Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, and Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Star, provided an inside look at an extensive list of executive orders President Donald Trump will sign on his first day in office after having been briefed by incoming White House officials Monday morning.
Representing The Star, Leahy and Pappert were among an exclusive group of reporters briefed by White House officials Monday on the roughly 200 executive orders Trump will sign upon taking office.
“After four years on the outside of the White House, we, you and I, and The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network are now on the inside. We received an exclusive invite this morning to an exclusive briefing from senior White House officials on executive orders that will be signed this afternoon by soon to be President Donald Trump. There’s so many of them. 200 executive orders,” Leahy explained on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Pappert, who was on a call with White House officials that briefed reporters on Trump’s executive orders on the economy, highlighted Trump’s executive order on electric vehicles and memorandum on using a whole-of-government approach to tackle inflation.
“One of the interesting and really exciting parts of this is one of these early executive orders Trump’s going to be signing is going to get rid of all of the Biden administration’s mandates for electric vehicles. This includes the federal fleet vehicles as well, which I think is going to be a big relief to the American consumer. Now, one thing that’s interesting is one of these executive orders includes a memorandum on inflation where the White House is going to use what they called a whole-of-government approach to bring down the price of groceries and everyday goods and services that the American people depend on,” Pappert explained.
Having been briefed by White House officials on Trump’s executive orders in minutes, Pappert commended the “efficiency” displayed in the briefing.
“The whole call was very DOGE-y and I will say that two White House officials managed to just give an information download in 20 minutes. That is the efficiency I think that we’re getting from the Trump administration,” Pappert noted.
Leahy, who was on a call with White House officials that briefed reporters on Trump’s actions on the border and immigration, said there are ten “significant” executive orders the president will sign Monday.
“Number one, they’re going to declare a national emergency at the southern border. Number two, they’re going to authorize the military to go down and protect the border. That’s big…Number three, they’re going to restore Remain in Mexico and all of the executive orders that Biden got rid of. Number four, they’re going to declare cartels as terrorist organizations including Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan group..Number five, suspend the refugee resettlement program for four months…Number six, they’re going to end the asylum program that’s been abused, the CBP One app that they use to come into the country. Number seven, they’re going to end birthright citizenship right away. There’s a couple others on the list there, but Trump is very serious about this,” Leahy said.
Pappert said he believes Trump’s actions are a testament to his understanding of the significance of his last four-year term as president and about “building a legacy that can hopefully get Vance or another successor to the Make America Great Again agenda elected.”
“I think he’s going to hit the ground running,” Pappert said.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
