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Recently ousted Dem senator said he’s ‘getting the f— out of here’ when asked about presidential pardon

Sen. Jon Tester is getting testy with reporters during his remaining weeks in Congress after being booted from his long-held Montana Senate seat. President Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, on Sunday, absolving him of any charges for crimes he “committed or may have committed” between January 2014 and December 2024. On Monday, Tester was asked about Biden’s controversial move to pardon his son, to which the senator offered a rather blunt response. “I’m one month from getting the f— out of here,” he said with a smile, according to CNN and other outlets. “Ask somebody who counts.” NAVY SEAL TIM SHEEHY OUSTS 3-TERM SEN. JON TESTER IN MONTANA SENATE RACE The comment comes nearly one month after the three-term Montana Democrat was ousted by Republican Navy SEAL Sen.-elect Tim Sheehy in one of the most closely watched races of the 2024 cycle. MONTANA’S ROAD TO RED: HOW THE STATE SHIFTED TO ALL GOP LEADERSHIP FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER 100 YEARS While Tester did not answer the question, Democrats on Capitol Hill have been speaking out against Biden’s decision to relieve his son from facing any potential federal charges over the course of the past decade.  “President Biden’s decision to pardon his son was wrong. A president’s family and allies shouldn’t get special treatment. This was an improper use of power, it erodes trust in our government, and it emboldens others to bend justice to suit their interests,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich, wrote in a post on X. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., also said that Biden’s decision “further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all.” Efforts to reach Tester’s office for comment at press time were unsuccessful. 

Mar-a-Lago trumps White House as president-elect overshadows Biden on world stage

President Biden enjoyed a warm welcome from a crowd of thousands as he arrived in Angola this week, as the president made good on his long awaited first visit to sub-Saharan Africa. Biden, likely on his last overseas trip before President-elect Donald Trump takes over in the White House next month, is already being overshadowed on the world stage by his predecessor and successor. “The Oval Office has been replaced by Mar-a-Lago,” Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist who served at the State Department during Trump’s first term, told Fox News. Additionally, Matt Mowers, a veteran GOP national public affairs strategist and former diplomat at the State Department during Trump’s first administration, made the case that “Joe Biden’s essentially been a lame duck” for months and that “world leaders have been shifting their gaze to the next administration.” WHAT TRUMP TOLD CANADA’S LEADER BEHIND CLOSED DOORS  Wayne Lesperance, a veteran political scientist and president of New England College, highlighted that “while President-elect is still weeks away from taking the oath of office, loyalties and the attention of world leaders has shifted to the incoming President and from Washington to Mar-a-lago with breathtaking speed.” While members of the Biden White House would likely disagree with such sentiments – especially after the current administration played a large role in hammering out the cease-fire that halted fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah – it is undeniable that world leaders have already started to engage directly with the incoming president and administration. TRUMP GETS READY TO MAKE A SPLASH ON THE WORLD STAGE Trump will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron after the French president invited him to attend Saturday’s star-studded VIP event for the official reopening of the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral, five years after a devastating fire wrecked the Paris landmark. The president-elect’s appearance will serve as Trump’s unofficial return to the global stage, and it is another reminder that he is quickly becoming the center of the world’s attention. The trip to Paris comes a week after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hastily made an unannounced stop in Mar-a-Lago to dine with Trump after the president-elect threatened a trade war with Canada and Mexico.  Trump argued that Canada had failed to prevent large amounts of drugs and undocumented people from crossing the northern border into the U.S. and also pointed to America’s massive trade deficit with Canada. According to reporting from Fox News’ Bret Baier, Trump suggested to Trudeau that Canada could become the 51st state. Trump also weighed in this week in the volatile Middle East, warning in a social media post that there would be “ALL HELL TO PAY” if Hamas does not release all the hostages held in Gaza before he is inaugurated on Jan. 20. Hours later, Trump pledged to block the purchase of U.S. Steel – a top American manufacturer – by the Japanese company Nippon Steel. “I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan,” Trump said on social media. “As President, I will block this deal from happening.” Trump, who reiterated comments he made earlier this year on the presidential campaign trail, is on the same page as Biden, who has vowed that U.S. Steel will remain American-owned. Biden’s trip to Africa is putting a spotlight on his administration’s commitment to the continent, which has increasingly been courted by massive investments from China. Biden is also highlighting America’s wide-ranging effort to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa, a continent Trump never visited during his first term in the White House. However, the president’s trip will be overshadowed by Trump’s upcoming stop in France, as the president-elect is increasingly courted by world leaders. While the spotlight traditionally shifts from the outgoing to the incoming president, Mowers argued that “it is more pronounced this time because the difference in the Biden and Trump approach to foreign policy is so different.” Mowers emphasized that Trump is already aiming “to shape world events” by “being bold, not timid, in the statements he’s putting out, and the world is already reacting to that kind of American strength.” Bartlett noted that “the world is demanding leadership.” Mowers added that “world leaders that want to get something done… have to engage with Trump.” Lesperance, pointing to Biden’s swing through Africa, noted that lame duck presidents’ final weeks are “usually filled with celebratory moments and efforts to cement one’s legacy. Often the focus is on their role on the world stage on behalf of America and its allies.’ However, he argued that “Biden’s pronouncements on Ukraine, Gaza and the importance of climate change go largely ignored by world leaders. Instead, they focus on Trump’s picks for his foreign policy team and pronouncements about changes in U.S. foreign policy position. It’s pretty evident that while Biden attempts a victory tour, the world has turned the page.”

Namibia set for first female president as disputed election count advances

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is leading the presidential race but could be forced into a run-off vote if she falls short of the 50 percent threshold. Namibia appears set to get its first female president, with Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah holding a healthy lead as the count from last week’s disputed election proceeds. With 65.57 percent of votes counted, results released early on Tuesday on the election commission’s portal showed governing party candidate Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, leading the race with 54.82 percent of the vote. Results were initially expected a few days after the November 27 poll, but voting was extended by three days at several polling stations following technical difficulties and ballot paper shortages. The main opposition Independent Patriots for Change, whose candidate Panduleni Itula trails with 28 percent, has already rejected the election as a sham. The votes counted so far are for 79 of 121 constituencies, including all but two in the capital, Windhoek. Of the nearly 1.5 million registered voters, 73 percent cast ballots, the electoral commission said. Currently vice president, Nandi-Ndaitwah of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), could be forced into a second-round run-off vote if she does not claim more than 50 percent of votes when all results are in later this week. Advertisement Namibians vote separately for members of the National Assembly, and with 66.4 percent of the votes tallied, SWAPO led the ballot with 56.38 percent. Independent Patriots for Change was running at 19.23 percent. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah casts her ballot at the Emma Hoogenhout Primary School polling station in Hochland Park, Windhoek [Simon Maina/AFP] Results were initially expected a few days after the November 27 poll, but voting was extended to November 29 and November 30 at several polling stations after some voters were unable to cast their ballots on election day due to technical difficulties. Logistical and technical problems, including a shortage of ballot papers, led to long queues that meant some voters gave up on the first day of voting after waiting for up to 12 hours. The opposition claimed the extension was illegal, undermining the vote in the Southern African country, which has a largely smooth history of elections and is praised as one of the region’s more stable democracies. SWAPO has led the mineral-rich country of about three million people since leading it to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990, but high youth unemployment and enduring inequalities have disenchanted younger voters. Opposition parties have promised to challenge the validity of the election in court. Opposition leader Itula said there were a “multitude of irregularities” and no matter the result, “the IPC shall not recognise the outcome of that election”. “The rule of law has been grossly violated and we cannot call these elections by any means or measure as free, fair and legitimate,” he said on Saturday, the last day of the vote. Other opposition parties said they will join the case. “It is about our country, it’s about our democratic credentials, it’s about the country that must work for everybody, the poor and the rich. It cannot only work for those who want to remain in power by hook or [by] crook,” said McHenry Venaani, the leader of the opposition Popular Democratic Movement and a candidate in the presidential election. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)

Malaysia, Thailand brace for more rains after floods kill more than 30

With tens of thousands already displaced, both countries set up shelters, rescue teams and evacuation plans in anticipation of further downpours. Authorities in Thailand and Malaysia are on high alert for more intense rainfall after days of monsoon rains triggered devastating floods that killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands. Officials in both countries said on Tuesday they were setting up shelters and preparing evacuation plans in anticipation of further downpours in the days ahead. In southern Thailand, at least 25 people died in floods and more than 300,000 households were affected over the past week, according to the country’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. As of Monday, the country’s Ministry of Public Health said, 34,354 evacuees remained at 491 government shelters. Among the hardest hit provinces were Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkhla and Yala, where the government has deployed rescue teams and designated 50 million baht ($1.45m) in relief per province. The Thai cabinet has also signed off a 9,000 baht ($260) payment per affected family. Although water levels have receded in several provinces, Thailand expects more heavy rains through Thursday, putting the areas further at risk of flash floods. Authorities prepared shelter, water pumps, evacuation trucks and boats, and put rescue workers on standby to prepare for more downpours. Rescue workers deliver food rations to people staying in flooded houses in Sateng Nok, Yala province, Thailand, November 30, 2024 [Poh Teck Tung Foundation via Reuters] In Malaysia, five days of ferocious rainfall last week hammered its eastern coast, killing six people and wrecking homes and roads in the northeastern state of Kelantan and neighbouring Terengganu. Advertisement Some 91,000 people are still out of their homes, according to the National Disaster Command Center, and the damage is estimated to be worth $224m. While rain eased over the weekend, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the government braced for heavy rains on Tuesday, followed by another monsoon surge projected for Sunday. The floods have affected tourism, with Malaysian officials urging citizens to defer travel plans to southern Thailand, a popular holiday destination. While the two Southeast Asian countries experience annual monsoon rains, scientists say climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that can make destructive floods more likely. A man dries items he removed from his flooded house in Tumpat, on the outskirts of Kota Bahru, Kelantan state Malaysia [Vincent Thian/AP] Adblock test (Why?)

Israel continues to pound Gaza, issue new evacuation orders

Israeli military has ordered areas of Khan Younis cleared while at least 14 people were killed in strikes in northern Gaza. Israel has continued to pound Gaza, killing dozens and issuing new evacuation orders. The Israeli military launched strikes overnight that killed at least 14 people in the north of the enclave, according to reports on Tuesday. Meanwhile, new evacuation orders were issued, calling on people to leave areas in the southern city of Khan Younis. Medics reported that eight people were killed in a series of overnight strikes in Beit Lahiya, while four others were killed in Gaza City. A further two people were killed in attacks in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps in the northern part of the Strip. Later, the Israeli army ordered residents in the districts of Khan Younis to flee, prompting a westward exodus in the early morning hours. “For your own safety, you must evacuate the area immediately and move to the humanitarian zone,” the army said a statement on X, citing rocket launches by Palestinian groups. Research states that there are no “humanitarian zones” in which people can find safety, and that evacuation orders do not help those fleeing to find safety or shelter from harm. Advertisement The use of these terms by Israel is aimed at bestowing legitimacy on forced displacement and creating the illusion of adherence to humanitarian law, the Action For Humanity nongovernment organisation stated. Palestinian and United Nations officials also say that there are no safe areas in the enclave. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been internally displaced, some as many as 10 times since the war began last year. Palestinian groups have accused Israel’s army of trying to drive people from the northern edge of Gaza with forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone. The army denies this and says it has returned there to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping in an area it had previously cleared. The Palestinian Civil Defence said its operations in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon have been halted for nearly four weeks due to Israeli attacks on their teams and fuel shortages. On Tuesday, it said that 88 of its members had been killed, 304 wounded, and 21 detained by Israel since the war started, while 13 of 27 vehicles in the central and southern Gaza Strip were out of operation due to fuel shortages. Adblock test (Why?)

Dem lawmaker joins Republican-led DOGE Caucus with push to remove Secret Service from DHS

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., announced on Tuesday that he would be joining the House of Representatives’ DOGE Caucus, becoming the first Democrat in the now-biparisan group. He advocated for removing the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) from the purview of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), something floated by several Republican lawmakers months ago. “Today I will join the Congressional DOGE Caucus, because I believe that streamlining government processes and reducing ineffective government spending should not be a partisan issue,” Moskowitz said in a statement.  ELON MUSK SAYS THERE’S SUBSTANTIAL IGNORANCE ABOUT AMERICA’S NATIONAL DEBT The DOGE Caucus, standing for Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency, was launched by Reps. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Aaron Bean, R-Fla., soon after President-elect Donald Trump announced a DOGE advisory panel to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. “I’ve been clear that there are ways we can reorganize our government to make it work better for the American people. Specifically, the Department of Homeland Security, while very necessary, has gotten too big,” Moskowitz said. He suggested USSS, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), should become “independent federal agencies with a direct report to the White House.” “It’s not practical to have 22 agencies under this one department. I look forward to working in a bipartisan manner with my colleagues to remove FEMA and Secret Service from DHS,” Moskowitz said. MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT It is a particularly notable position for the Florida Democrat to take, considering his deep familiarity with both agencies. Before coming to Congress, Moskowitz served as Florida’s director of Emergency Management under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. He has also previously pushed to decouple FEMA from DHS alongside Rep. Garret Graves, R-La. As a lawmaker, he is also a member of the bipartisan House task force investigating the assassination attempts against Trump. US NATIONAL DEBT HITS A NEW RECORD: $36 TRILLION The DOGE Caucus is one of several overtures by House Republicans to get in step with Musk and Ramaswamy’s new mission.  House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., recently announced the next Congress would see a special subcommittee on government efficiency led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

Senate Democrats name top leadership positions after losing chamber majority

Senate Democrats held a closed-door election Tuesday morning to name who would fill their top leadership posts for the next two years, most notably filling the No. 3 position held by a retiring longtime lawmaker. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was unanimously re-elected to serve as Democratic leader and chair of the conference next year, per a Senate Democratic leadership source, holding on to the top position in the chamber among his Democratic colleagues. “I am honored and humbled to be chosen by my colleagues to continue leading Senate Democrats during this crucial period for our country,” Schumer said in a statement following Tuesday’s election. “We have a lot of work ahead – in the Senate and as a country – and in this upcoming Congress, our caucus will continue to fight for what’s best for America’s working class.” Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., will also remain in the party’s No. 2 position as Democratic minority whip next cycle. However, the No. 3 spot in the senate will have new representation. ‘IT’S A SETBACK’: DEMOCRATS CRITICIZE BIDEN OVER HUNTER PARDON Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has served in the No. 3 position of policy and communications committee chair for several years, but the position was up for grabs after the senator did not seek re-election this cycle. SENATE CONFIRMING KASH PATEL AS FBI DIRECTOR IS A ‘BIG QUESTION MARK,’ EXPERT ARGUES Democratic senators selected Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., to assume the No. 3 position after being tapped to chair the steering and policy committee. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., will also take on a leadership role in the next Congress, being elevated on Tuesday to chair the strategic communications committee, the fourth-highest ranking position in the Senate minority. Other notable nominations include Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as vice chair of the conference, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., as vice chair of the conference, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as chair of outreach, and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., as senate Democratic conference secretary. Republican senators recently held their own leadership election for next year when they will have the majority in the chamber, electing Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to take over the role of Senate majority leader. Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Joe Wilson gifts ‘chip of the Berlin Wall’ to GOP lawmakers in bid for top committee spot

FIRST ON FOX: A senior GOP lawmaker is getting creative with his campaign to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee next year. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., is giving fellow lawmakers chips from the Berlin Wall, according to a photo provided by a source to Fox News Digital. An inscription accompanying the chip suggests Wilson got the pieces himself nearly 35 years ago, an indirect affirmation of his decades of foreign affairs work. “This symbolizes the collapse of totalitarian communism and the success of democratic capitalism,” the elaborate display reads. JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS ‘DISHONEST’ It said the chip was “secured by State Senator Joe Wilson on June 12, 1990, at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany.” “Sen. Wilson was returning from service as a member of the U.S. Observation Delegation of the June 10, 1990, parliamentary elections in the Republic of Bulgaria, that country’s first free elections after 59 years of Nazi and Communist dictatorship,” it said. The race for the House Foreign Affairs Committee gavel is one of the most critical happening ahead of the 119th Congress. The role will be of particular importance in U.S. relations with the rest of the globe next year, when Republicans are set to control all the main levers of power in Washington, D.C. REPUBLICANS PROJECTED TO KEEP CONTROL OF HOUSE AS TRUMP PREPARES TO IMPLEMENT AGENDA Wilson is running against fellow committee members Reps. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., and Darrell Issa, R-Calif. The subcommittee chair for Oversight & Accountability, Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., is also in the race. Wilson is chair of the panel’s subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Current Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, is stepping aside in order to adhere to House Republicans’ internal conference rules that mandate a lawmaker serve no more than three terms in the top spot on a committee. MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT “It has been an honor to serve as your Chairman and leader for the last six years,” McCaul wrote to colleagues in a message obtained by Fox News Digital. “[O]ut of respect for the will of the Conference, I intend to abide by these rules and support new leadership.” “Serving as Chairman has truly been the most rewarding highlight of my career in Congress! I would like to thank all of you for your hard work and patriotism in confronting the major challenges we face across the Globe.” Fox News Digital reached out to Wilson’s office for comment. 

‘Common sense’: Top red state official rallies behind governor signing ‘bathroom bill’ into law

EXCLUSIVE: Ohio’s Republican lieutenant governor is defending his state’s recent enactment of a “bathroom bill” preventing biological males from using female bathrooms and says it is part of a cultural shift in the country where Americans are uniting on the issue. “It’s a sad situation that in this time in life that we actually need to pass a law that says that boys should go to boys’ bathrooms and girls should go to girls’ bathrooms,” Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told Fox News Digital. “But that indeed is the case because we have colleges and some high schools where they blurred the lines. And we need to make sure that there are safe places, particularly for young women, to go to the bathroom, be in a locker room, be in a safe place,” Husted said. “And it’s truly unbelievable that we had to pass a law to guarantee that. It’s just hard to believe that there are adults in this world who think it would be OK for boys, biological boys, to be in girls’ locker rooms.” Husted was reacting to news that Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed the Protect All Students Act, dubbed the “bathroom bill,” after the state Senate passed the bill 24-7 on a party-line vote. SPEAKER JOHNSON ANNOUNCES NEW CAPITOL BATHROOM POLICY IN RESPONSE TO CONTROVERSY OVER TRANS HOUSE MEMBER The bill applies to public K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. It requires schools to designate separate bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations “for the exclusive use” of either males and females, based on one’s gender assigned at or near birth, in both school buildings and facilities used for a school-sponsored event. Husted told Fox News Digital the bill represents “common sense.” “People really are just shocked that anyone thinks it’s OK that you would have a bathroom, that a biological male could go into a female bathroom and that you could have a locker room where a biological male could go into a female locker room,” Husted said.  “It’s just common sense in most people if you go around Ohio. That’s what everybody’s going to say to you is like, how can this really be? How can a high school do this? Well, I can assure them that I know that is indeed the case because the high school that my own daughters attend has bathrooms that boys and girls are allowed to be in at the same time,” he continued. “They have non-gendered bathrooms.” ACLU VOWS TO OPPOSE TRUMP POLICIES ON LGBT ISSUES, ABORTION AND DEPORTATIONS “That was something that the community fought against, that the school board then filed lawsuits so they could get variances to the building code to build bathrooms like this. And despite all of that opposition, they still went forward with it. But now we have a new law. We have a law in the state of Ohio that will protect against those kinds of things from happening.” Ohio became the 12th state to pass an iteration of a bathroom bill and while critics like the ACLU and LGBT activist groups have voiced opposition and suggested they will challenge the law in court, Husted told Fox News Digital he is confident the bill will withstand any legal challenge. “It’s on solid legal ground,” Husted said. “They went through the hearing process, went through the process of addressing all those questions before drafting the bill and passing it and sending it to the governor’s desk.” “I’m 100% confident that this will stand any legal scrutiny… I want to reiterate this. It is unfortunate that we need to pass a law because the adults in the lives of these children and young women should be clearly standing up for them. They shouldn’t, we shouldn’t have to pass a law. This is common sense,” Husted continued. Husted told Fox News Digital the bill is “about protecting the privacy of girls” and “trying to make sure that they have safe places to be” and said Americans across the United States, of both parties, are starting to unite as part of a “cultural shift” on the issue of protecting biological girls in schools and in sports.  “There absolutely was,” Husted said about the cultural shift. “Look, that was part of the last election that was run and there were hundreds of millions of dollars across the country in the presidential and congressional races spent on that. Donald Trump or Republicans would stand for you and not ‘they/them.’” “We all saw the ads. We all know that they were part of the conversation this last election, that people don’t believe that biological men should play women’s sports. They don’t believe that biological men should be in women’s locker rooms or bathrooms,” Husted said.  “That was clearly one of the major issues that divided Democrats and Republicans. Republicans are standing up for those protections. And I believe that you’re starting to hear even Democrats say, ‘Hey, maybe we ought to rethink this. Maybe we’re a bit out of line with this,’” he concluded. “And so I hope that in blue states that they can demonstrate that they want to protect women’s sports, they want to protect women in the privacy of bathrooms, in locker rooms. And this is exactly what I hope we’ll see across the country.” Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report

IndiGo sues Mahindra Electric for using ‘6E’ in their upcoming cars

The Mahindra BE 6E, part of the company’s electric vehicle lineup, is slated for launch in February 2025.