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3 hours ago
Biden issues pre-emptive pardons to Milley, Dr Fauci and Jan 6 committee members
US president Joe Biden on Monday issued pre-emptive pardons for Gen Mark Milley, Dr Anthony Fauci and members of the January 6 congressional committee and witnesses, saying they “do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.”
“Our nation relies on dedicated, selfless public servants every day. They are the lifeblood of our democracy,” Biden said in a statement. “Yet alarmingly, public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties.”
More details soon …
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Thomas Graham
It is cold and quiet in Casa del Migrante, a shelter in Ciudad Juárez, on the US-Mexico border. A group of men play dominoes, another shoots hoops alone, and a young couple watch their kids play with superhero toys.
“Some people get here and don’t want to go back outside,” said Ivonne López, a social worker. “They’re afraid.”
With Donald Trump’s return to power, the rules of US immigration are set for drastic change. While border cities like Juárez prepare for possible mass deportations, criminal groups are lying in wait to kidnap and extort migrants – and also offer them a way back across the border.
Besides deportations, Trump wants to cancel CBP One, the app that migrants in Mexico use to arrange US asylum appointments, and to bring back the so-called Remain in Mexico policy, under which asylum seekers were forced to wait in dangerous border cities while their applications were processed.
The incoming administration also reportedly wants to revive Title 42, the pandemic-era public health policy that expelled people almost 3m times without letting them request asylum.
Experts say that each of these moves would increase the number of migrants in Mexico’s border cities. Taken together, their effect could be overwhelming.
Donald Trump’s family have been pictured arriving at St John’s Church in Washington DC for this morning’s service.
Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said Donald Trump’s presidency will help set off a second wave of massive right-wing political change in Europe.
“Only a few hours and even the sun will shine differently in Brussels. A new president in the US, a large faction of patriots in Brussels, great enthusiasm,” Orbán told a press conference on Monday, Reuters reported.
So the great attack can start. Hereby I launch the second phase of the offensive that aims to occupy Brussels.
The Hungarian leader and longtime Trump supporter will not be attending today’s inauguration.
Summary of the day so far …
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Donald Trump supporters have begun to gather in Washington DC ahead of his inauguration as the 47th president of the US
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The ceremony will take place indoors at noon (5pm GMT), with vice-president elect JD Vance taking his oath ahead of Trump
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Trump’s address has been billed in advance as “more optimistic” than his 2017 speech which described “American carnage”. He is expected to call for a “revolution of common sense.”
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The new president is expected to unleash up to 100 executive orders with immigration, energy, trade tariffs, January 6 pardons and transgender rights in his sights
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Joe Biden has pardoned Dr Anthony Fauci, retired Gen Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, using the extraordinary powers of his office in his final hours to guard against potential “revenge” by the incoming administration
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The Washington Post reports Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” – DOGE – initiative will face a lawsuit within minutes of the inauguration
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Musk will attend the ceremony, alongside Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is also expected to attend, a day after the app thanked Trump for a stay of a ban that Trump himself had initially called for in 2020
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That is it from me, Martin Belam, in London. I am handing over to my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong over in the US
Mark Milley says he is 'deeply grateful' for Biden pardon
Retired Gen Mark Milley has given a reaction to news that outgoing president Joe Biden has issued him a last minute pre-emptive pardon ahead of the Trump administration taking power again.
In a statement Milley said:
My family and I are deeply grateful for the president’s action today. After forty-three years of faithful service in uniform to our nation, protecting and defending the constitution, I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights. I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety.
Biden has pardoned Dr Anthony Fauci, retired and members of the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Monday he hopes US president-elect Donald Trump will have a “fruitful” second term in the White House and maintain his country’s “historic” partnership with Latin America’s No 1 economy.
“On our side, we do not want to get into any fight with the US or with Venezuela, China, India, Russia,” Reuters reports Lula said. “We want peace, harmony, and relations in which diplomacy is the most important thing.”
French prime minister Francois Bayrou warned on Monday that France and Europe as a whole would have to stand up to US president-elect Donald Trump and his policies, or face being “crushed”, Reuters reports.
“The US has decided to embark upon an extremely domineering form of politics, via the dollar, via its industrial policy, via the fact that it can capture the world’s investments and the world’s research,” Bayrou told reporters, as he held a New Year’s address in the city of Pau.
“And if we don’t do anything, our fate is very simple – we will be dominated. We will be crushed. We will be marginalised,” he also said.
Italy's Meloni expected to be only European leader at inauguration
Angela Giuffrida
Angela Giuffrida is the Guardian’s Rome correspondent
Giorgia Meloni is thought to be the only European prime minister attending the inauguration, which Manlio Messina, an MP from her far-right Brothers of Italy party, said “reiterated Italy’s role in strengthening relations between Europe and the US”.
He added: “Meloni’s ability to build a privileged dialogue with the White House makes our country a central player in the main international dynamics.”
Daily Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, reported that Meloni might even snatch a one-to-one meeting, albeit a brief one, with Trump before the event. “Therefore overtaking Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, who by tradition is received first by the White House plenipotentiary at the start of a [presidential] mandate, and who was not even invited,” the newspaper said.
Meloni is a longtime supporter of Trump who travelled to some of his political gatherings before she came to power in October 2022. She has also forged close relations with his billionaire ally, Elon Musk.
The Italian leader made a flying visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida earlier this month, during which Trump described her as “a fantastic woman” who is “really taking Europe by storm.
Observers have said that common views on issues ranging from immigration to abortion, alongside the links with Musk, could result in Meloni becoming Trump’s main interlocutor in Europe
Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Victor Orbán, another Trump supporter, was invited but will not be attending.
Elon Musk’s DOGE to be sued within minutes of Trump inauguration – reports
The Washington Post reports that Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” – DOGE – initiative will face a lawsuit within minutes of Donald Trump’s inauguration later today.
Jeff Stein writes:
In a 30-page complaint obtained by the Washington Post ahead of its filing, the public interest law firm National Security Counselors says that the nongovernmental DOGE panel is breaking a 1972 law that requires advisory committees to the executive branch to follow certain rules on disclosure, hiring and other practices.
Biden issues pre-emptive pardons to Milley, Dr Fauci and Jan 6 committee members
US president Joe Biden on Monday issued pre-emptive pardons for Gen Mark Milley, Dr Anthony Fauci and members of the January 6 congressional committee and witnesses, saying they “do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.”
“Our nation relies on dedicated, selfless public servants every day. They are the lifeblood of our democracy,” Biden said in a statement. “Yet alarmingly, public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties.”
More details soon …
CNN’s Evan Perez reports that the incoming Trump administration has still not carried out some important duties before taking over today.
Perez writes:
While this Trump transition has been less chaotic than 2017, the current Trump transition has been slow to do the basic things needed to take the reins of government.
[That is] potentially a problem today if there’s a national security emergency and someone needs to be ready to sign Fisa warrants.
As of last night, the incoming Trump team still had not told Department of Justice who the new acting attorney general would be.
At noon, the last person authorized to sign Fisa warrants will leave without having someone to hand off to.
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