On Politics

Wed Jan 22 2025

Rebecca Morin | Senior National News Reporter

@RebeccaMorin_

Happy Wednesday! It's Rebecca Morin, senior national news reporter at USA TODAY. It's 20 degrees here in Washington, and I'm really missing warmer days.

Troops to be sent to the United States' southern border

President Donald Trump signed an order to soon deploy active duty forces to the U.S.-Mexico border, which follows immigration moves he made in the first days of his second term. As many as 1,500 troops have been sent Wednesday to the southern border. There are currently approximately 2,500 members of the National Guard and Army Reserve are already at the border. Read more.

•	Trump isn't the first to send troops to the border. Joe Biden did it under his administration. Here's what to know about Trump's border security and immigration related executive orders.
•	Trump's new DEA chief Derek Maltz a longtime proponent of declaring war on drug cartels

Trump promised to make immigration a top priority while on the campaign trail. And the actions he's taken in his first days in office show he wants to keep that promise. Trump's Justice Department is also directing its prosecutors to investigate state or local officials who hinder the president's crackdown on immigration. Read more.

•	Justice Department career officials were quickly reshuffled on Monday to advance Trump's immigration agenda
•	Trump administration authorizes immigration enforcement on school campuses

Meet the press secretary

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to reporters in the driveway to the West Wing of the White House on Wednesday.

Kevin Lamarque, REUTERS

A politics pit stop

•	Diet Coke soda button reinstalled in Trump's Oval Office
•	Trump cancels John Bolton's Secret Service security detail for second time
•	A bishop told Trump 'have mercy.' The president demands an apology.
•	Trump says he's aiming for 10% tariff hike on imports from China
•	What type of pen does Trump use? Here's how he signs executive orders.

Say goodbye to DEI under Trump

Donald Trump promised to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Now, his administration ordered all executive branch agencies to close all "diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility" offices by close of business Wednesday. Follow live updates here.

•	Trump rolls back DEI across the federal government. Is your workplace next?

Will Elon Musk (or another tech giant) save TikTok?

It looks like TikTok may stay alive in the United States. General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford, who is on the board of directors for ByteDance, Tiktok's Chinese parent company, said Wednesday that a deal could come as soon as the end of the week. The announcement came a day after Donald Trump said he would be open to Elon Musk (or Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison) to buying the company. Some Democratic lawmakers, however, don't want to see Musk own the mega-popular social media app. Read more.