• The Pentagon will replace some large media outlets that have long had desks inside the Pentagon.
• Outlets like NBC News and The New York Times will lose their space.
• It's part of a "rotation program" that allows different media outlets to work from the Pentagon.

The Defense Department said it is implementing a new "annual media rotation program," which means some legacy media outlets — like The New York Times and NBC News — will lose their longtime Pentagon workspaces to a slate of new publications.

In a major shake-up for the Pentagon's "Correspondents' Corridor," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Ullyot announced in a memo to the Pentagon Press Association that The New York Times, NBC, National Public Radio, and Politico would all have to vacate their office space in the building.

The sought-after space will be offered instead to The New York Post, Breitbart News, One America News Network, and The Huffington Post.

The changes — which the memo said were intended to "broaden access to the limited space of the Correspondents' Corridor" — are set to take effect on February 14.

"Each year, one outlet from each press medium — print, online, television, and radio — that has enjoyed working from a physical office in the Pentagon will rotate out of the building to allow a new outlet from the same medium that has not had the unique opportunity to report as a resident member of the Pentagon Press Corps," the memo read.

Ullyot also said in the memo that access to the Pentagon would remain unchanged for the publications that have been removed from their traditional office spaces.

"They will continue to enjoy the same media access to the Pentagon and will be able to attend and cover briefings and be considered for travel with civilian and military leaders in the Department as they have previously," the memo read.

In a statement to Business Insider, NPR urged the Department of Defense to "expand the offices available to press" at the Pentagon.

"This decision interferes with the ability of millions of Americans to directly hear from Pentagon leadership, and with NPR's public interest mission to serve Americans who turn to our network of local public media stations in all 50 states," the statement read.

New York Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander told BI that the newspaper is "committed to covering the Pentagon fully and fairly."

"This move to expel the Times and other independent, fact-based news outlets from the Pentagon's press spaces is a concerning development," Stadtlander said. "Steps designed to impede access are clearly not in the public interest."

NBC News said in a statement it was "disappointed" by the decision.

"Despite the significant obstacles this presents to our ability to gather and report news in the national public interest, we will continue to report with the same integrity and rigor NBC News always has," the outlet said.

In January, the Senate narrowly confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a 51-50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaker after three Republicans joined every Democrat in rejecting his nomination — a significant departure from the broad support that the GOP-controlled Senate has so far granted to most of President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees.

The outlets who will have to vacate their Pentagon workspaces all covered Hegseth's tumultuous confirmation process, during which he faced questions about alcohol abuse and sexual assault accusations stemming from a 2017 incident.

Hegseth, who was sworn into his new role on January 25, has denied the allegations.

The Defense Department's move also comes as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced earlier this week that the Trump administration would be granting access to the White House press briefing room to "new media" — which includes TikTok content creators and podcasters.

• President Trump is steering the federal government in a distinctly conservative direction.
• Upon entering office for his second term, he signed a slew of executive orders to achieve this goal.
• There are many key dates to look out for as the administration rolls out its agenda.

Only two weeks into his second term, President Donald Trump's sweeping agenda has already started to take shape, with the president signing executive orders on everything from return-to-office mandates to tough immigration measures.

Here's a look at some of the key dates for initiatives and plans put into place by the Trump administration:

Feb. 1, 2025: Tariffs enacted for Canada, China, and Mexico

Shortly after the November general election, Trump vowed to impose 25% tariffs on imported goods from Canada and Mexico, two of the United States' leading trading partners.

Trump said both countries have allowed drugs and migrants to pour into the US, which ties squarely into the president's hard-line stance on immigration issues.

Trump also floated a 10% across-the-board tariff on Chinese goods.

On February 1, the president followed through on his pledge, enacting the tariffs for all three countries.

As part of his executive orders, Canadian energy products will have a 10% tariff rate.

Feb. 3, 2025: Funding for federal programs will continue through this date

A federal judge on Jan. 28 temporarily put on hold the Trump administration's freeze on federal grants from taking effect that year. This decision means that funding for affected programs will continue until Monday, Feb. 3.

The decision came after a group of nonprofit, healthcare, and small business advocacy groups sued the Office of Personnel Management over the move, which caused widespread confusion across Washington.

Feb. 6, 2025: Deadline for federal workers to accept buyout

The Office of Personnel Management on Jan. 28 issued a letter offering all federal employees payouts and giving them a Feb. 6 deadline to accept the offer.

Federal employees who accept the administration's offer by the deadline "will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason)," the letter on the OPM's website read.

Workers who resign by Feb. 6 will have their severance paid through Sept. 30.

The offer comes as Trump ramps ups his efforts to not only reduce the size of the federal workforce but also install loyalists in key positions within the government.

Feb. 7, 2025: First jobs report under Trump

The first employment situation report under Trump's second term will be released on Feb. 7. January's jobs numbers will be included in the report, which means that the bulk of the report will feature employment data from former President Joe Biden's last month in office.

As of December 2024, the unemployment rate in the US sits at 4.1%.

Feb. 7, 2025: Agencies should have plans for federal workers to come back to the office

The Trump administration has set the date of Feb. 7 for federal agencies to have plans for how they'll adhere to the president's return-to-work order for employees.

The implementation plans are set to be vetted and approved by the Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget.

March 7, 2025: First jobs report for Trump for his first full month in office

The February jobs report, which will include Trump's first full month in office, will be released on March 7.

Trump ran on tamping down inflation and lowering food costs, as well as making the broader economy more prosperous for a wide swath of Americans. It'll still be incredibly early in Trump's term when the report is released, but the report could set the tone for how he messages his economic policies throughout the rest of the year.

March 21, 2025: Deadline to eliminate most DEI offices and positions

On Inauguration Day, Trump signed an executive order to end "illegal and immoral discrimination" Biden-era programs implemented to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Trump and many of his Republican allies have rallied against DEI initiatives. Their pressure campaign has begun to spill over into corporate America, with top companies like Target rolling back some diversity-focused efforts.

Some agencies have already put employees on paid leave. Officials are also submitting lists of names to the White House, Government Executive reported.

By late March, Trump's EO calls for each agency head to the maximum extent allowed by the law to carry out the terminations of covered positions and programs.

April 5, 2025: End of a 75-day extension of the TikTok ban

Trump on Jan. 20 signed an executive order to pause the TikTok ban for 75 days, which would allow further efforts to find a US buyer for the highly popular social media platform.

The end of the 75-day period would be April 5, 2025.

Sometime in 2025: GOP hopes to pass a reconciliation bill addressing tax cuts

Trump is pushing for Republicans to pass a massive reconciliation bill that would lower taxes, dramatically roll back green energy measures, and make cuts to safety net spending.

While cuts to Social Security or Medicare are very likely off limits in the plans, Democrats could find their political footing in critiquing whatever plan emerges from the GOP congressional leaders.

July 4, 2026: The Department of Government Efficiency will sunset

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has grand plans for the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, as it aims to cut at least $1 trillion in spending from the federal budget.

While the DOGE is still in the earliest stages of its work, the commission isn't designed to be a permanent fixture of Washington.

When Musk and onetime co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy wrote about the DOGE in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last year, they said the commission would be phased out next year — on July 4, 2026.

"There is no better birthday gift to our nation on its 250th anniversary than to deliver a federal government that would make our Founders proud," the two men wrote at the time.

• Donald Trump threatened 25% tariffs on Colombian goods after Colombia rejected deportation flights.
• President Gustavo Petro had blocked flights with deported migrants from landing in his country.
• But the White House reversed course, saying it had struck a deal with Colombia.

The Trump White House on Sunday walked back its tariff threats on Colombia, hours after it said it would impose 25% tariffs on goods from the country.

"The Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump's terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay," the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said in a Sunday statement on X.

Earlier Sunday, President Donald Trump said the United States would impose tariffs on Colombia after its president turned away two flights carrying deported migrants.

"A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves," Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Sunday. "That is why I returned the US military planes that were carrying Colombian migrants."

Trump responded on Truth Social, announcing immediate tariffs and vowing they'd increase if Petro didn't comply.

"I have directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures: Emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States," he said. "In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%."

Trump also announced a travel ban on Colombian government officials and visa sanctions on individuals tied to the country's government.

"These measures are just the beginning," the president said. "We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!"

Petro said in a statement on X that he would receive Colombians "on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals."

In the White House's statement on X, Leavitt said the tariffs and sanctions "will be held in reserve" unless Colombia "fails to honor this agreement."

Petro reposted Leavitt's X statement.

The US is Colombia's largest trading partner. Some of the leading Colombian exports to the United States are coffee, bananas, flowers, and crude oil.

Trump's posture on the repatriation of migrants has rankled some governments in Latin America. NBC News reported that Mexico on Thursday also refused to allow a US military flight carrying migrants to land in the country.

Trump has long made immigration a central issue. While President Joe Biden was in office, Trump railed against the number of migrants who crossed the US southern border, making the issue a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign.

Trump pledged during the campaign to enact the biggest mass deportation plan in US history once he assumed office for his second term.

• JD Vance said it would take some time for grocery prices to drop.
• "Rome wasn't built in a day," he told CBS News in his first sit-down interview as vice president.
• Vance said that increased capital investment would be a key part of lowering costs.

Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration's efforts to lower grocery prices would take some time.

"We have done a lot," Vance told CBS' "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan when asked about the executive actions signed by President Donald Trump. "There have been a number of executive orders that have caused, already, jobs to start coming back into our country, which is a core part of lowering prices."

"Prices are going to come down, but it's going to take a little bit of time, right?" he continued. "The president has been president for all of five days."

During the 2024 US presidential race, inflation was a top issue for voters, many of whom backed the GOP ticket because they believed it could improve the economy. Vance said increased capital investment would be one area that the administration would focus on as it looks to steer the economy with its conservative policies.

"We're going to work with Congress … the way that you lower prices is that you encourage more capital investment into our country," he said.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," he added.

Brennan asked Vance when consumers would actually notice a shift in prices, which prompted him to say that the administration's energy policies would also help.

"How does bacon get to the grocery store? It comes on trucks that are fueled by diesel fuel," he said. "If the diesel is way too expensive, the bacon is going to become more expensive."

"How do we grow the bacon? Our farmers need energy to produce it," he continued. "So if we lower energy prices, we are going to see lower prices for consumers, and that is what we're trying to fight for."

Last Monday, Trump signed an executive order instructing departments and agencies to "deliver emergency price relief, consistent with applicable law, to the American people." Pursuant to the order, Trump directed the government to find ways to lower housing costs and boost the housing supply, generate employment opportunities for Americans, and eliminate policies that he believes have driven up the costs of food and gas.

Trump also signed an executive order declaring a national energy emergency. The president's action came even as oil and gas production flourished under former President Joe Biden.

• President Donald Trump stopped in Las Vegas on Saturday.
• He discussed his proposal to exclude workers' tips from federal taxes.
• Trump said he will work with Congress to push forward legislation.

President Donald Trump stopped in Las Vegas on Saturday to share details about his administration's plan to exclude workers' tips from federal taxes.

The president first announced his proposal last June during a campaign rally, also in Nevada, where a significant portion of the workforce is in the hospitality industry and where he scored a major victory in November.

Trump would need approval for the tax change from Congress, where Republicans hold majorities in both chambers.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, promoted a similar idea during her campaign.

While in Las Vegas, Trump said he'd work with members of Congress "in the coming weeks" to ensure a bill reaches his desk.

"No tax on tips!" Trump said as a crowd of supporters cheered nearby. During the speech, Trump said his administration would also raise worker wages, but did not share additional details.

During his speech, Trump welcomed American Hotel and Lodging Association CEO and President Rosanna Maietta onstage, where she spoke about the proposal's potential impact on the service industry.

"I am here to tell you that the American dream is alive and well in the hotel industry today," she said.

She referenced the tax bill Trump promoted in 2017 during his first administration. "The 'no tax on tips' builds on that momentum," Maietta said. "So, we are so excited to support you in that effort."

She added that her organization would urge Congress to pass Trump's proposal.

In June, however, Trump's remarks drew criticism from the Culinary Workers Union, which includes Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165. The union represents 60,000 workers in the Las Vegas and Reno areas.

"For decades, the Culinary Union has fought for tipped workers' rights and against unfair taxation," Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said in a statement at the time. "Relief is definitely needed for tip earners, but Nevada workers are smart enough to know the difference between real solutions and wild campaign promises from a convicted felon."

In a statement to Business Insider on Saturday, Pappageorge said, "The Culinary Union welcomes plans to end taxes on tips, but it must not end there."

"Eliminating taxes on tips and ending the $2.13 sub-minimum wage — that is the reality in too many states across the country — will uplift millions of hospitality workers," he said. "Taking on both issues is critical to ensuring one job is enough for workers to support their families."

The statement urged Republicans to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats to find solutions.

"Republicans have made promises to lower the cost of living for Americans. Delivering on those commitments must start with meaningful action, and they must work with Democrats to raise the sub-minimum wage, eliminate taxes on tips, and address corporate greed driving up prices on essential goods like food, gas, and housing," Pappageorge added. "It's time for Congress to act now to deliver real solutions for working families."

Some experts who track the industry earlier told Business Insider that eliminating federal taxes on tips could have unintended negative consequences, like encouraging employers to lower wages to avoid taxes.

Martha Gimbel, the executive director of Yale University's Budget Lab, told BI that a new system would create "an incentive for employers to try to get more of their workers' compensation in the form of tips."

Gimbel said the proposal could let business owners shift the onus for employee salaries onto customers and claim tax breaks through lower payroll and Social Security fees.

Representatives for the White House did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Trump's speech in Nevada comes one day after he visited California to address the wildfires that have devastated parts of Los Angeles County and elsewhere.

While at a roundtable with local California officials, the president said he would help fund relief efforts but did not detail how much federal aid California could receive.

Trump also said he would implement an executive order to direct more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Southern California and Central Valley.

On Friday, Trump also visited North Carolina, where some parts of the state are still recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Helene.

Trump on Friday also floated overhauling or eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency, calling it a "big disappointment."

The president said his administration was eyeing mechanisms for potentially empowering governors when it comes to disaster aid.

• Bill Gates, in a recent Journal interview, said Elon Musk's DOGE could be "a valuable thing."
• Gates said the federal deficit will "create a financial problem" for the US if it isn't reduced.
• But the Microsoft cofounder also said it was important to retain vital programs.

Bill Gates, in a recent Wall Street Journal interview, said the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency could be a "valuable" effort, adding that it's important to reduce the size of the federal budget deficit.

"I think the idea that looking at government expenditures on a sort of zero-based budgeting approach could be a valuable thing," he told the newspaper. "I'm amongst the people who think the deficit needs to be brought down because otherwise, it will create a financial problem for us. That effort could come up with some good things."

DOGE, which recently saw the departure of businessman Vivek Ramaswamy as a co-lead, aims to tackle government inefficiencies and reduce the deficit.

After DOGE was first proposed, Musk set a goal to cut $2 trillion in spending. However, during a conversation with political strategist Mark Penn earlier in January, Musk said the $2 trillion figure was a "best-case outcome" and that the commission had a "good shot" at saving $1 trillion.

DOGE announced on Friday that it had canceled roughly $420 million worth of existing or forthcoming contracts, in addition to two leases. However, according to Business Insider's calculations, the commission would need to be far more aggressive in its spending cuts to meet any of its goals.

During Gates' interview, Journal editor in chief Emma Tucker asked the Microsoft cofounder where he'd look to find savings if he was leading DOGE.

"Well, given the numbers that they've tossed around, they'll have to look at everything, including pension, defense, healthcare," he said.

However, Gates said he had concerns about the government shutting down resources that have "long-term benefits" for citizens, specifically citing HIV.

"I obviously believe in HIV medicines, where the US is keeping tens of millions of people alive," he said. "If you cut those off, not only would they die when we have a cure on its way, but the negative feelings you'd have, say in Africa, would be worse than never having done the thing at all."

While rising to prominence in the technology sphere, Gates has also long been known for his philanthropic work through the Gates Foundation, which he cofounded in 2000 with his then-wife Melinda French Gates.

During the 2024 presidential race, Gates didn't publicly endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. But the New York Times reported in October that he privately donated $50 million to a pro-Harris super PAC. After the story was published, Gates released a statement pointing to his bipartisan background while adding that "this election is different."

In December, Gates traveled to Mar-a-Lago to dine with then-President-elect Donald Trump and recently told The Journal he was "impressed" with the president's interest in global health issues.

• President Trump announced a private sector AI infrastructure investment of up to $500 billion.
• OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank will work together to create a venture named Stargate.
• The US aims to maintain AI leadership against China as geopolitical stakes remain high.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a private sector investment of up to $500 billion for artificial intelligence infrastructure across the country.

OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank will work together to create a venture named Stargate, with the president calling it "the largest AI infrastructure project in history" while touting the role of the US in leading the effort.

"Together these world-leading technology giants are announcing the formation of Stargate … a new American company that will invest $500 billion at least in AI infrastructure in the United States," he said.

"Put that name down in your books, because I think you're going to hear a lot about it," he added.

Trump said the venture would create more than 100,000 American jobs, with the investment set to be made over the next four years.

Oracle's stock rose close to 5% in after-hours trading, while SoftBank rose over 9% in Japan following the announcement.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, and SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son attended the White House announcement.

Altman, in his remarks, said he was "thrilled" by the venture and said it'll be the "most important project of this era."

"The fact that we get to do this in the United States is just wonderful," he said. "I believe that as this technology progresses, we will see diseases get cured at an unprecedented rate."

And Ellison, at the White House, described Stargate as a "very exciting program for Oracle to be a part of."

AI is energy-hungry

For foundation models to keep improving, companies that use them — like OpenAI and Anthropic — need lots of fuel.

That fuel comes in the form of chips, energy, and talent, and the Trump administration's policies on each stand to shape the future of computing, potentially creating winners and losers along the way.

The stakes are high. Growing AI in America isn't just a money-maker, it's a geopolitical card played against the other big global tech player: China.

Trump on AI

Trump on Monday revoked the Biden Administration's Executive Order on AI from October 2023. The order pushed for greater transparency from large companies developing and using AI.

After winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump appointed a new AI and cryptocurrency czar in venture capitalist David Sacks.

In his first term as president, Trump issued an executive order focused on AI leadership and non-regulatory approaches to expanding and maintaining it.

Chips

In his final weeks in office, President Joe Biden's Department of Commerce published new, sweeping export restrictions on the kind of semiconductors required for AI.

The regulations, set to go into effect early in Trump's second term, would restrict and cap the amount of computing power companies can amass in most countries outside a list of 18 allies.

If maintained by the Trump administration, the impact of these changes will likely be to concentrate AI data centers in the US.

Last week, Biden signed an executive order to grant federal sites to construct data centers and "clean energy."

Talent

The two ways AI companies acquire game-changing talent are in question as the US transitions from Biden to Trump.

The first is mergers and acquisitions. Nvidia, along with Microsoft and OpenAI, are the subject of a Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission investigation into possible antitrust violations.

The scrutiny created a cooling effect across the AI ecosystem. Trump's anti-regulation tendencies suggest a more open field for mergers and acquisitions in his term.

The second factor impacting the availability of AI talent in the US is the H-1B visa program. In recent weeks, there has been some disagreement within Trump's party regarding the program, which is designed to facilitate the immigration of skilled workers to the US.

Energy and data centers

AI also needs chips, but assuring an ample supply of those is for naught without enough energy to run the data centers. Since AI chips are hungrier than traditional computer chips, power is the most important limiting factor to the industry's growth.

"They have to produce a lot of electricity," the president said on Tuesday. "And we'll make it possible for them to get this production done easily, at their own plants if they want."

Trump's views on energy production and the climate crisis differ greatly from Biden's. The new president has long focused on continuing American leadership in fossil fuel production.

Shubhangi Goel contributed reporting.

• Donald Trump signed a return-to-office order for federal workers during his first hours in office.
• Many federal civilian workers were eligible for telework but not working remotely all the time.
• Elon Musk indicated in November that he supports government workers being fully in the office.

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order mandating that federal workers return to their offices full-time, a core element of his focus on overhauling the government workforce.

For years, Republicans have sought to weaken protections that federal workers have long enjoyed, with many conservatives zeroing in on reclassifying scores of career civil servants.

"Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary," the order read.

Trump has been especially insistent on a return-to-office push, with his position threatening the remote and hybrid arrangements that many federal workers have enjoyed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some workers may consider quitting instead of working from the office full time.

Elon Musk, who will lead Trump's cost-cutting advisory group, the Department of Government Efficiency, said he'd welcome this.

"Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don't want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn't pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home," Musk said in a November op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. The op-ed was co-written with Vivek Ramaswamy, who is leaving DOGE and is expected to run for governor of Ohio.

While many federal employees can telework, an August 2024 report from the Office of Management and Budget said around 10% of the roughly 2.3 million civilian workers in two dozen major agencies, including the Department of Defense and the Social Security Administration, "were in remote positions where there was no expectation that they worked in-person on any regular or recurring basis."

That includes over 60,000 people in the Department of Defense, around 37,000 in the Department of Veterans Affairs, and nearly 27,000 in the Department of Health and Human Services.

The Office of Management and Budget found, based on average data representing pay periods ending May 4 and May 18, around 1.1 million civilian workers employed in the two dozen agencies were eligible for telework.

The Department of Defense has a large workforce compared to the other agencies, but only about 8% were remote employees.

"Among the subset of federal workers that are telework-eligible, excluding remote workers, 61.2% of regular, working hours were spent in-person," the OMB report said. That figure for the Department of Agriculture was 81%, and around 80% for the Department of State.

When asked about potential relocation out of DC and return to office before the inauguration, Trump's transition team pointed to Trump's comments at a December 16 press conference that if people don't return to the office, "they're going to be dismissed."

On Monday, Trump also issued an executive order that put a freeze on federal hiring.

"As part of this freeze, no Federal civilian position that is vacant at noon on January 20, 2025, may be filled, and no new position may be created except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or other applicable law," the order read.

That executive order does not apply to military personnel, immigration enforcement positions, or positions involving national security or public safety.

• President Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency at the southern border.
• The president also signed an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship.
• Economists and researchers said Trump's deportation plans could have negative economic impacts.

President Donald Trump upon arriving at the White House on Monday signed executive orders declaring a national emergency at the US-Mexico border and designating cartel organizations as "foreign terrorist organizations," ramping up his focus on immigration in his second term.

"I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country," he said during his inaugural speech earlier in the day at the Capitol.

Later, at the White House, Trump signed an order instructing the Secretary of Defense to send him a plan within 10 days to task US Northern Command with securing the border. Trump's advisors have said they were not concerned about laws limiting US troops' involvement in domestic law enforcement.

"As Commander in Chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions and that is exactly what I am going to do," he continued. "We will do it at a level nobody has ever seen before.

Trump also signed an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship, a highly controversial move but one championed by many conservatives. Legal scholars have been clear that no president can unilaterally overrule the Constitution, meaning historic legal fights are almost guaranteed to follow.

The president also said he'd reinstate his Remain in Mexico policy and "end the practice of catch and release."

The Remain in Mexico policy — which was launched in 2019 during Trump's first term — mandates that migrants seeking asylum to remain in Mexico pending their immigration court date in the US.

Throughout his campaign, Trump argued that deportations could benefit the US economy. He has said that removing large numbers of people in the country illegally could open job opportunities for US-born workers and legal immigrants and could bring housing prices down.

Business Insider has spoken to over a dozen immigration researchers and policy analysts across the political spectrum. While some conservative-leaning researchers said reducing the number of people coming into the US and living in the country illegally, along with large-scale mass deportations, is necessary to protect American safety and could have long-term economic benefits, left- and center-leaning researchers said there may be economic shocks.

The US had an estimated 11.7 million immigrants living in the US illegally as of July 2023, per the most recent numbers from the Center for Migration Studies. As many as 8.3 million people in this demographic work, per CMS estimates.

Mass deportations could have significant economic consequences, some researchers told BI. The American Immigration Council estimated that a "one-time mass deportation operation" would directly cost the federal government $315 billion, accounting for detainments, arrests, legal processing, and removals.

Trump's promises for large-scale deportations

In interviews and speeches, Trump has stressed his belief that the US has had no choice but to carry out large-scale deportations. He also confirmed plans to use the military for deportation efforts in November, along with using a 1798 law allowing for the deportation of suspected gang and cartel members.

Before Inauguration Day, Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, told ABC News that the administration was reviewing plans for immigration raids in Chicago. Trump has threatened to crack down on illegal immigration in communities in Colorado and Ohio, whose high concentrations of immigrants have drawn national attention.

When asked about potential raids, Trump told reporters he did not want to discuss the specific timing of such operations.

Homan previously stressed that deportations would not involve sweeps of immigrant-heavy neighborhoods and would instead target immigrants with criminal records.

In private meetings, Homan told Republican lawmakers to tone down expectations for initial deportations due to limited resources. Homan told CNN he would need at least 100,000 beds to carry out detainment plans.

CNN also reported that Homan and lawmakers discussed a plan to target the 1.4 million people with final immigration orders of removal as part of a tiered approach to deportation. Concerns have risen about ICE's lack of space for a heightened number of detainees, as well as various legal challenges to its plans for deportations.

Other plans include working with local and state law enforcement agencies and reassigning law enforcement officials to ICE officers, The New York Times reported. The Trump team may also expand expedited removal, the process of removing noncitizens without a hearing and drafting limitations on birthright citizenship, such as ceasing to issue passports to children born in the US to immigrant parents who live in the US illegally.

Trump named Stephen Miller, the chief architect of Trump's first-term travel ban, as Homeland Security advisor and White House deputy chief of staff.

The border has calmed down recently. US Border Patrol calculated 47,330 migrant encounters along the southwest border in December, among the lowest since mid-2020 — and an over 80% reduction since December 2023.

During Trump's first term in office, the US deported about 1.5 million people. Between January 2021 and August 2024, when Biden held office, more than 1.4 million deportations were carried out.

Mass deportations could hurt American jobs

One of Trump's arguments about immigrants is that they steal jobs from native-born workers. Recent research shows that US-born employment increases with immigration, and deportations hurt native job numbers.

"US-born workers do not simply take all the jobs left behind by immigrants after they are deported," Chloe East, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies immigration policy, told BI. "This is because these jobs are lower-paid, more dangerous, and otherwise less desirable than the jobs more often taken by US-born workers."

The US has already seen examples of this in its recent history. Around 400,000 people were deported between 2008 and 2014 through a program called Secure Communities. Research published in October showed industries experienced heightened worker shortages as a result.

This also included the construction workforce, which employs among the highest numbers of workers living in the US illegally.

"The labor market is already tense and tight, and construction is one of those industries that doesn't have enough workers," Jennie Murray, president and CEO of the immigrant advocacy nonprofit group National Immigration Forum, told BI. She added that deportations could worsen housing shortages in the US.

Consumers may feel the effects of deportations at the grocery store, as a reduced agricultural workforce could mean less locally sourced food and higher prices. A Center for American Progress analysis from 2021 found that nearly 300,000 workers living in the US illegally were in agriculture and farming — around 13% of the 2.3 million workers in the agriculture sector that year.

The broader economy could be impacted

Immigrants living in the US illegally also contribute significantly to taxes and government programs. In 2022, they paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes, per the most recent data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. They paid $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes and $6.4 billion in Medicare taxes while being ineligible to receive benefits from those social insurance programs.

However, Republicans have argued that welfare programs and taxpayer-subsidized health insurance for immigrants have cost US residents billions, potentially partly offsetting these gains.

Some think tanks said the broader economy could suffer if millions of people are deported. The Peterson Institute for International Economics wrote in September that if 1.3 million people are deported, GDP could fall 1.2% below baseline by 2028.

• Donald Trump has been sworn in as president once again.
• He signed a slew of executive orders on Monday.
• They included establishing DOGE and declaring a "national energy emergency."

A political comeback is complete: President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were sworn into office in a ceremony beneath the Capitol Rotunda on Monday.

"The golden age of America begins right now," Trump said in his inaugural speech.

A host of dignitaries — including lawmakers, foreign leaders, and members of Trump's coming cabinet — were on hand. Tech leaders in attendance included Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

In a series of speeches throughout the day — his inauguration speech at the Rotunda, a more freewheeling speech in Emancipation Hall at the Capitol, and a third at Capital One Arena — Trump previewed a flurry of forthcoming actions, including declaring a national emergency at the southern border and establishing an "External Revenue Service."

At Capitol One Arena, he signed several executive orders, including one that rescinded 78 Biden-era executive orders and actions. Later on Monday, in the Oval Office, he signed several more, including pardons for January 6 rioters.

Here's what Trump has pledged to do on day one — and what he's actually done.

Energy and environment

Trump has signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accords, which he also did when he took office in 2017.

Increase fracking and oil drilling: Trump signed an executive order declaring a "national energy emergency" and another designed to ease permitting processes.

Trump's Interior Department will have the power to offer new leases for drilling and natural-gas extraction on federal lands. A last-minute Biden administration ban on deep offshore drilling is set to complicate those actions. While the White House can speed up approval and auction off more leases, it's ultimately up to the energy industry to expand production. Trump also wants to revive canceled projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline that companies have since dropped.

Government restructuring

Remove civil-service protections for federal workers: Trump has said he'll return to his sweeping first-term policy that would have made it easier to fire tens of thousands of federal workers.

On Monday, he signed an executive order instituting a temporary hiring freeze, saying it was "to ensure that we're only hiring competent people who are faithful to the American public." The order says the hiring freeze doesn't apply to the military or "to positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety."

Trump also signed a separate order requiring federal employees to return to in-person work immediately.

Create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE): Trump signed an executive order establishing DOGE in the Oval Office on Monday, saying Elon Musk would be "getting an office for about 20 people" in the executive branch.

The order says DOGE will implement the president's push for government efficiency "by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity."

As part of the order, the US Digital Service is set to be renamed to the US DOGE Service. The US Digital Service was created by then-President Barack Obama in 2014 and provided IT consulting services to federal agencies.

Trump's order also includes the formation of DOGE teams at each federal agency. The order says each team will have at least four members, which could consist of a team lead, an engineer, a human-resources specialist, and an attorney.

Shortly after noon on Monday, several organizations filed lawsuits in a bid to get DOGE to comply with a 1972 law. In the meantime, congressional Republicans eagerly welcomed Musk's efforts and have set up ways to coordinate with DOGE.

Trade

Trump didn't impose any tariffs on Monday, saying his planned tariffs on Canada and Mexico would be imposed in February. He didn't specify a date for his planned tariffs on China, saying he was "going to have meetings and calls" with the country's leader, Xi Jinping.

Trump said on Monday that he was considering imposing a universal tariff on all goods entering the US. He added that while the US was "not ready" for a universal tariff, it could be implemented rapidly.

"You put a universal tariff on anybody doing business in the United States, because they're coming in and they're stealing our wealth," Trump said.

Twenty-five percent tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian goods: Just before Thanksgiving, Trump said he'd levy significant tariffs on the US neighbors because of illegal immigration.

Thanks to Congress, presidents can impose tariffs without legislative action. In his first term, Trump used a law that allows the president to impose them because of national security emergencies. President Joe Biden even expanded some of those duties.

A 60% tariff on all Chinese goods: On the campaign trail, Trump discussed raising tariffs to as high as 60% on all Chinese goods. He's also mused about other wide-ranging tariffs.

Trump has long complained that the US trade deficit with China is too large. The influx of deadly fentanyl, of which the Drug Enforcement Administration has said China is a major source, has only exacerbated those tensions.

The creation of an external revenue service: In his inaugural speech, Trump said he'd establish a new agency to collect tariffs and other foreign fees. "It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury coming from foreign sources," Trump said.

It's unclear exactly how this service will be set up. Customs and Border Protection is already responsible for collecting customs, and only Congress could set up a new agency.

Effectively pulling the US out of the global tax deal: On Monday, Trump signed an executive order declaring that the "Global Tax Deal has no force or effect in the United States."

This move withdraws US support for the international tax agreement, which aims to establish a 15% global corporate minimum tax. Congress never passed measures to comply with the deal, leaving participating countries able to impose top-up levies on some US multinationals.

The order also calls on officials to look into "options for protection from extraterritorial tax measures."

Crackdown on illegal immigration

Trump signed several executive orders related to immigration on Monday, including declaring a "national emergency" at the southern border.

He also signed an executive order that aims to revoke birthright citizenship, setting up a legal challenge over the meaning of the 14th Amendment.

Trump and his allies have argued that the amendment shouldn't be interpreted to apply to the children of people living in the country illegally. Multiple groups have said they'd challenge any such executive action in court.

He also signed an executive order designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

Trump said numerous times during the campaign that starting on his first day, he'd take action to begin "the largest deportation operation" in the nation's history.

In his inaugural speech, he said he'd "begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came."

Later, in the Oval Office, Trump said Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids would start soon, though he didn't specify a time.

Crime and justice

Pardons for January 6 rioters: Trump signed an executive order pardoning roughly 1,500 people who were involved in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

The order Trump signed also commuted the sentences of 14 other individuals, who included members of far-right extremist groups such as the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.

Culture war

Trump said in his inaugural address that it would "henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female."

The president signed an executive order in the Oval Office that an aide described as "protecting women from radical gender ideologies," which included preventing federal funds from being used to "promote gender ideology" and changes in federal policy to rigidly define terms such as "sex," "man," and "woman" as binary phrases.

Trump also took broad aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and pro-LGTBQ+ policies put in place by the Biden administration. In another order, he ended all federal DEI initiatives and terminated all DEI-related and "environmental justice" offices and positions, such as "chief diversity officer" positions, and all "equity" actions, initiatives, or programs and "equity-related" grants or contracts.

Another executive order renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, a change that Senate Democrats earlier this month indicated they'd be willing to support if the president worked with them on an economic plan to reduce the cost of living for average Americans.

TikTok ban

Trump signed an executive order halting the ban on TikTok for 75 days. While signing the order, Trump told reporters that TikTok could be worth $1 trillion and that the US should own half of it.

According to the divest-or-ban law passed by the Senate in April, TikTok had to cease its US operations on January 19 unless its China-based owner, ByteDance, divested itself from its US holdings.

Correction: January 20, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated Jeff Bezos' current position at Amazon. He is the founder and executive chairman, not the CEO.

• Steve Bannon told ABC News that Trump "broke" the tech giants who've embraced him.
• "He broke them, and they surrendered," the ex-Trump White House aide said on Sunday.
• Bannon has expressed skepticism toward Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Ex-Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said Sunday during an ABC News interview that the attendance of high-profile tech moguls at Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday signals their "official surrender" to the president-elect.

Bannon, while speaking with journalist Jonathan Karl on "This Week," said he wasn't surprised by the expected appearances of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Trump's inaugural.

"As soon as Zuckerberg said, 'I've been invited. I'm going,' the floodgates opened up, and they were all there knocking, trying to be supplicants," Bannon told Karl. "I think most people in our movement look at this as President Trump broke the oligarchs; he broke them, and they surrendered."

Bannon then pointed to President Joe Biden's farewell speech last week, when the departing president warned that "an oligarchy is taking shape in America," expressing his view that extreme wealth and influence threatened the nation.

"When Biden talks about that… they only became oligarchs when they flipped on him when they surrendered, and they're going to come to Trump's thing," Bannon said.

The former Trump aide then compared the attendance of the tech titans to Japan officially surrendering on the USS Missouri in September 1945, an event which marked the end of World War II.

"He's like Gen. Douglas MacArthur," Bannon said of the president-elect. "That is an official surrender, and I think it's powerful."

Bezos and Zuckerberg are set to be guests at Trump's inauguration, and Musk — a political ally of Trump who has become a fixture of the president-elect's political orbit — will also be in attendance.

Amazon and Meta each donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund. Other companies have also donated money as many business leaders seek to establish or strengthen ties with Trump ahead of his second term.

Bannon, during the ABC interview, however expressed skepticism of their recent warmness toward Trump.

"Zuckerberg's, you know, road to Damascus came a little late. It was after the Fifth of November," Bannon told Karl. "It's very, you know, now wants to be a bro. … That doesn't hack it with me."

"That guy will flip on President Trump, and he'll flip on us in a second when it's convenient for him," he added.

Earlier in January, Bannon called Musk a "truly evil guy" after the tech mogul stood behind his support of H-1B visas. Many conservatives have argued against the visas, insistent that the skilled-worker program is detrimental to American workers.

"I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day," Bannon said at the time.

Business Insider reached out to Amazon and Meta for comment.

• President-elect Trump said he'll sign an executive order on Monday delaying the TikTok ban.
• The social media app went dark on Saturday just before a federal ban took effect. It is now being restored.
• Trump once sought to ban TikTok in the US. But over the past year, he has embraced the app.

President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday said he plans to issue an executive order after his inauguration on Monday to delay enforcement of the TikTok ban.

Trump, who's just a day away from being sworn into office for his second term, made the statement on his Truth Social platform hours after the hugely popular social media app went dark.

The president-elect said his executive order would "extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect" and added that "there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark" prior to the order.

Trump didn't specify the length of time he'd give ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, to find a non-Chinese buyer, but he said he'd like the United States to "have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture."

"Without U.S. approval, there is no TikTok," the president-elect wrote. "With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions."

It wasn't immediately clear if Trump meant the US government or just a US entity.

Shortly after Trump's remarks on Truth Social, TikTok, in a statement to Business Insider, said it was "in the process of restoring service" to its users in the United States.

"We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive," TikTok said.

TikTok's stoppage came after ByteDance spent months challenging a law that required the company to divest from its US app or effectively be cut off from operating in the country.

Last year, the TikTok ban was easily passed in both the House and the Senate in bipartisan votes, with many lawmakers expressing national security concerns about ByteDance.

Biden signed the TikTok ban bill into law in April 2024.

After TikTok on Saturday said it would "go dark" in the US unless Biden intervened, the administration called the statement a "stunt."

"It is a stunt, and we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told Reuters.

Trump during his first term unsuccessfully sought to ban TikTok in the United States, but has since shied away from that position. During the 2024 presidential campaign, he said young people would "go crazy without it." Trump himself joined TikTok in advance of the 2024 race.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a Trump ally, said on X on Sunday that he's long been opposed to a TikTok ban, arguing that it infringed on "freedom of speech."

"That said, 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," Musk wrote.

• TikTok went dark for 170 million US users on Saturday.
• Users took to other corners of the internet to react to the shutdown.
• Internet personality James Charles, who boasted over 40 million followers, called the move "dystopian."

Celebrities, influencers, and business leaders reacted to the shutdown of TikTok in the US after it went dark on Saturday.

The likes of Elon Musk, Mark Cuban, James Charles, and Alix Earle took to other corners of the internet to react to the loss of the hit video-sharing app after it went dark for 170 million US users on Saturday.

Singer Lizzo, who has over 25 million followers on TikTok, headed to Instagram to react to the news.

"In Loving Memory, Takesha 'TikTok' Woods," the post reads.

"They really took her… MY SHAYLA," Lizzo added in the caption, referencing a recent trend on the app.

Internet personality James Charles, who boasted over 40 million followers on TikTok, also posted his reaction to the shutdown on Instagram.

In one video, Charles said: "I can't believe I'm making an Instagram Reel right now because normally when something happens in the world, I go to TikTok."

"I don't know what to do! Oh my god, I've already opened and closed the app probably six times already just to keep getting the same stupid warning message. This is so dystopian!" Charles added in a follow-up video.

Another Instagram émigré was Alix Earle, an influencer who rose to fame on the app in 2022 and who had more than 7 million followers.

Earle posted a video of herself tearfully clutching a glass of wine in bed. "How I'm going to sleep tonight," she wrote over the video. "Thank god for this wine rn."

Key figures from the business world have also weighed in on the situation.

Elon Musk said that he had long been against a ban on TikTok as it "goes against freedom of speech."

"That said, the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but X is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced," he said in a post on X. "Something needs to change."

TikTok's shutdown came after a monthslong legal battle over a ban-or-divest law passed by Congress last year.

TikTok had challenged the law, arguing that it violated the First Amendment rights of TikTok and its creators. But the Supreme Court ruled against the company.

Posting on Bluesky, Mark Cuban said it would be interesting to see how many users moved to the platform from TikTok.

The social media app has seen a surge in users since President-elect Donald Trump was elected in November. In December, the company said it had grown from 3 million users to 25.9 million.

It is currently in the final stages of raising new funding led by Bain Capital Ventures, which would value the company at around $700 million, as Business Insider previously reported.

Prior to the shutdown, Cuban said he hoped TikTok would be "disabled tonight at midnight and all day tomorrow and Monday."

"Which means the biggest story on Monday will be… And the reaction from the newly installed President will be…" he wrote.

Cuban has said he previously tried to invest in TikTok's precursor, Musical.ly, but that the company turned him down.

In an interview with Jules Terpak in December, Cuban said the platform was more enjoyable under its former name and that it had become "more corporate" since it's been known as TikTok.

"I liked it better when it was dances and music," Cuban said. "Now it's a business."

The cast of "Saturday Night Live" also tackled the TikTok shutdown in last night's episode.

During the Weekend Update segment, comedians Michael Longfellow and Michael Che addressed the situation while poking fun at criticism the app has faced in the past.

"I feel it is my responsibility to come out here and defend TikTok's right to remain here in these United States," Longfellow said, posing as a typical app user. "It's the first political opinion I've ever had."

TikTok is banking on Trump

At around 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time Saturday, a message began popping up on users' screens: "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now."

In the message, TikTok also indicated that it was now relying on Trump to save the app.

"We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!" it said.

Trump on Sunday announced that he'd sign an executive order to postpone the ban in order to "make a deal to protect our national security."

Shortly after the president-elect's remarks, TikTok said in a statement to Business Insider it was "in the process of restoring service" to its US users.

"We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive," TikTok said.

It's a major pivot for Trump.

In 2020, Trump unsuccessfully sought to ban TikTok. However, during the 2024 presidential election, he embraced the social media app, which gave his campaign immense reach during a campaign where he was competing with Vice President Kamala Harris for the support of younger Americans.

• As Donald Trump returns to the White House, loyalty will be a key aspect of his second term.
• Unlike 2017, Trump is no longer a political outsider adjusting to Washington for the first time.
• On Inauguration Day, Trump will be sworn in with a firm grip on the Republican Party.

When President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in for a second term on January 20, a lot will have changed since his 2017 inauguration, when he came into office as a political outsider who still elicited skepticism from many in Washington's Republican political class.

"They just weren't expecting to win," Peter Loge, an associate professor and the director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, told Business Insider about Trump's victory in 2016. "This time, there's an entire infrastructure. He has plans. There's Project 2025. He's much more like a traditional candidate who's ready to start governing on Day One."

Here's a look at how Trump and the country have entered a whole new era as the start of the president-elect's second term approaches:

Trump has raked in post-election cash

From Meta and Amazon to Ford and GM, a wide range of businesses and CEOs have contributed to Trump's inaugural fund.

In 2017, Trump raised $107 million for his inaugural committee, a staggering sum at the time. Just four years earlier, then-President Barack Obama's inaugural committee raised roughly $43 million.

Trump has so far raised at least $170 million for his second inaugural, according to The Associated Press. A full accounting of his inaugural funds isn't due until after he takes office.

Trump's business and tech support has grown

Ahead of Trump's first term, there was optimism among many in the business community over what they saw as his pro-growth agenda.

Trump's $1.5 trillion tax bill, which cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, was applauded by leaders who had been vocal about the need for American businesses to remain competitive in a global marketplace.

However, Trump's relationships with many of these leaders fizzled after the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., where white nationalist groups unleashed a wave of violence. And many top leaders steered clear of Trump in the immediate aftermath of the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, where legions of pro-Trump supporters stormed the complex in an effort to stop the certification of President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.

After Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in November, though, many business and tech leaders actively began to renew or establish relationships with the incoming commander-in-chief.

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, was ahead of the curve. He spent lavishly to help elect Trump and other GOP candidates last year, and Musk is now seemingly never too far away from the president-elect during major public appearances.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple chief executive Tim Cook, and Musk will be guests at Trump's inaugural, according to NBC News and Bloomberg.

Loge told BI that many businesses have decided that it's "better to be on the Trump train than under it," pointing to the president-elect's penchant for dismissing the traditional workings of Washington and the desire for business leaders to have access to power.

"As a result, a lot of businesses are lining up behind Trump pretty rapidly," he said.

A Cabinet evolution

During Trump's first term, several high-profile members of his Cabinet, like onetime Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, had turbulent tenures and were fired by the president.

This time around, Trump is leaning heavily on loyalists and longtime supporters in selecting his second-term Cabinet picks and other high-level appointees.

Many of the names stand out. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York has been tapped to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations, pending Senate confirmation. Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth underwent a tough confirmation hearing but is likely to win enough GOP votes to secure the post. And ex-presidential candidate and Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who backed Trump's campaign after ending his own candidacy — has emerged as a popular figure in Trumpworld over his stances on food and vaccine policies.

The million dollar question of Trump's second term is whether or not picking loyalists for his Cabinet will give him the sort of stability that he lacked in his first administration.

A less shocking win compared to 2016

Many Americans, who saw the multitude of national polls showing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ahead of Trump in 2016, were genuinely surprised when he won that November.

Dan Schnur, who teaches political communication at the University of Southern California and the University of California-Berkeley, told BI that Trump's first election "caused much more disruption" than it did in November 2024.

"The idea of Trump beating Clinton was inconceivable to most of the political universe," Schnur said.

After Trump's tumultuous first term and his lonely exit from Washington after losing to Biden in 2020, a large segment of the public saw the president-elect's political career as finished.

Still, Trump retained his hold over the GOP base, which powered his dominant caucus and primary wins last year. This was the case despite his myriad legal problems, which threatened his general election campaign.

Even as Harris' presidential candidacy spiked enthusiasm among Democrats after Biden stepped aside as the party's nominee, Trump still retained an advantage on the economy — which was a top issue for voters last November.

So when Trump won, it wasn't a shock to many. And the results showed that Trump broadened his appeal, as he won every major swing state and even secured a plurality of the national popular vote.

Congress will be more obedient

Trump is entering his second term with perhaps his strongest influence over Republicans to date. Lawmakers who may have been reluctant to align themselves with Trump in the past have largely put old feelings aside, embracing the fact that Republicans will now control the levers of power in Washington.

Republicans who defy the party on critical votes are more likely to be met with swift repercussions this time around, mostly in the form of primary challenges and pressure campaigns on social media platforms like X.

Trump is also going to be reliant on GOP leaders in Congress — namely House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota — to get his ambitious immigration and tax legislation passed.

However, while Republicans will enjoy a 53-47 edge in the Senate, they currently have a razor-thin 219-215 House majority, which is set to shrink even further following the expected departures of two members for roles in the Trump administration.

The wind is at Trump's back

In 2017, Trump was still a political novice and leaned on the legislative relationships that then-Vice President Mike Pence had amassed during his years on Capitol Hill.

"Back then, he tended to rely on establishment figures whom he felt would give him the necessary credibility in Washington," Schnur told BI. "But he learned over the course of those four years that many of those figures weren't nearly as loyal to him as he had expected."

"This time, he's put much more of a premium on personal relationships and loyalty. He's much more confident that the team around him is motivated toward the same goals as he is," Schnur added.

Trump now has a unified Congress, and he won a second term on the strength of his prior economic record, giving him a level of public support that he lacked early on in his first term.

Once he's is back in office, it'll clearly be a new day in Washington.

• The forthcoming DOGE commission has been the talk of Washington in recent months.
• Just miles away, Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland is pushing his own government efficiency plans.
• Moore wants to save the state $50 million by weeding out waste.

President-elect Donald Trump's planned Department of Government Efficiency has been the talk of Washington, especially since Tesla CEO Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy will co-lead the effort.

A perhaps less talked about but also significant government efficiency effort, however, is also taking shape not far from Capitol Hill.

Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland announced this month his state would launch an initiative to weed out waste. His goal: Find $50 million in savings for the current fiscal year.

Maryland faces a $3 billion budget gap. So Moore is proposing $2 billion in spending reductions to his $67.3 billion budget plan. An executive order that Moore signed earlier this month directs state agencies to identify cost savings and eliminate redundancies.

Moore told Business Insider in a recent interview that while he didn't know DOGE's full slate of proposals, he thinks they "should probably take a look" at what his administration is doing to boost government efficiency in Maryland.

"We're looking at everything from fleet management to how we're looking at IT consolidation to how we're looking at real estate," he said. "These items alone are going to save the state of Maryland tens of millions of dollars."

"DOGE should pay attention to what we're doing with our government modernization," he added.

Moore is a first-term Democrat leading one of the country's bluest strongholds, while the DOGE is a national GOP-led effort. When asked if more Democrats should embrace government efficiency efforts, Moore said voters are looking for results.

"If people are asking, 'Where's the future, and what should I look to for inspiration?' I would say, 'look at the states,'" he said. "The budget that I just proposed is giving a tax cut to nearly two-thirds of Marylanders — and 82% of the people in my state are either about to get a tax cut or have no change at all in their tax code."

Moore told BI his plan would cut corporate taxes and eliminate the inheritance tax. The plan would also create a 6.25% tax rate for single filers making at least $500,000 and a 6.5% tax rate for state residents who earn $1 million or more. Under the current tax code, single filers in Maryland who make over $250,000 have an income tax rate of 5.75%.

Similar to the optimism of DOGE's leaders, Moore believes his state's efforts can serve as a model for forthcoming efficiency efforts.

"We're doing a lot of things that people are paying attention to… and a lot of innovation that we're hoping for is actually happening within our state," he said. "I'm really proud that Maryland is helping to lead the charge on that."

• With Trump's inauguration fast approaching, more details about DOGE have emerged.
• Musk, who Trump tapped to co-lead DOGE, may become a "special government employee."
• SGEs have less stringent ethics rules — to a degree — compared to regular federal employees.

With President-elect Donald Trump set to take office next week, a key detail has emerged regarding the Department of Government Efficiency, the forthcoming commission that Tesla CEO Elon Musk will co-lead alongside businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.

Some DOGE staffers who are expected to work unpaid for six months before returning to their more lucrative jobs would be classified as "special government employees," and Musk could be among them, The New York Times reported.

A special government employee is an individual who can be paid or unpaid and is categorized as a temporary worker. The federal government can employ that individual for no more than 130 days amid a consecutive 365-day span.

The designation is significant because special government employees — who are generally brought in to offer outside expertise to the federal government — are subject to more limited conflict of interest rules compared to regular federal employees.

When Trump tapped Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, to co-lead DOGE, government watchdogs, and some Democratic politicians questioned how he could handle such a role given potential conflicts of interest involving SpaceX, Tesla, and X.

Musk's omnipresence within Trump's political orbit in recent months has only reinforced those concerns. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent a letter to Trump's transition team asking if the tech executive would adhere to conflict-of-interest rules in his forthcoming role.

"Putting Mr. Musk in a position to influence billions of dollars of government contracts and regulatory enforcement without a stringent conflict of interest agreement in place is an invitation for corruption on a scale not seen in our lifetimes," Warren wrote at the time.

"Currently, the American public has no way of knowing whether the advice that he is whispering to you in secret is good for the country — or merely good for his own bottom line," she added.

Musk in 2024 spent over $250 million to help send Trump back to the White House and aid other GOP candidates in their respective races.

Business Insider reached out to Trump's transition team for comment.

• Gov. Newsom has expressed concern that Trump would withhold disaster aid.
• "He's tried to do it in the past," Newsom said during a recent taping of "Pod Save America."
• Los Angeles is fighting multiple devastating wildfires.

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said President-elect Donald Trump may seek to withhold federal disaster aid to California as multiple wildfires rage in and around Los Angeles.

"He's been pretty straightforward about that," Newsom said on the "Pod Save America" podcast, which was posted Saturday morning. "He's tried to do it in the past. He's not just done it here in California."

"He's done it in states all across the country," Newsom continued. "In 2018, even before I was governor of California, he tried to withhold money down in Orange County until apparently a staff member —and this has been well reported — said there were a lot of Trump supporters. And, then, he decided to change his mind."

Former Trump White House official Mark Harvey told Politico last year that Trump initially declined to authorize disaster aid for California because it leans Democrat but reversed his position after learning that the affected area was in Orange County, which for generations had been a GOP stronghold.

"We went as far as looking up how many votes he got in those impacted areas … to show him these are people who voted for you," Harvey told the outlet ahead of the November 2024 election.

JPMorgan analysts said the blazes tearing through the Los Angeles region could lead to over $20 billion in insured losses — and about $50 billion in total economic losses. That would make these conflagrations "significantly more severe" than the Camp Fires that struck the state in 2018 and racked up $10 billion in insured losses, the current record.

During the podcast on Saturday, Newsom also called out Trump for spreading what he called "indelible misinformation." Trump has blamed the governor's water policies for the devastating fires.

"What the president-elect was saying about State Water Project and the Delta smelt somehow being culpable of somehow leading to some of the challenges that we face down here…it's delusional," he said.

Emergency workers fighting the LA fires have reported fire hydrants running dry after unprecedented demand on the water system. Newsom on Friday ordered a probe into the source of the water supply issues.

"I am calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir," he wrote in a post on X. "We need answers to ensure this does not happen again and we have every resource available to fight these catastrophic fires."

More than 150,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate their homes and over 38,000 acres have so far burned in the fires. The death toll has risen to 11 as of Saturday, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that the federal government would cover 100% of the cost of disaster aid for 180 days.

Trump, meanwhile, has been relentless in his criticism of both Newsom and Biden.

"The fires in Los Angeles may go down, in dollar amount, as the worst in the History of our Country," he said in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. "Let this serve, and be emblematic, of the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum Duo."

In a statement to Business Insider, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said Newsom "should be doing his fucking job and actually help people who continue to suffer under his terrible leadership."

• Donald Trump and Dana White have enjoyed a decadeslong friendship predating presidential politics.
• In each of Trump's three presidential campaigns, White lined up behind the president-elect.
• During the 2024 race, the mixed martial arts leader also appeared on Trump's first TikTok video.

Donald Trump might be the only person who can attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight and outshine the headliners — even UFC CEO Dana White doesn't draw the same type of reaction.

In November, Trump set the crowd off by walking into UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden to join his entourage, which included Elon Musk, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Trump's cabinet nominees.

White stands at the center of it all. In just under three decades, White has turned his sport, once on the fringe of pop culture, into a spectacle that even a president-elect couldn't resist.

Trump and White's decades-long friendship has been mutually beneficial. White has repeatedly said he will never forget how Trump offered a grand stage to his sport when few others would. Trump successfully deployed White's cohort of podcasters and influencers, led by Joe Rogan, in his 2024 election win.

"Nobody deserves this more than him, and nobody deserves this more than his family does," White told the energetic crowd at Mar-a-Lago as it was apparent that Trump had been elected to a second term. "This is what happens when the machine comes after you."

Here's a look at the decadeslong relationship between Trump and White over the years:

Donald Trump gave a big early boost to UFC

In 1990, Trump opened Trump Taj Mahal, a billion-dollar prized jewel in Atlantic City, that businessman billed as the 8th Wonder of the World. At its peak, it was the biggest casino in town.

Trump needed big acts to fill the casino's arena, which Elton John had christened. In 2001, Trump took a chance on the UFC, which was still trying to escape its brutalist stigma. The sport that then-Sen. John McCain, famously called "human cockfighting" in the 1990s, couldn't even put on an event in Las Vegas.

Trump's UFC event came at a pivotal moment

Shut out of Nevada, UFC staged its fights in a series of smaller venues around the country and the world. White considered the invitation to the Taj Mahal a sign of legitimacy.

"Nobody took us seriously," White has repeatedly said. "Except Donald Trump."

Trump's backing came during a crucial time in the company's history. In January 2001, a month before the Trump-hosted fight, casino moguls Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta purchased UFC. They picked White, Lorenzo's friend and a manager for two of mixed martial arts' biggest fighters, as the president.

Under White's leadership, UFC's popularity skyrocketed

By September 2001, UFC was in Vegas. Four years later, White led UFC onto the airwaves on SpikeTV, cashing in the popularity of reality TV competitions with "The Ultimate Fighter."

It helped that in 2004, Trump welcomed Tito Ortiz, one of the sport's biggest stars, onto the first season of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice," the glitzier spin-off to Trump's smash reality TV hit.

The Ultimate Fighter was a big success, increasing the company's popularity.

White locked in UFC's voice

If White is the face of UFC, Rogan is undoubtedly its voice. His association with the company even predates White's time as president. After the Fertitta brothers purchased UFC in 2001, White offered Rogan a full-time gig as a color commentator. Rogan has said it's in his contract that he'll leave the UFC if White ever exits, too.

Rogan's profile grew alongside the UFC, considering his association with mixed martial arts was part of why he became the host of NBC's "Fear Factor."

The comedian cashed in on his bigger profile in 2009, starting what was then a weekly commentary show. By the time Trump first ran for president in 2016, "The Joe Rogan Experience" was one of the most popular podcasts in the world.

Business didn't get in the way of Trump and White's friendship.

While he's known for real-estate, Trump has sought out many other partnerships and business ventures to varying degrees of success. In 2008, Trump partnered with Affliction, a clothing brand, to launch a competitor in the mixed-martial arts space. Their promotion even landed Russian fighter Fedor Emelianenko, whom White and the UFC had previously sought to sign.

The venture lasted only two fights. According to The New York Times, White sometimes criticized his friend, pointing out his inexperience in operating such a company, "Donald Trump owns casinos."

White and Trump remained close. The UFC head even vowed that he would never fully go after Trump, a nod to the real estate mogul's early support.

White was once far from a conservative firebrand

In 2010, White campaigned with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada as he sought to hang onto his seat amid a difficult year for Democrats. Reid won, and Democrats held onto a slimmer US Senate majority.

According to The Times, White's politics mirrored Trump's in that both businessmen viewed the enterprise through a transactional lens. Trump faced criticism in the 2016 GOP primaries for previously supporting leading Democrats like Hillary Clinton.

White spoke as if he was a stranger at the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Few major establishment Republicans spoke at Trump's 2016 convention. Enter White, one of a handful of longtime Trump friends who extolled the virtues of the man who would soon become the Republican Party's presidential nominee.

White even alluded to the fact that his attendance might appear odd.

"My name is Dana White. I am the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. I'm sure most you are wondering, 'What are you doing here?'" White told the crowd in Cleveland. "I am not a politician. I am a fight promoter, but I was blown away and honored to be invited here tonight, and I wanted to show up and tell you about my friend, Donald Trump — the Donald Trump that I know."

White returned to the trail again in 2020.

Ahead of Trump's reelection bid, White said Trump's time in the White House only deepened their relationship.

"We've actually become even closer since he's become the President of the United States," White said during a 2020 campaign rally. "When somebody becomes the President of the United States, you don't ever expect to hear from them again. And I understand it. It absolutely makes sense. This guy is so loyal and such a good friend."

The COVID-19 pandemic made White a conservative star

The COVID-19 pandemic devastated the live event business. Sports, including the UFC, were no exception. White saw an opening as the four major professional leagues struggled through discussions on how to return.

White tried to get the UFC to return with an event on tribal land in California, but that effort was postponed amid Disney and ESPN's uneasiness. In turning to Gov. Ron DeSantis' Florida, White found a much more receptive audience — even if the first fight didn't allow any fans. UFC 249 in May was the first major sporting event since the pandemic's beginning.

Trump delivered a video message congratulating White on the event.

"Get the sports leagues back, let's play," Trump said in a video recorded outside of the Oval Office. "Do the social distancing, and whatever you have to do, but we need sports. We want our sports back."

Out of power, Trump found refuge at the UFC

After leaving the White House, Donald Trump wasn't welcomed in many places. Following the January 6 Capitol riot, the two biggest professional golf governing bodies rebuked him. The Professional Golf Association even stripped one Trump-owned course of the right to host one of the PGA's major four tournaments.

In July 2021, the Manhattan District Attorney indicted the Trump Organization, setting off an array of legal headaches that didn't abate until after the 2024 election. A week later, Trump entered to mostly cheers in Las Vegas as he prepared to take in UFC 264.

Trump made the UFC central to his 2024 bid

Trump officially launched on TikTok at UFC 302 in June 2024. The fighting promotion's audience was also the perfect place for the former president's campaign, given his advisors' emphasis on attracting young men.

White's broader orbit suddenly intertwined with the former president's comeback campaign. Trump, and later his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, made a point of appearing on podcasts geared toward this demographic. The Nelk Boys, Theo Von, Adin Ross, and "Bussin' with the Boys" all shared close ties to White. Trump appeared on each of their respective shows.

@realdonaldtrump

Launching my TikTok at @UFC 302.

♬ original sound - President Donald J Trump

White spoke at Trump's pre-election rally at Madison Square Garden.

White energized the crowd at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally just days before the election, where he said that Vice President Kamala Harris wouldn't bring "change" to the country.

And he emphatically praised Trump in advance of an election that was seemingly tied in most of the swing states.

"He is the most resilient, hardest-working human being that I've ever met in my entire life," White said during his remarks.

Celebrating his win, Trump turned the mic over to White

Dana White just thanked

Adin Ross, Theo Von, Nelkboys and Joe Rogan for the Trump victory #Election2024 pic.twitter.com/GYye6c9onc

— FADE (@FadeAwayMedia) November 6, 2024

As Trump spoke to an adoring crowd at Mar-a-Lago and to the nation, he invited White to make remarks, and the UFC president wasted no time singing the praises of the president-elect.

"He keeps going forward — he doesn't quit," White bluntly said. "He deserves this. They deserve it as a family."

White also name-checked podcast hosts that had welcomed Trump into the so-called "Manosphere."

A former UFC spokesperson will have a key role in Trump's White House

One of Trump's key White House aides also has ties to UFC. Steven Cheung, who will be the White House communications director, was a spokesperson for UFC before he left to join Trump's 2016 campaign.

Cheung's brash statements, particularly those bashing DeSantis during the 2024 primary season, received considerable attention and drew comparisons to how closely they mirrored Trump's own rhetoric.

Just before Trump took office, Meta tapped White for a new role.

Trump may have helped out White again. In January 2024, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the UFC executive would join the technology company's board. Zuckerberg's move was widely seen as a play to curry favor with Trump and his orbit.

White might be done in the political arena

White wasn't very political before he campaigned for Trump. He has said that his outspokenness may be an exception only reserved for his friend.

"I'm never fucking doing this again," White recently told The New Yorker. "I want nothing to do with this shit. It's gross. It's disgusting. I want nothing to do with politics."

• Wildfires are burning across Los Angeles County.
• Hundreds of thousands of people are under evacuation orders or warnings.
• Insured losses could top $20 billion, JPMorgan analysts estimated — the most-ever in California.

The Los Angeles area is battling a series of massive wildfires that continue to rip through its picturesque mountains and hillsides — creating a hellscape of burned-out neighborhoods and upended livelihoods that could ultimately be the most costly fire disaster in California history.

Authorities on Friday night expanded the evacuation zone related to the largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, east toward Santa Monica, less than 1.5 miles from the iconic Santa Monica Pier. The zone now encompasses the famous Getty Center, home of the Getty Museum.

Officials have now ordered over 153,000 residents to evacuate and warned another 166,000 to be ready to leave if the fires continue to spread. About 38,000 acres have burned. Officials have reported 13 deaths related to the fire as of Saturday.

At a press conference on Friday evening, officials managing the Eaton fire, which now spans over 14,000 acres and is one of the largest and deadliest, said they did not expect the blaze to spread significantly over the weekend due to more moderate wind conditions. However, officials said they are anticipating another high-wind event early next week. It was strong Santa Ana gusts of up to 90 miles per hour that first whipped the fires into a frenzy earlier this week.

JPMorgan analysts said the blazes tearing through the region could lead to over $20 billion in insured losses — and about $50 billion in total economic losses. That would make these conflagrations "significantly more severe" than the Camp Fires that struck the state in 2018 and racked up $10 billion in insured losses, the current record.

Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman described the scene in LA as apocalyptic, as thick bands of smoke surrounded the city. Los Angeles County is home to about 10 million people.

"Not since the 1990s, when Los Angeles was hit with the fires, the flood, the earthquake, and the riots, have I seen such disaster occur here in our city," Hochman said at a briefing, referring to the Northridge Earthquake and the disturbances in the wake of the Rodney King verdict.

Erroneous emergency alerts telling residents to evacuate areas unaffected by the fires further heightened panic in the region. Kevin McGowan, the director of the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management, apologized for the messages at Friday's conference.

"There is an extreme amount of frustration, anger, fear, with regards to the erroneous messages that have been being sent out through the wireless emergency alert system. I can't express enough how sorry I am for this experience," he said.

He reassured residents that resolving the issue is his "top priority" and that he has technical specialists working to identify the root cause. "I implore everyone to not disable the messages on your phone," he said.

Late Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration warned civilians against flying unauthorized drones in areas undergoing firefighting efforts, after a firefighting plane sustained wing damage from a civilian drone and had to be grounded.

Satellite images of the LA fires showed the destruction left in their wake.

Starlink, Elon Musk's SpaceX subsidiary that provides satellite internet service, said Thursday that people in the Los Angeles area can use the company's network to text loved ones, contact 911, and receive emergency alerts.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday announced that he's doubling the number of California National Guard personnel on the ground to 1,680 members.

"The men and women of the California National Guard are working day and night to help Los Angeles residents during their greatest time of need," he said in a statement.

Here's a look at the latest happenings in the main fires spreading throughout the area:

Palisades Fire

The Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades area north of Santa Monica was the first fire to strike the region on Tuesday morning. It has spread to over 21,500 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Around 11% of the fire is contained, it says.

Five people have died in the Palisades fire, according to the medical examiner's office.

Los Angeles City's Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said at a press briefing earlier this week that the Palisades Fire had damaged or destroyed over 5,300 structures.

Crowley would not confirm reports that the fire started in a resident's garden, saying the origin is still under investigation.

Some celebrities have lost homes in the blaze, including Paris Hilton and Billy Crystal.

On Thursday, a drone hit the wing of one of two Super Scooper planes fighting the wildfires, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said at a Friday press conference. He said the plane was under urgent repairs and set to be flying again by Monday. "If you fly a drone at one of these brush fires all aerial operations will be shut down," he said.

Eaton Fire

The second-largest fire in Los Angeles County is the Eaton Fire, which started on Tuesday evening in the Pasadena-Altadena area at the foothills of the Angeles National Forest.

Eight people have died in the Eaton fire, Los Angeles County Sheriff Commander Tania E. Plunkett said at a press conference on Saturday afternoon.

The blaze has spread to over 14,100 acres, Marrone said at the Saturday conference, adding that over 7,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed and 15% of the fire is contained.

The cause of the fire remains "unknown," Marrone previously said.

Hurst Fire

The Hurst Fire, which began late on Tuesday night in the northern part of the San Fernando Valley, spread to 799 acres and is 76% contained, per Cal Fire.

In an X post on Thursday afternoon, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the mandatory evacuation order for the Hurst Fire had been lifted.

Kenneth Fire

On Thursday, a small brush fire erupted at the Victory Trailhead near the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Marrone said that the fire had been stopped. It burned just over 1,000 acres, but no structures were reported damaged. It is 80% contained, per Cal Fire.

A mandatory evacuation order was issued for several neighborhoods near the fire.

LAPD said it had detained a possible arson suspect but could not confirm any connection to the fire.

An evacuation notice intended for residents impacted by the Kenneth Fire was mistakenly sent out across LA County due to a "technical error," County Supervisor Janice Hahn said in an X post.

Sunset Fire and others

The Sunset Fire broke out in the Runyon Canyon area of the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, quickly spreading to scorch over 40 acres and threaten major LA landmarks.

As of Thursday morning, firefighters were able to stop the fire's forward progress, Crowley said.

All evacuation orders related to the Sunset Fire were lifted as of 7:30 a.m. Thursday, she added.

A large structure fire consumed two large homes in the Studio City area but firefighters were able to stop its forward growth at just one acre and prevent another brushfire, Crowley said.

Yet another fire, the Lidia Fire, started Wednesday afternoon in Acton near the Antelope Valley, about 20 miles northeast of the San Fernando Valley. It consumed 395 acres but is now 100% contained, according to CalFire.

The Woodley Fire, which began Wednesday morning in the southern part of the San Fernando Valley, has been suppressed and there are no current threats, Crowley said.

Patrols were monitoring the area for any flare-ups, she added.

Events canceled and landmarks closed as smoke chokes LA

Major and minor events alike have been canceled or postponed across the Los Angeles area as the city battles the fires.

The 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards, set for Sunday night, were rescheduled for January 26. A National Hockey League game between the Los Angeles Kings and the Calgary Flames, scheduled for Wednesday night at Crypto.com arena, was postponed. The LA Lakers rescheduled Thursday night's game.

Music venues across the city were also canceling or postponing their shows, including The Troubadour, The Wiltern, The Echo, the Kia Forum, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and others.

Flights into and out of LAX, Hollywood Burbank Airport, Ontario International Airport, and Santa Ana's John Wayne Airport were also experiencing delays and cancellations. LAX, however, remains open.

The fires are also shuttering tourist destinations in and around Los Angeles, which attracts nearly 50 million visitors a year.

The fires forced some Los Angeles-area landmarks to close, including the Hollywood sign, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Broad Museum, the Norton Simon Museum, the Getty Villa and Getty Center, Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal CityWalk, and the Griffith Observatory.

Airbnb told CNN that it would be allowing refunds for bookings in areas affected by the wildfires, following a viral social media post from a customer who said the company refused to offer her a refund.

California already struggled with an insurance crisis

The devastating fires this week will likely only worsen California's ongoing insurance crisis, where many homebuyers already struggle to get approved for loans, home insurance, and fire insurance — even in areas outside the typical risk zones.

In recent years, some insurance companies, like State Farm, have stopped accepting new home insurance policies in the state entirely, as wildfire risks have only increased.

Experts told Business Insider that prices are likely to continue rising for those who can still get insurance.

"I've seen numbers go up 200%, 300%, even 500% in a year," Nick Ramirez, the owner of a California insurance agency, told BI.

And as the fires' estimated damages already climb into the billions of dollars, some homeowners will have to rebuild without the help of insurance payouts.

• Biden in a new interview said Trump was "very complimentary" of a portion of his economic record.
• The president made the statement while speaking with USA Today days before he's set to leave office.
• Trump's 2024 election victory was fueled by voter dissatisfaction over large parts of the economy.

In a newly-published interview with USA Today days before he's set to leave office, President Joe Biden said President-elect Donald Trump praised of a portion of his economic record during a private meeting.

"He was very complimentary about some of the economic things I had done," Biden said. "And he talked about — he thought I was leaving with a good record."

Biden in the interview didn't specify exactly what policies Trump praised, and the gesture could've simply been an element of the courtesies that presidents and president-elects generally extend to each other when discussing a White House transition.

The president during the interview also issued a warning for his predecessor and soon-to-be successor regarding tax policy and the economy overall.

"I think if he moves on the tax cuts of $5 trillion, I think if he moves on dealing with increasing tariffs across the board, all they are is increasing costs of consumers in America," Biden said. "And if he decides to do away with some of the major programs, whether it's dealing with the rescue plan or infrastructure or the climate law, I think he's just going to, you know, hurt himself, hurt the economy."

Throughout the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump hammered President Biden over his economic record, repeatedly needling the commander-in-chief on issues like inflation and housing affordability.

When Biden stepped aside as the Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris became the party's standard-bearer, Trump pursued the same strategy, tying voter dissatisfaction with the economy to Biden's No. 2.

The president-elect in November was victorious in the major swing states — making significant gains with groups that had long backed Democrats — in large part because of his focus on the economy.

Trump during his first term pledged to get an infrastructure agenda in place and even sought to work with congressional Democrats on the issue.

However it was Biden — an ardent Amtrak fan — who oversaw passage of the gargantuan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, also known as the bipartisan infrastructure law. The law is one of the biggest domestic accomplishments of Biden's presidency, and one that's poised to reshape his economic legacy years — and potentially decades — after he leaves office later this month.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung in a statement to Business Insider said Trump was elected to a second term to "continue the massively successful economic policies" of his first administration.

"Joe Biden's disastrous policies led to record inflation and an economy that left behind all Americans," Cheung said.