Biden commutes sentences for 1,500, pardons 39 convicted of non-violent crimes
(Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said Thursday that he was pardoning 39 people who were convicted of non-violent crimes and was commuting the sentences of 1,500 people on home confinement, who he said have “shown successful rehabilitation and have shown commitment to making their communities stronger and safer.”
The White House described the actions as the “largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history.”
“These commutation recipients, who were placed on home confinement during the COVID pandemic, have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance,” Biden said in a statement.
According to the White House fact sheet, some of those getting clemency on Thursday include a military veteran who spends time helping church members in poor health, a nurse who has helped in emergency response and an addiction counselor who volunteers to help young people.
The White House hinted that this isn’t the last of Biden’s pardons during his final months in office, saying that “in the coming weeks, the President will take additional steps to provide meaningful second chances and continue to review additional pardons and commutations.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday endorsed a spending deal that House Republican leadership said it had reached to continue to fund the government through March and avoid a government shutdown at the end of the week.
“All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote “YES” for this Bill, TONIGHT!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
The House began debating the new bill Thursday evening before a vote later tonight.
Earlier Thursday, House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole told reporters that House Republicans had reached an agreement among themselves. Asked if Trump is on board, Cole replied, “All I’ll tell you is we have an agreement.”
Cole refused to divulge any details of the deal, but he told ABC News that the text of the bill would be posted online shortly.
But in his post, Trump said the “newly agreed to American Relief Act of 2024 will keep the Government open, fund our Great Farmers and others, and provide relief for those severely impacted by the devastating hurricanes.”
He also said that the bill would push raising the debt ceiling to January 2027 from June of next year. Congress last raised the country’s borrowing limit in June 2023 and had suspended it until June 2025.
“A VERY important piece, VITAL to the America First Agenda, was added as well – The date of the very unnecessary Debt Ceiling will be pushed out two years, to January 30, 2027. Now we can Make America Great Again, very quickly, which is what the People gave us a mandate to accomplish,” Trump wrote.
GOP House leaders and Vice-President-elect JD Vance were hoping to appease both Trump’s demands that any legislation to fund the government also deals with raising or eliminating the country’s debt ceiling, as well as House Republicans on the right who are traditionally against any spending deal or debt limit increase.
Meanwhile, Democrats have refused to budge from the deal they originally worked out with Republicans that Trump and Elon Musk demolished on Wednesday.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the latest proposal “laughable” as Democrats gathered to strategize their next move.
“The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious. It’s laughable. Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown,” he said.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin said it was unclear who Democrats are negotiating with — Trump or Musk.
Asked about Republicans who say they have now done their part and that Democrats would own any shutdown, Raskin replied, “It’s an intolerable way of proceeding… Democrats are going to try to figure out how to salvage the public good out of the wreckage just foist upon us.”
That bipartisan deal called for extending government spending at current levels until March and added other provisions like relief for disaster victims and farmers and a pay raise for members of Congress.
Things changed Wednesday after Musk began a pressure campaign on X with multiple posts opposing the deal. Later that day Trump and Vance posted a statement calling on Congress to “pass a streamlined spending bill,” with the president-elect echoing Musk’s threats of primarying any GOP member who didn’t comply.
Trump told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl Thursday morning that there will be a government shutdown unless Congress eliminates the debt ceiling or extends the limit on government borrowing before he takes office.
“We’re not going to fall into the debt ceiling quicksand,” he said. “There won’t be anything approved unless the debt ceiling is done with.”
Under current law, the federal government would hit its borrowing limit sometime in the spring of 2025, during the first months of the second Trump presidency. Trump, however, said he wants it taken care of now, while Joe Biden is president.
“Shutdowns only inure to the person who’s president,” Trump said.
Some Senate Republicans, including John Kennedy and Mike Rounds, expressed displeasure with Johnson’s bill and praised Trump for stepping in.
But Sen. Thom Tillis, whose home state was devastated by Hurricane Helene, said he’d do everything in his power to slow down the passage of any government funding bill that doesn’t include disaster relief.
Congress faces a deadline of Friday night, when the current government funding extension expires, to pass a new one or non-essential agencies would shut down.
House Republicans of every stripe were seen rotating in and out of the speaker’s office on Thursday — including House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Texas Rep. Chip Roy and Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris of Maryland.
Jeffries told reporters that raising the debt limit as part of the government funding bill is “premature at best.”
“We are going to continue to maintain an open line of communication to see if we can resolve this issue on terms that are favorable to the everyday Americans,” Jeffries said when asked if he was speaking to Johnson.
Behind closed doors during a caucus huddle Thursday morning, Jeffries delivered the same message to Democrats: Republicans backed out of a bipartisan deal and now have to figure out a way to get out.
“This kind of chaos and dysfunction has real-world impacts on hard-working people,” Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., said.
Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., told ABC News that Jeffries quoted President John F. Kennedy to the caucus: “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
“He said, look, we kept all our doors open during this negotiation. We made concessions. Most of us weren’t happy with the outcome of this, but you have to do your basic job. He’s saying that will continue. We’re open to everything, but we’re not open to the kind of bullying tactics that Elon Musk is doing,” Keating said.
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., quipped, “We had a deal. We negotiated a deal, and then Musk decided to change the deal. Do I call him ‘President Musk?'”
Texas Rep. Greg Casar, the new chair of the progressive caucus was also critical of Musk.
“If Elon Musk is kind of cosplaying co-president here, I don’t know why Trump doesn’t just hand him the Oval Office, or Speaker Johnson should maybe just hand Elon Musk the gavel if they just want that billionaire to run the country,” Casar said.
While many Democrats support eliminating the debt limit in principle, members left their closed-door meeting opposed to striking it now as part of a spending deal, stressing it should be a separate matter.
ABC News’ Emily Chang and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Rep. Matt Gaetz on Monday filed a lawsuit against the House Ethics Committee that investigated him for years, in an effort to stop the committee from releasing its report on their probe into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
“This action challenges the Committee’s unconstitutional and ultra vires attempt to exercise jurisdiction over a private citizen through the threatened release of an investigative report containing potentially defamatory allegations,” the filing from Gaetz says.
Gaetz in the filing asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to block the release of the report or any findings, which he says would cause “damage to [his reputation and professional standing” that would be “immediate and severe.”
“The threatened release of information believed to be defamatory by a Congressional committee concerning matters of sexual propriety and other acts of alleged moral turpitude constitutes irreparable harm that cannot be adequately remedied through monetary damages,” the filing states.
Gaetz’s lawsuit highlights that he is now a public citizen and claims he did not receive “proper notice” of the report’s impending release.
“After Plaintiff’s resignation from Congress, Defendants improperly continued to act on its investigation, and apparently voted to publicly release reports and/or investigative materials related to Plaintiff without proper notice or disclosure to Plaintiff,” the complaint states.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Following indications last week that the committee would release its report, Gaetz took to X in a lengthy post, writing in part that when he was single he “often sent funds to women” he dated and that he “never had sexual contact with someone under 18.”
“It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now,” he posted. “I’ve never been charged. I’ve never been sued. Instead, House Ethics will reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body.”
The Justice Department declined to charge him last year after a yearslong investigation into similar allegations.
President-elect Donald Trump last month tapped Gaetz to serve as attorney general in the incoming administration, and Gaetz resigned his congressional seat shortly after. But Gaetz subsequently withdrew his name from consideration, saying his confirmation process was “unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
The Ethics Committee was in the final stages of its probe into Gaetz when Trump tapped him for attorney general. The committee generally drops investigations of members if they leave office, but Gaetz’s resignation prompted a fiery debate on Capitol Hill over whether the panel should release its report to allow the Senate to perform its role of vetting presidential nominations.
The committee initially voted against releasing the report before reversing course, sources said.
(WASHINGTON) — Following reports of alleged impropriety by Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee have quietly made a request for additional information from the veterans organization Hegseth once ran, as well as the district attorney in Monterey County, California, according to communications reviewed by ABC News.
The committee appears to be looking deeper into recently reported accusations of a 2017 sexual assault as well as allegations of financial misconduct on Hegseth’s part, both of which Hegseth has denied.
The allegations have created an uphill climb for the former Fox News host, who can only afford to lose the votes of three Senate Republicans when his confirmation comes up for a vote in the coming weeks.
The committee’s requests, which were made in early December, ask that documents be provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee no later than Monday, Jan. 6, just over a week before Hegseth is scheduled to appear before the panel for his public confirmation hearing on Jan. 14.
The requests, reviewed by ABC News, show that the top Republican on the committee, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and the top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., sought additional information from the Monterey County district attorney concerning allegations of sexual assault that were levied against Hegseth in 2017 and first reported in November, following Trump’s announcement of Hegseth as his DOD pick.
The Monterey Police Department released a report last month detailing how a woman told investigators in October 2017 that she had encountered Hegseth at an event afterparty at a California hotel where both had been drinking, and claimed that he sexually assaulted her.
When police approached Hegseth as part of their investigation, he denied the accusation and “stated that the engagement … was mutual,” the police report said.
No charges were filed, although Hegseth subsequently paid the woman as part of a settlement agreement, which Hegseth’s attorney said was only because Hegseth feared his career would suffer if her allegations were made public. The agreement stated that Hegseth made no admission of wrongdoing in the matter.
Though the police report was made public in November, sources said members of the Senate Armed Services Committee were seeking any evidence beyond what was included in the report, as well as any documents containing legal analysis or recommendations.
The Monterey County District Attorney responded to the committee’s request on Dec. 20, informing the committee that the office did not have any additional evidence in the case beyond the publicly available police report, according to a letter from the DA’s office to the committee obtained by ABC News.
The DA did note, however, that — while they possess only a case summary and a memo declining to prosecute Hegseth — some of the other records the committee requested contain protected work by attorneys, and they declined to provide some of them due to their protected status.
Spokespeople for both Wicker and Reed declined to comment to ABC News.
In an interview with conservative media personality and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly in early December, Hegseth admitting to being in a hotel room with the woman but denied raping her.
“Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I’ve been honest about that encounter, starting with law enforcement,” he said when asked if he had raped a woman.
“I may have been drinking, but I was cognizant enough to remember every single detail,” he said. “And I’m not here to say that my conduct was good — you know, being in a hotel room with someone that’s, you know, not the person you’re with is not OK. I own up to that, and I’ve had to own up to that, and that’s been difficult.”
The senators are also seeking information from Concerned Veterans for America, a veterans organization for which Hegseth was once CEO, after a New Yorker story contained allegations that Hegseth engaged in financial mismanagement and sexist behavior while at the helm of that organization. Hegseth has broadly denied the allegations.
The committee has requested all documents related to Hegseth’s employment, any financial records and tax returns related to his management position at the organization, and any written documentation alleging wrongdoing or misconduct by Hegseth.
A representative for Concerned Veterans for America did not respond to requests for comment from ABC News.
Reached by ABC News, Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, maintained that his client is innocent and said that Hegseth is “cooperating fully with any requests for information from the committee.”
Trump publicly endorsed Hegseth last month after the allegations of misconduct initially got Hegseth a rocky reception on Capitol Hill.
“Pete Hegseth is doing very well. He will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!”
Wicker, who will oversee Hegseth’s nomination hearing before the Armed Services Committee, has repeatedly signaled that he’s interested in a thorough vetting of the candidate.
In early December, amid speculation that Hegseth might not submit to a traditional FBI background check, Wicker told ABC News that it would be his preference to see such a background check carried out.
The Republican said the committee was, at the time, “looking at the way it’s been done traditionally and getting information about that, as to who actually orders the FBI background check.”
When pushed by ABC News about a background check on Hegseth, Wicker said, “I would prefer a full background check, yes.”
Hegseth has since been submitted for a full FBI screening, according to his attorney.
He’s also met with several senators on Capitol Hill, including Wicker, and recently appeared to be gaining support.
Wicker has not yet publicly endorsed Hegseth, but following their meeting he said he thought Hegseth would be in “pretty good shape” regarding his confirmation.
