The Latest: Trump flexes authority, targeting DEI staffers and pardoning Jan. 6 rioters

Donald Trump is remaking the traditional boundaries of Washington, unleashing unprecedented executive orders and daring anyone to stop him.

Here's the latest:

Justice Department directs prosecutors to probe local efforts to obstruct immigration enforcement

The Justice Department is directing its federal prosecutors to investigate any state or local officials who stand in the way of beefed-up enforcement of immigration laws under the Trump administration, according to a memo to the entire workforce obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Written by Emil Bove, the acting deputy attorney general, the memo also says the department will return to the principle of charging defendants with the most serious crime it can prove, a staple position of Republican-led departments meant to remove a prosecutor’s discretion to charge a lower-level offense.

Much of the memo is centered on immigration enforcement. Bove wrote that prosecutors shall “take all steps necessary to protect the public and secure the American border by removing illegal aliens from the country and prosecuting illegal aliens for crimes” committed in U.S. jurisdiction.

▶ Read more about the Justice Department and immigration enforcement

Trump demands an apology from bishop at the inaugural prayer service

The Right Rev. Mariann Budde asked President Trump during her sermon Tuesday to have mercy on the LGBTQ+ community and migrants here illegally. Trump has promised mass deportations of undocumented migrants. And he’s signed an executive order recognizing only two sexes, male and female.

In an angry overnight post on his social media site, Trump sharply criticized Budde as a “so-called Bishop” who’s a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater.” Trump said she was “nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.” He said she and her church “owe the public an apology.

US adults want border security action but mostly oppose arrests in schools, churches: AP-NORC poll

Many U.S. adults are on board with the idea of beefing up security at the southern border and undertaking some targeted deportations, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. But findings also suggest his actions may quickly push the country beyond its limited consensus on the issue.

Half of U.S. adults think increasing security at the border should be a high priority for the federal government, according to the poll, and about 3 in 10 say it should be a moderate priority. Just 2 in 10, roughly, consider it a low priority.

Donald Trump finds new ways to wield presidential power

President Donald Trump is swiftly breaching the traditional boundaries of presidential power, bringing to bear a lifetime of bending the limits in courthouses, boardrooms and politics to forge an expansive view of his authority.

He’s already unleashed an unprecedented wave of executive orders, with actions intended to clamp down on border crossings, limit the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship and keep the popular Chinese-owned TikTok operational despite a law shutting down the social media platform.

Trump is drafting a new blueprint for the presidency, one that demonstrates the primacy of blunt force in a democratic system predicated on checks and balances between the branches of government.

▶ Read more about Trump’s first days in office