Trump suggests it was a mistake for Biden to not pardon himself before leaving office
US president Donald Trump has suggested that it was a mistake for the former president, Joe Biden, to not pardon himself before leaving office.
In an interview with Fox News host, Sean Hannity, Trump said:
This guy went around giving everybody pardons. And you know, the funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn’t give himself a pardon. And if you look at it, it all had to do with him.”
It came as Trump told Hannity that he was given the option to pardon himself in 2021 when he was departing the White House, but declined because he believed he had done nothing wrong.
In the interview – his first one-on-one interview since returning to the White House for his second term – Trump said that Biden had been given “very bad advice”. He said:
Joe Biden has very bad advisers. Somebody advised Joe Biden to give pardons to everybody but him.”
Additionally, in the same interview, Trump said he may withhold aid to California until the state adjusts how it manages its scarce water resources. He falsely claimed that California’s fish conservation efforts in the northern part of the state are responsible for fire hydrants running dry in urban areas.
“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump told Hannity.
More on that in a moment. Here are some other developments:
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Donald Trump has described attacks on police officers at the US Capitol on January 6 2021 as “very minor incidents” as he sought to defend his decision to pardon the insurrectionists. Those pardoned include more than 250 people who were convicted of assault charges, some having attacked police with makeshift weapons such as flagpoles, a hockey stick and a crutch.
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Trump also used the prime-time Fox News interview to discuss his barrage of executive orders, dismiss security concerns over Chinese-owned app TikTok (“Is it that important for China to be spying on young people, on young kids watching crazy videos?”) and discuss the possibility of cutting off federal funds to so-called “sanctuary cities” that shield undocumented immigrants from federal detention requests.
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On Thursday, Trump will speak remotely at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, delivering his first major speech to global business and political leaders. He is due to give a speech and engage in a dialogue at 11am US Eastern Time (4pm GMT), according to the meeting schedule. It is not clear what he will discuss.
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The new US presidential envoy for special missions has pushed back against Nato chief, Mark Rutte’s talk at the World Economic Forum about Ukraine joining Nato, pointing out many members of the alliance aren’t paying their “fair share” already. Richard Grenell, appointed by Trump in December, said it is “pretty shocking” that so many foreign ministers in Europe, and so many US politicians, did not try to stop the Russia-Ukraine war, and criticised Biden’s handling of the situation.
Key events
Senate to take key vote on Hegseth nomination to lead Pentagon
The Senate is today expected to take an initial vote on advancing former Fox News host Pete Hegseth’s nomination for the role of defense secretary.
Democrats are up in arms about Hegseth’s nomination because of a sexual assault allegation made against him, as well as reports that he drinks to excess in public, committed marital infidelity and mismanaged finances at two charities. This week, the sister-in-law of his second wife reportedly recounted threatening behavior during their marriage.
The Senate armed services committee nonetheless advanced his nomination earlier this week to the full Senate floor. The chamber will at some point today vote to invoke cloture and begin debate on his nomination, and it’s unclear if there are enough GOP objectors to prevent that vote from succeeding.
Upon taking office, Donald Trump’s administration immediately shut down CBP One, an app asylum seekers used to schedule appointments to attempt to enter the United States. Now, hundreds of thousands are stranded in Mexico, the Guardian’s Thomas Graham reports:
The train rumbled through the makeshift immigrant camp in Mexico City, blaring its horn and sending people scattering to hug the wall.
It passes through at 10am like clockwork, said the residents – almost all of whom have been planted there for months, waiting for the chance to request asylum in the US.
Now, they and hundreds of thousands of other people across Mexico have been left in limbo after Donald Trump shut down the CBP One app they’d been using for asylum appointments.
As Trump was being sworn in on Monday, the app suddenly stopped working, and clips began appearing of people at the border weeping as their appointments – in some cases just hours away – were rescinded.
Since then, Trump has signed a barrage of anti-immigration executive orders, declaring an emergency on the southern border, sending troops to reinforce it and reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy, which forces non-Mexican immigrants to wait south of the border while their asylum applications are processed.
Ice made hundreds of arrests in first hours of Trump administration – report
Immigrations and customs enforcement (Ice) officers arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in the first day and half of Donald Trump’s administration, Fox News reports.
The arrests took place in a variety of states nationwide, but it remains unclear if any of the massive raids reported to have been planned before Trump’s inauguration actually took place.
Here’s more, from Fox News:
Information obtained by Fox News Digital, shows that between midnight Jan. 21 and 9 a.m. Jan 22, a 33-hour period, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested more than 460 illegal immigrants that include criminal histories of sexual assault, robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, drugs and weapons offenses, resisting arrest and domestic violence.
Agents arrested nationals from a slew of countries, including Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Senegal and Venezuela.
Arrests took place across the U.S. including Illinois, Utah, California, Minnesota, New York, Florida and Maryland.
Meanwhile, ICE issued more than 420 detainers – requests ICE be notified when a national is released from custody. The nationals were arrested for crimes including homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, battery and robbery.
The United States has been hit by waves of deadly and expensive natural disasters in recent months, but the New York Times reports that Donald Trump has appointed as the interim head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency a navy veteran who does not have the qualifications for the job.
The appointment has not been made public. Here’s what the Times reported:
Cameron Hamilton was named the “senior official performing the duties of the administrator,” according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. He was named associate administrator for the Office of Response and Recovery on Monday and has since been appointed temporary administrator.
Mr. Hamilton is an unusual choice to lead the agency, even in a temporary capacity. Since Hurricane Katrina, when the federal response was severely criticized, FEMA has been led by disaster management professionals who have run state or local emergency management agencies, or were regional administrators at FEMA.
Mr. Hamilton does not appear to have experience coordinating responses to large scale disasters like the wildfires that are raging in Los Angeles or the hurricanes, floods and earthquakes that FEMA typically manages. FEMA did not respond to requests for comment.
Before joining the Trump administration on Monday, Mr. Hamilton worked as the director of business strategy for a defense contractor in Virginia, a job he took after an unsuccessful run for Congress last June.
In his interview with Sean Hannity last night, Trump said he wants to reform the agency tasked with responding to natural disasters, such as the wildfires currently afflicting California, and the hurricanes the devastated swaths of the south-east last fall:
Trump appoints agent who responded to assassination attempt as Secret Service director
Donald Trump yesterday named Sean Curran, a Secret Service agent who responded after an assassin opened fire at his campaign rally in July, as director of the agency tasked with protecting the president.
Curran and other agents jumped on Trump and then whisked him into a vehicle after shots rang out at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. You can see him in the below photo:
On Truth Social, Trump wrote:
Sean has distinguished himself as a brilliant leader, who is capable of directing and leading operational security plans for some of the most complex Special Security Events in the History of our Country, and the World. He proved his fearless courage when he risked his own life to help save mine from an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania. I have complete and total confidence in Sean to make the United States Secret Service stronger than ever before.
Trump made a big splash by signing a flurry of executive orders targeting Joe Biden’s policies as soon as he took office, but making the most of his legislative agenda will require the help of Congress.
The GOP controls both the Senate and House of Representatives, but there’s a debate among lawmakers about whether to address Trump’s pledges for tighter border security, mass deportations and an extension of tax cuts enacted during his first term in one bill or two.
In his interview with Sean Hannity, Trump signaled no preference. “At this point, I don’t care, as long as we get to the final answer,” the president said.
“I like the concept of the one bill,” he added. “It could be something else. It could be a smaller bill and a big bill.”
In Donald Trump’s wide-ranging interview with conservative commentator Sean Hannity aired yesterday, the president downplayed security concerns over TikTok.
“You’re dealing with a lot of young people, so they love it. Is it that important for China to be spying on young people, on young kids watching crazy videos?” Trump asked. “You have telephones, and they make your computers, and they make a lot of other things. Isn’t that a bigger threat?”
The comments were Trump’s latest expression of support for the popular social media app, which has been the target of a law passed with bipartisan support to ban it unless its Chinese owner divests his US business. Upon taking office, Trump paused the ban for 75 days:
Summary of the day so far
Here is a summary of the latest updates on today’s US politics blog:
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US president Donald Trump suggested that it was a mistake for the former president, Joe Biden, to not pardon himself before leaving office. In an interview with Fox News host, Sean Hannity, Trump said: “This guy went around giving everybody pardons. And you know, the funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn’t give himself a pardon. And if you look at it, it all had to do with him.” In his first one-on-one interview since returning to the White House for his second term, Trump said that Biden had been given “very bad advice”.
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In the same interview, Trump said he may withhold aid to California until the state adjusts how it manages its scarce water resources. He falsely claimed that California’s fish conservation efforts in the northern part of the state are responsible for fire hydrants running dry in urban areas. “I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump said.
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Trump described attacks on police officers at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 as “very minor incidents” as he sought to defend his decision to pardon the insurrectionists. Those pardoned include more than 250 people who were convicted of assault charges, some having attacked police with makeshift weapons such as flagpoles, a hockey stick and a crutch.
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Trump also used the prime-time Fox News interview to discuss his barrage of executive orders, dismiss security concerns over Chinese-owned app TikTok (“Is it that important for China to be spying on young people, on young kids watching crazy videos?”) and discuss the possibility of cutting off federal funds to so-called “sanctuary cities” that shield undocumented immigrants from federal detention requests.
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On Thursday, Trump will speak remotely at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, delivering his first major speech to global business and political leaders. He is due to give a speech and engage in a dialogue at 11am ET (4pm GMT), according to the meeting schedule. It is not clear what he will discuss.
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Four Democratic-led states will urge a federal judge in Seattle on Thursday to block Trump’s administration from enforcing the Republican’s executive order curtailing the right to automatic birthright citizenship in the US. Senior US district judge John Coughenour is scheduled to hear arguments on a request by Democratic state attorneys general from Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon for a temporary restraining order that would prevent Trump’s administration from carrying out a key component of his immigration crackdown.
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US president Donald Trump’s administration has shut down the White House’s Spanish language page. As of this week, visitors to whitehouse.gov/es now see an error message and the words “page not found” beneath an image of the White House. Below that, visitors can click on “go to homepage” which directs to whitehouse.gov, where a video montage plays featuring Trump, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
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The new US presidential envoy for special missions has pushed back against Nato chief Mark Rutte’s talk at the World Economic Forum about Ukraine joining Nato, pointing out many members of the alliance aren’t paying their “fair share” already. Richard Grenell, appointed by Trump in December, said it is “pretty shocking” that so many foreign ministers in Europe, and so many US politicians, did not try to stop the Russia-Ukraine war, and criticised Biden’s handling of the situation.
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Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, defended on Thursday what he described as an “innocent” hand salute made by US billionaire Elon Musk this week, as he criticised “woke ideology” in a fiery speech to the World Economic Forum. Musk ignited controversy with two fascist-style salutes during Trump’s presidential inauguration, with critics accusing him of giving the Nazi salute.
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Social networking company Meta has denied complaints from some users that they are being forced to follow accounts belonging to the new administration of the US president. Accounts belonging to Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and Vice-President JD Vance, “are managed by the White House so with a new administration, the content on those pages changes”, a Meta spokesperson, Andy Stone, posted on X on Wednesday.
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The Kremlin said on Thursday it saw nothing new in Trump’s latest remarks on the Ukraine conflict, but that Moscow was ready for “mutually respectful” dialogue with him. Trump on Wednesday threatened fresh sanctions on Moscow if it did not strike a deal to end its nearly three-year offensive on Ukraine.
A TV weather forecaster has reportedly been by dropped by her employer, WDJT-TV (Channel 58), a day after criticising Elon Musk’s arm salute during Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, staff at the station were notified via email that meteorologist Sam Kuffel had left the station.
A spokesperson for Weigel Broadcasting Co confirmed with the publication on Wednesday that Kuffel was no longer with Channel 58, but said they could not comment further due to it being a personnel issue.
Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropy arm said on Thursday it would provide funding to help cover the US contribution to the UN climate body’s budget, filling a gap left by president Donald Trump, reports Reuters.
The new Republican president announced after taking office on Monday that he would withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement and end the country’s international climate funding. Trump also withdrew the US from the Paris deal in his first 2017-2021 White House term.
Bloomberg is a media billionaire who also serves as a UN special envoy on climate change. “Bloomberg Philanthropies and other US climate funders will ensure the United States meets its global climate obligations,” the organisation said in a statement, adding this included covering the amount the US owes each year to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Bloomberg Philanthropies did not give details of the amounts of funding or who the other climate funders are.
The UNFCCC is the UN’s leading climate body. It runs annual climate negotiations among nearly 200 countries and helps implement the agreements that are made in these talks – the biggest of which is the 2015 Paris agreement.
Bloomberg also pledged to work with states, cities and companies to ensure that the US stayed on track with its global climate obligations. “From 2017 to 2020, during a period of federal inaction, cities, states, businesses, and the public rose to the challenge to uphold our nation’s commitments – and now, we are ready to do it again,” he said in the statement.
The US is responsible for funding about 21% of the UNFCCC’s core budget. Last year, it paid the UNFCCC a €7.2m ($7.4m) required contribution for 2024, and also paid off a €3.4m euro arrears for missed contributions over 2010-2023.
A Reuters analysis of UNFCCC documents last year found the UN body is experiencing a severe budget shortfall, which diplomats said had begun to disrupt parts of the world’s climate dialogue.
“We deeply appreciate the generous support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the leadership shown by Mike Bloomberg,” UNFCCC executive secretary, Simon Stiell, said in a statement.
While the UN climate body’s core budget is formed of contributions from governments, other parts of its budget can accept contributions from philanthropies and other organisations. Bloomberg Philanthropies already contributed $4.5m to the UNFCCC last year, according to UN public documents reviewed by Reuters.
The international criminal court’s governing body said on Thursday it regretted any attempts to undermine the ICC’s independence after the US moved to sanction it in protest at its arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defence minister over the Gaza war.
The US House of Representatives voted for the sanctions this month after the ICC issued the arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, over allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. Israel rejects the allegations.
On his first day in office this week, US president Donald Trump signed an executive order which reinstated an earlier executive order that could serve as a legal basis for future sanctions against the ICC and its personnel. No specific sanctions have been announced yet.
According to Reuters, in a statement, the ICC’s governing body said that sanctions against the court and its personnel – and anyone assisting them – could severely hamper ongoing investigations. It said it “regrets any attempts to undermine the court’s independence, integrity and impartiality”.
The ICC is a permanent court that can prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression of the territory of member states or by their nationals.
The court has said its decision to pursue warrants against the Israeli officials was in line with its approach in all cases, based on an assessment by the prosecutor that there was enough evidence to proceed, and the view that seeking arrest warrants immediately could prevent ongoing crimes.
US president Donald Trump’s administration has shut down the White House’s Spanish language page, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
As of this week, visitors to whitehouse.gov/es now see an error message and the words “page not found” beneath an image of the White House. Below that, visitors can click on “go to homepage” which directs to whitehouse.gov, where a video montage plays featuring Trump.
The move was immediately met with criticism, according to AFP.
“Put this back,” Democratic senator Chuck Schumer posted on X. “Deleting this resource makes it harder for fellow Americans to access essential information, and does nada to lower the costs of groceries for Americans,” he said, referencing the wave of inflation that some voters said was their reason for voting for Trump.
According to the Hispanic Council thinktank, 43 million people in the US speak Spanish fluently.
The shuttering of the page comes as Trump leads a crackdown on immigration that heavily targets Spanish speakers from neighbouring countries.
While his Democratic opponent in the November election, former vice-president Kamala Harris, carried the overall Hispanic vote, a majority of Latino men (54%) voted for Trump, according to NBC exit polls.
Alexandra Villarreal
As part of a sweeping crackdown on both undocumented and legal immigrants, Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday trying to end the right to citizenship for some children born in the United States.
In a country where birthright citizenship regardless of lineage is a deeply held value, the president’s attempt to cut off that right for future generations could create a permanent underclass, through policy change that would specifically target communities of color.
His executive order faces court challenges from civil rights organizations, which have favorable constitutional language and over a century of legal precedent on their side. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) late on Monday led a group of organizations in filing a lawsuit challenging Trump’s order.
Here’s more on the right to birthright citizenship and its future under the Trump administration:
US judge to hear states’ bid to block Trump birthright citizenship order
Four Democratic-led states will urge a federal judge in Seattle on Thursday to block US president Donald Trump’s administration from enforcing the Republican’s executive order curtailing the right to automatic birthright citizenship in the US.
Reuters reports that senior US district judge, John Coughenour, is scheduled to hear arguments on a request by Democratic state attorneys general from Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon for a temporary restraining order that would prevent Trump’s administration from carrying out a key component of his immigration crackdown.
That executive order, which Trump signed on Monday after taking office, directs US agencies to refuse to recognise the citizenship of children born in the US if neither their mother nor father is a US citizen or legal permanent resident.
The executive order has already become the subject of five lawsuits, with civil rights groups and Democratic attorneys general from 22 states calling it flagrantly unconstitutional.
The White House did not respond to requests by Reuters for comment.
Among the lawsuits was the case filed in Seattle, which has been progressing the fastest of the five cases. It has been assigned to Coughenour, an appointee of Republican former president Ronald Reagan.
Absent judicial intervention, any children born after 19 February whose mothers or fathers are not citizens or lawful permanent residents would be subject to deportation and would be prevented from obtaining social security numbers, various government benefits and the ability as they get older to work lawfully.
More than 150,000 newborn children would be denied citizenship annually if Trump’s order if it is allowed to stand, the Democratic-led states argue.
The lawsuits argue that Trump’s executive order violates the right enshrined in the citizenship clause of the US constitution’s 14th amendment that provides that anyone born in the US is considered a citizen.
Democratic state attorneys general say that understanding of the citizenship clause was cemented 127 years ago when the US supreme court held that children born in the US to non-citizen parents are entitled to US citizenship.
