Tesla CEO and “first buddy” Elon Musk was hit with a wave of immediate outrage online and on cable news after he made a salute that many felt was fascist during his speech at the Capitol One Arena on Monday to celebrate President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

While getting extremely excited about the prospect of landing a man on Mars and planting an American flag, the X (formelyTwitter) owner pounded his chest and shot his right arm in an angular motion toward the sky, saying he felt it in his “heart.” He also turned his back to the audience and repeated the gesture towards the American flag hanging over the stage.

“Standing ovation for Elon Musk. By far the biggest reception of the day,” CNN anchor Erin Burnett noted. “You saw him come out with that odd-looking salute.”

Justin Baragona has the story.

Welcome to the second Donald Trump era in Washington, although in practice, the first never really ended.

A majority of Republicans in the House Representatives voted to overturn the 2020 election results. Much of the party referred to him as “President Trump,” even after he left D.C.

Now back as president, Trump delivered a dark and heavily partisan inaugural address Monday. He used it to rehash plenty of his old scores, from arguing that he had been politically persecuted to promising that “the violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end.”

Eric Garcia has the story.

One day after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas officially began, some of the families of Israeli hostages, and at least one former hostage, joined Donald Trump on stage at his inauguration event — moments later, he discussed the January 6 “hostages.”

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, announced that some family members and released hostages were in attendance at the Capitol One Arena event hours after Trump was sworn in.

As crowds in the arena applauded, the hostages’ family members stood in a line wearing yellow scarves and holding photos of their family members kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Enrique Tarrio, the now-former leader of the neo-fascist Proud Boys gang convicted on treason-related charges after fuelling a mob on January 6, is set to be released from federal prison following Donald Trump’s expected clemency order.

Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison, was among four members of the group convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes following a four-month trial.

More than 1,500 people have been criminally charged in connection with a mob’s assault on the Capitol, fuelled by Trump’s bogus narrative that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and stolen from him.

Trump issued “full pardons” for virtually all of them on January 20, and commuted the sentences of 14 convicted members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to time served. Pending cases were dismissed.

“These are the hostages,” he said as he signed a series of orders from the Oval Office.

“We hope they come out tonight, frankly.” he said. “These people have been destroyed. What they’ve done to these people is outrageous. There’s rarely been anything like in the history of our country.”

Alex Woodward has the story.

Shortly after being inaugurated on Monday, Donald Trump signed an executive order initiating a U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization, the United Nations global health body that monitors pandemics and supports vaccinations efforts around the world.

“World Health ripped us off,” Trump said in the Oval Office as he signed.

Monday’s action starts a one-year countdown clock until the final exit, as WHO members are required to give one year’s notice and fulfill existing funding obligations before leaving the group.

Josh Marcus has the story.

Social media users were quick to poke fun at the noticeably different “energy” brought by Barron Trump and “First Buddy” Elon Musk at Monday’s inauguration.

In a clip shared widely both men are seen rising to their feet as part of a standing ovation for the 47th president. The camera then showed a close-up in which Musk grins and laughs, giving a goofy thumbs up to the camera.

Barron, on the other hand, who is standing next to the tech billionaire, stares around with a mostly blank and disinterested expression.

Mike Bedigan has the story.

Donald Trump’s supporters returned to the nation’s capital after four years of exile emboldened, celebratory, and expecting revenge — just like the incoming president himself.

It’s a sign of how everything and nothing has changed in the last four years that extremist Proud Boys were on the march again and January 6 protesters returned to the Capitol.

It was a day of absolution for Trump and everyone in his orbit.

Richard Hall reports from Washington, D.C.:

The U.S. Senate has voted to confirm Marco Rubio as Donald Trump’s secretary of state, making him the new president’s first high-level cabinet official to be approved.

Just hours after Trump was sworn in as president, senators voted 99 to 0 to confirm their longtime colleague, who represented Florida in the upper house of Congress from 2011 right up until his appointment to federal office.

It marks a stark contrast from the two men’s tussle for the Republican nomination back in 2016, when Rubio called Trump a “con artist” and Trump mocked Rubio as “Little Marco”.