Trump to be named Time’s ‘Person of the Year’; president-elect gloats about FBI Director Christopher Wray’s resignation: Live – UK Times

Joe Biden has issued the single largest act of clemency in modern history, commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people and issuing 39 presidential pardons.

With just 40 days left in the White House, the president announced on Thursday that he is lessening the sentences of thousands of prisoners who were released and placed on home confinement for at least one year during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Biden, who faced backlash after pardoning his own son Hunter from his federal crimes earlier this month, also issued pardons for US citizens convicted of non-violent crimes such as drug offenses, who have shown “successful rehabilitation”.

The president said his administration will continue reviewing clemency petitions to “advance equal justice” and “provide meaningful second chances,” before Donald Trump is inaugurated as his successor on January 20 .

“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said.

James Liddell and Colleen Long have the full story.

Linking to a Reuters story about Grenell, his former ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence, being named new special envoy to Tehran, the president-elect called him “a fabulous person, A STAR” and promised he would be “someplace, high up!”

All of which suggests the appointment, or one like it, is likely to happen but why not just get on and announce it?

The president-elect announced more nominees to his new administration last night, finally finding work for Kari Lake, the ex-news journalist and serial election-loser who has been haunting Arizona politics for several years.

The following quartet was also announced by the transition team yesterday:

• Leandro Rizzuto, billionaire co-founder and chairman of Conair, as Ambassador to the Organization of American States.
• Dr Peter Lamelas, a physician who practices in Palm Beach, Florida, as United States Ambassador to Argentina.
• Daniel J Newlin, a personal injury attorney who funded much of Trump’s campaign advertising, as Ambassador to Colombia.
• Michael J Rigas, who served as Deputy Director of the Office of Personnel Management and Acting Deputy Director of Management, is to be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources.

Here’s more on Lake from Alex Lang.

The president-elect has invited his Chinese counterpart to watch his swearing in ceremony on Washington DC on January 20, CBS News reports.

Trump reportedly extended the invite last month but the Chinese embassy in Washington has yet to comment.

The Republican said in an interview with NBC conducted on Friday that he “got along with very well” with Xi and that they had “had communication as recently as this week”.

It would be unprecedented for a leader of China, a top US geopolitical rival, to attend an American presidential inauguration and Trump has risked poking the bear by naming numerous China hawks to key posts in his incoming administration, including Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly donated $1m to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, the latest twist in the complicated relationship between the tech boss and the Republican president-elect.

The donation has been confirmed by the Silicon Valley company, according to The Wall Street Journal, and comes despite Trump threatening the Facebook founder with prosecution if he attempted to influence the election against him during the campaign.

The move is the latest example of a tech CEO moving to make a conciliatory gesture towards Trump now that his return to the White House has been confirmed and his party have secured control over both houses of Congress, with the GOP commonly hitting out at the California tech sector, which is seen as predominantly left-leaning.

Trump has meanwhile been gloating over the resignation of FBI Director Christopher Wray, whom he appointed to replace James Comey in 2017 and who announced his departure on Wednesday, with nominee Kash Patel waiting in the wings.

Writing on Truth Social, the president-elect called it “great day for America” that would “end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice.”

Trump went to accuse the bureau of having “illegally raided my home, without cause, worked diligently on illegally impeaching and indicting me.”

Here’s Andrew Feinberg with a full report in the outgoing Wray.

Donald Trump is expected to be named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” on Thursday after winning the presidential election for the second time, according to Politico.

The annual cover – which highlights an individual who has greatly influenced the year, for good or ill – is set to be unveiled today, with sources suggesting in advance that the president-elect will grace the cover again.

The Republican was also named “Person of the Year” in 2016, the year he beat Hillary Clinton to win election to the White House for the first time, and is expected to celebrate the honor by ringing the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange this morning.

As the Truth Social post below suggests, he’s pretty excited about it.

We’ll bring you the cover as soon as it drops a little later on.

A new poll from CNN and SSRS found that more than half of Americans believe Trump is doing a good job of transitioning the Biden administration to his.

Approximately 55 percent said they approve of how Trump is handling the presidential transition process and 54 percent said they believe the president-elect will do a good job when he returns to the White House.

Slightly more Americans have a positive outlook on Trump’s administration than a negative one.

Accusing CNN political commentator Scott Jennings of attempting to create a viral moment during a heated exchange on the Daniel Penny trial, correspondent Audie Cornish told the right-wing pundit that he wanted “a clip for the internet” while mockingly posing for a picture.

During Tuesday night’s broadcast of CNN NewsNight, the panel debated over Penny being acquitted in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man with mental health issues who acted threateningly towards subway passengers. The verdict was met with both applause and anger, with conservatives saying “justice has prevailed” and calling Penny a “hero.”

Republican Senator Todd Young of Indiana did not give a definitive answer on whether or not he will support Trump’s defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth.

“I haven’t decided yet, as I’ve shared with him and happy to share with others,” Young told CNN on Wednesday. “We had a good meeting. It was an extensive conversation, and he answered the questions I asked.”

“I appreciated his candor as we discussed our readiness challenges, the China threat, auditing the Pentagon, his vision for DoD, and other important national security issues,” Young said in an X post.