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      White House says ‘Trump will inherit economy primed for growth’ in defense of Biden record – US politics live

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      White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Donald Trump will inherit a good economy, thanks to Joe Biden’s policies over the past four years.She also announced that Biden would promote his economic accomplishments in a speech on Tuesday, after government data released today showed that hiring remained strong in November.“Just today, we learned more than 220,000 jobs were created last month, making this the only presidency in 50 years to have job growth every single month,” Jean-Pierre said.“Over the last four years, the president has rejected trickle-down economics and written a new economic playbook that builds the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. This is a strong foundation for years to come … Trump will inherit an economy primed for growth.”Vice president-elect JD Vance backed Kash Patel’s nomination for FBI director, saying he is in a “very good spot” for Senate approval.Still, Vance was unsure whether he would join Patel on Capitol Hill next week, according to CNN, where Patel is expected to meet with senators.“I don’t know what I’ll be doing next week. We’re fully behind Kash’s nomination, and I’m not even sure if— I’m not sure where I’m gonna be tomorrow, much less next week, but we’re fully supportive of Kash’s nomination. I actually think he’s in a very good spot for his nomination,” Vance said.Melania Trump called her husband’s win “incredible” during her first post-election interview with Fox & Friends.“We are very, very busy … I’m establishing my transition team. And also, working on my office, putting my office together, and also, you know, organizing the residence and packing,” Melania Trump, who is set to return to the White House as first lady in January, said during the interview.She also announced her new Christmas ornament collection during an appearance on Fox News on Friday. One of the ornaments is priced at $90, while the other ornaments are $75 each.“After I left the White House, I established my Web3 and Web2 platforms where I design and offer collectibles like ornaments each season,” she said. “This is the third season, and there are many other collectibles available now.”The 2024 collection, titled Merry Christmas, America!, has four designs: a golden star with “USA” in the center, a golden Lady Liberty, a red-white-and blue snowflake, and a golden clover. Each ornament has Melania Trump’s signature.JD Vance defended Pete Hegseth after he toured western North Carolina, which was ravaged by Hurricane Helene in September.Vance said that Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick deserved a Senate confirmation hearing rather than a “sham hearing before the American media” over allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking of alcohol.“Pete Hegseth is going to get his hearing before the Senate armed services committee, not a sham hearing before the American media. We believe that Pete Hegseth is the right guy to lead the Department of Defense,” Vance said. “We’re not abandoning this nomination.”North Carolina Democrats have filed a lawsuit in federal court to block a Republican candidate’s effort to throw out 60,000 votes in a state supreme court race that a Democrat leads by just a few hundred votes.Allison Riggs, a Democrat on the state supreme court, appears to have defeated Republican Jefferson Griffin by a little more than 700 votes in the race. A recount has already confirmed Riggs’ victory once, and a second recount tallying a sampling of precincts in each county is ongoing.Democrats are closely watching the race because they need to win it to have a chance at retaking control of the court in a few years. Republicans currently have a 5-2 majority on the court.After the election, Griffin’s campaign challenged the validity of 60,000 voters. The challenged voters include those whose voter registration lacked either a driver’s license or Social Security number, those who are the adult children of North Carolinians living abroad, and overseas voters who submitted ballots without voter ID. Many of the challenges rely on legal theories that have already been rejected by the courts.Several eligible voters have already spoken out in frustration against the challenges, saying they are eligible voters and have been casting a ballot without issue for years. Riggs’ parents are among those whose votes are being challenged.“Instead of respecting the results of the election, Jefferson Griffin and Republicans are attempting to throw out over 60,000 votes. Those 60,000 voters are Republicans, Democrats, veterans, seniors, teachers, our neighbors. No North Carolinian deserves to have their vote thrown out in a callous power grab – but this is no surprise from the party of insurrectionists,” Anderson Clayton, the chair of the North Carolina Democratic party, said in a statement.Among other issues, the lawsuit says that Griffin’s mass challenges are essentially an effort to conduct a mass purge of voters after election day. Doing so would violate a federal law that prohibits purging voters within 90 days of a federal election.“North Carolina Republicans’ attempts to throw out 60,000 lawful votes to overturn Justice Allison Riggs’ victory is a brazen and callous attack on the rule of law and North Carolinians’ right to vote, but it isn’t surprising. From trying to take power away from the newly elected Democratic governor to threatening to overturn the will of the voters, Republicans will stop at nothing in their quest for power,” said Sam Cornale, executive director of the Democratic National Committee.Austin Tice, an American freelance journalist who was kidnapped in Syria early into the country’s civil war, is alive, his mother said following a meeting with Biden administration officials at the White House.“The best thing that we want to share with you is that we have from a significant source that has already been vetted all over our government, Austin Tice is alive. Austin Tice is treated well, and there is no doubt about that, and so I think that is the most important thing,” Debra Tice said at the National Press Club.The press conference was held as rebels have swept across Syria in recent days, seizing major cities from president Bashar al-Assad’s forces. It is unclear who was behind Tice’s kidnapping in August 2012, but the Biden administration believes Syria’s government is holding him. Here’s more on what we know about Tice’s captivity, and the efforts to free him.Donald Trump will head to Paris this weekend to attend the reopening of Notre Dame.Joe Biden will not be there, but first lady Jill Biden will be in attendance at the ceremony to mark the church’s return after it nearly burned down in a fire five years ago.“The president has had a scheduling conflict, which is why he was not able to attend,” Jean-Pierre said, when asked about why Joe Biden would not attend.Here’s more on Trump’s trip in the midst of political chaos in France:White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Donald Trump will inherit a good economy, thanks to Joe Biden’s policies over the past four years.She also announced that Biden would promote his economic accomplishments in a speech on Tuesday, after government data released today showed that hiring remained strong in November.“Just today, we learned more than 220,000 jobs were created last month, making this the only presidency in 50 years to have job growth every single month,” Jean-Pierre said.“Over the last four years, the president has rejected trickle-down economics and written a new economic playbook that builds the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. This is a strong foundation for years to come … Trump will inherit an economy primed for growth.”Former Biden administration official Jesse Lee pointed out on X that if Donald Trump stops the US Postal Service from electrifying their fleet, it will likely cost jobs.Fox Carolina reports that a manufacturer of the new electric vehicles for the postal service planned to hire 1,000 people to make them. That hiring would presumably be in jeopardy if Trump cancels the plan.“Trump planning to kill 1,000 jobs in South Carolina right off the bat,” Lee wrote.Donald Trump is considering canceling efforts to electrify the United State Postal Service’s fleet once he takes office, Reuters reports.The president-elect campaigned on killing electric vehicle incentives enacted during Joe Biden’s term to combat the climate crisis, and Reuters says his transition team is looking for ways to cancel contracts with vehicle manufacturers for electric vehicles that will be used by the postal service to move mail.Here’s more on the potential plan, from Reuters:
      The move, which could be unveiled in the early days of Trump’s administration that begins on Jan 20, is in line with Trump’s campaign promises to roll back President Joe Biden’s efforts to decarbonize US transportation to fight climate change – an agenda Trump has said is unnecessary and potentially damaging to the economy.
      Reuters has previously reported that Trump is planning to kill a $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric-vehicle purchases, and plans to roll back Biden’s stricter fuel-efficiency standards.
      The sources told Reuters that Trump’s transition team is now reviewing how it can unwind the postal service’s multibillion-dollar contracts, including with Oshkosh Corp (OSK.N) and Ford (F.N), for tens of thousands of battery-driven delivery trucks and charging stations.
      Oshkosh shares fell by roughly 5% to 105.65 per share after the Reuters report.
      Oshkosh and Ford did not respond to requests for comment.
      In 2023, Congress gave USPS $3 billion as part of a $430 billion climate bill to buy EVs and charging infrastructure. It plans to buy some 66,000 electric vehicles to build one of the largest electric vehicle fleets in the nation by 2028.
      As part of that, Oshkosh is expected to deliver about 45,000 electric vehicles, with the remaining coming from mainstream automakers like Ford, according to the USPS. The initial batch of 14,000 chargers are being supplied by Siemens, ChargePoint and Blink, according to the USPS.
      JD Vance on Friday surveyed damage from Hurricane Helene and talked to first responders in western North Carolina in one of his first public appearances since the November election.The hurricane struck in September and caused at least $53bn in damage in North Carolina, according to government estimates.Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, visited the Fairview volunteer fire department. There, he learned that the building had flooded with 4-6ins of water and that roughly a dozen people contracted walking pneumonia as they responded to the hurricane’s destruction.“At the height of it, I imagine y’all were working nonstop,” Vance said.After the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the US economy added more jobs than forecast in November, President Joe Biden said that “America’s comeback continues.” The unemployment rate, on the other hand, ticked higher last month.“This has been a hard-fought recovery, but we are making progress for working families,” Biden said in a statement.“While there is more to do to lower costs, we’ve taken action to lower prescription drug prices, health insurance premiums, utility bills, and gas prices that will pay dividends for years to come.”New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez officially announced her bid to serve as ranking member on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, the key investigative arm of the legislature.“The responsibility of leading Democrats on the House Oversight Committee during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is a profound and consequential one,” the progressive lawmaker said in a letter released Friday.Ocasio-Cortez seeks one of the most influential positions in the House as Democrats work to counter the incoming Trump administration and monitor the president-elect and his allies.These allies have pledged to retaliate against opponents and disregard political norms in Washington.“We must do all that we can, now, to mark a different future for the American people,” reads Ocasio-Cortez’s letter, “one that inspires us to reject the siren calls of division, corruption, and authoritarianism through a shining example of a government that works for the people, by the people – one that sees their struggles and fights for them, not just the powerful and the wealthy.”If Democrats regain control of the House in the 2026 midterms, the new Oversight chairperson would have significant authority to issue subpoenas and investigate the Trump administration.Democratic representative for South Carolina, James Clyburn, said President Joe Biden should issue preemptive pardons for some of the people who have attacked President-elect Donald Trump, although it is not how the pardon power was intended.“We have to use the pardon system, or the clemency system, to get everything in order to address the current situation that we live in,” Clyburn told CNN.These comments come as the Biden administration considers the possibility of him granting mass pardons to a broad range of public officials to protect them against the possibility of retribution and revenge from Donald Trump when he assumes power.After a federal appeals court upheld a law banning TikTok across the US unless the it was sold off by its China-based parent company, the viral video app posted the following statement on X:“The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue. Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people. The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025.”Donald Trump and JD Vance have gone to bat for defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, who has faced allegations of sexual assault, excessive drinking and financial mismanagement that could imperil his Senate confirmation. Trump said Hegseth “is doing very well”, while Vance said he and the president-elect have “got his back”. We’ll see if those statements move any wary senators. Meanwhile, TikTok suffered a setback when an appeals court rejected its attempt to block a law that will force its Chinese parent company to cut ties with the popular social media app by mid-January or face a ban. However, the story is far from finished: TikTok is expected to appeal to the supreme court, and Trump has made an about-face on the issue, saying he supports keeping TikTok available.Here’s what else is going on today:

      Trump aides believe that Hegseth is on track for confirmation, despite several Republicans saying the stories about his personal conduct make them hesitant to support him.

      Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, says his lawmakers will find ways to work with the “Department of Government Efficiency”, so long as what it proposes is a good idea.

      Joe Biden is reportedly considering preemptive pardons for potential targets of retaliation, once Trump takes office. At least one Democratic senator thinks such a move would be a bad idea.
      At his press conference today, Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said his party is willing to work with the new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), as long as what it proposes is reasonable.“It’s unclear to me what exactly the objective is related to this so-called DOGE initiative. From our perspective, we want a federal government that is effective and efficient in equilibrium. And, to the extent the other side of the aisle shares that objective, which is what is right for the American people, then we’ll see if there’s common ground as possible,” Jeffries told reporters.The GOP will remain the majority party in the House of Representatives beginning next year, but only by a mere two seats. Jeffries implied that their slim control of the chamber will make working with the Democrats essential:
      It’s clear that the incoming House Republican majority will not be able to do much without us. More

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      A pardon that proves power trumps all | Brief letters

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      There are plenty of people in the US justice system who suffer miscarriages of justice, who cannot afford good lawyers and who receive unnecessarily harsh sentences. By pardoning his son (Report, 2 December), Joe Biden has sent a message to the American people – and the world – that people close to those in power can get a better deal. This undermines the entire justice system and is an utter disgrace.Angela WrightLondon In your article (Four of UK’s oldest nuclear plants to run for even longer as Hinkley Point delayed, 4 December), we are told by Ed Miliband that these extensions are “a major win for our energy independence”. No, Ed – they are a major win for EDF, a French company on whom, this article asserts, we are 100% dependent for our nuclear energy.Rosemary MiddletonMiddle Taphouse, Cornwall There is an internet meme that sums up Mary Ann Sieghart’s article (Why do some men behave badly? I think I have the answer, 6 December) in 10 words, advising women and girls to: “Carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man.” One of my younger feminist colleagues has even cross-stiched this great advice.Prof Rachel FysonUniversity of Nottingham You report (3 December) that the leader of Merthyr Tydfil county borough council says his team, officers at the council and external agencies will “move heaven and earth to ensure everything is put back into place” following the emergence of a sinkhole. Earth, yes, but is it really necessary to move heaven?Richard FosterThatcham, Berkshire If the government is allowing the British Museum freedom to decide on the fate of the Parthenon marbles (Report, 2 December) then the Greek authorities had better keep an eye on eBay.John Rushton Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire More

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      Senior Biden aide commits to giving Ukraine avalanche of military assistance

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      The White House has gamed out a last-minute strategy to bolster Ukraine’s war position that involves an avalanche of military assistance and sweeping new sanctions against Russia, according to a background briefing from a National Security Council spokesperson.National security adviser Jake Sullivan met with the head of the office of the Ukrainian president Andriy Yermak for more than an hour on Thursday, committing to provide Ukraine with hundreds of thousands of additional artillery rounds, thousands of rockets and hundreds of armored vehicles by mid-January, according to the briefing shared with the Guardian.The US is also pledging to support Ukraine’s manpower challenge, offering to train new troops at sites outside Ukrainian territory. This comes alongside a nearly finalized $20bn in loans, which will be backed by profits from immobilized Russian sovereign assets.The United States is tying that to a number of new sanctions to come in the coming weeks, all with the intent of complicating Russia’s ability to sustain its war effort and boosting Ukraine’s bargaining power at the negotiation table that could lay the groundwork for a future settlement.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe White House’s latest move comes a little more than a month in advance of Donald Trump’s inauguration, when the US may unload an all-new strategy for a ceasefire altogether.According to a Reuters report, the president-elect’s team is quietly developing a peace proposal for Ukraine that would effectively sideline Nato membership and potentially cede significant territory to Russia, signaling a dramatic shift from current US policy. Trump, for his part, has often stated that he would end the Ukraine and Russia war within 24 hours.Still, Ukrainian officials, including Yermak and Ambassador Oksana Markarova, have been meeting with key figures in Trump’s transition team this week, including JD Vance, Florida representative and potential National security adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s pick for Russia and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, in a bid to secure continued support.These meetings carry heightened urgency, particularly after House speaker Mike Johnson blocked a vote on $24bn in additional aid to Ukraine. The Pentagon has nonetheless committed to sending $725m in military assistance this week, the largest shipment since April. More

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      Biden to participate in final Christmas tree lighting ceremony as president

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      Joe Biden is set to take part in the annual national Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Washington DC on Thursday evening, for the final time before leaving the White House.This year, the centerpiece of the 102-year tradition will be a 35ft red spruce from the George Washington and Jefferson national forests in Virginia.The event, which is scheduled to begin at 6pm ET, will be held at the Ellipse park just south of the White House and will feature performances by Adam Blackstone, Stephen Sanchez, James Taylor, the War and Treaty, and others.For the Bidens’ last Christmas at the White House, Jill Biden chose the theme A Season of Peace and Light for the holiday decorations, which she unveiled on Monday.“As we celebrate our finally – final holiday season here in the White House, we are guided by the values that we hold sacred: faith, family and service to our country, kindness toward all of our neighbors, and the power of community,” the first lady said.Inside the White House, one of the centerpieces of the holiday decorations is the Christmas tree.This year, it is an 18.5ft Fraser fir tree from Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm in North Carolina.The farm is in Newland in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a region that was recently devastated by Hurricane Helene.“The Cartner family lost thousands of trees to the storm,” the first lady said last week at the tree arrival ceremony. “But this one remained standing – and they named it Tremendous for the extraordinary hope that it represents.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAt the tree arrival ceremony, Jill Biden was joined by the congresswoman Virginia Foxx, as well as members of the North Carolina national guard and their families, who are working to rebuild after Hurricane Helene.“This tree recognizes your tremendous strength and service,” she told them.In an interview with the Associated Press, Sam Cartner Jr, one of three brothers who owns the farm, said that they wanted to be “an uplifting symbol for the other farmers and other people in western North Carolina that have experienced so many losses”. More

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      Biden library reportedly under threat by Democrats enraged by Hunter pardon

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      Senior Democrats are reportedly considering withholding contributions to Joe Biden’s future presidential library amid a mounting backlash over his decision grant a blanket pardon to his son Hunter.The threat has emerged as simmering anger among congressional Democrats – already building over the president’s insistence on seeking a second term before belatedly stepping aside as the party nominee in favour of Kamala Harris – has burst into the open over Sunday’s pardon, which Biden had previously vowed not to give.Axios reported that party grandees were considering taking out their “rage” on Biden’s library project. Planning for the library, in the president’s home state of Delaware, is being spearheaded by the White House deputy chief of staff, Annie Tomasini, and Anthony Bernal, senior adviser to Jill Biden, the first lady.“If they had their shit together, they would have been doing the work on this over the summer – right after he announced he was stepping aside,” the site quoted one unnamed Democrat as saying. “Now, it’s just too late. Hopefully they are rightsizing their expectations and budget!”Presidential libraries – a tradition begun by Franklin D Roosevelt – are generally funded by a combination of private donors, state and local governments, and university partners. Maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration, they are used to house presidents’ papers and documents after they leave office.A source familiar with Biden’s project played down the possibility of donations being withheld, telling Axios: “That sentiment hasn’t come up in a single donor conversation, and work is well under way.”However, the fact that it is being publicly mooted is a sign of the internal party disenchantment following the pardoning of Hunter Biden, 54, who was convicted of lying on gun ownership application forms and separate charges of tax evasion. He had been due to be sentenced on both convictions this month. The act of clemency came less than a month after a demoralising election defeat that many privately blame Biden for.Biden, in his statement, said his son “was treated differently” than other people who had been late paying taxes because they were undergoing addiction problems. Biden pardoned his son for all possible offences committed between 2013 and 2024 – foreclosing the possibility of the incoming Trump administration reopening a case against the younger Biden that might be driven by the president-elect’s often-repeated desire for “retribution” against his political enemies.The judge in the tax case, Mark Scarsi, accused the president of “rewriting history” in a ruling penned after the pardon. He added that Hunter Biden’s tax offences had been committed after the period of his drug and alcohol addiction.A procession of Democratic senators and congressmembers have publicly accused Biden of putting his feelings for his son above the national interest and handing Donald Trump an excuse to abuse the presidential clemency powers.Even Chuck Schumer, the Democrats’ leader in the Senate and normally a loyal ally of the president, damned him with uncharacteristic reticence this week, telling reporters “I’ve got nothing for you on that” when asked his view.But party insiders say the outrage is a lightning rod for lingering resentment over Biden’s refusal to drop his bid for a second term until it was too late for Harris or other presidential contenders to be stress-tested in primaries and launch a well-prepared presidential campaign.“The pardon is simply a resentment delivery vehicle, like dressing on lettuce,” Philippe Reines, a veteran strategist who helped prepare Harris for September’s debate against Trump – which she was widely viewed to have won – told the New York Times.David Axelrod, a former adviser to Barack Obama, said the pardon gave “a free throw for people who think they can gain political advantage” from separating themselves from an unpopular, outgoing president.“But,” he added, “there’s also genuine concern and anger about the way the last year went down.” More

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      Joe Biden should pardon Reality Winner for her actions as a whistleblower | Margaret Sullivan

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      In late November, Reality Winner – who turned 33 this week – finished her lengthy punishment for sending a government document to a news organization.It’s past time for her to be pardoned so that she can move on with her life and, particularly, her education. She wants to be a veterinary technician, get a good-paying job and move out of her mother’s Texas house, but having a felony in one’s background doesn’t help with any of that.“She doesn’t deserve to be punished forever,” her mother, Billie Winner-Davis, told me in an interview this week. “You would think that once you’d served your sentence, you’d be okay, but that doesn’t seem to be true.”A presidential pardon, of course, would help immensely, in removing the scarlet “F” from her record. And Biden, who pardoned his son Hunter just days ago, may find that the time is finally right since this, too, was a politically driven prosecution.Winner has been treated harshly – scapegoated for an act she intended to be patriotic.Because Donald Trump wanted to make an example of her, the US air force veteran and former National Security Agency (NSA) translator was hit with the longest prison sentence ever given for leaking government information to the media.Her crime? She sent an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 elections to the investigative news organization the Intercept; the report indicated that Russian hackers had gained access to state-level voter information and apparently intended to use a “phishing” operation to hack it.“A public service” was how the well-respected investigative reporter James Risen described what Winner did. After all, he noted, a US Senate report concluded that most state election officials found out about the Russian hacking threat from the press, not federal officials, “who didn’t bother to notify them”.“And the main way the press found out about it,” Risen added pointedly, “was through Reality Winner”.Risen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter for many years, got to know Winner while he was the director of the First Look Press Freedom Defense Fund, which paid her legal bills.In an email to me this week, Risen said Winner is “incredibly smart and really nice, and was doing the right thing to help America”.But her punishment was meant to send a message – that leakers (or whistleblowers) would be given no mercy, no matter how much the information they shared was in the public interest. And of course, Trump has been desperate to term any evidence of Russian interference, no matter how clear or troubling, as nothing but a hoax perpetrated by the liberal media.The law is rigid in federal prosecutions of leak cases, Risen explained.“The fact that a leak to the press is a public service is not admissible in court when a whistleblower is charged with the disclosure of classified information – even when a Senate committee concludes that it was a public service.”Winner was denied bail and held in harsh pre-trial conditions for about a year before her trial. And her punishment included a strict provision that she can never be paid for telling her life story – whether in a book or through the several movies that have been made about her.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionWinner’s attorney, Alison Grinter Allen, told me on Wednesday that the most helpful action for those who want to support a pardon is to communicate with their members of Congress. Online petitions don’t seem to be as effective in this administration as in past ones, she said.The lawyer worries about how Winner’s case might somehow be reopened in a new vengeance-seeking Trump administration through a newly weaponized justice department.“She’s already been targeted and made an example of,” Allen said.The best hope, she thinks, is a letter signed by multiple members of Congress supporting a pardon; she and others are working on that, but a deadline is looming: “We’re running out of president.”Reality Winner has served a harsh sentence for a patriotic, if illegal, act. She has a lot to offer the world if she’s allowed to move on.And so, Biden, in the short time he has left as president, has the power to do the right thing.In James Risen’s words: “She deserves a pardon.”

      Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture More

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      Hegseth vows to stay sober if confirmed as defense secretary; Trump signals pro-crypto stance with SEC pick Paul Atkins – live

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      Pete Hegseth is back on Capitol Hill as he seeks to reassure Republican senators of his ability to lead the defense department despite a steady trickle of troubling reports about his personal conduct.Over the weekend, the New Yorker reported that Hegseth, a former Fox News host, was known to drink excessively. It quoted a former staffer at a veterans non-profit that he led saying: “I’ve seen him drunk so many times. I’ve seen him dragged away not a few times but multiple times. To have him at the Pentagon would be scary.”The Hill reports that Hegseth told Roger Wicker, a Republican senator who will chair the armed services committee, that he will stay sober if he gets the defense secretary job. Speaking to reporters, Wicker said: “I think that’s probably a good idea.”Donald Trump will sit down for an interview with Kristen Welker, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, for an interview that will air on 8 December, NBCUniversal announced in a press release on Wednesday. The interview will be filmed this Friday and will be the president-elect’s first network interview since the election, NBC’s press release added.Trump has been notoriously antagonistic toward mainstream American news networks like NBC in the past. In September 2023, he threatened to sue Comcast, NBC’s parent company, over what he described as “Country Threatening Treason”.In a post on Truth Social on 24 September 2023, Trump said:
      I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and event.
      Several people close to Donald Trump, including some he has chosen to serve in his cabinet, are encouraging the president-elect to pardon Edward Snowden, the Washington Post reports.A former National Security Agency contractor, Snowden fled to Hong Kong in 2013 and handed over tens of thousands of top-secret documents to media outlets, including the Guardian. He has since been in exile in Russia. Trump almost pardoned Snowden before leaving office in 2021, but ultimately decided not to.Here’s more on his latest thinking on the matter, from the Post:“I decided to let that one ride, let the courts work it out,” Trump said 10 months after leaving office, when asked about pardons for Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. “I was very close to going the other way.”But advocates for clemency for Snowden, including several of Trump’s picks for top Cabinet posts, are hopeful that Trump is now closer to pardoning the former spy, who has been living in Moscow for more than a decade to avoid a 2013 Justice Department indictment.Matt Gaetz, the former congressman who withdrew last month as Trump’s nominee for attorney general, said the Snowden pardon has been a topic of discussion among people working on Trump’s presidential transition since the election, though he said he had not spoken about it with Trump during that time. Gaetz is hopeful that the future president will deliver.“I advocated for a pardon for Mr Snowden extensively. That did not give Mr Trump any apprehension in his nominating me. I would have recommended that as attorney general,” Gaetz said Monday. “I have discussed the matter with others in and around the transition, and there seemed to be pretty broad support for a pardon.”Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary pick, Robert F Kennedy Jr., campaigned for president on the promise of a “day one” pardon of Snowden and building a Washington monument in his honor. Director of National Intelligence pick Tulsi Gabbard sponsored a 2020 House resolution with Gaetz calling for the government to drop charges against Snowden.Kenneth Chesebro, a little-known lawyer who played a key role in developing the fake electors scheme, is asking a Georgia judge to withdraw his guilty plea in the wide-ranging election interference case filed by Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney.Chesebro pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to file false documents, agreeing to serve five years of probation, serve 100 hours of community service, pay $5,000 in restitution and write an apology to the citizens of Georgia. He also agreed to turn over all evidence in his possession and serve as a witness in the case.But in September, Fulton county superior court judge Scott McAfee threw out the charges that Chesebro had pleaded guilty to, which were related to filing false statements in federal court. State-level prosecutors did not have the authority to file those charges, McAfee ruled in September.“In Georgia, a defendant cannot plead guilty to a charge that does not constitute a crime,” Chesebro’s lawyer wrote in a court filing on Wednesday.The Georgia case has been on hold since earlier this year when the defendants in the case sought to have Willis removed from it over her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the case’s lead prosecutor. McAfee ruled that Willis could continue as long as Wade resigned, which he did. Trump and other defendants appealed that ruling.The case is not expected to go to trial any time soon and it is unclear whether it will be dismissed entirely after Trump won the presidency.Pete Hegseth’s chances of becoming defense secretary will likely be determined by Joni Ernst, a Republican senator from Iowa who is also the first female combat veteran to serve in the chamber, the New York Times reports.Hegseth is expected to meet today with Ernst, a victim of sexual assault who has supported a bill to change how the military handles such attacks.The former Fox News host was investigated in connection with a sexual assault in Monterey, California, in 2017. Though no charges were brought, it has been reported that he reached a financial settlement with his female accuser. Hegseth has also faced allegations of creating a hostile workplace environment for women when he was involved in veterans non-profits.Pete Hegseth is back on Capitol Hill as he seeks to reassure Republican senators of his ability to lead the defense department despite a steady trickle of troubling reports about his personal conduct.Over the weekend, the New Yorker reported that Hegseth, a former Fox News host, was known to drink excessively. It quoted a former staffer at a veterans non-profit that he led saying: “I’ve seen him drunk so many times. I’ve seen him dragged away not a few times but multiple times. To have him at the Pentagon would be scary.”The Hill reports that Hegseth told Roger Wicker, a Republican senator who will chair the armed services committee, that he will stay sober if he gets the defense secretary job. Speaking to reporters, Wicker said: “I think that’s probably a good idea.”Donald Trump has nominated cryptocurrency lobbyist Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, a sign that his administration will take a friendlier approach to the digital assets that have boomed in value in recent years despite concerns about their financial risks.In a post on Truth Social announcing the appointment, Trump wrote:
      Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations. He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.
      Atkins served as an SEC commissioner during George W Bush’s presidency, and currently co-chairs the Token Alliance, an initiative of the Chamber of Digital Commerce intended to inform policymakers about digital assets. He also runs Patomak Global Partners, a risk management firm.Under Joe Biden, the SEC has been chaired by Gary Gensler, a critic of cryptocurrencies who will step down when Trump is inaugurated – a day the digital asset industry is very much looking forward to.Donald Trump announced Bill McGinley as White House counsel only three weeks ago, but today assigned him the new position in the “department of government efficiency”, swapping him for David Warrington instead. No reason was given for the switch-up.Warrington, a partner at Dhillon Law Group, represented Trump on cases such as those involving the effort to remove him from the ballot due to the role he played in the 6 Jananuary 2021 attack on the US Capitol.Warrington is the latest of Trump’s personal attorneys to take up a role in the administration. The veteran marine also led the Republican National Lawyers Association and worked on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.“He is an esteemed lawyer and Conservative leader,” Trump said.Trump appointed William “Bill” Joseph McGinley as counsel to a newly created non-government agency, the “department of government efficiency” (“Doge”), headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Doge, named after the Dogecoin meme cryptocurrency, is meant to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies”, according to Trump.McGinley was White House cabinet secretary during Trump’s first term, a role meant for coordinating policy and communications strategy.“Bill will play a crucial role in liberating our Economy from burdensome Regulations, excess spending, and Government waste,” Trump said in a statement announcing the new appointment. “He will partner with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to provide advice and guidance to end the bloated Federal Bureaucracy. Bill is a great addition to a stellar team that is focused on making life better for all Americans. He will be at the forefront of my Administration’s efforts to make our Government more efficient and more accountable.”Adam Boheler will serve as lead hostage negotiator for the administration, a role which will come into focus during future conversations with Israel and Hamas.Trump said yesterday on Truth Social there will be “HELL TO PAY” if the hostages in Gaza are not released by the time of his inauguration.Negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza have not been met with success. At least 44,466 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israeli forces, according to the Gaza health ministry, many of whom are women, children and elderly people.Donald Trump nominated healthcare executive Adam Boehler as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, “with the personal rank of Ambassador”.“Adam worked for me as a Lead Negotiator on the Abraham Accords team. He has negotiated with some of the toughest people in the World, including the Taliban, but Adam knows that NO ONE is tougher than the United States of America, at least when President Trump is its Leader. Adam will work tirelessly to bring our Great American Citizens HOME,” Trump said in a statement.“Adam was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the first CEO of the United States Development Finance Corporation. He went to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.“Congratulations to Adam, his wife, Shira, and their four beautiful children, Ruth, Abraham, Esther, and Rachel!”The supreme court spent two and a half hours hearing oral arguments over Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care, which members of the court’s six-justice supermajority appear inclined to uphold. An attorney for the state argued that the law protects “minors from risky, unproven medical interventions”, while the Biden administration’s top lawyer said: “Tennessee made no attempt to tailor its law to its stated health concerns.” The American Civil Liberties Union also spoke against the law, with its lawyer Chase Strangio making history as the first openly transgender person to argue before the supreme court. A decision is expected in the coming months.Here’s what else has gone on today so far:

      Pete Hegseth’s nomination as defense secretary is reportedly teetering amid reports of excessive drinking, financial mismanagement and a sexual assault allegation. Donald Trump is said to be considering Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, to replace him for the job of leading the Pentagon, but has announced no decision yet.

      Hegseth’s mother, Penelope Hegseth, defended her son in an interview with his former employer Fox News, saying: “He doesn’t misuse women.”

      Trump announced a slew of new appointments to top administration jobs, including army secretary and Nasa administrator. Among those picked was former federal inmate Peter Navarro, who will be a top White House trade adviser.
      Members of the supreme court’s conservative supermajority appeared willing to uphold Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors in just-concluded oral arguments.Biden administration solicitor general Elizabeth Prelogar as well as American Civil Liberties Union attorney Chase Strangio argued that the Tennessee law, known as SB 1, ran afoul of constitutional protections against sex discrimination, and that it jeopardizes the mental health of minors by forcing them to go through puberty before they can access gender-affirming care once they turn 18.But conservative justices questioned whether by rejecting the law, they would create a situation whereby a young person would use the care to transition genders, then regret it later on. They also questioned whether the constitution addressed the sort of situation that the Tennessee law deals with.“You say there are benefits from allowing these treatments, but there are also harms, right, from allowing these treatments, at least the state says so, including lost fertility, the physical and psychological effects on those who later change their mind and want to detransition, which I don’t think we can ignore,” said Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative justice.Other members of the six-justice conservative bloc made similar points, which is more than enough to issue a ruling upholding Tennessee’s law, and likely those of the more than two dozen other states with similar measures on the books.As the arguments wrapped up, conservative supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh asked Tennessee solicitor general Matthew Rice about how the state’s law should be viewed in the context of state’s rights.“You are not arguing that the constitution take sides on this question … you are arguing that each state can make its own choice on this question. So, from your perspective, as I understand it, it’s perfectly fine for a state to make a different choice, as many states have, than Tennessee did and to allow these treatments,” Kavanaugh asked.“That’s correct,” Rice replied, arguing that the question of how to regulate such care is one best left to legislatures to determine, not the courts.“We think that’s because of what your honor has pointed out, that no matter how you draw these lines, there are risk and benefit, potential benefits and harms to people on both sides, and the question of how to balance those harms is not a question for the judiciary, it’s a question for the legislature,” he said.Liberal supreme court justices were openly skeptical of the Tennessee law.The state’s solicitor general Matthew Rice began by arguing that there are risks to gender-affirming care, leading justice Sonia Sotomayor to cut in: “I’m sorry, councilor, every medical treatment has a risk, even taking aspirin. There is always going to be a percentage of the population under any medical treatment that’s going to suffer a harm.”Sotomayor argued that the law creates a “sex-based difference” in who can receive medical care, but Rice said he disagreed, arguing that the law is instead regulating different medical procedures.“We do not think that giving puberty blockers to a six-year-old that has started precocious puberty is the same medical treatment as giving it to a minor who wants to transition. Those are not the same medical treatment,” he said.Currently before the court is Tennessee’s solicitor general, Matthew Rice, who is arguing in favor of the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.“Tennessee lawmakers enacted SB 1 to protect minors from risky, unproven medical interventions. The law imposes an across-the-board rule that allows the use of drugs and surgeries for some medical purposes, but not for others. Its application turns entirely on medical purpose, not a patient’s sex. That is not sex discrimination,” he began.“The challengers try to make the law seem sex-based this morning by using terms like masculinizing and feminizing, but their arguments can … conflate fundamentally different treatments, just as using morphine to manage pain differs from using it to assist suicide, using hormones and puberty blockers to address a physical condition is far different from using it to address psychological distress associated with one’s body.”Back at the supreme court, liberal justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she was concerned that if the court upheld the Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care, it would undermine decisions that outlawed forms of racial discrimination.She specifically cited the landmark Loving v Virginia decision of 1967, which found laws against interracial marriage were unconstitutional.“We’re just sort of doing what the state is encouraging here in Loving, where you just sort of say, well, there are lots of good reasons for this policy, and who are we, as the court, to say otherwise? I’m worried that we’re undermining the foundations of some of our bedrock equal protection cases,” Jackson said.“I share your concerns,” ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio replied. “If Tennessee can have an end run around heightened scrutiny by asserting at the outset that biology justifies the sex-based differential in the law, that would undermine decades of this court’s precedent.”Donald Trump has announced nominees for several top administration roles, including army secretary, Nasa administrator and advisers dealing with trade and hostages held overseas.Among those selected was Peter Navarro, who served four months in prison earlier this year after being convicted of contempt of Congress. Trump appointed Navarro as senior counsel for trade and manufacturing, a role similar to one he held during the first Trump administration. Here’s what the president-elect said in making the appointment:
      I am pleased to announce that Peter Navarro, a man who was treated horribly by the Deep State, or whatever else you would like to call it, will serve as my Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing. During my First Term, few were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules, Buy American, Hire American. He helped me renegotiate unfair Trade Deals like NAFTA and the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), and moved every one of my Tariff and Trade actions FAST …
      The Senior Counselor position leverages Peter’s broad range of White House experience, while harnessing his extensive Policy analytic and Media skills. His mission will be to help successfully advance and communicate the Trump Manufacturing, Tariff, and Trade Agendas.
      The president-elect announced three other appointments:

      Daniel Driscoll to serve as army secretary. An Iraq war veteran, Driscoll was most recently serving as an adviser to vice-president-elect JD Vance.

      Adam Boehler as special envoy for hostage affairs. Boehler was involved in negotiating the Abraham accords that normalized relations between Israel and some Arab states, and Trump said he “will work tirelessly to bring our Great American Citizens HOME”.

      Jared Isaacman as Nasa administrator. The billionaire was earlier this year the first private citizen to perform a spacewalk from a capsule from Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX.
      The justices are now hearing from Chase Strangio of the American Civil Liberties Union, who is also the first openly transgender attorney to argue before the supreme court.Strangio said that the court should rule against the Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Here’s his opening statement:
      On its face, SB 1 bans medical care only when it is inconsistent with a person’s birth sex. An adolescent can receive medical treatment to live and identify as a boy if his birth sex is male, but not female, and an adolescent can receive medical treatment to live and identify as a girl if her birth sex is female, but not male.
      Tennessee claims the sex-based line drawing is justified to protect children, but SB 1 has taken away the only treatment that relieved years of suffering for each of the … plaintiffs, and, critically, Tennessee’s arguments that SB 1 is sex-neutral would apply if the state banned this care for adults too, by banning treatment only when it allows an adolescent to live, identify or appear inconsistent with their birth sex. SB 1 warrants heightened scrutiny under decades of precedent because the sixth circuit failed to apply that standard, this court should vacate and remand. More

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      in US Politics

      Biden could do so much good with pardons. Instead he bailed out his son | Tayo Bero

      by

      When Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he would be pardoning his son Hunter – who was facing sentencing in two federal criminal cases – he helped cement Donald Trump’s much-repeated argument that the American judicial system is rotten, politicized and in need of an overhaul.It’s a stupid refrain, but there are some heavy issues with Biden’s choice to do this now. What are we to make of the hypocrisy of a president who promised he’d “never interfere in the dealings of the justice department”, and swore even up until six weeks ago that he would not pardon his son? Or the fact that he just delivered Trump and the Republican party the kind of ammunition they need to justify pardoning, say, the orchestrators of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol? More morally troubling is that there’s a million other worthy causes that Biden could be using his pardon powers for.“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong,” Biden said in his official statement on the pardon. He also called Hunter’s conviction a “miscarriage of justice”.Sure, there’s validity to Biden’s claims that Hunter was singled out because of who his father is: prosecutors rarely ever charge people for illegal gun possession while being addicted to a controlled substance unless there’s a violent crime involved, for instance, and many other people who are nicked on late tax charges are allowed to resolve things through the civil courts.But political witch-hunt or not, the optics of Biden letting his son cut in line are terrible when there are thousands of people languishing in federal prisons who deserve this consideration. From inmates sitting on federal death row charged with faulty evidence, to the Black and brown people serving long jail terms for drug offenses or nonviolent crimes, the inequities in the US justice system and who it punishes or rewards are far too grave and well-documented for Biden to have thought this was the right move.Trump has promised to accelerate mass deportations and to carry out a spree of executions including for drug offenses, and he is actively seeking to re-incarcerate thousands of people who were released into federal home confinement during the pandemic. Biden’s lack of foresight and judicial inaction on these issues becomes even more shameful in light of Hunter’s pardon.Still, presidential pardons have always been something of a political loot bag for outgoing presidents – a gift for friends and family to be handed out before the party ends. Bill Clinton used his to clear his half-brother of old cocaine charges, while Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, his son-in-law’s father, for tax evasion among other charges.But that’s just family. Let’s not forget that Trump also spent his first term doling out these pardons to his merry band of thieves and liars including Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. And it is that track record that makes the fallout from Biden’s pardon so frightening, because Trump has already begun hinting at the ways he plans to capitalize on the decision.“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the announcement. “Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”Meanwhile, Trump’s Republican buddies have already found ways to shoehorn this moment into a defense of Trump’s most egregious Senate picks. “Democrats can spare us the lectures about the rule of law when, say, President Trump nominates Pam Bondi and Kash Patel to clean up this corruption,” Tom Cotton, the Arkansas senator, wrote on X.More than anything, the Hunter pardon and its fallout are reflective of the sad and un-funny joke that has become US politics and governance. Next month, Trump will be the first convicted felon ever sworn in as president in American history, and he’s already lining up the get-out-of-jail-free cards for his criminal friends. The difference is that now, any time Trump is criticized for his use of pardon power, he will be able to argue that Biden used those same powers to protect his own son.

      Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist More