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.
(WASHINGTON) — Special counsel Jack Smith’s team has withdrawn from their appeal of the classified documents case against President-elect Donald Trump’s co-defendants and referred the case to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, according to a court filing Monday afternoon.
Smith last month dropped his appeal against Trump due to a longstanding Department of Justice policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president, but his team continued to pursue their appeal against Trump’s two co-defendants in the case, longtime Trump aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira.
Trump pleaded not guilty last June to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the nation’s defense capabilities, and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.
The former president, along with Nauta and De Oliveira, also pleaded not guilty to allegedly attempting to delete surveillance footage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Smith’s appeal, to the Atlanta-based Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, came after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Smith’s case in July, citing the constitutionality of his appointment as special counsel.
With the appeal ongoing, Smith’s team on Monday withdrew from the case and passed the case to federal prosecutors in Florida. In a separate filing, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Markenzy Lapointe, entered his appearance in the case.
A representative for the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Smith has also been winding down his federal election interference case against Trump following Trump’s reelection, and is expected to issue a report on his investigations to Attorney General Merrick Garland in the coming weeks.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law set to ban social media platform TikTok in less than 48 hours.
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the ruling states. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
It continues, “For the foregoing Per Curiam reasons, we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights. The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is affirmed.”
The court’s ruling was unanimous, with liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor and conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch writing concurring opinions.
In an apparent effort to limit the implications of its ruling, the court said its judgment should not be interpreted as a rebuke of common practices taken up by social media companies, such as data collection.
“We emphasize the inherent narrowness of our holding,” the unsigned ruling says. “Data collection and analysis is a common practice in this digital age. But TikTok’s scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the Government’s national security concerns.”
Unless TikTok severs ties with China-based parent company ByteDance, the ban will take effect on Sunday, the day before President-elect Donald Trump assumes office.
The ruling follows indication from the Biden administration that it would not enforce the potential ban in the immediate aftermath of the deadline, leaving implementation of the law to Trump. Trump, who opposed the ban, has said he will seek to reverse it.
Trump said he had spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday morning with TikTok being one of the topics they discussed, according to a Truth Social post.
TikTok — which boasts more than 170 million U.S. users — challenged the sale-or-ban law on First Amendment grounds, arguing that a potential ban would limit the free-expression rights of its users.
Lower courts, however, found merit in security concerns about potential data collection or content manipulation undertaken by the Chinese government.
Even after the ban takes effect, TikTok could remain available for U.S. users.
Rather than force TikTok to take the app dark, the law targets third-party companies like cloud-service providers and app stores. TikTok could circumvent such restrictions, at least temporarily, though experts say the quality of the app would degrade over time.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump announced that Alina Habba, his senior adviser and attorney, will serve as counselor to the president.
The appointment was shared through a post on Truth Social on Sunday evening, in which he wrote, “Alina has been a tireless advocate for Justice, a fierce Defender of the Rule of Law, and an invaluable Advisor to my Campaign and Transition Team. She has been unwavering in her loyalty, and unmatched in her resolve – standing with me through numerous ‘trials,’ battles, and countless days in Court.”
“As a first generation American of Middle Eastern Heritage, she has become a role model for women in Law and Politics, most recently being named Chaldean Woman of the Year,” the post continued, before congratulating Habba and her family on the appointment.
In his former administration, the position was held by Kellyanne Conway. It is not associated with the White House counsel’s office.
In additional social media posts the same evening, Trump announced several State Department roles, including Michael Anton as director of policy planning, Michael Needham as counselor and Christopher Landau as deputy secretary.
“Michael served me loyally and effectively at the National Security Council in my First Term,” Trump’s post regarding the director of policy planning position said.
“He spent the last eight years explaining what an America First foreign policy truly means,” it added.
For Needham, he wrote, “Mike has capably served Senator Marco Rubio for many years, and is a key leader in the America First Movement. He has been on the front lines of the fight for the Forgotten Men and Women of America for nearly two decades, and will do a great job at State.”
In while appointing the deputy secretary of the State Department, the president-elect posted, “Chris will work closely with our great Secretary of State Nominee, Marco Rubio, to promote our Nation’s security and prosperity through an America First Foreign Policy. Chris served as my Ambassador to Mexico, where he worked tirelessly with our team to reduce illegal migration to the lowest levels in History.”
“He is also one of our Country’s great lawyers, and clerked for both Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas on the United States Supreme Court,” the post continued. “He graduated from Harvard College, first in his Class, and Harvard Law School, and has argued nine cases in the U.S. Supreme Court.”
All four of the posts appeared on Trump’s account within the span of about one minute, just before 7 p.m.
