve knows he's, as Steve said,

You know, you can look at his history and you know what you're going to get with Donald Trump. I think that he has high expectations because he knows that Republicans are in control of the House and control of the Senate. And for the next two years, at least, he's going to have the ability to implement his agenda. Now, he will have a tough time. Obviously, there's a narrow margin in the House, and there are a few Senate Republicans who may not necessarily go along with everything. But I think that he wants to paint a picture to the American people about what is possible. And he feels the past four years have been too much looking back, apologizing on behalf of America, doing things that probably weren't. consistent with the traditions that we know in this country. And so he wants to change the trajectory. Steve, he has some bold plans for the border for immigration in this country. We're expecting

those executive orders, maybe at the White House where he's just arrived to as Garrett was reporting in the coming hours. He's got the House, he's got the Senate, he's got a conservative majority in the Supreme Court. How much do you think he's going to be able to change immigration, at least in the next four years? Well, I think there are certain things that we'll see him do immediately, as you say, I mean, these executive orders, I think they'll be sweeping, I think they'll be far-reaching, and I think they likely will make some changes. We've already seen some changes today. The question is what he can do long-term. And I think, you know, you alluded to this in your question to Rob. If you look at the way that Donald Trump talks and the way that he campaigns,

he creates these outsized expectations, right? He was going to end the Russia-Ukraine war on day one. He's got about five hours left. He was going to bring grocery prices down right away, and then he sort of backed off from that. He makes these big blust, statements. And I think some people believe him. Others probably discount it. But I think he could shorten his own honeymoon by having to try to fulfill those big promises that he's made on immigration and on these other issues. Simone, a New York Times poll that came out yesterday showed that a majority of Americans, I think it was north, or it was around 55 percent, support deporting immigrants who are here illegally. And then when I was inside that arena today at the Capitol

one arena, granted, it was 20,000 MAGA supporters, and these are the diehard Trump supporters who waited for hours in the cold and then hours for him to talk. The biggest applause line that he got from his speech at the inauguration, right after he took the oath, was about genders, that there's only going to be two genders, male and female. And I was thinking to myself, and I wanted to ask you this, because I knew you were to be on our show, did Democrats push the country too far left? Did they go too far with their policies? And did the country sort of react, and because of that reaction, that reflex, if you will, Donald Trump became president again?

Well, I guess I'm, I made the face I made, Tom, because Democrats didn't run on genders, they didn't run on trans issues, they didn't run on any of that. The only people that did run on that, in fact, were some Republicans and key races across the country, both in Senate races and House races, and the president of the United States, Donald Trump. What Democrats did not do well, and what they need to figure out how it's, you know, how it's to do well in the next, like, immediately, frankly, is how to. As you say that, Simone, we're looking literally at B-roll of all those rallies, all those rallies that were supported by

Democrats. And it's a position that you, I know you support it. And I'm not taking a side on the issue. I'm just saying, did that turn people off? I mean, let's just be clear here. These are people these are activists who have shown up at rallies with signs and say protect trans kids. So how are the people at the rallies with signs and say protect trans kids? Now, what are we saying? What are we here. And I think that that's why we have to be specific. I actually believe why Donald Trump was, why the people in that crowd are raising their arms and rallying for, yes, the two genders, is because they've been sold a bag of goods. Because what the underlying message of that is that the Democrats care about the legislating gender and they don't care about you and the

issues that are close to your families. And we're going to center Republicans, Donald Trump, we're going to center the issues that are close to you and your families. And that's, that statement is actually not true. And so that's why I say that what Democrats really have to figure out is how they respond to the attacks that are lobbed against them when it is not their policy, when it's not their position. There's not a Democrat that I know that was running that was said, you know, my goal is to, you know, make sure that vacuums are my number one issue. That's actually not true. But they have to be able to respond to the attacks while being specifically proactive about their own message. Democrats who are elected and trying to be elected, they don't need to be

the resistance, they are the other governing party, and that's how they should act. They have the other governing party. They are a party with power, and they need to act like it, and find out what their one accord is, and I don't think we know what that is just yet. On that point in the same conversation, Rob, how did Republicans not fall into that same trap, right? Because you guys will say the Democrats push the country too far to the left, right? That's a conversation I'm having there with Simone. How does President Trump and Republicans make sure they don't push the country too far to the right? So in four years, you have a Democrat that gets elected?

Well, first of all, on this issue of gender and sexes, I think you start with an area where there is broad agreement, and that's that men should not be playing in women's and girls sports. There is consensus among Democrats and Republicans on that issue, and so I think that if Trump starts with something like that, he won't be far reaching. But then you can tackle other issues. Obviously, this came up in Congress with the National Defense Authorization Act, and they banned surgery for minors, you know, through TRICARE.

So there are things that they can do. I think that they'll look for opportunities where there is consensus in the polling. But then on other issues, I mean, certainly there's, whether it's energy production in the country, you heard a lot of applause. I was there with you at Capital One Arena there today. You heard applause on some of the international goals he has, whether it be the Panama Canal or the Gulf of America. So I think there's a number of things that'll excite the American people, and he'll just

have to see whether or not he's pushing them a little bit too aggressive. Does it, so for people who don't know you, you were at the Heritage Foundation, too, right? So you're somebody who has deep core conservative beliefs, right? You stick to your guns. Does it drive you crazy that President Trump is somebody who, at first, wasn't for TikTok, and someone like Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is against TikTok as well. They think it's the way Chinese spy on Americans. And then Trump invites the TikTok CEO to the inauguration and now supports TikTok and expands the ban,

giving it another 90 days. He's against the EV mandate, and yet his closest advisor now seems to be Elon Musk. I mean, there's sort of all these discrepancies there that who is the real Donald Trump? And do you believe what he says? Well, conservatives will always be principled. I mean, this is, TikTok's another area where I think there's agreement. I mean, I think Simone and I probably would agree on the national security threat that TikTok poses to this country. And so I think conservatives, as long as they stand firm on those issues and make sure that Donald Trump understands those concerns, you know, that is the role that they'll play.

That's a similar role that they played during George W. Bush's administration when Bush, you know, deviated from conservative positions. look back at the height here when he picked Harry at Myers for the Supreme Court and the revolt the conservatives had. So you might see some of those. But I think overwhelmingly conservatives are going to get along with Donald Trump and this agenda that he's pushing. Steve, how long will the honeymoon phase last here in Washington? You've covered Washington for a long time. I will say there's a honeymoon phase right now for President Trump. How long does it last? Well, it's interesting because if you look at where Donald Trump was when he first came to Washington in 2017, he had a Speaker of the House who was skeptical, but was willing to work with him to pass certain parts of his

agenda. You know, he had Republicans in Congress, who I think were held him at a bit of a distance, even though he was the new president. You don't have that this time. And not only do you not have that in Congress, I will say big tech wasn't on his side. No, you don't, not only do you not have that in Congress with these people, you have sort of momentum behind him with Tim Cook up on stage and with Elon Musk, as you mentioned, Mark Zuckerberg and others, behind Donald Trump rallying for his success. And corporate America sort of swinging behind him. So I expect that they will give him some additional momentum, sort of self-created momentum. Simone, before you go, I do want to ask you, what, as a Democrat, what alarms you more

that big tech appears to be behind President Trump right now, or that he has the House, the Senate, and a conservative majority on the Supreme Court? Oh, well, Tom, give me a plethora of options, why don't you? I think what concerns me most is it is the big tech, and it's not because I don't have anything, I don't have anything against billionaires. billionaire myself. What concerns me is that the president is a master marketer and he understands the power of communication. And the CEOs and the companies that the president has decided to align himself with are not Walmart, Home Depot, or the Gap, if you will. They are the

companies and the CEOs who they have... Influence everything we read and see. They influence everything we read and right. Our perception of reality. And that is what concerns me. And how that will be infused with his presidency is something I definitely will be watching very closely. Okay, Simone, we appreciate it. As always, Rob, Steve, great conversation. I know you guys are standing by to talk more. President Trump, as we reported earlier, arriving back at the White House, as we've mentioned, we're expecting him to sign executive orders that involve immigration. A central campaign promised. I want to bring in senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez covering the new Trump White House where the president's motorcade arrived moments ago.

So, Gabe, I guess the big question is we are all waiting on the executive orders on immigration. If it's happened just yet, but what can we expect and what are you looking out for as one of our correspondents who also covers the border? Yeah, Tom, look, I'll get to the details on the executive actions we expect in just a few moments. But first, I want to bring you up to speed on just what's been going on in the past few moments. As you said, President Trump arriving back here at the White House about 10 minutes ago. Now, we do expect to have live pictures of him signing these executive actions. However, the press pool has to be taken into the Oval Office. they have not done so yet. So we still have several minutes. But Tom, the West Wing is right behind me.

If you can imagine the history of this moment, the president arriving back here at the White House for the first time since taking the oath of office just afternoon. He had been here at the White House earlier today, being greeted by President Biden. But again, there's that process about five hours where everything from the Biden family has moved out and everything from the Trump family is moved in yet again. So we can imagine, presumably, the president is taking that all in, possibly back in the Oval Office right now, preparing to sign those executive actions. Now, as you mentioned, we are awaiting him to sign those executive actions significantly on immigration, a central campaign promise. And actually, Tom, really, part of his core political identity since bursting onto the presidential campaign about 10 years ago. Yes, so when he came down that escalator, that was almost 10 years ago, he has stuck. with immigration sins. So what we do expect to sign in these executive actions is to declare

a national emergency related to immigration at the U.S. southern border. Now, the president says that he will, that the Department of Defense will send troops to the southern border. And in addition to that, he also wants to designate criminal cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. He also plans to reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy, which, as you know, Tom, is the policy that he instituted in his first administration that requires asylum seekers to wait outside of the U.S. as their asylum cases are processed. Now, that went away during the Biden administration. He's planning to put this all back. So certainly those are just some of the executive actions we expect in all 10 executive actions or orders related to him. we expect them to sign possibly in the next few moments, Tom.

Hey, Gabe, since you open the door, I do want to ask you. I want you to explain to our viewers. The policy is it's remain in Mexico, right? How is the country of Mexico sort of working with the U.S. to make sure that happens, right? Because you kind of need buy-in from both countries, or you just don't let those immigrants come in? Well, and here's the thing, Tom, Mexico today, Mexican officials said that the U.S. had taken this as a, quote, unilateral action. They really don't agree with this policy, of course, but it remains to be seen how they will work with the U.S. in order to bring in state this policy.

Because right now, President Trump has just said he wants to go ahead and do this, and the question will be what will happen with all of those migrants that are now having to wait in Mexico for their asylum appointments. And actually, the bigger question, Tom, how will they get those initial screening appointments to begin with? because something else that happened today, just moments after President Trump was sworn in, this app, a phone app, the CBP1 app that asylum seekers used in order to make and schedule appointments for their initial asylum screenings. That went offline. The new administration shut that down. I was speaking with one official from Customs and Border Protection. He texted me back when I asked him about this. He said, wow, it was that quick that had happened right after the president took office. Of course, this is a campaign promise. Trump had said he would do this.

His incoming borders are. Tom Homan said he would do this as well. Homan telling me a few weeks ago when I spoke to him at the U.S. southern border that he believed that the program allowed for migrants to come into this country and not be vetted enough. So a lot of questions now about how all this will play out, how migrants will be able to apply for asylum. And we're already hearing stories of one migrant that I saw interviewed in Juarez, Mexico, who broke down in tears when she realized that the appointment that she had been waiting for for several months would not happen because all the scheduled appointments, and we're talking thousands of migrants here, all of those appointments have just gone away.

So in addition to that, Tom, we're awaiting news as well on perhaps targeted enforcement operations that we're expecting throughout major cities in this country. And there's a big question about how that will play out because ICE is facing a $230 million budget shortfall. Still, the administration has been telling us that they expect these targeted enforcement operations to get in their way in major cities over the next days and weeks, Tom. All right, Gabe Gutierrez, and that's where we're going to pick up our coverage right now. For more, President Trump's anticipated immigration executive actions, Matthew Hudak, he's the former deputy chief for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. And the mayor of Denver, Mike Johnson, who has been vocal about saving the city sanctuary city laws, joins our special coverage both live right now.

Matthew, I'm going to start with you right now. So you have all these changes, right, coming with the executive orders. How hard is it on the men and women that are protecting our border when all the laws change this fast? Well, good evening, Tom, and it definitely is challenging. So, you know, as soon as the executive orders are signed, then, of course, they go to DHS and to CBP, and then, you know, there's a matter of figuring out how that impacts policy and what that means for the men and women on the ground. So if something changes, what's the new policy,

what's the new program, or, you know, what do they start doing now? So there's a little bit of time that it takes to get those affected. But it also, you know, creates some confusion, as you mentioned, with the migrants, you know, what does this mean for them? So there's a little bit of a period to figure it out, and then, of course, you know, whatever the changes are get implemented. You mentioned that time period, but the New York Times is reporting that they've gone to shelters in Juarez, and they're empty. Do you think the word is already out? Do you think there's been two months since the election? That word has trickled down.

I know there's been law enforcement in both Panama at the Dary and Gap and more because of Mexico as well. And some that came from the Biden administration in the closing months. But with those shelters already sort of empty on the border there with in Juarez, that's got to be a lot of. a good sign for the United States? I think it certainly can be. And certainly, I don't think this is any surprise to anybody. Maybe the particulars of it might be, but the fact that it happened should not be a surprise. I think it's been telegraphed since November.

So I think there's, again, an adjustment of what does it exactly mean? What's the new plan going to be? But I think the message has been made pretty clear, and today was certainly delivering on that message. Mayor, we thank you for joining our coverage tonight. I want to ask you, if you get a call from Tom Homan, the borders are, and he says, we're coming into Denver, we're going to do a raid. Are you going to work with federal officials? Are you going to let your local officials work with federal immigration customs enforcement?

You know, when it comes to focus on violent criminals, we have partnered with the federal government in the past. We will partner in the future. So if they're looking to target violent criminals, we will help support them. We notify them or we will release folks from our. custody if they need to pick them up. We won't do ICE's job for them. So our officers have their own full-time jobs to do here, keeping the streets of Denver safe. And so we won't do federal immigration enforcement. We won't pick people up or detain them or hold them. That is the immigration

and customs enforcement's job. And so we'll do our job as Denver. We'll collaborate on violent criminals, but we won't do the work of ICE for them. Mayor, I don't know the particulars of your sanctuary laws in Denver, right? They're different in every city in places like New York City, since Mayor de Blasio had ice removed from Rikers Island, right, from the prisons there, why wouldn't you want, in some cases, federal immigration officials to be able to work with your local police? Explain to me what the concern is there for a mayor like yourself. Yeah, we think we have a common sense approach, which is we don't ask your status when we stop you for a busted taillight. So any stop, we don't ask status. We don't practically report

status to the government. But if the government contacts us and says, we know you have ex-person in your custody who is a criminal, will you let us know when you're releasing them so we can pick them up? We will work with them and say we're releasing him this Thursday at 2 to 4 p.m. and they can come and pick them up. So that means we don't, that's part of our city law, that's our state law. We don't proactively ask status, but when ICE reaches out to us and is trying to find someone, we will be able to help connect them if we're releasing them. Mayor, what happens, though, if there is an ICE enforcement in Denver that you don't approve of. If there is something like families of undocumented that are either

being separated or are being just taken out and ushered out of the country, are you going to stop that? Are you going to look the other way? What would you do in that situation? And I know it's a hypothetical. Well, the answer is we won't provide help in those settings. We won't do ICE's work for them. If they're going to do a raid on a workforce site, that is their prerogative. As federal law enforcement officers, they can do that. We're not going to get in their way, but we will not aid and abet those efforts. Our only purpose is to keep public safety, and so we'll respond where we have to enforce

or protect public safety, but we won't support them and these efforts. That's their policy. They have to implement it on their own. Are you listening to what President Trump is saying? Is it keeping you up at night, or do you feel that you've got this, and it'll work out?

You know, we are worried. We have to take him out his word when he says these things. I think we're really worried about protected places and protected populations. You know, churches, schools, hospitals, they've long been no-go locations for ICE because to run a safe city,

we have to have a hospital that everyone can go to if they're in an emergency without worrying about getting deported. We have to have kids be able to go to school without worrying about their status or their parent status. And we're worried about these protected populations. We have a lot of individuals

who have arrived, who've done what they were supposed to, have applied for asylum or applied using the CBP-1 or the TPS process. They have work authorization. They're on-the-job, paying, taxes, we don't want to see those status as revoked or those folks pulled off the job or kids pulled out of school and deported. We don't think that's what anybody needs. It'd be a huge disruption in a crisis to the city and one that is not something that we're

in need of or want to see happen in Denver. Matthew, we just heard Gabe Gutierrez reporting how much more border patrol needs, right? They're operating at a deficit right now. They need more funds. They need to hire more people. During his inaugural address, President Trump said he's going to end catch and release. Is that even possible? It is to a point, and certainly, you know, logistics and resources would need to be there to be able to do that, because what you're ultimately talking about is rather than releasing somebody pending a, you know, long distant in the future court date, holding them in custody to get through some level of their due process before an immigration decision is made, typically by a judge. So it takes money, it takes resources to be able to hold people through that process. And it also takes. you know, resources for the men and women of the border patrol to go out and do their job. And, you know, we focus a lot in the southern border. We also have our northern and coastal border. And unfortunately, today, to kind of, you know, show the importance and how critical

resources are on the border. We lost a border patrol agent in Vermont to gunfire. So, you know, it's an ever constant reminder of the dangers, but that shows how important the resources are that we dedicate the right tools and assets to help keep our agents safe and help them do their job. Matthew Hudak, Mayor Johnson, we appreciate your time tonight in our special coverage. I think it's very important to our viewers to hear from people like yourself, so we thank you for that. For more of these executive orders and the legal battles they could face, I'm joined tonight by NBC News Senior Legal Correspondent, Laura Jarrett. Laura, I just want to read some reporting we have from our good friend and your co-anchor on the weekends,

Peter Alexander, who's saying that the president just told him, quote, we're going to have some fun, and he was talking about signing more executive orders at the White House. So kind of walk us through the process, right? He signs his executive orders, and then what does the law tell us? They immediately become law, if you will, whatever he writes down there, gets enforced, or can people challenge that immediately? They have the force of law, Tom, and they can still be challenged. It depends on exactly what the text and what the languages, which we are eagerly awaiting

to see, especially those ones on immigration. The devil is going to be in the details. Other ones are going to be sort of giving directives to exist. executive branch agencies to take certain action, which we might take a little bit longer to sort of see the full effects of those. Obviously, the pardons that he has detailed at length, the ones on the January 6 rioters, those cannot be challenged. Unlike some of the other ones that we're going to see a flurry of court action, the ones on January 6th, those are going to be a done deal. As soon as they're done, Tom, whether they're commuting somebody's sentence, which means giving them less time or just doing a full pardon, wiping them out. There are about 200 people still behind bars, roughly by our count, Tom, who were convicted of their acts related to January 6th.

A bunch of other people really telling, and the hundreds are people who didn't get jail time or who have already served, he could pardon those. And obviously, you wouldn't see the same sort of practical implications. But for people who are currently behind bars, those are the ones we're watching carefully, Tom. You know, some of the executive actions that he mentioned at the Capital One arena, this one stood out to me. there's a requirement that federal workers return full-time to in-person work, right? I don't know if you're an employment law expert, but you always love when I put you on the spot. So I do want to ask you, how do they enforce that? I mean, do federal workers starting tomorrow now, if they were working from home now, have to come in?

They are supposed to come in, and what will happen inevitably is somebody who doesn't want to come in will try to challenge it. But when it comes to things like this, especially as it relates to federal workers, the president has enormous amounts of power. as head of the executive branch. And so that's the kind of one that it's going to be an uphill battle to challenge. Other ones sort of directing his executive branch agencies to uproot the weaponization of government. Those things are more sort of for optics and for virtue signaling as opposed to one about returning to work probably has the most practical impact if you think about it. One of those sort of flashpoints during the COVID pandemic.

And we've now seen private businesses also struggling with what the rules should be around that. But for federal workers, they are going to need to come back to work. But again, we're going to have to wait and see whether it starts on an X date or does it start actually tomorrow. You know, the president told our Kristen Welker about the pardons that President Biden on his way out issued saying, quote, it's disgraceful. Many are guilty of major crimes. That would take investigations. Walk our viewers through what could happen now. So he issued these preemptive pardons, right?

President Biden to people like Dr. Fauci, people like Republican Liz Cheney, Representative Liz Cheney, who investigated January 6th. And then he also pardoned his brother, his in-laws as well. What happens now? And what does that kind of do to the pardon system? So, well, they're rare. They're not unheard of. Preemptive partoms are allowed. Certainly, we haven't seen sort of the wide swat that we saw from the president today, present, former president now. for family members, that is not something typical, but he knows that they are targets. Certainly members of Congress have been very much interested in hearing from James Biden, the president's brother. They've accused him. I should mention he hasn't been convicted or accused of any crime,

but congressmen have been especially interested in allegations of influence peddling and foreign corruption. And so I would imagine if congressmen on Capitol Hill, certainly the president's allies still have an appetite for that, they can still do that, even though he's been pardoned, which means there shouldn't be any sort of federal law investigation of him. Members of Congress aren't bound by that, and they can do anything they want. They can call them up for hearings and make life very difficult. Laura, before you go, we heard a lot from President Trump today. As far as what he said he was going to do with executive orders and or executive actions, which are a little different,

did anything stand out to you that you think legally he won't be able to do? I would like to see the one on birthright citizenship, Tom. I think that is going to be one of the most controversial, probably the one that will be challenged fastest and has the best chance of getting struck down. Birthright citizenship is something that is guaranteed to people in the 14th Amendment. If they are born here, they are supposed to be treated equally. They are citizens by birth. And if he tries to get rid of that prospectively through an executive action, as we believe, or executive order, it will be challenged.

Laura Jarrett, my friend, we thank you so much for explaining all of that tonight. I'm sure we're going to check in with you a little bit later as well. Our special coverage of President Trump's inauguration continues. A busy first night in office for Trump, as he's expected to sign more executive orders and actions. We're going to bring you those pictures and those moments live. You're watching our special coverage right here on NBC News Now. All right, we're back now with our special coverage of the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the 47th president, signing a flurry of executive orders tonight in front of a crowd at the Capital One Arena.

Among those, no economic orders, but Trump has promised major changes during his presidency on that front. For more on all of this and what we can expect, I want to bring in two guests tonight. First of Tara Paul Mary, she's the senior political correspondent for Puck News. We also have Savannah Sellers, who is one of our anchor extraordinaire's here as well, and she's been covering the TikTok angle of all of this. I do want to start with you, Tara, since we're talking about tech here in Elon Musk. So I would say after President Trump,

the loudest cheers in the Capital One arena or for Elon Musk. People, especially on the right, love this guy. He's gotten very close to President Trump, which is weird because if you read the Walter Isaacson book, he called Trump a con man. When they first met in that first administration, and then suddenly they're best friends now.

A very different relationship. Musk has, you know, a vested interest in this relationship. He's got SpaceX. He's got X. He's got Tesla EVs, though. Trump is getting, wants to get rid of the EV mandate. You have some new reporting, basically, that Elon Musk is sort of wearing out his welcome with the MAGA crowd, at least the staffers. Well, certainly has been very dismissive of the staff, like particularly Susie Wiles, who the staff really, you know, exalts. They really believe in her that she brought the order. And she's been running a tight ship, we should say.

Exactly. And not just that. He doesn't speak their language. He doesn't really understand MAGA. And I think he's... Exactly. And I think you saw that with the H-1B fight, and, you know, they were just like, this is our thing. We believe that this is a Trojan horse for cheap labor. And he's like, we need more H-1B visas because you Americans are idiots. And so then you saw Steve Bannon finding a wedge to kind of come in there and say, I'm the true standard bearer of the MAGA movement and the white working class. But really, this election wasn't about Steve Bannon and bringing in the white working class. They were already with Trump. This election was about bringing in the podcast bros, the tech bros, the young people, the ground. game in Pennsylvania, where Elon Musk spent $150 million over six months. Like, that is unprecedented. There really is no donor, I think, in modern history that has spent that much money in that short of a period of time. So, sure, he may, you know, just walk in and out of meetings, dismiss people outright and

be Elon Musk, but, like, it's going to be hard to get rid of him. Does President Trump like him? Because your personalities are very different. It's hard to say. It's like a marriage. It was compared to me as, like, having a powerful spouse, like, a name. Nancy Reagan, for example, and it's just like how long does the marriage really last, but you really can't dismiss him. Plus, he is the world's richest man. And if we know one thing

about Trump is he admires wealth. And he's turned the X platform, which was Twitter, to the right, which is completely fair to say now. If you're ever on X nowadays, it has shifted so much from where it was four and eight years ago. I do want to bring in Savannah Sellers now. Savannah, get our viewers up to speed on TikTok. There's obviously a lot of people that are on TikTok, 100 million people, 100 million Americans, more than 100 million. What's going to happen with TikTok in America right now? We know the CEO was there at the inauguration. Yeah, it's so fascinating listening to you guys talk about this.

I mean, just seeing all of these CEOs on this stage, the fact that Musk and Zuckerberg wanted to cage fight each other even, and they're all just up there right among the president's family. It was just really quite a sight. In terms of TikTok, the Trump, the CEO was also on that stage. We're actually waiting right now. I know to see if he potentially signs an order. Yeah, I'm going to interrupt you. Let's listen to the president signing some executive orders inside the White House. Oh, pardon.

We have about six commutations in there where we're doing further research. Nice to see you again. So this is a big one. Anything you want to explain about this? We hope they come out tonight, frankly. If you're expecting it, approximately 1,500 people. Six commutations. Were there any cases you didn't know on the

or part of people? We'll look at different things, but the commutations would be the ones and we'll take a look, and maybe it'll stay that way, or it'll go to, you know, full pardon. And the order does require the Bureau of Prisons to act immediately on receipt of the pardons and commutation orders.

Sir, this is an executive... Why don't we get that down so they can get them going right now? Yes, sir. Okay? Yep, absolutely. This is a proclamation guaranteeing the state's protection against invasion based on the current crisis at the southern border. It invokes various executive powers relating to the ongoing invasion at the southern border.

that those are not going to be blocked by the courts. I don't think they will. I don't think they can be. They're very straight up. Why don't you take that and go over here? Can you get him over here? Not on the side angle. Do you mind?

Just go right over here with your friends. Okay? Sir, this is an executive order realigning the United States refugee admission program to better align with American principles and American interests. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.

This next executive order is about protecting America from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats. Again, crisis at the border, but it goes beyond that. All right, let's go back to the White House and listen into this executive order signing and hearing what the new president has to say, and what else is happening here as he's taking questions. Immigration. Do you have a date in mind for when you want to put him on the China tariffs that you talked about? Which one? 60%. No? You're talking about which?

Say it again. The China. China tariffs? The broad country. Or China? Well, as you know, I put on large tariffs on China, and they've really been forced to leave them. And if we didn't leave them, you wouldn't have one steel mill that's open in this country because they were dumping massive amounts of steel. We've taken in hundreds of billions of dollars from China, and they were unable to terminate the tariffs I put on China

because it was too much money and the budgets didn't work and other reasons to. No, I mean, we're going to have meetings. calls with President Xi. I spoke to President Xi last week, as you know. Did you know that? I had a very good phone call. Long way. Did you start with NATO this moment?

Did you tell me to make your NATO alive? No, NATO has to pay more money. NATO has to pay 5%. We are, we're in the Ukraine war by $200 billion more than NATO. It's ridiculous because it affects them a lot more. We have an ocean in between. And we've spent two. We've spent $200 billion more on Ukraine than NATO has spent, and they've got to equalize.

Did you talk to Xi about the Ukraine war? Yeah. Because China and Brazil together has a proposal to bring Russia and Ukraine to talk. That's good. That's fine. I'm ready. That's good. How did Brazil get involved?

This is a new one. When are you going to talk to you? Are you from Brazil? I'm from Brazil. That's why they're involved, I guess. When are you going to talk with the Brazilian president? How do you see your relationship with Latin America and Brazil? Great.

It should be great. They need us. Much more than we need them. We don't need them. They need us. Everybody needs us. Mr. President, it sounds like you will not receive an additional China's necessary. So we've been listening to the executive orders and some of the questions to President Trump.

Our control room is going to listen. If you make some more news, we'll take it back live. I do want to bring in Gabe Gutierrez here because a lot has happened when it comes to immigration and what's happening at the border. Gabe, talk to us about your understanding of the executive orders and actions that have now taken place. Oh, hi there, Tom. Well, first, I want to pick up on something the president just said. He said, quote, everyone needs us, essentially answering a question about his relationship with Latin America.

And that really points to his America-first mindset. The president in a buoyant mood as he arrived here at the Oval Office down the my colleague, Peter Alexander, quote, we're going to have some fun. So he definitely wants to do as much as possible, as quickly as possible. And you just heard him there give those pardons for January 6 writers as well as six commutations. But switching gears now to those executive actions on immigration that we had talked about before Tom. He signed several executive actions, including reinstating or actually trying to end birthright citizenship. And that is something, of course, that is very controversial and certainly will probably face fierce legal

challenges. Birthright citizenship, of course, according to the 14th Amendment, every person born in the United States is a citizen. However, President Trump and his allies are trying to argue that that should not apply if the parent is in this country illegally. So certainly that is a fight that will play out in the weeks and months to come. President Trump, again, declaring a national emergency on the U.S. southern border, reinstating that remain in Mexico policy that we talked about before, that will now require asylum seekers

to wait outside of the U.S. while their asylum claims are processed, and something that, Tom, that you heard over at that rally a couple hours ago in the Capitol One Arena, he talked about declaring criminal cartels, foreign, foreign terrorists, that Oregon. Well, I wanted to ask you about that. Yeah, go ahead. You know, he... Well, here's the question. It's like if they're terrorist organizations, we really don't ask permission when we attack terrorist organizations in Middle Eastern countries, right?

We send the drones in, we take out those terrorists, and it's game over, and sometimes those countries complain. I mean, sometimes obviously they're aware, but sometimes they're not aware, right? That's how we got bin Laden. So if they're in Mexico, the question is, will the president take action against these cartels in Mexico? these cartels in Mexico and not give Mexico the heads up. That is a very good question, Tom, and certainly one that has huge implications for U.S. Mexico relations going forward. President Trump has suggested that that would be possible, although it remains to be seen

how the Mexican government reacts to that. Certainly they would not enjoy that. They would not like that. And President Trump actually alluded to that as well. He said that Mexico probably wouldn't like that he's designating these cartels for terrorist organizations. So as we hear from Mexican officials, they have cooperated with the U.S. in recent years to try and slow down migration. They tried to work with the Biden administration to do that. The new president in Mexico says it has had productive talks with President with Trump

beforehand, but it remains to be seeing how this relationship will play, will play out with the President-elect, 10 immigration-related executive actions that he's signing right now in the Oval Office. Certainly, a campaign promise that he's making good on, Tom. Okay, Gag Gutierrez, we're going to listen again to the president right now. We understand he was talking about Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency. Let's listen in... In your actions today for... Well, it would be a pardon. That would be a pardon.

The one I'm talking about would be a pardon. Here you go, sir. Should there be punishment for the people who assaulted law enforcement officers that day? Well, I will say this. They've been in jail for a long time already. I see murderers in this country get two years, one year, and maybe no time. So they've already been in jail for a long time. These people have been destroyed.

What they've done to these people is outrageous. There's rarely been anything like it in history, in the history of our country. And even people that were aggressive, and in many cases, I believe they happen to be outside agitators. respect, you know. What do I know, right? But I think they were, I think they were outside agitators. There were outside agitators involved. And obviously the FBI was involved because Ray admitted the FBI was involved. Didn't he say 23 people indirectly or directly were involved? And it was in 26. That's a lot of people. No, we have, we're going to take care of. These people have been treated so badly. It's never happened before.

What happened in Seattle where they took over a big portion of the city? What happened in Portland where they burned down the city every day and people die? Nothing happened to anybody. But they go after these people violently. I mean, they're still going after brand new people. They found somebody else with a picture. There's never been anything like this. And, you know, it's almost 100 percent, think of this, almost 100 percent of the people are convicted.

100%. It's Washington, D.C. People go into a trial and they say, oh, I have a wonderful lawyer and I didn't do anything wrong. And they end up in shackles almost immediately and jail. No, well, I can let it happen. About Finland, we have some interest in buying it, but is there any other option that would satisfy you?

About what? Greenland, instead of buying it. Finland? Greenland. Oh, Greenland. Greenland is a wonderful place. We need it for international security. And I'm sure that Denmark will come along.

I think it's costing them a lot of money to maintain it, to keep it. The people of Greenland are not happy with Denmark, as you know. I think they're happy with us. We had representatives, my son and representatives went up there two weeks ago, and they like us. So we'll see what happens. But Greenland is necessary. not for us, it's necessary for international security.

You have Russian boats all over the place. You have China boats all over the place, warships. And they can't maintain it. When are you going to be talking with Vladimir Putin? Who? Do you plan to meet President Putin, sir? I'll be meeting with President Putin. When do you think?

I don't know, I can't. It's being set up. So, first foreign trip. typically has been with U.K. We've been listening to President Trump as he signs these executive orders and actions inside the White House. A quick correction of the president

was saying that the FBI was involved in January 6th that Christopher Ray, the former director of the FBI, had said that that is not exactly the case. Christopher Ray said the FBI had no involvement in the actions on January 6th, is what he had said. Our coverage inside here of the White House is going to continue with stay tuned. We're going to listen to some more

of what the president has to say.