Politico’s Left-Wing Founder Admits Trump Is a ‘Great’ President

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
-
0
Politico’s Left-Wing Founder Admits Trump Is a ‘Great’ President

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The founding editor and global editor-in-chief of leftist Politico published an op-ed on Tuesday in which he praised President Donald Trump for his accomplishments, resilience and political ideas while making conservatives happy and leftists angry about the fact that he is now in the Oval Office.

“For the first time, he is holding power under circumstances in which reasonable people cannot deny a basic fact: he is the greatest American figure of his era,” John F. Harris wrote.

He then explained that he thinks this is the case because he dominated the Republican Party and became popular among most Americans, supported by the fact that Trump won the popular vote in the 2024 election.

Harris also tried to find a silver lining for Democrats, stating that they “may find liberating” the fact that they don’t need to “push Trump to the margins by treating him as a momentary anomaly or simply denouncing him as lawless and illegitimate.”

According to Harris, this rhetoric doesn’t work anymore because Americans found the America First rhetoric more compelling than the mainstream propaganda.

Additionally, Harris called Trump a “communications innovator” who “exploited technological shifts more effectively than [his] rivals,” comparing him to Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, who used radio and television to their advantage.

Harris also pointed out Trump’s toughness amid his legal battles, stating that people in his situation are more likely to “end up being consumed and shrunken by the searing nature of [being sued],” even if they win.

“Imagine running for president amid huge civil suits, criminal prosecutions and even felony convictions — then emerging from this morass as a larger figure than before,” he wrote. “No one needs to admire the achievement to recognize that Trump is possessed by some rare traits of denial, combativeness and resilience.”

Harris became well-known for his far-left political beliefs. In 2022, he suggested that the U.S. Constitution should be rewritten because Trump is a “constitutional menace.”

Other people who worked for Politico also criticized the law of the land, claiming that “democracy is not just the enemy of the Republican Party” but also “the enemy of the Constitution.”

Politico also became infamous for pushing pro-abortion propaganda, canceling mothers and criticizing Vice President J.D. Vance’s facial expressions.

Trump State Department Bans Pride, BLM Flags from U.S. Embassies

Contributing Author
-
0
Trump State Department Bans Pride, BLM Flags from U.S. Embassies

(Headline USA) The Trump State Department issued a rule on Tuesday that prohibits all U.S. embassies and outposts from flying any flag but the U.S. flag, including Pride and Black Lives Matter flags.

“Starting immediately, only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestic and abroad, and featured in U.S. government content,” the memo states. “The flag of the United States of America united all Americans under the universal principles of justice, liberty, and democracy. These values, which are the bedrock of our great country, are shared by all American citizens, past and present.”

The memo adds, “The U.S. flag is a powerful symbol of pride and it is fitting and respectful that only the U.S. flag be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestically and abroad.”

The “One Flag Policy” order, issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, makes only two exceptions for the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action emblem and the Wrongful Detainees Flag.

Any State Department employee who violates the new policy will “face disciplinary action, including termination of employment or contract, or reassignment to their home agency,” according to the order.

The Biden administration frequently flew Pride and BLM flags alongside the U.S. flag at various government buildings, including at the White House.

In 2021, for example, the Biden State Department explicitly encouraged U.S. embassies to display BLM flags to commemorate the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death.

“Black Lives Matter began with a hashtag that initially focused on treatment of racial minorities by police, but over time the phrase has garnered international attention and is connected to collective efforts to mitigate racism and build a more equitable society,” the U.S. embassy in Brazil said in a press statement at the time.

Pentagon to Send 1,500 Active-Duty Troops to Aid Border Patrol in Immigration Enforcement

Editor 1
-
0
Pentagon to Send 1,500 Active-Duty Troops to Aid Border Patrol in Immigration Enforcement

(Headline USA) The Pentagon will begin deploying as many as 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border in the coming days, the White House confirmed on Wednesday, putting in motion plans President Donald Trump laid out in executive orders shortly after he took office to crack down on illegal immigration.

Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses was expected to sign the deployment orders on Wednesday, but it wasn’t yet clear which troops will go, and the total could fluctuate. It remains to be seen if they will end up doing law enforcement, which would put American troops in a dramatically different role for the first time in decades.

“This is something President Trump campaigned on,” said Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary.

“The American people have been waiting for such a time as this—for our Department of Defense to actually implement homeland security seriously,” she added. “This is a No. 1 priority for the American people.”

The active-duty forces will join the roughly 2,500 U.S. National Guard and Reserve forces already there. There are currently no active-duty troops working along the roughly 2,000-mile border.

The troops are expected to be used to support Border Patrol agents, with logistics, transportation and construction of barriers, according to U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details have not yet been released. Troops have done similar duties in the past, when both Trump and former President Joe Biden sent active duty troops to the border.

Troops are prohibited by law from doing law-enforcement duties under the Posse Comitatus Act, but that may change. Trump has directed through executive order that the incoming secretary of Defense and incoming Homeland Security chief report back within 90 days if they think an 1807 law called the Insurrection Act should be invoked. That would allow those troops to be used in civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil.

The last time the act was invoked was in 1992 during rioting in Los Angeles in protest of the acquittal of four police officers charged with beating Rodney King.

The widely expected deployment, coming in Trump’s first week in office, was an early step in his long-touted plan to expand the use of the military along the border. In one of his first orders on Monday, Trump directed the Defense secretary to come up with a plan to “seal the borders” and repel “unlawful mass migration.”

On Tuesday, just as Trump fired the Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Linda Fagan, the service announced it was surging more cutter ships, aircraft and personnel to the “Gulf of America”—a nod to the president’s directive to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

Trump said during his inaugural address on Monday that “I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places in which they came.”

Military personnel have been sent to the border almost continuously since the 1990s to help address illegal immigration, drug trafficking and transnational crime.

In executive orders signed Monday, Trump suggested the military would help the Department of Homeland Security with “detention space, transportation (including aircraft), and other logistics services.”

There are about 20,000 Border Patrol agents, and while the southern border is where most are located, they’re also responsible for protecting the northern border with Canada. Usually agents are tasked with looking for drug smugglers or people trying to enter the country undetected.

More recently, however, they have had to deal with illegal border-crossers actively seeking out Border Patrol in order to get refuge in America—taxing the agency’s staff.

In his first term, Trump ordered active duty troops to the border in response to a caravan of migrants slowly making its way through Mexico toward the United States in 2018. More than 7,000 active duty troops were sent to Texas, Arizona and California, including military police, an assault helicopter battalion, various communications, medical and headquarters units, combat engineers, planners and public affairs units.

At the time, the Pentagon was adamant that active-duty troops would not do law enforcement. So they spent much of their time transporting Border Patrol agents to and along the border, helping them erect additional vehicle barriers and fencing along the border, assisting them with communications and providing some security for border agent camps.

The military also provided Border Patrol agents with medical care, pre-packaged meals and temporary housing.

It’s also not yet clear if the Trump administration will order the military to use bases to house detained illegals.

Bases previously have been used for that purpose, and after the 2021 fall of Kabul to the Taliban, they were used to host thousands of Afghan evacuees. The facilities struggled to support the influx.

In 2018, then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis ordered Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas, to prepare to house as many as 20,000 unaccompanied minors, but the additional space ultimately wasn’t needed and Goodfellow was determined not to have the infrastructure necessary to support the surge.

In March 2021, the Biden administration greenlighted using property at Fort Bliss, Texas, for a detention facility to provide beds for up to 10,000 unaccompanied minors as border crossings increased from Mexico.

The facility, operated by DHS, was quickly overrun, with far too few case managers for the thousands of children that arrived, exposure to extreme weather and dust and unsanitary conditions, a 2022 inspector general report found.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Texas Man Who Tried to Scam Ex-Rep. George Santos Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison

Editor 1
-
0
Texas Man Who Tried to Scam Ex-Rep. George Santos Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison

(Headline USA) A Texas man was sentenced to a year and a half in prison Wednesday over his effort to dupe George Santos out of nearly $1 million by offering to destroy evidence in the disgraced congressman’s corruption case.

Hector Medina, 40, admitted to fabricating an identity as a politically connected fixer, then trying to extract money from Santos by claiming that he could have “evidence that is on you removed, disappeared.”

Federal prosecutors said Medina—using the alias Michael Soto—tried the scam on other high-profile criminal defendants, including the actor Danny Masterson, but convinced no one.

Medina’s attorney, Joseph Veith, said he was seeking to pay off gambling debts through a scheme that “lacked the sophistication and credibility necessary to pose any real threat of success.”

Medina pleaded guilty to identity theft and wire fraud in September. That came just weeks after Santos admitted to duping voters, deceiving donors and stealing the identities of nearly a dozen people, including his own family members, to make donations to his campaign.

“It’s fairly unusual where you’d have the defendant and the victim both charged in separate instances with the same crime,” Veith said by phone Wednesday. “My client is just happy his case is over, irrespective of what Mr. Santos is going to have to deal with.”

Santos declined to comment on Medina’s case but said he had submitted a statement to the judge.

Earlier this month, Santos asked the New York judge overseeing his case to delay sentencing until the summer so he could pay off more than half a million dollars in fines by making more episodes of his recently launched podcast “Pants on Fire.”

Santos faces a mandatory minimum two-year sentence for the identity theft charge and a maximum of 22 years in prison. The sentencing is currently scheduled for April 25.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

U.S. Universities Failed to Disclose China Bribing Them w/ Millions

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
-
0
U.S. Universities Failed to Disclose China Bribing Them w/ Millions

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The Daily Caller reported that well-known and “prestigious” American universities—the University of California, Berkeley, and the Georgia Institute of Technology—failed to disclose the millions of dollars they received from communist China.

A new report from OpenTheBooks revealed that UC Berkeley has received $87.5 million from China since 2013. The university also received $59.4 million from Hong Kong and $57.5 million from Taiwan. Within the same time frame, Georgia Tech accepted $162.8 from foreign sources, at least $32.3 million of which came from China.

A 2024 House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party investigation also showed that both universities demonstrated “significant failures in reporting foreign funding” while accepting the funds. The investigation also stated there will be “likely hundreds of millions, if not billions in total,” of Chinese dollars flowing into American universities that are not reported.

OpenTheBooks found that UC Berkeley and Georgia Tech partnered with the Chinese Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI), a program through Tsinghua University with campuses in Shenzhen, China, and near both universities.

“[The program and others were used to] serve as conduits for transferring critical U.S. technologies and expertise to China, including to entities linked to China’s defense machine and the security apparatus it uses to facilitate human rights abuses,” the committee stated.

The Caller added that when both universities found out about the investigation, they severed ties with China to avoid being accused of accepting bribes from communists.

The OpenTheBooks report stated that these programs are administered through China’s national defense agency, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. They aim to “strengthen military forces with additional personnel and more advanced equipment.”

The report also revealed that the Chinese funding of Georgia Tech went unreported for eight years.

The Caller reported that other American universities, such as Ohio State University and the University of Texas, also accepted millions of dollars in bribes from foreign countries, including China.

This wasn’t the first time when conservative news outlets and politicians revealed China’s ties to American universities. American universities became infamous for employing communist sympathizers and traitors, donating millions of dollars to support the genocide of Chinese Muslims. It was also reported that China has been responsible for orchestrating many pro-Hamas college protests and funding university centers.

“Americans must know how the CCP is poisoning the well of our higher education for its own ends, and how those actions degrade our freedoms and our national security. If we don’t educate ourselves, we’ll get schooled by Beijing,” former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. “They know that left-leaning college campuses are rife with anti-Americanism, and present easy target audiences for their anti-American messaging.”

DOJ Directs Prosecutors to Probe Local Efforts to Obstruct Immigration Enforcement

Editor 1
-
0
DOJ Directs Prosecutors to Probe Local Efforts to Obstruct Immigration Enforcement

(Headline USA) The Justice Department released a memo to its entire workforce directing federal prosecutors to investigate any state or local officials who stand in the way of beefed-up enforcement of immigration laws under the Trump administration.

The memo, which was written by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove and obtained by the Associated Press on Wednesday, also says the department will return to the principle of charging defendants with the most serious crime it can prove, a staple position of Republican-led departments meant to remove a prosecutor’s discretion to charge a lower-level offense.

Selective prosecutions contributed to the perception that the Biden administration was weaponizing the justice system against Trump and his political allies by throwing the book at them while allowing Democrat officials and their constituencies to skate on equivalent—or even more egregious—offenses.

Much of Bove’s memo was centered on immigration enforcement. The former Trump attorney wrote that prosecutors shall “take all steps necessary to protect the public and secure the American border by removing illegal aliens from the country and prosecuting illegal aliens for crimes” committed in U.S. jurisdiction.

The memo also suggested state and local officials who stood in the way of federal immigration enforcement might themselves come under scrutiny. It directed prosecutors to investigate any episodes in which state and local officials obstructed or impeded federal functions.

“Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” the memo said. “The U.S. Attorney’s Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution.”

It comes as several blue-state mayors and governors—including Denver’s Mike Johnston—have prominently declared that they would engage in civil disobedience against the federal government, resuming the so-called sanctuary-city practices that they deployed to safeguard illegals during the first Trump presidency.

The three-page memo signaled an immediate and sharp turnabout in priorities from President Joe Biden’s Democrat administration, during which the vast majority of DOJ resources were spent prosecuting Trump and his “MAGA” supporters for offenses including the Jan. 6, 2021, uprising a the U.S. Capitol. Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 of the J6 political dissidents earlier this week and commuted the sentences of several others.

Bove, by contrast, told prosecutors in no uncertain terms that they would be on the front lines of an administration-wide effort to crack down on illegal immigration and border crime, and that they were expected to carry out the Trump administration’s policy vision with respect to violent crimes, the threat of transnational gangs and drug trafficking.

“Indeed, it is the responsibility of the Justice Department to defend the Constitution, and accordingly, to lawfully execute the policies that the American people elected President Trump to implement,” Bove wrote in the memo obtained by the AP.

“The Justice Department’s responsibility, proudly shouldered by each of its employees, includes aggressive enforcement of laws enacted by Congress, as well as vigorous defense of the President’s actions on behalf of the United States against legal challenges,” Bove added. “The Department’s personnel must come together in the offices that taxpayers have funded to do this important work.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

‘GO HOME’: White House Scrubs Spanish-Language Pages, Social Media

Editor 1
-
0
‘GO HOME’: White House Scrubs Spanish-Language Pages, Social Media

(Headline USA) Within hours of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the new administration took down the Spanish-language version of the official White House website.

The site now gives users an “Error 404” message. It also included a “Go Home” button that directed viewers to a page featuring a video montage of Trump in his first term and on the campaign trail. The button was later updated to read “Go To Home Page”.

Activists expressed confusion at the abrupt change and frustration at what some called the administration’s lack of efforts to maintain communication with the Latino community, which helped propel him to the presidency.

The Spanish profile of the White House account on X, @LaCasaBlanca and the government page on abortion also were disbanded.

Meanwhile, the Spanish versions of other government agencies—including the departments of Labor, Justice and Agriculture—remained available for users on Tuesday.

Harrison Fields, White House principal deputy press secretary, said the administration was “committed to bringing back online the Spanish translation section of the website” when asked about the changes on Tuesday.

“It’s day two. We are in the process of developing, editing and tweaking the White House website,” Fields said.

“As part of this ongoing work, some of the archived content on the website went dormant,” he added. “We are committed to reloading that content in a short timeline.”

Fields did not elaborate on what the timeline would be for restoring the content—perhaps triggering concern among some that it may follow in the footsteps of its predecessor.

The Biden administration’s Office of Personnel Management drew heavy criticism for taking down a public-accountability page that showed the amount of time government employees were spending engaged in union activities. Although it claimed to be doing a web revamp, the page was never restored in such a way as to be accessible to the general public.

As for the official White House page, Trump previously removed the Spanish version of it in 2017. At that time, White House officials said they would reinstate it. President Joe Biden reinstated the page in 2021.

The page’s removal coincided with Trump’s first-day wave of executive orders highlighted by the launch of an illegal immigration crackdown that was one of his key campaign pledges.

Trump on Monday declared a national emergency at the U.S.–Mexico border and announced plans to send U.S. troops to help support immigration agents and restrict refugees and asylum.

Anthony Hernandez, a paralegal in the nation’s capital, wasn’t initially aware of the move but said it suggests what the coming years of a second Trump presidency would look like.

“A move like shutting down the Spanish White House page and X profile serves no purpose other than to cut off resources for millions of Hispanic Americans and immigrants attempting to enter the United States legally,” Hernandez said. “And it’s a slap in the face to the millions of Hispanic voters that supported him in this recent election.”

Meanwhile, other Hispanic leaders and communication strategy experts expressed surprise with the page’s removal, given Trump’s popularity with certain Latino voters.

“If the White House is seriously interested in engaging with Latinos, the second largest group in this country, then they need to make sure that updates can also be distributed in Spanish, a preferred language for millions in our community,” said Frankie Miranda President and CEO of the Hispanic Federation.

He called that a way to ensure “everyone is a part of the civic process.”

AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of more than 120,000 voters, found Trump won a larger share of black and Latino voters than he did in 2020, and most notably among men under age 45.

Young Latinos, particularly young Latino men, also were more open to Trump than in 2020. Only about half of young Latino men voted for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, compared with about 6 in 10 who went for Biden.

Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is Cuban American and speaks Spanish. At his swearing-in Tuesday, he gave remarks in Spanish, thanking God, his family and Trump.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Trump Makes Return Trip to N.C., Still Reeling from Hurricane Helene

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
-
0
Trump Makes Return Trip to N.C., Still Reeling from Hurricane Helene

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he plans to visit North Carolina in the upcoming days because the Democrats “abandoned” the state while they were surviving the consequences of Hurricane Helene.

During a recent press conference, Trump announced he would also visit Los Angeles after the city’s residents faced several destructive wildfires.

“We’re going to take care of Los Angeles. I’m going there. I’m going to North Carolina, which has been abandoned by the Democrats,” he said. “And, I’m going to North Carolina very importantly first. I’ll be there on Friday, and then I’m going from there to Los Angeles, and then I’m going to Nevada.”

Breitbart reported that, in addition to North Carolina, people in Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and Virginia were also affected by Hurricane Helene.

Several people from North Carolina, the state affected by Hurricane Helene the most, noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) never bothered to help them when needed.

While the state’s residents were suffering and dying, FEMA was setting up “rumor control” to silence those who criticized the agency and deflecting the blame on its disastrous response to the tragedy. Joe Biden even went as far as saying that Hurricane Helene victims are “happy across the board.”

The leftist establishment’s hatred for the American people in North Carolina became even more evident when different news sources revealed that the FEMA had been “ghosting” the Hurricane Helene victims by ignoring their phone calls, prioritizing the DEI ideology over the lives of innocent people and ordering hurricane relief workers to avoid the homes of Trump supporters.

FEMA then tried to save her reputation by firing the person who was telling the workers to avoid Trump supporters. However, the woman who was fired later stated that it was not her initiative but rather an instruction from the Washington, D.C., the claim that was supported by another whistleblower.

While the government bureaucrats were busy stealing money from the American taxpayers, Trump was helping those who became a victim of the hurricane.

Border Patrol Agent Killed in Vermont Worked at Pentagon During 9/11, Family Says

Editor 3
-
0
Border Patrol Agent Killed in Vermont Worked at Pentagon During 9/11, Family Says

(Headline USA) A U.S. Border Patrol agent who was killed in Vermont during a traffic stop near the Canadian border was a military veteran who worked security duty at the Pentagon during the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, his family said.

“He was a devoted agent who served with honor and bravery,” a family statement provided to the Associated Press late Tuesday said. “He had a tremendous respect and pride for the work he did; he truly embodied service over self.”

Agent David Maland, 44, was killed Monday afternoon following a traffic stop, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said in a statement. A German national in the country on what the FBI called a current visa was killed and an injured suspect was taken into custody and is being treated at a local hospital.

The violence temporarily closed part of Interstate 91 about 20 miles from Canada in Coventry, part of the small, 27,000-resident community of Orleans County in the Northeast Kingdom section of Vermont that straddles the international border.

Maland, whom the FBI confirmed was a U.S. Air Force veteran, was killed close to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Newport Station, part of the Swanton Sector that he was assigned to. The sector encompasses Vermont, parts of New York and New Hampshire, and includes 295 miles of international boundary with Canada.

The Derby Line–Rock Island Border Crossing is located about 12 miles by highway north of Coventry. It’s a major link to the Canadian province of Quebec, giving northern Vermont more French speakers than most of New England.

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s thoughts and prayers are with Agent Maland’s family during this difficult time,” the agency said in a statement. The death is a tragedy, said Gov. Phil Scott and state Sen. Russ Ingalls, a Republican who represents the area.

Maland’s family said his career spanned nine years in the military and 15 in the federal government.

“While working in Washington, D.C., he was active security in the Pentagon during 9/11,” their statement said.

Maland also was a K-9 handler. Before heading to the northern border, he served in Texas, near the border with Mexico.

The Minnesota native who family members called by his middle name, Chris, was about to propose marriage to his partner, said an aunt, Joan Maland.

“We are all devastated,” she told AP in a text. She called him an “exceptional person. Incredible man.”

David Maland was the first Border Patrol agent to be killed in the line of duty since Javier Vega Jr. was shot and killed near Santa Monica, Texas, in 2014, according to records provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Vega was initially considered to be off duty at the time of his death, but in 2016 it was re-determined to have been in the line of duty, the agency said.

In 2010, Brian Terry’s killing exposed the botched Obama-era gun operation known as “Fast and Furious.” Border Patrol Agent Nicholas J. Ivie, of the Brian A. Terry Border Patrol Station, was mortally wounded in the line of duty in a remote area near Bisbee, Arizona, in 2012. Border Patrol Agent Isaac Morales was fatally stabbed while off duty in 2017 in Texas.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Trump Fulfills Pro-Libertarian Campaign Pledge to Pardon Silk Road Founder

Associate Editor
-
0
Trump Fulfills Pro-Libertarian Campaign Pledge to Pardon Silk Road Founder

(Headline USA) President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website for selling drugs.

Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after a high-profile prosecution that highlighted the role of the internet in illegal markets.

Trump posted on Truth Social that he had spoken to Ulbricht’s mother on his first full day in office.

“It was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” he wrote. “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me.”

Trump called Ulbricht’s prison sentence “ridiculous.”

He had promised to help Ulbricht during a speech at the Libertarian Party National Convention last May.

Libertarian activists, who generally oppose criminal drug policies, have long believed that government investigators overreached in building their case against Silk Road. Many held “Free Ross” signs.

“Ross Ulbricht has been a libertarian political prisoner for more than a decade,” said a statement from Libertarian National Committee Chair Angela McArdle. “I’m proud to say that saving his life has been one of our top priorities and that has finally paid off.”

Like his predecessor, Joe Biden, who pardoned several members of his own family in his final minutes as president, Trump has been fully embracing the use of his executive pardon power since beginning his second term.

On Monday, hours after taking office, he wiped clean the records of roughly 1,500 people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, uprising at the U.S. Capitol, fulfilling another of his longstanding campaign promises after the Biden Justice Department was criticized for its staggering overreach and double standards with respect to political adversaries..

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

1...809810811...3,838Page 810 of 3,838