January 19, 2025 - Presidential transition news

President-elect Donald Trump arrives at a rally in Washington, DC, on Sunday.

President-elect Donald Trump celebrated his victory “on the eve of taking back our country” in front of a crowd gathered in Washington, DC, for a rally Sunday, the night before his inauguration.

“We won,” Trump told his supporters at Capital One Arena.

Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will be sworn in inside the Capitol Rotunda on Monday before holding some festivities inside the Capitol One Arena due to projected cold temperatures.

President-elect Donald Trump arrives at a rally in Washington, DC, on Sunday.

President-elect Donald Trump is now speaking at the “Make America Great Again Victory Rally” at Capitol One Arena in Washington, DC, ahead of his inauguration on Monday.

Steve Witkoff shows his phone during a rally for President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on Sunday.

President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming envoy to the Middle East touted the recently reached Gaza ceasefire deal in remarks at a rally in Washington, DC, on Sunday.

The three freed Israeli hostages — the first of 33 to be released by Hamas and its allies over the next six weeks — are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari.

“We had a great team, but it doesn’t happen without Donald J. Trump. The president was responsible for this release and we all owe him a debt of gratitude, as do all the families,” Witkoff said.

Some background: The cooperation between the Trump and Biden teams in negotiating the deal was “almost unprecedented,” a senior Biden administration official said after the deal was clinched, made possible by a rare intersection of interests between bitter rivals who both saw an opening following Trump’s victory.

Brett McGurk, the longtime Middle East negotiator for President Joe Biden, had been planted in the Qatari capital for weeks in the hopes of a final agreement. He was joined by Steve Witkoff for the final push.

At points, McGurk and Witkoff divvied up meetings across the Middle East to push the deal across the line, including critical talks between Witkoff and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that McGurk joined by phone.

President-elect Donald Trump will move quickly to check off dozens of campaign policy priorities through executive actions on immigration, energy policy and the operations of the federal government once he is sworn in to office.

Trump has telegraphed an expansive menu of executive actions he plans to take in the hours after he’s sworn in to office, with top advisers and allies intensely engaged over the course of the last few months in crafting draft options.

Trump and his advisers have pledged as many as 100 executive orders or related unilateral actions on his first day in office. Many will be designed to reverse or eliminate executive orders implemented by the prior administration.

Stephen Miller, Trump’s incoming deputy chief of staff for policy, previewed many of those actions Sunday afternoon in a call with senior congressional Republicans.

The call was described by two sources briefed on the call as more of a topline rundown of what lawmakers should expect than an in-depth policy briefing. Trump’s policy operation is expected to deliver more details to Capitol Hill allies later Sunday, the sources said.

Miller, in the briefing with lawmakers, confirmed elements of a long-planned, sweeping suite of immigration actions, including Trump invoking a national emergency at the border as a way to unlock funding from the Defense Department for the administration’s use along with several other immigration-relation orders.

Trump will also declare a national emergency related to energy as part of a number of actions targeting domestic energy production and the industries, permitting rules, and lands that operate in that sector.

The federal government and its operations will also be a central focus in the first hours of Trump’s second term, with actions previewed by Miller including an executive order, known as Schedule F, that would curtail or eliminate job protections for federal workers. Trump signed a version of the executive order shortly before the 2020 election, but it was rescinded by Biden.

People cheer at a rally for President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on Sunday.

Donald Trump’s supporters are celebrating the president-elect at a “Make America Great Again Victory Rally” in Washington, DC, ahead of his inauguration on Monday.

Speakers including Megyn Kelly, Trump adviser Stephen Miller and actor Jon Voight have spoken so far, and Kid Rock has performed.

Trump himself is set to speak later Sunday along with Vice President-elect JD Vance and their family members at the event at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington.

Vivek Ramaswamy walks on the day of his meeting with members of Congress in Washington, DC, on December 5.

Biotech entrepreneur and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy plans to launch a run for Ohio governor before the end of the month, a source familiar with his thinking told CNN.

The source added that Ramaswamy, who was tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to co-lead the nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency, has informed the transition team of his plans and will stop his work with DOGE once he declares his candidacy.

The accelerated timing for an announcement comes after a source told CNN last week that Ramaswamy planned to “get a couple of wins on the board” with DOGE before entering the race in Ohio, where Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is term-limited from running in 2026.

Politico was first to report on the expected timing of Ramaswamy’s announcement.

Some context: Trump had privately encouraged Ramaswamy to consider an appointment to the US Senate seat recently vacated by Vice President-elect JD Vance if offered the position by DeWine, according to a source familiar with the discussions. However, DeWine on Friday named Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the seat.

Vice President-elect JD Vance and incoming second lady Usha Vance attend a dinner at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, on Saturday.

Incoming second lady Usha Vance wore a custom Oscar de la Renta gown to the Vice President’s Dinner at the National Gallery of Art on Saturday, the label said in a post on social media.

Saturday’s dinner was held in Washington, DC, just two days before President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Vance are expected to be sworn in.

Oscar de la Renta has been worn by every presidential wife since Jackie Kennedy, CNN reported earlier this week. Outgoing first lady Jill Biden frequently wears the designer’s attire, including for her 2021 Vogue cover and the Bidens’ first state dinner in 2022.

Stephen Miller attends a rally for President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on Sunday.

Donald Trump is expected to issue a long list of executive orders early in his second term, including actions on immigration, energy and the shape of government, a top adviser to the president-elect told Republican lawmakers Sunday.

Trump’s top domestic policy adviser, Stephen Miller, provided the list to the lawmakers as the president-elect is set to take office Monday. There will also be a number of actions taken to undo President Joe Biden’s executive orders.

Details given to the lawmakers were limited, and these expected executive orders will likely face immediate legal challenges. Here’s what the list included:

Immigration:

Other actions will focus on:

Shape of government:

Incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz looks on during an event in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition officials are in ongoing discussions with other countries to accept Venezuelan deportees, incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on Sunday.

Venezuelans make up a large share of border crossings and, for years, the US has generally been unable to deport them because of frosty diplomatic relations between the US and Venezuela. Mexico has previously agreed to take some for a period of time. During the Biden administration, officials sent Venezuelan migrants to Colombia if they previously resided there.

Trump’s administration could take a similar route. Waltz said Sunday that the US could deport Venezuelans to “a number of countries that will agree to take them.”

“I think they’re going to be — they’re going to be quite aggressive, number one. Number two, they’re going to go after these criminal gangs that are terrorizing our cities, particularly MS-13, and particularly Tren De Aragua, our communities are asking for it. Our neighbors are asking for it,” Waltz said on “Face the Nation.”

Waltz was then pressed, “Tren De Aragua is Venezuelan. You can’t deport to Venezuela. So where are you going to send those?”

“Well, we’re in a number of conversations with a number of countries that will agree to take them,” Waltz responded.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his final full day in the role, spoke with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Sunday and thanked him “for his personal partnership in strengthening the U.S.-Ukraine bilateral relationship.”

“They also discussed recent sanctions actions to deprive Russia of resources needed to continue its war of aggression, and continuing work to set the conditions for a secure, peaceful, and prosperous Ukraine,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a readout of the call.

Some background: Blinken has been a strong supporter of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, leading the way as the Biden administration provided more than $65 billion in aid for the war.

The secretary of state’s call with his counterpart Sunday comes the day before President-elect Donald Trump is set be inaugurated.

Questions remain as to what Ukrainian support will look like under Trump, who has expressed skepticism about continuing US aid and spoken highly in the past of Russian President Vladimir Putin — though Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has recently praised Trump, saying he hopes the president-elect will end the war.

Vice President-elect JD Vance delivers remarks as he attends a dinner in Washington, DC, on Saturday.

Vice President-elect JD Vance met with China’s Vice President Han Zheng on Sunday, according to a news release from the Trump-Vance transition.

The two discussed a range of topics including “fentanyl, balancing trade, and regional stability,” the transition said.

Han is China’s special representative, and is expected to attend the president-elect’s inauguration on Monday.

President-elect Donald Trump also invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration, but China sent Han in his stead.

Keep in mind: The meeting between Vance and his soon-to-be Chinese counterpart comes as Trump has privately told his advisers he wants to visit China after being sworn in to office, three sources familiar with the talks told CNN. The president-elect is seeking to facilitate an open dialogue with Beijing while also pursuing hardline stance on the country.

It also comes as drama unfolds around a controversial US ban of TikTok, which stems from the popular app’s Chinese ownership.

Video Ad Feedback

Waltz: Trump is ready to begin deportations ‘minute one’ of being in office

01:37 - Source: CNN

President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz previewed on Sunday some of the immediate actions the administration might take related to immigration.

Waltz laid out in detail several steps the administration will take, including “much more aggressive action” from immigration authorities, among other actions.

“You are certainly going to see a much more aggressive action from Border Patrol to lock down our border, number one,” Waltz said.

“And then number four: (Border czar) Tom Homan actually, absolutely is going to take much more aggressive ICE action. Our inner city mayors are begging for it. The president campaigned on it. We are going to start with the worst of the worst of the criminals, to get them out of our cities,” Waltz said.

As CNN reported earlier on Sunday, immigration is a topic central to Trump’s political identity, and his team is finalizing an aggressive slate of executive actions that will be released only hours after the president-elect is sworn in.

The package of actions amounts to a dramatic shift in immigration policy that will affect immigrants already residing in the United States and migrants seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border.

President-elect Donald Trump participates in a wreath-laying ceremony, as Vice President-elect JD Vance looks on, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on Sunday.

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Sunday, participating in a tradition for incoming presidents and vice presidents ahead of their inauguration on Monday.

Trump and Vance were accompanied at the cemetery by members of their family, including their wives Melania Trump and Usha Vance, as well as Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

A group of Trump’s cabinet nominees slated to oversee national security and military portfolios also attended the event. Trump’s secretary of state nominee Sen. Marco Rubio, his nominee to run the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, his nominee as ambassador to the UN, Elise Stefanik, and his choice to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins, were all spotted at the ceremony.

Trump and Vance placed a wreath on the burial site before a rendition of “Taps” was played as Trump saluted the tomb.

Last year’s controversy: During the 2024 campaign, Trump and his team sparked outrage during a visit to Arlington National Cemetery that was intended to draw attention to the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The Trump campaign posted a video on TikTok of the former president’s visit, which marked three years since the tragedy.

According to a statement from Arlington National Cemetery obtained by CNN, federal law prohibits political campaigning or election-related activities within the hallowed grounds.

The cemetery said it “reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants,” which includes “photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign.”

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday launched his first cryptocurrency, a meme coin called $TRUMP, which has since become the 19th largest cryptocurrency.

The coin was trading at just over $68 as of Sunday afternoon and valued at more than $68 billion, according to CoinGecko.

This is the first cryptocurrency endorsed by the incoming president, who once trashed bitcoin as “based on thin air.”

In July 2024, Trump addressed crypto’s largest convention and has since appointed Howard Lutnick, who supports the cryptocurrency company Tether, to run the US Commerce Department. Lutnick is among other crypto enthusiasts appointed to Trump’s next administration.

The meme coin’s website says it is “the only official Trump meme.” Meme coins, a class of highly volatile cryptocurrencies, often derive their branding from internet trends and cultural phenomena.

“Now, you can get your piece of history. This Trump Meme celebrates a leader who doesn’t back down, no matter the odds,” the website reads.

Its market value, which is based on the 200 million coins circulating, is capped at $13 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. The meme coin’s website said there will be 1 billion Trump coins over the next three years.

The website says the meme coin is not politically affiliated. But 80% of the coin’s supply is held by Trump Organization-affiliate CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight LLC, which are both subject to a three-year unlocking schedule — so they cannot sell all of their holdings at once.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew delivers a speech during an event in Jakarta, Indonesia, on June 15, 2023.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to attend tonight’s “Make America Great Again Victory Rally” at Capitol One Arena in downtown Washington, DC, two sources familiar with his plans tell CNN.

Chew’s attendance comes one day before the president-elect will be sworn in for his second term, and as Trump’s team mulls over how to save the popular app.

Some background: Trump said Sunday that he will move to delay a controversial ban on TikTok for 90 days shortly after he takes office. The app had gone dark for US users late Saturday in anticipation of the ban, but started coming back online within hours of Trump’s announcement.

TikTok thanked Trump in a statement Sunday, saying he had provided the “necessary clarity” needed to restore access for US users, and that it would work with him on a “long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”

Trump expressed confidence in the app’s future in his Truth Social post announcing his plans Sunday, saying he will “not let TikTok stay dark” and proposing a “joint venture” where the US could take “a 50% ownership position” in the app.

CNN has previously reported that Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday, one of several tech leaders who will play a role in inaugural events.

President Joe Biden speaks during a service at Royal Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday.

President Joe Biden, in the final full day of his term, reflected on his presidency during remarks at a church in South Carolina, telling congregants that he is “not going anywhere” and urging them to “keep the faith in a better day to come.”

The president reminisced on when he came to the church in February of 2020. He told the crowd that for his final trip in office, he wanted to travel to a state that was central to his political revival in 2020 and that had helped his family recover at a time of agonizing personal loss.

The president also told the crowd Sunday that he is “in no ways tired,” and that it was the honor of his life to serve as president.

Some context: While Biden considers Delaware home and Pennsylvania his birthplace, South Carolina is deeply engrained in his political and personal history.

After crushing defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire in the opening Democratic contests of the 2020 campaign, Biden turned to South Carolina for his political resurrection, drawing on support from Black voters in the state to overwhelmingly win his first primary. That victory set him on an electoral path to barrel through the Super Tuesday states and eventually capture the Democratic nomination.

Sen. Tim Kaine speaks at the confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of defense, in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on Sunday said he believes President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of defense nominee Pete Hegseth has serious character flaws that may affect his confirmation.

Kaine grilled Hegseth during his contentious confirmation hearing, focusing on his quality of character. He asked about his willingness to break oaths, his past of cheating on his second wife, and the sexual assault allegation brought against Hegseth, who has claimed the encounter was consensual.

“My observation of my Republican colleagues is that the only reason they ever vote no on a nominee is either a belief of gross incompetence in terms of qualifications, or serious character deficit — that’s why Matt Gaetz withdrew,” Kaine said, referring to Trump’s original attorney general pick.

Kaine said he thinks there may be a committee action on Hegseth in the armed services committee as early as Monday.

The TikTok office in Culver City, California, is pictured on March 13.

TikTok is coming back online just hours after President-elect Donald Trump pledged to sign an executive order delaying a ban on the app once he takes office.

Around 12 hours after first shutting itself down, US users began regaining access on web browsers and in the app — although the page still showed a warning about the shutdown.

TikTok confirmed the move in a statement, writing, that “in agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service.”

How we got here: Late Saturday night, TikTok became unusable for Americans, who were met with a message saying the app was offline due to the ban — which the Supreme Court affirmed on Friday — and asking users to “stay tuned.”

TikTok’s decision to shut the app down entirely, which the company had warned it would do, capped off several weeks of uncertainty. And it marked a significant disruption for TikTok’s 170 million American users, many of whom use the app for hours every day to find news, entertainment and community and, in some cases, to make a living.

The law, which required the app to shut down in the US on Sunday unless it divested from Chinese ownership, allows the president to delay its implementation by 90 days via executive order. Trump indicated earlier today that he plans to do so, once he’s sworn in Monday.

This post has been updated with a statement from TikTok.

Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz emphasized bipartisanship and praised both President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump for the ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has credited both the outgoing Biden administration and Trump’s transition team for helping secure the deal.

In his interview Sunday, Moskowitz also urged Democrats in Congress to work toward bipartisan solutions with their Republican colleagues.

The Florida lawmaker did not rule out the possibility of accepting a nonpartisan role in the Trump administration, when asked in the interview.

More about Moskowitz: The second-term lawmaker, who has worked closely with Republicans like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has taken a notably friendlier approach to the incoming administration than some of his Democratic colleagues.

He is also the first Democrat to join the recently created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) caucus in Congress, a group formed around billionaire Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s mandate from Trump to cut government spending and regulations.

President Joe Biden walks to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday.

President Joe Biden announced a pair of last-minute executive actions on Sunday, his final full day in office, including tapping into his presidential clemency power and issuing a new executive order he says is aimed at “helping left-behind communities make a comeback.”

The efforts mark additional moves by Biden to bolster his legacy and work to protect his accomplishments from President-elect Donald Trump.

Of course, there is little that cannot be un-done in the next Trump administration. Biden spent much of his first day in office reversing Trump-era policies and moves, and Trump is likely to do the same. Clemency actions, however, cannot be reversed.

Biden pardoned five people, including a posthumous pardon for civil rights leader Marcus Mosiah Garvey. He pardoned Don Leonard Scott, Jr., who was convicted of a non-violent drug offense in 1994 and went on to become the first Black speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. He also issued pardons to a criminal justice advocate, an advocate for immigrant communities, and a gun violence prevention advocate.

The NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund praised the president for the moves on Sunday, saying they “further solidify President Biden’s legacy as a leader committed to rectifying deeply entrenched harms perpetuated by the criminal legal system.”

The executive order, the White House said in a fact sheet, “prioritizes communities facing economic distress, undergoing industrial transitions, emerging as innovation hubs, and rebuilding from natural disasters” for economic development funding opportunities. The White House referred to the effort to streamline access to federal funding as a “no wrong door” approach.

This post has been updated with reaction to the moves from the NAACP.

Sen. Lindsey Graham is pictured during a hearing in Washington, DC, on December 10.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham defended President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, and dodged questions on Patel’s published “enemies list,” in a tense exchange Sunday on CBS.

Pressed on the list of enemies Patel has published, Graham said he is ready to vote to confirm Patel: “I believe the hearing will expose him to be a very qualified man of the law. He wrote a book. He’ll have to answer questions about what’s in the book, but I’m ready to vote for him, because I know him too.”

During the testy exchange, Graham accused CBS’ Margaret Brennan of not “reporting the news fairly” in regard to Trump.

Moving Trump’s agenda forward: Graham, who is the new Senate Budget Committee chairman, also indicated in the interview that he prefers dividing Trump’s agenda into two separate packages, rather than the singular package preferred by House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Graham said there are pressing needs to be addressed, potentially sooner than the time it would take to pass “one big, beautiful bill,” and named homeland security and securing the border among them.

Brett McGurk, the lead negotiator on the Israel-Hamas hostage deal for the Biden administration, said in an interview Sunday he believes the Trump administration will push for the next steps of the agreement to take place despite concerns the fighting may resume after the first phase of hostages are released.

Speaking to CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation,” McGurk reiterated praise for the partnership between the Biden administration officials and the incoming national security team for President-elect Donald Trump after receiving confirmation that three hostages were released.

He also expressed confidence that Israeli officials would be able to facilitate the large amount of aid crossing into Gaza.

McGurk reiterated the importance of the US’ support for Israel throughout its military campaign in Gaza and in Lebanon, arguing that sufficiently depleting Hamas and Hezbollah created the leverage needed to facilitate the ceasefire and release of the hostages.

House Speaker Mike Johnson attends a press conference in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he doesn’t “have any confidence in ByteDance,” the parent company of TikTok, after the app went dark in the US late Saturday.

The move corresponded with a Sunday deadline for a controversial ban on the popular app, which President-elect Donald Trump has since said he’ll move to delay once he takes office Monday. The law allows the app to continue operating in the US only if it divests from Chinese ownership.

“They had 270 days (to divest) to be exact. The law is very precise, and the only way to extend that is if there is an actual deal in the works,” Johnson said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

In saying he planned to delay the ban, Trump also floated the possibility Sunday that the US government could take partial ownership of the social media site.

On January 6 pardons: The speaker refused to say whether January 6 rioters who had attacked police officers should be pardoned, telling NBC he agreed with Trump that the cases need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

“Every case needs to be evaluated, as he said, but what President Trump is getting at is the lack of faith that people have right now in our system of justice,” Johnson said.

Trump and his team have drafted a slate of Day 1 pardons for people convicted for their role in the violent insurrection, two sources familiar with the plan have told CNN.

Two federal death row inmates are asking to be exempted from outgoing President Joe Biden’s order commuting their sentences to life in prison without parole, as they seek to appeal their cases and prove their claims of innocence.

The inmates, Shannon Agofsky and Len Davis, filed petitions in federal court on December 30, a week after Biden announced he would remove 37 out of 40 federal inmates from death row. The order did not include three inmates whose crimes included high-profile mass shootings or acts of terrorism.

Both inmates asked for the US Court in the Southern District of Indiana — which encompasses Terre Haute, where most federal death row inmates are held — to issue emergency orders blocking the commutations from proceeding, underscoring the complicated nature of both the commutations and the death penalty more broadly.

Agofsky claims he is innocent of the 1989 killing and that errors marred his 2004 case. But a commutation to a life sentence would complicate his efforts to prove these claims, he wrote, by depriving him of the “heightened scrutiny” associated with death penalty cases.

Meanwhile, Davis — a former New Orleans police officer sentenced in 2005 for orchestrating the killing of a woman, Kim Groves, who had filed a complaint accusing him of police brutality — argued the commutation carried a “host of constitutional violations” that would be explained in future filings. Davis said he has maintained his innocence and claimed the federal government did not have jurisdiction to try him for civil rights offenses in the case.

Read more about the cases and Biden’s commutation orders.

CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.

Forcibly displaced Palestinians return to Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Sunday, shortly before a ceasefire deal was implemented.

President Joe Biden told reporters Sunday that he was pleased that both his administration and President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team spoke as “one voice in the final days” to reach a Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

“Now it falls on the next administration to help implement this deal,” Biden said.

Following his remarks, Biden was asked if he had concern about Hamas potentially regrouping. He responded, “No.”

Sunday marks the final full day of the Biden administration, as Trump is set to be inaugurated on Monday.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday.

President Joe Biden said the “guns in Gaza have gone silent” as Hamas has handed over three hostages — the first group to be released under a ceasefire deal between Israel and the militant group that took effect today.

“The deal that I first put forward last May for the Middle East has finally come to fruition. The ceasefire has gone into effect in Gaza, and today, we’re seeing hostages being released — three Israeli women held against their will in the dark tunnels for 470 days,” Biden said in remarks from Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday.

Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has credited both the outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team for helping secure the deal. Biden’s team worked on the pact for many months, keeping the incoming Trump administration closely apprised on the final contours of negotiations.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries arrives at a news conference in Washington, DC, on November 15.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday that he supports the removal of violent felons who are in the US illegally, but did not say whether Democrats would be willing to back funding required to carry out President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration proposals.

He acknowledged the “broken immigration system,” and said House Democrats were willing to work with the Trump administration on immigration reform and border security measures in a “bipartisan manner.”

Asked if he plans to vote for legislation to fund the high price tag of mass deportations by US officials, Jeffries responded, “What we’re prepared to do is to focus on the issues that matter.”

He went on to detail cost of living concerns.

“America is too expensive, and what we need to do is to drive down the high cost of living and build an affordable economy for hard-working American taxpayers. We haven’t seen any ideas, any plans, any bills put forward by our Republican colleagues in the House to get that done,” he said.

President Joe Biden is addressing the start of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal in remarks from Charleston, South Carolina.

The remarks come shortly after Hamas released an initial group of three hostages this morning, and as the Israel Defense Forces has withdrawn from multiple locations in both southern and northern Gaza, according to Israeli military officials.

Biden’s team worked on the deal for many months, keeping the incoming Trump administration team closely apprised on the final contours of negotiations.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and President-elect Donald Trump shake hands as Trump arrives at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter in Washington, DC, on January 9.

Former Vice President Mike Pence is now confirmed to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday, a person familiar with his travel confirms to CNN. He had been planning to attend but it was unconfirmed until now, given he was traveling in Asia.

This puts Pence in the same place as Trump for the second time in recent weeks. President Jimmy Carter’s funeral was the first time they had been in the same room since January 2021. Pence congratulated him, but former second lady Karen Pence did not greet the president-elect.

Notably, Pence and Trump will also be in the same location Pence was four years ago when he was evacuated to a secure location within the Capitol amid the violent insurrection on January 6.

TikTok is seen in the app store of an iPhone on January 8.

President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that he will take executive action on his first day in office to allow TikTok to continue operating in the US temporarily, while suggesting the US government could take partial ownership of the social media site.

Trump said in a Truth Social post he will “not let TikTok stay dark” after taking office Monday. The app went offline late Saturday evening in anticipation of the bipartisan law banning TikTok, which was passed last year and upheld by the Supreme Court last week, allowing it to take effect on Sunday.

Trump proposed the US could take a “50% ownership position” in TikTok as part of a “joint venture,” suggesting that could mean cooperation with parent company ByteDance — or with new owners “set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose.”

“By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions,” Trump wrote.

President Joe Biden attends a ceremony in Arlington, Virginia, on Thursday.

Possible preemptive pardons by President Joe Biden remain on the table in the closing hours of his presidency, a source familiar with the matter said.

The president has yet to make a final decision on whether to issue preemptive pardons for individuals who might be targeted for prosecution when President-elect Donald Trump takes power, the source said. But those discussions remain underway on the president’s final full day in office.

Some background: Earlier this month, the president told reporters one factor weighing in his decision is whether Trump telegraphed any of his intentions for possible prosecution of his political opponents in the days leading up to his inauguration.

“The idea that he would punish people for not adhering to what he thinks should be policy as it related to his well-being is outrageous,” Biden said. “But there’s still consideration of some folks, but no decision.”

In an interview with USA Today, Biden said he told Trump during their Oval Office meeting shortly after the president-elect’s November victory that “there was no need, and it was counterintuitive for his interest to go back and try to settle scores.”

In that same interview, Biden said he had not made a decision about preemptive pardons, including for former Rep. Liz Cheney and Dr. Anthony Fauci. The president and White House officials have not detailed who is under consideration for potential preemptive pardons.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said Sunday that he expects President-elect Donald Trump to issue Day 1 executive orders on immigration, including on the southern border wall, the “remain in Mexico” policy, and asylum and parole policies for migrants.

“I think you’re going to see all those come from the president tomorrow,” Jordan told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

Jordan said he hopes Trump administration officials, including “border czar” Tom Homan, will get to work “right away” on carrying out the large-scale deportations Trump has promised.

“This issue was front and center on November 5. The American people spoke loudly and clearly. They want the border secure,” he said, adding that migrants who do not meet the qualifications under US asylum laws can also be targeted quickly.

Read more about Trump’s planned executive actions on Day 1.

Supporters of then-President Donald Trump gather in front of the Capitol building in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021.

President-elect Donald Trump and his team have drafted a slate of pardons for people convicted for their role in the January 6 Capitol attack to be issued shortly after Trump is sworn into the White House on Monday, two sources familiar with the plans told CNN.

The extent of the initial pardons is still unclear, however, one of the sources described them as enough to be seen as “delivering on his long-held promise.”

Some background: Trump has repeatedly said he plans to swiftly pardon people who were convicted for their role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Nearly 1,600 people have been charged in connection with the January 6 riot, including at least 600 with serious felony offenses like assaulting police or using a weapon. About 80% of all cases have resulted in guilty pleas or trial convictions, and a couple hundred defendants are currently in prison, according to the latest Justice Department estimates.

Some rioters charged or convicted in the Capitol attack are returning to Washington, DC, for Trump’s inauguration, CNN previously reported. But some federal judges also recently blocked a handful of other January 6 defendants from attending the inauguration, agreeing with Justice Department prosecutors who argued that letting the rioters “return to the scene of the crime” could put police officers in danger.

The pardons are part of a larger slate of aggressive executive actions Trump is expected to take from the first day of his presidency.

CNN’s Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.

TikTok is unavailable on an iPhone in New York on Saturday.

President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz said Sunday that Trump’s team is working to get TikTok back online after the popular app went dark overnight following a Supreme Court decision upholding a ban.

Trump has the authority to grant ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, a 90-day extension, provided there has been significant progress toward selling the app to American ownership. ByteDance has not taken major steps to do so.

Still, Waltz indicated during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” that Trump would like to buy the app additional time.

Trump, he said, is “working in real time with the various tech companies, get it back online and buy him some time to one, save it, but protect Americans’ data and protect Americans from any type of interference.”

Pressed by Bash on the national security threats the app poses, he said the incoming administration is “confident that we can save TikTok.”

“Tiktok can continue to exist, and whether that’s in American hands, owned by an American company, or whether the data and the algorithms are fully protected from Chinese interference. You know, there’s a number of formulas this can take,” he said.

The White House expects to see a first group of hostages that have been held in Gaza released “in the coming hours, maybe even minutes,” deputy national security adviser Jon Finer told ABC News on Sunday, after a ceasefire and hostages deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect this morning.

Finer told ABC the Biden administration does not “have a ton of information” about the condition of the hostages included in phase one of the deal.

Finer also said the Biden team has received “significant support” from President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, but that the Biden administration was “in the driver’s seat for the negotiations.”

“We’ve kept them fully up to speed. They deployed members of their incoming team to the region,” Finer said.

Follow live updates: CNN is tracking the developments as Red Cross vehicles drive up Gaza’s central corridor ahead of the planned release of three female Israeli hostages.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton and GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts on Sunday broke with President-elect Donald Trump’s desire to delay the TikTok ban, after the app shut down late Saturday following several weeks of uncertainty.

Some context: While the super-popular video app has gone dark, the decision to turn off TikTok may not be final. President-elect Donald Trump told NBC News on Saturday he will “most likely” move to delay the ban after he takes office on Monday.

“SAVE TIKTOK!” he wrote in a Truth Social post this morning.

Outgoing President Joe Biden signed a law last April that gave parent company ByteDance 270 days to sell TikTok to an owner from the United States or one of its allies or face a ban. The Supreme Court affirmed the ban on Friday.

While the law included language allowing a president to delay the ban for 90 days via executive order, Trump can’t outright undo a law passed by Congress and signed by a president with an executive order.

The only truly permanent solutions to keep TikTok online appear to be either passing a new law reversing the old one — no easy task, considering that the existing bill had such broad bipartisan support in Congress — or forcing a sale to an acceptable buyer.

Flags are hung on the Capitol in preparation for Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington, DC, on Friday.

In the wake of the 2024 election, most supporters of the Democratic Party say it needs to make significant changes and that they feel “burned out” by politics, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. The party faces its lowest ratings in more than 30 years.

Donald Trump’s return to office is meanwhile remolding the GOP, with a majority of the party’s backers now saying that support for the president-elect is central to being a Republican.

Those shifts are playing out against a broader backdrop of political unhappiness, with even Republicans far more likely to say they’re disappointed and frustrated by politics than to express optimism, inspiration or pride.

A 58% majority of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say that the Democratic Party needs major changes, or to be completely reformed, up from just 34% who said the same after the 2022 midterm elections, when the party retained control of the Senate but lost the House. Over that time, the share of Republicans and Republican leaners who feel the same way about the GOP has ticked downward, from 38% to 28%.

Only 49% of Democratic-aligned adults say they expect their party’s congressional representatives to be even somewhat effective at resisting GOP policies, while more than 9 in 10 Republican-aligned adults expect their party’s congressional representatives — who now control both chambers of Congress — to be at least somewhat effective at passing new laws to enact their agenda.

But across party lines, the predominant political mood is one of discontent. Most adults in the US describe themselves as disappointed (70%) and frustrated (64%) with the nation’s politics today, with nearly half calling themselves burned out.

Dive deeper on the results of the CNN poll.

The involvement of President-elect Donald Trump was “very influential” in the ceasefire-hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told CNN on Sunday.

In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Bianna Golodryga, Sa’ar said “the strong involvement of America, the strong involvement of President Trump, was very, very influential and helpful during the last weeks.”

He said that Trump did not force Israel do to anything that it didn’t want to do, but that “we worked together to achieve a goal that was very important for us, and President Trump was very helpful in achieving that goal.”

Some background: On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said both the outgoing Biden administration and the Trump transition team had played key roles in the talks, which have resulted in the first pause in fighting in the enclave in months, and paved the way for a hostage and prisoners exchange expected to take place soon this morning.

Follow live updates on the Middle East ceasefire here.

Wind turbines generate electricity at the Block Island Wind Farm near Block Island, Rhode Island, on July 7, 2022.

A stack of actions designed to reshape government policy will be awaiting President-elect Donald Trump’s signature as soon as he is sworn in tomorrow — a dramatic show of force meant to set the tone for the next four years.

In major metropolitan areas, immigration raids could begin almost immediately as the new president follows through on campaign promises to deport undocumented migrants.

Inside jail cells, January 6, 2021, defendants will await word of pardons, which Trump has promised to sign as soon as he returned to power.

And across the globe, leaders in foreign capitals will watch anxiously to see how the new American leader begins executing his plans for tariffs, land grabs and an end to grinding wars.

Trump is planning to issue dozens of executive actions — more than 100 just on Day 1, at least in his own telling — within his first week in office, sources familiar with his plans told CNN, including those aimed at ramping up US energy production, tightening border security, reeling in regulations and other top policy priorities.

He’s also seeking options to keep TikTok available in the United States, a task made urgent by the app going dark for users late last night ahead of a Sunday deadline.

It’s almost certain some of the items Trump promised on the campaign trail to execute on his first day won’t happen. But the scale of Trump’s plans — if they materialize — would go well beyond any recent president’s attempts at wielding the power of his office.

Read more about Trump’s Day 1 priorities here.

President Joe Biden is visiting Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday for his final trip in office to speak at a church service ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day — and President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Biden boarded Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews a short time ago, traveling with first lady Jill Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. His daughter, Ashley Biden, also appears to be aboard the plane, according to a post on Instagram.

At the service later today at Royal Missionary Baptist Church, Biden will talk about “Dr. King’s legacy and the continued fight to make Dr. King’s dream a reality,” a White House official said. The president will also visit the International African American Museum, where he and the first lady will deliver remarks.

The state of South Carolina was central to Biden’s political revival in 2020. While he considers Delaware home and Pennsylvania his birthplace, South Carolina is deeply ingrained in his political and personal history.

After crushing defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire in the opening Democratic contests of the 2020 campaign, Biden turned to South Carolina for his political resurrection, drawing on support from Black voters in the state to overwhelmingly win his first primary. That victory set him on an electoral path to barrel through the Super Tuesday states and eventually capture the Democratic nomination.

The Biden family also often turned to South Carolina for respite and comfort, vacationing in the coastal areas for several decades, including one family gathering in Kiawah Island just weeks after Biden’s son Beau died in 2015.

CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this report.

This post has been updated to reflect Biden’s departure.

The TikTok app logo is shown on an iPhone in Houston on Friday.

Late Saturday night, TikTok became unusable for Americans, who were met with a message saying the app was offline and asking users to “stay tuned.”

“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now,” the message read in part. The app was also unavailable on the Apple and Google Play stores, along with Lemon8 and CapCut, which are also owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.

TikTok’s decision to shut the app down entirely, which the company had warned it would do, capped off several weeks of uncertainty. And it marks a significant disruption for TikTok’s 170 million American users, many of whom use the app for hours every day to find news, entertainment and community and, in some cases, to make a living.

But while the super-popular video app has gone dark, the decision to turn off TikTok may not be final. In fact, it may last just a few dozen hours.

President-elect Donald Trump told NBC News on Saturday he will “most likely” delay the ban on TikTok for 90 days after he takes office on Monday. And Trump said the announcement could come on Monday, his first day in office.

Such an announcement could serve as a kind of immediate political victory for Trump with America’s youth. Although Trump supported a TikTok ban in his first term as president, he has recently said he wants to keep the app alive — posting on Truth Social this morning: “SAVE TIKTOK!”

Last month, he asked the Supreme Court to stay the law so his incoming administration could work out a deal to keep TikTok available to Americans. But the Supreme Court upheld the law on Friday.

Catch up on the TikTok situation here.

Senate Republican leaders are hopeful but uncertain that they will vote to confirm secretary of state pick Marco Rubio — and possibly other top national security Cabinet picks — on Monday after Donald Trump is sworn in as president. That’s because Democrats have not signaled whether they will give the unanimous consent required to act so quickly.

Rubio, who is popular with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, appears best positioned to be confirmed on Day 1.

“I don’t know that there’s anything that’s firm,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN when asked whether he expected to vote on Rubio on Monday. “But I feel good that there’ll be an interest in expediting his (nomination).”

Several Democratic senators said they would be fine voting to confirm Monday, but one, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, would not commit, saying she will have to review his hearing before deciding.

That’s one of the challenges facing GOP leaders: Any one senator for any reason can object to moving quickly. If Thune were forced to break filibusters of Rubio or other Cabinet picks and any senator decided to drag out the procedural clock, it could take days to get them confirmed and consume precious floor time.

Only 51 votes are needed to break a filibuster of a nominee, and Republicans hold a 53-47 majority. That means most of Trump’s choices will be easily confirmed even if Democrats force them to take longer than they want.

Besides Rubio, a GOP aide said they hoped to get CIA director choice John Ratcliffe confirmed as early as Monday, too.

President-elect Donald Trump is pictured in Phoenix on December 22.

President-elect Donald Trump said mass deportations will begin “very quickly” after taking office, one of a number of plans he discussed in a phone interview with NBC News on Saturday.

As Trump prepares to be sworn in Monday, the president-elect also told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that he will “most likely” delay the US’ impending ban on TikTok, that he will “probably” visit Los Angeles next week to tour wildfire damage, and that he plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “fairly shortly.”

Here’s a recap of the wide-ranging interview:

Mass deportations: Trump said his administration is planning on executing mass deportations on undocumented immigrants “very quickly” after he takes office, reiterating his desire to “get the criminals out of our country.”

TikTok ban: Trump said he will “most likely” delay a ban on TikTok — which technically takes effect today — for 90 days after he takes office but noted he has not made a final decision.

Trump said it would be “appropriate” to approve an extension for the Chinese-owned social media platform, which is required to sell to American buyers by Sunday or face a ban in the US.

Los Angeles wildfires: The president-elect said he is “probably” going to visit the Los Angeles area next week to survey damage after devastating wildfires ripped through the region.

Trump told NBC News he may travel to California “at the end of the week,” saying he wanted to go Friday but decided to wait until he had been inaugurated.

Israel-Hamas ceasefire: Trump said he told Netanyahu to “keep doing what has to be done” while emphasizing his desire to see the war between Israel and Hamas end. He again warned that “all hell will break out” if the two sides do not uphold the recently negotiated ceasefire-hostage agreement, which is set to begin Sunday.

Inauguration: The president-elect spoke about his decision to move his Monday inauguration ceremony indoors amid dangerously cold temperatures projected in DC. He said he believes he made “the right decision” and promised the ceremony is “going to be beautiful, actually.”

“The weather was really looking bad in terms of the coldness, and I think it would have been dangerous for a lot of people, the crowds and everything else,” Trump said.