President Donald Trump has urged Israel to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a corruption case. Trump called the case a "political, unjustified prosecution" in a letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday. Herzog acknowledged the letter but said a formal request is needed for a pardon. Trump also mentioned the pardon during a speech last month at Israel's Knesset, receiving a standing ovation. Concerns about American influence in Israeli politics are growing. Netanyahu is the only sitting Israeli prime minister to be indicted, facing charges of fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes.
President Donald Trump's unconventional approach to clemency has spread hope among federal prisoners and formerly incarcerated people around the United States, prompting a wave of petitions carefully crafted to capture his attention. Like other presidents, Trump has drawn criticism for granting pardons and commutations to political allies. But legal scholars say the Republican president also has cast aside the traditional criteria and a clemency process historically overseen by nonpolitical Justice Department personnel. Trump has pardoned and commuted the sentences of more than 1,600 people since January. Administration officials say Trump decides on clemency requests after they're vetted by the White House Counsel's Office, the White House pardon czar and the Justice Department.
By ZEKE MILLER and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press
President Donald Trump will pardon former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. That's according to a person familiar with his plans who was not authorized to speak publicly. Trump already commuted Blagojevich's 14-year sentence for political corruption charges during his first term. The person says the Republican president planned to sign the pardon on Monday afternoon. Blagojevich is a Democrat who appeared on Trump's reality TV show "Celebrity Apprentice." Blagojevich was convicted in 2011 on charges that included seeking to sell an appointment to then-President Barack Obama's old Senate seat. Blagojevich served eight years before Trump cut short his term.
By ERIC TUCKER, ALI SWENSON and AARON KESSLER Associated Press
Kash Patel positioned himself as a steadfast Donald Trump loyalist well before the president picked him to run the FBI. An Associated Press review of nearly 100 podcasts that Patel hosted or on which he was interviewed over the last four years reveals how Patel has denigrated the investigations into Trump, sowed doubt in the criminal justice system, criticized the decision-making of the institution he's been asked to lead and professed sympathy for jailed Jan. 6 rioters. The vast catalog of provocative public statements, sometimes made in the company of like-minded FBI antagonists, provides an unusually extensive record into a nominee's unvarnished and controversial worldviews.
The Supreme Court took the bench again on Monday, ready to hear cases on ghost guns, a death sentence and transgender rights. The docket doesn't have quite as many blockbuster cases as it did last term when its rulings included an opinion granting broad immunity to former President Donald Trump. Still, it's possible that the conservative-majority court could yet be asked to intervene in election disputes after the ballots are cast in a few weeks.
The U.S. Navy has exonerated 256 Black sailors found to be unjustly punished in 1944 following a California port explosion that killed hundreds of service members and exposed racist double standards among the then-segregated ranks. At Port Chicago naval weapons station near San Francisco, 5,000 tons of munitions detonated, killing 320 personnel and injuring 390. Black sailors concerned for their safety refused to return to loading bombs without training on how to safely handle the munitions. The Navy punished them. Now, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro has signed paperwork saying the sailors were unjustly tried and convicted, clearing their names. Del Toro signed the paperwork Wednesday, the 80th anniversary of the disaster.
President Joe Biden says he will not use his presidential powers to lessen the eventual sentence that his son Hunter will receive for his federal felony conviction on gun crimes. Biden, following the conclusion of a news conference held Thursday at the Group of Seven summit of the world's wealthiest democracies, responded he would not when asked whether he plans to commute the sentence for his son. Hunter Biden's sentencing date has not been set, and the three counts carry up to 25 years in prison, though that's unlikely as a first-time offender.
