Kenya Insights

Tag: Executive orders

  • Trump Signs Executive Orders To Declassify JFK, MLK Assassination Files

    Trump Signs Executive Orders To Declassify JFK, MLK Assassination Files

    U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the declassification Thursday of the last secret files on the assassination of the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy, a case that still fuels conspiracy theories more than 60 years after his death.

    Trump signed an executive order that will also release documents on the 1960s assassinations of JFK’s younger brother, Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

    “That’s a big one, huh? A lot of people have been waiting for this for years, for decades,” Trump told reporters as he signed the order in the Oval Office of the White House.

    After signing the order, Trump passed the pen he used to an aide, saying, “Give that to RFK Jr.,” JFK’s nephew and the current president’s nominee to become secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

    The order Trump signed requires the “full and complete release” of the JFK files, without redactions that he accepted back in 2017 when releasing most of the documents.

    “It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay,” the order said.

    Trump had previously promised to release the last of the files, most recently at his inauguration on Monday.

    The U.S. National Archives has released tens of thousands of records in recent years related to the November 22, 1963, assassination of President Kennedy but held thousands back, citing national security concerns.

    It said at the time of the latest large-scale release, in December 2022, that 97% of the Kennedy records — which total 5 million pages — had now been made public.

    The Warren Commission that investigated the shooting of the charismatic 46-year-old president determined that it was carried out by a former Marine sharpshooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone.

    But that formal conclusion has done little to quell speculation that a more sinister plot was behind Kennedy’s murder in Dallas, Texas, and the slow release of the government files has added fuel to various conspiracy theories.

    A gesture to RFK Jr.

    Trump’s move is partly a gesture to one of the most prominent backers of those conspiracies — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. himself.

    RFK Jr. said in 2023 there was “overwhelming evidence the CIA was involved” in his uncle JFK’s murder and “very convincing” evidence the agency was also behind the 1968 assassination of his own father, Robert F. Kennedy.

    The former attorney general was killed while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president. Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian-born Jordanian, was convicted of his murder.

    Thousands of John Kennedy assassination-related documents from the National Archives were released during Trump’s first term in office, but he also held some back on national security grounds.

    Then-President Joe Biden said at the time of the December 2022 documents release that a “limited” number of files would continue to be held back at the request of unspecified “agencies.”

    Previous requests to withhold documents have come from the CIA and FBI.

    Kennedy scholars have said the documents still held by the archives are unlikely to contain any bombshell revelations or put to rest the rampant conspiracy theories about the assassination of the 35th U.S. president.

    Oswald, who had at one point defected to the Soviet Union, was shot to death two days after killing Kennedy by a nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, as he was being transferred from the city jail.

    Hundreds of books and movies such as the 1991 Oliver Stone film “JFK” have fueled the conspiracy industry, pointing the finger at Cold War rivals Russia or Cuba, the Mafia and even Kennedy’s vice president, Lyndon Johnson.

    King was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

    James Earl Ray was convicted of the murder and died in prison in 1998, but King’s children have expressed doubts in the past that Ray was the assassin.

    (VOA)

  • How Trump Executive Order Stopping Foreign Aid Will Affect Kenya

    How Trump Executive Order Stopping Foreign Aid Will Affect Kenya

    US President Donald Trump has temporarily suspended all foreign assistance for a period of 90 days pending reviews.

    In an Executive Order signed on his first day in office on Monday, Trump stated that the decision is to allow his administration to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals.

    According to Trump, the US foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases contrary to American values.

    “They serve to destabilise world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries,” the executive order reads in part.

    “It is the policy of United States that no further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States,” it adds.

    It was not immediately clear how much assistance is going to be affected by the order.

    Funding for many programmes has already been appropriated by the Congress and is obligated to be spent if not already spent.

    Trump stated that no further US foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.

    The move is likely to put many countries across the world including Kenya at risk of having ongoing programmes in various sectors stall.

    Such programmes spread various sectors of health, security and agriculture among others are also likely to face funding cuts with most US-funded NGOs being forced to bear the brunt.

    Israel, Jordan and Egypt are among the top recipients of US foreign aid receiving Sh429 billion, Sh221 billion and Sh195 billion yearly respectively.

    US government-driven assistance contributes approximately Sh208 billion annually to the Kenyan economy.

    This includes (Sh130 billion) in direct bilateral and multilateral assistance per year on average, as well as Sh88.1 billion in indirect contributions from supportive policies.

    About 20 US agencies and departments have directly contributed to Kenya’s growth and development since 2001.

    They include the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) which spearheads US bilateral efforts in agriculture and food security, education and health.

    It has also been supporting devolution, peacebuilding, environment, and sustained economic growth.

    According to Associated Press, the last official accounting for foreign shows that in the budget year 2023 to mid-December last year, Sh8.8 trillion had been obligated for various programmes in 204 countries and regions.

  • Trump Suspends All US Foreign Aid, Here’s A List Of Other Controversial Executive Orders Issued On His 1st Day In Office

    Trump Suspends All US Foreign Aid, Here’s A List Of Other Controversial Executive Orders Issued On His 1st Day In Office

    US President Donald Trump signed several executive orders Monday on his first day in office.

    “The first item that President Trump is signing is the rescission of 78 Biden-era executive actions, executive orders, presidential memoranda and others,” an administration official announced during the signing event at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

    Trump was sworn in for a second term, heralding a major shift in the US government that is widely expected to send shockwaves through American society and the world.

    Addressing his supporters, he said he will revoke nearly 80 “destructive and radical” executive actions of the previous Biden administration.

    Following his speech, Trump signed executive orders, including for the withdrawal of the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, restoring free speech protection, ending the weaponization of government, a regulatory and hiring freeze for government agencies, the return to in-person work, and a cost of living crisis directive.

    Returning to the White House after his address, Trump continued to sign more executive orders while replying to reporters’ questions.

    First, Trump signed an executive order to pardon nearly 1,500 defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

    Declaring national emergency at southern US border

    He also signed an executive order declaring a national emergency at the southern US border that paves the way to deploy American troops there.

    During his address following the inauguration ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda, Trump said he would declare a national emergency at the southern border

    “All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places in which they came,” said the president, a pledge he repeated during his campaign.

    Among the executive orders signed by Trump is ending birthright citizenship.

    “This next order relates to the definition of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment of the United States. That’s a good one. Birthright. That’s a big one,” he said.

    Under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, any person born within the territory of the US is an American citizen.

    At the Oval Office, Trump also signed an executive order designating cartels and other organizations to be foreign terrorist organizations.

    “Mexico probably doesn’t want that. We have to do what’s right. They’re killing our people. They’re killing 250,000-300,000 American people a year,” he said.

    He also said he wanted to work with countries from South America to coordinate immigration in general.

    I’m fine with legal immigration. I like it. We need people, and I’m absolutely fine with it,” said the president.

    Trump withdraws from Paris climate agreement, WHO

    Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement.

    He also signed a letter that will be transmitted to the UN explaining the withdrawal from the treaty.

    Separately, Trump also ordered the US to leave the World Health Organization (WHO).

    “World Health ripped us off. Everybody rips off the United States, and that’s it. It’s not going to happen anymore,” he told reporters.

    Trump said the US paid $500 million to the UN body.

    “Seemed a little unfair to me, so that wasn’t the reason, but I dropped out…China pays $39 million and we pay $500 million, and China’s a bigger country,” he said.

    Suspension of US foreign assistance pending review

    Trump has suspended all US foreign assistance programs for 90 days pending reviews of consistency with his policy.

    “All department and agency heads with responsibility for United States foreign development assistance programs shall immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds to foreign countries,” said the executive order, which was signed by Trump in the Oval Office.

    However, it did not explicitly put forward how much assistance would initially be affected by the move.

    It said the US foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases are antithetical to American values, adding: “They serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”

    Reinstatement of Cuba on state sponsors of terrorism list

    Trump reinstated Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, reversing an executive order issued by President Joe Biden just days earlier.

    Biden had removed the designation under a plan negotiated by the Vatican to secure the release of political prisoners in Cuba. In response, Cuban authorities had begun releasing detainees, including 24-year-old Reyna Yacnara Barreto Batista, who had been serving a four-year sentence for public disorder charges.

    The Trump administration’s move complicates Cuba’s pledge to release more than 500 prisoners under the agreement. It remains unclear how many additional detainees will be freed following Trump’s decision.

    Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel condemned the reversal, describing it on social media as an “act of mockery and abuse.” Cuba has consistently denied allegations of supporting terrorism.

    To delay TikTok ban

    Trump signed an executive order in an attempt to delay a ban of the popular short-video app TikTok for 75 days.

    According to the order, Trump is pursuing a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans.

    “I think the US should be entitled to get half of TikTok,” he told reporters while signing executive orders at the Oval Office.

    He said TikTok could be worth a trillion dollars.

    “Essentially with TikTok, I have the right to sell it or close it, and we’ll make that determination, and we may have to get an approval from China too. I’m not sure, but I’m sure they’ll approve it,” he said.

    He also said his administration will work on “a joint venture” between the US and undisclosed other entities.

    “I think you have a lot of people that would be interested in TikTok with the United States as a partner,” he added.

    On Friday, the US Supreme Court upheld a law that would ban TikTok unless its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, divests from the app. After going offline earlier Sunday, TikTok announced that it was in the process of restoring services to its US users following assurances from Trump.

  • What Is An Executive Order? A look at Trump’s Tool For Quickly Reshaping Government

    What Is An Executive Order? A look at Trump’s Tool For Quickly Reshaping Government

    Donald Trump is returning to the White House ready to immediately overhaul the government using the fastest tool he has — the executive order.

    He’s looking on his first day to increase domestic energy production and stop diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the federal government, among other actions.

    An incoming president signing a flurry of executive orders is standard practice. Executive orders allow a president to wield power without action from Congress. But there are also limits to what orders can achieve.

    A primer on how the presidential power works and its often fleeting impact:

    What are executive orders?

    Basically, they are signed statements about how the president wants the federal government to be managed. They can be instructions to federal agencies or requests for reports.

    Many orders can be unobjectionable, such as giving federal employees the day after Christmas off. They can also lay out major policies. For example, President Joe Biden signed an order to create a structure for establishing regulations on artificial intelligence. But executive orders — and their policy sausage-making siblings, the proclamation and political memorandum — also are used by presidents to pursue agendas they can’t get through Congress.

    New presidents can — and often do — issue orders to cancel the orders of their predecessors.

    As the American Bar Association notes, the orders do not require congressional approval and can’t be directly overturned by lawmakers. Still, Congress could block an order from being fulfilled by removing funding or creating other hurdles.

    How common are executive orders?

    Throughout U.S. history, there have been several thousand executive orders, according to data collected by the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. George Washington signed eight executive orders, while Franklin Delano Roosevelt did 3,721.

    During his first term, Trump, a Republican, signed 220.

    Biden, a Democrat, signed 160 as of Dec. 20.

    Executive orders are often about political messaging

    Trump forecasted signing as many as 100 executive orders on his first day, possibly covering deportations, the U.S.-Mexico border, domestic energy, Schedule F rules for federal workers, school gender policies and vaccine mandates, among other Day 1 promises made during his campaign. He’s also promised an executive order to give more time for the sale of TikTok.

    Trump had asked Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., to write an order stopping the development of offshore windmills for generating electricity. But it’s entirely possible that Trump could also roll out many planned executive orders over time.

    Many of Trump’s measures are likely to draw Democratic opposition.

    And in several major cases, the orders will largely be statements of intent based off campaign promises made by Trump.

    There are limits to the power of executive orders

    Both Congress and the courts can potentially block executive orders.

    For example, Congress in 1992 revoked an executive order by then-President George H.W. Bush that would establish a human fetal tissue bank for scientific research by passing a measure that the order “shall not have any legal effect.” Congress can also deny funding to agencies and hamstring the enforcement of an order.

    There are also legal challenges based on the argument that a president exceeded his legal authorities. When President Harry Truman tried to seize steel mills during the Korean War, the U.S. Supreme Court said he lacked the authority to take private property without authorization from Congress.

    (AP)

  • Trump’s Planned Executive Orders on His First Day in Office After Swearing-In

    Trump’s Planned Executive Orders on His First Day in Office After Swearing-In

    Donald Trump plans to issue a flurry of executive orders and directives after he is sworn in as U.S. president on Monday to put his stamp on his new administration on matters ranging from energy to immigration.

    Two sources familiar with the planning said more than 100 such orders and directives could be released starting on Day One in what is known internally as a “shock and awe” effort.

    Transition advisers have been preparing drafts for Trump to choose from. Decisions have yet to be made on which will be released on Monday and which in the days that follow.

    Here is what we know about the executive orders so far:

    IMMIGRATION

    Many of the actions that Trump plans on his first day as president are aimed at ramping up immigration enforcement and following through on his pledge to deport record numbers of immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

    The executive actions would give federal immigration officers more latitude to arrest people with no criminal records, send more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, and restart construction of the border wall, Reuters reported in November.

    Trump is expected to declare illegal immigration a national emergency to unlock military funds for border wall construction. He also signaled in a Truth Social post in November that he would shift military resources to assist with his deportation plans.

    “We’re going to make it so if you’re illegal, you’re not coming in through a port of entry or even if you’re trying to come into a port of entry illegally, you’re not going to be allowed in,” Trump adviser Jason Miller told National Public Radio.

    Trump also plans to end temporary “parole” programs, which under President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration have allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants from certain countries to enter legally on humanitarian grounds and access work permits, Reuters reported.
    In addition, Trump has vowed to end automatic citizenship for those born in the U.S. to parents in the country illegally, and advisers say his team is working on an executive order to this effect.
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    The U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 in the post-Civil War period, provides for granting citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.”

    Any move by Trump to end birthright citizenship would face a legal challenge.

    “We have to end it. It’s ridiculous,” Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in December.

    ENERGY

    Sources familiar with the plans of members of Trump’s transition team have said that Trump is considering a suite of executive orders to roll out within days of taking office targeting everything from electric vehicles to withdrawing again from the Paris climate agreement, an action he took in his first administration.
    Members of his transition team are recommending sweeping changes to cut off support for electric vehicles and charging stations and to strengthen measures blocking the import of cars, components and battery materials from China, according to a document seen by Reuters.

    The transition team also recommends imposing tariffs on all battery materials globally, a bid to boost U.S. production, and then negotiating individual exemptions with allies, the document shows.

    Trump’s executive orders will also likely seek to roll back Biden’s climate regulations on power plants, end his pause on liquefied natural gasexports, and revoke waivers allowing California and other states to have tighter pollution rules.

    TARIFFS

    One move that Trump could take on his first day or early in his new administration is to follow through on his threats to increase tariffs on imported goods from America’s biggest trading partners.

    Trump believes tariffs would help boost economic growth in the United States, although opponents warn that the costs would likely be passed along to consumers.

    PARDONS

    Trump has also said he will take action immediately on taking office to issue pardons for some of the hundreds of people convicted or charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

    GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE

    Trump said in a campaign video in 2023 that on his first day in office he would revoke the Biden administration’s policies that provide information and resources to those seeking medical care so they can align their bodies with the gender they identify with.

    That care can include hormone therapy and surgery.

    “On Day One, I will revoke Joe Biden’s cruel policies on so-called gender-affirming care,” Trump said.

    TRANSGENDER RIGHTS

    Trump has vowed to sign an executive order ending transgender rights in the U.S. military and inside U.S. schools.

    As for transgender athletes, he told a rally on Sunday that he would act on his first day to stop the participation of trans athletes in women’s sports.

    DIVERSITY PROGRAMS

    During his first term, Trump signed an executive order to curtail efforts to address racial disparities in the workplace, through programs including diversity training inside companies.

    Biden reversed that executive order on his first day in office in January 2021, and Trump is likely to reinstate his original order early in his second term, and perhaps on his first day in office.

    Trump has also criticized “diversity, equity and inclusion” policies inside universities.

    DRUG CARTELS

    Trump plans to classify drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations in an early executive order, Punchbowl News reported on Sunday, fulfilling a promise he made on the campaign trail to crack down on the sources of the lethal opioid fentanyl.

    REQUIRING FEDERAL WORKERS TO RETURN TO THE OFFICE

    Trump has railed against work-from-home arrangements for tens of thousands of federal employees, which were greatly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and he has vowed to end them.

    In December, Trump said if federal workers refuse to return to the office, “they’re going to be dismissed.”

    By forcing government workers back into the office Trump and his allies hope it could trigger large-scale resignations, which would assist in their goal of reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy.

    (Reuters)