: President Trump will sign more than 200 executive actions on Inauguration Day—a massive, record-setting first wave of policy priorities focused on border security, energy, reducing the cost of living for American families, ending DEI programs across the federal government and more, Fox News Digital has learned. 

A senior administration official who is familiar with the executive actions and authorized to brief Fox News Digital said the president will sign multiple ‘omnibus’ executive orders that each contain dozens of major executive actions. 

‘The president is issuing a historic series of executive orders and actions that will fundamentally reform the American government, including the complete and total restoration of American sovereignty,’ the official told Fox News Digital. 

On day one, the president will declare a national border emergency; direct the U.S. military to work with the Department of Homeland Security to fully secure the southern border; and establish a national priority to eliminate all criminal cartels operating on U.S. soil. 

Trump will close the border to all illegal aliens via proclamation and declare a national emergency at the border, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Trump will also create task forces for the protection of homeland security with officers from the FBI, ICE, CEA, and more to ‘fully eradicate the presence of criminal cartels.’ 

Trump will also direct designations of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which the official said will unlock new authorities to achieve the Trump homeland security mission. 

Fox News Digital has learned that Trump will re-institute ‘Remain in Mexico,’ ‘Catch and Release,’ and direct the military to construct a new phase of the border wall, as well as grant emergency authorities to suspend the entry of illegal aliens across the southwest border, allowing for individuals apprehended to be ‘swiftly returned to their countries of origin.’ 

As for energy, Trump will ‘fully unleash’ Alaskan energy, which the official said is pivotal and essential to U.S. national security. 

The senior official told Fox News Digital that the energy executive order deals with ‘every single energy policy,’ and addresses liquid, natural gas, ports, fracking, pipelines, permitting and more, while also terminating President Biden’s policies which ‘have constrained U.S. energy supply.’ 

The official also said Trump will fully reform the federal bureaucracy by reestablishing presidential control over the career, federal workforce and make clear to federal workers that they can be removed from posts for failing to comply with executive directives. 

The official said Trump will sign an executive order to strengthen control over senior government officials and implement a new merit-based hiring review. Trump will also take action to return federal workers to in-person work. 

The official also said Trump will end the ‘weaponization of the federal government’ and restore freedom of speech and ‘end federal censorship.’ 

Trump, on his first day, will also suspend the security clearances for the 51 national security officials who ‘lied’ about Hunter BIden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 presidential election. 

Trump is also expected to establish biological sex definitions; rename historical places like the ‘Gulf of America,’ and more.

Trump, on day one, will also end all Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs across the federal government. 

Trump will also establish a new Department of Government Efficiency hiring freeze; gain control over foreign aid and NGO funding; and more. 

‘He is reasserting muscular control of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government,’ the official told Fox News Digital. 

As for reducing the cost for American families, Trump will sign a specific presidential memorandum directing all agencies and departments to remove all federal actions that increase costs for families and consumers, which the official told Fox News Digital will be the beginning of Trump’s ‘historic de-regulatory effort’ of his second term. 

Trump, on his first day, will also declare a national energy emergency and pause all offshore wind leases. 

Meanwhile, Trump will end the electric vehicle mandate; end the Green New Deal; withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord; and roll back more of President Biden’s actions and orders. 

‘This is a massive, record-setting, unmatched first wave,’ the official told Fox News Digital. ‘Even after this, there is a whole host in the cue to continue the restoration of America.’ 

The official added: ‘This is the most extensive list of executive actions in American history all guided by a relentless commitment to deliver on the campaign promise.’ 

The official told Fox News Digital that ‘everything’ voters voted for ‘is being translated into executive policy.’ 

‘There is a massive federal workforce that has been moving its objectives at expense of the American people–and President Trump is taking command, saying you will serve the American people and only American people,’ the official said. ‘This is about stopping corrupt, abusive behavior and re-focusing the government on its fundamental duties to the American people.’ 

Incoming Trump administration officials told Fox News Digital that the overarching theme to his day one actions is ‘promises made, promises kept.’

‘As soon as President Trump places his hand on the Bible and swears the Oath to the United States Constitution, the Golden Age of America will begin,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital. ‘The American people will have a leader who will deliver on the promises he made to restore our country’s greatness.’ 

The president, on Sunday, previewed one of his day one executive orders related to the popular video-sharing app TikTok, which was forced to go dark in the United States following a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Trump said he will sign an order on Monday that will ‘extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.’ Trump also said the order would confirm that there ‘will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.’ 

Top members of the three branches of government will come together in a rare display of national unity and tradition when the presidential and vice-presidential oaths of office are delivered at Monday’s inauguration. A swear-in rookie, and perhaps funny hats, will be indispensable parts of the ceremonies.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh will continue a nearly 240-year-old tradition of administering the oaths to President-elect Trump and his No. 2, JD Vance. The other seven members of the high court are expected to attend the event in the Capitol Rotunda, all in their judicial robes. 

Whatever political differences exist, they surely will not be on display at this most cordial and dignified of ceremonies. After all, the first person the president thanks will likely be the chief justice. But an undercurrent of tension remains.

During his first run for high office in 2016, candidate Trump took the unusual step of attacking a member of the federal judiciary, labeling Roberts ‘an absolute disaster’ among other personal insults. This will be the ‘Chief’s’ fifth presidential swearing-in, his second with Trump.

The choice of Kavanaugh is no surprise: incoming second lady Usha Vance clerked for Kavanaugh when he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.

She then went on to a prestigious law clerkship at the Supreme Court with Roberts. Sources say Kavanaugh gave an especially strong job recommendation for Usha Vance to his now bench colleague.

In an August interview with ‘Fox and Friends,’ Usha Vance said Kavanaugh was ‘such a good boss’ and ‘decent person’ who ‘hired people from all over the political spectrum.’

‘My experience working for him was overwhelmingly positive,’ she added.

Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Clarence Thomas are among recent justices who have performed similar vice-presidential swear-in honors.

While chief justices have normally sworn in the president, a broader mix of officials have handled the vice-presidential duties. Then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert swore in Vice President Dick Cheney in 2005.

Thomas did the honors when Mike Pence was sworn in 2017 as vice president for Trump’s first term.

Justice served

Article VI of the Constitution requires executive officers, including the president, as well as members of Congress and federal judges, to ‘be bound by oath or affirmation,’ but nothing mandates that a Supreme Court justice administer it. When it comes to the presidential inauguration, they just have, most of the time.

There was no Supreme Court yet formed when George Washington took the first oath of office in 1789, so New York’s highest ranking judge did the honors at Federal Hall on Wall Street. Four years later, Associate Justice William Cushing swore in Washington for a second term, beginning the Supreme Court tradition.

Early swear-ins were usually conducted in the House or Senate chamber. The 1817 inaugural was held outdoors for the first time when James Monroe took the oath in front of the Old Brick Capitol, where the legislature met temporarily after the original Capitol was burned by invading British troops in the War of 1812. The Monroe swear-in site is now occupied by the Supreme Court, which opened its building in 1935.

The man who handled the duties more than 200 years ago was John Marshall, widely acknowledged as the most influential chief justice in U.S. history. He participated in a record nine swear-ins, from Thomas Jefferson to Andrew Jackson. For Roberts, this will be his fifth.

The Constitution lays out the exact language to be used in the 34-word oath of office: ‘I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.’

Many judges have tacked on four little words, ‘so help me God.’ It is not legally or constitutionally required, unlike other federal oaths that invoke the words as standard procedure. Historians have been at odds over whether President Washington established precedent by adding the phrase on his own during his first acceptance, but contemporary accounts mention no such ad-libbing.

Abraham Lincoln was reported to have said it spontaneously in 1861, and other presidents over the years have followed suit. A Bible is traditionally used, with the president placing one hand on it while raising the other during the oath of office.

The 16th president and Chief Justice Roger Taney shared a mutual animosity. When the oath was administered just days before the Civil War erupted, many attending the ceremony noticed the frosty demeanor both men showed each other, befitting the late winter chill. Several historians have said Lincoln later that year secretly issued an arrest warrant for Taney, who tried to block the president’s suspension of habeas corpus during the conflict. The warrant was never served.

President Barack Obama used Lincoln’s Bible for his two swear-ins.

Trump is expected to again use the Lincoln Bible and a family Bible.

Getting it right      

Roberts, administering his first presidential oath in 2009, strayed slightly from the text, which prompted its re-administration for protective purposes the following day, in a private White House ceremony.

Those Jan. 20 ceremonies at the Capitol also ran long, so that the presidential oath was not completed until five minutes past noon. Nonetheless, Obama under the 20th Amendment had officially assumed the presidency at noon.

At the time, a California atheist, Michael Newdow, objected and went to federal court to prevent Roberts from prompting Obama to repeat the ‘so help me God’ phrase. Newdow, along with several non-religious groups, argued the words violated the constitutional ban on government ‘endorsement’ of religion.

The high court ultimately rejected the lawsuit, and no such legal challenges are expected this time.

Four years later, Justice Sonia Sotomayor swore in Biden for a second term as vice president in 2013. She was asked by Vice President Harris to do the honors again, with the first female vice president citing the fact both women once served as government prosecutors.

Pence used the family Bible of the late President Ronald Reagan, telling Fox News at the time, ‘It’s just very humbling for me. We are approaching it with prayer, but with deep, deep gratitude to the president-elect for his confidence and deep gratitude to the American people.’ 

Trump also broke tradition by not attending the swear-in of his successor four years ago.

Lyndon Johnson’s swear-in from 1965 marked a change from tradition. His wife Claudia – known as Lady Bird – held the Bible, a job previously managed by the high court’s clerk. Spouses have since had the honor, and Melania Trump and Usha Vance are expected to continue that role.   

Hopefully, nerves won’t result in a repeat of the 1941 goof, when then-clerk Elmore Cropley dropped the Bible just after Franklin Roosevelt took the oath to begin his third presidential term.

What to wear, what to say

It usually is not hard at the inauguration to spot the justices, who are normally shielded from broad public view in the camera-barred court. They are announced as a group, arrive wearing their black robes – usually covering bulky winter coats – and are given prominent seats on the specially built platform on the West Front of the Capitol.

Before Marshall took over the court in 1801, the justices wore red robes with fur trim and white wigs in all public settings. His practice of a simple black silk robe without wig remains the American judicial standard.

And if there is any doubt about their identities, look for some unusual-looking headgear several justices may be sporting. The large black ‘skullcaps’ have no brims and can be made of wool, silk or even nylon. Perhaps to keep them from looking like a Jewish yarmulke, the hats are usually pleated upward, which one federal judge privately told Fox News made him look like he was wearing a dirty napkin.

Given the inauguration ceremony is indoors this year because of expected frigid weather, the skullcaps may be an afterthought.

They have been around in British courts since the 16th century, and at least a century in the United States. Only judges wear them, and only at formal ceremonies, not in court.

Official records are hazy on the hats, but Chief Justice Edward White proudly wore one in 1913 when Woodrow Wilson became president. The ‘age of the skullcap’ peaked in 1961 when seven of the nine justices wore them at the bitterly cold inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.

The last time around, only now-retired Justice Stephen Breyer was brave enough to sport one, though Thomas, Anthony Kennedy, and the late Antonin Scalia had worn them previously. None of the six current or former women justices ever used them.

Scalia told an audience a few years ago why he favored skullcaps. ‘If you’ve ever seen an inauguration, you will see me wearing the old hats judges used to wear. It’s a ridiculous-looking hat, but it’s a tradition. Yes, it’s silly looking.’

Scalia’s headgear was a replica of one worn by St. Thomas More, a gift from the St. Thomas More Society of Richmond, Virginia

The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist also sported them, not surprising, given his role as an unofficial historian of court procedure and tradition.

He made one of the most dramatic appearances in inaugural history while suffering from thyroid cancer in 2005. There was speculation he would be too ill to attend, but he assured officials he would be there, and he kept his word.

After three months away from the public eye while he received chemotherapy, the ailing 81-year-old chief was introduced to the audience just before President George W. Bush was to take the oath. Using a cane, Rehnquist walked slowly to the podium without assistance – wearing a dark baseball cap – and did the honors. His voice was clear but raspy, because of a trachea tube in his throat, which was hidden by a scarf.

Afterward, Rehnquist wished Bush good luck, then was quickly escorted out of the cold.

Rehnquist also swore in President Bill Clinton eight years earlier. Unbeknownst to Clinton or the public, the justices days earlier had taken a private vote in Clinton v. Jones. Their ruling said the president could not refuse to testify in an ongoing civil lawsuit against him by Paula Jones, who alleged sexual harassment. That triggered a series of events leading to Clinton’s 1999 impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate, presided over by Rehnquist himself, without the skullcap.

To be or not to be, that is the question for social media giant TikTok’s future in the United States.

The fate of the Chinese Communist Party-controlled app is one of very few issues that seem to divide Americans on both sides of our most fundamental ideological divides, which is roughly to say, pro-Donald Trump and anti-Donald Trump.

This is a pretty good sign that there are legitimate competing interests for axing the app and letting it flourish in the U.S. Those in favor of the short-video platform see themselves as champions of free speech; those opposed as guardians of national security. Both may have a point.

For the decision on TikTok to be thoughtfully and honestly reached, it must be fully understood and acknowledged just how much damage this Chinese spying and propaganda operation has already wrought.

The fact that Chinese owner ByteDance is refusing to sell TikTok is kind of confirmation that it was a CCP operation all along. It wasn’t launched by a Chinese entrepreneur looking to make money, or he would jump at a $50 billion dollar offer – especially when it is either that or go dark in the United States.

No, the real value of TikTok for the CCP was always as an informational attack on the U.S. intended to steal our private data, including that of millions of our children, and to promote anti-American ideology. Remember the ‘Osama Bin Laden wasn’t so bad’ TikTok craze?

Information is serious national security business. According to the Defense Department, America’s levers of international power are described by the DIME paradigm as Diplomatic, Informational, Military, and Economic.

In three of these, the U.S. is dominant. But, owing to our First Amendment and the free nature of our society, we are always at a disadvantage against our authoritarian foreign foes when it comes to the use of information as a weapon.

This is not a two-way social media street with China. As Elon Musk, owner of the competitor platform X noted this week, ‘The current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but X is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced. Something needs to change.’

Nobody should hold their breath waiting for China to liberalize its internal social media censorship, but Musk’s point is well taken. This is asymmetrical informational warfare. 

All of this is why the ban on TikTok, should Bytedance continue its refusal to divest, was passed by a big bipartisan majority and why Trump was on board at that time. Now, with TikTok choosing to go dark on Sunday in the U.S., the rubber has met the road.

Sure, there are plenty of Americans who use TikTok in completely non-nefarious ways to run their business, keep up on hobbies, or just to be mindlessly entertained, and they understandably don’t want it to disappear.

For his part, Trump has come to believe that TikTok played a significant role in securing his election win. There isn’t a whole lot of hard evidence to back this up, but there are those in Trump’s inner circle, such as Kellyanne Conway, who have lobbied for TikTok in Congress.

If Trump can strike a deal that saves TikTok in America by eliminating the national security threat it poses, then great. That would be a double win. But while these competing interests are both legitimate, they are not equal, and our country’s defense must clearly come first.

For his part, Trump seems to understand this, posting on Truth Social on Sunday that he wants the ‘United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to stay up. Without U.S. approval, there is no TikTok.’

Deal or no deal, whether TikTok survives or not, you have to tip your cap to Communist China for one of the most effective information operations ever executed against the United States. Endless bytes of data stolen, millions of hours of propaganda poured into the eyes and ears of our kids.

It took our government years to understand what TikTok was really doing, longer to act, and now, even after it has decisively acted, we just can’t seem to pull the plug on the listening device. And one potential solution is to give China upwards of $50 billion for its trouble.

Trump wants 90 days to make a deal, and nobody does it better. But after that, either the CCP is out of the TikTok business or TikTok must be out of the U.S. There really is no third option.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Friday recounted a meeting with President Biden from early last year when the president appeared to forget he signed an executive order pausing the export of liquified natural gas (LNG).

Johnson publicly recalled the story for the first time to Bari Weiss during an episode of her podcast ‘Honestly’ for The Free Press after saying that through his ‘personal observation’ in dealing with Biden, the president ‘has not been in charge for some time.’ Johnson’s story was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in June, though the newspaper’s reporting relied on anonymous sources at the time.

When Weiss asked Johnson to elaborate on his observations, the speaker began his tale of how Biden’s staff kept brushing off his attempts to schedule a meeting with the president in January 2024 amid ‘big national concerns’ that Johnson said he ‘was losing sleep over.’

Johnson said that Biden’s staff finally relented after some pressure from the media and invited him to the Oval Office to meet with the president. Johnson, however, said the meeting did not start as expected.

‘I show up and I realize it’s actually an ambush ’cause it’s not just me and the president,’ Johnson said. ‘It’s also Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem, you know, The CIA Director.’

Johnson said the group began to ‘hot box’ him on Ukraine funding when Biden asked if he could have the room with him, a request that Johnson said left the president’s staff visibly concerned.

Once Biden and Johnson were alone in the Oval Office, the speaker asked the president about his pause on LNG exports. 

‘I cannot answer this from my constituents in Louisiana,’ Johnson recalled telling Biden. ‘Sir, why did you pause LNG exports to Europe? Liquefied natural gas is in great demand by our allies. Why would you do that? Cause you understand we just talked about Ukraine, you understand you are fueling Vladimir Putin’s war machine, because they gotta get their gas from him.’

Johnson recounted how a stunned Biden replied: ‘I didn’t do that.’

Biden initiated a pause on new LNG export permits in January 2024, a move which has been widely criticized by the oil community and bipartisan lawmakers in the House.

Johnson said that when he reminded the president of the executive order he had signed just weeks ago, Biden denied that what he had signed was a pause on LNG.

Johnson said he argued that the pause would do ‘massive damage to our economy, national security,’ and he even suggested that the president’s secretary print out a copy of the order so that the two of them could read it together.

‘He genuinely did not know what he had signed,’ Johnson said. ‘And I walked out of that meeting with fear and loathing because I thought, ‘We are in serious trouble—who is running the country?’ Like, I don’t know who put the paper in front of him, but he didn’t know.’

Biden’s LNG pause threatens nearly 1 million jobs over the next two decades if the restriction remains in place, according to a study by the National Association of Manufacturers, which Fox News Digital previously reported on.

The export ban would stifle the U.S. GDP by between $122.5 billion and $215.7 billion in 2044, while between $26.9 billion and $47.7 billion in tax and royalty revenues to federal, state and local governments would be at risk in 2044 if the permit pause persists, the study found.

President-elect Trump, however, reportedly ‘plans to go strong on the issue’ of LNG exports when he assumes office, sources told Reuters in November.

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady and Eric Revell contributed to this report.