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Trump’s first full day back in the White House will include layoffs and an infrastructure announcement

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is spending his first full day at the White House meeting with congressional leaders, making an infrastructure announcement and demonstrating one of his favorite displays of power: firing people.

The new president posted on his social media network Truth early Tuesday that he would fire more than a thousand presidential candidates “who are not aligned with our vision,” including some high-profile names.

Trump fired chef and humanitarian Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, retired General Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, former State Department official Brian Hook from the Wilson Center board and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of the President’s Export Council.

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“You’re fired!” Trump said in his post – his catchphrase from his reality TV show ‘The Apprentice’.

Former President Joe Biden also fired many Trump appointees during his first days in office, including former press secretary Sean Spicer from the board that oversaw the US Naval Academy.

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Trump planned to build on his barrage of Inauguration Day announcements, with the White House promising a “massive announcement” on infrastructure. Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to detail the announcement in advance, but she said in an interview on Fox News that it would send a message to the world.

“You don’t want to miss it,” she said.

“Infrastructure Week” became a punchline during Trump’s first administration, when White House officials repeatedly — over the years — promised to emphasize major public works projects, only to have Trump himself quickly shift the emphasis elsewhere while important legislation on infrastructure never came into being.

It was enough of a pattern that Biden joked about his predecessor’s inability to devote even a week’s worth of attention to infrastructure while his administration oversaw the passage of billions of dollars in bridges, tunnels, roads and other projects over the next decade .

“He didn’t build a damn thing,” Biden often said of Trump, adding that his own administration had delivered an “infrastructure decade.”

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Trump wants to ban Chinese companies from owning vital US infrastructure in sectors such as energy, technology and agriculture, and says he will force Chinese owners to sell any assets “that endanger America’s national security.”

Trump also attended a national prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday morning, a customary visit for new presidents and a visit to conclude his four days of inauguration-related events.

Later in the day, the president was scheduled to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other Republican lawmakers. It’s the first formal meeting for the GOP leadership teams, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso, and the new president as they map out priorities for using Republican power in Washington.

Despite an ambitious 100-day agenda, the Republican-led Congress is out of sync on some ideas and strategies as they rush to pass tax cuts for the wealthy, mass deportations and other targets for Trump.

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Trump used the first hours of his presidency Monday to sign a series of executive orders and memoranda, quickly demonstrating that his new grip on the U.S. government would mark a sea change from his predecessor.

He pardoned hundreds of people for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords and the World Health Organization and began his immigration policy by declaring a national emergency in the U.S. and Mexico. border and sought to end automatic citizenship for anyone born in America, which is expected to face constitutional challenges.

He also signed an order that seeks to suspend the ban on TikTok for 75 days to give its China-based parent company more time to find an approved buyer.

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Associated Press writers Will Weissert, Darlene Superville and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

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