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US President Donald Trump signed pardons Monday for some 1,500 participants in the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol by his supporters who attempted to overturn the 2020 election.”These are the hostages — approximately 1,500 people — for a pardon, full pardon,” Trump said at a signing ceremony shortly after arriving at the White House.”We hope they come out tonight frankly,” he said. “They’re expecting it.”More than 1,500 people were charged in connection with the assault on Congress by Trump supporters who were seeking to disrupt certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.Trump repeatedly pledged during his election campaign to pardon those who took part in the attack, calling them “hostages,” “patriots” and “political prisoners.”Trump, whose first term as president ended under the cloud of the Capitol assault, has repeatedly played down the unprecedented violence of January 6, even going so far as to describe it as a “day of love.”More than 140 police officers were injured in hours of clashes with rioters wielding flagpoles, baseball bats, hockey sticks and other makeshift weapons along with Tasers and canisters of bear spray.The assault on the Capitol followed a fiery speech by then-president Trump to tens of thousands of his supporters near the White House in which he repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 race. He then encouraged the crowd to march on Congress.Trump was charged by special counsel Jack Smith with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election.But the case never made it to trial, and was dropped under the Justice Department’s policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.According to the latest figures from the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, 1,583 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol siege, including 608 accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers.Biden, before leaving office on Monday, issued preemptive pardons to former Covid pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci, retired general Mark Milley and close family members to shield them from “politically motivated prosecutions” by the Trump administration.Biden gave similar pardons to former Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney and other members of the congressional committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the Capitol.Just minutes before Trump was sworn in, Biden announced he was issuing pardons to his brother James Biden, James’s wife Sara Jones Biden, his sister Valerie Biden Owens, Valerie’s husband John Owens, and his brother Francis Biden.”My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics,” Biden said. “Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.”

The US Senate unanimously approved Marco Rubio as secretary of state on Monday, putting the fellow senator on the front line of President Donald Trump’s often confrontational diplomacy. Rubio, who is the first Hispanic and first fluent Spanish speaker to assume the position of top US diplomat, is Trump’s first cabinet nominee to be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, only hours after the inauguration.Unusually in a highly partisan era, Rubio was confirmed 99-0, with several senators from the rival Democratic Party describing Rubio as a friend. One Senate seat was made vacant by the inauguration of Vice President J.D. Vance.”Given the uncertainty around the globe right now, it is in America’s interest not to skip a beat and to fill this role immediately,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”While we may not always agree, I believe he has the skills, knowledge and qualifications to be secretary of state,” she said on the Senate floor.Shaheen and the Republican chairman of the committee, Jim Risch, agreed to fast-track Rubio’s nomination, which was cleared by the panel barely an hour before heading to the floor.”It’s no secret that hostile powers from China to Russia, from North Korea to Iran, have formed an authoritarian axis bent on weakening the United States,” Risch said.”We need a principled, action-oriented chief diplomat like Marco Rubio to take them on.”- Challenge to represent Trump -Rubio will immediately have the task of executing the potentially erratic foreign policy of Trump, who in an inauguration speech Monday renewed threats to seize the Panama Canal but also pledged to be a “peacemaker.”Trump challenged the two secretaries of state in his first term with a foreign policy that swung rapidly, with Trump in one case shifting from threatening destruction of North Korea to declaring that he “fell in love” with strongman leader Kim Jong Un.Rubio, the working-class son of Cuban immigrants who bitterly opposed Fidel Castro’s communist revolution, is known for his hawkish stance toward Latin American authoritarian states and China.In his confirmation hearing last week, Rubio accused China of cheating its way to superpower status and called the Asian giant “the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever faced.”Rubio will head to work Tuesday and, according to diplomats, is expected to meet with foreign ministers from the Quad, which groups the United States with Australia, India and Japan.Conceived by late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and upgraded by former president Joe Biden, the Quad has been seen by China as a way for the four democracies to encircle and contain it, despite denials from the countries.Rubio is also expected to join Trump in being a stalwart defender of Israel, which a day earlier entered a long-awaited ceasefire with Hamas, something that had been sought exhaustively by Rubio’s Democratic predecessor Antony Blinken.Despite his collegial relations in the Senate, Rubio was once a bitter opponent of Trump, who famously belittled him as “Little Marco” when the senator unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.Rubio has since rallied behind Trump. In his confirmation hearing, he repeatedly stressed that the president would make the policy.Several of Trump’s nominees have yet to have confirmation hearings due to their controversial records, including Tulsi Gabbard for intelligence chief, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health and human services secretary and Kash Patel for the FBI.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said that Rubio’s confirmation showed the party would not “reflexively oppose nominees” but would also not “rubber stamp” them.

US senators voted Monday to expand pretrial incarceration for foreign criminal suspects as the Republican-led Congress worked to deliver on Donald Trump’s promises of a crackdown on illegal immigration, hours after he began his second term. The Laken Riley Act — which calls for the detention of undocumented immigrants charged with theft-related crimes — is named for a 22-year-old student murdered by a Venezuelan man with no papers who was wanted for shoplifting. The American Civil Liberties Union warned that the legislation would have people jailed, “potentially for years” because “they were accused of nonviolent offenses.”The legislation passed the upper chamber in a comfortable 64-35 vote two weeks after sailing through the House of Representatives, with Republicans keen to highlight what they described as weak border security policies from Joe Biden, who left office on Monday.But the newly-inaugurated Senate — which flipped from Democratic to Republican control after November’s election — added a tweak that expands mandatory detention to “crimes resulting in death or serious bodily injury.”That means it has to go back to the House for one last vote but it is expected to clear that hurdle and reach Trump’s desk by the end of the week — the first bill he will sign into law.”Now is the time to return to common sense. Now is the time to return to law and order,” Alabama Republican Katie Britt said in a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote. “We are a proud nation of immigrants. We are also a nation of laws, and the lawlessness ends today.”Trump has promised to crack down on illegal border crossings and carry out mass deportations, and has named Tom Homan, a veteran hardline immigration official, as his border chief.The Republican president repeatedly spotlighted Laken Riley’s case during his election campaign as he railed against undocumented migrants, blaming them for “poisoning the blood” of the country.Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was convicted of her murder after she was found dead in a wooded area at the University of Georgia in Athens.Democrats complained however that it would cost $83 billion to implement the new law in the first three years — more than the Homeland Security Department’s entire budget. “That’s a lot of money to spend on a bill that’ll cause chaos, punish legal immigrants, & undermine due process — while drawing resources away from true threats,” Patty Murray, of Washington state, said on X.

Margelis Tinoco broke down in tears after her asylum appointment was canceled as part of a sweeping immigration crackdown announced by US President Donald Trump on his first day in office.”I don’t know what will become of my life anymore,” said the 48-year-old Colombian, who made the long and dangerous journey from South America with her husband and son.Trump began his second term in office with a series of announcements intended to drastically reduce the number of migrants entering the United States.He vowed to declare a national emergency at the border with Mexico, immediately halt “all illegal entry” and begin the process of deporting “millions and millions of criminal aliens.”Minutes after he was sworn in, an app introduced by his predecessor Joe Biden to help process claims for entering the United States went offline.”Look what it says,” Tinoco said, pointing to a message on her cellphone screen informing users of CBP One that existing appointments had been canceled.”Have compassion and let us cross,” she pleaded, saying that she had endured “six months of suffering” after leaving Venezuela where she had been living with her family.Yaime Perez, a 27-year-old Cuban, also made an emotional appeal to Trump.”Since we are here, please let us in, please, after all the work we have put in to get here, let us enter your country, so that we can better ourselves in life and be somebody,” she said.Antony Herrera arrived at the border with his wife and three children after a long journey from their native Venezuela only to discover that their appointment had been canceled.”We don’t know what is going to happen,” said the 31-year-old, one of millions of people who have left crisis-hit Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro was inaugurated this month for a third term after a disputed election victory.- Caravan heads for border -During his first term in the White House from 2017 to 2021, Trump put heavy pressure on Mexico to turn back a tide of migrants from Central America.On Monday, he quickly moved to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy that prevailed under his last administration.Under that rule, people who applied to enter the United States at the Mexican border were not allowed to enter the country until their application had been decided.Mexico agreed during Trump’s first term to receive deportees from other countries in exchange for the Republican withdrawing his tariff threats.It is unclear if the current Mexican government would do the same this time round.President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that Mexico would receive its own deported nationals, without mentioning how it would proceed with other foreigners expelled from the United States.Congratulating Trump on his inauguration, she called for “dialogue, respect and cooperation” between the closely connected neighbors.In southern Mexico, hundreds of US-bound migrants ignored Trump’s warnings and set off on foot from near the border with Guatemala.The caravans are a way for migrants to pressure the Mexican authorities to issue permits allowing them to transit through the country without being detained.”I’m a little scared because with everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve fought for, with all the sacrifices we’ve made, it’s very hard to have the doors closed on us and not be able to cross,” said Jefferzon Celedon, a 24-year-old Venezuelan.Despite the gloomy mood, fellow Venezuelan Leonel Delgado said he was still determined to reach the Mexican-US border.”We have to keep going and not be swayed by what people say, whether they close it or not. We will see when we arrive,” the 42-year-old said.

US tech multibillionaires — including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos — were given prime positions at Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, in an unprecedented demonstration of their power and influence.Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg are the world’s three richest people, and in addition to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who also attended, their combined fortune sits at just above one trillion dollars, according to Forbes.The tech tycoons have spent the weeks since the election courting favor with Trump, marking a dramatic shift from Silicon Valley’s more hostile response to his first term four years ago.Attendees also included Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.TikTok CEO Shou Chew sat in the back row of the stage, even as his platform’s future remains uncertain. TikTok on Sunday credited Trump for promising an executive order to save the app from an American ban, though its fate in the United States remains unclear while under Chinese company ByteDance’s ownership, in defiance of a US law.Despite highly limited seating after the ceremony was moved indoors due to bad weather, Meta CEO Zuckerberg attended with his wife Priscilla Chan, while Amazon executive chairman Bezos was accompanied by his fiancee, Lauren Sanchez.”They have even better seats than Trump’s own cabinet picks. That says it all,” said US Senator Elizabeth Warren in a social media post.Their prominent positions on the inauguration stage was particularly notable for Zuckerberg, whom Trump had threatened with life imprisonment just months ago.The Meta chief recently made headlines by brashly aligning his company’s policies with Trump’s worldview, notably by eliminating fact-checking in the United States and relaxing hate speech restrictions on Facebook and Instagram.Musk has shown the strongest support for Trump, spending $277 million to help him and other Republicans win November’s election while transforming his X platform into an amplifier for pro-Trump voices.Bezos, like Zuckerberg and his peers, has visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida leading up to the inauguration, with favorable treatment, government contracts and reduced regulatory scrutiny for Amazon in the balance.As owner of The Washington Post, Bezos sparked controversy by blocking the newspaper’s planned endorsement of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential election, triggering newsroom protests and subscriber cancellations.Musk has been named a leader of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to advise the White House on cutbacks to public spending and has spent much of the past two months at Mar-a-Lago.- ‘Paid access’ -While Musk’s SpaceX is already a major government contractor, Amazon’s AWS cloud computing division and Google also count the US government among their biggest clients.Google, Meta, Apple, and Amazon are also fighting landmark antitrust lawsuits from the US government that could force their breakup. “These are very wealthy people who have basically paid for access, which is something that they would do for any upcoming administration even if we all recognize Trump is very transactional,” said Andrew Selepak, media professor at the University of Florida.”They’re making sure it’s very clear that their faces, names, and especially their money, is here,” he added.

Donald Trump said Monday he will issue a raft of executive orders aimed at reshaping how the United States deals with citizenship and immigration.The 47th president will set to work almost immediately with a series of presidential decrees intended to drastically reduce the number of migrants entering the country.”First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border,” Trump said minutes after his inauguration.”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 from which they came.”He will send troops to the US-Mexico border “to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” he said.Trump, who campaigned on a platform of curbing migration and whose policies are popular with people who fret over changing demographics, also intends to end the centuries-old practice of granting citizenship automatically to anyone born in the United States.”We’re going to end asylum,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told reporters, and create “an immediate removal process without possibility of asylum. We are then going to end birthright citizenship.”The US Constitution grants citizenship to anyone born on US soil.Kelly said Trump’s actions will “clarify” the 14th Amendment, which addresses birthright citizenship.”Federal government will not recognize automatic birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens born in the United States,” she said.- Appointments cancelled -The first effects of Trump’s stance became apparent minutes after his inauguration when an app unveiled under president Joe Biden to help process migrants went offline.”Effective January 20, 2025, the functionalities of CBP One that previously allowed undocumented aliens to submit advance information and schedule appointments at eight southwest border ports of entry is no longer available, and existing appointments have been cancelled,” said a notice on the landing page.US media reported 30,000 people had appointments scheduled.Trump’s key adviser and noted immigration hardliner Stephen Miller took to social media to announce that the doors were shut.”All illegal aliens seeking entry into the United States should turn back now,” he wrote.”Anyone entering the United States without authorization faces prosecution and expulsion.”Kelly said the administration would also reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy that prevailed under Trump’s first administration.Under that rule, people who apply to enter the United States at the Mexican border were not allowed to do so until their application had been decided.- Court challenges -Kelly said Trump would seek to use the death penalty against non-citizens who commit capital crimes including murder.”This is about national security. This is about public safety, and this is about the victims of some of the most violent, abusive criminals we’ve seen enter our country in our lifetime, and it ends today,” she said.Many of Trump’s first-term executive actions were rescinded under Biden, including one using so-called Title 42, implemented during the Covid pandemic preventing almost all entry to the country on public health grounds.The changes under Biden led to an influx of migrants, with images of thousands of people packing the border area.Trump frequently invoked dark imagery about how illegal migration was “poisoning the blood” of the nation, words that were seized upon by opponents as reminiscent of Nazi Germany.- Court challenges -While US presidents enjoy a range of powers, they are not unlimited. Analysts say any effort to alter birthright citizenship will be fraught.Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said the 14th Amendment was “crystal clear” in granting citizenship to anyone born in the United States with the exception of children of foreign diplomats. “We have had birthright citizenship for centuries, and a president cannot take it away with an executive order,” he told AFP. “We expect rapid court challenges.”Cris Ramon, immigration senior policy advisor at civil rights group UnidosUS, said the administration was “using a ‘throw spaghetti at the wall’ approach.””We don’t care whether this is legal or not,” he said of the apparent attitude. “We’re just simply going to do it and see if it survives the courts.”

US President Donald Trump announced in his inaugural speech Monday that he will seek to rename Alaska’s Denali as part of his day one actions, overriding the will of the state’s Indigenous population and its elected leaders.The order, set to be published later in the day, will revert the name of North America’s highest peak back to Mount McKinley.The mountain — which rises more than 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) above sea level — was officially renamed “Denali” in 2015 by former president Barack Obama, adopting the name used by Alaska Natives for centuries, with the Alaskan government following suit in the 1970s.Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican, led the effort to make the change official.”We will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs,” Trump said at his swearing in ceremony, where he also announced the US would refer to the “Gulf of Mexico” as the “Gulf of America.”McKinley, the 25th president, never visited the mountain and has no significant historical connection to the peak nor the state of Alaska, though it was named in his honor in 1917.”This announcement goes against the desires of Alaska Natives, Alaska’s elected officials, and centuries of tradition,” said Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club’s land protections program.”The Koyukon people have known this mountain as ‘Denali’ for centuries, and even the state’s elected officials oppose this attempt to rename it. It’s clear that Donald Trump is more interested in culture war stunts than addressing the concerns of the American people.”

Donald Trump’s inauguration had to be moved indoors Monday due to a particularly frigid wintry spell across much of the United States, causing significant changes to the event after years of tedious planning.But the weather wasn’t the only unusual aspect of the 47th president’s swearing-in ceremony.Here are some memorable moments from a historic occasion.- Trump unloads -While Trump refused to attend Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration, the departing president was keen to restore tradition by showing his face.He may well wish he hadn’t bothered, as Trump tore into his record, denouncing what the new Republican president said had been a “betrayal” of Americans by a “radical and corrupt establishment.”They were apparently getting along fine during the earlier formalities, with Biden unaware that his successor was about to eviscerate his legacy.But the veteran Democrat could only smile in disbelief — and occasionally grimace — while his vice president Kamala Harris looked stony-faced, as Trump launched broadside after broadside.  “From this moment on, America’s decline is over,” Trump declared.- Awkward air kiss -The new president and first lady attempted to celebrate their return to the White House with a public display of affection but weren’t able to make contact thanks to Melania’s wide-brimmed hat.The Eric Javits headpiece bumped up against the incoming president’s forehead as he leaned in, frustrating his efforts to land the smacker and forcing the couple to air kiss as they clasped hands.The moment immediately went viral, with one wag on X commenting: “I’ve just realized why Melania is wearing that wide-brimmed hat — it made it impossible for Trump to land his attempted kiss. Smart woman.”- Who’s running Silicon Valley? -Never was the convergence of money and politics more obvious than in Trump’s inauguration audience, where Silicon Valley princelings rubbed shoulders with Washington’s elite.Around a dozen billionaires were present for the ceremony, with some commentators on social media putting their total value at around $1 trillion — the approximate GDP of Switzerland.Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google chief Sundar Pichai, Apple boss Tim Cook and the world’s richest man — Tesla CEO Elon Musk — were all sitting nearby as Trump was sworn in.- Bye bye bible -Trump didn’t place his hand on a bible or the US Constitution as he took the presidential oath — either because he had decided to break with protocol or perhaps because he just forgot. The incoming first lady, Melania Trump, was standing beside him holding a Trump family bible and the so-called Lincoln Bible, which was used by the 16th president in 1861 and by Barack Obama in 2009 and 2013.But Trump stood with his left arm planted by his side as he raised his right hand for the oath of office.Touching sacred texts isn’t a legal requirement — the constitution merely demands that presidents declare fealty to it “by oath or affirmation.” It does not specify what they should be doing with their hands.”But no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,” the charter document states.- Absentees -Washington’s version of royalty was also out in force as three former presidents — Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama — attended, along with a couple of ex-vice presidents, Mike Pence and Dan Quayle.Joe Rogan even managed to wangle a seat — presumably a thank-you for the valuable support he gave Trump during the election campaign as the host of the world’s biggest podcast. But there were notable absences, including former first lady Michelle Obama and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Both women attended Trump’s 2017 inauguration, although Trump himself skipped Biden’s 2021 swearing-in. Pence’s wife Karen, who pointedly snubbed Trump this month at Jimmy Carter’s funeral, also gave Monday’s ceremony a miss.

A portrait of former top US military officer Mark Milley — a foe of Donald Trump — has been taken down at the Pentagon, a source in the building said following the president’s inauguration on Monday.Retired chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are traditionally honored with portraits that hang in a corridor near the Pentagon’s River Entrance, and Milley’s had only recently been unveiled at a ceremony earlier this month.But the source said the retired general’s portrait was removed, referring questions about why to the White House.The removal of the painting — the current whereabouts of which are unclear — came after Joe Biden preemptively pardoned Milley and other Trump opponents in one of his last acts as president.Trump has repeatedly promised “retribution” against his political opponents and threatened some with criminal prosecution, and Biden said he took action to shield Milley and others from “politically motivated prosecutions” under the new administration.Trump was enraged after Milley told journalist Bob Woodward that the Republican was “fascist to the core” and a “dangerous person.”Milley also revealed he had secretly called his Chinese counterpart after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump’s supporters to reassure Beijing that the United States remained “stable” and had no intention to attack China.Trump subsequently wrote on his Truth Social network that “in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” for Milley.The general stepped down as chairman in 2023 at a ceremony in which he took a final swipe at Trump.”We don’t take an oath to a king, or queen, or a tyrant or a dictator,” Milley said of American soldiers. “And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.”

US President Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons on Monday to former Covid pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci, retired general Mark Milley and close family members to shield them from “politically motivated prosecutions” under the Trump administration.In an extraordinary move in his last hours in the White House, Biden gave similar pardons to former Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney and other members of the congressional committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters.Biden also commuted to home confinement the life sentence of Native American activist Leonard Peltier, 80, who has been imprisoned for nearly 50 years for the 1975 murders of two FBI agents.”I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” Biden said in a statement announcing the pardons of Fauci, Milley and the members and staff of the January 6 committee.”But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing,” he said. “These public servants have served our nation with honor and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.”The Democrat added that the pardons “should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.”Trump has repeatedly promised “retribution” against his political opponents and threatened some with criminal prosecution.Speaking after his inauguration, he condemned Biden’s pardons of the members of what he called the “unselect committee of political thugs,” saying they were “guilty of very bad crimes.””Why are we trying to help a guy like Milley?” he said. “Why are we helping Liz Cheney?”Cheney, the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney and a fierce Trump critic, and Democrat Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the January 6 committee, thanked Biden for shielding them from “false prosecution.””We have been pardoned today not for breaking the law but for upholding it,” they said in a joint statement.Fauci also welcomed the pardon but stressed “I have committed no crime.”Fauci, who led the country’s fight against the Covid pandemic during Trump’s first term, has become a hated figure for many on the right, including Trump ally Elon Musk, who has called for the scientist to be prosecuted.- ‘Unrelenting attacks and threats’ -Trump was enraged after Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told journalist Bob Woodward that the Republican was “fascist to the core” and a “dangerous person.”Milley also revealed he had secretly called his Chinese counterpart after the Capitol attack to reassure Beijing that the United States remained “stable” and had no intention to attack China.Trump subsequently wrote on his Truth Social network that “in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” for Milley.Milley thanked Biden for his executive action.”I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights,” he said.Just minutes before Trump was sworn in, Biden announced he was issuing pardons to his brother James Biden, James’s wife Sara Jones Biden, his sister Valerie Biden Owens, Valerie’s husband John Owens, and his brother Francis Biden.”My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics,” Biden said. “Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.”Trump has regularly complained of being the victim of “lawfare” under the Biden administration after being prosecuted for trying to subvert the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents.Monday’s moves were the latest in a slew of pardons and clemencies Biden has granted in his final days in office, including commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people in one day — and the controversial pardon of his son Hunter.Trump has described jailed supporters who took part in the January 6 attack on the Capitol as “political prisoners” and said he plans to pardon some of them.Former president Richard Nixon received a preemptive pardon from his successor, Gerald Ford, after resigning in disgrace in 1974 because of the Watergate scandal.