"The Talk of the Town"
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration succeeded in blocking a plea deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed after a federal court issued an administrative stay of a hearing set for Friday.
The alleged 9/11 mastermind was expected to plead guilty as part of a plea agreement worked out by military prosecutors that would have removed the death penalty as a possibility in his case.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden issued pardons to several close family members Monday in the final minutes of his presidency.
“My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics,” Biden wrote in a statement. “Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.”
“That is why I am exercising my power under the Constitution to pardon James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden,” he continued. “The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.”
The five preemptive pardons were issued to James Biden, Joe’s younger brother; Sara Jones Biden, James’ wife; Valerie Biden Owens, Joe’s younger sister; John T. Owens’, Valerie’s husband; and Francis W. Biden, Joe’s younger brother.
While he was sitting in the Capitol Rotunda attending the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, Biden announced the preemptive pardons for his siblings and in-laws.
“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finance,” Biden said.
“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden said.
This comes after Biden issued a controversial pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, in early December over tax evasion and federal gun charges. Biden had repeatedly said he did not plan to pardon Hunter.
James Biden, 75, has especially come under fire from Republicans.
Congressional Republicans have pressed the incoming Justice Department to bring charges against James Biden for allegedly lying to Congress as part of its impeachment inquiry into the outgoing president and his family.
James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, wrote to incoming Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday seeking to hold James Biden accountable for “having misled Congress regarding Joe Biden’s participation in his family’s influence peddling and deserving of prosecution under federal law.
Comer and his Republican colleagues had already issued a criminal referral for James Biden to the Justice Department. Comer reacted to the preemptive pardons of Biden’s family, saying they serve as “a confession of their corruption.”
The pardon warrant, signed Jan. 19, excuses James Biden and the other family members of “ANY NONVIOLENT OFFENSES against the United States which they may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through the date of this pardon.”
These were the second preemptive pardons issued by the outgoing president on Monday, not an unusual act for departing leaders. He also issued pardons to potential targets of the incoming Trump administration, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and lawmakers who served on the House Jan. 6 committee.
“Our nation relies on dedicated, selfless public servants every day. They are the lifeblood of our democracy,” Biden said in a statement. “Yet alarmingly, public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(WASHINGTON) — In a sneaky legislative maneuver tied into the effort to pass a funding bill and avert a government shutdown, House Republicans earlier this week successfully blocked Democrats from forcing votes and debate on President Donald Trump’s controversial tariffs.
It was a somewhat complicated move. But it worked — and demonstrated that Republicans are attempting to give cover to Trump and his implementation of sweeping tariffs on top U.S. trading partners that have roiled the stock market and stoked diplomatic tensions.
Had Democrats forced a vote and debate on the tariffs, it could have forced Republicans to go on the record on Trump’s tariff agenda — perhaps splitting with the president’s actions.
To tee up Speaker Mike Johnson’s temporary government funding bill, which the House passed Tuesday evening, the House first needed to pass what’s known as “a rule.” Buried inside the text of that rule was legislative language that prevents Democrats from forcing a potentially politically painful vote to end Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.
How could Democrats compel a vote to end the tariffs?
Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China by declaring illegal migration and fentanyl constituted a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act.
But, here’s the catch: under the NEA, Congress has the authority to move quickly to terminate that emergency declaration. Top House Democrats tried to do that last week.
But inside that rule, which passed along party lines and cleared the way for a vote on the House GOP’s stopgap funding bill, was a provision prohibiting lawmakers from forcing a vote to terminate the president’s border emergency and the resulting tariffs until at least January 2026.
The section reads, “Each day for the remainder of the first session of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day for purposes of section 202 of the National Emergencies Act with respect to a joint resolution terminating a national emergency declared by the President on February 1, 2025.”
Democrats are blasting the move.
“Guess what they tucked into this rule, hoping nobody would notice? They slipped in a little clause letting them escape ever having to debate or vote on Trump’s tariffs. Isn’t that clever?” Rep. Jim McGovern, the ranking member on the House Rules Committee, said during floor debate Tuesday.
Congress could still approve a joint resolution to terminate the president’s national emergency. That would require the support of both rank-and-file GOP lawmakers and House Republican leadership, which is unlikely.
Democratic Rep. Don Beyer blasted the maneuver on “ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis” Tuesday.
Asked about the Republicans’ move and if Democrats have any way around it, Beyer said “not really,” calling it “tragic.”
“Once again, Trump has ignored existing law and the Constitution with all the tariffs he’s been announcing in recent weeks,” Beyer said. “He inherited on Jan. 20 the strongest economy this country has ever had. And we are rapidly heading towards recession right now just because of the extraordinary uncertainty in business decisions and capital investment and hiring decisions.”
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(WASHINGTON) — “Border czar” Tom Homan said President Donald Trump won’t hesitate to use the U.S. military if Mexican cartels target American troops on the southern border.
“I think the cartels would be foolish to take on the military, but we know they’ve taken on the Mexican military before, but now we have the United States military,” he told ABC News Live on Thursday.
“Do I expect violence to escalate? Absolutely, because the cartels are making record amounts of money,” Homan said, going on to say that they continue to secure the border, “We’re taking money out of their pocket.”
Homan said the troops “need to protect themselves” and that he would send a warning to the cartels if any U.S. soldiers are harmed: “The wrath of President Trump’s going to come down.”
“He has the ability to wipe them off the face of the Earth,” he said.
On his first day in office, Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border, allowing the Department of Defense to deploy armed forces to the region.
He also signed an executive order to designate drug cartels and other criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations or specifically designated global terrorists.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also been conducting raids across the nation to round up undocumented migrants for deportation as part of the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies.
The administration has said the first priority in these raids is to target violent criminals.
About three-quarters — 76% — of the 14,000 migrants who have been arrested so far are criminals, Homan told ABC News Live on Thursday.
“Where do the collaterals come? The collateral arrests happen when we’re looking for the bad guy and we find others with them,” he said.
Homan said he doesn’t have a daily quota on arrests of undocumented migrants, saying, “I want to arrest as many as we can arrest.”
“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re not off the table, but you’re not going to be a priority,” he said.
Asked how the administration contends with deporting families back to dangerous countries, Homan responded, “What country is dangerous?”
Many migrants entering the U.S. come from countries such as Haiti and Venezuela, which have the strictest “do not travel” warnings from the State Department due to violence.
“People need to understand what is asylum. Asylum is, you’re escaping fear and persecution from your home government because of race, religion, political affiliation and participation in a specific social group,” he said.
Homan argued there are many “fraudulent” asylum claims that have overwhelmed the system and legitimate asylum-seekers are “sitting in the back seat.”
“What you don’t do to claim asylum is enter the country illegally,” he said. “You go to a port of entry.”
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.