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Everything Trump did in the first executive orders and actions of his presidency

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Everything Trump did in the first executive orders and actions of his presidency
News

News

Everything Trump did in the first executive orders and actions of his presidency

2025-01-23 09:28 Last Updated At:09:31

President Donald Trump started his second administration with a blitz of policy actions to reorient the U.S. government.

His executive orders cover issues that range from trade, immigration and U.S. foreign aid to demographic diversity, civil rights and the hiring of federal workers. Some have an immediate policy impact. Others are more symbolic. And some already are being challenged by federal lawsuits.

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President Donald Trump supporter Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes convicted on charges relating to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, talks to reporters outside the DC Central Detention Facility, after being released from a jail in Maryland, in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

President Donald Trump supporter Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes convicted on charges relating to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, talks to reporters outside the DC Central Detention Facility, after being released from a jail in Maryland, in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

FILE - People stand at the Eielson Visitor Center with a view of North America's tallest peak, Denali, in the background, Sept. 2, 2015, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, file)

FILE - People stand at the Eielson Visitor Center with a view of North America's tallest peak, Denali, in the background, Sept. 2, 2015, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, file)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to State Department staff while next to his family including wife Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, at left, at the State Department, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to State Department staff while next to his family including wife Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, at left, at the State Department, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

FILE - A Medicare card is seen on Monday, June 10, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

FILE - A Medicare card is seen on Monday, June 10, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks after taking the oath of office at the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks after taking the oath of office at the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - Kansas high school students, family members and advocates rally for transgender rights, Jan. 31, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

FILE - Kansas high school students, family members and advocates rally for transgender rights, Jan. 31, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

Paraphernalia supporting President Donald Trump is displayed at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Paraphernalia supporting President Donald Trump is displayed at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Dogs are near a border wall separating Mexico from the United States Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Dogs are near a border wall separating Mexico from the United States Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In total, the Republican president’s sweeping actions reflect many of his campaign promises and determination to concentrate executive branch power in the West Wing, while moving the country sharply rightward.

Here is a comprehensive look at Trump’s directives so far in his first three days:

• Designate an “invasion across the southern border of the United States,” a move that triggers certain executive branch powers so, Trump says, his Cabinet “shall take appropriate action to repel, repatriate or remove any alien engaged in the invasion.”

• Allow U.S. military service members to act as immigration and border enforcement officers as part of Trump's promised mass deportation program. Trump’s order covers the Ready Reserve and National Guard, military property that could be used as detention space, ground and air transport vehicles and “other logistics services in support of civilian-controlled law enforcement operations.” The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 has historically limited use of military personnel in domestic law enforcement actions. Trump’s orders frame migrant flow as a national security threat, which he reasons justifies his military orders as commander in chief.

• Stop refugee arrivals and suspend the U.S. Refugee Admission Program effective Jan. 27, 2025, pending a 90-day review and recommendations from Homeland Security, the State Department and others.

• Redefine birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. A Trump order asserts that a child born in the U.S. is not a citizen if 1) the mother does not have legal immigration status or is in the country legally but only temporarily and 2) the father is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order forbids U.S. agencies from issuing any document recognizing such a child as a citizen or accept any state document recognizing citizenship. This order is already being challenged in federal court.

• Prioritize continued construction of a wall and “other barriers” along the U.S.-Mexico border.

• Direct the attorney general and Homeland Security secretary to create Homeland Security Task Forces in all 50 states, comprising of state and local law enforcement charged with “ending the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations.”

• Give the Homeland Security secretary wide latitude to establish agreements with individual state and local law enforcement agencies, “to the maximum extent permitted by law,” that empower those non-federal officials to act as federal immigration officers.

• Require collection of DNA samples and fingerprints from immigration detainees under a 2005 federal law.

• Forbid so-called “catch-and-release” – which allows some migrants to remain in the U.S. while awaiting their immigration court proceedings – in favor of detention and deportation of anyone in the U.S. illegally.

• Direct Homeland Security to immediately devote resources and secure contractors “to construct, operate, control, or use facilities to detain removable aliens.”

• End so-called “parole programs” (often referred to as “family reunification”) that allow family members of certain citizens and permanent-resident immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to come to the U.S. while their visa applications are still pending.

• Require a review of all cases for all immigrants now in the U.S. under “Temporary Protected Status,” with the stated intent of “ensuring ... that such designations are appropriately limited in scope” and last the minimum amount of time “necessary to fulfill the textual requirement” of federal law.

• Revert to vetting and screening standards used during Trump’s first term for any person seeking a visa or “immigration benefit of any kind” and apply the standard visa vetting procedures to “any refugee or stateless individual” seeking admission.

• Repeal a Biden order requiring planning for the effects of climate change on world migration patterns.

• Direct the secretary of state and U.S. diplomats effectively to threaten sanctions against any nation seen as reluctant to accept and facilitate the return of its citizens the U.S. deports.

• Direct the State Department, Homeland Security and others to review and recommend changes to vetting for visas and produce a report to the president within 60 days. The order calls for identifying countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension” of admission to the U.S. for their citizens.

• Direct the attorney general and others to deny federal money to “so-called ‘sanctuary’” cities the administration sees as interfering with federal immigration enforcement, with the caveat that the Trump administration pursues action “to the maximum extent possible under the law.”

• Pause distribution of federal money to non-governmental organizations “supporting or providing services, either directly or indirectly, to removable or illegal aliens” pending reviews and audits to identify any operations that may “promote or facilitate violations of our immigration laws.”

• Designate international cartels as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” or “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” under existing federal law. The order triggers the Alien Enemies Act to combat cartels and their members.

• Require, within 30 days, the attorney general, secretary of state and others to “evaluate the adequacy of programs designed to ensure the proper assimilation of lawful immigrants into the United States, and recommend any additional measures ... that promote a unified American identity.”

• Broadly direct all executive agencies to tailor their policies to reduce consumer prices. Trump wants a progress report from a top White House economic adviser every 30 days.

• Direct the treasury and commerce secretaries, U.S trade representative and others to examine causes of U.S. trade deficits, identify unfair trade practices and make recommendations, potentially including “a global supplemental tariff.”

• Begin review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Trump’s first-administration rewrite of NAFTA, with an eye to a renegotiation in 2026 or sooner. Trump said he plans 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods as of Feb. 1, but he has not signed such executive actions so far.

• Begin establishment of an “External Revenue Service to collect tariffs, duties and other foreign trade-related revenues.”

• Begin review of U.S. trade dealings with China to consider new or increased tariffs. As a candidate, Trump threatened Chinese tariffs as high as 60%.

• Order review of fentanyl flows into the U.S., specifically from Canada, Mexico and China, and make recommendations, including potential tariffs and sanctions.

• Direct the commerce and trade secretaries and the U.S. trade representative to consolidate multiple reviews and assessments. Trump ordered consolidated reports by April 1.

• Suspend U.S. participation in the Global Tax Deal, an international agreement intended to set a minimum corporate tax globally to prevent multinational corporations from avoiding taxation altogether.

• Pause the U.S. ban on TikTok for 75 days, specifically barring the attorney general from enforcing the law Congress passed in 2024 to allow the new administration to assess national security concerns and seek a potential American buyer for the popular digital platform.

• Bar U.S. government officials from pushing social media companies to combat misinformation and disinformation. Trump’s order states that such previous efforts “infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens” and “advanced the Government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate.”

• Withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, which committed nations to pursue policies limiting carbon emissions that cause climate change. The order blocks transfer of U.S. funds previously obligated to the International Climate Finance Plan.

• Declare a “national energy emergency.” This is both a symbolic measure reflecting Trump’s promise of energy expansion but also specifically urges federal use of eminent domain and the Defense Production Act, measures that allow the government to commandeer private land and resources to produce goods deemed to be a national necessity.

• Compel the Army Corps of Engineers to use “to the fullest extent possible” its emergency permitting provisions to speed energy projects and urge all agencies to use similar emergency procedures that expedite or bypass permitting processes under the Endangered Species Act or other federal laws that protect wildlife.

• Eliminate Biden policies intended to encourage electrical vehicle development and purchases — part of Trump’s effort to limit non-fossil fuel energy sectors.

• Require all agencies within 30 days to submit to the White House Office of Management and Budget their plans to eliminate regulations and rules deemed “burdensome” to domestic energy production and consumption, “with particular attention to oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, biofuels, critical mineral, and nuclear energy.”

• Repeal multiple Biden orders and memoranda regarding climate change, including guidelines for implementing climate-related provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022; an effort to assess financial risks of not combating climate change; and establishment of a President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

• Streamline other fossil fuel extraction in Alaska with a command to “rescind, revoke, revise, amend, defer or grant exemptions from any and all” regulatory actions relevant in the state. Specifically, Trump is restoring any suspended fossil fuel leases within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

• Deny a pending U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service request to create an indigenous sacred site within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

• Restore first Trump administration rules on hunting and trapping in national preserves in Alaska. Order the Interior Department to align federal rules on hunting and fishing in Alaska with rules for state-government lands.

• Roll back other Biden era limits or regulations on fossil fuel extraction on federal lands.

• Make the Outer Continental Shelf ineligible for wind energy leases — another limitation on non-fossil fuel development.

• Reengage a legal and regulatory battle with California state government over water routes from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Trump wants to override fish and wildlife protection efforts to route more of the water to the Central Valley and Southern California.

• Give executive branch departments and agencies 60 days to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, including all “chief diversity officer” jobs, “equity action plans” and “environmental justice” positions. Require departments and agencies to give the White House Office of Management and Budget an accounting of previous DEI efforts, including names of relevant DEI contractors and DEI grant recipients. Terminate a 60-year-old executive order setting anti-discrimination requirements for government agencies and contractors.

• A separate OMB memo effectively put all federal DEI officers on immediate leave pending their elimination.

• Repeal several Biden-era directives on racial and ethnic equity and LGBTQ rights. They included orders intending to ensure equitable distribution of federal money based on the 2020 census; preventing government discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation and specifically encouraging inclusion in school settings; White House educational initiatives for Native Americans, Hispanics and Black Americans; and an order expressly allowing transgender persons to serve in the military.

• Require that the U.S. government recognize two genders only – male and female – on passports, visas, Global Entry cards and all other forms and documents, and in all programs and communications.

• Mandate that all federal civil rights law and labor law be interpreted and enforced with the understanding that “‘sex’ is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of ‘gender identity.’”

• Dissolve the White House Gender Policy Council and repeal Department of Education guidelines on Title IX concerning transgender rights and various documents advising schools on how to support and protect LGBTQ persons.

• Forbid federal money, including grants, from being used to “promote gender ideology” and direct the attorney general and Homeland Security secretary to “ensure that males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers.”

• Establish the Department of Government Efficiency under the Executive Office of the President until July 4, 2026. This is the entity led by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, and is charged with recommending cuts in federal programs and spending.

• Require each agency head to establish their own DOGE team of at least four people to work with Musk’s operation.

• Freeze federal hiring, with exceptions – notably immigration and border enforcement posts and U.S. military jobs, plus a generic exception for to “maintain essential services.” The directive also does not apply to top presidential political appointees. The action bars contracting with outside labor to circumvent the hiring freeze.

• Block new federal rules and regulations in all agencies where Trump’s appointed agency chief is not yet on the job to approve new edicts. The White House Office of Budget and Management can override the ban in emergency situations.

• Require all federal workers to return full-time to in-person work.

• Direct reviews across the Executive Branch of “career senior executive service” officials and effectively make it easier to fire, demote or reassign those federal employees — generally the highest-ranking civil service employees whose jobs historically have been protected through administration changes. “Because SES officials wield significant government authority, they must serve at the pleasure of the president,” Trump’s memoranda states.

• Make it easier to fire federal workers by reinstituting an executive order from the first Trump administration, which was later repealed under Biden. The latest Trump policy adds provisions that state that federal employees and applicants “are not required to personally or politically support the current president” but must “faithfully implement administration policies,” understanding that “failure to do so is grounds for dismissal.”

• Require a “Federal Hiring Plan” within 120 days to set new standards for hiring federal workers. The order prioritizes “recruitment of individuals ... passionate about the ideals of our American republic” and preventing “the hiring of individuals based on their race, sex or religion,” while also blocking those “who are unwilling to defend the Constitution or to faithfully serve in the Executive Branch.”

• Formally nominate Cabinet and sub-Cabinet officers and name many acting Cabinet officers, agency chiefs and commission chairs as Trump nominees await Senate confirmation.

• Repeal Biden directives intended to make it easier to enroll in Medicaid services, secure insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act and lower prescription drug costs. The Trump action, however, does not actually repeal the Biden-era $35 monthly cap on insulin, Medicare's $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap on prescription drugs or Medicare's ability to negotiate drug pricing. Those policies remain enforced by federal statutes passed by Congress.

• Repeal multiple Biden orders and directives on COVID-19.

• Withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization, direct the White House Office of Management and Budget to stop future transfers of U.S. money to WHO and order the secretary of state to end negotiations on the WHO Pandemic Agreement.

• Order the secretary of state and OMB director to identify “credible and transparent United States and international partners” to replace the U.S. relationship with WHO.

• Cancel Biden-era sanctions on far-right Israeli groups and individuals accused of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Biden’s order had frozen U.S. assets and barred Americans from dealing with Israelis covered by his order.

• Direct Secretary of State Marco Rubio to issue guidance to put all State Department “politics, programs, personnel and operations in line with an America First foreign policy, which puts America and its interests first.”

• Re-designate Yemen's Houthis as a terrorist organization. Trump’s administration designated the Houthis as global terrorists and a foreign terrorist organization in one of his last acts in office in 2021. But Biden reversed course early on, at the time citing the humanitarian threat that the sanctions posed to ordinary Yemenis.

• Define the membership and establish operating procedures for the National Security Council.

• Pause all U.S. foreign development aid pending reviews of “efficiencies and consistency” with administration aims, to be conducted within 90 days by relevant agency heads “under guidelines” from Rubio the White House Office of Management and Budget. Rubio can lift the freeze for any program.

• Immediately grant six-month security clearances to certain administration officials whose background checks are pending. The White House counsel determines which aides get the temporary clearance.

• Repeal Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence that aimed to set guardrails on the development of AI.

• Restore the name of Mount McKinley in Alaska. The change for North America’s tallest peak recognizes William McKinley, the 25th U.S. president, whom Trump has praised for economic leadership and expanding U.S. territory through the Spanish-American War. President Barack Obama had in 2015 renamed the mountain Denali — what native tribes called it historically. Trump’s order did not change the name of the surrounding Denali National Park and Reserve.

• Require Trump’s personal approval of new architectural and design standards for federal buildings so the president can ensure federal structures “respect regional, traditional, and classical architectural heritage in order to uplift and beautify public spaces and ennoble the United States.”

• Order that U.S. flags always be flown at full-staff on Inauguration Day. The immediate effect was to countermand Biden’s traditional 30-day order lowering flags as a mourning tribute to former President Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29, 2024. Trump’s order returned flags on federal installations to half-staff on Jan. 21, through the end of the Carter mourning period.

• Direct the attorney general to explore whether 37 federal prisoners who had death sentences commuted to life imprisonment by Biden can be charged and tried with capital crimes in state courts.

• Direct the attorney general to “take all necessary and lawful action” to supply states with adequate drugs to carry out lethal injection.

• Direct the attorney general to seek reversals of U.S. Supreme Court precedents that limit application of the death penalty in state and federal jurisdictions.

• In a symbolic gesture, direct the attorney general to “encourage state attorneys general and district attorneys” to pursue the death penalty in all possible cases.

• Commute the sentences and grant full pardons to hundreds of individuals convicted or still being prosecuted for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol as Congress convened to certify Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 election.

• Order the attorney general and others to review all agencies’ investigative and enforcement actions during Biden’s tenure to identify what Trump describes as “weaponization of the federal government” against his supporters. The directive identifies the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the intelligence community. It requires a report to the president on the findings, with recommended “remedial actions.”

• Direct the attorney general to investigate U.S. government dealings with social media platforms during Biden’s tenure and make “recommendations for appropriate remedial actions” in response to what Trump frames as censorship efforts.

• Revoke the security clearances of 50 people Trump accuses of aiding Biden’s 2020 campaign via their collective public statement about a laptop that belonged to Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. The list includes former top intelligence officials James Clapper, Michael Hayden and Leon Panetta, along with Trump’s onetime National Security Adviser John Bolton.

• Direct the director of national intelligence and CIA director to submit a report within 90 days with recommendations for additional “disciplinary action” and how to “prevent the Intelligence Community or anyone who works for or within it from inappropriately influencing domestic elections.”

President Donald Trump supporter Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes convicted on charges relating to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, talks to reporters outside the DC Central Detention Facility, after being released from a jail in Maryland, in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

President Donald Trump supporter Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes convicted on charges relating to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, talks to reporters outside the DC Central Detention Facility, after being released from a jail in Maryland, in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

FILE - People stand at the Eielson Visitor Center with a view of North America's tallest peak, Denali, in the background, Sept. 2, 2015, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, file)

FILE - People stand at the Eielson Visitor Center with a view of North America's tallest peak, Denali, in the background, Sept. 2, 2015, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, file)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to State Department staff while next to his family including wife Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, at left, at the State Department, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to State Department staff while next to his family including wife Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, at left, at the State Department, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

FILE - A Medicare card is seen on Monday, June 10, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

FILE - A Medicare card is seen on Monday, June 10, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks after taking the oath of office at the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks after taking the oath of office at the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - Kansas high school students, family members and advocates rally for transgender rights, Jan. 31, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

FILE - Kansas high school students, family members and advocates rally for transgender rights, Jan. 31, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

Paraphernalia supporting President Donald Trump is displayed at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Paraphernalia supporting President Donald Trump is displayed at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Dogs are near a border wall separating Mexico from the United States Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Dogs are near a border wall separating Mexico from the United States Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In the wooded outskirts of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a perplexed landlord noticed odd sights at two of his rental properties.

Tenants wore long black coats and parked box trucks outside the duplexes. They ran an electrical cord from one box truck into one of the condos, and kept a stretcher inside another.

A neighbor remembers similarly dressed figures walking around at night holding hands. They never spoke a word.

By the time the FBI searched the property last week, one of the most recent tenants had been killed in a shootout with U.S. Border Patrol agents in Vermont, and a second was under arrest. A third, a shadowy figure known online as “Ziz,” remains missing after authorities linked their cultlike group to six deaths in three states.

Officials have offered few details of the cross-country investigation, which broke open after the Jan. 20 shooting death of a Border Patrol trooper in Vermont during a traffic stop. Associated Press interviews and a review of court records and online postings tell the story of how a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists, most of them in their 20s and 30s, met online, shared anarchist beliefs, and became increasingly violent.

Their goals aren’t clear, but online writings span topics from radical veganism and gender identity to artificial intelligence.

At the middle of it all is “Ziz,” who appears to be the leader of the strange group, who called themselves “Zizians.” She has been seen near multiple crime scenes and has connections to various suspects.

She was even declared dead for a time, before reappearing amid more violence.

Jack LaSota moved to the San Francisco Bay area after earning a computer science degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2013 and interning at NASA, according to a profile on a hiring site for programmers, coders and other freelance workers. NASA officials did not respond to a request to confirm LaSota's internship, but a Jack LaSota is listed on a website about past interns.

In 2016, she began publishing a dark and rambling blog under the name Ziz, describing her theory that the two hemispheres of the brain could hold separate values and genders and “often desire to kill each other.”

LaSota used she/her pronouns, and in her writings says she is a transgender woman. She railed against perceived enemies, including so-called rationalist groups, which operate mostly online and seek to understand human cognition through reason and knowledge. Some are concerned with the potential dangers of artificial intelligence.

LaSota began promoting an extreme mix of rationalism, ethical veganism, anarchism and other value systems, said Jessica Taylor, an AI researcher who met LaSota both in person and online through the rationalist community and knew her as Ziz.

When LaSota left the rationalists behind, she took with her a group of “extremely vulnerable and isolated” followers, Anna Salamon, executive director of the Center for Applied Rationality, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Taylor said Ziz adherents use the rationalist ideology as a reason to commit violence. “Stuff like, thinking it’s reasonable to avoid paying rent and defend oneself from being evicted,” she said.

Poulomi Saha, a professor who has studied cults, said LaSota’s beliefs and writings may have made readers feel seen, an often central factor in the formation of groups commonly labeled cults. That’s especially true in the era of online communities, in which it’s easier for marginalized people to seek fellow believers.

“For the person who feels hailed by that blog post, there is likely to be a kind of dual experience,” said Saha, co-director of the program in critical theory at the University of California, Berkeley. “One where they feel like ‘I have been saying this, or thinking this, all along, and no one has believed me.’”

LaSota, 34, has not responded to multiple Associated Press emails in recent weeks, and her attorney Daniel McGarrigle declined to comment when asked whether she is connected to any of the deaths. She has missed court appearances in two states, and bench warrants have been issued for her arrest. Associated Press reporters have left numerous phone and e-mail messages with LaSota's family and received no response.

In November 2019, LaSota was arrested along with several other people at a protest outside a Northern California retreat center where the Center for Applied Rationality was holding an event. Sheriff’s deputies called in a SWAT team and armored vehicle after the mask-wearing group blocked the property’s exits and handed out fliers railing against the rationalist organization. The group said they were protesting sexual misconduct inside the rationalist group.

The case against LaSota, Emma Borhanian, 31, Gwen Danielson and Alexander Leatham, 29, was pending in August 2022 when the U.S. Coast Guard responded to a report that LaSota had fallen out of a boat in San Francisco Bay. Her body wasn’t found, but her mother confirmed the death and an obituary was published.

It wasn’t long before Ziz surfaced again.

By the autumn of 2022, LaSota had moved with other group members, including Borhanian and Leatham, into vans and box trucks on property owned by Curtis Lind in Vallejo, about 30 miles north of San Francisco.

“Emma’s van was amazing,” said someone who knew Borhanian. “It had a refrigerator and freezer and microwave. It was truly a work of art.”

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for her safety, described Borhanian as a kind and loving young woman so smart that she worked at Google while in college. Google did not respond to an inquiry about Borhanian's employment there.

Prosecutors say she was among those who attacked Lind on Nov. 13 when he tried to evict the group for not paying rent.

Impaled by a sword and partially blinded, Lind fought back, fatally shooting Borhanian. Concluding that Lind acted in self-defense, officials charged Leatham and Suri Dao, 23, with murder in Borhanian’s death, as well as attempted murder of Lind.

A person reached by an Associated Press reporter at a phone number listed for Alex Leatham’s father declined to comment. Attempts to reach family members for Dao were not successful.

Police believe LaSota was at the scene of the crime, but she was not arrested.

On New Year’s Eve of 2022, a couple was shot and killed in their home in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania.

A doorbell camera captured audio and video of a car pulling up to the home of Richard Zajko, 71, and his wife, Rita, 69. A voice shouts “Mom!” and another voice exclaims, “Oh my God! Oh, God, God!” according to a Pennsylvania state police affidavit. Police found the couple shot in the head in an upstairs bedroom after they failed to show up to take care of Rita’s mother.

Police questioned the couple’s daughter, Michelle, at her home in Vermont, and a few weeks later, took her into custody at a Pennsylvania hotel. She wasn't arrested or charged with anything. LaSota was at the hotel, too, and was arrested after refusing to cooperate with officers, and charged with obstructing law enforcement and disorderly conduct.

Six months later, LaSota was released on bail but stopped showing up for court.

LaSota’s attorney, Daniel McGarrigle, said last month his client was “wholly and unequivocally innocent of the charges filed in this case.”

Meanwhile, the case regarding the landlord in California was headed to trial. The landlord, who was 82, was the only eyewitness, and prosecutors wanted to hurry along the proceedings.

But on Jan. 17, Lind’s throat was cut, and he died, not far from where he had survived the earlier attack.

Maximilian Snyder, 22, who is charged with murder, appeared in court Feb. 6, only long enough to request a new attorney. It's not clear how he was identified as a suspect; he has ties to a woman who just days later would be involved in a shootout.

Snyder is listed as in custody in the Solano County Jail in California. Attempts to reach family members of Snyder were not successful.

On. Jan 20, in Vermont, U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped a vehicle carrying two people connected to the Ziz group. A hotel worker had called authorities after seeing one of them, Teresa Youngblut, with a gun.

Youngblut was driving the car when it was pulled over on Jan. 20, and authorities say she quickly opened fire on officers. The passenger, Felix Bauckholt, a German national who is also listed in court documents as Ophelia, died, along with the border patrol agent, David Maland.

Youngblut was wounded and arrested and has pleaded not guilty to firearms charges.

Authorities who searched the car found a ballistic helmet, night-vision goggles, respirators and ammunition, the FBI said. They also found two-way radios and used shooting range targets.

Youngblut applied for a marriage license with Snyder, the man accused of murdering the elderly landlord. He was a childhood friend; it was unclear if they were married. Authorities say the gun she was carrying was purchased by a person of interest in the Zajko killings.

Youngblut and Bauckholt had been living at the two condos in North Carolina, where the landlord and neighbors now say they saw the odd behavior.

LaSota also had been living there as recently as this winter, said the landlord, who reviewed LaSota’s 2019 police booking photo. He spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because he was concerned for his safety.

Expressing similar concerns, a neighbor who lived in the other side of Bauckholt’s duplex until September 2023 recalled seeing three people wearing long black robes and tactical clothes.

“They rarely came out during the day but would walk around the neighborhood and in the woods at night,” the former neighbor said, who also spoke only on condition of anonymity because of concerns for their safety. “Sometimes all three of them would go for a walk and they all held hands. They seemed to care for each other a great deal.”

Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack, Lisa Baumann, Janie Har, Maryclaire Dale and Gary Robertson contributed to this report.

Maximilian Snyder appears in court for arraignment on Thursday in Fairfield, Calif. Snyder is charged with allegedly killing an 82-year-old Vallejo landlord to prevent him from testifying in a murder case against his former tenants. Snyder asked for additional weeks to find proper counsel, moving the case back to Vallejo. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)/The Times-Herald via AP)

Maximilian Snyder appears in court for arraignment on Thursday in Fairfield, Calif. Snyder is charged with allegedly killing an 82-year-old Vallejo landlord to prevent him from testifying in a murder case against his former tenants. Snyder asked for additional weeks to find proper counsel, moving the case back to Vallejo. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)/The Times-Herald via AP)

Maximilian Snyder, who is charged with allegedly killing an 82-year-old Vallejo landlord to prevent him from testifying in a murder case against his former tenants, walks into court with his hands up for arraignment Thursday, Feb 6, 2025, in Fairfield, Calf. (Chris Riley, Times-Herald via AP)/The Times-Herald via AP)

Maximilian Snyder, who is charged with allegedly killing an 82-year-old Vallejo landlord to prevent him from testifying in a murder case against his former tenants, walks into court with his hands up for arraignment Thursday, Feb 6, 2025, in Fairfield, Calf. (Chris Riley, Times-Herald via AP)/The Times-Herald via AP)

Maximilian Snyder, who is charged with allegedly killing an 82-year-old Vallejo landlord to prevent him from testifying in a murder case against his former tenants, walks into court for arraignment Thursday, Feb 6, 2025, in Fairfield, Calf. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Maximilian Snyder, who is charged with allegedly killing an 82-year-old Vallejo landlord to prevent him from testifying in a murder case against his former tenants, walks into court for arraignment Thursday, Feb 6, 2025, in Fairfield, Calf. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Flowers sit outside the property where San Francisco Bay Area prosecutors say Maximilian Snyder killed landlord Curtis Lind in Vallejo, California, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Janie Har)

Flowers sit outside the property where San Francisco Bay Area prosecutors say Maximilian Snyder killed landlord Curtis Lind in Vallejo, California, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Janie Har)

Flowers sit outside the property where San Francisco Bay Area prosecutors say Maximilian Snyder killed landlord Curtis Lind in Vallejo, California, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Janie Har)

Flowers sit outside the property where San Francisco Bay Area prosecutors say Maximilian Snyder killed landlord Curtis Lind in Vallejo, California, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Janie Har)

FBI agents search a neighborhood in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025 where Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt, who were involved in the shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont, had been renting homes in the neighborhood, their landlord told The Associated Press. (WRAL-TV via AP)

FBI agents search a neighborhood in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025 where Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt, who were involved in the shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont, had been renting homes in the neighborhood, their landlord told The Associated Press. (WRAL-TV via AP)

FBI agents search a neighborhood in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025., where Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt, who were involved in the shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont, had been renting homes, their landlord told The Associated Press. (WRAL-TV via AP)

FBI agents search a neighborhood in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025., where Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt, who were involved in the shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont, had been renting homes, their landlord told The Associated Press. (WRAL-TV via AP)

FBI agents search a neighborhood in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, where Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt, who were involved in the shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont, had been renting homes in the neighborhood, their landlord told The Associated Press. (WRAL-TV via AP)

FBI agents search a neighborhood in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, where Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt, who were involved in the shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont, had been renting homes in the neighborhood, their landlord told The Associated Press. (WRAL-TV via AP)

In this Jan., 2023 booking photo provided by the Delaware County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney's Office, Jack LaSota refused to speak and kept her eyes closed while being photographed after being detained in a hotel in suburban Pennsylvania on Jan. 23, 2023. (Delaware County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney's Office via AP)

In this Jan., 2023 booking photo provided by the Delaware County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney's Office, Jack LaSota refused to speak and kept her eyes closed while being photographed after being detained in a hotel in suburban Pennsylvania on Jan. 23, 2023. (Delaware County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney's Office via AP)

In this combination of undated photos provided by the Pennsylvania State Police, Richard Zajko, left, and his wife Rita Zajko, who police say were shot to death in their home in suburban Philadelphia on Dec. 31, 2022, are shown. (Pennsylvania State Police via AP)

In this combination of undated photos provided by the Pennsylvania State Police, Richard Zajko, left, and his wife Rita Zajko, who police say were shot to death in their home in suburban Philadelphia on Dec. 31, 2022, are shown. (Pennsylvania State Police via AP)

FILE - This Jan. 29, 2025 photo shows a Chester Heights, Pa., home, the scene of the 2022 killing of Richard and Rita Zajko, (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

FILE - This Jan. 29, 2025 photo shows a Chester Heights, Pa., home, the scene of the 2022 killing of Richard and Rita Zajko, (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

FILE - Law enforcement follow a hearse carrying fallen border patrol agent David Maland from the UVM Medical Center morgue to a funeral home in Burlington, Vt., Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (WCAX via AP, File)

FILE - Law enforcement follow a hearse carrying fallen border patrol agent David Maland from the UVM Medical Center morgue to a funeral home in Burlington, Vt., Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (WCAX via AP, File)

FILE - In this undated and unknown location photo released by the Department of Homeland Security shows Border Patrol Agent David Maland posing with a service dog. (Department of Homeland Security via AP, File)

FILE - In this undated and unknown location photo released by the Department of Homeland Security shows Border Patrol Agent David Maland posing with a service dog. (Department of Homeland Security via AP, File)

FILE- Cars are backed up at the US-Canada border in Stanstead, Quebec, after a shooting involving a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Coventry, Vt., on Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Chloe Jones, File)

FILE- Cars are backed up at the US-Canada border in Stanstead, Quebec, after a shooting involving a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Coventry, Vt., on Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Chloe Jones, File)

FILE - This image taken from video provided by WCAX shows police cars closing off a road after a shooting involving a U.S. Border Patrol agent on Interstate 91 near Coventry, Vt., on Jan. 20, 2025. (WCAX via AP, File)

FILE - This image taken from video provided by WCAX shows police cars closing off a road after a shooting involving a U.S. Border Patrol agent on Interstate 91 near Coventry, Vt., on Jan. 20, 2025. (WCAX via AP, File)

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