Trump's first week: Congress, courts consider their "checks and balances"

President Donald Trump descended on Washington last week weathering a cold front that pushed his inauguration indoors. But the winter winds were no match for the flurry of executive orders, pardons, and pens he let fly. Mr. Trump swept away Biden administration policies with each jagged stroke. 

To many in Washington, it seems like history is unfolding before us. "Absolutely," said presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky, executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library in Mount Vernon, Va. "The thing that's really interesting about studying history is when people are living through historic moments, they know it.

"There's no doubt that seeing a president come back after being defeated in an election, that's only happened one other time, and came back after being indicted on dozens of felony charges, and was involved in an insurrection to overthrow the previous election. These are just not things we've seen before," Chervinsky said. "And so, there's no doubt that we are living in a historic moment."