Trump reportedly promises January 6 pardons ‘in the first hour’ of his presidency or sooner – US politics live

In an interview with Time magazine, Donald Trump was asked if would reinstate a policy that separates children of undocumented children from their parents at the southern border.

Widely viewed as a cruel and inhumane response to undocumented immigration, the migrant separation policy became one of the most controversial decisions of Trump’s first term. Despite that, the president-elect refused to rule out bringing it back, giving Time contradictory answers in an interview published as it named him 2024’s “person of the year”. Here’s what he said:

Trump tells TIME he doesn’t plan to restore the policy of separating children from their families to deter border crossings. But he doesn’t rule it out, either. “I don’t believe we’ll have to, because we will send the whole family back,” he says. “I would much rather deport them together.” Trump’s incoming border czar, Tom Homan, says “there is no deliberate policy being worked on to separate families.” But he also leaves open the possibility of children again being ripped from their parents. “You can’t say zero, it’s not going to happen,” Homan says.

Donald Trump has picked Kari Lake, a former television news anchor who has embraced various baseless election fraud conspiracies, to lead the US-backed Voice of America global news agency.

Lake has supported Trump’s baseless claim that fraud cost him re-election in 2020, and also alleged, without proof, similar misconduct in her unsuccessful run for governor of Arizona two years ago. She made a bid for Arizona’s Senate seat, but lost in the November election, even though Trump won the state’s electoral votes.

Despite spending decades as a well-known TV journalist in Arizona, Lake has threatened the press since shifting into politics following the Covid-19 pandemic. Here’s more on her appointment, from the Associated Press:

President-elect Donald Trump has picked Kari Lake as director of Voice of America, installing a staunch loyalist and immigration hardliner to head the congressionally funded broadcaster that provides independent news reporting around the world.

Lake, who ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor and a Senate seat, was a television news anchor in Phoenix for nearly three decades until she left in 2021 after making a series of controversial statements on social media, including sharing Covid-19 misinformation during the pandemic.

She launched her political career a short time later, quickly building a loyal following and national profile as she sparred with journalists and echoed Trump in her sharp criticism of what she called the “fake news”. In 2022, she said she would be a journalist’s “worst fricking nightmare” if she won the race to be governor of Arizona.

She endeared herself to Trump through her dogmatic commitment to the falsehood that both she and Trump were the victims of election fraud. She has never acknowledged her defeat in the 2022 gubernatorial race and lost her Senate race last month by an even larger margin. Trump considered her for his vice presidential running mate before deciding on JD Vance.

Trump has in the past been a fierce critic of Voice of America (VOA), including saying in 2020 that “things they say are disgusting toward our country.”

Once he is inaugurated on 20 January, one of Donald Trump’s first orders of business will be pardoning people convicted or accused of crimes related to the January 6 attack, and also actions to expand oil production, the president-elect told Time.

The magazine today named the president-elect its “person of the year”, and published a long piece that details how his campaign returned him to the White House, and what he will do once he gets there.

In interviews, Trump and his deputies made clear he was willing to carry out the mass deportation plan that was a plank of his re-election pitch, even if it winds up being very expensive.

From Time:

One of the first official acts of his presidency, Trump tells TIME, will be to pardon most of the rioters accused or convicted of storming the Capitol to block the certification of Biden’s victory. “It’s going to start in the first hour,” he says. “Maybe the first nine minutes.” Trump also plans early actions to reverse many of Biden’s Executive Orders and expand the drilling of oil on federal land.

Trump’s most aggressive moves will be on immigration enforcement. He vows to tighten the U.S. border with Mexico through a slew of Executive Orders, and aides say he would end the U.S. “catch-and-release” program and resume construction of a border wall. At the same time, he says, he will order U.S. law-enforcement agencies – and potentially the military – to embark on a massive deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million undocumented migrants from the country. While the Posse Comitatus Act forbids the deployment of the military against civilians, Trump says he is willing to enlist the military to round up and deport migrants. “It doesn’t stop the military if it’s an invasion of our country,” he says. Pressed on how he would respond if the military refuses to carry out those orders, Trump says, “I’ll only do what the law allows, but I will go up to the maximum level of what the law allows.”

Trump tells TIME he doesn’t plan to restore the policy of separating children from their families to deter border crossings. But he doesn’t rule it out, either. “I don’t believe we’ll have to, because we will send the whole family back,” he says. “I would much rather deport them together.” Trump’s incoming border czar, Tom Homan, says “there is no deliberate policy being worked on to separate families.” But he also leaves open the possibility of children again being ripped from their parents. “You can’t say zero, it’s not going to happen,” Homan says.

For a mass-deportation operation of this scale, Trump’s advisers are planning to build more detention centers to hold migrants until they can be deported to their home countries, a process that can take weeks, months, or even years to negotiate with receiving governments. It’s not clear if all will be willing to take the migrants back. “We just don’t arrest an alien and remove them on the same day,” says Homan. “We’re going to need beds.” Trump says he will use access to the U.S. market as leverage to force foreign governments to cooperate. “I’ll get them into every country,” Trump says, “or we won’t do business with those countries.”

Announcing clemencies for nearly 1,500 people and the pardons of 39 others, Joe Biden said that the decision is keeping in line with America’s historic tradition of forgiveness.

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

“Today, I am pardoning 39 people who have shown successful rehabilitation and have shown commitment to making their communities stronger and safer. I am also commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who are serving long prison sentences – many of whom would receive lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices.”

The president signaled he would commute more sentences before he leaves the White House: “I will take more steps in the weeks ahead. My administration will continue reviewing clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second chances.”

His administration did not name those pardoned and those who had their sentences commuted, but did offer some details of their lives:

• A decorated military veteran and pilot who spends much of his time helping his fellow church members who are in poor health or unable to perform strenuous tasks;

• A nurse who has led emergency response for several natural disasters and who helped spearhead vaccination efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic; and

• An addiction counselor who volunteers his time to help young people find their purpose, make better choices, and refrain from destructive behaviors and gang involvement.

Good morning, US politics blog readers. Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and issued pardons to 39 others, a sweeping exercise of his presidential powers in his final weeks in the White House. The clemencies – the largest single-day act in US history – are targeted at people who have been serving their sentences in home confinement under the pandemic-era Cares Act, while the pardons are for people convicted of non-violent crimes who “have turned their lives around”, the White House said. It is typical for presidents to commute sentences and issue pardons as they complete their terms, but even though Biden is casting this as a historic act of mercy, his decision last week to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, casts a bit of a shadow over it. The younger Biden was facing sentencing over tax evasion and gun charges, but the president opted to pardon him, saying he had been unjustly prosecuted, and could be further harassed once Donald Trump takes office.

When it comes to clemencies, Biden says he’s not finished, and may issue more in the weeks left in his term. We will let you know if we get any hint at who those might affect.

Here’s what else is going on today:

• Trump appointed Kari Lake, a Republican former candidate for governor and senator in Arizona, as director of Voice of America. VOA is a US-government supported global news agency, and Lake is best known nationally not just for her twin failed bids for office, but refusing to acknowledge her defeat in the governor’s race two years ago.

• Xi Jinping, China’s president, has been invited to Trump’s inauguration next month, CBS News reports. No Chinese leader has ever attended a US presidential inauguration, but many incoming Trump administration officials view China as a rival and national security threat.

• Time Magazine named Trump its “person of the year”. It’s his second time picking up the accolade, after first getting it in 2016.