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Trump promises flurry of executive orders on Day One

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Trump returns to office more emboldened, experienced

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Tech billionaires, including Musk, flock to Trump's side

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Heavy security for swearing-in after two assassination

bids

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Trump to become first felon to occupy White House

(Adds Trump speech excerpts in paragraph 7, Biden's pardons in

paragraph 4; background)

By Joseph Ax and Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) -

Donald Trump will be sworn in as U.S. president on Monday,

ushering in another turbulent four-year term with promises to

push the limits of executive power, deport millions of

immigrants, secure retribution against his political enemies and

transform the role of the U.S. on the world stage.

Trump's inauguration completes a triumphant comeback for a

political disruptor who survived two impeachment trials, a

felony conviction, two assassination attempts and an indictment

for attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss.

The ceremony will take place at noon (1700 GMT) inside the

Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, four years after a mob of Trump

supporters breached the symbol of American democracy in an

unsuccessful effort to forestall the Republican Trump's 2020

defeat to Democrat Joe Biden. The swearing-in was moved indoors

for the first time in 40 years due to the extreme cold.

Trump, the first U.S. president since the 19th century to

win a second term after losing the White House, has said he will

pardon "on Day One" many of the more than 1,500 people charged

in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Biden, in one of

his last acts, pardoned lawmakers and congressional staff who

investigated the riot, along with police officers who testified.

That promise is among a flurry of executive actions

concerning immigration, energy and tariffs that Trump intends to

sign as soon as Monday after taking the oath of office. At a

campaign-style rally on Sunday in Washington, Trump vowed to

impose harsh immigration restrictions on his first day.

He also pledged to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion

initiatives on his first day as he takes office on Monday, which

is also Martin Luther King Day.

"A tide of change is sweeping the country," Trump plans

to say in his inaugural speech, according to excerpts seen by

Reuters. "Today, I will sign a series of historic executive

orders. With these actions, we will begin the complete

restoration of America and the revolution of common sense."

As he did in 2017, Trump enters office as a chaotic and

disruptive force, vowing to remake the federal government and

expressing deep skepticism about the U.S.-led alliances that

have shaped post-World War Two global politics.

The former president returns to Washington emboldened

after winning the national popular vote over Vice President

Kamala Harris by more than 2 million votes thanks to a

groundswell of voter frustration over persistent inflation,

though he still fell just short of a 50% majority.

In 2016, Trump won the Electoral College - and the

presidency - despite receiving nearly 3 million fewer votes than

Hillary Clinton.

Jeremi Suri, a presidential historian at the University of

Texas at Austin, compared the present era to the late 19th

century, when Grover Cleveland became the only other president

to win non-consecutive terms. Like now, he said, that was a time

of upheaval, as industrial advances transformed the economy,

wealth inequality exploded and the proportion of immigrant

Americans reached a historical peak.

"What we're really talking about is a fundamentally

different economy, a fundamentally different country in terms of

its racial and gender and social makeup, and we are as a country

struggling to figure out what that means," he said. "It's an

existential moment."

Trump, who will be the oldest president ever to be sworn

into office, will enjoy Republican majorities in both chambers

of Congress that have been almost entirely purged of any

intra-party dissenters. His advisers have outlined plans to

replace nonpartisan bureaucrats with hand-picked loyalists.

Even before taking office, Trump established a rival power

center in the weeks after his election victory, meeting world

leaders and causing consternation by musing aloud about seizing

the Panama Canal, taking control of NATO ally Denmark's

territory of Greenland and imposing tariffs on the biggest U.S.

trading partners.

His influence has already been felt in the Israel-Hamas

announcement last week of a ceasefire deal. Trump, whose envoy

joined the negotiations in Qatar, had warned of "hell to pay" if

Hamas did not release its hostages before the inauguration.

Trump claimed during the campaign he would end the

Russia-Ukraine war on his first day, but his advisers have

acknowledged any peace deal will take months.

Unlike in 2017, when he filled many top jobs with

institutionalists, Trump has prioritized fealty over experience

in nominating a bevy of controversial cabinet picks, some of

whom are outspoken critics of the agencies they have been tapped

to lead.

He also has the backing of the world's richest man, Elon

Musk, who spent more than $250 million to help get Trump

elected. Other billionaire tech leaders who have sought to curry

favor with the incoming administration, such as Amazon's Jeff

Bezos, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet's Sundar Pichai and

Apple's Tim Cook, will join Musk in attending Monday's ceremony,

according to Reuters and other media.

Trump said on Sunday he will travel to California on Friday

to visit fire-ravaged Los Angeles County.

'AMERICAN CARNAGE'

The inauguration will proceed amid heavy security after a

campaign highlighted by an increase in political violence that

included two assassination attempts against Trump, including one

in which a bullet grazed his ear.

Federal authorities are also on alert after the New Year's

Day attack in New Orleans, when investigators say a U.S. Army

veteran inspired by the Islamic State drove a pickup truck into

a crowd of revelers, killing 14. Last week, the FBI warned of

potential copycat attacks.

Eight years ago, Trump delivered a bleak inaugural address

vowing to end the "American carnage" of what he said were

crime-ridden cities and soft borders, a departure from the tone

of optimism most newly elected presidents have adopted.

Foreign governments will be scrutinizing the tenor of

Trump's speech on Monday after he waged a campaign laced with

inflammatory rhetoric.

The traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue past the

White House will now take place indoors at the Capital One

Arena, where Trump held his victory rally on Sunday. Trump will

also attend three inaugural balls in the evening.

Amid the pageantry of the day, Trump will begin signing the

first of what could be dozens of executive orders.

Some actions will begin tightening immigration rules by

seeking to classify drug cartels as "foreign terrorist

organizations" and declare an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico

border, among other moves, a source familiar with the planning

said. Other orders may aim to scrap Biden's environmental

regulations and withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate

agreement, sources have said.

Many of the executive orders are likely to face legal

challenges.

Trump will be the first felon to occupy the White House

after a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business

records to cover up hush money paid to a porn star. He escaped

punishment at his sentencing, in part because the judge

acknowledged the impossibility of imposing penalties on a

soon-to-be president.

Winning the election also rid Trump of two federal

indictments - for plotting to overturn the 2020 election and for

retaining classified documents - thanks to a Justice Department

policy that presidents cannot be prosecuted while in office.

In a report released last week, Special Counsel Jack Smith

said he had gathered enough evidence to convict Trump in the

election case if Trump had reached trial.