President-elect Donald Trump vowed to sign a sweeping slate of executive orders in the first hours of his presidency Monday, including ones aimed at closing access to the southern border and delaying a ban on TikTok.
“By the time the sun sets tomorrow evening, the invasion of our borders will have come to a halt,” Trump said at a victory rally Sunday at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C., on the eve of his second inauguration.
“The American people have given us their trust, and in return, we’re going to give them the best first day, the biggest first week, and the most extraordinary first 100 days of any presidency in American history,” Trump said, teasing the massive number of executive actions expected Monday.
The president-elect is expected to sign an order that clears the way for TikTok to operate in the U.S. despite a law that went into effect over the weekend barring the Chinese-owned social media app from being used in the states unless its owners divest. Trump suggested the app could exist here longterm so long as the U.S. government assumes a major financial stake alongside an American company.
“I’ll approve, but let the United States of America own 50% of TikTok,” Trump said. “I’m approving on behalf of the United States, and they’ll have a lot of bidders, and the United States will do what we call … [a] joint venture, and there’s no risk. We’re not putting up any money. All we’re doing is giving them the approval without which they don’t have anything.”
After going briefly offline Saturday night, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, restored access to the app Sunday based on assurances from Trump that he would not seek to enforce the law banning it in the U.S.
Trump is reportedly planning more than 200 executive actions on Day 1 of his return to the Oval Office, including declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border, dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs, rolling back electric-vehicle mandates, and easing limits on offshore drilling.
“Every radical and foolish executive order of the Biden administration will be reversed within hours of when I take the oath,” Trump said. “You’re gonna have a lot of fun watching television.”
Trump gave an uncharacteristically short speech of about an hour at the arena as a winter storm bore down outside. The treacherous weather in the region prompted the president-elect to move his inauguration ceremony indoors, from the National Mall to the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
Thousands of people were lined up in the freezing cold and snow Sunday to hear Trump speak. Red MAGA hats were everywhere — flooding local bars and restaurants — as U.S. National Guard troops and police officers stood on high alert in the streets.
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“It’s beautiful — like Christmas,” one Trump supporter, waiting in line to get inside, remarked of the large snowflakes falling.
Igor Bobic contributed reporting.