Donald Trump defends January 6 pardons and border crackdown begins — as it happened

Thanks for sticking with my colleagues and I as we brought you all of the rolling updates out of the United States.

We'll continue to bring you coverage of the new Donald Trump administration via the ABC News homepage link just below.

In the meantime, to keep up to date with everything happening in the US these are the articles we have published so far today:

• Donald Trump is already wielding his presidential power, and this time he's more prepared to use it
• Police officer bashed in January 6 Capitol riot fears freed attackers will come after him

We will resume our live blog coverage as the US wakes up for Donald Trump's second full day in the Oval Office.

Elon Musk sparked up a storm online after his speech at Donald Trump's inauguration parade.

The Tesla and SpaceX founder performed two back-to-back gestures, leading to him being accused of making a Nazi salute.

So, what was the meaning of the gesture and how has it now been embraced by right-wing extremists?

My colleague Georgie Hewson has taken a deep dive into what happened and explains all, here:

In the wake of Donald Trump pardoning January 6 offenders, a police officer who was beaten and repeatedly tasered in the  insurrection has asked a court for protection.

Bodycam footage from that day showed Michael Fanone being dragged into the crowd by a rioter, where he was restrained as others bashed and repeatedly tasered him.

He now says he fears the rioters who attacked him, and are being released, will come after him.

You can read more about what he has had to say, here:

We're seeing some images flow through to us from the Rio Grande river, which separates Mexico from the city of Eagle Pass in Texas.

The photographers show US-based workers using machinery and boats to install large, red floating buoys along the length of the river.

Reuters is reporting the buoys are part of the new Trump administration's efforts to shut down the border between the US and Mexico and deter illegal migrants from crossing into America.

you can see just how long the chain of buoys are, and how they're being installed, in the video below:

I don't blame you for being confused about Donald Trump's latest artificial intelligence announcement — there was a lot of information involved.

To recap: Mr Trump announced the US will invest into "the largest AI infrastructure project in history", with a new company known as Stargate to construct "colossal" data centres and campuses across the US.

The three companies joining together to form Stargate are Oracle, the Softbank Group and OpenAI (the same organisation behind ChatGPT).

There are also plenty of other tech partners involved in the Stargate project, but the deal is focused on creating more than 100,000 jobs, making a lot of money and protecting the national security of the US, according to this OpenAI media release.

As we've been reporting for you so far today, it's already been a huge first full day in office for the 47th President of the United States.

He's just taken to X to announce that he has more to come by the end of his first week back in the White House.

The former leader of the far-right Oath Keepers group, Stewart Rhodes, has been given a jail sentence commutation and was released from prison.

We're starting to see vision of him speaking earlier outside a jail in Washington.

He was released from a separate facility in Cumberland, Maryland, where he had been held since the aftermath of the January 6 siege on the Capitol building in 2021.

Rhodes did not enter the Capitol on that day, but was sentenced to an 18-year jail term after being found guilty of plotting to use force to prevent Congress from certifying Mr Trump's 2020 defeat to Joe Biden,

"I feel vindicated and validated," Rhodes said today.

According to the US Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Oath Keepers are an "anti-government, right-wing political organisation committed to supporting and defending their interpretation of the US Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic".

Rhodes's release comes as part of more than 1500 pardons issued by Mr Trump on his first day as the 47th US president for people charged over the January 6 riots.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons says that 211 people have already been freed from prisons since that order.

Reporting with Reuters

Moments after Donald Trump unveiled his government's $US500 billion artificial intelligence announcement, one of the companies involved in the deal was profiting.

The Japanese tech behemoth, the SoftBank Group, will pair up with Oracle and OpenAI as part of the agreement to construct data centres and campuses across the US.

In the immediate aftermath of the president's announcements, Softbank's share price jumped up by more than 8 per cent — the highest value the company has reached since July last year.

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son described this deal during Mr Trump's press conference as "the beginning of the golden age" — and it appears he might have been right.

As my colleague, Courtney Gould, reported earlier Foreign Minister Penny Wong today met with the United States' new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.

Australia and the US are historic allies, and Ms Wong was just the second foreign minister to meet with Mr Rubio after he was sworn into his new role.

The discussions came as part of wider meetings with Quad nation representatives, but were also held remarkably early into the new US administration.

As for how significant that could become in the context of Australia's relations with the US now that Mr Trump is president, North America Correspondent Kamin Gock has the complete breakdown for you:

A Donald Trump-led clean-out of the US public service has begun.

The White House has ordered all federal agencies to list each of their employees who are currently on probation, and to recommend why they should keep their jobs.

A memo sent to the agencies said that employees with one to two years of federal service history can be terminated without the right to appeal, depending on their work status.

A separate memo told federal agencies to rescind most job offers for people who aren't expected to start work until February 8, and directed organisations to remove government job ads from public posting boards.

"Any recruiters seeking to fill positions on behalf of the government must cease correspondence with candidates no later than January 21," the memo said.

All of this comes as part of Mr Trump's inauguration promise to implement a federal workforce hiring freeze, and to order government staffers back to working in offices full-time.

The memo states that jobs related to immigration enforcement, national security, the military, postal service and public safety are exempted from the hiring freeze.

Reporting with Reuters

SpaceX Founder Elon Musk is now within Donald Trump's inner circle, as one of his governmental advisory members.

Reuters is reporting that it appears Mr Musk has already been flexing his influence from within the government.

The new administration is likely to scrap the White House's National Space Council, after lobbying by SpaceX for it to be axed, Reuters says.

The Council, up until Mr Trump being sworn into office, was chaired by ex-vice-president Kamala Harris and was tasked with developing policies dealing with American civil and commercial interests in space.

If you try to access the Council's official White House page today though, this is what you'll see:

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has been asked about the new Trump administration, and specifically whether Australia is prepared to support the US in taking back the Panama Canal or seizing any portion of Greenland.

Those ideas have both been key points of discussion throughout Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and were referred to again during his inauguration day.

Mr Marles did say Australia welcomes the beginning of the Trump administration, but you'll have to make up your own minds as to whether he answered the question about Panama and Greenland.

Take a listen in the clip below:

Donald Trump has just signed his approval of a full and unconditional pardon for a man named Ross Ulbricht.

Ulbricht is serving a life sentence in jail for creating and operating the website Silk Road, which allowed its users to secretly buy and sell dangerous drugs and other illegal items online, mostly via the Dark Web.

The website was shut down in 2013 when Ulbricht was arrested for trading drugs like heroin and cocaine, selling illegal weapons, hiring out hit men and offering tools and tutorials for people to learn how to hack computer systems.

At the time, the FBI said the site was responsible for up to $US1.3 billion ($2 billion) in sales made using Bitcoin, and received more than $US80 million ($127.6 million) in commissioned work.

This pardon comes about an hour after President Trump launched an attack on the transportation of dangerous drugs like fentanyl into the US from countries like Canada, Mexico and China.

Mr Trump first announced plans in May to commute Ulbricht's jail sentence.

"The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponisation of government against me," Mr Trump also said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

I absolutely can, Will.

I covered the news earlier in this blog about states taking the president to court over his new birthright executive order.

To save you scrolling back through today's updates, here's a refresher:

Donald Trump's order comes into effect on February 19 and denies automatic birthright US citizenship for anyone whose mothers do not live legally in the country, and whose fathers aren't legal citizens or residents.

The order also extends to people whose mothers live in the US legally but on a temporary basis, and whose fathers are not legal citizens or residents.

Eighteen states, plus the District of Columbia and city of San Francisco have sued the government in the federal court to block the order.

In addition to New Jersey and the two cities, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin joined the lawsuit.

Reporting with AP

Penny Wong was asked if she sought assurances from Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the future of AUKUS, the nuclear submarine agreement, under the Trump administration.

The foreign minister said the administration understood the 'strategic imperative' of AUKUS.

"It was a very positive discussion," she said.

"I refer you again to the testimony of the secretary which reflected his comments to his discussion with me today that AUKUS is an investment in security and stability in the region.

"It's a demonstration of the way in which partnerships can be utilised to improve and enhance the security of of the region and of the countries involved.

"And I think it's being really clear that the Trump administration understands the strategic imperative around AUKUS, which is why the government is so committed to it."

Penny Wong was asked to comment on what the most significant change is for Australia with the change of administration.

The foreign minister declined to comment directly, but was willing to provide her observations.

She says it's clear Donald Trump  is going to do things differently.

"He did so in his first term, and he campaigned on taking a different approach on many matters – some of them domestic, and some of them international.

"We should not be surprised if he implements that agenda.

"We should also have some confidence in our capacity as a nation to navigate those challenges, to engage with the administration, and to talk through – at very many different levels of the new administration – talk about the issues that are relevant to Australia’s interests."

Asked about if she felt satisfied Australia would escape the looming trade tariffs, one of Trump's key election promises, Wong insisted that every new administration had different views on trade policy.

"Every Australian government in office at a time where in a new administration has come in, has had to navigate those trade policy issues," Wong said.

"This is no different. I'd refer you, for example, not only to the FTA negotiations many years ago, but I'd refer you to the first Trump administration and the challenges that had to be navigated by the then Turnbull government."

While President Trump was holding his first press conference, Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong was holding her first official talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Wong described the talks as "warm and constructive" and revealed she was the second foreign minister to meet with Rubio.

"I am really privileged to have had this level of engagement so early in the new administration, and I thank them for that courtesy, and for the privilege," she says.

Wong, who was invited to Washington to attend Trump's inauragation, also met with her counterparts from Japan and India as part of the Quad foreign ministers meeting.

She also met with national security adviser Mike Waltz. 

"I was really pleased to meet him so early. In fact, we had such an early meeting. The moving van was still in the driveway at the West Wing when we came out of our meeting," she said.

Earlier my colleague Brad Ryan reported that John Bolton, who served as Donald Trump's national security adviser before he was fired and became a vocal critic, said that his Secret Service protection had been taken away.

President Trump has now explained the reasoning for that decision, saying people should not expect to have the same job or a security detail for life.

"I thought he was a very dumb person," Mr Trump said.

"I used him well, because every time people saw me come into a meeting with John Bolton standing behind me, they thought that he'd attack them, because he was a warmonger."

The president also said that part of his reasoning for the decision was because Mr Bolton was involved in a US military operation in the Middle East.

Mr Bolton was the US under secretary of state during the Bush administration, which decided to invade Iraq in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"We blew up the Middle East and we left. We got nothing out of it except a lot of death. We killed a lot of people, and John Bolton was one of those guys. A stupid guy," Mr Trump said.

Donald Trump has now reiterated his pledge to impose tariffs of up to 25 per cent on goods coming into the United States from Canada and Mexico — saying an influx of the dangerous drug fentanyl from those nations is the reason for the policy.

Mr Trump also said a similar problem is happening with regards to China, and confirmed he had spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping abut the problem.

"I said: 'We don't want that crap in our country. We've got to stop it'," he said.

The president confirmed that his administration is looking at imposing a 10 per cent tariff on Chinese goods, if fentanyl continues to flow into Mexico from that country.

He says the tariffs on all three countries could come into effect on February 1.