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Donald Trump has threatened “all hell to pay” if the remaining hostages in Gaza are not released by Hamas before his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
The president-elect posted on Truth Social: “Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.”
Trump dined with Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Trump suggested he will free the January 6 Capitol rioters as he slammed President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden as a “miscarriage of Justice.”
On Sunday, Biden announced he had pardoned his son following his federal gun conviction, saying Hunter had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” by the Justice Department.
Biden previously insisted he would not pardon his son. The White House has defended his decision.
Biden’s decision has divided critics. Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis said he was “disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country” while Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks said Hunter “would not ever be prosecuted for the gun crime but for his last name.”
Watch: Jill Biden voices support for son Hunter Biden’s pardon
First Lady Jill Biden voices support for son Hunter Biden’s pardon
First Lady Jill Biden has voiced her support for her husband Joe Biden’s decision to pardon their son. In June 2024, Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony accounts in Wilmington, Delaware, and was facing up to 25 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000. During Hunter Biden’s trial, Joe Biden expressed his intention to respect the court decision that would come at his sentencing in December. “I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.”, said Biden. The day after Joe Biden decided to pardon his son on Sunday, December 1st, 2024, Jill Biden announced at a holiday press event that she supported Hunter Biden’s pardon.
Trump’s highest compliments, tracked
Donald Trump completed his slate of cabinet secretaries last week in rolling announcements — and hidden in his big reveals could be a message of who he appreciates most.
The president-elect relied on six compliments when broadcasting picks for his next administration. Sometimes he was “proud,” other times he was “thrilled,” and, most of the time, he was “pleased.” Perhaps these different phrases provide some insight into Trump’s thinking.
Penta Group partnered with Axios to track how many times Trump used certain terms to introduce his Cabinet and staff picks.
“There is one final decider and as his statements come out, you can see slight nuances in the language,” Penta CEO Matt McDonald told Axios. “It kind of reminds me of the old Kremlinology of the Cold War, where people were parsing whatever public indicators there were to tell who was up or who was out.”
Here is a breakdown of his compliments:
Gustaf Kilander reports.
Whoopi Goldberg calls out ‘pearl clutching’ Republicans over Hunter Biden pardon
Kevin E G Perry reports.
Manchin says Biden should pardon Trump
Senator Joe Manchin, Independent of West Virginia, is calling on President Joe Biden to pardon President-elect Donald Trump: “I am just saying, wipe them out”
“Why don’t you go ahead and pardon Donald Trump for all his charges and make it you know, it would have gone down a lot more balanced, if you will,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju.
“Rather than going through all these court cases and getting, you know, the President has to be the president for the next four years, fighting all these criminal and all this other stuff’s coming after him, just clean that slate up.“
Manchin adds that Biden’s pardoning of his son Hunter makes his legacy “difficult.”
When pressed by Raju on how the pardon impacts Biden’s legacy, Machin said: “I don’t know, from that standpoint, it makes it difficult.”
Tomorrow at 4:30 p.m., Senator Manchin will deliver his final speech as a United States Senator on the US Senate floor.
Thousands cheer Biden’s arrival in Angola
President Joe Biden arrived for his long-awaited first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa on Monday to the cheers of thousands in Angola, where he will highlight an ambitious U.S.-backed railway project meant to counter China’s influence on the continent of over 1.4 billion people.
Biden’s three-day visit to Angola will focus largely on the Lobito Corridor railway redevelopment in Zambia, Congo and Angola. It aims to advance the U.S. presence in a region rich in the critical minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies.
Biden’s trip comes weeks before Republican Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, finally delivering on Biden’s pledge to visit sub-Saharan Africa. On his way to Angola, he stopped in the Atlantic Ocean island nation of Cape Verde for a brief, closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva.
Biden plans to meet with Angolan President João Lourenço in the capital, Luanda, where crowds lined the streets for his arrival, and visit the National Slavery Museum. He also will travel to the Atlantic port city of Lobito for a look at the rail project. He will announce new developments on health, agribusiness and security, White House officials said.
Continue reading…
Watch: Rep Dan Goldman says Trump picks will weaponize federal government against adversaries
Who else could Biden pardon?
Hunter marks the 26th person that the president has pardoned since he entered the White House in 2021, records show.
A host of members of Congress have urged Biden to pardon certain groups and people in his last 50 days in office.
The White House Press has said more pardons can be expected before Inauguration Day, as Kelly Rissman reports.
Another Democrat comes out against Biden pardon
Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who represents Washington’s 3rd District in the southwest of the state, is the latest to speak out against President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden.
She posted on X: “President Biden’s pardon of his son confirms a common belief I hear in Southwest Washington: that well-connected people are often gifted special treatment by a two-tier justice system.
“The President made the wrong decision. No family should be above the law.”
White House claps back at NBC report Biden discussed pardon as early as June
The White House has clapped back at an NBC News report that President Joe Biden had privately been considering a pardon for his son Hunter since as early as June.
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replied to a tweet from Audrey Fahlberg, a political reporter for The National Review, who flagged the story.
“That is false. As the President said last night, he made the decision this weekend.”
Source: independent.co.uk
