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President-elect Donald Trump’s visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral marks his return to the geopolitical stage just weeks before he’s set to return to the White House
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President-elect Donald Trump will join world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prince William, at the re-opening of France’s Notre Dame Cathedral on Saturday.
This visit will mark Trump’s return to the global stage with just six weeks until he returns to the White House. French President Emmanuel Macron invited the president-elect soon after congratulating him on X for his victory last month.
Trump also claims support for Pete Hegseth, his nominee for secretary of defense, is “strong and deep” blaming the “fake news” for the backlash against the former Fox News host.
Vice president-elect JD Vance echoed his comments on X and during a visit to North Carolina, when asked about rumors that Senator Joni Ernst was being floated as an alternative nominee.
Hegseth spent another day on Capitol Hill on Thursday trying to drum up support for his confirmation as allegations concerning sexual harassment and alcohol continue to dog him on top of concerns about his views on women in combat.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, who granted clemency to his son Hunter last week, is said to be mulling preemptive pardons for US officials perceived to be at risk ahead of Trump’s return to the White House. The president-elect has previously vowed to take revenge against critics.
Prince William and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are among the world leaders who will join President-elect Donald Trump at the re-opening of the Notre Dame Cathedral on Saturday.
More than 1,500 guests will be present at the service, which will be led by the Catholic archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich.
Read more:
William will join the service on Saturday to mark the reopening of the medieval cathedral
Watch live as French President Emmanuel Macron meets with US President-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the historic reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral on Saturday (7 December).
Carolyn Fisher will never forget the moment her son told her he wanted to die.
It was November 3, two days before the presidential election. Fisher’s 16-year-old non-binary son, who uses he/they pronouns, was part of an online suicide pact with three other transgender and non-binary teens in Florida, Alabama and Tennessee. The friends who’d met on Discord had agreed to die by suicide if former president Donald Trump won the 2024 election.
The plan had been set since September. The teens hoped their deaths would send a message to conservative lawmakers and stop them from enacting restrictive policies targeting trans youth.
But as the election approached, her son called a crisis hotline for help. He told the case manager on the other line about the plan, and the case manager helped them tell his parents.
Gathered around their kitchen table, Fisher asked her child what was going on.
Read more:
Once news outlets called the election for Trump in the early hours of November 6, panic ripped through the LGBTQIA+ community and hotlines saw a dramatic surge in calls. Michelle Del Rey reports
Eric Garcia reports from Palm Beach, Florida:
On the Southern Boulevard bridge next to President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, there is a parked car festooned with Trump flags. Jestin Nevarez — who blasts out a rap version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” titled “Trump Saved the USA” on repeat — is the owner.
“I come out here and show support,” he told The Independent. “And right now, Mar-a-Lago is a tourist attraction. So when people drive by, they see the flags, they hear the music, they stop in and they have a good time.”
People do indeed stop to take photos of Nevarez’s car and snap photos of the once and future president’s estate.
Palm Beach has changed in the years since Trump first became president.
Continue reading…
In West Palm Beach, Eric Garcia meets the MAGA superfans who are camping outside Trump’s estate at all hours
Less than a week after President Joe Biden issued a sweeping pardon for his only surviving son — despite denying for months that he would do so — the White House appears to be leaving him room to maneuver on another, similar issue.
The question of whether Biden might grant unprecedented preemptive pardons to a range of public figures who might find themselves in the crosshairs of Donald Trump’s second administration remains unanswered.
Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of pardons on Friday afternoon: ‘Certainly, there’ll be more to come’
President-elect Donald Trump will join world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prince William, at the re-opening of France’s Notre Dame Cathedral on Saturday.
This visit will mark Trump’s return to the global stage with just six weeks until he returns to the White House.
French President Emmanuel Macron invited the president-elect soon after congratulating him on X for his victory last month.
“Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump. Ready to work together as we did for four years,” Macron wrote on X last month. “With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”
Donald Trump’s aides have suggested that Iowa Senator Joni Ernst may be trying to sink the nomination of Pete Hegseth as defense secretary so that she can get the job instead.
Ernst, a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor, has so far refused to publicly back Hegseth’s selection by Trump amid a string of controversies surrounding the Fox News host.
Ariana Baio has the story.
Joni Ernst, a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor, appears hesitant to back Hegseth amid string of controveries surrounding his nomination as secretary of defense
Outgoing President Joe Biden and his White House team are considering issuing preemptive pardons to protect those they believe may be targeted for retribution by President-elect Donald Trump.
The move is mostly being discussed among White House attorneys, but the president has also spoken about the possible measure with some of his aides, two sources have said, according to the Associated Press.
A decision has yet to be made on the issue and Biden may still choose not to issue any preemptive pardons.
Gustaf Kilander has the story.
Biden administration concerned Trump and his associates may launch probes that would harm the reputations and finances of their targets
The picture of who will be in charge of executing President-elect Donald Trump‘s hard-line immigration and border policies has come into sharper focus after he announced his picks to head Customs and Border Protection and also the agency tasked with deporting immigrants in the country illegally.
Trump said late Thursday he was tapping Rodney Scott, a former Border Patrol chief who’s been a vocal supporter of tougher enforcement measures, for CBP commissioner.
Read on…
President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration and border team is filling out
Jon Sopel writes:
American politicians like to talk about why their country is different from all others, with the clear implication that it is better. And when they talk about the idea of American exceptionalism, they tend to use a biblical phrase – first used by one of the Puritans who came over on the Mayflower – that America is “the shining city on a hill”.
It’s a metaphorical allusion, but in Washington, DC, it is – sort of – literal. The top of Capitol Hill does indeed shine with the magnificent, gleaming marble and white stone of the Congress. And just across the road the equally imposing Supreme Court, itself a neoclassical masterpiece: the pinnacle of the justice system in the United States.
But has the rule of law in America ever looked so battered and tattered? Shining city? You’re having a laugh.
Continue reading…
Granting his son, Hunter, a pardon from convictions involving tax fraud, guns and drugs is a disastrous final act by a compromised president, writes Jon Sopel. Never has the rule of law in American looked so perilous – and there is every danger that Trump will use that to his advantage
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