December 10, 2024 - Presidential transition news

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday the Biden administration “will have more to announce on pardons and commutations” before President Joe Biden leaves office next year, but declined give any additional details.

Earlier this month, Biden announced he was pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, over federal gun and tax evasion charges, reversing course after pledging for months he’d allow the judicial process to play out without stepping in and using his presidential clemency powers for his son.

In a gathering with reporters following the pardon, Jean-Pierre said reporters “could expect more announcement, more pardons and clemency at the end of this term,” but stopped short of offering a timeline on when they may happen.

On Tuesday, the press secretary said that Biden — who campaigned on abolishing the federal death penalty as a candidate in 2020—has not changed his position on the issue, but wouldn’t say whether the president was considering commuting the sentence of death row inmates before leaving office.

For his part, President-elect Donald Trump, during the 2024 campaign, indicated he would restart federal executions and work to expand the pool of crimes eligible for capital punishment under federal law, which generally allows for the death penalty in cases of murder, espionage and treason.

Inside a courtroom at the Byron R. White US Courthouse in Denver, Colorado.

President Joe Biden and key Democrats have come out against a once broad bipartisan bill that would create 63 new permanent judgeships — now that President-elect Donald Trump would be the one to fill 22 of them.

The White House said Tuesday that Biden would veto the bill — passed unanimously by the Senate this summer and set for a House vote this week — that would add judgeships to the most overburdened federal courthouses in the country.

Judges across the ideological spectrum have warned that staffing shortages have created a major backlog in cases. The apparent collapse in support for legislation that would address the judicial shortfall shows how polarized the political environment around the judiciary has become has become, and how any measure that would expand the already-large imprint that Trump has made on the courts is deemed toxic to Democrats.

The bill’s Senate champions and outside supporters had hoped that the House would take up the bill before the election, when neither party would know which side would initially benefit from its passage. Democrats are now pointing to House GOP leadership’s failure to do so as reason while they’re reversing their support of the bill.

House Republicans have said they would have taken up the bill regardless of who won last month, and that they were unable to vote on it before the election because work that needed to be done for it and also because of the must-pass legislation that was before Congress before the election.

Judges — including in interviews with CNN — have said that the judiciary faces a staffing crisis that is undermining litigants’ right to speedy justice. The bill’s architects used the recommendations of the Judicial Conference, the policymaking body of the judiciary, to decide which courthouses would additional judges — all for trial courts – under the bill, the “Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act” or JUDGES Act.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and newly sworn in Sen. Adam Schiff dismissed President-elect Donald Trump’s comments that members of the January 6 Committee, including Schiff, should go to jail.

“The bottom line is we all know that Senator Schiff did a very, very good job on the hearings, he broke no laws whatsoever, and the truths stands for itself,” Schumer told CNN.

Schiff added that he was “proud” of their work on the committee, and that he does not believe that he or his colleagues from the panel should receive preemptive pardons.

“We’re proud of the work we did on that committee. It was a fundamental oversight obligation to investigate the first attempt to interfere with a peaceful transfer of power in our history. Many of you were here in this building during that violent attack, and we’re proud of the work we did to expose what went into that once in history effort to interfere with the transition of power,” he continued.

Schumer added that Schiff “did a great job and that will stand for itself.”

The Democratic leader also said he had a “good and productive meeting” with GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick to lead the State Department. “We had good discussions about Ukraine, the Middle East, Haiti and China,” Schumer told reporters.

“I’ve worked with him in the past, we have a good relationship. I think he’s qualified for the role, and I certainly don’t start out with any negative disposition”

President-elect Donald Trump is covered by US Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.

The bipartisan task force investigating the two assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump released its final report on Tuesday that includes a final series of recommendations and legislative suggestions that have largely been included in preliminary reports.

The recommendations are based on more than 18,000 pages of documents in response to requests to agencies, 46 transcribed interviews, an evidence presentation at the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, briefings from federal agencies, two hearings, and walk throughs of the sites where the assassination attempts took place.

The report focuses primarily on the preparation, security and communication failures related to the first assassination attempt against Trump on July 13 during a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The report’s recommendations: As a result of the lack of experience among those who led the site security for the Butler rally, the task force proposes a robust training process for Secret Service agents. It suggests various ways to streamline communication given the failure to share threat intelligence surrounding Trump was not communicated to all law enforcement partners and all asset requests were not met. The lawmakers also recommend expanding the coverage zone of a given event to mitigate line of site issues.

As a result of the second attempt, the task force recommends that the Secret Service use a vehicle while a protectee is playing golf, and increase reliance on K9 sweeps to better secure golf courses.

The task force points out that the US Secret Service is still conducting its mission assurance review of the assassination attempt in West Palm Beach, Florida, and has not shared its contents with the panel.

The report also makes a series of legislative recommendations including reducing the number of individuals being protected to eliminate some of the strain on the system and evaluating whether the Secret Service should remain within the Department of Homeland Security.

In a show of continued support, Donald Trump’s transition team on Tuesday released a video of some GOP senators previously praising Pete Hegseth, the president-elect’s pick to lead the Department of Defense, as Hegseth faces an uphill confirmation battle.

The video features praise of Hegseth from GOP Sens. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Rick Scott of Florida.

Mullin, talking to reporters on Capitol Hill, praised Hegseth’s experience in the military and said, “He’s perfect. He’s a, he’s a decorative combat veteran. He’s got two Bronze Stars. 20 years of service. He retired as a major and he’s a civilian. He knows this, it’s not like he has no experience inside the military.”

Tuberville said, “We need a drill sergeant in the military. We need somebody to straighten the military out, to get the woke, the DEI affiliation, out and go from there.”

Scott spoke to reporters after meeting with Hegseth and said, “When he goes to Department of Defense, he’ll walk in with the mentality that he’s going to take care of our war fighters. He’s going to make sure they have the right equipment and they’re not put in harm’s way when they shouldn’t be put in harm’s way. He’s not going to support forever wars. He’s not going to support going into battle when we don’t even have a plan, so I think he’s going to do a great job.”

“I’m going to do whatever that can to make sure he’s confirmed as the Secretary of Defense,” Scott added.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg stands with members of his staff at a news conference following the conviction of Donald Trump in his hush money trial on May 30, in New York City.

The New York attorney general and the Manhattan district attorney both said Tuesday they will not dismiss their historic cases against Donald Trump now that he’s been reelected president.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, argued in a filing made public Tuesday that Trump’s May conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records should not be dismissed just because he’s returning to the White House. The district attorney also said it’s possible for the judge to delay sentencing until after Trump is out of office or to impose a sentence without jail time.

And the New York attorney general’s office wrote in a letter to Trump’s attorneys Tuesday that Trump’s appeal of his $454 million civil fraud judgement poses no burden to his future presidency.

Trump was already seeking to dismiss both the felony hush money conviction and the civil fraud judgement before the November election, but now that he’s returning to the White House, his lawyers are arguing the civil and criminal verdicts should both be dropped.

Both fights over Trump’s legal fate are likely to extend into Trump’s time in the White House. His initial appeal to dismiss the civil fraud case is pending in a New York appeals court, and the decision on the hush money conviction is now resting with New York Judge Juan Merchan.

This post has been updated with more details on Trump’s legal challenges.

Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks with CNN's Manu Raju on Tuesday.

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham told CNN that Pete Hegseth is “better off this week than he was last week,” after previously warning of “difficulties” getting him confirmed as President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary.

“The accusations are anonymous. The police report I’ve read — right now, he’s in pretty good shape. I think he’s very smart,” said Graham.

Graham was leaving his meeting with Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, when he spoke with reporters. The South Carolina Republican said it was a “good” meeting, and noted that he would accept current FBI Director Chris Wray being pushed out, despite having three years left in his term.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that he (Trump) wants a new FBI director,” said Graham.

He added, “I like Director Wray, but I think the — it’s time for a fresh start at the FBI. People on the conservative side of the aisle believe it has been used to kind of have its thumb on political matters, and that needs to end, but I have nothing against him personally.”

Graham noted that he would like to set up another meeting with Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence, to discuss Syria. Graham and Gabbard met yesterday evening.

President Joe Biden speaks about his administrations economic playbook and the future of the American economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, December 10.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he prays “to God” that his predecessor and successor will do away with the Project 2025 blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term.

“I think it’d be an economic disaster for us in the region,” Biden said. His remarks at the Brookings Institution were centered on his handling of the economy — which Biden considers one of his term’s strongest accomplishments even if many Americans still felt a financial pinch this election cycle.

Biden, whose successful run for president four years ago was centered on bringing Americans together and keeping Trump out of office, offered a preview of what his post-presidency life will look like, saying he still intends to be involved in public life after his presidency ends in January.

“I’m leaving the presidency but I’m not going away — bad news for y’all — because I think we can, we’ve got to bring this country back together,” Biden said.

GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma told CNN that he will back Kash Patel to be FBI director after meeting with him on Capitol Hill.

Mullin also said that he thinks Trump’s defense secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, is doing a “phenomenal job” in his meetings with senators and said, “there’s not one single Republican that’s opposed any of these nominations that are out there right now.”

“I do,” Mullin said, when asked if he feels comfortable voting for Patel for the position. “I was comfortable beforehand. I’ve had the privilege of knowing Kash and we’ve sat down and talked.”

Asked if he’s concerned that Trump will have to expend too much political capital on some of his more controversial nominees, Mullin downplayed the suggestion and argued that all of the picks currently under consideration are in good shape.

GOP North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who is up for reelection in 2026, defended Trump’s nominees, saying he does not have concerns about them.

“No, I don’t (have concerns),” Tillis told CNN. “I know everybody’s trying to get that ‘gotcha’ question that you know kind of creates friction between a member and the president. I voted for every nomination that ultimately got voted on in President Trump’s first term,” he said.

GOP Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who also serves on the judiciary panel, agreed that it will take some time to figure out if all of these picks are confirmable. “We haven’t had a single hearing or a single FBI background check completed. So, I think as frustrating as it is for some people, there’s a process, and I’m for seeing the process through so we can make informed decisions,” he said.

After meeting with Hegseth Tuesday morning, Cornyn said he will support Trump’s pick for defense secretary.

“I will support Pete Hegseth, as I always say, barring any unforeseen circumstances. But I’ve known him a long time, I was satisfied with his answers, and I think this is going to be a hard process on him and his family, and some of it will be enormously unfair,” he said to reporters.

This post has been updated with additional reactions from lawmakers.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, on December 10.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday touted his administration’s economic record, saying President-elect Donald Trump will inherit a strong economy. The president said it is his “profound hope” that Trump will keep it that way.

“That is my profound hope, that the new administration will preserve and build on this progress,” the president added.

Like most economic developments, Biden said, “this one is neither red nor blue, and America’s progress is everyone’s progress.

The president acknowledged, however, that “this economic growth is not without pain.”

“The entire world faced a spike in inflation due to disruptions from the pandemic and Putin’s war in Ukraine,” the president added, acknowledging how a broad base of America felt about their economic positions in the run-up to Trump’s victorious election run this year.