Judge ends gun case against Hunter Biden after pardon – US politics live

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Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth will be back on Capitol Hill today, meeting with Republican senators who will consider his appointment.

Politico reports that he is scheduled to meet Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Ted Budd of North Carolina and James Risch of Idaho. Hegseth will also probably run into plenty of reporters who will be asking about his drinking, treatment of women and financial management of two veterans non-profits he reportedly was forced out of.

Judge ends gun case against Hunter Biden after pardon

A judge has ordered an end to Hunter Biden’s prosecution on charges of lying about his drug use when buying a gun, after Joe Biden pardoned him on Sunday.

Delaware federal judge Maryellen Noreika terminated the case against Hunter Biden in a decision issued today, after a jury found him guilty of three gun-related charges earlier this year. Biden was also pardoned of tax fraud charges leveled against him in California, which he pleaded guilty to. He was awaiting sentencing in both cases before the controversial presidential pardon.

Here’s more about the gun case:

Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was on Capitol Hill yesterday to meet with senators ahead of his confirmation. He also encountered many reporters who asked him about reports that he drank excessively, and was involved in financial mismanagement. As the Guardian’s Robert Tait reports, Hegseth did not have much to say to them:

Questions continued to dog Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, on Monday following reports he was twice ousted from previous organisations he led over financial mismanagement and improper behavior, with reporters asking him directly if he had an alcohol problem.

Hegseth, 44, who was visiting Capitol Hill to drum up support for his troubled nomination, did not respond when a journalist asked “Do you have an alcohol problem?” as he arrived for a meeting with Republican senators.

Later, another reporter, from CBS, buttonholed him in a corridor and asked him: “Were you ever drunk while traveling on the job?”

“I’m not gonna dignify that with a response,” Hegseth, until recently a Fox News host, answered, adding: “I’m talking to all the senators and I look forward to their discussions.”

The New Yorker magazine recently reported whistleblower accusations that Hegseth was forced out of leadership roles in two military veterans organisations following allegations of financial mismanagement, aggressive drunkenness and sexist behaviour.

The disclosures have further complicated Hegseth’s chances of winning over Republican senators at confirmation hearings after an earlier revelation that police in California investigated a sexual assault allegation made against him in 2017. The investigation did not result in criminal charges and Hegseth later reached a financial settlement with the woman who made the complaint.

The magazine reported that Hegseth had to be carried to his room at a Memorial Day veterans event in Virginia Beach in 2014 after getting “totally sloshed”, and on another occasion reportedly had to be restrained from joining female dancers on stage at a Louisiana strip club.

One witness recounted him shouting “Kill all Muslim, kill all Muslims” at a bar in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, in 2015. The episode was the subject of a written complaint to the Koch-backed group Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), of which Hegseth was then chief executive officer.

Senate Democrats stick with Chuck Schumer to lead party

Senate Democrats have voted to keep New York’s Chuck Schumer as their leader, putting him in a position to steer the opposition to Donald Trump’s policies in Congress’s upper chamber.

Schumer has led the Senate since Democrats retook the majority in 2021, but will serve as minority leader beginning next year, after the GOP won back control in the November elections. He will nonetheless remain a powerful figure in the chamber thanks to its filibuster, which blocks the passage of legislation that does not receive at least 60 votes, and will surely be invoked by Democrats to cripple much of Trump’s legislative agenda.

Nonetheless, Republicans are expected to attempt to pass legislation addressing taxation, spending and other economic matters using the Senate’s reconciliation procedure, in which bills only require majority support to pass.

Here’s what Schumer had to say after Democrats selected him as their leader today in a closed-door election:

I am honored and humbled to be chosen by my colleagues to continue leading Senate Democrats during this crucial period for our country. Our caucus has led the way in passing historic legislation that has improved the lives of millions of Americans and we remain laser focused on addressing the most pressing challenges facing our country.

As I have long said, our preference is to secure bipartisan solutions wherever possible and look for ways to collaborate with our Republican colleagues to help working families. However, our Republican colleagues should make no mistake about it, we will always stand up for our values.

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. Senate Democrats are ready to get to work for you, the American people.

The GOP seems set to hold the House of Representatives with a tiny three-seat majority, thanks, in part, to congressional maps drawn to make it easier for Republicans to win.

One of the states that played a big role in making that happen was North Carolina, where the GOP used its dominance of state government to enact maps that made it next to impossible for several sitting Democratic members of Congress to win their seats again. One of those Democrats whose districts were gerrymandered out from under them, Wiley Nickel, wrote an op-ed in the Raleigh News & Observer in which he reflected on how the state played a major role in handing Republicans the House majority again – and with it, full control of Congress to enact Donald Trump’s policies.

Here’s what Nickel had to say:

Now, with Adam Gray’s apparent victory in California’s 13th District giving Republicans a bare three-seat majority in the US House, it’s clear that gerrymandering in North Carolina tipped the scales in their favor and cost Democrats control of the US House of Representatives.

My district along with the districts of Jeff Jackson and Kathy Manning were turned into safe Republican seats where Democrats had zero chance to win. Had North Carolina sent the three of us back to Washington, under fair maps, then New York Rep Hakeem Jeffries would be our next Speaker of the House with a one seat Democratic majority at 218-217.

Let’s be clear. This wasn’t an accident. This was by design. Republicans in Congress can give North Carolina Speaker Tim Moore a big wet kiss when he gets to Washington. Not only did he draw himself a safe Republican seat, but he gave Republicans the three House seats that became the difference in control of Congress.

The MAGA Republicans in Raleigh who drew these maps didn’t care about reflecting the will of the people. They cared about power. They used the redistricting process to rig the system, taking advantage of their supermajority to draw lines that would give them three more seats – no matter what the voters wanted.

Reporters traveling with Joe Biden in Angola asked him to comment on his decision to pardon Hunter Biden, and whether he thought Donald Trump would keep up his outreach to the southern African nation.

Biden responded to neither question. He has yet to elaborate on his decision to pardon Hunter, other than the announcement he issued on Sunday evening.

Politico wanted to know what leading Democrats who might run for president in 2028 thought of Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter.

But they would not say. From Politico’s story:

Govs Gavin Newsom of California, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and JB Pritzker of Illinois declined to weigh in or did not respond to requests for comment on the pardon when asked by POLITICO. Neither did Sens Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota or Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Contenders to lead the Democratic Committee, which is shaping up to be a major decision for the party as it looks to lead the opposition to Donald Trump and take back the White House four years from now, were more forthcoming:

Several of the Democrats running to lead the national party defended Biden or supported his pardon.

Former Gov Martin O’Malley, who is campaigning to head the DNC, said, “I don’t blame the president for protecting his son from a man who has vowed to persecute his political enemies and their family members. I would do the same for my children.”

Ben Wikler, the Wisconsin Democratic Party chair who is also running for the post, suggested that he agreed with Biden’s move, saying that “the president’s statement speaks for itself” and that “Trump’s plan to wield federal power through extremists like Kash Patel to attack his political enemies and their families is a frightening reality that the whole country needs to prepare for.”

Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and another DNC chair candidate, said that he understands Biden’s “instinct to be a protective father” as a dad himself and argued that the pardon system should be “reformed” so it can’t be used for personal reasons by anyone.

“Any Republicans who are expressing outrage today but didn’t blink when Donald Trump pardoned his son-in-law’s father are hypocrites,” he said.

Chuck Rocha, a strategist who is considering running for DNC chair, said, “I’m very pro-Biden pardon. I’m very anti-lying about it. As somebody who has run a presidential campaign, it would’ve been easy to dodge this.”

Miller also confirmed to CNN that Trump was sticking by his nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, despite mounting reports of his poor financial management and history of alcohol abuse.

Over the weekend, the New Yorker reported that Hegseth was forced out of his leadership roles at two veteran-focused non-profits amid allegations that he mismanaged finances, showed up for events drunk and created a hostile environment for female staffers.

Asked about the reporting on CNN, Miller attacked the New Yorker, and said the president-elect continued to support Hegseth:

When it comes to Pete Hegseth, there aren’t any concerns. And we feel very good about his positioning for being confirmed by the Senate

…

Now, with regard to Pete, family conversations sometimes are very tough. And in the case with his mother, his mother did go and take that back and say that she was sorry for that. And right – I believe that Pete Hegseth is ultimately, when he has a chance to present his case, it’s going to come across very clearly that he’s going to be a great person to lead the DOD, and that he didn’t do anything wrong. Now, again, the letter in “The New Yorker,” or the – the – whatever they called it in “The New Yorker” with their piece that they ran, that was basically just innuendo and gossip.

Here’s more on the latest stories about Hegseth’s conduct:

Miller was also asked on CNN about Trump’s comments concerning the pardoning of January 6 insurrectionists.

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly said he would pardon some of those who faced charges or were convicted over the violent attack on the Capitol. After Joe Biden announced he would pardon his son Hunter Biden, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”

Responding to that comment, Miller told CNN:

I want to be careful here and make sure I’m being very direct with you. President Trump has said a number of times on the campaign trail that he’s going to look at each of these cases individually, full stop. That’s what he said. There’s never been a declaration of some – something bigger, broader. And again, that’s for something for the Department of Justice to go deal with when President Trump takes office again, not for someone who’s a spokesperson from the campaign or transition team.

Because, again, the whole point here is, we have to get politics out of the justice system. Justice should apply to everybody equally.

Top Trump adviser stays mum on if incoming president will pardon himself

Jason Miller, a top adviser to Donald Trump, was asked on CNN this morning if the president-elect would pardon himself of federal charges he faced, once he takes office.

Trump was indicted last year for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election, and for possessing and hiding classified documents. The justice department special counsel leading the prosecution, Jack Smith, last week dropped those charges, thought kept open the possibility that they could be reinstated at a future time.

Once he is inaugurated, Trump has the power to issue himself a pardon that could end his legal trouble for good. CNN asked Miller if Trump would do that, and he responded:

That would never be something that I would weigh in on. That would be something for the legal team to discuss. And again, President Trump did nothing wrong.

Here’s more on the quiet ending the to the two high-profile prosecutions of the former-turned-incoming president:

Donald Trump successfully campaigned for the presidency on a promise to stop illegal border crossings, and has leaned heavily on Mexico to prevent US-bound migrants from traversing their territory. From Tapachula, Mexico, the Guardian’s Thomas Graham has a look at what that means for migrants:

Outside the migration office, Tito subtly pointed out the watchful human smugglers leaning against a wall.

They had already tried to sell their services to Tito, who was on his way to the US but, like everyone else there, found himself stuck in Tapachula, a town in southern Mexico that has become a global way station.

Tito, who only gave his first name, left Haiti for Chile in 2019, where he set up a company selling wooden pallets and met a Haitian woman, with whom he had a daughter, but the pandemic put him of business. He set out for the US, promising his family he would send money home.

That was two years ago.

“It hurts me to see these people with their children,” said Tito, gesturing to a nearby campsite, where grubby little legs poked out of tent flaps. “I couldn’t bear to have my kid do this with me.”

By the border with Guatemala, Tapachula is where Mexico has strived to contain people heading north, acting as the US’s immigration enforcer. Yet president-elect Donald Trump is now demanding Mexico do more – with the threat of a day-one 25% tax on all imports if it fails.

“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” Trump blustered last week.

After a phone call with Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump claimed she had “agreed to stop migration through Mexico” and that this was “effectively closing our southern border”.

Donald Trump’s recently announced nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, has proposed downsizing its Washington headquarters and using its investigative powers to target journalists and enemies of the incoming president.

Politico reports that to the Republican senators who will vote on confirming him for the role, none of those promises are disqualifying, at least not yet. Here’s a few of the thoughts they shared with Politico about Patel:

Joni Ernst of Iowa: “I do know Kash, and that’s why I think he’s going to be great. We really do need people that will go in and shake up some of these organizations … I do think he will be able to get confirmed, absolutely.”

Susan Collins of Maine: “I don’t know Kash Patel. I had heard his name, but I don’t know his background, and I’m going to have to do a lot of work before reaching a decision on him. In general, I’ve found it’s important to review the background check, the committee work and the public hearing.”

Thom Tillis of North Carolina: “I’m in a presumptive positive position right now. Everybody says what they want to say about him seeking retribution, or have the office of retribution set up and all that. I just don’t see it.”