Trump 2nd term updates: Trump says USAID is run by 'radical lunatics'

Speaker Mike Johnson said he doesn't question Trump's decision to pardon more than thousand people convicted in connection to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, including some violent offenders.

"The president's made his decision, I don't second guess those," Johnson said at a news conference alongside House Republican leadership.

"And yes, you know, it's kind of my ethos, my worldview, we believe in redemption, we believe in second chances," Johnson said. "If you could -- would argue that those people didn't pay a heavy penalty having been incarcerated and all of that, that's up to you."

Other Republicans had mixed reactions to the news when asked by ABC News on Tuesday. Some claimed they'd "never" seen video of rioters attacking police. Others said Trump's move was something they "just can't agree" with.

Russell Vought, who led the Office of Management and Budget during Trump's first term, is facing questions from senators on the Budget Committee.

Vought was involved in Project 2025, the controversial conservative blueprint for a second Trump term that Trump tried to distance himself from while on the campaign trail.

If confirmed, Vought would see through the implementation of a Trump executive order to terminate DEI programs in the federal government.

A top Trump administration official sent a memo to the Justice Department workforce ordering criminal investigations into any state and local actors who may attempt to obstruct enforcement of federal immigration laws, according to a copy obtained by ABC News.

The memo further details a series of policy changes being rolled out in the department as a result of multiple executive orders signed by Trump, including the establishment of a "Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group."

As ABC News reported, multiple longtime senior level officials in DOJ's Criminal and National Security Divisions were given an abrupt notice of their reassignment to the task force.

The move has already caused alarm among many current and former officials in the department who see it as an exodus of the department's career "braintrust" on major national security and public corruption cases and a sign the Trump team is placing loyalty to the president's agenda above the typical norms and expertise of officials.

-ABC News' Alexander Mallin

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is updating their terminology as a result of the election.

From now on, those they are arresting will be referred to as "alien" as opposed to "noncitizen" and those in the country without authorization will be referred to as "illegal alien" according to an internal ICE memo obtained by ABC News.

"ICE employees are directed to use the lexicon consistent with the immigration and nationality act and the language historically used by the agency," according to the memo.

The Biden administration changed the language in 2021 when former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued terminology guidance. Trump's used increasingly dark rhetoric on the campaign trail when talking about migrants, including calling some of them "animals."

-ABC News' Luke Barr