Trump pardons January 6 rioters and exits Paris climate agreement in slew of executive orders – US politics live

Source: The Guardian US | Original Published At: 2025-01-21 10:43:42 UTC

Key Points

• Trump pardons ~1,500 January 6 rioters and commutes Stewart Rhodes' sentence
• US withdraws from Paris Climate Agreement again, reversing Biden's rejoining
• WHO and EU's von der Leyen criticize US climate withdrawal
• China expresses concern over US climate policy shift
• Nancy Pelosi condemns pardons as betrayal of law enforcement
• Spain's Yolanda Díaz quits X after Musk's Nazi salute at inauguration
• Trump falsely claims Spain is a BRICS member facing 100% US tariffs

29m ago 11.43 CET A World Health Organization spokesperson said on Tuesday that it regrets US president Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the global agency and hopes that it will change its mind. “We hope that the US will reconsider, and we really hope that there will be constructive dialogue for the benefit of everyone, for Americans, but also for people around the world,” WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević told a Geneva press briefing.

32m ago 11.40 CET Speaking at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, European Commission president Urusula von der Leyen has said she still supports the Paris Climate agreement. Von der Leyen said: Europe will stay the course, and keep working with all nations that want to protect nature and stop global warming. During her speech, in a clear reference to the change of direction in US policy signalled by Donald Trump, von der Leyen said the use of sanctions, export controls and tariffs was likely to increase, and that in dealing with the US: Our first priority will be to engage early, discuss common interests, and be ready to negotiate. We will be pragmatic, but we will always stand by our principles. To protect our interests and uphold our values – that is the European way. Trump yesterday ordered the US withdraw from the Paris Climate agreement, as he did during his first term, a decision reversed by Joe Biden just hours after he was sworn in as president in 2021.

1h ago 10.52 CET Over at CNN, Stephen Collinson has offered his regular analysis of US political events, writing of yesterday: The new president set off simultaneous political alarms in multiple foreign capitals with off-the-cuff foreign policymaking, instantly turning the US away from the internationalism embraced by every president apart from him since the second world war. In a freewheeling news conference back in the Oval Office, Trump demonstrated a capacity to drive his own message and move geopolitical chess pieces in public in a way that Biden lost when age caught up with him. The imagery was of a well-briefed new president eyeing big goals, confident that his first term gives him a heads-up on how to wield the levers of power and determined to make the most of a second chance. But Trump also laced the pageantry of inauguration day with rally-style grievance politics and vast doses of untruths, twisted facts and an increasingly messianic sense of his own power, which was a foreboding omen for the rule of law.

2h ago 10.02 CET Writing for The Hill political website in the US, Niall Strange has highlighted president Joe Biden’s late issuing of pardons as one of their five key takeaways from yesterday’s inauguration day. He wrote: Biden issued pre-emptive pardons to five members of his own family. The family pardons, in particular, seemed an inglorious way for the outgoing president to depart. Prior to the Hunter Biden pardon, the elder Biden had repeatedly argued that Trump was the one who sought to bend the justice system to his personal benefit. Now, on his way out the door, the 46th president has issued blanket pardons to his brother James, his sister Valerie and their respective spouses. He also pardoned his other brother, Francis. Announcing the pardons, Biden contended that “my family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me – the worst kind of partisan politics.” Still, the last-minute nature of the pardons was a bad look for a president who had presented himself as a defender of democratic and legal norms.

3h ago 09.31 CET Pelosi: ‘shameful’ that Trump has made 6 January pardons a top priority. The Democratic party former House speaker Nancy Pelosi has described it as “shameful” and “an outrageous insult” that newly inaugurated president Donald Trump has made pardons for those involved in the 6 January Capitol riot a top priority. In the statement, Pelosi said: Tonight, the president announced pardons and commutations of sentences for those who violently attacked the Capitol and law enforcement officers on 6 January. The president’s actions are an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol, the Congress and the constitution. It is shameful that the president has decided to make one of his top priorities the abandonment and betrayal of police officers who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power. Despite the president’s decision, we must always remember the extraordinary courage and valor of the law enforcement heroes who stood in the breach and ensured that democracy survived on that dark day. Trump on Monday issued “full, complete and unconditional” presidential pardons for about 1,500 people who were involved in the January 6 attack on Congress, including some convicted of violent acts. Among those whose sentences were commuted was Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia.

3h ago 09.17 CET Sam Jones is the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent. Spain’s labour minister and deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz, has announced that she has stopped using X following Elon Musk’s apparent Nazi salute at Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday. In a post on Bluesky, Díaz wrote: “For months now, Elon Musk has been using X for political ends. It has stopped being a tool for communication, or a social network, and has become a propaganda mechanism that uses its algorithm to favour some ideas over others and, by doing so, affect public opinion. Last night, the entire planet could see Elon Musk emulating the Nazi salute in the context of Donald Trump’s inauguration. It was a very stark image that has led me to make a decision I’ve been considering for months … From now on, I will not be using my [X] account.” Díaz’s announcement came hours after Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, urged Europe to resist a big tech “class” trying to influence western governments and public debate through its “absolute power over social media”. On Monday, Sánchez told a conference on artificial intelligence: “Faced with this we have to fight back and we must put forward alternatives … Europe must stand up to this threat and defend democracy.” Elsewhere in Spain, the media have noted that Trump yesterday incorrectly claimed that Spain is among the BRICS nations (chiefly Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), and the country could face 100% US tariffs on its products.

3h ago 08.49 CET There has been diplomatic reaction from China to president Donald Trump’s opening blitz of policy announcements on inauguration day. During the regular daily foreign ministry briefing, spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China is concerned at Trump’s announcement the US is again withdrawing from the Paris climate deal. China is actively responding to climate change and will jointly promote global green and low-carbon transition. The spokesperson also said that the World Health Organization should only be strengthened, not weakened. He said China would continue to support it in fulfilling its responsibilities. Trump has ordered the US to pull out of the UN health agency.

4h ago 08.34 CET If you didn’t watch any of Donald Trump’s inauguration yesterday, or just want a reminder, our video team have put together this report highlighting the key moments.