Reuters US Domestic News Summary

'crises' after taking office on Wednesday Joe Biden will sign 15 executive actions after he is sworn in as U.S. president on Wednesday, aides said, undoing policies put in place by outgoing President Donald Trump and making his first moves on the pandemic and climate change.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Massive security phalanx aims to shield Biden inauguration from mob, 'lone wolf' threats

Washington braced for a tense inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday, amid overwhelming security measures including over 25,000 National Guard troops and a shuttered National Mall devoid of spectators to the quadrennial ritual. Security analysts said the unprecedented precautions would protect Biden's 12:00 noon EST (1700 GMT) oath of office from a major planned assault, like the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, leaving five people dead. Analysis: Trump's legacy - A more divided America, a more unsettled world

When President Donald Trump delivered his inaugural speech on Jan. 20, 2017, he promised an end to “American carnage,” painting a bleak picture of a divided, dysfunctional nation he had insisted that he alone could fix. Closing out his presidency exactly four years later, Trump leaves behind an even more polarized America, where thousands are dying daily from the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy is badly damaged and political violence has surged. Analysis: With a nation in crisis, pressure builds on Biden to deliver

During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden vowed to fight for the soul of America. As he formally assumes office as the next U.S. president on Wednesday, Biden now faces the steep task of repairing a nation's soul in battered and desperate shape. Few presidents, if any, have taken power in circumstances such as these: a still-raging pandemic claiming lives and shredding livelihoods, a continuing threat of armed insurrection and a defiant former president who faces a U.S. Senate trial charged with encouraging an attack on his country's capital. Biden to order agencies to revisit vehicle tailpipe emissions standards

President-elect Joe Biden will order U.S. agencies on Wednesday to revisit fuel efficiency standards as well as rules governing emissions from airplanes, and appliance and building energy efficiency standards, the transition team said. The Trump administration in March finalized a rollback of U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to require 1.5% annual increases in efficiency through 2026, well below the 5% yearly boosts in Obama administration rules it discarded. Biden to sign 15 actions to address U.S. 'crises' after taking office on Wednesday

Joe Biden will sign 15 executive actions after he is sworn in as U.S. president on Wednesday, aides said, undoing policies put in place by outgoing President Donald Trump and making his first moves on the pandemic and climate change. To address the "crises" of the pandemic, the economy, climate change and racial inequity, Biden will sign the executive orders and memorandums in the Oval Office in the afternoon, and ask agencies to take steps in two additional areas, said incoming Press Secretary Jen Psaki. Champagne on Inauguration Day? Try antacid, Democrats say, as Trump era finally ends

Marge Hobley has waited four years for the day she could finally celebrate the end of Donald Trump's chaotic presidency. But after the events of recent months – the coronavirus pandemic, Trump's false attacks on the election results, and the shocking assault on the U.S. Capitol – the 77-year-old Indianapolis Democrat said any jubilation has yielded to a more muted mix of relief, sadness and cautious optimism. Trump ends tumultuous term under cloud, faces uncertain future

President Donald Trump leaves the presidency on Wednesday under a dark cloud of his own making, ending his single four-year term stained by two impeachments, deep political divisions and his handling of a pandemic that has caused 400,000 U.S. deaths. Trump, 74, will bid farewell to the White House hours before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated. That will make him the first outgoing president since Andrew Johnson in 1869 to skip the Inauguration Day ceremony marking the formal transfer of power, in a final display of pique at his failure to win re-election. Acting AG Rosen stepping down as Trump administration ends

Acting U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen will step down on Wednesday after temporarily heading the Justice Department and serving as the No. 2 official since May 2019, overseeing its Big Tech probe and other wide-ranging investigations. Rosen, 62, a former deputy transportation secretary under President Donald Trump who was sworn in as deputy attorney general in May 2019, took the reins of the Justice Department after Bill Barr announced he would step down on Dec. 23. Trump pardons ex-aide Bannon but not himself or family

U.S. President Donald Trump granted clemency to former White House aide Steve Bannon as part of a wave of pardons and commutations issued in his final hours in office, but did not pardon himself, members of his family or lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Trump leaves office on Wednesday, when Joe Biden is sworn in as the nation's next president. White House officials had argued to Trump that he should not pardon himself or his family because it might look like they are guilty of crimes, according to a source familiar with the situation. Biden to assume U.S. presidency amid deep divisions, raging pandemic

Democrat Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, assuming the helm of a country beset by deep political divides and battered by a raging coronavirus pandemic. Biden, 78, will become the oldest U.S. president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that has been largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus as well as security concerns following the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.