In a tradition started during Ronald Reagan’s first Inauguration Day in 1981, Donald Trump partook in a ceremony in which he signed documents to mark his first official actions taken as the 47th president.
"The first official actions taken by the newly sworn President of the United States occur in the President’s Room just off the Senate Chamber in the U.S. Capitol," the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies stated on its website. "After the departure of the former President and First Lady, the new President gathers there with aides and Members of Congress to sign nominations and some memorandums, proclamations, or executive orders.
"This tradition began in 1981, with President Ronald Reagan. Prior to that time, nominations were often submitted to the Senate on Inauguration Day without ceremony."
The ceremony aired live on Newsmax.
Trump sat at a desk in the President’s Room surrounded by Vice President J.D. Vance and members of the joint congressional committee: Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the committee’s chair, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the House Majority Leader.
Trump first signed a document regarding his 22 Cabinet-level appointments. He followed by signing a document containing 47 sub-Cabinet-level appointments, one with 31 acting designations and appointments to effectively take control of the government, and one with 15 commission chairs and acting chairs.
He finished by signing a proclamation that orders the U.S. flag be flown at full staff on Inauguration Day at the White House, all federal and public buildings in the District of Columbia and U.S. and its territories. The proclamation follows debate on whether the flags should be flown at full staff because they had been at half-staff for the 30-day mourning period of President Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29.
Following the signings, Trump, who was expected to later sign a number of executive orders, was asked for his reaction to former President Joe Biden's flurry of pardons Monday, including members of his family for crimes they might or might not have committed.
"I'm not going to discuss it now," he said. "I think it was unfortunate that he did that. We won't discuss it now. There's plenty of time to discuss it."