Trump 2nd term updates: Trump says USAID is run by 'radical lunatics'

Just days after Trump commuted his 18-year sentence for his role in the Jan. 6 riot, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was on stage for Trump’s Saturday speech at a Las Vegas casino.

Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for helping to organize the riot, has VIP seating on the stage where Trump is about to take the stage to promote his “no tax on tips” proposal.

Several Trump supporters at this event told ABC News they believe Trump has been carrying out his campaign promises, pointing out that he pardoned the Jan. 6 rioters.

-ABC News' Selina Wang and Kelsey Walsh

In a letter to the White House Friday, Mike Ware, the Small Business Administration inspector general and chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, said the firing of the independent watchdogs over email is not "legally sufficient to dismiss Presidentially Appointed, Senate confirmed Inspectors General."

The letter, obtained by ABC News, goes on to explain the removal process codified in the 2022 amendments to the inspectors general law.

"The requirement to provide the substantive rationale, including detailed and case specific reasons, was added to better enable Congress to engage on and respond to a proposed removal of an Inspector General in order to protect the independence of Inspectors General," Ware wrote.

-ABC News' Devin Dwyer and Benjamin Siegel

Some Republican senators expressed frustration with Trump over his surprise firing of 17 inspectors general.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he was still waiting for more information about the dismissals and the laws surrounding Congressional notification before weighing in formally.

“I do not know what his logic was on it and I do not know the reasoning, we will give him a reason to explain,” Rounds said.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a moderate Republican who was among those that helped to pass the legislation in 2022 that strengthened the law requiring administrations to give a detailed reasoning for the firing of an IG, told ABC News she was quite frustrated by Trump’s move.

“I don’t understand why one would fire individuals whose mission is to root out waste, fraud and abuse,” Collins said. “So this leaves a gap in what I know is a priority for President Trump, so I don’t understand it"

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, the firebrand who gained a national spotlight during the coronavirus pandemic, was confirmed by the Senate on Saturday.

The vote was 59-34.

Read more here.

-ABC News' Luke Barr