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    President Joe Biden Issues Pardon To Son Hunter

    By
    Seijah Drake
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    5
    President Joe Biden hugs his family during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. (DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II)

    President Joe Biden announced on Sunday night that he has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, following his convictions in two separate federal cases earlier this year. Hunter Biden, 54, has faced legal battles related to firearms offenses and tax violations, and the pardon marks a departure from the president’s earlier stance that he would not intervene in his son’s legal matters.

    The decision to pardon Hunter Biden comes after a tumultuous year in court for the first son, who was convicted on felony firearm charges in June, and pleaded guilty to tax-related offenses in September. Biden’s announcement also frames the pardon as a correction to what he described as unequal treatment compared to others in similar situations. He emphasized that people in similar circumstances, such as those who fail to properly complete a gun purchase form or fail to pay taxes due to addiction, are rarely prosecuted to the same extent.

    “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 said in a statement. “It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.”

    President Biden’s accusations of “double standards” and “unprecedented actions” in his statement defending his son’s pardon have drawn sharp criticism, especially in light of the Biden administration’s own controversial actions. Biden’s comments about Hunter being unfairly prosecuted are particularly ironic following his administration’s handling of former President Donald Trump‘s legal issues. The FBI’s raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 to recover classified documents was described by many as unprecedented and politically charged. Critics argued that the raid was an example of the Justice Department being weaponized for political gain, a charge that echoes some of the president’s own language about the treatment of his son. By highlighting perceived unequal treatment of Hunter Biden, President Biden inadvertently mirrors the very arguments his political opponents have made about the Biden administration’s handling of the Trump investigation.

    In the case, prosecutors argued that Hunter lied on a federal firearm form when he checked “No” in response to a question asking if he was an unlawful user of or addicted to controlled substances. This was despite Hunter Biden’s well-documented struggles with addiction, which included a period of crack cocaine use during the time of the purchase.

    The other major legal issue for Hunter Biden was his failure to pay taxes on at least $1.4 million of income. After a lengthy investigation, Hunter pled guilty in September to felony tax charges, admitting to evading taxes in 2017 and 2018. This plea came just as jury selection was about to begin for his trial, and was seen by some as an attempt to avoid further public scrutiny and potential jail time.

    The charges could have carried a prison sentence of up to 17 years, although Hunter Biden was likely to face a much shorter sentence under federal sentencing guidelines. He was scheduled for sentencing on December 16.

    During the summer, President Biden had been adamant that he would not intervene in the Justice Department’s proceedings, even in light of Hunter’s legal issues. Just days after Hunter Biden’s conviction on the gun charges, President Biden reaffirmed that he would “abide by the jury’s decision,” and would not pardon his son.

    On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump suggested that he would consider pardoning Hunter Biden if he were elected. Trump, who has faced his own legal challenges, said that while he thought Hunter Biden had been a “bad boy” he believed that a pardon could be warranted.

    Additionally, while the pardon resolves the immediate legal issues surrounding Hunter Biden, it is unlikely to end the public and political scrutiny of his actions. His business dealings and personal life continue to attract attention, particularly from Republican lawmakers and critics of President Biden, who view the legal troubles as part of a larger narrative of corruption and misconduct.

    Article Published With The Permission of American Liberty News

    Texas Land Commissioner Unveils Plan To Construct Deportation Facilities

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Construction continues on new border wall system project near Yuma, AZ. Recently constructed border wall near Yuma, Arizona on June 3, 2020. CBP photo by Jerry Glaser.

    Starr County, TX – Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham has announced the launch of the Jocelyn Initiative, a plan to lease state land for the construction of deportation facilities aimed at addressing violent criminal activity. The initiative, named in honor of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was raped and murdered by two illegal immigrants, is ready to begin implementation immediately upon President-elect Donald Trump‘s inauguration.

    “My office has already identified several state properties suitable for this effort,” Buckingham stated during the announcement. “We are prepared to act on day one of the Trump presidency to ensure the necessary facilities are in place.”

    A Personal and Symbolic Ceremony

    The announcement took place on a newly purchased 1,400-acre tract in Starr County, acquired by the state in October as part of Texas’s broader border security strategy. During the ceremony, Jocelyn’s family joined Buckingham in laying a symbolic panel of the state-funded border wall. In an emotional moment, family members were invited to install a section of the wall themselves, commemorating their beloved daughter’s memory.

    Expanded Vision for State Land

    The Starr County property, already designated for border wall construction, is now being considered for additional infrastructure, including deportation facilities. Buckingham highlighted the strategic importance of the site, calling it an ideal location for “processing, detention and coordination of what will be the largest deportation of violent criminals in our nation’s history.”

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    “I am 100% on board with the Trump administration‘s pledge to get these criminals out of our country, and we are more than happy to offer our resources to facilitate deportations of these violent criminals,” she added. “We’re happy to make this offer and hope they take us up on it.”

    MyHighPlains.com continues:

    Buckingham described the plot as “essentially farmland,” and “easy to build on.” Her office did not specify how much the state paid to acquire it.

    Tom Homan, President-elect Trump’s pick to serve as “border czar,” told Fox News that the incoming administration expects to use the gifted land as part of its deportation program. He did not go into details about any plans.

    Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    Homan is scheduled to visit the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday. He will join Gov. Greg Abbott to present holiday meals to National Guard troops serving along the border. Commissioner Buckingham announced a “border wall construction kick-off” on the newly acquired state land in Starr County on the same day.

    …

    The Texas legislature is also preparing to take state border enforcement even further. State Sen. Bob Hall, for example, has filed bills to establish the “Texas Department of Homeland Security” and to authorize the Texas Department of Public Safety to deport migrants — measures the Biden administration challenged as unconstitutional.

    These initiatives highlight a rising trend among border states, especially Texas and Arizona, to take charge of immigration enforcement. However, Trump’s approach might reduce the need for states to assert control, as the federal government steps up its efforts.

    Article Published With The Permission of American Liberty News

    Trump Issues Thanksgiving Day Message

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    1

    President-elect Trump took to social media early Thursday to issue a  Thanksgiving Day message.

    “Happy Thanksgiving to all, including to the Radical Left Lunatics who have worked so hard to destroy our Country, but who have miserably failed, and will always fail, because their ideas and policies are so hopelessly bad that the great people of our Nation just gave a landslide victory to those who want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

    He added, “Don’t worry, our Country will soon be respected, productive, fair, and strong, and you will be, more than ever before, proud to be an American!”

    Trump’s message comes less than a month after his landslide election victory.

    The President-elect has largely stayed out of the spotlight since his win, likely enjoying a honeymoon period before Inauguration Day.

    Trump has announced appointments and nominations for a number of Cabinet roles

    Nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” prompting a “swift” law enforcement response.

    The “attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’” according to Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

    “[Tuesday] night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” she told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “In response, law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.” 

    Trump Nominates Former Pence Military Aide For Key Ukraine Role

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    President-elect Trump on Wednesday announced his appointment of Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who served as chief of staff on Trump’s National Security Council during his first term, as special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.

    Trump praised Kellogg as being with him “right from the beginning” and noted his distinguished military and business career. 

    “Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!” the president-elect said in a statement.

    Trump has promised to bring a swift end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, leveraging his relationships with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. That has raised anxiety among Kyiv’s supporters that the president-elect will seek a quick deal that would cede Ukrainian land or jeopardize the country’s future security. 

    Kellogg served as former Vice President Mike Pence’s national security adviser and was spotted at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago club on Tuesday, according to the New York Post.

    Kellogg is currently the co-chair of the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute – which is led by several now-nominees within the new Trump administration.

    In June, Kellogg offered Trump a proposal for how to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine should he become president. “Under the plan drawn up by Kellogg and Fred Fleitz, who both served as chiefs of staff in Trump’s National Security Council during his 2017-2021 presidency, there would be a ceasefire based on prevailing battle lines during peace talks, Fleitz said,” Reuters reported at the time.

    This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.

    Trump Jr: President-elect Could Close White House Briefing Room To Mainstream Media Outlets

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    6
    White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holds a press briefing on Friday, July 30, 2021, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Erin Scott)

    The media landscape is changing…

    Donald Trump Jr., President-elect Trump’s eldest son, says his dad has discussed keeping some mainstream media outlets out of the White House press briefing room.

    Trump Jr., speaking on his podcast this week, said they discussed opening the briefing room to more independent journalists and social media influencers.

    “We had the conversation about opening up the press room to a lot of these independent journalists,” he said.

    “If The New York Times has lied, they’ve been averse to everything, they’re functioning as the marketing arm to the Democrat party,” Trump Jr. continued, asking, “Why not open it up to people who have larger viewerships, stronger followings?”

    Trump has consistently railed against mainstream media outlets and broadcast networks over coverage that is critical of him.

    Mainstream. media outlets are also struggling to remain relevant in an increasingly changing landscape.

    According to Nielsen data, MSNBC’s total viewership has dropped by 47 percent post-election, and its critical 25-54 demographic plummeted to just 63,000 during primetime—a sharp contrast to its pre-election numbers.

    CNN also faced steep declines, losing 33 percent of its total audience.

    Report: Appeals Court Agrees To End Trump’s Classified Documents Case

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    1

    On Tuesday, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request from special counsel Jack Smith to drop President-elect Trump’s Florida documents case

    The order fulfills a request from Smith to end an appeal in the case as it relates to Trump though the case continues for his two co-defendants – valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira.

    The move comes after Smith similarly moved to dismiss without prejudice Trump’s election interference case, in both cases noting Trump’s coming inauguration and a DOJ policy that bars the prosecution of sitting presidents.

    In the classified documents case, Smith was fighting a ruling from Judge Aileen Cannon that tossed the case, determining that the special counsel was unlawfully appointed. 

    This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.

    Special Counsel Moves To Dismiss Trump Election Interference Case

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    2

    On Monday, Special Counsel Jack Smith asked a judge to dismiss all charges against President-elect Donald Trump stemming from Smith’s investigation into the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot.

    Judge Tanya Chutkan will need to approve the request before the case is dismissed.

    After Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election earlier this month, Smith signaled he would begin winding down the case against Trump. The filing went live on the Department of Justice docket on Monday afternoon.

    Smith had already filed a motion to vacate all deadlines in the 2020 election interference case against Trump in Washington, D.C. – a widely expected move, but one that stopped short of dropping the case against Trump completely. Smith had said his team planned to give an updated report on the official status of the case against Trump on Dec. 2.

    Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case.

    This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

    Gaetz Will Not Rejoin Congress: Report

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    6

    He’s out for good…

    Ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) will not rejoin Congress after resigning from the current Congress after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him to be attorney general.

    Gaetz was reelected to the next Congress and many speculated he may rescind his resignation after dropping his bid to become attorney general on Thursday.

    CNN’s Kristen Holmes broke the news on-air.

    “Yeah, there had been a lot of speculation as to what exactly Matt Gaetz was going to do. Was there some kind of loophole in the sense that he had just been reelected? Would he go back to Congress? He is now saying in an interview with Charlie Kirk that he does not intend to go back,” Holmes reported, adding:

    That he’s going to continue trying to do things for Donald Trump, but not in the capacity of a congressman. This obviously comes as we know that there are still questions about whether or not that ethics report is going to be released. But in this interview, he also talked about what happened when some of those meetings up on Capitol Hill, he downplayed the any kind of impact that the ethics report had, but instead said that while he had some momentum with senators, he felt he had to explain himself quite a bit.

    Holmes then played a clip from the Kirk interview, in which Gaetz said “And again, while our discussions were going well, I found myself having to do two jobs at one time.”

    “Charlie, And you got a front-row seat to this. I had a full-time job explaining to senators that maybe a tweet I sent about them was rash and not reflective of how I would serve as attorney general. And at the same time, I was having to build out the Department of Justice with the right human talent, the right policy infrastructure. And Pam Bondi’s confirmation won’t have some of the sharp edges that I would have,” Gaetz added of Trump’s replacement for Gaetz as AG.

    Judge Delays Trump New York Sentencing

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    4

    On Friday, Judge Juan Merchan granted President-elect Donald Trump’s request to dismiss charges in his criminal hush money case and removed the sentencing date.

    According to The Hill, Merchan halted the case to accept additional written briefing on Trump’s argument that his return to the White House compels the court to toss his 34-count felony conviction entirely. 

    Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) is opposing that request. Instead, Bragg suggested that Merchan could pause the proceedings while Trump is in office, meaning the conviction would remain on the books but sentencing wouldn’t occur until 2029, at the earliest. 

    Merchan ordered Trump to file his formal motion asking for dismissal by Dec. 2 and Bragg to respond by Dec. 9. The judge will then decide how to proceed. 

    Meanwhile, Trump attorneys have requested that Merchan overturn the guilty verdict altogether, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that former presidents have substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts in office.

    The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on presidential immunity came from a question that stemmed from charges brought against Trump in a separate, federal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith related to the events on Jan. 6, 2021, and any alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

    They have moved most aggressively to pull the plug on the hush money case, given that Trump’s sentencing was rapidly approaching on Nov. 26.  

    “[D]ismissal of this case is necessary under the Constitution and federal law to facilitate the orderly transition of Executive power — and in the interests of justice — following President Trump’s victory in the Electoral College and the popular vote in the 2024 Presidential election,” Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, whom the president-elect recently nominated to senior Justice Department officials, wrote in a letter last week. 

    This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

    Matt Gaetz Withdraws From Attorney General Consideration

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    4
    Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    On Thursday, former Congressman Matt Gaetz (Fla.) announced he is withdrawing from consideration to be the next U.S. Attorney General.

    On Wednesday, Gaetz and Vice President-elect JD Vance traveled to the Capitol to meet with Republican senators who could potentially make or break Gaetz’s nomination to serve as the nation’s next attorney general.

    He wrote on X, “I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.”

    Trump responded to Gaetz’s withdrawal with a message on Truth Social.

    I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!

    This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

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