President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and is pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. It’s the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.

The commutations announced Thursday are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released. Prisons were uniquely bad for spreading the virus and some inmates were released in part to stop the spread. At one point, 1 in 5 prisoners had COVID-19, according to a tally kept by The Associated Press.

Biden said he would be taking more steps in the weeks ahead and would continue to review clemency petitions. The second largest single-day act of clemency was by Barack Obama, with 330, shortly before leaving office in 2017.

“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in a statement. “As president, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses.”

The clemency follows a broad pardon for his son Hunter, who was prosecuted for gun and tax crimes. Biden is under pressure from advocacy groups to pardon broad swaths of people, including those on federal death row, before the Trump administration takes over in January. He’s also weighing whether to issue preemptive pardons to those who investigated Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and are facing possible retribution when he takes office.

Clemency is the term for the power the president has to pardon, in which a person is relieved of guilt and punishment, or to commute a sentence, which reduces or eliminates the punishment but doesn’t exonerate the wrongdoing. It’s customary for a president to grant mercy at the end of his term, using the power of the office to wipe away records or end prison terms.

Those pardoned Thursday range in age from 36 to 75. About half are men and half are women, and they had been convicted of nonviolent crimes such as drug offenses, fraud or theft and turned their lives around, White House lawyers said. They include a woman who led emergency response teams during natural disasters; a church deacon who has worked as an addiction counselor and youth counselor; a doctoral student in molecular biosciences; and a decorated military veteran.

Louisiana resident Trynitha Fulton, 46, was one of the pardons; she pleaded guilty to participating in a payroll fraud scheme while serving as a New Orleans middle school teacher in the early 2000s. She was sentenced to three years of probation in 2008.

“The pardon gives me a sense of freedom,” Fulton said in a written statement to the AP. “The conviction has served as a mental barrier for me, limiting my ability to live a full life.”

“The pardon gives me inspiration to make more impactful decisions personally and professionally,” she added.

After her conviction, Fulton went on to earn a master’s degree. She helps lead the nonprofit Skyliners-Youth Outreach, which supports New Orleans youth by providing hot meals, clothing, shelter and mental health referrals.

The president had previously issued 122 commutations and 21 other pardons. He’s also broadly pardoned those convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia, and pardoned former U.S. service members convicted of violating a now-repealed military ban on consensual gay sex.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., and 34 other lawmakers are urging the president to pardon environmental and human rights lawyer Steven Donziger, who was imprisoned or under house arrest for three years because of a contempt of court charge related to his work representing Indigenous farmers in a lawsuit against Chevron.

Others are advocating for Biden to commute the sentences of federal death row prisoners. His attorney general, Merrick Garland, paused federal executions. Biden had said on the campaign trail in 2020 that he wanted to end the death penalty but he never did, and now, with Trump coming back into office, it’s likely executions will resume. During his first term, Trump presided over an unprecedented number of federal executions, carried out during the height of the pandemic.

More clemency grants are coming before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20, but it’s not clear whether he’ll take action to guard against possible prosecution by Trump, an untested use of the power. The president has been taking the idea seriously and has been thinking about it for as much as six months — before the presidential election — but has been concerned about the precedent it would set, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions.

But those who received the pardons would have to accept them. New California Sen. Adam Schiff, who was a part of the House committee that investigated the violent Jan. 6 insurrection, said such a pardon from Biden would be “unnecessary,” and that the president shouldn’t be spending his waning days in office worrying about this.

Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., another target of Trump’s threats, said in a statement this week that his suggestion that she and others be jailed for the investigations “is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.”

Before pardoning his son, Biden had repeatedly pledged not to do so. He said in a statement explaining his reversal that the prosecution had been poisoned by politics. The decision prompted criminal justice advocates and lawmakers to put additional public pressure on the administration to use that same power for everyday Americans. It wasn’t a very popular move; only about 2 in 10 Americans approved of his decision, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz confirmed Thursday that the FBI used confidential sources as part of its response to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, a revelation that lends clarity to an aspect of the event that has long been a source of speculation.

Horowitz said in a long-awaited 84-page report that 26 FBI sources were in Washington for the riot. Some of them were embedded among rioters in restricted areas, and four FBI sources also entered the Capitol with the rioters. He noted, however, that the FBI did not authorize any of those sources, also known as informants or “confidential human sources,” to enter restricted areas or the Capitol or to otherwise break the law.

The FBI sources who entered the restricted areas have not faced any charges to date, Horowitz said.

Horowitz also noted that no FBI employees, which are different than the FBI confidential human sources, were working undercover at the riot.

The FBI had tasked three of the 26 sources with being in Washington on Jan. 6 to “report on domestic terrorism subjects,” Horowitz said. The other 23 traveled to the city “on their own initiative and were not tasked by the FBI to do so,” he said.

The DOJ, through U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves’s office in Washington, has charged more than 1,500 people in connection to the riot in the past four years. A majority of them have faced minor trespassing violations, while hundreds of others have faced more serious charges, such as assaulting police officers or destroying property.

The defendants were largely supporters of President-elect Donald Trump and participated in the riot as part of a protest of the 2020 election results.

Since the incident, a faction of Trump’s supporters have spread the theory that law enforcement organized the riot or abetted participants, but Horowitz did not reach this conclusion.

The inspector general did find that the FBI failed to properly check with its field offices as part of its preparation for Jan. 6. FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate conceded that the bureau missed this “basic step” during an interview with Horowitz.

“While the FBI undertook significant efforts to identify domestic terrorism subjects who planned to travel to the Capital region on January 6 and to prepare to support its law enforcement partners on January 6 if needed, we also determined that the FBI did not take a step that could have helped the FBI and its law enforcement partners with their preparations in advance of January 6,” Horowitz wrote.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) told the Washington Examiner that the report raised several questions for him that he planned to follow up on, including how four FBI sources entered the Capitol.

“Now when regular Americans do that, they get in trouble for that,” Jordan said. “So how did they get in? Did they go through a broken window? They walk right in the door? What’d they do? Another fundamental question is, why weren’t they charged? How much did they get paid? … We know one guy who was being reimbursed actually entered the Capitol. So, we’re paying a guy for information who actually didn’t follow the rules and broke the law. What did we pay him?”

Horowitz said his investigation did not include reviewing the DOJ’s prosecutorial activity, but rather it involved reviewing the FBI’s preparations and responses to the riot. He said he interviewed more than 200 witnesses and reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents as part of his investigation.

Donald Trump has been crowned TIME magazine’s Person of the Year after reclaiming the presidency, marking him as only the second U.S. president in history to serve non-consecutive terms. The announcement came on Thursday, placing Trump at the pinnacle of a contentious list of global influencers.

“Trump’s political rebirth is unparalleled in American history,” TIME wrote in an announcement, after speaking with the President-elect ahead of the announcement.

Trump dubbed his campaign “72 Days of Fury” after a term that Trump himself coined. This win sets Trump apart as a political figure of singular historical significance, having first held the title in 2016 when he initially seized the presidency from Hillary Clinton.

Trump’s political rebirth is unparalleled in American history. His first term ended in disgrace, with his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results culminating in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was shunned by most party officials when he announced his candidacy in late 2022 amid multiple criminal investigations. Little more than a year later, Trump cleared the Republican field, clinching one of the fastest contested presidential primaries in history. -TIME

The competition for this year’s title was fierce, with Trump edging out other high-profile names such as Vice President Kamala Harris, his tech mogul supporter Elon Musk, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. Notably, Musk was the magazine’s pick back in 2021.

Reflecting on his tumultuous path to victory, Trump’s year included overcoming significant challenges: a stark clearing of the GOP field, a conviction in a New York courtroom, and surviving not one, but two assassination attempts.

The campaign saw surprising alliances, including consolidations of support from unexpected quarters such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Elon Musk, alongside a dramatic shift in the Democratic nomination.

According to TIME, Trump’s win gave him the “political capital to address the sources of American discontent at home and abroad” Trump himself suggested a bold agenda, including plans to pardon Jan. 6 political prisoners.

What a difference 8 years can make. pic.twitter.com/bn3L0M93tt

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 12, 2024

“It’s going to start in the first hour … maybe the first nine minutes,” Trump told the outlet.

The Person of the Year title, a tradition since 1927, is not necessarily a mark of honor but rather a recognition of influence. TIME has historically selected presidents during their election victories, with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris jointly receiving the nod in 2020, and other repeat honorees including Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Trump’s victory lap included ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan, where chants of “USA’ broke out…

JUST IN: ‘USA’ chants break out as President-elect Donald Trump rings the New York Stock Exchange opening bell.

Trump became the first president to ring the bell since Ronald Reagan.pic.twitter.com/vPnYNspGj8

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 12, 2024

Trump is the first president to ring the bell since Ronald Reagan.

The Biden administration is using its final weeks to haul a massive amount of border wall materials away from the southern border to be sold off in a government auction, an apparent effort to hinder President-elect Donald Trump’s effort to secure the border, The Daily Wire has reported.

Videos obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire from a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent show unused sections of the wall being hauled away on the back of flatbed trucks from a section of the border just south of Tucson, a hotspot for illegal crossings during the Biden administration.

The agent estimates that up to half a mile per day of unused border wall is being moved.

“They are taking it from three stations: Nogales, Tucson, and Three Points,” the border patrol agent, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, told The Daily Wire. “The goal is to move all of it off the border before Christmas.”

Trump made clear during his campaign that he intends to finish construction of the border wall, making use of the materials that have remained untouched at the border since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. If the material brought to the border during his first term is sold off, it will significantly delay any progress on one of Trump’s flagship campaign promises at the border.

Watch:

EXCLUSIVE: Weeks before Trump takes office, Biden is racing to auction off unused border wall materials.

Video shows trucks hauling wall materials off the border to a government auction site, where a massive amount of wall is waiting to be sold. pic.twitter.com/ogaQMBHw7R

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) December 12, 2024

The government contractor, DP Trucking LLC, is transporting the pieces of the wall north on Interstate 19 to Pinal Airpark in Marana, Arizona, where it is being auctioned through GovPlanet, a surplus government equipment auction marketplace.

“They just started taking all the wall that was not used, which is still totally good and usable, and they started taking it northbound,” the agent said. “They’re pulling it all off the border.”

Harold Lambeth, the owner of the trucking company, confirmed to The Daily Wire in a phone call that his company is transporting the unused border wall sections north away from the construction sites. He said he is unable to disclose further information about the work.

Video of the GovPlanet auction site where the material is being taken shows seemingly endless piles of unused border wall material. Another video, taken from one of the construction sites on the border, shows DP Trucking LLC trucks passing through with the same style of unused border wall stacked up the back of their flatbeds.

The auction website shows that sales occurred as recently as December 4 for precisely the types of materials being pulled off the border. GovPlanet has online auctions set for Dec. 11 and Dec. 18 for more of the border wall material, which is listed on the company’s website as “32.91’ X 7.91’ Steel Bollard Wall Sections w/Grout.”

The bidding for each section of wall panels is set to begin at only $5.00, according to the website.

Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ), whose congressional district borders the Pinal Airpark where the material is being sold, said the Biden administration is “purposefully hamstringing” Trump before he takes office.

“The Biden Administration is well aware they shouldn’t have reversed the construction of the border wall. If it’s true, they’re purposefully hamstringing an incoming president, it wouldn’t be shocking,” Crane told The Daily Wire. “Why would they want to see President Trump succeed with policies they aggressively sabotaged?”

The long-time border patrol agent has seen political fights play out over the border before, and believes that the Biden administration is trying to stymie Trump’s ability to quickly secure the border as soon as he returns to office.

“When Trump comes back, and he wants to start the border wall all over again, the whole entire funding fight is gonna happen again,” the agent said. “That’s their play. He’s gonna have to fight for this — again.”

The Customs and Border Protection Agency referred The Daily Wire to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, saying the latter had jurisdiction over the materials until they are erected. From there, The Daily Wire was referred to the Defense Logistics Agency, where an official said the standing policy is to refer all media requests on this to the public affairs team at the Office of the Secretary of Defense. A member of the public affairs team declined to respond to inquiries.

Trump is expected to use an executive order to unlock funds to restart construction of the border wall that was halted under Biden, with anticipation that it could be one of his day-one actions.

Crane, the Arizona congressman, says the last-minute fire sale by the Biden administration is “a direct affront to the will of the people.”

“The American people gave President Trump a mandate in November, which included the fulfillment of his plans to secure the border,” Crane said. “Any last-ditch attempt to obstruct this mandate by the Biden Administration would be a direct affront to the will of the people.”

The large mysterious drones reported flying over parts of New Jersey in recent weeks appear to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopter and radio, according to a state lawmaker briefed Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security.

In a post on the social media platform X, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia described the drones as up to 6 feet in diameter and sometimes traveling with their lights switched off. The Morris County Republican was among several state and local lawmakers who met with state police and Homeland Security officials to discuss the spate of sightings that range from the New York City area through New Jersey and westward into parts of Pennsylvania, including over Philadelphia.

The devices do not appear to be being flown by hobbyists, Fantasia wrote.

Dozens of mysterious nighttime flights started last month and have raised growing concern among residents and officials. Part of the worry stems from the flying objects initially being spotted near the Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military research and manufacturing facility; and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster. Drones are legal in New Jersey for recreational and commercial use, but they are subject to local and Federal Aviation Administration regulations and flight restrictions. Operators must be FAA certified.

Most, but not all, of the drones spotted in New Jersey were larger than those typically used by hobbyists.

The number of sightings has increased in recent days, though officials say many of the objects seen may have been planes rather than drones. It’s also possible that a single drone has been reported more than once.

Gov. Phil Murphy and law enforcement officials have stressed that the drones don’t appear to threaten public safety. The FBI has been investigating and has asked residents to share any videos, photos or other information they may have.

Two Republican Jersey Shore-area congressmen, U.S. Reps. Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew, have called on the military to shoot down the drones.

Smith said a Coast Guard commanding officer briefed him on an incident over the weekend in which a dozen drones followed a motorized Coast Guard lifeboat “in close pursuit” near Barnegat Light and Island Beach State Park in Ocean County.

Coast Guard Lt. Luke Pinneo told The Associated Press Wednesday “that multiple low-altitude aircraft were observed in vicinity of one of our vessels near Island Beach State Park.”

The aircraft weren’t perceived as an immediate threat and didn’t disrupt operations, Pinneo said. The Coast Guard is assisting the FBI and state agencies in investigating.

In a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Smith called for military help dealing with the drones, noting that Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst has the capability “to identify and take down unauthorized unmanned aerial systems.”

However, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters Wednesday that “our initial assessment here is that these are not drones or activities coming from a foreign entity or adversary.”

Many municipal lawmakers have called for more restrictions on who is entitled to fly the unmanned devices. At least one state lawmaker proposed a temporary ban on drone flights in the state.

“This is something we’re taking deadly seriously. I don’t blame people for being frustrated,” Murphy said earlier this week. A spokesman for the Democratic governor said he did not attend Wednesday’s meeting.

Republican Assemblyman Erik Peterson, whose district includes parts of the state where the drones have been reported, said he also attended Wednesday’s meeting at a state police facility in West Trenton. The session lasted for about 90 minutes.

Peterson said DHS officials were generous with their time, but appeared dismissive of some concerns, saying not all the sightings reported have been confirmed to involve drones.

So who or what is behind the flying objects? Where are they coming from? What are they doing? “My understanding is they have no clue,” Peterson said.

A message seeking comment was left with the Department of Homeland Security.

Most of the drones have been spotted along coastal areas and some were recently reported flying over a large reservoir in Clinton. Sightings also have been reported in neighboring states.

James Edwards, of Succasunna, New Jersey, said he has seen a few drones flying over his neighborhood since last month.

“It raises concern mainly because there’s so much that’s unknown,” Edwards said Wednesday. “There are lots of people spouting off about various conspiracies that they believe are in play here, but that only adds fuel to the fire unnecessarily. We need to wait and see what is really happening here, not let fear of the unknown overtake us.”

A California man who was charged with lying to the FBI about fake criminal allegations against President Biden and his son Hunter is pleading guilty, according to an agreement filed in federal court on Thursday.

Alexander Smirnov was indicted in February by special counsel David Weiss, who was appointed to lead the now-defunct investigations into Hunter Biden. The president pardoned his son earlier this month.

A longtime confidential informant, Smirnov told his FBI handler in 2020 that the two Bidens each accepted $5 million from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma several years earlier. The claims “were false, as the Defendant knew,” according to the charging documents filed against him.

The fake allegations were memorialized in an FBI document that became a central piece of evidence in congressional Republicans’ efforts to investigate the Biden family.

On Thursday, prosecutors from Weiss’ office wrote Smirnov will plead guilty to one count of creating a false federal record —the FBI document filed with his false information — and three tax-related counts. The new tax charges were filed last month.

With the agreement and the pardon of Hunter Biden, Weiss’ cases, and likely his time as special counsel, are coming to a close. Weiss was appointed U.S. attorney during the Trump administration, and the Biden administration kept him on to continue his Hunter Biden probe. Attorney General Merrick Garland elevated him to special counsel earlier this year.

An Instagram post sponsored by one of the world’s largest tech companies is woefully woke, despite consumers consistently indicating that this type of marketing isn’t effective.

We all know that “pulling a Bud Light” is now recognized as committing a misstep in marketing and potentially costing your company more than $1 billion, all in the hopes of impressing a tiny fraction of your customer base who thinks men cosplaying as women is a good idea. But still, the marketing team at Google has decided to risk it all for a dude wearing women’s clothing.

In the ad, influencer Cyrus Veyssi laments his dry skin.

“I’m so dry,” he pouts while looking at his reflection. “This winter dryness is not it, especially when I have so many holiday looks to pull off. Thankfully, I know just the thing.”

The scene cuts to Veyssi searching his phone for skincare products on Google. “And it’s in stock nearby!” he exclaims. “Hydrated skin is a gift to everyone, no wrapping needed,” he continues while walking through a store. “Happy holidays to me!”

Watch:

Christmas ad from Google. Dear Lord.pic.twitter.com/O6ML2Li9c4

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 11, 2024

Reactions online have not been good.

“Google is canceling women. Bizarre marketing strategy,” one person replied.

“My ideology is whatever is necessary to stop this bulls***. I’m tired of this,” another person wrote.

Veyssi is an interesting ad partner for Google, especially in light of what happened when Bud Light chose Dylan Mulvaney to push their product. The social media influencer, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, has over one million followers across TikTok and Instagram combined.

In one TikTok video, Veyssi talks down to men by imploring them to use Bounty (Procter & Gamble) and Windex (SC Johnson) to clean their hair out of the sink post-shave, insisting that it makes them “masculine” and “super strong.” He delivers this plea while wearing bright red lipstick and a low-cut tank top that shows off his chest hair.

It’s a damn shame. It’s also a mistake that Jeremy’s has never and will never make when it comes to marketing personal care products for both men and women personal care products. If all of this exhausts you, there’s some good news. Jeremy’s makes razors for both men and women. The brand-new women’s razor line of products includes razors, shave cream, lotion, and body wash. And you can bundle and save 30% plus receive a Leftist Tears tumbler with the Mega Bundle. Or pick up the Precision 5 Razor, for men who know the difference between a man and a woman. In the world of Jeremy’s, there are men, and there are women, and that elusive in-between doesn’t exist.

It’s not bigotry; it’s not erasure. It’s just reality.

This holiday season, think long and hard about where you’re spending your hard-earned money and commit to supporting companies with values that match your own. Today is the last chance to save 30% on Jeremy’s Razors sitewide.

Bud Light must regret putting Mulvaney in their ads. It’s time for other companies to realize that this type of nonsense isn’t working anymore.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday the league’s partnership with Roc Nation, the entertainment company founded by rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z, is “not changing” amid the civil lawsuit accusing Jay-Z of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.

Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, was accused Sunday in a lawsuit of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 along with Sean “Diddy” Combs.

“We are aware of the civil allegations and Jay Z’s really strong response to that,” Goodell said at a news conference after a league meeting in Irving, Texas.

“We know, obviously, that litigation is happening. But from our standpoint, our relationship is not changing with them, including our preparations for the next Super Bowl.”

The NFL and Roc Nation entered a partnership in 2019 for the company to be the league’s “live music entertainment strategist.” Roc Nation has since annually produced the halftime show at the Super Bowl, including Kendrick Lamar’s upcoming performance in New Orleans in February.

The parties extended the partnership in October.

“I think they’re getting incredibly comfortable with not just the Super Bowl but other events that they have advised us on and helped us with,” Goodell said Wednesday. “They’ve been helpful in the social justice area to us on many occasions. They’ve been great partners that have provided a lot of value to us.”

Carter, 55, strongly denied the accusations in a statement Sunday.

“These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!! Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree?” Carter said. “These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case.”

He added: “You have made a terrible error in judgement thinking that all ‘celebrities’ are the same. I’m not from your world. I’m a young man who made it out of the project of Brooklyn. We don’t play these types of games. We have very strict codes and honor. We protect children.”

The lawsuit was originally filed in federal court in October with only Combs listed as a defendant; it was refiled Sunday to include Carter. Combs has denied the allegations.

The lawsuit claims that in 2000, when the accuser was 13, Combs and Carter raped her at a house party after the MTV Video Music Awards in New York.

In addition to the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show, Carter’s wife, Beyoncé, will perform at halftime of the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans on Netflix on Christmas Day.

Meta donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund as the social media giant takes steps to improve relations with the president-elect.

The donation was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Meta confirmed the donation to the Journal.

Inaugural fund expenses are designated for expenses associated with the presidential inauguration.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Trump’s feud stretches back to Trump’s first presidency.

In 2020, after Facebook was criticized over Trump’s violent remarks on the platform, Zuckerberg said he was “deeply shaken and disgusted by President Trump’s divisive and incendiary rhetoric.”

Trump was removed from Facebook and Instagram in 2021 for what Meta called praising “people engaged in violence at the Capitol on January 6.” Meta reversed the decision two years later.

In 2021, Trump filed suit against Facebook, Google, then-Twitter, and the companies’ respective CEOs, alleging they unlawfully censor him and other conservatives.

Mending the relationship

The feud carried over into this election cycle.

In August, Trump threatened that Zuckerberg would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he tried to interfere in the 2024 US election.

But recently, Zuckerberg, who did not endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential election, has been working to mend relations with Trump.

Last month, Zuckerberg visited Trump at his resort in Mar-a-Lago for Thanksgiving Eve dinner.

“It’s an important time for the future of American Innovation. Mark was grateful for the invitation to join President Trump for dinner and the opportunity to meet with members of his team about the incoming Administration,” Meta said in a statement about the dinner.

The CEO is looking to take a role in tech-policy conversations, a senior Meta executive told The Verge.

To be sure, the $1 million donation is a drop in the bucket for Meta.

Meta made over $39 billion in profit in 2023 and is worth about $1.6 trillion. Zuckerberg, who owns about 300 million Meta shares, would need to sell around 1,600 shares to pay the donation amount himself. He’s currently worth $224 billion, Bloomberg estimates.

Meta is preparing to face an antitrust trial next year over accusations that it bought Instagram and WhatsApp to crush competition in social media.

Loyal supporters

Trump is stacking his administration with people who have supported him throughout his campaign — and who could take a lighter touch on tech regulation.

Last month, Trump named Brendan Carr, a big tech critic, to head the Federal Communications Commission. Carr wrote the FCC chapter of the conservative playbook Project 2025.

Other key Trump appointments include Elon Musk as the co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency, David Sacks as AI and crypto czar, Paul Atkins as the lead of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary.

Zuckerberg is far from the only powerful person in tech and politics who’s been seen at Mar-a-Lago since Trump’s election win.

Musk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Argentine President Javier Milei, and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson have all been spotted at Trump’s resort.

On Tuesday, Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen said he has spent about “half” his time at Mar-a-Lago discussing policy issues with Trump.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign manager and daughter-in-law Amaryllis Fox Kennedy is making a push to serve as deputy director at the CIA next year — and RFK Jr. is making calls on her behalf, Axios has reported.

Fox Kennedy, an integral member of Kennedy’s campaign, wrote a memoir detailing nearly a decade working at the CIA. The deputy director position does not require Senate confirmation.

President-elect Trump, who has signaled plans to try to overhaul U.S. intelligence agencies during his second term, has already named former intelligence director John Ratcliffe to lead the CIA.

The deputy position is one of the highest-profile intelligence jobs that remains open. Politico reported last month that Kash Patel, who has been tapped for FBI director, and Cliff Sims, a former Trump administration official, were jockeying for the role.

Fox Kennedy in 2019 published a memoir, “Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA,” that provided one of the most detailed personal accounts of life in the agency.

Fox Kennedy has said she was recruited by the CIA in her early 20s, becoming one of the youngest female officers at the agency.

She said she was a “nonofficial cover,” meaning she posed as a citizen under a fake identity and had no diplomatic protections.

Fox Kennedy reportedly submitted the memoir to the book publisher without getting sign off from the CIA’s Publication Review Board, stirring controversy within the agency.

The board is supposed to approve any material from officers before becoming public to ensure that key intelligence matters remain secret, NBC News reported at the time.

Fox Kennedy, who took over as Kennedy’s campaign manager in October 2023, led his presidential bid as he navigated the arduous task of trying to get on the ballot in all 50 states as an independent candidate.

Kennedy suspended his campaign in August and backed Trump.

In November, Trump nominated Kennedy to serve as director of the Department of Health and Human Services.

“President-Elect Trump has made brilliant decisions on who will serve in his second Administration at lightning pace,” Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

“Remaining decisions will continue to be announced by him when they are made.”

“Hey guys, some of you have heard the rumors online, and the rumors are mostly true,” Brett Cooper began her YouTube video, posted Tuesday evening, very tactfully. “Today, December 10 will be my last day hosting the Comments Section, and working for the Daily Wire. It is not true that I am being forced out; it was my own choice to leave.”

Cooper had frequently been dubbed the “female Ben Shapiro” during her tenure as one of the Daily Wire’s other podcast hosts. She was also set to star in the Wire’s production of Snow White and the Evil Queen, out next year for some reason. The video announcing her exit has garnered over 5 million views on X in the twelve hours since publication.

What are the rumors? Cockburn, of course, has been keeping up with all the Wire drama. Online whisperers implicate the other, non-Ben Shapiro co-founder, Jeremy Boreing, often referred to as “the God-king” of the Daily Wire. A number of rumors center on spats between prolific movie producer Boreing (he cast himself as the lead in Lady Ballers, which he also produced, co-wrote and directed) and Cooper.

After Cooper gives some grateful farewells at the beginning of the her video, she segues into a clip of the “God-king himself.”

“Bittersweet indeed. We’re sad to see Brett go, but we’re excited to see her take the next step in her journey,” Boreing began.

“It’s been a pleasure to see her bring the Comments Section to life these last three years.”

Brett’s YouTube show, the Comments Section with Brett Cooper, has garnered about half the YouTube subscribers that Ben Shapiro has accrued in just three years, a remarkable feat compared to Shapiro’s many years in the business.

Amid all the rumors, Reagan Rohrbach, Brett’s producer, had been “filling in” for Brett periodically, and Brett announced Rohrbach would take over the show as many predicted. Online sleuths noted that Cooper had deleted all photos featuring her with her producer from her Instagram in the week leading up to Cooper’s announcement.

Cockburn would like to host a quick comments section of his own and point out that many people are unhappy with Brett’s departure from the Daily Wire, with several on X claiming they will no longer watch.

Fortunately for the Daily Wire, they can apparently afford to lose a few of the Gen Z viewers Cooper garnered. “Daily Wire raised an undisclosed round of capital in 2023 at a valuation well north of $1 billion,” a source told Axios Tuesday, conveniently shortly before the Cooper announcement.

The Daily Wire is reportedly on track to surpass $200 million in revenue by the end of this year. The companies streaming service has well over a million subscribers. Boreing and Shapiro have been long described as shrewd businessmen, and the numbers are supporting that fact.

But as Cooper said, the rumors are “mostly” true, whatever that means. In the video where Cooper says farewell, she happens to be wearing a dark blue sweater. In her days of absence, TikTok fans had been encouraging Cooper to wear blue in her next broadcast if she was subject to an NDA — very pro-free-speech of the Wire if so! Was Cooper’s “choice” to step away much of a choice after all? She declined to comment for this story.

“But, as an actor, it is so freeing, because I don’t feel like I’m censoring myself at all,” Cooper said in an article last year on the Daily Wire, addressing her role as Snow White. That aged well…

When a panel known as a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines flight minutes after takeoff earlier this year, a quality investigator at the factory where the Boeing plane was manufactured says he wasn’t surprised; he said he was almost expecting something like this would happen.

Whistleblower Sam Mohawk is speaking publicly for the first time about the problems he’s seen during his 13 years working in quality assurance at Boeing’s commercial airplane factories. Months before the door plug incident, Mohawk said he warned both Boeing and federal regulators about lapses in safety practices inside the company’s Renton, Washington factory, which is responsible for building about 30% of the world’s commercial jet fleet. Mohawk believes defective or “non-conforming” parts are not being properly tracked there and could be making it onto Boeing planes – a concern he said could lead to a catastrophic event without a proper investigation.

“It might not happen within the first year, but down the road they’re not going to last the lifetime that they’re expected to last,” he said. “It’s like Russian roulette, you know? You don’t know if it’s going to go down or not.”

“A desperation for parts” at Boeing’s Renton factory

A month after the Alaska Airlines incident, the National Transportation Safety Board investigation concluded the four bolts required to secure the door plug that blew off the Boeing 737-9 Max were removed during production at that Renton facility and never reinstalled. After an extensive search, NTSB investigators determined the records to document the removal of those four bolts don’t exist. Boeing said it can’t find any paperwork to explain how a plane left its factory without the bolts.

Mohawk said he started noticing problems at the Renton facility during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Boeing was ramping up production and dealing with supply chain issues.

“The idea is to keep those airplanes moving, keep that line moving at all costs,” he said.

As a quality investigator, part of Mohawk’s job is to keep track of defective airplane parts in what some employees call “the parts jail.” It’s called that, Mohawk said, because the parts are meant to be under lock and key and tracked like a chain of evidence. But Mohawk says that amid pressure to keep production moving, some employees sidestepped Boeing protocol and took bad parts out of the “parts jail” when his team wasn’t looking.

Mohawk’s concern is that those bad or “non-conforming” parts he says are getting lost or taken, could be ending up on planes.

“There’s so much chaos in that factory,” Mohawk said. “There’s a desperation for parts. Because we have problems with our parts suppliers. So there’s, in order to get that plane built and out the door in time, I think unfortunately some of those parts were recycled back onto the airplanes in order to build, keep building the airplane and not stop it in production.”

Mohawk believes it’s happening repeatedly.

“We have thousands of missing parts,” he said.

It’s not just parts like bolts that are going missing, according to Mowhawk, but also rudders, one of the primary tools for steering planes. Mohawk said 42 flawed or “non-conforming” rudders, which he says would likely not last the 30-year lifespan of a jet, have disappeared..

“They’re huge parts,” he said “And they just completely went missing.”

NTSB safety reports show the number of Boeing plane accidents has declined over the last two decades, but Mohawk is still concerned.

“Right now, the Max is a new program,” he said. “So these airplanes that are having the quality issues are brand new to the fleet. We don’t know what’s going to be coming in the future.”

The Max line, certified by the FAA in 2017, has drawn scrutiny since its first year in service.

Workers at the Renton factory, where they make the Max, returned to work last month after a seven-week strike, After their return, there was a focus on training and making sure the factory had “the supply chain sorted out.” Production has now resumed at Renton.

Mohawk still works there. In June, he filed a federal whistleblower claim to protect himself from potential retaliation. Mohawk also reported his concerns to the FAA, which is investigating his claims, and hundreds of others directed at the company.

“I put a big target on my back in there,” he said.

Despite that, he felt it was important to come forward.

“At the end of the day my friends and family fly on these airplanes,” he said.

Stories out of Renton echo those in Charleston

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, whistleblowers at Boeing submitted more than 200 reports over the last year. Their safety concerns include mismanagement of parts, poor manufacturing and sloppy inspections at Boeing.

Mohawk’s story echoes another Boeing whistleblower at another Boeing plant, John Barnett. He spent three decades at Boeing and began working as a quality manager on the long-haul 787 Dreamliner at the company’s South Carolina factory in 2010.

Barnett said managers there pressured workers to ignore FAA regulations, such as not tracking defective parts properly. He said Boeing then retaliated against him for speaking up. Boeing has denied his claims.

In 2017, Barnett retired and contacted Charleston attorney Rob Turkewitz, who’s worked with dozens of Boeing employees over the last decade. Turkewitz said Barnett had more than 3,000 internal documents — emails and photos from Boeing — to support his whistleblower claims.

Seven years later, Barnett was in the final stretch of his case.

“I think that John Barnett was probably the best witness I have ever seen testify,” Turkewitz said. “He knew the facts up and down.”

Barnett was scheduled to complete his final day of depositions on March 9. He never showed.

Turkewitz went to Barnett’s hotel to search for him and learned the 62-year-old whistleblower had been found dead inside his truck. Police said it was a suicide.

Turkewitz called Barnett’s family, including his mom, Vicky Stokes, and his brothers, Rodney Barnett, Robby Barnett and Michael Barnett.

“He put up a good front with us, but you, you know, times when we really had heart-to-heart conversations, you could tell it just wore on him,” Michael Barnett said. “You know, I’d ask him, ‘Why do you want to — why do you just keep pursuing it?” And he’s just, like, ‘Because it’s the right thing to do. Who else is going to do it?'”

The Barnett family is continuing his legal fight.

More Boeing workers speak up

Barnett’s death also inspired other Boeing workers to speak up. Merle Meyers, who’d worked with Barnett, said he was angry when he learned how Barnett was allegedly treated.

Meyers started his 30-year career at Boeing as a parts inspector. He worked as a quality manager at the company’s largest plant, located in Everett, Washington, before he left last year. Meyers’ concerns first began in 2015, when he said he discovered defective 787 landing gear axles that had been scrapped, back at the factory.

“They were corroded beyond repair,” Meyers said.

Meyers said workers, driven by schedule pressure, took the axles to avoid stalling production.

Photos provided to 60 Minutes show the axles spray-painted red and clearly marked as “scrap.” Meyers said he learned scrap parts marked like this had been taken without authorization for over a decade. Sometimes people used chemical cleaners to remove the paint, Meyers said.

Boeing says it thoroughly investigated Meyers’ claims and that the defective axles did not make it onto airplanes. But Meyers says the competition for airplane parts continued.

“They would talk openly about it at the stand-up meetings, senior managers,” Meyers said.

They’d compete for parts, both good and bad, he said.

“They’re not too picky,” he said.

Meyers alleges company vice presidents were at those meetings and would do nothing about what they heard.

“Speak up until my face is blue”

Boeing employee Sam Salehpour worked in aerospace as an engineer for 40 years. Earlier in his career he worked on rockets, including for companies supporting the Challenger Space Shuttle, which exploded in 1986, killing seven people, though Salehpour didn’t work on the Challenger.

“Ever since that explosion I have promised myself, ‘If I see problems that they are concerning, or safety-related, I am going to speak up until my face is blue,'” Salehoupour said.

He now works on the 777 line in the Everett factory, where Meyers worked. Salehpour says when the jet is assembled, pre-drilled holes are supposed to line up to join pieces together. Salehpour told federal investigators that when they didn’t, he witnessed Boeing employees trying to force them to line up.

“They were jumping up and down like this,” Salehpour said. “When I see people are jumping up and down like that to align the hole, I’m saying, ‘We have a problem.'”

Salehpour described how he believes that kind of pressure on parts could impact the lifespan of a plane.

“That’s like going one more time on your paperclip, OK? And we know that paper clip doesn’t break the first time, the second time, the third time,” Salehoupour said. “But it may be breaking on the 30th or the 40th time.”

Salehoupour alleges this is still happening at Boeing.

Boeing responds to whistleblowers

In a statement to 60 Minutes, Boeing said it carefully investigates all quality and safety concerns, including those of the whistleblowers 60 Minutes spoke with. Boeing said:

“Every day, thousands of Boeing airplanes take off and land around the world, and we are dedicated to the safety of all passengers and crew on board. Our employees are empowered and encouraged to report any concern with safety and quality. We carefully investigate every concern and take action to address any validated issue.

The current and former Boeing employees interviewed by 60 Minutes previously shared their concerns with the company. We listened and carefully evaluated their claims, and we do not doubt their sincerity. Some of their feedback contributed to improvements in our factory processes, and other issues they raised were not accurate. But to be clear: Based on investigations over several years, none of their claims were found to affect airplane safety.

Commercial air travel is the safest form of transportation – and our industry continues improving its exceptional safety record – in part because people do speak up about potential issues. We encourage and welcome employees’ feedback and will continue to incorporate their ideas to make Boeing better.”

Alarming ‘wanted’ posters of top healthcare executives popping up across New York City prompted police to issue a bulletin warning leaders of the rising threats.

In the wake of the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, video shared on social media showed ‘wanted’ signs featuring other healthcare corporate leaders plastered across traffic control boxes in Manhattan.

The menacing posters were erected on Canal Street – one of Manhattan’s busiest thoroughfares – flanked with the red and black words: ‘Wanted. Denying medical care for corporate profit. Health care CEOs should not feel safe.’

The signs also included the phrase suspected shooter Luigi Mangione allegedly wrote on the bullets found at the crime scene – ‘Deny. Defend. Depose.’

The alliterative trio of words reference a book by Jay Feinman’s titled ‘Delay, Defend, Deny: Why insurance company don’t pay claims, and what you can do about it.’

A New York Police Department bulletin issued Tuesday emphasized the heightened risk on healthcare executives following Thompson’s slaying, reported ABC News.

‘Both prior to and after the suspected perpetrator’s identification and arrest, some online users across social media platforms reacted positively to the killing, encouraged future targeting of similar executives, and shared conspiracy theories regarding the shooting,’ the bulletin said.

The bulletin highlighted social media posts sharing information about the other executives – and the NYPD said that menacing users are posting ‘that it is a hitlist and that CEOs should be afraid.’

Health insurance companies have started removing images of their leadership teams from their websites following Thompson’s assassination.

Mangione, 26, appeared in court on Tuesday, fighting against extradition to New York – where he is charged with second-degree murder after Thompson was slain.

The former Ivy League student had been apprehended at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Monday, when he was found with a 3D-printed pistol and black silencer, as well as a manifesto condemning the American healthcare system.

Authorities have said Mangione’s three-page manifesto is currently being investigated, which they have labeled a ‘claim of responsibility.’

He wrote about the grandiose size of UnitedHealthcare and how much profits it makes, and went on to condemn health insurance companies more broadly for placing profits over care.

‘To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone. This was fairly trivial: some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, [and] a lot of patience,’ Mangione allegedly wrote in the manifesto, according to the Daily Beast.

He went on to say he had ‘respect’ for federal investigators, and apologized for causing any ‘traumas,’ but seemed to defend his alleged actions.

‘Frankly these parasites had it coming,’ the manifesto wrote.

It claimed that the United States had the ‘most expensive healthcare system in the world,’ but blasted the system for making America only the 42nd in life expectancy.

Thomas Dickey, Mangione’s lawyer, said on Tuesday night that his client will also plead not guilty to the gun possession charges he is facing in Pennsylvania.

He made a court appearance after being charged with murder on Tuesday – pouting as he was escorted out of the hearing, after suffering a ferocious public meltdown hours earlier.

The orange jumpsuit-clad suspect had to be restrained as he screamed at police while heading into court in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Pete Hegseth’s lawyer and Sen. Tom Cotton slammed West Point on Wednesday for falsely claiming the defense secretary-designate was never accepted into the nation’s top military academy — in potential violation of federal privacy laws, according to letters exclusively obtained by The Post.

Attorney Tim Parlatore and Cotton (R-Ark.) fired off a pair of letters to the US Military Academy’s superintendent, expressing concern that a public affairs officer shared “false information” with a journalist that could have blocked President-elect Donald Trump’s defense pick from confirmation.

“Not only did Mr. Hegseth apply, but he was accepted as a prospective member of the class of 2003,” Parlatore said in a letter to West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland, disclosing a copy later tweeted by his client of the offer of admission in 1999.

“The use of false statements to influence or damage a political nominee’s reputation is particularly concerning, as it may interfere with the democratic process and the fair consideration of candidate for public office,” he added.

Cotton claimed that West Point’s civilian press rep, Theresa Brinkerhoff, also showed “egregiously bad judgment to share such information about the nominee to be Secretary of Defense with a known liberal outlet like ProPublica,” claiming that the reporter at the outlet was preparing “a derogatory hit piece.”

“Perhaps there’s an honest mistake here, though I can’t imagine what it might be,” the Arkansas Republican said. “But I also can’t imagine this action was authorized or known to the West Point leadership.”

A West Point spokesperson later told The Post, “A review of our records indicates Peter Hegseth was offered admission to West Point in 1999 but did not attend. An incorrect statement involving Hegseth’s admission to the U.S. Military Academy was released by an employee on Dec. 10, 2024.”

“Upon further review of an archived database, employees realized this statement was in error,” the rep said. “Hegseth was offered acceptance to West Point as a prospective member of the Class of 2003. The academy takes this situation seriously and apologizes for this administrative error.”

Investigative nonprofit ProPublica, which bills itself as a “nonpartisan, careful and independent,” was reporting a piece on Hegseth’s links to West Point when it got the erroneous statement from the prestigious academy. The story never ran after the publication eventually received a copy of Hegseth’s admission letter.

“So: No, we are not publishing a story,” ProPublica editor Jesse Eisinger posted in a lengthy thread on X Wednesday. “This is how journalism is supposed to work. Hear something. Check something. Repeat steps 1 and 2 as many times as needed. The end.”

Both Parlatore and Cotton called for a thorough investigation into the matter and noted that West Point’s actions may have violated the Privacy Act of 1974, which prohibits federal agencies from disclosing personnel records without the individual’s express consent.

The only exceptions to the statute involve records that are demanded by law enforcement or asked for via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request — neither of which applied here, according to Parlatore.

Technically, all West Point records are under the purview of the Department of the Army in the Pentagon, which Hegseth, an Army combat vet, will oversee if a majority of the Senate confirms him in the 119th Congress.

In addition to “reputational harm,” Parlatore added, the potentially criminal fabrication could also “undermine public trust” in the US military.

“In light of these concerns, I urge you to investigate this matter thoroughly and take appropriate corrective action to prevent future violations. As a fellow Service Academy graduate, I am sure that we both agree that it is imperative that our Service Academies uphold the highest standards of privacy, accuracy, and integrity in their communications.”

Making false statements as an executive branch employee with the intent to mislead is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine.

The attorney’s missive to the US Military Academy shows that Hegseth was accepted for admission to the US Military Academy in January 1999 — but he chose to enroll at Princeton University instead later that year.

The future defense nominee served in the Ivy League school’s ROTC program and graduated in 2003, going on to serve in the Minnesota National Guard and Army National Guard for nearly two decades and rising ultimately to the rank of major.

He served three deployments — including as a platoon leader during the Iraq war and teacher of counterinsurgency tactics in Afghanistan — and was awarded two Bronze Star Medals.

Hegseth, 44, has waded other accusations from anonymous former colleagues about being ousted from veterans groups he helmed between 2007 and 2016 for binge drinking and sexual impropriety — though those who worked alongside him have dismissed the allegations in their entirety as untrue.

Parlatore disputed other allegations of sexual assault in 2017 by pointing to police reports contradicting the accuser — who he believes made other false claims of misconduct against another person.

Hegseth’s confirmation appeared on the rocks for weeks as Republican senators expressed reservations about the “concerning” allegations against the defense appointee — but Trump, 78, refused to back down.

“Pete Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe,” the once and future president wrote on Truth Social last week, rejecting reports he was reconsidering his pick.

“He was a great student – Princeton/Harvard educated – with a Military state of mind. He will be a fantastic, high-energy, Secretary of Defense” he added, predicting the former Fox News personality will be “one who leads with charisma and skill.

“Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!” he crowed.

Sen. Joni Ernst, who is a rape survivor, was the only Republican to indicate she was not ready to vote “yes” on Hegseth’s confirmation but has since warmed up to the Pentagon nom after private discussions.

“Following our encouraging conversations, Pete committed to completing a full audit of the Pentagon and selecting a senior official who will uphold the roles and value of our servicemen and women — based on quality and standards, not quotas — and who will prioritize and strengthen my work to prevent sexual assault within the ranks,” Ernst (R-Iowa) said.

It would only take four GOP senators voting “no” to torpedo a Trump nominee.

President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration ceremony in Washington, DC next month.

The invite was made in early November, shortly after Trump’s Election Day victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, CBS News reported on Wednesday.

It’s unclear whether Xi has accepted the invitation.

A spokesperson for the Trump-Vance transition team would not confirm or deny the report of Xi’s possible historic appearance at the Jan. 20 inauguration.

“World leaders are lining up to meet with President Trump because they know he will soon return to power and restore peace through American strength around the globe,” Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

State Department records dating back to 1874 indicate that no foreign leader has ever attended a presidential inauguration, according to CBS News.

Xi, 71, may not be the only world leader that attends the swearing-in ceremony.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whom Trump regularly referenced on the campaign trail and met with this week at Mar-a-Lago, is “still considering” whether to attend the 45th president’s second inaugural, according to the outlet.

The report of XI’s invite comes after Trump threatened to impose massive new tariffs on imports from China.

China-based ByteDance, the parent company TikTok, also faces a Jan. 19 – inauguration eve – deadline to sell the social media app or face a ban in the US.

Trump, 78, has met with several world leaders as he prepares to assume the presidency.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Argentinian President Javier Milei and Orbán have all made stops in Palm Beach, Fla., in recent weeks, where Trump’s transition efforts are headquartered.

The president-elect also traveled to Paris last weekend where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and Prince William of the United Kingdom.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Tuesday stopped the parody news site the Onion from buying conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars website, ruling that a bankruptcy auction did not result in the best possible bids.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez rejected Jones’ claims that the auction was plagued by “collusion,” at the end of a two-day hearing in Houston.

But he said the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee who ran the auction made “a good-faith error” by quickly asking for final offers for Infowars instead of encouraging more back-and-forth bidding between the Onion and a company affiliated with Jones’ supplement-selling businesses, which was the runner-up

“This should have been opened back up, and it should have been opened back up for everybody,” Lopez said.

“It’s clear the trustee left the potential for a lot of money on the table.”

Lopez said neither of the two offers for Infowars were enough money given the scope of Jones’ debts, and told the trustee to work to resolve some of the disputes between the creditors before making a new attempt to sell Infowars.

The Onion was named the winning bidder for Infowars in a November auction, but Jones and First American United Companies, the Jones-affiliated company, had argued the sale process was tainted because the Onion received too much credit for having the support of families that won large court verdicts against Jones.

Jones declared bankruptcy in 2022 and was forced to liquidate his assets to pay over $1.3 billion in legal judgments to the families of 20 students and six staff members who were fatally shot in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Courts in Connecticut and Texas have ruled Jones defamed the families by making repeated false claims the mass shooting was staged as part of a government plot to take guns away from Americans.

Jones’ attorney Ben Broocks told Lopez at a hearing on Monday that the Onion only put up half as much cash as the $3.5 million offer from First American United Companies, but boosted its bid with “smoke and mirrors” calculations.

The Connecticut-based Sandy Hook families, who are Jones’ largest creditors, augmented the Onion’s bid by agreeing to forgo some repayment from the Infowars sale so that other creditors could receive more money. That concession caused a bankruptcy trustee to value the Onion’s bid at $7 million overall.

Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Connecticut-based Sandy Hook families, said the ruling was disappointing, but did not change the fact that Jones owes his clients huge sums of money.

“The families, who have already persevered through countless delays and roadblocks, remain resilient and determined as ever to hold Alex Jones and his corrupt businesses accountable for the harm he has caused,” Mattei said.

Jones celebrated the verdict on Infowars.

The Onion’s CEO Ben Collins said that the company was deeply disappointed in Lopez’s decision, but remains interested in purchasing Infowars and making a “better, funnier internet”.

The Onion had planned to re-launch Infowars in 2025 as a parody site filled with “noticeably less hateful disinformation” than before.

Christopher Murray, a court appointee trustee charged with selling Jones’ assets, testified Tuesday that the auction was fair, and First American United Companies only complained about the process after learning that its bid was not chosen.

FBI Director Christopher Wray announced on Wednesday he is resigning from the FBI, ending his term three years early after President-elect Donald Trump indicated he planned to replace him.

Wray, who was nominated by Trump in 2017, told employees during a bureau-wide town hall that his last day will be in January when President Joe Biden leaves office.

“This is the best way to avoid dragging the Bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work,” Wray said, according to his prepared remarks.

The director added, “It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway — this is not easy for me. I love this place, I love our mission, and I love our people — but my focus is, and always has been, on us and doing what’s right for the FBI.”

The announcement comes after Trump revealed last month that he had nominated former intelligence aide Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist, to fill the director role. Patel welcomed the news of Wray’s planned exit.

“I look forward to a smooth transition,” Patel said in a statement. “I will be ready to serve the American people on day one.”

Trump initially praised Wray after firing former Director James Comey amid the FBI’s investigation into whether Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.

Trump said at the time that Wray was “a man of impeccable credentials.”

Wray has, however, drawn ire from Trump and his Republican allies in recent years over accusations that the bureau has been, at times, weaponized against Republicans.

Trump called Wray’s planned departure a “great day for America.”

“I just don’t know what happened to him,” Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social. “We will now restore the Rule of Law for all Americans.”

The FBI’s decision, under Wray’s leadership, to execute a search warrant for classified material at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, as well as the bureau’s lack of progress on its investigation into pipe bombs found on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021, have both been subjects of Trump’s wrath.

Under Wray, the FBI has also faced accusations from Republicans of being biased against Catholics and improperly pressuring social media companies to practice censorship, two matters the FBI has disputed.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who is set to lead the Senate Judiciary Committee next Congress, wrote a scathing letter to Wray this week, saying he had “no confidence” in the director and that he should step down.

Grassley, who has served in the Senate for more than four decades, said Wray’s resignation paved the way for a “new era” at the bureau.

“Wray’s departure is an opportunity for a new era of transparency and accountability at the FBI,” Grassley said.

“Future FBI Directors ought to learn a lesson from Wray’s mistakes. Stonewalling Congress, breaking promises, applying double standards and turning your back on whistleblowers is no longer going to cut it.”

Raunchy texts between ex-Fox News anchor Ed Henry and a young female staffer revealed in a new legal filing threaten to undercut her shocking claims of rape.

A 2020 lawsuit by former Fox Business associate producer Jennifer Eckhart, 34, accused Henry, 53, of handcuffing, beating and raping her in 2017, after a campaign of predatory ‘grooming’ and ‘manipulation’.

But on Monday, Henry’s lawyers unveiled texts between the two that they claimed show an enthusiastic and ‘consensual’, albeit kinky, relationship.

Just days after she claimed he raped her, Eckhart, 34, texted Henry: ‘You wanna f*** me,’ ‘Come spread them and slide my bikini off’, ‘F***ing dirty boy. I love it,’ and ‘Want it. Badly,’ according to screenshots of text messages in his latest legal filing.

The new court papers also described 15 naked and explicit photos she allegedly sent Henry, who co-hosted the show America’s Newsroom, in the two weeks after the alleged rape.

Five of the 15 photos were not of her, but other women, Henry’s new motion stated.

The legal filing said they had sadomasochistic, kinky sex on February 10, 2017, that was prompted by Eckhart’s ‘highly provocative sexting.’ The physical encounter involved Henry hitting her with a belt, and restraining her with handcuffs.

Although rough, Henry claimed it was all agreed on beforehand, saying she ‘sent Ed a photograph of a belt’ and told him in a text message that she would ‘always obey and make myself available to u’, adding ‘You NEED my 26-year-old p***y.’

The day before the sexual encounter, Henry texted Eckhart: ‘Gentle little wh**e. Gonna get tossed around like a rag doll,’ and she replied ‘Love that,’ according to the WhatsApp screenshots.

Henry has been married to NPR Managing Editor Shirley Henry since 2010.

And his legal filing alleged that Eckhart cherry-picked excerpts of their text conversations to cast him as a rapist when he claimed that it was instead a steamy, consensual affair.

‘All the WhatsApp messages preserved for litigation are selectively chosen photographs of a portion of Jennifer’s communications with Ed,’ his lawyers wrote.

‘Many of these messages, including most of the ones Jennifer thinks are incriminating, have been cut off to obscure a final comment by Jennifer expressing pleasure, agreement or desire.’

The photos supposedly sent by Eckhart to Henry ten days after the alleged rape, included ‘a photograph of herself in black lingerie with the tips of the two middle fingers of her left hand inserted into her panties’; ‘a photograph of herself lying sideways in her underwear on the bed, breast thrust forward’; ‘a photograph of a woman from a side view showing a nearly naked bottom’; and ‘a photograph of her own fully exposed, slightly parted vagina lathered in soap’.

‘Ed and Jennifer also continued sexting in the weeks after and months after the alleged rape, with frequent references to rough, consensual sex, with Jennifer often initiating,’ the filing said.

In her original legal complaint, filed in June 2020, Eckhart accused Henry of having ‘groomed, psychologically manipulated and coerced [her] into having a sexual relationship with him’, and that the alleged twisted process began ‘at the young age of 24, by exerting his abuse of power over her and her career.’

She stated he ‘sexually assaulted her on office property, and raped her at a hotel where Fox News frequently lodged its visiting employees’, and took photos of her while she was ‘naked, helpless and restrained’ to use for ‘blackmail’.

Their first sexual encounter was in 2014, in Henry’s room at the New York Marriott Marquis after they exchanged emails and met for a drink at the hotel bar.

Their second was at the Fox News offices on September 16, 2015. Henry claimed Eckhart initiated that tryst by handing him an envelope containing the panties she had been wearing that day while preparing to go to the New York Stock Exchange with Liz Claman – who Eckhart worked with as an assistant producer for The Claman Countdown.

She then ‘went up to see Ed in his office and performed oral sex on him’ while the cab was waiting outside to take Claman and Eckhart to their meeting, according to his legal filing.

Her complaint told a similar story but said she did it ‘in fear knowing that she would face retaliation if she refused to comply’, believing Henry to be ‘a very powerful man’ at Fox and that he ‘physically forced her’ to perform oral sex on him in his office.

Henry’s new legal filing included quotes from their emails a month later.

On October 21, 2015, Eckhart emailed Henry that she had ‘wiped all the dirty pictures,’ which he said was a reference to a story at the time about suspect messages being wiped from Hillary Clinton’s email server.

He responded, ‘I’d like to wipe you with my tongue,’ and claimed that 20 minutes later she wrote back ‘I bet you would, dirty boy. Come n get it.’

Eckhart is not the only woman Henry was embroiled in a sex scandal with.

He was exposed in May 2016 for having an affair with Las Vegas stripper Natalie Lima and was suspended by Fox for several months while he had treatment for alleged sex addiction – returning in September that year.

He was eventually fired by the company in July 2020, following Eckhart’s New York federal lawsuit filed jointly with guest news analyst Cathy Areu – who claimed Henry also sexually harassed her with explicit text messages.

Federal Judge Gabriel Gorenstein later dismissed Areu’s claims.

In a filing in the case last month, Eckhart added new claims that Henry had engaged in an inappropriate ‘sexual relationship’ with another unnamed Fox colleague and had used a work electronic device in a ‘sexting incident’.

Eckhart’s attorneys filed a sworn statement from the anonymous current Fox staffer on Monday, saying she had a secret, consensual affair with Henry that began after he sent her an unsolicited picture of his penis, and that it went on from November 2016 until Spring 2020.

She called him ’emotionally abusive’, and described one incident in which during ‘a consensual sexual encounter’ he ‘slapped my face a little harder than I would have liked and I cried right away’.

‘Ed apologized when he realized that I was upset,’ the woman wrote. But maintained in her declaration that it their relationship was consensual.

Eckhart claimed that Fox knew about Henry’s alleged abuse and promoted him instead of disciplining him. The network says they only found out when she made her legal complaint on June 25, 2020.

‘I have maintained my innocence from day one and have consistently said the truth will win out, and here we are more than four years later,’ Henry told DailyMail.com in a statement on Monday.

‘I am elated by the fact that the judge has ordered evidence unmasked that proves my innocence against these false allegations.’

He claimed Eckhart’s story has ‘always been a lie, and with the judge now ordering the release of this exculpatory information, everyone can see the claims against me are false and motivated by clear and actual malice that led to me being defamed.’

A New Jersey congressman claimed Wednesday that the mystery drones over the Garden State are from Iran, and they’re being launched by a mothership parked off the East Coast.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a Republican, said the drones “very possibly could be” from Iran, citing confidential sources during an appearance on Fox News Wednesday morning.

“I’m going to tell you the real deal. Iran launched a mothership that contains these drones,” Van Drew said. “It’s off the East Coast of the United States of America. They’ve launched drones.”

“These drones should be shot down,” he said, adding that “the military is on full alert with this.”

The Pentagon has later rebuked Van Drew’s claims, insisting there is “no evidence” the drones belong to a foreign adversary – but did not offer any explanation whatsoever as to what they actually are.

Van Drew has stood by his statements, however, sending a letter to President Biden imploring him to take action and laying out “circumstantial evidence” supporting his claims.

“We have information that a sea-based Iranian drone mothership is currently missing from port, and that its embarkation timeline would align with the appearance of the New Jersey Drones,” he wrote the president in a letter obtained by Agudath Israel of America news.

BREAKING REPORT – DRONES OVER NEW JERSEY ARE FROM IRAN: Congressman Jeff Van Drew claims Iran has stationed a “mothership” off the U.S. East Coast, reportedly launching drones now flying over New Jersey. pic.twitter.com/ayV8tYioXA

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 11, 2024

He added that Iran has previously sailed ships near the US, and that the country has a “sophisticated” partnership with China over drone technology.

“And of course, it is the policy of the Iranian government to bring about the destruction of the United States of America. While I remain open to alternate explanations, I have not been presented a single credible, cohesive narrative except for that Iran is controlling these drones,” Van Drew wrote.

Van Drew’s startling claim comes as officials have continually told Americans the drones pose no threat – even as the FBI has admitted they have no idea what they are or how to stop them.

The large drones have been spotted flitting across the night skies across Jersey for weeks, baffling residents with mysterious arrays of flashing lights and seemingly aimless movements.

Sometimes numerous objects have been spotted flying in formation, and they’ve begun appearing across parts of New York, too.

The first reported sightings started on November 18, and have continued every night since, according to New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, who partook in a legislature briefing with the State Police Wednesday.

Sightings have been reported from dawn through dusk, she said, with sometimes as many as 180 reports coming in per night. Last Sunday alone, there were 49 reported sightings, mostly in New Jersey.

And their technology appears to be particularly sophisticated. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy explained that every time officials begin trying to track them, the drones “go dark.”

Officials say the drones are about six feet in diameter, stay in the air for up to seven hours at a time, and can cover at least 15 miles.

“To state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading, and I informed all officials of that sentiment,” Fantasia wrote in a post on X.

Addressing them has also become a bureaucratic snafu, Fantasia noted, explaining that the State Police doesn’t have the jurisdiction to intercept them in the skies, that the FBI is leading the investigation with the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, and that the US Coast Guard seems to have the most authority to intervene.

Rep. Van Drew said intelligence indicates Iran recently made a deal with China “to purchase drones, motherships, and technology,” and that the mothership containing them arrived off the east coast “about a month ago.”

“We’ve got to get them down,” Van Drew said. “Right now, they’re probably extracting information. This is a clear and present danger to the United States and our president elect, and this is a serious business.”

One high ranking Jersey State Police source said everybody is “befuddled” – and that nobody knows “what the f–k is going on.”

“The lack of a coordinated response is troubling,” the source told The Post. “I have never had anything in my time where no one knows what’s going on. But no one seems that concerned but the people who do national intelligence, the FAA, FBI.”

Speculation about the objects’ origins has ranged from Chinese spy operations — to visitors from other planets — to top-secret experimental military tech operated by the US government itself.

US military officials have reportedly insisted the drones do not belong to them or any secret operations, which Gov. Murphy said “I want to believe, but…” during a briefing with state lawmakers Wednesday.

“If anyone really knows they are not telling us,” Murphy said, “They keep doubling down on ‘There’s no threat,’ but they can’t find them and track them.”

“But when people are saying that there is no credible threat, I believe they are saying they don’t know if there is one. That’s concerning.”

President Joe Biden is reportedly looking to remove one of the Islamic terrorist groups that overthrew the Syrian government last week from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.

Biden is looking at removing Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which came from Al-Qaeda and is still close to the terror group, from the list after they overthrew Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Multiple current and former Biden administration officials told NBC News that Biden was looking to help the terrorist group “soon” by removing the designation, which would allow the group a way to get help from foreign governments.

Biden would also remove the $10 million bounty off the head of the terrorist group’s leader, Abu Muhammad Jawlani.

Former CENTCOM commander retired General Frank McKenzie said during an interview over the weekend that Jawlani “has a significant track record” of terrorism, and the notion that terrorists can change was ridiculous.

“Certainly he could advance new ideas coming in,” he said. “It’s been my experience, though, that typically they don’t.”

McKenzie warned that the collapse of the Syrian government — while bad news for Assad, Russia, Iran, and Lebanese Hezbollah — did not signal good news for the Syrian people.

“I’m not sure it’s ultimately going to be good news for the people of Syria,” he said. “You know, we could have an Islamic State arise there, which will have profound negative implications across the region. That is possible. There are other possibilities as well, and I think in the next 48, 72, 96 hours, this will begin to become clearer to us.”

The last time that the Biden administration removed an Islamic terrorist group from the terrorist list was during the initial days of his now-failed presidency when he removed the Houthis in Yemen from the list.

Just a couple of years later, the Houthis have engaged in widespread terrorism in the waters around the Arabian Peninsula, attacking merchant and naval vessels with missiles and drones.