Donald Trump issued pardons for participants in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, one of his first acts after being sworn in as the country’s 47th president on Monday.

The pardons fulfill Trump’s promise to release supporters who tried to help him overturn his election defeat four years ago.

“These are the hostages,” he said while signing the paperwork in the Oval Office.

The Department of Justice has charged nearly 1,600 people in that deadly attack on the Capitol, with dozens who are Maryland residents. Their sentences range from probation to years in federal prison for offenses that include civil disorder, obstruction of Congress, destruction of government property and assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers.

Trump’s desk was covered with executive orders for increasing border security, designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, limiting birthright citizenship and establishing a task force for reducing the size of the federal government. It was an aggressive start for Trump’s second presidency as he claimed a mandate to reshape American institutions and unravel Joe Biden’s legacy.

Trump began signing executive orders onstage at a downtown arena earlier in the day as thousands of supporters cheered, melding the theatrics of his campaign rallies with the formal powers of the presidency. He froze the issuing of new regulations, asserted his control over the federal workforce and withdrew from the Paris climate agreement.

Trump rescinded dozens of directives issued by Biden, including those relating to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, global warming and sanctioning Israeli settlers involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. When finished, he tossed the pens into the crowd.

The president has also signed an executive order to keep TikTok operating for 90 days, a relief to the social media platform’s users even as national security questions persist.

TikTok’s China-based parent company was supposed to find a U.S. buyer or be banned last weekend. Trump’s order gives it more time to find a buyer.