Trump suggests it was a mistake for Biden not to pardon himself – US politics live | US politics

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Donald Trump has repeatedly complained about the Panama Canal and the fees being charged, calling the vital transport corridor a “foolish gift (to Panama) that should never have been made” and threatening to take it back.

But he has also repeatedly accused China of being in control of it. At his inauguration Trump claimed without providing evidence that “China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back.”

So what is the extent of China-linked operations along the Panama Canal? My colleague, Helen Davidson, runs through the facts in this explainer:

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Updated at 05.14 EST

The Kremlin said on Thursday it saw nothing new in US president Donald Trump’s latest remarks on the Ukraine conflict, but that Moscow was ready for “mutually respectful” dialogue with him.

Trump on Wednesday threatened fresh sanctions on Moscow if it did not strike a deal to end its nearly three-year offensive on Ukraine.

“We do not see any particularly new elements,” Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters, when asked about Trump’s comments.

Peskov said it was clear from Trump’s first presidency that he “liked” sanctions and that Moscow was “closely following” his statements. “We remain ready for dialogue, for equal, mutually respectful dialogue,” Peskov said, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Expectations are high that Russian president Vladimir Putin and Trump will soon hold a phone call on the conflict in the coming days.

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US envoy tells Nato secretary-general that allies must pay ‘fair share’ before expansion

Nato allies must pay their “fair share” on defence before considering enlarging the alliance, US envoy Richard Grenell said on Thursday, in a retort to the Nato secretary-general during an event in Davos, Switzerland.

“You’re going to run into a big buzzsaw in America if we have the Nato secretary general talking about adding Ukraine to Nato,” Grenell said by video link at an event on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

“You cannot ask the American people to expand the umbrella of Nato when the current members aren’t paying their fair share, and that includes the Dutch who need to step up,” Grenell said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He was speaking after Nato secretary general and former Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, said minutes earlier that “full Nato membership is then the easiest outcome” for Ukraine if a “sustainable” peace is secured.

Grenell also echoed US president Donald Trump’s call on Nato members to spend more on defence. “We need to make sure that those leaders are spending the right amount of money. We need to be able to avoid war. And that means a credible threat from Nato,” Grenell said.

The envoy blasted Trump’s predecessor for not speaking to Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying the new US president was pressuring Ukraine and Russia “to the table”.

“There’s a huge frustration from Americans that we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and our leaders aren’t speaking to each other to try to solve problems,” Grenell said.

The transatlantic alliance’s 32 countries in 2023 set a minimum level for defence spending of 2% of gross domestic product, but Trump has suggested raising this to 5%. Rutte acknowledged that the share had to increase.

“We have collectively to move up and we will decide on the exact number later this year, but it will be considerably more than two (percent),” Rutte said.

He also said Europe would have to pay more for continued US defence support.

“We have to be willing to do that, because at this moment, they are paying more than the Europeans. And here Trump is right,” Rutte said.

After Grenell’s remarks, Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo reminded the audience that Putin was “the enemy”, adding: “I see a lot of finger pointing between partners. And that’s not helpful.”

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Updated at 04.56 EST

Nato secretary-general, Mark Rutte, on Thursday called for the US to continue supplying Ukraine and said Europe would pay the bill, reports Reuters.

Speaking at an event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Rutte said the alliance must invest more in defence, ramp up defence industrial production and take on a bigger share of spending on help for Ukraine.

“On Ukraine, we need US also to stay involved,” Rutte said. “If this new Trump administration is willing to keep on supplying Ukraine from its defence industrial base, the bill will be paid by the Europeans, I’m absolutely convinced of this, we have to be willing to do that,” he added.

The secretary general’s comments came after US president Donald Trump said earlier this week that the European Union should be doing more to support Ukraine.

In Davos, Rutte also said it was vital Russia did not win as it could result in Russian president Vladimir Putin ‘high fiving’ the leaders of North Korea and China.

“We really have to step up and not scale back our support for Ukraine,” Rutte said. “The frontline is moving in the wrong direction.”

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David Smith

Those pardoned by Donald Trump include more than 250 people who were convicted of assault charges, some having attacked police during the US Capitol riots with makeshift weapons such as flagpoles, a hockey stick and a crutch. Many of the attacks were captured on surveillance or body camera footage that showed rioters engaging in hand-to-hand combat with police as officers desperately fought to beat back the angry crowd.

Yet in his interview with Sean Hannity, a longtime friend and Fox News host, Trump claimed:

Some of those people with the police – true – but they were very minor incidents, OK, you know, they get built up by that couple of fake guys that are on CNN all the time. They were very minor incidents and it was time.”

He then pivoted without providing context to assert:

You have murderers in Philadelphia. You have murderers in Los Angeles that don’t even get any time. They don’t even collect them and they know they’re there to be collected. And then they go on television and act holier than thou about this one or that one. You had 1,500 people that suffered. That’s a lot of people.”

Trump’s sweeping pardons have provided an early loyalty test for the Republican party. While a handful of senators including former leader Mitch McConnell have condemned the move, most have backed the president or performed verbal contortions. Two major police unions said they are “deeply discouraged” by the pardons and commutations.

On Wednesday night the president went on:

This was a political hoax. And you know what? Those people – and I’m not saying in every single case – but there was a lot of patriotism with those people.”

Trump then boasted that he provided a voiceover for “Justice for All”, a version of the Star-Spangled Banner sung by a group of January 6 defendants over a prison phone line. “It was the number one selling song, number one on Billboard, number one on everything for so long. People get it. They wanted to see those people.”

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‘Very minor incidents’: Trump defends January 6 pardons in first interview since inauguration

David Smith

Donald Trump has described attacks on police officers at the US Capitol on January 6 2021 as “very minor incidents” as he sought to defend his decision to pardon the insurrectionists.

The US president hinted that those who put him through “four years of hell” via criminal prosecutions should themselves be investigated, adding ominously that his predecessor, Joe Biden, made a mistake by not pardoning himself.

Trump was giving the first televised interview of his second term to Sean Hannity, a longtime friend and Fox News host, in the Oval Office at the White House on Wednesday.

Among the topics was Trump’s move on Monday to pardon, commute the prison sentences or dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Hannity asked why people who were violent towards police were included.

Trump claimed that they had suffered unduly harsh prison conditions then falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen despite courts, officials and his own attorney general finding otherwise. “They were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged and they were protesting the vote and you should be allowed to protest the vote,” he said.

Often criticised as a Trump sycophant and propagandist, Hannity nevertheless objected that protesters should not be able to invade the Capitol building.

The president responded:

Most of the people were absolutely innocent. OK. But forgetting all about that, these people have served, horribly, a long time. It would be very, very cumbersome to go and look – you know how many people we’re talking about? 1,500 people.”

Vice-president JD Vance has previously stated that those who committed violence on January 6 “obviously” should not receive pardons. But media accounts suggest that Trump lost patience with the idea of going through the cases individually and wanted maximum impact on his first day in office. The Axios website reported: “Trump just said: ‘F–k it: Release ’em all,’” an adviser familiar with the discussions said.”

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Trump suggests it was a mistake for Biden to not pardon himself before leaving office

US president Donald Trump has suggested that it was a mistake for the former president, Joe Biden, to not pardon himself before leaving office.

In an interview with Fox News host, Sean Hannity, Trump said:

This guy went around giving everybody pardons. And you know, the funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn’t give himself a pardon. And if you look at it, it all had to do with him.”

It came as Trump told Hannity that he was given the option to pardon himself in 2021 when he was departing the White House, but declined because he believed he had done nothing wrong.

In the interview – his first one-on-one interview since returning to the White House for his second term – Trump said that Biden had been given “very bad advice”. He said:

Joe Biden has very bad advisers. Somebody advised Joe Biden to give pardons to everybody but him.”

Additionally, in the same interview, Trump said he may withhold aid to California until the state adjusts how it manages its scarce water resources. He falsely claimed that California’s fish conservation efforts in the northern part of the state are responsible for fire hydrants running dry in urban areas.

“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump told Hannity.

More on that in a moment. Here are some other developments:

Donald Trump has described attacks on police officers at the US Capitol on January 6 2021 as “very minor incidents” as he sought to defend his decision to pardon the insurrectionists. Those pardoned include more than 250 people who were convicted of assault charges, some having attacked police with makeshift weapons such as flagpoles, a hockey stick and a crutch.

Trump also used the prime-time Fox News interview to discuss his barrage of executive orders, dismiss security concerns over Chinese-owned app TikTok (“Is it that important for China to be spying on young people, on young kids watching crazy videos?”) and discuss the possibility of cutting off federal funds to so-called “sanctuary cities” that shield undocumented immigrants from federal detention requests.

On Thursday, Trump will speak remotely at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, delivering his first major speech to global business and political leaders. He is due to give a speech and engage in a dialogue at 11am US Eastern Time (4pm GMT), according to the meeting schedule. It is not clear what he will discuss.

The new US presidential envoy for special missions has pushed back against Nato chief, Mark Rutte’s talk at the World Economic Forum about Ukraine joining Nato, pointing out many members of the alliance aren’t paying their “fair share” already. Richard Grenell, appointed by Trump in December, said it is “pretty shocking” that so many foreign ministers in Europe, and so many US politicians, did not try to stop the Russia-Ukraine war, and criticised Biden’s handling of the situation.

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Updated at 04.37 EST