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By Ewan Palmer
News Reporter
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President Donald Trump's administration has already reversed or backtracked on a number of actions and policies in the first few weeks of the Republican's second term.
The policy changes have included the administration downplaying Trump's rhetoric on Gaza, rescinding an order that froze federal grants, and changes made by the Department of Justice [DOJ].
Some of these federal changes are temporary or set to be argued in the courts.
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The reversals could be a sign that the president will struggle to implement some of the sweeping changes he vowed to bring in upon his return to office, even with a trifecta GOP government.
Newsweek has contacted The White House for comment via email.
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Federal Freezing Spending Reversal
On January 29, the White House Office of Management and Budget rescinded a memo that ordered the freeze of federal assistance grants and aid.
The original memo from Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, ordered all federal agencies to "temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance."
The move was believed to be part of Trump's plans to remove all diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) initiates and gender ideology from the federal government.
The freeze of trillions of dollars of federal money caused widespread chaos and confusion, and fears it would impact involved government programs that fund schools and access to health care.
On January 28, District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked the funding freeze moments before it was due to be implemented. The White House Office of Management and Budget walked back its original memo the following day.
Downplaying Trump's Gaza Comments
The president received international backlash after he suggested that the U.S. will "take over" the Gaza Strip following a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Speaking after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump also said that about 2 million Palestinians could be resettled as the U.S. rebuilds the war-torn area into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the president's plan was "tantamount to ethnic cleansing." Amnesty International's Secretary General Agnès Callamard said that any plan to "forcibly deport Palestinians outside the occupied territory against their will is a war crime."
Trump's inner circle have now downplayed the president's remarks, and emphasized his plan would not involve sending the U.S. military into Gaza.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Trump's remarks were not meant as a "hostile move," but were a "very generous" plan for the U.S. to help rebuild Gaza.
"Many parts of which, even if people move back, they would have nowhere to live safely because there are still unexploded munitions and debris and rubble," Rubio said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also said Wednesday that Trump's comments were the president wanting to be part of the "rebuilding effort" and the plans not do not involve "boots on the ground in Gaza."
Restarting Legal Aid Programs for Detained Immigrants
The DOJ reversed an order preventing legal aid groups from providing services to immigrants in federal detention centers.
A DOJ memo, issued on January 22, told legal providers to "stop work immediately" in the four federal programs that provide legal services to detained immigrants.
The order was reversed on Tuesday. Adina Appelbaum, program director at the Amica Center for Immigration Rights, said the decision was in response to a lawsuit filed by the group against the Trump administration over the funding freeze.
Appelbaum told Newsweek these initiatives, such as the Legal Orientation Program, are the "only way that immigrants who are detained and unrepresented by counsel have any access to the even most basic legal information about why they are detained, what's happening, understanding that they are getting to deported and what their legal rights are."
Elon Musk's Staffers Restricted to Treasury Database
Elsewhere, lawyers for the Department of Justice restricted workers at Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from having access to the Treasury Department payment system information.
The Treasury Department previously defended allowing DOGE workers, who are not official government employees, to access its sensitive payment system, which controls trillions of dollars in federal payments; they just had "read-only access."
Under the order submitted by the DOJ on Wednesday, only two Treasury Department employees affiliated with DOGE—Tom Krause and Marko Elez—would be allowed to have "read-only" access. The latter has now resigned after The Wall Street Journal said that several 2024 posts from an account connected to Elez on Musk's X, formerly Twitter, platform were of a racist nature. The newspaper added that White House officials confirmed his resignation when this was revealed.
The move was in response to a lawsuit filed by two unions and an advocacy group on Monday against Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who accused him of allowing Musk's team "unlawful access" to federal employees' private information.
Democratic lawmakers also sent letters to the Trump administration demanding answers regarding the potential privacy violation by Musk's team, and demanding transparency about how the operating and under whose authority.
The DOJ's order to restrict DOGE staff from having access to Treasury Department payment system information needs to be approved by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who is overseeing the case.
The agreement will stay in place until February 24, when both parties will argue in court about a longer-term injunction.
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