As we've been reporting, Donald Trump has heavily defended his decision to release high-profile prisoners jailed over the Capitol riots - and to pardon nearly 1,600 people in connection with 6 January.

In the latest episode of the BBC's Americast, our team of presenters in DC discuss who has been released, what the reaction has been, and how Trump is changing the narrative over who was responsible for the riots.

Also, Trump’s former advisor Bryan Lanza joins with an inside view on why the immigration raids are more about PR than deportation.

• Listen on BBC Sounds, or wherever you get your BBC podcasts

Image source, EPA

We're now three days into Donald Trump's second term as US president - and already there have been a lot of headlines about his first actions back in office. If you're just joining us, good morning, or if you need a recap - here's what you need to know:

• Trump has told reporters in the White House he's considering imposing a 10% tariff on imports of Chinese-made goods as soon as 1 February - sticking to an election promise he made
• The president previously threatened to also levy import taxes of 25% on Mexico and Canada, accusing them of allowing undocumented migrants and drugs to enter the US
• Late on Tuesday, Trump defended his decision to pardon supporters who were convicted over the 6 January 2021 US capitol riots - one of the day's most-recognised faces, QAnon 'shaman' Jacob Chansley, said he was off to buy guns after receiving his presidential pardon
• Meanwhile, a total of 22 states have lodged lawsuits against the executive order signed yesterday that revoked birthright citizenship - the automatic American citizenship that is granted to anyone born in the country
• Trump also rescinded guidelines that would have prevented schools or churches from being targeted in immigration raids, and reinstated the "Remain in Mexico" policy that kept asylum seekers out of the country while applications are processed
• And at a multi-faith service earlier yesterday, a reverend asked Trump to "have mercy" on LGBT+ people and immigrants. He later called her "nasty" and a "Trump hater", in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, adding that she's "not very good at her job"

Fresh from his inauguration, US President Donald Trump has wasted no time in signing off a suite of executive orders.

Among them is a direction to rename the Gulf of Mexico the ''Gulf of America''. But can the president really do that?

BBC Verify's Jake Horton takes a look:

Kelly Ng
BBC News

Image source, Reuters

Internet users in China have been discussing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was sworn into office yesterday.

Rubio is considered by many as a foreign policy "hawk" or someone who takes hardline positions, in this case towards China as well as Iran.

"That's good, he will have a lot more to do now, and will not be bothering us like a rabid dog, as before," wrote a user on Weibo, China's version of X.

Beijing has sanctioned Rubio twice before, over his comments on Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Several Weibo users asked if those sanctions will be dropped.

China's foreign ministry did not respond directly when asked about Rubio on Tuesday. Instead, it said that "China will firmly defend national interests".

"In the meantime, it’s necessary for high-level Chinese and American officials to maintain contact in an appropriate way," said the ministry's spokesman Guo Jiakun.

One of the people who served time in jail for participating in the 6 January riots has refused the pardon from Donald Trump, telling the BBC "we were wrong that day".

Pam Hemphill, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 days in prison, told the BBC World Service Newsday programme that there should be no pardons.

"Accepting a pardon would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law and, of course, our nation," she said.

"I pleaded guilty because I was guilty, and accepting a pardon also would serve to contribute to their gaslighting and false narrative."

She told the programme that she sees the Trump government as trying to "rewrite history and I don't want to be part of that".

"We were wrong that day, we broke the law - there should be no pardons."

Trump earlier announced a new investment in AI. Here's a rundown:

• Standing next to major tech executives Sam Altman and Larry Ellison, and Japanese tech tycoon Masayoshi Son, Donald Trump announced the formation of Stargate, a US-based artificial intelligence company
• Trump said the company would invest $500bn (£404bn) in AI infrastructure, leading to the creation of roughly 100,000 jobs
• Ellison of Oracle said data centres are already under construction in Texas, saying that there are 10 buildings under construction and will expand to 20
• Altman from OpenAI said this was the "most important project of this era", adding that it wouldn't happen without Trump
• Repeating Trump's words, Son said "this is the beginning of the golden age of America"

Image source, EPA

In another of his first acts as the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at ending "birthright citizenship" - the automatic American citizenship that is granted to anyone born in the country.

It's something he's long promised, but most legal scholars say he cannot do so with an executive order, as we break down here.

Eighteen states, along with the city of San Francisco and the District of Columbia, have launched a lawsuit aiming to dismantle the executive order, saying birthright citizenship is protected by the constitution.

And later on Tuesday, a group of four more states - Illinois, Arizona, Washington and Oregon - filed a separate case in Washington state too.

One of Trump's first moves in office was signing an executive order to end what he calls "radical and wasteful" government Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) programmes.

In a social media post, his press secretary confirmed staff in any of those roles will be placed on paid administrative leave "effective immediately", as government takes steps to end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.

A memo issued by the Office of Personnel Management instructed agencies to notify affected employees no later than 17:00 EST (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday. It also directs agencies to remove the associated websites and social media accounts, and to cancel any DEI-related trainings.

Will Grant
Reporting from Tijuana, Mexico

On the morning that the president took the oath of office, around 60 migrants gathered at the Chaparral crossing in Tijuana, waiting to speak to border guards about their asylum claims.

But they never got the chance, as Mexican officials instead directed them towards buses that would take them back to shelters.

Oralia has been living with her two youngest children for seven months in one of those shelters - a nylon tent just walking distance from the US border.

She tells us she is fleeing cartel threats in Michoacán, and that her 10-year-old boy has epilepsy. She says her hope was to get him medical attention somewhere safe in the US.

But from the Oval Office on Monday evening, hours after returning to the presidency, Trump signed a blizzard of orders aimed at delivering on one of his central campaign promises: to drastically reduce illegal migration and asylum claims at the US border.

She says she now has little hope that her claim will ever be heard.

"We have no choice but to go back and trust in God that nothing happens," she says.

You can read more about how border communities are reacting to Trump's orders here.

Mentions of the FBI's investigation into the 6 January riot at the Capitol - the biggest probe in its history - appear to have been scrubbed from the agency's website.

On his first evening in office, President Trump freed more than 1,500 people charged over the violent attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and also ordered all pending cases against suspects be dropped.

Since then, general details on the FBI website about their investigation, news of arrested people, as well as appeals for information on outstanding suspects - accompanied by pictures and videos of them - have disappeared.

An FBI spokesperson said the websites "are no longer active", according to NBC. Asked for comment, the FBI wouldn't say why they were taken down or who ordered the move.

We accessed the old pages through an internet archive service, external, but now when a visitor navigates to them, they are redirected to the generic FBI home page.

Searching the site for the term "Capitol violence" still turns up links to news releases issued by the FBI about individual cases, however.

Image source, EPA

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a video call hours after Trump was sworn in yesterday, pledging to bring bilateral relations "towards greater heights".

Faced with "external uncertainties", Xi called on Putin to "continue deepening strategic coordination, firming up mutual support, and safeguarding the legitimate interests" of Beijing and Moscow, Chinese state media reported.

Putin called Xi a "dear friend", and said Russia and China were building ties "on the basis of friendship, mutual trust and support".

"Russia and China's joint work plays an important stabilising role in international affairs," he said.

An information page which helped people applying for or updating a US passport in answering questions about their gender appears to have been removed from US State Department's website.

The page, which we've viewed through internet archives, external, previously said applicants could select "male (M), female (F), or unspecified or another gender identity (X)" as the gender marker on their passport.

It also answered questions about the documentation needed to change the gender marker on a passport, and on how a gender transition may affect passport validity.

The URL now redirects to a general information page about the passport application process.

President Trump during his inaugural address said "there are only two genders, male and female", and signed an order making that government policy shortly after. The order also declares that gender cannot be changed.

You can read more about his changes to gender and diversity policies here.

Image source, Getty Images

Several of the Capitol rioters freed after Trump's issued a blanket pardon have publicly thanked the president.

"He is a bigger blessing to me than he can ever imagine," says Rachel Powell, who was earlier accused of instructing rioters and smashing windows on 6 January 2021.

"He's brought my family back together and I am indebted. Thank you, President Trump," she says.

"I regret nothing," self-styled QAnon shaman Jacob Chansley tells BBC Newsnight.

Chansley says that now that his conviction has been wiped clean, he plans to exercise his right to buy guns again, and he believes that the attack at the Capitol was staged by the "deep state".

Joao Da Silva
Business reporter

Donald Trump has said he is considering imposing a 10% tariff on imports of Chinese-made goods as soon as 1 February.

In remarks to reporters at the White House earlier, he justified the measure by claiming China was sending fentanyl - an opioid fuelling drug crises around the world - to the US, via Mexico and Canada.

It followed threats by Trump to levy import taxes of 25% on Mexico and Canada, accusing them of allowing undocumented migrants and drugs to come into America.

Though he did not mention the US by name, the Vice Premier of China on Tuesday said his country was looking for a "win-win" solution to trade tensions and wanted to expand its imports.

Sweeping tariffs were a key promise from Trump throughout his campaign, and he insisted they would help the US economy. However analysts say they are likely to lead to higher prices for Americans and pain for companies hit by foreign retaliation.

You can read more about his economic plans here.

During a press conference on Tuesday announcing the AI investment, reporters repeatedly asked Trump about his sweeping pardons for the roughly 1,500 people charged in connection with the US Capitol riot in January 2021.

"Aren't you sending the message that assaulting officers is okay", one reporter asked, referring to those who have been pardoned who were convicted for assaulting Capitol police.

Trump said that those people "spent years in jail" while "murderers don't even go to jail in this country".

He then defended his support of police by saying he was freeing two police officers from jail who had been arrested for "going after a criminal".

Image source, EPA

How did Donald Trump's first full day back in the Oval Office play out? It certainly was busy - here's a catch up of the key moments from Day One:

• The key announcement of the day was a private sector investment in AI to the tune of $500bn over five years from tech giants Open AI, Softbank and Oracle
• One of the faces of the 6 January riot, QAnon 'shaman' Jacob Chansley announced he was off to buy guns after receiving his presidential pardon. Also pardoned was dark web marketplace Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht
• Trump, his family and some high-ranking members of the new government attended a multi-faith service, during which the reverend asked Trump to "have mercy" on LGBT+ people and immigrants - Trump later told reporters he didn't think it was a very good service
• Trump also rescinded guidelines that would have prevented schools or churches from being targeted in immigration raids, and reinstated the "Remain in Mexico" policy that kept asylum seekers out of the country while applications are processed
• Eighteen states lodged lawsuits against the executive order signed yesterday that revoked birthright citizenship
• A federal judge ordered a hearing over the closure of a key app used by migrants, including to request asylum appointments

We are continuing our coverage of Trump's first days back in office here, but you can scroll back through our coverage in our previous live page.