Trump’s pledge to pardon Jan 6 ‘hostages’ prompts first trial delay request: Live

We could see much more of this from people prosecuted over their part in the Capitol riot of January 6 2021 after the president-elect promised during his Meet the Press interview with Kristen Welker yesterday to issue pardons on his first day back in the White House.

Trump did offer the caveat that his administration would be looking at “independent cases” rather than issuing a blanket clemency order but also said he would be acting “quickly” on the matter.

He further suggested that the likes of Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and Bennie Thompson that investigated the attempted insurrection on behalf of the House of Representatives “should go to jail”.

Far-right influencer Nick Fuentes is due in court later this month after a woman accused him of pepper-spraying her when she showed up at his suburban Chicago home following his “Your body, my choice” post on X.

According to court documents, the 57-year-old woman approached Fuentes’ home in Berwyn on November 10, shortly after his address was leaked following his post, The Chicago Tribune reported.

Berwyn is a Chicago suburb of about 54,000 people.

The woman told the newspaper in a November 15 interview that her friends encouraged her to go to Fuentes’ home to see if rumors were true that he had been receiving prank deliveries after his post on X.

She said she made a video of herself on the sidewalk in front of his’ home.

Another woman pulled up in her car and told her to ring the doorbell.

She alleged that Fuentes opened the door before she could ring the bell, pepper-sprayed her, screamed an expletive and took her phone.

Fuentes, 26, faces a battery charge in connection with the incident, the newspaper reported.

He is due to appear in court on December 19 and has posted mugshots of himself on his X account along with “Free me (racial slur).”

In West Palm Beach, Eric Garcia meets the MAGA superfans who are camping outside Trump’s estate at all hours.

Michigan Representative Dan Kildee suggests Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence could be about to face tough questions about her past sympathy for Bashar al-Assad after the dictator was overthrown and driven from his country into exile in Russia over the weekend.

The Kremlin has said this morning that it has had so far had no contact with Trump or his team after the president-elect called for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end “the madness” of war.

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands of dead, displaced millions and triggered the biggest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Trump said Ukraine had lost some 400,000 soldiers while Russia had lost 600,000 dead and wounded. Russia does not disclose its losses but Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said 43,000 soldiers had been killed in the war and that there had been 370,000 wounded soldiers.

Asked if there had been any contact with Trump or his team, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, there have still been no contacts.”

Peskov said the Kremlin had made its position clear during a rare Sunday statement.

The Kremlin said yesterday that Russia was open to talks but that they had to be based on agreements reached in Istanbul in 2022 and on current realities on the battlefield where Russian forces have been pushing forward at their fastest rate since the early days of the war.

Trump, who has vowed to swiftly end the conflict, is returning to the White House at a time of Russian ascendancy. Moscow controls a chunk of Ukraine about the size of the American state of Virginia and is advancing at the fastest pace since the early days of the 2022 invasion.

Vladimir Putin has said that Ukraine must not join the Nato military alliance and that Russia should be left fully in control of four Ukrainian regions his troops partially control at the moment for a peace deal to be done.

Reuters reported last month that Putin is open to discussing a Ukraine ceasefire deal with Trump but rules out making any major territorial concessions and insists Kyiv abandon ambitions to join Nato.

Saturday Night Live roasted “poor little” Matt Gaetz and Hunter Biden in its cold open sketch over the weekend as the two scandal-plagued figures paid a visit to Dana Carvey’s Church Lady following the “most satanic year in history.”

Katie Hawkinson has more.

The president-elect’s team is considering withholding massive research grants from “woke” schools they claim lack academic freedom.

Dr Jay Bhattacharya, Trump’s nominee to head the National Institutes of Health, a physician and economist at Stanford, reportedly wants to target so called “cancel culture” at a number of top progressive universities, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Those with knowledge of Bhattacharya’s thinking told the newspaper that he’s considering linking the doling out of billions in federal research grants to a measure of “academic freedom” on campuses and punishing those that apparently don’t adequately embrace perspectives championed by conservatives.

Gustaf Kilander has more.

Those interviewing for positions within the incoming Trump administration will need to do more than prove their qualifications for the job, with new reports claiming the must answer a series of strategic questions to prove their allegiance to the president-elect.

At least nine people who were interviewed for jobs or were involved in the process told The New York Times that questions about January 6, the validity of the 2020 election and their voting decisions were brought up.

Those questions are seemingly designed to weed out prospective administration members who do not display an obvious fealty to Trump above all other considerations.

Ariana Baio has more.

Here’s a look at some of the key exchanges from the weekend’s political shows, featuring Markwayne Mullin attempting to cast doubt on Pete Hegseth’s alleged drinking problem, ex-speaker Kevin McCarthy reigniting his feud with Matt Gaetz and John Bolton mockingly accusing Elon Musk of usurping JD Vance.

Donald Trump’s ambitious daughter-in-law announced on X late last night that she will be stepping down as co-chair of the Republican National Commitee and is leaving the role to Michael Whatley.

She is now being tipped to run for Marco Rubio’s soon-to-be-vacant Florida Senate seat and recently admitted to the Associated Press that she is considering other roles, commenting: “It is something I would seriously consider,

“If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like.

“And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me.

“But yeah, I would 100 percent consider it.”