Before he left office, President Joe Biden followed his unprecedented pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, by issuing additional preemptive pardons to family members, dating back to his time as vice president. I believe these preemptive pardons serve as a confession that the Biden family sold out the American people to enrich themselves. In fact, Biden’s own Justice Department has argued that accepting a pardon implies an admission of guilt.  

When the House Oversight Committee began our investigation of Biden and his family’s alleged influence-peddling schemes, the narrative pushed by the legacy media was that the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop were disinformation. Biden claimed that his family’s business dealings were ‘ethical.’ But our investigation blew through these lies and more as we followed the money trail and conducted a forensic accounting of the Biden family ‘business.’ 

During our investigation, the House Oversight Committee reviewed hundreds of pages of documents at the U.S. Department of the Treasury generated by the Bidens’ and their associates’ high-dollar transactions. These documents are filed by experts at banks when there is evidence of potential money laundering or other criminal activity. Additionally, we obtained the bank records for Hunter Biden, James Biden, their shell companies, and business associates.  

Bank records don’t lie. Through these records, we identified over 20 companies that the Bidens and their associates created – most of which were created after Joe Biden became vice president of the United States. The Bidens and their associates then used these shell companies to accept payments from foreign entities and individuals. Once the payments arrived in the shell companies’ bank accounts, incremental payments were made from them to members of the Biden family. In fact, we identified 10 members of the Biden family who received these payments, some of which were sent directly to Joe Biden’s home in Delaware.  

Including loans that do not appear to have been paid back, the Biden family’s enrichment scheme generated over $30 million in payments to the Bidens and their associates from corrupt foreign entities and individuals in China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan. What were they selling? I believe it was access to Joe Biden and his influence. 

After we obtained the bank records, the Oversight Committee hauled in members of the Biden family and their associates for testimony. Multiple Biden family associates confirmed Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ sold around the world and helped close the Bidens’ deals with foreign nationals. 

Devon Archer, a Biden family associate, confirmed during a transcribed interview that when Joe Biden was vice president, he dined with Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, Kazakhstani oligarch Kenes Rakishev, and Burisma’s corporate secretary Vadym Pozharsky at Café Milano in Washington, D.C.  

These dinners occurred shortly before or after the foreign nationals or their affiliated entities were collectively paying Hunter Biden millions of dollars. Then-Vice President Joe Biden also met with Jonathan Li, a Chinese national who was Hunter Biden’s associate, and wrote a college letter of recommendation for his daughter. Even when presented with this evidence, President Biden continued to insist to the American people that he had never met with his son’s business associates.

Rob Walker, a Biden family associate who was involved in the Bidens’ dealings with Chinese and Romanian entities, confirmed during a transcribed interview that Joe Biden met with the now-missing chairman of CEFC, Ye Jianming, as Hunter Biden and his associates received $3 million from a Chinese entity CEFC controlled. 

Jason Galanis, another Biden family business associate, testified that Hunter Biden put his father on speakerphone with Yelena Baturina. Joe Biden ended the call by stating, ‘Ok then, you be good to my boy.’ A few days later, Baturina committed to a ‘hard order’ of $10-20 million to an entity benefiting Hunter Biden.  

Tony Bobulinski articulated under oath that Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ the Bidens sold to enrich the family. Biden not only knew about his family’s dealings with a Chinese Communist Party-linked energy company, but he also enabled them and participated in them. Tony Bobulinski testified he believes Biden committed wrongdoing and continues to lie to the American people about his participation in his family’s influence-peddling schemes.  

The Bidens and their associates then used these shell companies to accept payments from foreign entities and individuals. Once the payments arrived in the shell companies’ bank accounts, they would then launder money in incremental payments to members of the Biden family. In fact, we identified 10 members of the Biden family who benefited from these schemes, including Joe Biden. 

As we presented all this evidence to the American people in a transparent way, the legacy media claimed there was ‘no evidence’ of wrongdoing by Joe Biden and his family. Biden’s pardons of his family serve as an indictment of the legacy media, which lost all credibility as it covered up Joe Biden and his family’s abuse of power, corruption, and obstruction. Following the pardons, even former President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Bill Daley, said it ‘confirms that there are serious concerns about culpability.’  

The American people have seen through the Bidens’ lies and the legacy media’s coverup, and they know the truth: President Biden abused his public office to create a slush fund for his family. President Biden will go down as the most corrupt president in U.S. history, and our investigation will be remembered as one of the most successful ever conducted by Congress. Indeed, Joe Biden’s final act in office — pardoning his family — confirms it. 

Now that President Donald J. Trump has returned to the White House, what valuable insights can we take from his unprecedented political journey to improve our own lives? 

While countless political analyses have explored the astonishing nature of his comeback, what stands out most is the sheer magnitude of obstacles he overcame to reclaim the presidency. While many of us navigate life moving back and forth, Trump’s unwavering resolve has consistently propelled him forward. He’s refused to be deterred by setbacks. 

If you’re seeking inspiration for personal success, there’s much to learn from his resilience. Here are four major challenges he conquered and how you can apply these lessons to elevate your own life in the coming year.

Even When the World Is Against You…

For most people, a single lawsuit would be enough to cause sleepless nights. Now imagine being embroiled in multiple high-stakes legal battles simultaneously. 

President Trump faced four major cases at once: the federal January 6th case, the Georgia election case, the classified documents case, and the Manhattan hush money case. Each case drained resources – time, energy and money – but more significantly, any one of them could have derailed his focus from his ultimate mission. 

Whether these cases had legitimacy is irrelevant; the key takeaway is that focus triumphs over sheer brilliance. In moments of adversity, you must discern whether you are facing a genuine crisis or merely an inconvenience. Trump demonstrated to the nation that an unrelenting focus on the bigger picture can lead to victory.

Enemies Can Become Allies – Even Big Tech

Who could have imagined a scenario in which Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook would be seated together at a presidential inauguration? True leadership hinges on the ability to recognize and leverage strategic opportunities. At one point, Mark Zuckerberg believed he had aligned himself with the Biden administration by condemning Trump’s stance on immigration and other liberal issues. However, when Biden accused Facebook of ‘killing people’ for not fully submitting to government-mandated content moderation, the tables turned. 

Through sheer influence, Trump managed to bring the tech titans to his side – an industry that once vilified him. But beyond politics, the presence of these executives at his inauguration signaled something even greater: a unified front in technological supremacy, sending a powerful message to China and the world that America will not be overtaken in innovation.

So What If People Don’t Like You?

As Donald Trump prepared for his second inauguration, his approval ratings remained in a precarious position, teetering on the edge of turning positive for the first time. According to FiveThirtyEight’s tracker, his approval rating had narrowed significantly from an unfavorable margin of 8.6 points on Election Day to nearly neutral in early January.

Trump embodies the archetype of the boss many of us have encountered—one whose management style, communication or leadership tactics may not always be well received. However, what remains undeniable is his ability to execute and deliver results.

As Trump left office in 2021, his approval rating stood at a dismal 34%, the lowest of his presidency. His overall approval average was four points lower than any of his predecessors in Gallup’s polling history. Yet, despite all this, the electorate overwhelmingly reinstated him because they recognized his ability to address key national concerns – securing the border, revitalizing the economy and ensuring public safety.

Do Celebrity Endorsements Even Matter Anymore?

In a world where cultural icons like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Oprah publicly endorse a candidate, conventional wisdom would suggest an easy path to victory for their chosen side. In addition, raising a billion dollars should theoretically provide the financial firepower necessary to outmaneuver an opponent. 

Yet, despite 90% of mainstream media, Hollywood elites and the entertainment industry aligning against him, Trump remained undeterred.

Many individuals believe that success is determined by having the ‘right connections’ – a prestigious endorsement, an influential mentor, or a well-connected network. 

However, Trump’s triumph proves that external validation is not the deciding factor. Whether in school, at work or in politics, personal success is not dictated by who endorses you but by how the people – your audience, clients or colleagues – ultimately respond to your efforts.

Four More Years

The biggest question now isn’t what President Trump will do with his renewed presidency – it’s what lessons you can extract from his historic return to power and how you can apply them to your own ambitions. 

Throughout a relentless political storm, Trump exemplified the power of persistence, demonstrating that hard work and resilience yield results. He proved that no challenge is insurmountable, no setback too significant, and no opposition too powerful if you remain committed to your goals.

Now, the challenge is yours. Take these lessons, harness your determination and make the next four years your most successful yet.

President Donald Trump’s re-entrance into the White House has meant the complete overturning of Biden administration policies, the withdrawal of major international agreements and uncertainty that has left international partners waiting to see where they stand in the pecking order as some manage damage control while others vie for a seat at the table.

Trump’s actions came as no surprise this time around as the 47th president enters his second term. But what it means in terms of geopolitics remains unclear as adversaries and allies alike watch to see how these next four years will play out. 

WHO’S IN

Trump met with Meloni, leader of the conservative Brothers of Italy party, at his Mar-a-Lago residence earlier this month. The Italian leader, who has already voiced her support for Trump’s position on international issues like increasing NATO defense spending, attended Trump’s inauguration on Monday. According to reports this week, she has been deemed the ‘Trump whisperer’ and the ‘preferred interlocutor in the EU’ – a particularly important relationship amid concern that Trump could start a trade war with Europe.

A long-time ally of Trump, Orban championed his return to the Oval Office this month and reportedly declared that with Trump in office he could launch the ‘second phase of the offensive that aims to occupy Brussels,’ which he claimed is ‘occupied by a left-liberal oligarchy.’ Orban, though invited, did not attend the inauguration due to a scheduling conflict. 

Once hailed by Trump as the leader to ‘make Argentina great again,’ Milei is looking to expand relations with the U.S. On Wednesday during the Davos World Economic Forum, he told Bloomberg he may be willing to leave the more than 30-year-old Mercosur trade bloc founded by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay in 1991, if it means securing a new trade deal with the U.S.

 India is also scrambling to secure a trade deal with the U.S. amid concerns over international tariffs. Despite improved ties between India and China, and a meeting between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia last year, Reuters reported on Wednesday that Modi is looking to back off its reliance on Beijing – its largest trading partner – and instead lean in on relations with Washington. Modi is looking to meet with Trump in February. 

Trump and Netanyahu maintained a strong relationship during the president’s first term, and a similar dynamic is expected to remain during Trump’s second term. Netanyahu on Monday released a video message congratulating Trump on his inauguration and said that ‘the best days of our alliance are yet to come.’ He also thanked Trump for the role his administration played in helping to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which initiated the return of the hostages still held in Gaza. 

WHO’S TOEING THE LINE

 The U.S.-U.K. partnership has often been described as a ‘special relationship,’ and London has long been one of Washington’s closest allies. But the ties between the U.S. and U.K. will be tested as Trump faces Labour leader Keir Starmer, who has previously been critical of Trump. 

Starmer, in 2023, condemned the U.K.’s Conservative party for ‘behave[ing] more and more like Donald Trump’ rather than embodying the values championed by Winston Churchill. 

‘They look at the politics of America and want to bring that here,’ he said. ‘Is there anybody in the government now who feels a sense of obligation to anything other than their own self-interest? To democracy, the rule of law, serving our country?’ 

‘It’s all woke, woke, woke. Wedge, wedge, wedge. Divide, divide, divide,’ he added.

Starmer has since pledged to work with Trump and to ensure the ‘special relationship’ endures, though he is expected to face a tough road.

 The leader of the U.S.’s oldest ally is the only remaining European leader on the United Nations Security Council who was in office alongside Trump during his first term. Trump and Macron often butted heads during Trump’s first term and, despite an invitation to the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in December, reports indicate this time will likely be no different. 

While Macron was among the first to congratulate Trump on his second presidential victory, he also issued multiple statements of warning this week, first when he said that now is the time for a ‘European strategic wake-up call,’ emphasizing the need to lessen reliance on the U.S. for defense. 

The second warning came on Wednesday when it said ‘it is necessary more than ever for Europeans . . . to play their role of consolidating a united, strong and sovereign Europe’ as it stares down stiff tariffs vowed by Trump. 

 Scholz’s predecessor, Angela Merkel, often went head-to-head with Trump and reportedly believed that the U.S. president specifically had it out for Germany during his first term. Scholz, who leads the left-leaning Social Democrats, appears to be following in a similar no-nonsense approach when it comes to the second Trump administration and on Wednesday made it clear that Trump ‘will be, and so much is already clear, a challenge.’ 

Speaking alongside Macron on Wednesday, Scholz pledged to stand united with his European allies and said, ‘Our position is clear. Europe is a big economic power with around 450 million citizens. We are strong, we stand together. Europe will not duck and hide but will be a constructive and self-confident partner.’

Trump has made clear that the EU is in his crosshairs, telling reporters this week, ‘The European Union is very, very bad to us.’ But President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen made clear this week she is ready to work with the new U.S. president.

‘No other economies in the world are as integrated as we are,’ she said, noting that the trade volumes between the U.S. and Europe account for 30% of all trade globally, reported Reuters. ‘Our first priority will be to engage early, discuss common interests and be ready to negotiate.’

She made clear that the EU will not be bullied by Trump and said, ‘We will be pragmatic, but we will always stand by our principles. To protect our interests and uphold our values – that is the European way.’

EU feelings toward Trump appear fairly divided as the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, has backed Trump’s push to increase defense spending across the board in Europe. Right-wing Danish member of the European Parliament Anders Vistisen addressed Trump’s stated desire to acquire Greenland and in a public message did not mince words.

‘Dear President Trump, listen very carefully: Greenland has been part of the Danish kingdom for 800 years. It is an integrated part of our country. It is not for sale,’ Vistisen said. ‘Let me put it in words you might understand. Mr. Trump, f*** off!’

 Following a series of dramatic reports and resignations relating to Trudeau’s handling of Trump after he was newly elected and claimed that Canada should be the U.S.’s 51st state, Trudeau resigned from the top job this month.

It remains unclear who will replace Trudeau in a March 9 election, within his Liberal Party ahead of the general election later this year, where the party is expected to lose to the country’s Conservatives.

Trudeau has said, ‘There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,’ and government officials across the board are bracing for a trade war with the U.S. after Trump threatened to levy 25% tariffs on Canada, starting Feb. 1. 

Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said this week that Ottawa ‘will continue to work on preventing tariffs’ but said that officials are also ‘working on retaliation.’ 

In the final hours of his term, President Joe Biden negotiated a prisoner exchange with the Taliban that released U.S. citizens Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty from Taliban custody. 

Not included in the deal, however, were U.S. citizens George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi.

On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X that he was ‘just hearing’ of the detentions of additional Americans by the Taliban. 

‘If this is true, we will have to immediately place a VERY BIG bounty on their top leaders, maybe even bigger than the one we had on Bin Laden,’ Rubio wrote.

Dennis Fitzpatrick, who is coordinating efforts outside the U.S. government for Glezmann’s release, claimed Glezmann was ‘never a serious priority for the Biden White House.’ 

‘President Biden and [former National Security Advisor] Jake Sullivan decided to leave George Glezmann in Kabul for no good reason,’ Fitzpatrick told Fox News Digital. ‘We are confident that President Trump’s clear-eyed leadership will secure George’s release to his family.’

Fitzpatrick added that 66-year-old Glezmann is ‘a totally innocent man’ who was ‘a hard-working, blue-collar airline mechanic before he was wrongfully detained. He doesn’t deserve to be used as a pawn.’

Glezmann has been in detention since Dec. 5, 2022, when he was traveling to Afghanistan to ‘explore the cultural landscape and rich history of the country’ according to a Senate resolution from July 2024 calling for his immediate release. 

The resolution states that Glezmann’s mental and physical condition were deteriorating as a result of his detention in a nine-foot square underground cell. He has only been allowed limited calls to family and has experienced ‘facial tumors, hypertension, severe malnutrition, and other medical conditions’ as a result of his detention.

While the Taliban admit to holding Glezmann in custody, they insist they do not hold Mahmood Habibi. 

Habibi’s brother Ahmad told Fox News Digital the family ‘know[s] that my brother is still in Taliban custody. I can’t share too much about that because we don’t want to put him or others at risk. But anyone accepting the Taliban’s hollow suggestions that they do not have him is falling for their lies.

‘We have multiple witnesses to his arrest by the [General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI)]. We have multiple witnesses who were held with him at GDI headquarters. The Taliban has always claimed they don’t have him and don’t know who he is. How do they explain the obvious contradictions to this?’

Ahmad also claimed the family ‘know[s] that the U.S. government has technical evidence that Mahmood was in GDI custody long after his arrest.’ 

He alleges the Biden National Security Council ‘micromanaged the State Department’s effort to secure my brother’s release’ and ‘blocked [the State Department] from using the data in their discussions with the Taliban, even though we told them that it would have directly confronted the Taliban’s claims that they never heard of my brother.’ 

Neither the State Department nor the National Security Council responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for confirmation of Ahmad’s claims.

Fox News Digital also reached out to Taliban spokespersons Zabihullah Mujahid and Suhail Shaheen about Habibi’s detention and asked Mujahid what happened to Habibi after he was arrested by the GDI. Mujahid did not respond. Shaheen directed Fox News Digital to reach out to the GDI and claimed no knowledge of the situation.  

The Taliban have long sought the release of Guantanamo Bay detainee and al Qaeda facilitator Muhammad Rahim in exchange for the Americans they admitted were in their prisons. Ahmad Habibi told CBS News President Biden assured him in a Jan. 12 phone call that the U.S. would not release Rahim unless the Taliban released Habibi.

Former Principal Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Hugh Dugan told Fox News Digital the Trump administration could pursue multiple ‘lines of effort’ to secure the release of Glezmann and Habibi. 

Dugan said this could involve ‘outright rescue by the military’ at one level or continued ‘subtle diplomacy in the background.’  

Dugan said he recognized that ‘to say we’re doing everything we can … is not satisfying to a family member, frankly, or anybody, and they want to hear that you’re continuing to identify what might have eluded us all along, or that there’s a crack in the horizon that’s opening. 

‘And we need to realize that that might be another step in our path to recovery and a line of effort has to be amended to accommodate new realities at any given moment.’