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Thomas Massie, conservative commentators vocally oppose Trump’s DEA nominee

Thomas Massie, conservative commentators vocally oppose Trump’s DEA nominee

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and multiple conservative figures are speaking out against President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister to serve as administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. “I’m going to call ‘em like I see ’em. Trump’s nominee for head of DEA should be disqualified for ordering the arrest [of] a pastor who defied COVID lockdowns,” Massie said in a post on X. Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was arrested in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 scare. REPS MCGOVERN, MASSIE URGE BIDEN TO PARDON JULIAN ASSANGE TO ‘SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE’ ON PRESS FREEDOM “Announcing the arrest of Dr. Ronald Howard-Browne, Pastor of The River at Tampa Bay Church, who intentionally and repeatedly disregarded state and local public health orders, which put his congregation and our community in danger,” Chronister noted in a tweet at the time. The charges were later dropped. “The State Attorney’s Office has recognized that compliance and not criminal punishment is the focus of our emergency health laws,” Chronister noted, according to reports. “Law enforcement’s intervention through arrest has been rare during this health crisis, and while it remains a necessary tool to protect the health and safety of our community, we agree that further criminal sanctions are not necessary in this instance.” In a statement to Fox News Digital on Monday, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said, “We don’t need authoritarians who refuse to use discretion and protect the Constitution – no matter which party is in power.” TRUMP NOMINATES FLORIDA SHERIFF CHAD CHRONISTER TO LEAD THE DEA Conservative commentator Liz Wheeler suggested Trump should reverse course on the nomination. “Chad Chronister is a COVID tyrant who arrested a Christian pastor for holding church in person during the pandemic. Chronister held a press conference bragging about the arrest. Chronister abused his power; he’s unfit to lead the DEA. Trump should withdraw his nomination,” Wheeler declared in a tweet. Sean Davis, CEO and co-founder of The Federalist, called Chronister “a woke, BLM-excusing, DEI-enforcing, immigration law-ignoring buffoon. There are thousands of solid sheriffs in this country who are far more qualified to run DEA than this left-wing clown,” he added in a post on X. But Howard-Browne is enthusiastically supporting Chronister for the DEA role. FLORIDA SHERIFF WARNS OF ‘CATASTROPHIC RESULTS’ FROM HURRICANE MILTON “Chad Chronister has been my friend for many years, through good times and challenges,” Howard-Browne said in a message, directed to Trump, that he shared publicly on X. “I truly believe he acted with the intention of doing the right thing, and I’ve witnessed firsthand how he has learned and grown from those experiences. Shortly after my arrest, Sheriff Chronister called me and told me he truly missed our friendship. We met for dinner at my house and we were able to restore the friendship we had, one I will always cherish,” he continued. “His vision, resolve, and leadership make him the ideal candidate to lead the DEA, and I am proud to stand with him as he continues to serve America with passion and purpose,” Howard-Browne stated. Fox News Digital reached out to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on Monday to request comment from Chronister. “It is the honor of a lifetime to be nominated by President @realDonaldTrump to serve as the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and I am deeply humbled by this opportunity to serve our nation,” Chronister said in a post on X.

President Biden’s pardon of son Hunter a political gift for Trump going forward

President Biden’s pardon of son Hunter a political gift for Trump going forward

Legal and political analysts are characterizing President Biden’s stunning “full and unconditional pardon” of his son Hunter as an early holiday gift for President-elect Donald Trump. “He’s essentially endorsing Trump’s long-held opinion that the Department of Justice is politicized and isn’t acting impartially,” longtime Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams said of the move by Biden. In absolving his son ahead of twin sentencings on separate gun and tax convictions later this month, the president argued that the Justice Department’s handling of the cases against Hunter Biden was politicized. DID TRUMP PREDICT BIDEN PARDON OF HIS SON HUNTER? Biden said in a statement Sunday night that his son, who is a recovering addict, was “treated differently” because of who his father is. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” the president said in the statement. “There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.” TRUMP STATEMENT ON BIDEN’S MOVE TO PARDON HIS SON Biden, in his statement, appeared to be pointing to the way the case was handled by David Weiss. He is the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney from Delaware who originally investigated Hunter Biden and was later appointed as a special counsel during the Biden administration by Attorney General Merrick Garland. While an impeachment inquiry by House Republicans that looked into the president and his son’s business relationships fizzled, Trump, during the presidential campaign, hinted at continuing to investigate the younger Biden in his second term in the White House. However, Trump will not be able to undo the pardon when he takes office. Additionally, the pardon’s sweeping nature means the next Trump Justice Department would not be able to reopen the criminal probe against Hunter Biden. However, Trump gains something arguably more valuable – political cover. Trump was heavily criticized during his first term for using pardons to protect political aides and allies – including longtime fixer Roger Stone and 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort – and relatives, including his daughter’s father-in-law, whom the president-elect named as his second term ambassador to France.  Biden’s pardon of his son now gives Trump a powerful rebuttal. “Biden has endorsed this idea that the Department of Justice acts in a political way, and he’s thrown out long-held precedent when it comes to pardons,” Williams told Fox News.  “He’s blowing up an institution and procedures, which is what Democrats have long criticized Trump for. They don’t have any moral authority to say that Trump is undermining institutions and changing long-held procedures. That’s what Joe Biden just did with this pardon.” The president-elect will be under pressure as he takes office next month to pardon many of those convicted of crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters aiming to upend congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory. Many of those convicted are still in prison. HUNTER BIDEN SAYS HIS MISTAKES WERE EXPLOITED BY REPUBLICANS Fox News legal editor Kerri Kupec Urbahn said that “Joe Biden has lowered the bar so much here in offering this pardon to Hunter Biden, that I think Donald Trump will be able to pardon a whole host of people including Jan. 6 [defendants].” Trump, in a statement following Biden’s move, raised expectations that he should issue pardons for some of those Jan. 6 convicts. “Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” Trump wrote in a social media post Sunday night. “Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” Biden’s pardon came 24 hours after Trump announced he would nominate loyalist Kash Patel as FBI director. Patel, a controversial pick, has long amplified Trump’s unproven claims the 2020 election was stolen and long vowed to clean house at the FBI. The move by Biden may help Trump as he works to push the nomination of Patel and Pam Bondi – a former Florida attorney general and another Trump loyalist who the president-elect named as his second pick for attorney general – through the Senate. Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a leading Trump ally in the Senate, argued in a social media post that “Democrats can spare us the lectures about the rule of law when, say, President Trump nominates Pam Bondi and Kash Patel to clean up this corruption.” The Hunter Biden pardon may convince Republican senators who may have serious reservations regarding the Patel and Bondi picks to now back Trump. “I do think it makes it more likely that some of these more traditional Republican senators will be p****d off enough to help Trump confirm some of his more controversial nominees,” a Republican who works on Capitol Hill told Fox News, as he noted that “it’s the most sweeping pardon since Richard Nixon” a half a century ago.

Karine Jean-Pierre faces press grilling after Biden pardons son Hunter

Karine Jean-Pierre faces press grilling after Biden pardons son Hunter

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced the press for the first time Monday after President Biden pardoned his son Hunter – an outcome that both Biden and Jean-Pierre previously insisted multiple times would not happen. One reporter asked Jeane-Pierre if those previous statements denying a pardon “could be seen as lies” to the American people. “One thing the president believes is to always be truthful with the American people,” Jeane-Pierre said, repeatedly saying that Biden “wrestled with [the decision].” Jeane-Pierre was peppered with questions about the pardon and why Biden decided to go forward with it this weekend, mostly repeating many points in the president’s statement from Sunday night, such as Hunter was “singled out politically.” TRUMP ASKS ABOUT ‘J-6’ HOSTAGES IN RESPONSE TO BIDEN’S PARDON OF HUNTER: ‘SUCH AN ABUSE’ Jean-Pierre also raised the possibility of further pardons, saying that Biden is “thinking through that process very thoroughly.” “There’s a process in place, obviously,” she told reporters. “And so, I’m not going to get ahead of the president on this, but you could expect more announcements, more pardons, clemency at the end of this term.” Jean-Pierre maintained that Hunter was targeted “because his last name was Biden, because he was the president’s son.” “And so the president believed enough is enough,” she said. “And the president took action, and he also believes that they tried to break his son in order to break him. That’s what we saw.” HUNTER BIDEN SAYS HIS MISTAKES WERE ‘EXPLOITED’ FOR POLITICAL SPORT, SAYS HE WON’T TAKE PARDON FOR GRANTED Jean-Pierre took questions from reporters while aboard Air Force One en route to Luanda, Angola, where Biden was taking a three-day trip to highlight a U.S.-backed railway project in Zambia, Congo and Angola that he has pushed as a new approach in countering China’s influence and dominance of Africa’s critical minerals. Jean-Pierre had denied Biden was considering a pardon six times since July 2023. The denials came even as Hunter was being prosecuted. Jean-Pierre last repeated that her answer had not changed in November, shortly after President-elect Trump won the 2024 presidential election. “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no,” the press secretary said at the time. Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

‘It’s a setback’: Democrats criticize Biden over Hunter pardon

‘It’s a setback’: Democrats criticize Biden over Hunter pardon

President Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter has sparked criticism from some of his fellow Democrats. The move prompted a tidal wave of GOP criticism on Sunday night, but as of late Monday morning, a steady stream of Democrats had also expressed unease. “As a father, I get it. But as someone who wants people to believe in public service again, it’s a setback,” Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, wrote on X. Hunter Biden’s sweeping pardon covers any and all possible crimes between 2014 and December 2024. It came as he was facing possible jail sentences over separate firearms and tax charges. LAWMAKERS HARSHLY CRITICIZE BIDEN’S DECISION TO PARDON HUNTER  The 82-year-old president accused Republicans of weaponizing the justice system against his son, who he said was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.” “I respect President Biden, but I think he got this one wrong,” said Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz. “This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution. Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers.” Jared Polis, the Democratic governor of Colorado, also criticized the decision. “While as a father I certainly understand [Biden’s] natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country. This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation,” Polis said in a lengthy statement. HUNTER BIDEN SAYS HIS MISTAKES WERE ‘EXPLOITED’ FOR POLITICAL SPORT, HE WILL NEVER TAKE PARDON FOR GRANTED  “Hunter brought the legal trouble he faced on himself, and one can sympathize with his struggles while also acknowledging that no one is above the law, not a President and not a President’s son.” Still, other Democratic allies of the president pushed back. “Look at the underlying facts and usual DOJ practice Governor,” former Attorney General Eric Holder, who served with Biden in the Obama administration, responded to Polis on X. In a separate post, Holder wrote, “No [U.S. attorney] would have charged this case given the underlying facts. After a 5 year investigation the facts as discovered only made that clear. Had his name been Joe Smith the resolution would have been — fundamentally and more fairly — a declination. Pardon warranted.” Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., said he had “mixed views” on Biden’s pardon.  BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE Like Holder, Ivey argued that Hunter’s family name was a factor in the prosecutions against him but worried it could set a precedent that Republicans could use in return. “Even though I don’t think Hunter Biden would have been prosecuted under those circumstances, a pardon at this point will be used against, I think, Democrats who are pushing to defend the Department of Justice against politicizing it, which is certainly what President Trump plans to do,” Ivey told CNN on Monday morning. “I know that there was a real strong sentiment in, you know, wanting to protect Hunter Biden from unfair prosecution. But this is going to be used against us when we’re fighting the misuses that are coming from the Trump administration.”

Trump previously predicted Biden would pardon son Hunter

Trump previously predicted Biden would pardon son Hunter

President-elect Donald Trump predicted back in October that President Biden would pardon his son Hunter.  Trump, speaking to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin on the sidelines of a campaign rally in Arizona, was asked, “If you are president again, in the name of unity, would you consider pardoning Hunter Biden?”  “I wouldn’t do anything that would be over in terms of Hunter. It’s a sad situation,” Trump responded.  “I’ll bet you the father probably pardons him, let’s see what happens, but he’s a bad boy, there is no question about it,” Trump added.  TRUMP ASKS ABOUT ‘J-6 HOSTAGES’ IN RESPONSE TO BIDEN’S PARDON OF HUNTER  On Sunday, President Biden accused Republicans of unfair treatment and claimed Hunter was “treated differently” by prosecutors in announcing his decision to pardon his son.  Hunter Biden was convicted of three felony firearm offenses in a Delaware trial earlier this year and then pleaded guilty to multiple felony tax offenses in September.   “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” the president’s statement read.  2 TIMES BIDEN SAID HE WOULD NOT PARDON SON HUNTER BIDEN  “Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form,” he continued. “Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions.”  Biden also evoked Hunter’s battle with substance abuse and asked Americans to “understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”  “There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution,” the president continued. “In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.” 

Joe Biden pardons son Hunter: What it means and why it matters

Joe Biden pardons son Hunter: What it means and why it matters

US President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who was facing sentencing for two criminal cases related to tax evasion and the purchase of a firearm. Here is what we know about the case and the pardon: Who is Hunter Biden and what are the charges against him? Hunter Biden is Joe Biden’s 54-year-old middle child. He is also his only surviving son and the first child of a sitting US president to face criminal trial. In a 2021 memoir, Hunter admitted to crack cocaine use and alcoholism, although he said he received treatment and recovered from his addictions. Hunter faced the possibility of years in federal prison due to multiple charges related to gun possession and tax fraud. In June, he was convicted by a jury for illegally purchasing and possessing a gun while being a drug user. Hunter had the .38 calibre Colt Cobra Special for approximately 11 days and never fired it, according to his lawyers. Months later, in September, he pleaded guilty to charges of a scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4m in taxes. Advertisement For the tax case, he faced up to 17 years in prison, and the gun charges were punishable by up to 25 years. Still, Hunter was expected to receive a shorter sentence, and it was possible he could have avoided prison time entirely. Hunter Biden was supposed to be sentenced on December 12 on the gun-related charges in Delaware and on December 16 on the tax charges in California. But didn’t Joe Biden say he wouldn’t pardon Hunter? Indeed. In June, Biden ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son. “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him,” Biden said as his son was facing trial in the Delaware gun case. Separately, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at least seven times – over more than a year – that Biden would not pardon his son. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre answers questions during the news briefing at the White House [File: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters] As Biden faced off against former President Donald Trump in this year’s presidential election, he tried to draw a distinction with the realtor-turned-politician – who has been charged in multiple cases. “No one is above the law,” he wrote on X in early July, in seeming protest against the US Supreme Court verdict granting broad immunity to Trump for any legal violations he committed while president. No one is above the law. — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 31, 2024 So how did Biden justify the change in his stance? In a statement by the White House on Sunday, Biden announced his decision to grant executive clemency to his son, Hunter Biden. Advertisement Biden explained that this decision was made in response to what he described as a politically motivated attack orchestrated by his opponents, to damage his reputation. “The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden said in the statement. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong.” Biden also emphasised, “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice. … I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.” Statement from President Biden “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter…” Full statement: https://t.co/InKuzm3vMF pic.twitter.com/vhxIjr1xIe — CSPAN (@cspan) December 2, 2024 How did Hunter react? Hunter said in a statement he would never take the reprieve “for granted”. “I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” he said in a statement. “I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.” What does a pardon do? The US Constitution says a president has the power to grant clemency, which includes pardons, amnesty, commutation and reprieve. A pardon absolves individuals of federal criminal offences and restores all civil liberties and rights, while a commutation lessens penalties without completely removing them. An amnesty is the same as a pardon but it’s extended to a group of individuals. Advertisement This power originates from English law, where the king could show mercy to anyone, and it later travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to the American colonies. US presidents often use this authority. How common is it for presidents to pardon family members? It’s not uncommon for US presidents to use this power to pardon or commute the sentence of a family member. In his final weeks in office in 2021, Donald Trump issued about 100 pardons and commutations. Among the people he pardoned were Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. In 2005, Kushner was sentenced to two years for tax evasion, illegal campaign donations, and witness tampering. Fast forward to 2024, and Charles Kushner has just been nominated by Trump to serve as US ambassador to France in the incoming administration. Former President Bill Clinton, before the end of his second term, pardoned his half-brother Roger. In 1985, Roger Clinton Jr. was convicted on a cocaine-related charge and sentenced to more than a year in prison after admitting guilt to conspiracy to distribute. Is this significant? According to analysts, this pardon could undermine the credibility of the US democratic system – and the notion that the law is indeed the same for everyone. “Now that an election is over and Joe Biden has no more races to run, I think that what we’re seeing now is

Syria, Russia forces step up air raids in a bid to slow opposition advance

Syria, Russia forces step up air raids in a bid to slow opposition advance

Syrian and Russian jets have intensified air attacks in Idlib city and positions in Aleppo as the government of President Bashar al-Assad tries to slow the advance of opposition fighters. The raids on Monday followed big gains by the opposition over the past few days that has greatly shifted the front line in Syria’s long-running war. The dramatic advance by a coalition of Syrian opposition groups, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has somewhat slowed in the past 24 hours, according to Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from the Turkish-Syrian border. “The advances by the Syrian opposition continue on the battlefront, but not as fast as before. The acceleration is down as the diplomatic efforts to discuss the crisis have risen within the last two days,” Koseoglu said. However, opposition fighters are still on the outskirts of Hama, south of Aleppo. Elsewhere, they have seized most of the city of Tel Rifaat, where Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are calling for a humanitarian corridor to allow Kurds to safely evacuate. Advertisement Meanwhile, a member of Syria’s opposition has pledged to continue the fight until the government agrees to a political transition. Speaking at a news conference on Monday, the sixth day of a blistering rebel offensive that forced Syrian government forces out of the city of Aleppo, Istanbul-based opposition leader Hadi al-Bahri stated: “We are ready to negotiate starting tomorrow.” To counter the rebels’ momentum, dozens of Iran-backed militias from Iraq crossed into Syria overnight to beef up the Syrian military’s defences, according to reports. “These are fresh reinforcements being sent to aid our comrades on the front lines in the north,” a senior Syrian military source told Reuters news agancy, adding the fighters had crossed in small groups to avoid air attacks. Iran also plans to keep up military advisers in Syria, according to Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei. Al-Assad’s main backers Russia and Iran have thrown their weight behind Syria’s government, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian pledging to provide “all the support needed” to push back the rebels in a phone call with the Syrian leader. He echoed comments from Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi, who visited al-Assad on Sunday before travelling to Ankara, Turkiye, which backs a faction of Syria’s opposition. “Given the consensus in most areas and differences of opinion with Turkiye in some cases, we hope to reach a common understanding that will bring stability to the region and prevent Syria from becoming the centre of terrorist groups again,” Araghchi was quoted by Iranian state media as saying. Advertisement In a joint news conference following a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Ankara continues to support Syria’s territorial integrity, adding that there is a “need for compromise between the Syrian government and opposition”. Turkiye, which has supported opposition factions in Syria, on Monday rejected any suggestion that “foreign interference” was behind the offensive launched by the fighters in the country’s north. “It would be a mistake at this time to try to explain the events in Syria by any foreign interference,” the Turkish foreign minister said, blaming instead an absence of dialogue between opposition groups and the government of al-Assad. But the Syrian president says the opposition offensive was a bid to redraw the map of the region in line with the US interests. “The terrorist escalation reflects the far-reaching goals of dividing the region and fragmenting the countries in it and redraw the map in line with the objectives of the United States and the West,” al-Assad said in a statement from his office after phone calls with Iranian President Pezeshkian. The latest fighting marks the most significant turn in years in Syria’s war, which began with popular uprisings across the country in 2011. Since 2020, the front lines have largely been stagnant with an array of opposition groups largely contained to a small portion of Idlib province. But in just a matter of days, that changed abruptly, as HTS and its allies pressed into Aleppo and beyond, initially meeting little resistance. Advertisement “This is a major change,” Jean-Marc Rickli, head of global and emerging risks at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, told Al Jazeera. The opposition was “very well prepared”, facing an army that was “not very motivated or equipped”. Ultimately, how successful the rebel operation turns out to be, Rickli said, will hinge on how far Russia, which provides Syria’s government with crucial air support, and Iran, whose militias are now in the fray, dig their heels in. “To what extent these actors [Russia and Iran] will be willing to commit enough force to stop these different [opposition] factions, that’s a different story,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)