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EXCLUSIVE: Republicans in key red state launch campaign to elect ‘true’ conservatives ahead of Trump return

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

EXCLUSIVE – Ahead of President-elect Trump's inauguration, conservatives in the most populous red state in America are launching a new Texas Republican Leadership Fund (TRLF) to elect "true" conservatives to crucial leadership roles.

Despite being led by a strongly conservative Republican governor and having a commanding majority in the legislature, the last four Texas House speakers have been elected through the support of Democrats. The result has been Democrats exercising an outsized level of power and influence in the largest Republican state in the nation. An inside track with the Texas speaker also gives Democrats significant control over some of the most important issues affecting the nation, such as enforcement of Texas’ more than 1,250 miles of border.

Alex Fairly, the TRLF’s principal donor, told Fox News Digital it is time for that to change.

TRLF, which is officially registering with the Texas Ethics Commission Tuesday and launching with $20 million of initial funding, has the support of many of Texas’ most influential leaders who are intent on making the state the definitive leader in conservative politics.

ELON MUSK MOVES TO MAKE STARBASE, TEXAS, THE OFFICIAL ‘GATEWAY TO MARS’

While he hopes that all Republicans in the Texas House will stand with the caucus to elect a conservative leader, Fairly said the $20 million will be available for use in the primaries and upcoming 2026 general election to hold elected officials "accountable" if they side with a Democratic-backed speaker.

According to Fairly, Texas conservatives are fed up with lukewarm Republicans cutting backroom deals with Democrats in the state legislature. And as Trump prepares to return to the White House in January, he said it will be more important than ever for Texas to support the new administration’s agenda through strong conservative leadership at the state level.

"Texas leads the way on many of the biggest conservative issues," he said. "I don't think there's any question that having a Republican majority in the House… has a massive impact on what happens across the country and supporting President Trump and his agenda."

This comes amid an ongoing battle in the Texas legislature over who will be the next speaker of the House. The most recent speaker, Rep. Dade Phelan, who came to power in 2021, dropped out from consideration after facing intense criticism from Republicans for failing to pass key conservative priorities such as school choice and for his role in the unsuccessful impeachment effort against vocal Trump ally Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

TEXAS BLOCKS SCHOOL CHOICE AS OTHER REPUBLICAN-LED STATES GO ALL-IN

Now, the Texas House of Representatives is set to elect a new speaker on Jan. 14. There are two frontrunners: Phelan ally Rep. Dustin Burrows and Rep. David Cook, who is backed by more hardline conservatives.

After going to the Democratic side of the aisle to help him secure the necessary 76 votes to win the speakership, Burrows declared the race over.  

However, Burrows’ attempt to bargain with Democrats has caused outrage from many conservatives, even including Donald Trump Jr., who said the move was not in line with voters’ election night "mandate" to Republicans. 

"It’s unbelievable what is happening in Texas right now," he said on X. "There is a group of so-called Republicans cutting a deal with liberal Democrats to elect a speaker instead of uniting behind the Republican nominee, @DavidCookTexas! Unbelievable! Republicans have a mandate!"

LONGTIME DEMOCRAT TEXAS JUDGE SWITCHES PARTIES IN MONUMENTAL MOVE

Fairly, who is an entrepreneur and health care executive who has been a vocal supporter of school choice, says the race for the speakership is not set in stone. This time, he believes there is strong resolve among Texas Republicans to stop moderates from handing over control to the Democrats.

"In spite of the progress made in this past election cycle toward… conservative priorities, there may still be work to do in the next primary cycle," he said. "These funds will be available to help expand a true Republican majority."

"Democrats don't give their votes away for free, they want things in return," he went on. "So, we end up with a House that's not really run by the majority, it's co-run by Democrats and a minority of Republicans. It just puts Texas in just such a weak position to accomplish what we could if we really were led by a majority of Republicans."

"This time we're bringing this out into the light."  

Trump allies turn up the heat on GOP Senate holdouts in nomination battles

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

As President-elect Trump and his transition team steer his cabinet nominees through the landmines of the Senate confirmation process, top MAGA allies are joining the fight by putting pressure on GOP lawmakers who aren't fully on board.

"There will be no resource that we won’t use to go after those U.S. senators that vote against Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks or his other nominees," longtime Trump outside adviser Corey Lewandowski told Fox News this week.

Fueled by grassroots support for Trump and his nominees, the president-elect's political team and allies are cranking up the volume.

Exhibit A: Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa.

NEW POLLS REVEAL WHAT AMERICANS THINK OF THE TRUMP TRANSITION

Ernst, the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate, is considered a pivotal vote in the confirmation battle over Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for defense secretary.

Hegseth, an Army National Guard officer who deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and who until last month was a longtime Fox News host, has been the focus of a slew of media reports spotlighting a series of drinking and sexual misconduct allegations, as well as a report alleging he mismanaged a veterans nonprofit organization that he once led.

FIRST ON FOX: HOUSE GOP MILITARY VETS ON NEW MISSION — BACKING HEGSETH

Hegseth has denied allegations that he mistreated women, but did reach a financial settlement with an accuser from a 2017 incident to avoid a lawsuit. He has vowed that he won't drink "a drop of alcohol" if confirmed as defense secretary.

Ernst, a member of the Armed Services Committee, which will hold Hegseth's confirmation hearings, took plenty of incoming fire after last week publicly expressing hesitance over Hegseth's nomination.

While Trump publicly praised Hegseth late last week, as the nomination appeared to be teetering, top allies of the president-elect took aim at Ernst, who is up for re-election in 2026 in red-state Iowa.

GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP'S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR?

Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect's oldest son and MAGA powerhouse, took to social media to target Ernst and other potentially wavering Republican senators.

"If you’re a GOP Senator who voted for Lloyd Austin [President Biden's defense secretary], but criticize @PeteHegseth, then maybe you’re in the wrong political party!" he posted.

Top MAGA ally Charlie Kirk quickly took aim at Ernst with talk of supporting a primary challenger to her.

"This is the red line. This is not a joke.… The funding is already being put together. Donors are calling like crazy. Primaries are going to be launched," said Kirk, an influential conservative activist and radio and TV host who co-founded and steers Turning Point USA.

Kirk, on his radio program, warned that "if you support the president’s agenda, you’re good. You’re marked safe from a primary. You go up against Pete Hegseth, the president, repeatedly, then don’t be surprised, Joni Ernst, if all of a sudden you have a primary challenge in Iowa."

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a top Trump supporter in last January's first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, wrote a column on Breitbart urging Hegseth's confirmation.

While she didn't mention Ernst by name, Bird took aim at "D.C. politicians" who "think they can ignore the voices of their constituents and entertain smears from the same outlets that have pushed out lies for years."

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FROM FOX NEWS ON THE TRUMP TRANSITION

And longtime Iowa-based conservative commentator and media personality Steve Deace took to social media and used his radio program to highlight that he would consider launching a primary challenge against Ernst.

Ernst, who stayed neutral in the Iowa caucuses before endorsing Trump later in the GOP presidential primary calendar, may have gotten the message.

After meeting earlier this week for a second time with Hegseth, Ernst said in a statement that her meeting was "encouraging" and that she would "support Pete through this process."

But Ernst's office told Fox News that "the senator has consistently followed the process, which she has said since the beginning, and doing her job as a United States senator."

It's not just Ernst who has faced the fire from Trump allies and MAGA world.

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, one of four remaining GOP senators who voted in the 2021 Trump impeachment trial to convict him, is also up for re-election in 2026 in a reliably red state. Cassidy is now facing a formal primary challenge from Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, a senior adviser in the first Trump administration.

Sen. Mike Rounds, another Republican up for re-election in two years in GOP-dominated South Dakota, has also been blasted by Kirk, as well as by top Trump ally and billionaire Elon Musk.

And staunch Trump supporter Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama had a warning for Republican Senate colleagues who may oppose the president-elect's nominees.

"Republicans: If you’re not on the team, get out of the way," he told FOX Business.

Whether these early threats from Trump allies turn into actual primary challenges in the next midterm elections remains to be seen. And ousting a senator is no easy feat. It's been a dozen years since an incumbent senator was defeated during a primary challenge.

But Trump's team and allies are playing hardball in the wake of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., the president-elect's first attorney general nominee, ending his confirmation bid amid controversy.

There has been a full-court press by Trump's political orbit to bolster Hegseth — in order to protect him and some of the president-elect's other controversial Cabinet picks.

"If Trump world allowed a couple of establishment senators to veto a second nominee, it would have led to a feeding frenzy on Trump's other nominees, and so the thinking in Trump world was we have to defend Pete not just for the sake of defending Pete, but also for the sake of defending our other nominees," a longtime Trump world adviser, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News.

Fox News' Emma Colton, Cameron Cawthorne, Julia Johnson, Tyler Olson and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Biden could pardon these Trump adversaries amid Dem fears that ‘revengeful first year’ is looming

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

President Biden’s days in office are coming down to the wire, and amid President-elect Donald Trump’s transition into the Oval Office, the 46th president is reportedly considering pardoning high-profile allies and fellow Democrats who are viewed as Trump's political foes.

After Trump’s election win over Vice President Harris last month, Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Ed Markey said he expects Trump to act in a "fascistic way" as president and called on Biden to pardon Democrats and the party's allies who could face prosecution under a second Trump administration.

"I think that, without question, Trump is going to try to act in a dictatorial way, in a fascistic way, in a revengeful first year at least of his administration toward individuals who he believes harmed him," Markey said during a local radio interview last month.

"If it’s clear by Jan. 19 that that is his intention, then I would recommend to President Biden that he provide those preemptive pardons to people because that’s really what our country is going to need next year."

MOTHER OF HUNTER BIDEN'S DAUGHTER DEFENDS PARDON, SAYS HE'S 'TARGETED BECAUSE OF WHO HIS DAD IS'

The comments were soon echoed by other Democrats and ​​some legal experts in a bid for Biden to sink any prospect of Trump getting "revenge" against his political enemies.

"Biden should keep going with his pardons: Trump, Jack Smith & team, Mueller & team, and a blanket pardon for all on Trump’s enemies list for any and all political statements before December 25, 2024! Merry Christmas," John Dean, CNN contributor and former President Nixon’s White House counsel during the Watergate scandal, posted to social media this month. "​​Take the wind out of retribution/revenge!"

HOW BIDEN – AND TRUMP – HELPED MAKE THE PARDON GO HAYWIRE

As Biden wraps up his final days, Fox News Digital compiled a list of prominent Trump antagonists who have been rumored to be among those considered for pardons.

Cheney, the Republican former Wyoming congresswoman, and Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Jan. 6 House Select Committee chair, were the targets of Trump's ire during a recent interview on NBC's "Meet The Press."

"Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps," he said in the interview. "They deleted and destroyed all evidence."

"And Cheney was behind it, and so was Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee," he continued. "For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail."

The Jan. 6 committee was founded in July 2021 to investigate the breach of the U.S. Capitol earlier that year by supporters of Trump ahead of President Biden officially taking office on Jan. 20. The Jan. 6 committee’s investigation was carried out when Democrats held control of the House.

BIDEN'S PARDONING OF HUNTER INDICATES HE HAS 'A LOT MORE TO HIDE': LARA TRUMP

Cheney slammed Trump’s remarks in a statement this week, saying they were a "​​continuation of his assault on the rule of law," but she did not address a potential blanket pardon or whether she would accept such an offer.

"There is no conceivably appropriate factual or constitutional basis for what Donald Trump is suggesting – a Justice Department investigation of the work of a congressional committee – and any lawyer who attempts to pursue that course would quickly find themselves engaged in sanctionable conduct," Cheney said in her statement. 

Thompson’s office also slammed Trump’s comment in a statement provided to Fox Digital this week, arguing that "no election, no conspiracy theory, no pardon, and no threat of vengeful prosecution can rewrite history or wipe away his responsibility for the deadly violence on that horrific day."

"We stood up to him before, and we will continue to do so," he added.

The former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was a keystone of the nation's pandemic response, including advising then-President Trump in 2020 on how to handle COVID-19 as it swept across communities.

Fauci’s tenure under the first Trump administration, however, devolved with Trump slamming him and fellow pandemic task force adviser Dr. Deborah Birx as "two self-promoters trying to reinvent history to cover for their bad instincts and faulty recommendations."

FAUCI RIPPED OVER NEW PAPER CRITICIZING TRUMP ON CORONAVIRUS, PROMOTING NATURAL ORIGIN THEORY: 'EMBARRASSMENT'

Conservatives, including lawmakers such as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., slammed Fauci for his promotion of mask mandates, vaccine mandates and strict lockdown orders that upended the day-to-day lives of Americans.

"Dr. Fauci should be voluntarily removed from TV because what he says is such a disservice, and such fearmongering and almost all of what he says isn’t even matched by the science of his own institute," Paul, who is a doctor, said in 2021 during an appearance on Fox Business.

"It doesn’t obey the science," he said at the time. "There is no scientific evidence that the lockdowns in Michigan have done anything or in California. In fact, the daily incidents of the disease in the last two months has been about almost one and a half times greater in California than it has been in Florida. The death rate is lower in Florida. So there is no real correlation between economic lockdowns, mask mandates or any of this."

Trump allies, including tech billionaire Elon Musk and Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, have endorsed calls to prosecute Fauci if evidence is found of any crimes during the pandemic, including the Wuhan lab leak in China.

BIDEN, TRUMP BOTH RIP DOJ AFTER PRESIDENT PARDONS HUNTER

"If there were crimes that he committed, of course I would tell the attorney general to prosecute him, not hold off," Kennedy said on Fox News last year.

Fauci has denied any wrongdoing amid the pandemic, and he told CNN this year, "I don't know what one would prosecute me for. … I played a major role in the development of the vaccine that was responsible for the saving of millions of lives. … I'm definitely guilty of that."

New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg have been at the forefront of legal cases aimed at Trump ahead of the 2024 election, frequently landing in the upcoming president’s line of fire for criticism as he battled lawsuits he slammed as "shams."

James, a former City Council member in New York and public defender, launched her run for New York AG during the 2018 cycle while emphasizing that if she were elected, she would aggressively pursue charges against Trump. 

"What is fueling this campaign, what is fueling my soul right now, is Trump and his abuses, abuses against immigrants, against women, against our environment. We need an attorney general who will stand up to Donald Trump," James said on the campaign trail in 2018.

NEW YORK AG LETITIA JAMES SAYS SHE WON'T DROP CIVIL FRAUD CASE AGAINST TRUMP

About three months after taking office, James announced an investigation into the Trump Organization, alleging there was evidence indicating the president and his company had falsely valued assets to obtain loans, insurance coverage and tax deductions. The investigation began after Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who had previously served federal prison time for violating campaign finance laws, testified before Congress that the Trump Organization exaggerated the value of his assets.

James officially sued Trump, the Trump Organization and its senior leadership for allegedly falsely inflating "his net worth by billions of dollars to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company, to satisfy continuing loan covenants, to induce insurers to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and at lower premiums, and to gain tax benefits, among other things."

Trump charged that James had launched a "witch hunt" against him after she explicitly campaigned on a platform to prosecute the president. Trump and his family denied any wrongdoing, with the former president saying his assets had been undervalued.

James was also caught on camera appearing gleeful as Donald Trump Jr. took the stand at his father's civil trial in November, after frequently sitting in the courtroom amid proceedings.

Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in September last year in the non-jury trial that Trump and his organization had committed fraud while building his real estate business by deceiving banks, insurers and others by overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth. Trump appealed the ruling in September this year.

James said this week that she will not drop Trump’s civil fraud judgment after his win last month. 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg emerged as another Trump political foe, leading the charge in his criminal trial this year after charging Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records after his Manhattan criminal trial in May. Bragg's office worked to prove that Trump falsified the business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to quiet her claims of an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. Trump has maintained his innocence in the case, and he has argued that it was "lawfare" promoted by the Biden administration and Democrats to injure his re-election efforts. 

Sentencing in the case was indefinitely postponed after Trump’s election win, with his legal team calling on the presiding judge to drop the case altogether.

Trump was hit with four separate indictments issued between March and August 2023, including Special Counsel Jack Smith prosecuting Trump in two of the cases: a classified documents case and a election interference case. 

In the classified documents case, the FBI agents seized 33 boxes of documents in August 2022 from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, spurring another legal battle that Trump has called a "scam." Smith, who Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed to the job, oversaw the case and charged Trump with 40 felony counts, including allegedly violating the Espionage Act, making false statements to investigators and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

PROSECUTORS REQUEST STAY IN TRUMP NY CASE UNTIL 2029 AS DEFENSE PLANS MOTION FOR DISMISSAL 'ONCE AND FOR ALL'

In the election interference case, which focused on alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

Both cases were dropped after the presidential election, but Trump’s repeated criticisms and condemnation against Jack Smith, who he commonly referred to as "deranged," and other prosecutors have continued.

"These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought. Over $100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME. Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before," Trump posted on social media after the election. 

In that same social media post, Trump also took issue with Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis, ​​who led the prosecution of Trump in connection to a racketeering indictment for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Trump pleaded not guilty in that case and has maintained his innocence.

"They have also used State Prosecutors and District Attorneys, such as Fani Willis and her lover, Nathan Wade (who had absolutely zero experience in cases such as this, but was paid MILLIONS, enough for them to take numerous trips and cruises around the globe!)" Trump posted. "It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" 

California Sen. Adam Schiff, who won election to the Senate last month after serving in the U.S. House, has been a common target of Trump’s for spearheading the first impeachment trial.

The House impeached Trump in 2019 over allegedly leveraging U.S. military aid to Ukraine for political favors involving investigations of the Biden family. Schiff, who served as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "reads like a classic organized crime shakedown," opening the floodgates of Trump’s criticisms aimed at the Democrat.

TRUMP FIRES BACK AT 'CORRUPT' SCHIFF, 'PHONY' MAINSTREAM MEDIA DURING FIERY REMARKS ON IMPEACHMENT

The Senate ultimately acquitted Trump in the first impeachment as well as his second impeachment involving allegations he incited an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump and Schiff have continued trading barbs since the impeachment saga.

"We have two enemies. We have the outside enemy, and then we have the enemy from within. And the enemy from within, in my opinion, is more dangerous than China, Russia and all these countries," Trump told Fox News’ "Sunday Morning Futures" in October.

"But the thing that’s tougher to handle are these lunatics that we have inside, like Adam Schiff – Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff," Trump added.

As speculation mounts over who Biden could pardon ahead of his White House exit, Schiff has balked at calls for blanket pardons for those viewed as Trump’s political foes.

​​"I don't think the idea of a blanket pardon of some kind is a good idea. And I would recommend against it," he told CBS News last week. ​

Just days ahead of the election, news broke that the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Gen. Mark Milley, slammed Trump as a "fascist" and "the most dangerous person to this country" in Washington Post editor Bob Woodward’s latest book.

Trump has repeatedly slammed Milley since leaving office, including after the United States' botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 when he called Milley a "loser who shamed us in Afghanistan and elsewhere!"

RETIRED GEN MILLEY SAYS AMERICA WILL 'BE OK' UNDER TRUMP AFTER REPORTEDLY SAYING HE WAS 'FASCIST TO THE CORE'

After the election, Milley apparently backtracked his characterization of Trump as a "fascist," saying ​​America will "be OK" under Trump’s second administration.

Trump minced no words on the 2016 campaign trail that if elected president, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could face jail time, perhaps previewing a Biden pardon for the Democratic stalwart years later.  

It is "awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country," Clinton said during a presidential debate against Trump.

HILLARY CLINTON'S NEW STATE DEPARTMENT PORTRAIT INSPIRES MOCKERY ON SOCIAL MEDIA: 'YOU SHOULD BE IN JAIL'

"Because you’d be in jail," Trump shot back in a mic-drop moment that earned praise from conservatives and condemnation from Democrats.

"Lock her up" became a common chant during Trump’s 2016 rallies.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, who Trump appointed during his first administration, is set to be fired or voluntarily resign from the position as Trump tees up his new pick for FBI chief, Kash Patel, and as conservatives slam Wray for "failing" his duties at the FBI.

The FBI director has also repeatedly come under fire from Trump, including during his Sunday interview on NBC for the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago in 2022.

GRASSLEY RIPS WRAY'S 'FAILED' LEADERSHIP AT FBI WITH 11 PAGES OF EXAMPLES IN BLISTERING 'NO-CONFIDENCE' LETTER

"He invaded my home. I’m suing the country over it. He invaded Mar-a-Lago. I’m very unhappy with the things he’s done. And crime is at an all-time high. Migrants are pouring into the country that are from prisons and from mental institutions, as we’ve discussed. I can’t say I’m thrilled," Trump said during the interview.

The FBI declined to comment.

Legal experts have grappled for years with whether a president could pardon himself, but no president has yet tested the waters and actually issued a self-pardon.

Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution states that the president has the power to "grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." The Constitution does not stipulate who a president can and can't pardon, instead granting them power to pardon any federal crime.

In Biden’s case, Trump has repeatedly slammed his Oval Office successor, including in June when he said Biden is a "criminal."

​"Joe could be a convicted felon with all of the things that he’s done," Trump said of Biden in June. 

"This man is a criminal. This man – you’re lucky. You’re lucky. I did nothing wrong. We’d have a system that was rigged and disgusting. I did nothing wrong."

Trump’s pick for FBI director, Patel, is known as a "deep state" crusader, who detailed in his book, "Government Gangsters," an alphabetical list of alleged "deep state" members who are either currently or formerly employed in the executive branch.

Among those on the list are Vice President Harris, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Biden.

Patel has advocated for the firings of "corrupt actors" within the FBI and the federal government overall, "aggressive" congressional oversight over the agency, complete overhauls of special counsels, and moving the FBI out of Washington, D.C. His list of alleged "deep state" actors could indicate which political players could face investigation during a second Trump administration, and if Patel is confirmed by the Senate.

Fox News Digital's Gabriel Hays, Tyler Olson and Kristen Altus contributed to this report.

How Biden – and Trump – helped make the pardon go haywire

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

The pardon debate – individual, group, partisan, preemptive – is spinning out of control.

In his "Meet the Press" interview, Donald Trump mocked Joe Biden’s repeated assurances about Hunter: "‘I’m not going to give my son a pardon. I will not under any circumstances give him a pardon.’ I watch this and I always knew he was going to give him a pardon."

In a portion of that interview that did not air but was posted online, the president-elect complained to Kristen Welker:

"The press was obviously unfair to me. The press, no president has ever gotten treated by the press like I was."

BIDEN'S PARDONING OF HUNTER INDICATES HE HAS 'A LOT MORE TO HIDE': LARA TRUMP

Why did he appear on "Meet the Press"? "You’re very hostile," Trump said. Her response: "Well, hopefully, you thought it was a fair interview. We covered a lot of policy grounds."

"It’s fair only in that you allowed me to say what I say. But you know, the answers to questions are, you know, pretty nasty. But look, because I’ve seen you interview other people like Biden."

"I’ve never interviewed President Biden," Welker responded. Trump said he was speaking "metaphorically."

"I’ve seen George Stephanopoulos interview. And he’s a tough interviewer. It’s the softest interview I’ve seen. CNN interview. They give these soft, you know, what’s your favorite ice cream? It’s a whole different deal. I don’t understand why."

The strength of Welker’s approach is that she asked as many as half a dozen follow-ups on major topics, making more news. When she asked, for instance, whether he would actually deport 11 million illegal immigrants, as he’d said constantly on the campaign trail, he answered yes – which for some reason lots of news outlets led with. But a subsequent question got Trump to say he didn’t think the Dreamers should be expelled and would work it out with the Democrats.

As for Trump, he reminded me of the candidate I interviewed twice this year. He was sharp and serious, connecting on each pitch, fouling a few off. This was not the candidate talking about sharks at rallies. 

BIDEN, TRUMP BOTH RIP DOJ AFTER PRESIDENT PARDONS HUNTER

With one significant misstep, he made the case that he was not seeking retribution – even backing off a campaign pledge that he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Biden.

That misstep, when Trump couldn’t hold back, was in saying of the House Jan. 6 Committee members, including Liz Cheney: "For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail."

He did add the caveat that he would let his attorney general and FBI chief make that decision, but it allowed media outlets to lead with Trump wanting his political opponents behind bars. For what it’s worth, there’s no crime in lawmakers holding hearings, and this business about them withholding information seems like a real stretch.

Now back to the pardons. This mushrooming debate was obviously triggered by the president breaking his repeated promise with a sweeping, decade-long pardon of his son, a 54-year-old convicted criminal.

But then, as first reported by Politico, we learned that the Biden White House is debating whether to issue a whole bunch of preemptive pardons to people perceived to be potential targets of Trumpian retaliation.

But the inconvenient truth is that anyone accepting such a pardon would essentially admit to the appearance of being guilty. That’s why Sen.-elect Adam Schiff says he doesn’t want a pardon and won’t accept one.

MEDIA ADMITS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS TOO 'WOKE' AFTER KAMALA HARRIS' 2024 LOSS

But many of those potential recipients don’t even know they’re under consideration for sweeping pardons covering anything they may or may not have done.

It is a truly awful idea, and with Biden and Trump both agreeing that DOJ engages in unfair and selective prosecutions – which in the Republican’s case made his numbers go up – the stage is set for endless rounds of payback against each previous administration.

I remember first thinking about the unchecked power of presidential pardons when Bill Clinton delivered a last-minute one to ally and super-wealthy Marc Rich.

So it’s time to hear from Alexander Hamilton, who pushed it into the Constitution. Keep in mind that in that horse-and-buggy era, there were very few federal offenses because most law enforcement was done by the states.

In Federalist 74, published in 1788, Hamilton said a single person was better equipped than an unwieldy group, and such decisions should be broadly applied to help those in need.   

"In seasons of insurrection or rebellion," the future Treasury secretary wrote, "there are often critical moments, when a welltimed offer of pardon to the insurgents or rebels may restore the tranquillity of the commonwealth."

SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE'S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY'S HOTTEST STORIES

Otherwise, it might be too late.

But another founding father, George Mason, opposed him, saying a president "may frequently pardon crimes which were advised by himself. It may happen, at some future day, that he will establish a monarchy, and destroy the republic. If he has the power of granting pardons before indictment, or conviction, may he not stop inquiry and prevent detection?"

An excellent argument, but Hamilton won out.

As Hamilton envisioned, George Washington, in 1794, granted clemency to leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion to calm a fraught situation.

Something tells me that Biden, Trump and their allies aren’t poring over the Federalist papers. But it’s still an awful lot of sweeping power to place in the hands of one chief executive, for which the only remedy is impeachment.

Hunter Biden: A look at how the saga spanning over six years unfolded

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

President Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, ending a saga that has lasted for more than six years, with wide-ranging investigations by the Justice Department and both chambers of Congress related to his conduct and business dealings. 

Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony firearm offenses stemming from Special Counsel David Weiss’ investigation. The first son was also charged with federal tax crimes regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. Before his trial, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea. 

BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE

The charges carried up to 17 years behind bars. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16. 

Here’s a look back at how it all began: 

The federal investigation into Hunter Biden began in 2018.

The probe was predicated, in part, by suspicious activity reports (SARs) regarding foreign transactions. Those SARs, according to sources familiar with the investigation, involved funds from "China and other foreign nations."

Fox News first reported the existence of some type of federal investigation involving Hunter Biden in October 2020, ahead of the last presidential election. It became known then that in the course of an existing money laundering investigation, the FBI had subpoenaed the laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden.

Stories about the laptop were widely panned by Democrats and mainstream media outlets as Russian disinformation. At the time, then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe confirmed that the laptop was "not part of some Russian disinformation campaign," but that claim was rejected by Democrats and many in the media.

Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook censored and limited the circulation of stories related to Hunter Biden's laptop before the 2020 presidential election.

Only in 2022 did media outlets verify that the laptop did belong to Hunter Biden and did hold legitimate records belonging to him.

Twitter, under the new ownership of Elon Musk, released records surrounding the company's decisions to block the circulation of the Hunter Biden stories – even though he had been under federal investigation at that point for nearly two years.

Hunter Biden confirmed the investigation into his "tax affairs" in December 2020, after his father was elected president.

But Hunter Biden’s business dealings were also, simultaneously, being investigated by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in 2019. Specifically, the senators were investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings with Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings. 

Grassley and Johnson released a report in September 2020 saying that Obama administration officials "knew" that Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Burisma was "problematic" and that it interfered "in the efficient execution of policy with respect to Ukraine."

Hunter Biden joined Burisma in April 2014 and, at the time, reportedly connected the firm with consulting firm Blue Star Strategies to help the natural gas company fight corruption charges in Ukraine. During the time Hunter Biden was on the board of the company, Joe Biden was vice president and was running U.S.-Ukraine relations and policy for the Obama administration.

Also in 2019, Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine came into the spotlight during the first impeachment of now-President-elect Donald Trump. 

House Republicans wanted to call Hunter Biden to testify in the impeachment proceedings in the fall of 2019. 

HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATORS LIMITED QUESTIONS ABOUT 'DAD,' 'BIG GUY' DESPITE FBI, IRS OBJECTIONS: WHISTLEBLOWER

Trump was acquitted in Feb. 2020 on both articles of impeachment against him — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — after being impeached by the House of Representatives in December 2019. 

Trump was impeached after a July 2019 phone call in which he pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to launch investigations into the Biden family’s actions and business dealings in Ukraine, specifically Hunter Biden’s ventures with Burisma and Joe Biden’s successful effort to have former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin ousted.

At the same time as that call, Hunter Biden was under federal investigation, prompted by his suspicious foreign transactions. 

Trump's request was regarded by Democrats as a quid pro quo because millions in U.S. military aid to Ukraine had been frozen. Democrats also said Trump was meddling in the 2020 presidential election by asking a foreign leader to look into a Democrat political opponent.

Republicans had been investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings, specifically with regard Burisma. House Republicans, who were in the minority at the time, made several requests to subpoena Hunter Biden for testimony and documents related to the impeachment of Trump and his business dealings that fell at the center of the proceedings.

Biden has acknowledged that when he was vice president, he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin. At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma and Hunter Biden had a highly lucrative role on the board, receiving thousands of dollars per month. The then-vice president threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin were not fired.

FLASHBACK: DEMOCRATS CLASH WITH REPUBLICANS OVER PROSPECT OF CALLING HUNTER BIDEN IN IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

"I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.' … I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,’" Biden recalled telling then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Biden recollected the conversation during an event for the Council on Foreign Relations in 2018.

Meanwhile, once President Biden took office, the House Oversight Committee led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., began investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings and the business dealings of the Biden family. Comer ultimately found that the Biden family and its associates had received more than $27 million from foreign individuals or entities since 2014.

But it wasn’t until 2023 that whistleblowers from the IRS, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, brought allegations of politicization in the federal probe of Hunter Biden to Congress. 

The two alleged that political influence had infected prosecutorial decisions in the federal probe, which was led by Trump-appointed Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who they said had requested to become a special counsel. 

After Shapley and Ziegler testified publicly, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel to continue his investigation of the first son and, ultimately, bring federal charges against him in two separate jurisdictions — Delaware and California. 

House Republicans continued to investigate allegations of politicization brought by Ziegler and Shapley, as well as findings related to the Biden family’s business dealings from Comer’s probe. 

BIDEN COMMITTED ‘IMPEACHABLE CONDUCT,’ ‘DEFRAUDED UNITED STATES TO ENRICH HIS FAMILY’: HOUSE GOP REPORT

Comer, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith came together and launched an impeachment inquiry against President Biden to determine whether he had any involvement in his son’s business dealings. Biden repeatedly denied having any involvement, despite evidence placing him at meetings and on phone calls with his son and his foreign business partners.

In August, House lawmakers released their final report, spanning 292 pages, saying that Biden had engaged in "impeachable conduct." They said he had "abused his office" and "defrauded the United States to enrich his family."  

Republicans said there is "overwhelming evidence" that Biden had participated in a "conspiracy to monetize his office of public trust to enrich his family." They alleged that the Biden family and their business associates had received tens of millions of dollars from foreign interests by "leading those interests to believe that such payments would provide them access to and influence with President Biden." 

In the summer of 2023, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to federal gun charges as part of a plea deal that collapsed before a federal judge in Delaware. In a stunning reversal, Hunter Biden was forced to plead not guilty and sat for a trial this year. 

Before his trial for federal tax crimes, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty. 

President Biden’s pardon of his son came after months of vowing to the American people that he would not do so. 

But on Sunday, the president announced a blanket pardon that applies to any offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden "has committed or may have committed" from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024. 

"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," Biden said. "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."

Biden added, "I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision." 

Obama, in 1st remarks since election, says ‘a line has been crossed’ if ‘one side’ makes certain moves

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Former President Barack Obama declared that if "one side" attempts to cement "a permanent grip on power" through "suppressing votes," "politicizing" the military or weaponizing the judiciary and criminal justice system to target opponents, "a line has been crossed."

His comments came even as many Americans believe that President-elect Donald Trump has been unfairly targeted in unwarranted politically motivated cases. 

Obama made the comments during a speech on Thursday during the Obama Foundation's Democracy Forum. The speech marked his first public remarks following the 2024 election.

"You see, it's easy to give democracy lip service when it delivers the outcomes we want. It's when we don't get what we want that our commitment to democracy is tested," he said.

‘DEPORTER-IN-CHIEF’ OBAMA SURPASSED DEPORTATIONS UNDER TRUMP'S FIRST TERM

During his first term in office, Trump was acquitted in the Senate after two separate but ultimately unsuccessful impeachment efforts, and in the wake of his White House tenure, he has been slapped with multiple indictments, which many viewed as lawfare against the Republican figure.

While some Republicans have advocated for Biden to be impeached, the GOP has not done so, even with control of the House chamber.

During the speech, Obama also advocated for "pluralism."

"It means that in a democracy we all have to find a way to live alongside individuals and groups who are different than us," he said.

Obama's remarks came after Biden made a comment earlier this year that many perceived as him referring to Trump supporters as "garbage." In a post on X, Biden distanced himself from the remarks and claimed he was referring to the "hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump's supporters at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage" instead.

‘OBAMA BROS’ TRASH BIDEN FOR MAKING DEFENDERS LOOK ‘STUPID’ WITH HUNTER PARDON: ‘TYPICAL, LYING POLITICIAN’

Democrats have consistently launched invective against Trump — including Biden, who said that the Republican was a "genuine danger to American security" — but it was Trump who was the target of several assassination attempts in the run-up to the 2024 election.

Obama, in his remarks, insisted that he is "convinced that if we want democracy as we understand it to survive," people must work for a renewed dedication to pluralist principles. 

"Because the alternative is what we've seen here in the United States and in many democracies around the globe: Not just more gridlock, not just public cynicism, but an increasing willingness" among "politicians and their followers to violate democratic norms, to do anything they can to get their way, to use the power of the state to target critics, and journalists, and political rivals, and to even resort to violence" to obtain and retain power. 

OBAMA RELEASES ELECTION DAY VIDEO SAYING ‘THIS IS GOING TO BE CLOSE’

The former president added that bridge building represents the "best tool" to create "lasting change."

"Pluralism is not about holding hands and singing Kumbaya. It is not about abandoning your convictions and folding when things get tough. It is about recognizing that in a democracy power comes from forging alliances and building coalitions and making room in those coalitions not only for the woke but also for the waking," he said.

Obama served two consecutive terms spanning from early 2009 through early 2017, when he was succeeded by Trump.

Scott Walker calls nixing of landmark WI law that led to mass protests in 2011 a ‘brazen political action’

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker spoke out after a county judge in Madison struck down major parts of a 2011 law geared toward public employee unions. 

Dane County Judge Jacob Frost ruled that the provisions of a law known as Act 10, which selectively exempt certain public workers from its restrictions on unionization and collective bargaining, are unconstitutional. The controversial law sought to close a budget deficit by limiting collective bargaining, thereby moderating public workers' benefits that Walker said at the time helped solve a fiscal situation he was required to address.

The original passage in 2011 led to weekslong protests inside the state Capitol, and even saw legislative Democrats flee to neighboring Illinois to prevent Republicans from reaching a quorum to vote on it. Walker later survived a 2012 recall election over the law's passage and rode his success into a decent showing in the 2016 presidential race, where he eventually bowed out of the primary that ultimately went to Donald Trump. 

On Tuesday, Walker, who currently leads the conservative-training nonprofit Young America's Foundation (YAF), said his law simply took power "out of the hands of the big union bosses and put it firmly into the hands of the hardworking taxpayers…"

"And what this court decision did as brazen political action was to throw that out and put power back in the hands of those union bosses," he said in an interview, calling collective bargaining not a right but an "expensive entitlement."

POMPEO CLAIMS TEACHERS' UNION BOSS IS AMONG THE ‘MOST DANGEROUS PEOPLE' IN US

Asked about Frost’s assertion that disparate treatment of collective bargaining rights of certain "public safety" workers and other public workers was unconstitutional, Walker said it was a "bogus political argument." 

Frost stripped more than 60 sections of the law from the books.

The law was upheld multiple times at the state and federal levels, Walker replied, adding a new issue is that of a potentially-growing "liberal activist majority" on the officially nonpartisan Wisconsin Supreme Court that may hear any appeal of the ruling.

Walker said that if appealed, the first place the case will land is in Waukesha court, which he predicted would overturn Frost. But a subsequent appeal by the left would bring it before the state’s high bench.

"It’s all the more reason why the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin this spring (2025) is more important than ever," he said.

Walker went on to discuss the roots of Act 10, and how it was his way of abiding by Wisconsin’s balanced-budget requirement. He noted the original name was the "Budget Repair Act" and that a prior Democratic administration instead chose to cut funding for municipalities, which instead resulted in layoffs.

Instead of risking job loss or Medicare cuts, Walker opted to require public workers to contribute more to their entitlements in return for keeping their pensions solvent.

WALKER SAYS WISCONSIN REPUBLICANS ARE MOTIVATED

In addition, Wisconsin Senate President Chris Kapenga echoed Walker’s claim that partisan politics played a role in the ruling:

"[I]t’s proof there is very little justice left in our justice system. Wisconsin's legislature should be discussing impeachment, as we are the only check on their power," said Kapenga, R-Oconomowoc.

"Believing Dane County judges and the liberal majority in our state Supreme Court are independent jurists is almost as far-fetched as believing the border is secure, inflation's not a problem, or [President Biden] won't pardon his son."

"The left keeps telling us, ‘Don't believe what you see’ — Wisconsinites see right through it," he said.

As for Walker’s current role as president of YAF, he said his organization is preparing for conservative leadership to return to Washington as he brought it to Madison in 2010.

Walker said he is thrilled by the prospect of seeing many YAF alumni in the new Trump administration, including Stephen Miller, a top aide to Trump and formerly ex-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

Sergio Gor, a longtime aide to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was named Trump’s head of presidential personnel last month. Walker praised Gor's prior work leading YAF’s George Washington University chapter.

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"Four years ago, younger voters sided with Biden by 25 points," Walker said. "This election, that shrunk right down to 5 or 6 points. And most interestingly, young men four years ago went with Biden by 15 points. In this election, they shifted to Trump by 14. What we need to do is lock that in."

‘Most damning evidence’: Hunter Biden’s full pardon resurfaces decade of controversies, ‘influence-peddling’

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Hunter Biden’s pardon from President Biden on Sunday doesn’t only apply to his tax and gun charges but gives him sweeping immunity from prosecution dating back ten years to the time Biden served as Vice-President. 

Hunter Biden’s pardon applies to offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden "has committed or may have committed" from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 1, 2024 which encapsulates several controversies surrounding the president’s son and his overseas business dealings. 

BURISMA

Hunter Biden earned millions of dollars serving on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma after joining the company as legal counsel in the spring of 2014 before being elevated to the Board of Directors later that year. 

Biden has claimed he "didn’t stand to gain anything" from the position, which he was appointed to without any experience in the industry, but Republicans have long alleged that Hunter and his father engaged in influence pedaling through Burisma. 

HUNTER BIDEN PARDON WILL UNDERMINE PARTY'S 'SELF-PROCLAIMED AUTHORITY' ON RULE OF LAW: DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST

The Bidens were accused by Republicans of having "coerced" Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky to pay them millions of dollars in exchange for their help in getting the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating the company fired during the Obama administration. 

"Why 2014?" Fox News contributor Andy McCarthy wrote on FoxNews.com this week. "Well, the most damning evidence of the Biden family influence-peddling business occurred in the last years of Joe Biden’s term as vice president – specifically, 2014 through 2016. That, of course, is when the Burisma hijinks began. Indeed, Hunter’s board seat on the corrupt energy company’s board was so manifestly tied to his father’s political influence that, as soon as Biden left office in 2017, Burisma slashed Hunter’s compensation in half."

In addition to the more than $50,000 a month then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son received while serving on Burisma’s board from April 2014 to April 2019, he was also apparently receiving lavish gifts from the company’s founder, according to emails from Hunter’s abandoned laptop that have been verified by Fox News Digital.

CHINA BUSINESS DEALINGS

The pardon from President Biden also encapsulates the timeline of Hunter Biden's controversial business dealings in China which Republicans have suggested also embodies part of the alleged influence pedaling scheme that was part of the failed effort to impeach President Biden. 

HUNTER BIDEN'S CONFIDENT DEMEANOR IN UNEARTHED VIDEO RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT DAD'S PARDON PLANS

The Biden family netted several million dollars from business dealings in China which began in the 2014-2016 years as part of Hunter Biden's relationship with two Chinese companies, Bohai Harvest RST investment enterprise and CEFC.

The House Oversight Committee told Fox News Digital earlier this year that it can "now confirm Joe Biden met with nearly every foreign national who funneled money to his son, including Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, Romanian oligarch Kenes Rakishev, Burisma’s corporate secretary Vadym Pozharsky, Jonathan Li of BHR, and CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming."

Biden attended dinners at Washington D.C. restaurant Cafe Milano in Georgtown with Baturina, Rakishev and Pozharsky in 2014 and 2015. Biden also met with Li of BHR in China in 2013. Biden met with Ye at the meeting in 2017, according to testimony from Hunter Biden's ex-business partners Rob Walker and Devon Archer. 

The Biden's connections with Chinese companies continued into 2017.

Joe Biden, on May 3, 2017, spoke at the conference, hosting "A Conversation with the 47th Vice President of the United States Joe Biden." 

Just days after the May 2, 2017, meeting, the now-infamous May 13, 2017, email, which included a discussion of "remuneration packages" for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Biden as "Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC," in a reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.

WHO ELSE MIGHT BIDEN PARDON AFTER HE SPARED HUNTER FROM SENTENCING?

The email includes a note that "Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate." A proposed equity split references "20" for "H" and "10 held by H for the big guy?" with no further details.

Tony Bobulinski, who worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint-venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC, and said he met with Joe Biden in 2017, provided "unshakeable" testimony behind closed doors at the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees earlier this year and claimed that President Biden was the "big guy" referenced in the messages. 

Additionally, Hunter Biden demanded $10 million from a Chinese business associate to "further the interest" of his joint-venture with CEFC in 2017, saying that the "Bidens are the best I know at doing exactly" what the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party-linked firm wanted, according to a WhatsApp message House Oversight Committee.

FARA

Hunter Biden's overseas ties have also sparked speculation that he violated public disclose laws under the Foreign Agents Registration Act by not registering as a foreign agent. 

The Justice Department indirectly revealed that Hunter Biden was still under investigation for a potential violation of FARA during his first court appearance in July of last year, in which his "sweetheart" plea deal collapsed.

When asked by federal Judge Maryellen Noreika of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware whether the government could bring a charge against Hunter Biden related to FARA, the DOJ prosecutor replied, "Yes."

"Look for Jim Biden to be pardoned next," author Peter Schweizer posted on X this week. "Remember: the family was still under investigation under FARA as the pardon comes down. Might have implicated Joe."

ROMANIA

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee has scrutinized the Biden family's alleged business dealings in Romania dating back to 2015. 

"On September 28, 2015, Vice President Biden welcomed Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the White House," the House Oversight Committee's website state's. 

"Within five weeks of this meeting, a Romanian businessman involved with a high-profile corruption prosecution in Romania, Gabriel Popoviciu, began depositing a Biden associate’s bank account, which ultimately made their way into Biden family accounts. Popoviciu made sixteen of the seventeen payments, totaling over $3 million, to the Biden associate account while Joe Biden was Vice President.  Biden family accounts ultimately received approximately $1.038 million."

Fox News Digital reported last year that President Biden’s ambassador to the European Union offered advice to Hunter Biden in 2016 on a Romanian "client" who was on trial for corruption at the time.

OTHER OVERSEAS BUSINESS DEALINGS

Republicans in Congress have taken issue with Hunter Biden's business presence in other countries including Kazakhstan and Russia. 

In 2014, according to the House Oversight Committee, a Kazakhstani oligarch "used his Singaporean entity, Novatus Holdings, to wire one of Hunter Biden’s Rosemont Seneca entities $142,300. The very next day—April 23, 2014—the Rosemont Seneca entity transferred the exact same amount of money to a car dealership for a car for Hunter Biden."

Also in 2014, the committee has alleged that the Biden family and its associates received $3.5 million from Russia in payments from Baturina, Russia's richest woman. 

TAX AND GUN CHARGES

President Biden's pardon of his son means that he will not face punishment after being convicted earlier this year of making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

In his tax case, Hunter faced another trial regarding three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court in September, Hunter entered a surprise guilty plea. 

"Setting aside the fact that President Biden repeatedly stated he would not pardon his son, what I find most troubling is the sweeping nature of this pardon," Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski posted on X. 

"Not only is Hunter Biden receiving clemency for multiple felony offenses—for crimes of which he was convicted and pleaded guilty to—he is also being granted immunity from any crimes he ‘has committed or may have committed’ over a more than ten-year period. This decision makes a mockery of our justice system. Everyone must be held accountable for their actions under the law."

Both President Biden and Hunter Biden have long denied any allegations of impropriety or allegations of influence peddaling and in his statement pardoning Hunter, President Biden argued that his son was only prosecuted because of his last name.

"Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter," Biden wrote in a statement. "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 went on to claim that his son was "treated differently" by prosecutors.

"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," Biden added. "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. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently."

Biden also referenced his son's battle with addiction and blamed "raw politics" for the unraveling of Hunter's plea deal.

"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 82-year-old father wrote. "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."

Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman, Jessica Chasmar, and Emma Colton contributed to this report

Fox News Politics: Defining DOGE

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.

Here's what's happening…

-Nevada Dems say 'working-class' states need to be prioritized in 2028 primary schedule

-Biden aides consider preemptive pardons for Fauci, Schiff and Cheney

-Republicans slam Biden migrant parole program: ‘Rife with fraud’

Many Americans don't trust the federal government, and Elon Musk — an eccentric billionaire business tycoon tasked by President-elect Donald Trump with helping slay the unwieldly bureaucratic leviathan — thinks that's just the right attitude.

"I think we should not trust the government," Musk has previously declared.

Apparently, people are way ahead of him. 

"As of April 2024, 22% of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right "just about always" (2%) or "most of the time" (21%)," Pew Research Center noted earlier this year…Read more

'DARK MARK': Hunter Biden pardon will be 'dark mark' on Biden legacy: historian…Read more

'BRACE FOR IMPACT': Boston City Council doubles down on obstructing deportations ahead of Trump inauguration…Read more

TRUMP HEARING: Trump assassination attempt hearing devolves into screaming match…Read more

MORE POLICE SUPPORT TO COME: Massive police org calls on Trump, Rand Paul to swiftly confirm Noem to DHS…Read more

DEMS 'SELLING AMERICAN PEOPLE A LIE': Selling Americans a 'lie': How election integrity attorneys battled left-wing efforts to upend voting laws…Read more

WELCOME TO THE HILL: You've been elected to Congress. Now what? Freshman Republican reveals what it's like to enter office…Read more

'PENDULUM IS SWINGING': 'The pendulum is swinging': Experts weigh in on historic SCOTUS transgender case amid oral arguments…Read more

SHAKING UP THE HOUSE: Dem Rep. Nadler steps down from top spot on Judiciary Committee, endorses Raskin…Read more

'UNDO THE DAMAGE DONE': Firebrand GOP lawmaker demands Mayorkas preserve border crisis records for Trump admin…Read more

'FAILED': Pro-Trump impeachment Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy targeted for ouster of Freedom Caucus founding member…Read more

SLIM MARGIN: Former Dem congressman who lost by 109 votes in 2020 confirmed to lifetime judicial seat…Read more

'MINI ANTIFA WARRIORS': Former Obama officials who now run popular podcast selling ANTIFA gear for kids: "ANTIFA baby onesie"…Read more

'YOU'RE WELCOME!!!': Trump congratulates bitcoiners — El Salvador's Nayib Bukele takes victory lap with bitcoin over 100K…Read more

‘HIGHLY CONCERNING ISSUE’: Arizona Republican lawmakers ask for investigation into county recorder's handling of 2024 election…Read more

‘DISTUBRING & DISGUSTING’: Sexual misconduct at Veterans Affairs facility is ‘disturbing and disgusting,’ House committee chairman says…Read more

'MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE': Soros DA ripped by police for 'war' on cops after officer sentenced to prison…Read more

ALLEGED STONEWALLING?: Iowa sues Biden administration to verify status of 2,000 registered voters who may be noncitizens…Read more

Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Fox News Politics: Defining DOGE

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.

Here's what's happening…

-Nevada Dems say 'working-class' states need to be prioritized in 2028 primary schedule

-Biden aides consider preemptive pardons for Fauci, Schiff and Cheney

-Republicans slam Biden migrant parole program: ‘Rife with fraud’

Many Americans don't trust the federal government, and Elon Musk — an eccentric billionaire business tycoon tasked by President-elect Donald Trump with helping slay the unwieldly bureaucratic leviathan — thinks that's just the right attitude.

"I think we should not trust the government," Musk has previously declared.

Apparently, people are way ahead of him. 

"As of April 2024, 22% of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right "just about always" (2%) or "most of the time" (21%)," Pew Research Center noted earlier this year…Read more

'DARK MARK': Hunter Biden pardon will be 'dark mark' on Biden legacy: historian…Read more

'BRACE FOR IMPACT': Boston City Council doubles down on obstructing deportations ahead of Trump inauguration…Read more

TRUMP HEARING: Trump assassination attempt hearing devolves into screaming match…Read more

MORE POLICE SUPPORT TO COME: Massive police org calls on Trump, Rand Paul to swiftly confirm Noem to DHS…Read more

DEMS 'SELLING AMERICAN PEOPLE A LIE': Selling Americans a 'lie': How election integrity attorneys battled left-wing efforts to upend voting laws…Read more

WELCOME TO THE HILL: You've been elected to Congress. Now what? Freshman Republican reveals what it's like to enter office…Read more

'PENDULUM IS SWINGING': 'The pendulum is swinging': Experts weigh in on historic SCOTUS transgender case amid oral arguments…Read more

SHAKING UP THE HOUSE: Dem Rep. Nadler steps down from top spot on Judiciary Committee, endorses Raskin…Read more

'UNDO THE DAMAGE DONE': Firebrand GOP lawmaker demands Mayorkas preserve border crisis records for Trump admin…Read more

'FAILED': Pro-Trump impeachment Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy targeted for ouster of Freedom Caucus founding member…Read more

SLIM MARGIN: Former Dem congressman who lost by 109 votes in 2020 confirmed to lifetime judicial seat…Read more

'MINI ANTIFA WARRIORS': Former Obama officials who now run popular podcast selling ANTIFA gear for kids: "ANTIFA baby onesie"…Read more

'YOU'RE WELCOME!!!': Trump congratulates bitcoiners — El Salvador's Nayib Bukele takes victory lap with bitcoin over 100K…Read more

‘HIGHLY CONCERNING ISSUE’: Arizona Republican lawmakers ask for investigation into county recorder's handling of 2024 election…Read more

‘DISTUBRING & DISGUSTING’: Sexual misconduct at Veterans Affairs facility is ‘disturbing and disgusting,’ House committee chairman says…Read more

'MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE': Soros DA ripped by police for 'war' on cops after officer sentenced to prison…Read more

ALLEGED STONEWALLING?: Iowa sues Biden administration to verify status of 2,000 registered voters who may be noncitizens…Read more

Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.