Megyn Kelly endorses Trump, calling him ‘protector of women’
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(PITTSBURGH) — At the midway point of former President Donald Trump’s speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Monday, Megyn Kelly took the stage as a headliner to explain why she’s backing Trump.
“He will be a protector of women. And it’s why I’m voting for him,” Kelly said, suggesting the former president previously got mocked for making a similar statement.
The conservative media personality, who was previously a Fox News host, has had an at-times contentious relationship with the former president over the language he’s used to describe women. During the first debate of the 2016 campaign, Kelly as moderator had asked Trump about statements he’d made about women, including calling some derogatory names.
Eight years later, Kelly was on the stage in Pennsylvania on Monday helping Trump deliver what would be his final message before Election Day. Kelly suggested on Monday that she supports Trump because he takes care of the common man.
“He will look out for our boys to our forgotten boys and our forgotten men. Guys like you,” she said, adding, “Who maybe have a beer after work and don’t want to be judged by people like Oprah and Beyonce, who will never have to face the consequences of her disastrous economic policies.”
At one point, Kelly pointed to disagreeing with the “left’s version of masculinity,” mentioning advertisements in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign that called for women to vote for Harris without their husbands’ knowledge.
“You see that ad they did about Trump voters trying to encourage women to lie to their husbands so that they could vote for her instead of Trump,” Kelly said. “That’s their version of what marriage looks like, an overbearing husband who bullies his wife into saying she voted one way as opposed to an honest, open relationship.”
She added, “Oh wait, I’m talking about Kamala and Doug,” referencing the vice president’s husband, Doug Emhoff. “I’m not into their version of toxic masculinity or new masculinity. I prefer the old version,” Kelly said, alluding to Trump.
“I prefer a president who understands how to be strong and how to fight. I hope all of you do what I did last week. Vote Trump and get ten friends to vote Trump to.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden has sparked outrage after commuting the sentence of Leonard Peltier in a last-minute move before leaving office Monday.
Peltier, 80, has spent nearly 50 years in prison after being convicted of the murder of two FBI agents on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975. He also escaped from federal prison in 1979 while serving his sentence for the two murders and had five years tacked onto his sentence.
Peltier, a prominent Native American activist before his arrest, has always proclaimed his innocence in the crime.
“This commutation will enable Mr. Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes,” Biden wrote in a statement announcing the move.
The commutation came in the same release, issued while now-President Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony was getting underway at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, that granted preemptive pardons to five of Biden’s family members, including his brother James Biden, a target of congressional Republicans.
Peltier suffers from significant health issues, according to the release.
Former FBI Director Christopher Wray recently penned a letter to Biden, warning him against commuting Peltier’s sentence. The letter was written on Jan. 10, just days before Wray and Biden left office.
“Mr. President, I urge you in the strongest terms possible: Do not pardon Leonard Peltier or cut his sentence short,” Wray wrote. “It would be shattering to the victims’ loved ones and undermine the principles of justice and accountability that our government should represent.”
On June 26, 1975, FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were killed by Peltier in a shootout while they were on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
“Peliter is a remorseless killer, who brutally murdered two of our own–Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams,” Wray wrote. “Granting Peltier any relief from his conviction or sentence is wholly unjustified and would be an affront to the rule of law.”
Wray said Peliter fled to Canada after he “executed” the two agents “at close range.” Peltier was arrested in Alberta in 1976, before standing trial for the murders.
“In the aftermath of the murders, Peltier engaged in a violent flight from justice, firing shots at police officers as he eluded arrest and burglarizing a home,” Wary wrote. “Following his apprehension months later in Canada, Peltier said that if he had known law enforcement officers were approaching, he would have “blow[n] [them] out of [their] shoes.”
After his trial and conviction for first-degree murder, Peltier participated in a violent escape from federal prison, during which he and others opened fire on prison employees,” Wray wrote. One of the escapees was killed in the shootout.
Wray also wrote a similarly strongly worded letter to the parole board in June 2024, asking that Peltier not be let out. The parole was denied. Then-President Barack Obama denied a clemency request for Peltier in 2017, according to The Associated Press.
“This last-second, disgraceful act by then-President Biden, which does not change Peltier’s guilt but does release him from prison, is cowardly and lacks accountability,” Natalie Bara, president of The FBI Agents Association, said in a statement. “It is a cruel betrayal to the families and colleagues of these fallen Agents and is a slap in the face of law enforcement.”
Kevin Sharp, Peltier’s attorney, told The Associated Press before the parole hearing last year that evidence against Peltier had been falsified.
“You’ve got a conviction that was riddled with misconduct by the prosecutors, the U.S. Attorney’s office, by the FBI who investigated this case and, frankly the jury,” Sharp told the AP. “If they tried this today, he does not get convicted.”
Amnesty International, which has long campaigned for Peltier’s release noted that former U.S. Attorney James Reynolds, who prosecuted the case, has said Peltier should be freed as well. The judge who oversaw his 1986 appeal, Gerald Heany, has also called for Peltier’s release.
Dozens of members of Congress wrote a letter urging for Peltier’s release in October 2023, citing what they said were the “prosecutorial misconduct” and “constitutional violations” that took place during Peltier’s trial.
“President Biden was right to commute the life sentence of Indigenous elder and activist Leonard Peltier given the serious human rights concerns about the fairness of his trial,” Amnesty International said in a statement. “Amnesty International has advocated for the U.S. government to grant Leonard Peltier clemency for years, following the leadership of Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples.”
President-elect Donald Trump is on the cusp of returning to the White House, with his inauguration ceremony on Monday.
During his third campaign for the presidency, he laid out what he would do on his first day back in office, even referring to himself as a “dictator” but only on “Day 1.”
“We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling,” he said during a 2023 town hall in Iowa with Fox News host Sean Hannity. “After that, I’m not a dictator.”
One task on his apparent to-do list has already become irrelevant. Trump vowed to fire Jack Smith, the special counsel who brought two federal cases against him, “within two seconds” of returning to the White House. Though Smith resigned as special counsel on Jan. 10 after submitting his final report on the probes into allegations of interfering with the 2020 election and unlawfully retaining classified documents after leaving the White House.
Here’s what else Trump has said he would do on Day 1:
Mass deportations and closing the border
With immigration a top issue for voters, Trump has said he’s determined to round up and deport millions of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission.
“On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out,” he said during a rally at Madison Square Garden in the closing days of the presidential race. “I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, then kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.”
Incoming “border czar” Tom Homan has promised to execute “the biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen.”
To do so, Trump has indicated he will seek help from the U.S. military by declaring a national emergency.
Trump has also vowed to close the southern border on his first day in office.
“We’re going to close the border. Day 1, the border gets closed,” he said during the 2023 town hall with Hannity.
Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff of policy, told Fox News following the election that the president-elect would immediately sign executive orders regarding mass deportations and a border closure.
“It is going to be at light speed,” Miller said. “The moment that President Trump puts his hand on that Bible and takes the oath of office, as he has said, the occupation ends, liberation day begins. He will immediately sign executive orders sealing the border shut, beginning the largest deportation operation in American history.”
Trump has railed against the Biden administration’s immigration policies, in part claiming they have made America less safe, though statistics show that U.S.-born citizens are more than twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes than undocumented immigrants, according to a 2020 Justice Department study cited in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
There are an estimated 11 million unauthorized migrants living in the U.S. without legal immigration status. Removing them could cost billions of dollars per year, according to estimates from the American Immigration Council.
End birthright citizenship
Among other immigration policies, Trump has pledged to sign an executive order on the first day of his new term to end birthright citizenship.
In a 2023 campaign video, Trump said that under the new executive order, at least one parent will have to be a “citizen or a legal resident” for their children to qualify for birthright citizenship.
Such a move, though, is expected to face significant legal hurdles. Under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, any person born within the territory of the U.S. is a U.S. citizen.
Free some convicted Jan. 6 rioters
Trump has said one of his first acts if elected to a second term would be to “free” some people convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, whom he continues to claim are “wrongfully imprisoned.”
“I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control,” he said on his social media platform last March when announcing the promise.
Trump has repeatedly downplayed the violence that ensued that day, referring to the defendants as “J6 hostages,” calling for their release.
As of early January, more than 1,580 individuals have been charged criminally in federal court in connection with Jan. 6, with over 1,000 pleading guilty, according to the Department of Justice.
Tariffs on Canada and Mexico
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform following the election that one of the first executive orders he will sign when he takes office will be to charge Mexico and Canada with a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States.
“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” he posted. “Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”
In response, Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, warned that any tariff will be met with another and disputed his claims about migration and drugs while blaming the U.S. for Mexico’s drug war — pointing to U.S. consumption and American guns.
Canadian officials said the country “places the highest priority on border security and the integrity of our shared border.”
End the Russia-Ukraine war ‘within 24 hours’
Trump claimed during a 2023 CNN town hall that if he were president, he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine in 24 hours. Though he did not detail what he wanted an end to look like, dodging on whether he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win.
Asked during an ABC News debate in September if he wants Ukraine to win against Russia, Trump did not directly answer but said that he wants the war to stop.
“I’ll get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended. If I’m president-elect, I’ll get it done before even becoming president,” he said.
Though more recently, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s pick to serve as the special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, said on Fox News this month that he’d personally like to see the war end within 100 days.
End ‘Green New Deal atrocities’
Trump said in a campaign video last year he would end the “Green New Deal atrocities on Day 1” if reelected.
The Green New Deal — a public policy initiative to address climate change pitched by Democrats Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey — was never signed into law, though Trump has used the term to generally refer to the Biden administration’s climate and energy policies, like the landmark Inflation Reduction Act.
“To further defeat inflation, my plan will terminate the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam. Greatest scam in history, probably,” Trump said during remarks at the Economic Club of New York in September. “[We will] rescind all unspent funds under the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act.”
Trump also said during his Republican National Convention address that he will “end the electric vehicle mandate on Day 1.” There is no such federal mandate, though recent Environmental Protection Agency regulations are aimed to accelerate the adoption of cleaner vehicle technologies.
Green cards for college graduates
Trump deviated from his usual anti-immigrant rhetoric when he advocated for “automatically” giving noncitizens in the U.S. green cards when they graduate from college — not just people who go through the vetting process — during an episode of the “All In” podcast released in June.
“[What] I want to do, and what I will do, is you graduate from a college, I think you should get, automatically as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country. That includes junior colleges, too,” Trump said in the episode.
“Anybody graduates from a college, you go in there for two years or four years, if you graduate, or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country,” he continued.
Asked on the podcast if he would expand H-1B work visas for tech workers after fixing the border, Trump said “yes.”
“Somebody graduates at the top of the class, they can’t even make a deal with the company because they don’t think they’re going to be able to stay in the country. That is going to end on Day 1,” Trump said.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the leaders of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, have also voiced their support for H-1B visas, which allow foreign skilled professionals to work in America, saying they are essential because American culture doesn’t prioritize success in science and engineering careers compared to other countries.
Some of Trump’s far-right supporters have pushed back against support for the visas, arguing they are a way for business leaders to have cheap labor rather than provide job opportunities for Americans.
Reinstate ban on transgender military service
Trump has vowed to reinstate a ban on transgender military service enacted during his first term in 2017, which President Joe Biden repealed in 2021, among other measures that would impact trans people.
“With the stroke of my pen, on day one, we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy,” Trump said at a Turning Point USA rally in December. “And I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high school. And we will keep men out of women’s sports.”
“And that will likewise be done on Day 1,” he continued.
Estimates on the number of active transgender service members vary. In 2021, the Department of Defense said there were approximately 2,200 people in the military services who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria and seeking medical care, while noting that was a subset of the transgender population.
If a ban on transgender service members were to be reinstated, the Human Rights Campaign said it “will take swift action to push back against this dangerous and discriminatory ban.”
House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, R- Minn., said that he plans to work to implement President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda despite House Republicans’ very slim majority.
“We’re going to get the Trump agenda put in place,” Emmer told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “Donald Trump got a mandate on November 5. The public expects us to deal with the excessive spending, the debt, the deficit that has driven double-digit inflation at the beginning of the Biden term, they’ve asked Donald Trump to seal the southern border, and they want peace and stability around the globe.”
Trump has pushed to achieve his legislative goals in “one big beautiful bill” that would address many of his priorities, including tax cuts and securing the southern border, but a wide-ranging bill could be difficult to sell to fiscal hawks in the Senate and the House. The opposition to that approach caused Trump to backtrack and say he’d be willing to consider multiple bills. Emmer said that he is open to either approach.
“That’s not a concern to me once we make the decision. Is it going to be one? Is it going to be two? Doesn’t matter. The whip’s job is to make sure that we execute once that decision has been made, and I love people who tell us that we can’t do something,” Emmer said. “I mean, when we didn’t have the White House and we didn’t have the Senate, we did things that Republican majorities had never been able to do in the previous 10 to 15 years.”
Asked if Republicans are engaging with Democrats on trying to get their support on dealing with the debt ceiling, which Trump has pushed to raise or even eliminate, Emmer said some GOP hardliners could be brought around “under the right circumstances.”
“The issue that Republicans have had, and I think that Donald Trump has, is the debt ceiling is a false number. The bottom line is, you got to get your spending under control, and you got to have a plan to pay off the debt. So as long as we’re doing that, don’t underestimate what the House Republicans can do,” Emmer said.
President Joe Biden promised that 100% of initial emergency funding for the wildfires in the Los Angeles area would be covered by the federal government and called for Congress to provide California with whatever it needs to recover. Asked for a sense of what that might take, Emmer said that it’s too early to tell.
“Well, right now we don’t know what’s going to be needed. We know it’s significant. What we do know is that Congress, in December, before we left, the 118th Congress, passed the American Relief Act, which provided billions of dollars to FEMA to not only deal with the pre the hurricanes Milton and Helene, but also for situations such as this, although no one could predict what’s happening right now in LA,” said Emmer.
Asked about his relationship with Trump, who was critical of Emmer last year when he was considered for House speaker as being “totally out of touch” with Republican voters, Emmer said he and the president-elect are on “good terms.”
“The president has been wonderful to me, been wonderful to my wife. Has done everything that he could to campaign in Minnesota. He’s been amazing,” Emmer said. “We’re going to do some good work together, but it’s Donald J. Trump’s agenda. My job is to make sure that we execute.”
