President Trump’s first week in office has seen a whirlwind of activity on multiple fronts – from cabinet confirmations to speeches and executive actions. How can we take stock?
Longtime CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller has kept detailed tabs on presidential activity during the last few administrations, and he aims to do the same while covering Mr. Trump. Here’s Knoller’s rundown of President Trump’s first week by-the-numbers.
Mr. Trump visited the CIA last Saturday, just one day after his inauguration, where he blamed the media for his feud with the intelligence community and bragged about the size of his inauguration crowd. He visited the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday, giving remarks after he took several executive actions dealing with immigration and border security.
Mr. Trump signed a bill last Friday , just after being sworn in, that granted a waiver to retired Gen. James Mattis to serve as Defense Secretary. Mattis needed the waiver because of a rule stipulating that the Pentagon cannot be led by anyone who’s served in the military in the last seven years.
Mr. Trump has signed Executive Orders – the most significant form of executive action – to cut off funding to so-called “sanctuary cities” that refuse to turn over undocumented immigrants to federal law enforcement, to prioritize construction of a wall along the U. S.-Mexico border, to roll back certain portions of the Affordable Care Act , and to reduce the time allowed for the environmental review process on some infrastructure projects.
Mr. Trump has issued a variety of presidential memoranda – a form of executive action that is slightly less significant than an order, but still quite meaningful. The memoranda have, among other things, withdrawn the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership , restricted U. S. funding to international organizations that provide abortion, frozen pending federal regulations, instituted a hiring freeze for federal workers, and approved a controversial pair of energy pipelines .
James Mattis has been sworn in as defense secretary, Mike Pompeo has been sworn in as CIA director, John Kelly has been sworn in as the secretary of homeland security, and Nikki Haley has been sworn in as United Nations ambassador.
