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Agencies

US President Donald Trump gets down to work this week, signing a slew of executive orders to start rolling out his policy agenda after a tumultuous first few days put his administration on the back foot.
As he embarks on his first full week in office, the 45th US president will try to steady the ship, seeking support from lawmakers, business leaders and unions at the White House.
Since he was sworn in on Friday Trump’s White House has been pilloried for lying to the public about crowds at the inauguration, and the president himself for making a campaign-style speech before a memorial to fallen CIA officers.
Some two million Americans have poured into the streets for women-led demonstrations the scale of which were unseen in a generation.
Speaking in the White House East Room during a swearing-in ceremony for top aides, the new US president warned his staff of future challenges but declared he believed they were ready.
“But with the faith in each other and the faith in God, we will get the job done,” the president said.
“We will prove worthy of this moment in history. And I think it may very well be a great moment in history.”
Watch: Trump respond to massive public protests


He said his staff was in the White House not to “help ourselves” but to “devote ourselves to the national good.”
Earlier Sunday, Trump offered a scattershot response to the sweeping post-inauguration protests a day earlier, sarcastically denigrating the public opposition and then defending demonstrators’ rights a short time later.
“Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn’t these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly,” Trump tweeted early Sunday morning. Ninety-five minutes later, he struck a more conciliatory tone.
“Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don’t always agree, I recognise the rights of people to express their views,” the president tweeted, still using his personal account.

Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017


Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017

The duelling tweets marked his administration’s first response to the millions who rallied at women’s marches in Washington and cities across the world. Hundreds of protesters lined the street as Trump’s motorcade drove past on Saturday afternoon, with many screaming and chanting.
The Washington rally appeared to attract more people than attended Trump’s inauguration on Friday, but there were no completely comparable numbers. Regional transportation officials tweeted on Sunday that 1,001,616 trips were taken on the rail system on Saturday. Metro spokesman Dan Stessel had said that on Friday, the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration, just over 570,000 trips were taken on the rail system.
Why I marched against Donald Trump
Suggestions of weak enthusiasm for his inauguration clearly irked the new president - and appeared to knock the White House off its footing as it took its earliest steps. In talk show interviews Sunday, Trump’s advisers defended his criticism of journalists for correctly reporting that his inauguration drew a smaller crowd President Barack Obama did eight years ago, saying the Trump administration was supplying “alternative facts.”

“There’s no way to really quantify crowds. We all know that. You can laugh at me all you want,” Kellyanne Conway told NBC’s Meet The Press.
She added: “I think it’s actually symbolic of the way we’re treated by the press”.
Reality has also bitten.
A pledge to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem has been put on the back burner for now.
On Sunday, Trump’s spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told his Cabinet that the call would cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Syria, Iran and other issues. Trump said the call was “very nice” but provided no details.
Trump also announced that he’s set up meetings with the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

“We’re going to start some negotiations having to do with NAFTA,” he said of his meeting with Mexico, along with immigration and security at the border. Trump has promised to build a wall along the length of the southern border and insisted that Mexico will pay for it.
Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, said on Fox News Sunday the president would spend his first full week in office undoing some of his predecessor’s agenda and planned to sign executive orders on immigration and trade.
Trump has pledged to scuttle trade deals such as a pending Asia-Pacific agreement and overturn Obama’s executive order deferring deportations for 700,000 people who were brought into the country illegally as minors.
Aides also made clear that Trump would not release his tax returns now that he’s taken office, breaking with a decades-long tradition of transparency. Every president since 1976 has released the information, but Trump has said he doesn’t believe Americans care whether he follows suit.

Throughout the campaign, Trump refused to make his filings public, saying they’re under audit by the Internal Revenue Service and he’d release them only once that review is complete. Tax experts and IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said such audits don’t bar taxpayers from releasing returns.
“He’s not going to release his tax returns. We litigated this all through the election. People didn’t care,” Conway said on ABC’s This Week.
A Washington group of lawyers and researchers planned to file a federal lawsuit against Trump , alleging that the US president is violating a constitutional ban on accepting payments from foreign governments.
In a statement released Sunday the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said the newly sworn-in Trump was in violation of the Constitution because his business properties abroad operate partly based on goodwill from foreign governments and regulators.

On Monday, Trump was scheduled to host separate meetings with business leaders, unions and members of both houses of Congress.
He was also to meet the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan.
Tax reform is likely to be high on the agenda.
Some in Congress want to lower the corporate tax rate to 20 per cent and pay for it by ending tax breaks on imports.
That is likely to come up against fierce opposition from big retailers who depend on cheap imports and could well run up against WTO rules.
Reform of Obama’s health care laws is also likely to be on the menu.
Republicans are keen to repeal the law, but are less united on what should replace it.
Trump has publicly promised that none of the tens of millions of Americans who obtained health insurance under Obama will lose it.
That makes any meaningful changes difficult to pay for.

Trump will also need to win support for some of his cabinet nominees who have yet to be confirmed.
His picks for the CIA - Pompeo - and the State Department - Rex Tillerson - now appear to have enough votes in Congress to pass, but others are less certain.
But the more urgent task for Trump may be to keep always sceptical establishment Republicans on board the “Trump train”.
Trump’s approval rating is around 40 per cent, according to the RealClearPolitics average, low for a president just starting out.
That could make legislators think twice about toeing the line with an unpopular leader.
But Trump’s bareknuckle style has also kept dissent in check, with some terrified that they will become the object of a presidential tweet that sets off a world of political pain.

So far the most willing to thumb their nose at Trump have been senators who have just been re-elected like Marco Rubio and John McCain.
On Thursday, Trump will travel to a Republican Congressional retreat in Philadelphia to further build ties.
The following day, he will host British Prime Minister Theresa May - the first White House visit of a foreign leader under the new administration.
Trump, whose 12th wedding anniversary was Sunday, also attended a reception for law enforcement officers and first responders who helped with his inauguration. He singled out the work of FBI Director James Comey, whom he offered a handshake and hug.
Associated Press, Agence France-Presse


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Donald Trump

‘We will get the job done’: Trump, amid combative start, pledges to rise to moment as US president

Since he was sworn in on Friday Trump’s White House has been pilloried for lying to the public about crowds at the inauguration, and the president himself for making a campaign-style speech before a memorial to fallen CIA officers. Photo: Bloomberg

Former Exxon Mobile Executive Rex Tillerson appears Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Capitol Hill. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Melina Mara

White House senior staff members are sworn in by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, not pictured, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017. Trump today mocked protesters who gathered for large demonstrations across the U.S. and the world on Saturday to signal discontent with his leadership, but later offered a more conciliatory tone, saying he recognized such marches as a hallmark of our democracy. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show in this photograph received via the BBC in London, Britain, January 22, 2017. Jeff Overs/Courtesy of the BBC/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE.

CHICAGO, IL - JANUARY 21: Mark Hughes protests outside of Trump Tower on January 21, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in protest after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. John Gress/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

The protest march, a rejoinder to the inauguration of President Donald Trump, was the largest D.C. rally in years. MUST CREDIT: Photo for The Washington Post by Oliver Contreras

FILE - In this Aug. 31, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump walks with Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto at the end of their joint statement at Los Pinos, the presidential official residence, in Mexico City. Trump called his surprise visit to Mexico City a 'great honor.' A week later one of Nieto's closest advisers and confidants, Finance Secretary Luis Videgaray, resigned in a move seen as linked to the unpopular decision to invite Trump to visit Mexico. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

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