by | Jan 21, 2025 | The Hill
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) on Tuesday blasted President Trump’s sweeping
on the Capitol as “un-American.”
“There is no other way to describe President Trump’s pardon of Jan. 6 offenders than un-American. Let’s be clear. President Trump didn’t just pardon protesters. He pardoned some people convicted of assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
“It’s a betrayal of the highest order of our Capitol police officers who risked their lives to keep us safe,” he said.
Trump on Monday pardoned and commuted the sentences of more than 1,500 people convicted of Jan. 6-related crimes, including individuals assaulted of assaulting police officers.
Trump’s sweeping action wiped out the prison sentences of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges.
by | Jan 21, 2025 | The Hill
President Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin is “destroying Russia” with its nearly
in Ukraine, adding he hopes the Kremlin leader is open to making a deal to end the conflict.
“He should make a deal. I think he’s destroying Russia by not making a deal,” Trump said to reporters Monday night after his return to the White House.
He went on to say Russia is “going to be in big trouble” and that “most people thought that war would have been over in one week.”
“He can’t be thrilled, he’s not doing so well,” the president said about Putin. “Russia is bigger, they have more soldiers to lose, but that’s no way to run a country.”
Trump has
on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would end the war in Eastern Europe in one day after taking office.
“I have another half of the day left,” Trump joked Monday when asked by a reporter, adding that he wants it to end soon.
Russia’s military is operating on Ukraine’s eastern side, looking to make gains on the front. More than 1,000 Russian soldiers die and are injured daily,
, citing Western officials.
Trump’s critical comments about Putin and Russia’s handling of the conflict came shortly after the Russian president
ahead of his Monday inauguration and signaled the country is open to communicating with the new administration.
“We also hear his [Trump’s] statement about the need to do everything to prevent a third world war. Of course, we welcome this attitude and congratulate the elected president of the United States of America on his inauguration,” Putin said.
Putin’s office also said Moscow is open to discussing the “Ukrainian conflict” with Washington and called for “eliminating the root causes of the crisis.” Kremlin frames the invasion of Ukraine, which kicked off in February 2022, as a defensive operation against Western nations and alliances, particularly NATO.
The Russian president’s stance on potential dialogue was reiterated by his foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, who said the Kremlin is “taking into account” Trump’s remarks from Monday but is waiting for Trump’s team to initiate the potential talks.
“We are ready and open for dialogue with the new U.S. administration on the Ukraine conflict,” Ushakov told reporters Tuesday,
the Times. “If the relevant signals come in from Washington, then we’ll pick them up and will be ready to hold negotiations.”
Former President Biden did not conduct talks with Putin after Russia invaded Ukraine, but some communication channels have been open, particularly between the Russian Defense Ministry and the Pentagon to de-escalate tensions.
by | Jan 21, 2025 | The Hill
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday said it “regrets” President Trump’s move to withdraw from the global health authority, saying it hopes the U.S. will reconsider the decision.
President Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term announcing his intent to
, citing what he referred to as “the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises.”
This was not the first time Trump has moved to withdraw from the WHO, having previously attempted to do the same in 2020. Former President Biden rejoined the organization before the one-year waiting period for withdrawal concluded.
In a statement Tuesday, the WHO said it “regrets the announcement that the United States of America intends to withdraw from the Organization.”
“The United States was a founding member of WHO in 1948 and has participated in shaping and governing WHO’s work ever since, alongside 193 other Member States, including through its active participation in the World Health Assembly and Executive Board,” the WHO stated.
“For over seven decades, WHO and the USA have saved countless lives and protected Americans and all people from health threats,” it added. “Together, we ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio to the brink of eradication. American institutions have contributed to and benefited from membership of WHO.”
Roughly one-fifth of the WHO’s budget comes from the U.S., about $1.28 billion. While the WHO would lose American dollars through the withdrawal, the U.S. would lose access to the WHO’s resources, such as global data.
“We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and well-being of millions of people around the globe,” the WHO added.
by | Jan 21, 2025 | The Hill
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said “Biden opened the door on this” when asked Tuesday about President Trump’s sweeping pardons of Jan. 6 protesters, including those convicted of assaulting Capitol police officers.
“We said all along that Biden opened the door on this,” Thune said, referring to former President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter on gun- and tax-related charges.
Trump has pardoned, commuted the sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of more than 1,500 people charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, including people convicted of assaulting police officers.
Other Senate Republicans, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump on the charge of inciting insurrection, declined to comment on the Jan. 6 pardons Tuesday morning.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told a reporter for CNN Tuesday that she would be disappointed if Trump pardoned people convicted of assaulting police but said she would study the full extent of his pardons.
She also cited Biden’s pardons of Hunter Biden and five family members he preemptively pardoned, including his brother James, moments before Trump was sworn into office.
