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World leaders congratulated President Donald Trump on his inauguration Monday, with many urging stronger alliances or continued cooperation between their countries and the United States, in carefully crafted social media posts and statements.

Trump’s return to the White House portends a seismic shakeup in international relations, with the new president immediately ordering the US’ withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and World Health Organization, as world leaders brace for new tariffs on goods and the impact of Trump’s “America first” agenda.

Some populist leaders celebrated Trump’s return, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who called the US president a “dear friend,” and Hungary’s Victor Orbán who declared, “now it’s our turn to shine.”

But not all the messages were congratulatory.

Some leaders expressed their anger at remarks Trump made during his Inauguration Day speech, or with the controversial raft of executive actions he signed almost immediately after entering the Oval Office.

Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino rejected Trump’s promise that the US would be “taking back” the Panama Canal. The vital waterway in Central America was built by the US but is now controlled by Panama.

“The Canal is and will continue to be Panama’s,” Mulino reiterated in a statement. “There is no presence of any nation in the world that interferes with our administration,” he added, apparently referring to Trump’s claim that China is “operating” the canal.

Other regional neighbors were also critical of Trump.

Cuba condemned Trump’s decision to put the Communist-run island back on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, with its president calling the move, “an act of arrogance and disregard for the truth.”

“This is not surprising. His goal is to continue strengthening the cruel economic war against Cuba for the purpose of domination,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on X.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez also issued a scathing response to the decision, saying Trump was “drunk with arrogance.”

But outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau struck a more conciliatory tone, despite Trump’s recent jibes about making Canada the 51st US state and indication that he will impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico on February 1.

Trudeau congratulated Trump and said Canada looks forward to working with the new administration, “while protecting and defending the interests of Canadians.”

Wartime leaders

Trump repeatedly signaled his wish to end the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine during his campaign and major players in both conflicts have adjusted their positions accordingly in the months since his November election victory.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that “the best days of our alliance are yet to come.” He also thanked Trump for his assistance in brokering Israel’s ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas.

“Your first term as President was filled with groundbreaking moments,” Netanyahu said. “I’m confident that we will complete the defeat of Iran’s terror axis and usher in a new era of peace and prosperity for our region.”

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed openness to rebuilding relations with the new US administration, saying he welcomed statements from Trump and his team “expressing a desire to restore direct contact with Russia.”

Trump on Monday said he plans to meet Putin once talks are set up, a process he said was already underway.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been trying to win over Trump and convince him to continue US military assistance as Kyiv fends off Moscow’s invasion, said Trump’s inauguration was a day of “change” and “hope.”

He also praised Trump’s “peace through strength policy,” saying it provides an opportunity to achieve “a long-term and just peace.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said, “With President Trump back in office we will turbo-charge defense spending and production.” Trump previously said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that doesn’t meet spending guidelines and would not offer such a country US protection.

Allies’ hopes

Several Asian leaders also took to social media to congratulate Trump, expressing hopes for continued alliances. US security and military assistance to countries in the Asia-Pacific has been a cornerstone of previous administrations’ foreign policy, which has centered around countering an increasingly assertive China.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in a post on X that he looks “forward to collaborating with you to reinforce the enduring Japan-US partnership and jointly pursue our shared goal of a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te offered his “sincere congratulations” to Trump and Vice President JD Vance, saying “Taiwan looks forward to working with your administration to promote enduring freedom, peace and prosperity around the world.”

In Europe, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz congratulated Trump on X, saying, “For a long time, Germany and the US have been working together successfully promoting prosperity and freedom on both sides of the Atlantic. We will continue to do so for the wellbeing of our citizens.”

United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “the special relationship between the UK and the US will continue to flourish for years to come.”

Starmer recently criticized those “spreading lies and misinformation” about child sex grooming gangs in the UK, responding to Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Trump adviser, who had accused the prime minister of being “complicit in the rape of Britain” over historic child sex abuse in parts of England.

European Union leaders also looked to strengthen the transatlantic partnership with the US.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, “the EU looks forward to working closely with you to tackle global challenges,” while European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said in an address to the legislature that the future “will not be without its challenges.”

Middle Eastern endorsement

Leaders and diplomats in the Middle East also expressed hope for closer relations with the US.

Syria’s de facto leader, the former rebel chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, said, “We are confident that (Trump) is the leader to bring peace to the Middle East and restore stability to the region.”

Al-Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, became the de facto head of Syria’s interim government after his Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), toppled longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad in December.

“We look forward to improving the relations between our two countries based on dialogue and understanding,” he said in a statement “on behalf of the New Administration of Syria.”

Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the US Reema Bandar Al-Saud posted photos from the inauguration in Washington on her X account, including of her meeting Trump.

“As our two nations celebrate 80 years of friendship, it was my honor to convey our leadership’s heartfelt congratulations on behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” she wrote.

“The relationship between our two countries is historic and we look forward to continuing our work together for the benefit of both our peoples, our region, and the world.”

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Born from “gunboat diplomacy,” the Panama Canal is under threat from US saber rattling once again.

More than 100 years after the construction of the engineering marvel that linked the Atlantic and Pacific oceans – and 25 years after the canal was returned to Panama by the US – the waterway faces renewed intimidation from an American president.

US President Donald Trump in his inaugural address on Monday vowed to wrest the canal back. “We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made and Panama’s promise to us been broken,” Trump said, claiming that Panama overcharges the US Navy to transit the canal.

“Above all China is operating the Panama Canal,” Trump also said, a frequent claim he has made without providing any evidence. “And we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama and we are taking it back!”

Panamanian officials have scoffed at Trump’s latest claims that the country charges too much for ships to transit the canal or that China secretly has taken control of the waterway.

Still, his threats are not taken idly by Panamanians who consider the canal to be central to their national identity and depend on lucrative canal traffic. In 2024, the canal earned nearly $5 billion in total profits. According to a study released in December by IDB Invest, 23.6% of Panama’s annual income is generated from the canal and companies that provide services related to the canal’s operations.

Panama has also experienced several US military interventions over the years.

“All he [Trump] needs is to land ten thousand troops and that’s it,” said Ovidio Diaz-Espino, who was born in Panama and is the author of “How Wall Street Created a Nation: J.P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt, and the Panama Canal.” He added: “We don’t have an army.”

How the US imposed a canal on Panama in the first place

In 1903, Panama was a restive department of Colombia, with many Panamanians advocating openly for independence from a central government on the other side of the impassable Darien Gap jungle that they felt neglected them. Colombia, though, had little interest in letting go of the strategically located territory.

For generations, outsiders had considered the narrow isthmus to be the perfect spot for a trans-oceanic canal that would shorten the sea voyage by thousands of miles. Ships would no longer need to circumnavigate South America, braving the treacherous waters off Cape Horn. But the actual excavating of “the Big Ditch,” as it became known, was far more challenging than any undertaking previously attempted.

A French attempt to build a canal in the 1880s was met with disaster after scores of workers died from yellow fever and malaria amid allegations of financial mismanagement. The attempt, led by the famed developer of the Suez Canal Ferdinand de Lesseps, all but bankrupted France.

Failing to reach terms with Colombia to build a US canal, then US President Theodore Roosevelt sent gunships to Panama’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts to support calls for Panamanian independence. But celebrations in Panama after declaring independence were short-lived; public opinion in the new nation soured quickly over a treaty signed with the US that granted Americans open-ended use of the future canal.

Panamanians accused their envoy to the US, French engineer and soldier Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, of betraying their interests to make a fortune from the deal he cut with the US. But dependent on the US to protect their freedom from Colombia, Panama’s hands were tied.

The US imported workers to build the canal from across the Caribbean. An ingenious system of locks designed by the US Army Corps of Engineers raised ships from ocean level to Gatun Lake, the largest man-made lake at the time, where they could cross the isthmus.

The final explosion that flooded the canal was triggered from the White House via telegraph in 1913 by then-President Woodrow Wilson. “Canal is opened by Wilson’s finger,” read the headline in next day’s New York Times.

The US-controlled canal quickly became a vital asset for American commerce and the US Navy.

Panama received a $10 million initial payment from the US for the territory followed by $250,000 each year. Many Panamanians resented that the canal that divided their country in half was off limits to them.

“It was colonialism. The country was divided in two and you couldn’t even go inside,” said author Diaz-Espino of the Canal Zone. “They had everything. They had golf courses, they had recreation centers and at the other side of the fence was Panama.”

Tensions steadily rose until January 1964 when riots broke out after demonstrators entered the off-limits Canal Zone and tried to raise the Panamanian flag there. Twenty-two Panamanian students and four US Marines died in the fighting that ensued.

For 13 years, US and Panamanian officials discussed a plan to return the canal to Panama during both Democrat and Republican administrations. Finally, in 1977, then-President Jimmy Carter reached an agreement with then-Panamanian strongman Omar Torrijos for the US and Panama to jointly administer the crucial waterway, with the canal being fully turned over to Panama at midnight on December 31, 1999.

“Fairness and not force should lie at the heart of our dealings with the nations of the world,” Carter said at the signing ceremony for the accords.

But the final agreement still gave the US the right to intervene militarily to keep the canal open – a condition that could potentially be exploited by Trump in an attempt to retake the canal by force but unlikely to meet legal scrutiny as the canal continues to see record traffic.

The lucrative Panama Canal

In 2007, Panama began work on the canal’s largest expansion in nearly a century, a new set of locks that would allow larger ships – more than one and a half times the size the ships that previously transited the waterway to travel through the canal. The new locks cost Panama more than $5 billion and went into operation in 2016. They also more than doubled the marine traffic the canal could handle.

The expanded canal has reaped billions of dollars for Panama and helped the country become a rare bastion of stability in Central America where other nations are beset by poverty and violent drug trafficking that fuel migration to the US.

And its success has been noticed. “Panama is doing so well with the canal, there are many workers, there is so much employment,” Trump said in 2011. “The US foolishly gave the canal for nothing.”

Panama officials have made clear they would not stand for any attempt to seize the lucrative waterway, which about 5% of all global maritime traffic passes through. “I fully reject the insinuating words by President Donald Trump at his inaugural address relating to Panama and its canal,” Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino said on X on Monday. “The canal is and will remain Panamanian and its administration will remain under Panamanian control with respect to its permanent neutrality.”

But the specter of another US intervention has alarm bells sounding from a country that depends on both its namesake waterway and on good relations with Washington.

“The Panama Canal is our oil, and this is as if you’re threatening to take oil from Saudi Arabia, to take away the oil wells,” said Diaz-Espino. “This would be devastating to the country. We’d be left with the debt and without the income.”

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A fire broke out at a ski resort hotel in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring another 32, according to the country’s Interior Minister.

The fire, which broke out at a hotel in the Kartalkaya resort in Bolu province, was reported around 3:27 a.m. local time, Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X.

The resort is a popular destination for holiday-makers in the winter, especially during school holidays, which run from January until the first week of February.

There were around 234 guests staying at the hotel, Governor Abdulaziz Aydin told the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Two of the victims died after jumping out of the building “in a panic,” Aydin said.

According to Yerlikaya, authorities mobilized 267 emergency personnel to respond to the blaze.

A number of videos, some shared on social media and others broadcast by Turkish TV stations, showed flames coming out of the top floors of the hotel. Some people were seen using tied bed sheets to try to escape the blaze.

Turkey’s Interior, Tourism and Health ministers are en route to the Kartalkaya resort and are expected to hold a press conference later on Tuesday, the ministries said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Taipei, Taiwan (AP) — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of six struck southern Taiwan early Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey, leaving 15 people with minor injuries.

The quake hit at 12:17 a.m. local time, with its epicenter 12 kilometers (7 miles) north of Yujing at a preliminary depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), USGS said. Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration recorded a magnitude of 6.4.

There were no immediate reports of deaths from the quake, though rescuers were still assessing damage.

Taiwan’s fire department said 15 people were sent to the hospital for minor injuries. Among them were six people, including one child, who were rescued from a collapsed house in Nanxi District, Tainan city. The Zhuwei bridge on a provincial highway was reported to be damaged.

Last April, a magnitude 7.4 quake hit the island’s mountainous eastern coast of Hualien, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 1,000 others. The strongest earthquake in 25 years was followed by hundreds of aftershocks.

Taiwan lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.

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For many of America’s 170 million TikTok users, US President Donald Trump’s move to delay a legal ban of the popular social media platform was cause for celebration.

But in China, where TikTok’s parent company is based, the reception has been less positive, largely because Trump has suggested he could require the company to give up a 50% stake to avert its shutdown.

The future of TikTok should be “decided by companies” in line with Chinese law, China’s Foreign Ministry said Monday ahead of Trump’s inauguration.

The US should “earnestly listen to the voice of reason” and “provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment” for companies from all countries, spokesperson Mao Ning said when asked about the joint venture proposal.

Hours after his inauguration Monday, Trump issued an executive order delaying for 75 days the enforcement of a controversial law, which requires that TikTok be banned in the US unless it sells to a buyer from America or one of its allies.

The executive action followed a pledge from Trump on Sunday that he would delay enforcement. TikTok said that assurance allowed it to come back online after going dark for more than 12 hours over the weekend.

The delay will help the Trump administration “determine the appropriate course forward in an orderly way that protects national security while avoiding an abrupt shutdown of a communications platform used by millions of Americans,” the order said.

Trump has repeatedly suggested that he could be open to an American buyer purchasing half of the company and running it as a 50-50 joint venture with its current Chinese owner ByteDance.

A joint venture involving a US firm with a 50% stake in TikTok would soften the letter of the controversial law, though it’s unclear whether US lawmakers or TikTok, which denies that it poses a national security risk to Americans, would accept it.

Backlash in China

On Chinese social media, where TikTok’s fate has appeared as one among many efforts from the US to stymy Beijing’s technical prowess, Trump’s suggestions were met with distain.

Tens of millions of users on the social media platform Weibo flocked to hashtags related to the potential 50-50 ownership, with many decrying the US government’s “robbery.”

“Apple and Tesla should also give up 50% of their shares to Chinese companies then,” one comment with thousands of likes said.

“We need 50% control of Nvidia then!” said another commentator, referring to the US chipmaker.

“China will not let ByteDance kneel down,” another comment read, referring to TikTok’s parent company. “Robbery does not change its nature just because it changes from 100% to 50%,” the comment added.

Media giant ByteDance does not operate TikTok in China, but its sister app Douyin is popular domestically.

Meanwhile, an editorial in the state-run nationalist tabloid Global Times on Tuesday looked at the handling of the US ban and concluded that “the trap some Americans set for TikTok has ensnared them instead.”

“The political manipulation of an overstretched concept of security against TikTok has not only caused fluctuations in the emotions of the American public, but has also led to ‘deep personal pain’ for some who rely on it for their livelihood,” the editorial read.

TikTok and tariffs

Despite the uncertainty around the fate of TikTok, both the US and China have appeared to show their interest in dialogue as the new administration gets underway.

In a phone call with Trump on Friday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for a “new starting point” in US-China relations and stressed their “extensive common interests.” Trump noted that the call included discussion of TikTok.

Xi also dispatched Chinese Vice President Han Zheng to Trump’s inauguration, the seniormost official Beijing has ever sent to an American presidential inauguration.

Trump’s executive order on TikTok stands as one of a range of signals from the newly sworn-in president that he is willing to negotiate with Beijing, despite campaigning on a hardline stance on the country, the US’s key geopolitical rival.

Trump on Monday also refrained from slapping tariffs on Chinese goods, something observers suggested could be on his day one agenda. While on the campaign trial, Trump threatened upwards of 60% tariffs on Chinese imports into the US, and Beijing has been braced for sharper economic competition with the US under his term.

When asked about those tariffs Monday, Trump said duties he imposed as president the first time around were still in place. He did not name any timeline within which when he might levy more duties, despite saying tariffs against Mexican and Canadian goods were likely to go into place February 1.

But Trump also suggested tariffs could be linked to TikTok’s fate – raising questions about the kind of hard bargaining the president may have in mind in the months ahead.

In remarks in the Oval Office Monday, Trump posited levying as much as 100% tariffs on China if Beijing didn’t approve a potential future agreement.

“If we wanted to make a deal with TikTok and it was a good deal and China wouldn’t approve it … I think ultimately, they’d approve it because we’d put tariffs on China, maybe,” he said, while suggesting this wasn’t the only approach he could take.

Beijing has previously suggested it has the legal authority to block any deal involving TikTok, because a sale or divestiture would involve “exporting technology” – an apparent reference to the potential sale of the app’s proprietary algorithm.

Trump ally and Tesla CEO Elon Musk also joined the fray discussing the future of TikTok by alluding to the “need for change” in comments Sunday on X, the social media platform he owns. According to Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, Chinese officials are discussing a possible option that involves selling at least a portion of the US version of the app to Musk’s X.

Musk pointed out how X is not available in China. Most major American-owned tech platforms are blocked in the country due to Beijing’s stringent controls on speech and information under the so-called Great Firewall.

“I have been against a TikTok ban for a long time, because it goes against freedom of speech,” Musk wrote. “That said, the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but 𝕏 is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced. Something needs to change.”

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Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was confirmed unanimously by the Senate to be the next secretary of state, making him the first of President Trump’s Cabinet picks to receive congressional approval.

Rubio, a senator since 2011, was confirmed during a floor vote by the full Senate Monday night, several hours after Trump took his oath of office earlier in the day. The full Senate floor vote occurred following a separate vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which also voted unanimously in favor of Rubio’s nomination Monday.  

Rubio enters his role as secretary of state with a strong foreign policy background as a longtime member of the Senate’s Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees. He is also a first-generation Cuban American.

 

His road to confirmation has been less controversial than many of Trump’s other Cabinet picks. At Rubio’s first confirmation hearing last week in front of the Foreign Relations Committee, the committee’s top-ranking Democrat, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, said she thought Rubio possessed ‘the skills’ and is ‘well-qualified’ to serve as the next secretary of state. She echoed this sentiment Monday evening as well before the full Senate vote.

‘I’ve had a good working relationship with Sen. Rubio for many years, and I was very impressed during his hearing by his grasp of policy,’ Shaheen said Monday evening. ‘While we may not always agree, I believe he has the skills, knowledge and qualifications to be secretary of state.’

 

Rubio expressed during his initial confirmation hearing last week that under Trump the State Department’s ‘top priority’ will be to put America first. 

‘This will not be easy,’ Rubio said. ‘And it will be impossible without a strong and a confident America that engages in the world, putting our core national interests, once again, above all else.’

Rubio will face some major challenges heading into his new role, notably the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Rubio described the fighting between Ukraine and Russia as a ‘stalemate’ that ‘has to end’ during his confirmation hearing last week, adding that under Trump’s proposed peace deal both countries will have to make ‘concessions.’ Meanwhile, despite Trump’s past criticisms of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Rubio called the alliance ‘very important’ and insisted that Trump was also a NATO supporter.

On Gaza, Rubio supported Israel’s actions to defend itself against Hamas but stopped short of indicating one way or the other if he thought Israel’s annexation of parts of the West Bank was something he supported. 

‘The idea would be that there not be conflict and the people could live side-by-side with one another without being in conflict and with the ability to pursue prosperity,’ Rubio said. ‘Sadly and unfortunately the conditions for that to exist have not been in place for a substantial period of time.’

Rubio also repeatedly singled out China during his remarks in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week. ‘We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into this global order. And they took advantage of all its benefits. But they ignored all its obligations and responsibilities,’ Rubio posited at his hearing. ‘Instead, they have lied, cheated, hacked and stolen their way to global superpower status, at our expense.’

While Rubio did not face significant opposition to his confirmation, some Trump-aligned Republicans have expressed disdain over Rubio’s willingness to certify the results of the 2020 election that Trump alleged was ‘stolen’ from him. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has been an outspoken supporter of less U.S. intervention, also questioned Rubio’s hawkish stance on American intervention amid his confirmation to be secretary of state.

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President Donald Trump, while signing a flurry of executive orders from the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office of the White House as the now 47th President of the United States, discovered a letter from his predecessor inside one of the desk’s drawers with the help of a Fox News reporter.

Trump was in the process of signing one of many executive orders on Monday after returning to the White House when Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked if President Biden left him a letter.

‘He may have. Don’t they leave it in the desk? I don’t know,’ Trump told Doocy before discovering a white envelope with the number ’47’ written on it. ‘Thank you, Peter. It could have been years before we found this thing.’

Trump then teased everyone in the room by suggesting they all read the letter together, before pulling back the reigns.

‘Well, maybe I’ll read it first and then make that determination,’ the president said, once again thanking the White House correspondent.

‘Happy to help with the passing of the torch,’ Doocy said.

Trump was then asked if he left one for Biden, and he said he left one in the desk, just like Biden.

In leaving the letter for Trump, Biden kept with the now 36-year tradition of the departing commander in chief, writing a note to the incoming president.

As he left the White House in 1989 after two terms in office, President Ronald Reagan started the tradition – leaving a note for his successor, George H. W. Bush, who also happened to be his vice president.

Four years later, despite losing to then-Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas, outgoing President Bush left Clinton a note in the Oval Office. The tradition has carried on to this day.

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President Trump named Brian Driscoll to serve as acting director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Monday, marking one of his first moves on Inauguration Day.

According to the FBI website, Driscoll became a special agent in 2007. He has experience working in the agency’s New York field office and also worked on the FBI’s SWAT team.

The White House’s announcement came shortly after FBI acting director Paul Abbate retired on Monday, reportedly just minutes before Trump took office. Christopher Wray stepped down from the agency on Sunday, and Abbate only held down the acting director post for a day.

‘When the director asked me to stay on past my mandatory date for a brief time, I did so to help ensure continuity and the best transition for the F.B.I. Now, with new leadership inbound, after nearly four years in the deputy role, I am departing the F.B.I.,’ Abbate said in an email obtained by the New York Times on Monday. ‘I have complete confidence in you and in your ability as a team to continue to carry out our mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution.’

Last week, then-FBI director Wray named Driscoll as the special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Newark, New Jersey. In a press release published on Jan. 14, the agency noted that Driscoll ‘most recently served as the commander of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) and Critical Incident Response Group’s (CIRG) Tactical Section chief.’

‘In March 2011, Mr. Driscoll was selected as an operator for FBI’s HRT,’ the press release noted. ‘Ultimately, he became an HRT team leader, responsible for the planning and execution of tactical solutions in furtherance of FBI global operations.’

‘He also collaborated with foreign law enforcement and military partners to conduct operations and training, strengthening FBI global partnerships.’

Driscoll’s time as acting director will presumably end when Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel is confirmed as the FBI’s next director by the U.S. Senate. Patel was nominated by Trump in November, who called him an ‘America First fighter.’

‘Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People,’ Trump’s statement read. ‘He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.’

Fox News’ David Spunt and Pat Ward and Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

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President Donald Trump pardoned nearly all Jan. 6 defendants on Monday night, after promising at his inaugural parade to sign an executive order on the matter. 

Sitting at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, Trump signed off on releasing more than 1,500 charged with crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol. The order requires the Federal Bureau of Prisons to act immediately on receipt of the pardons.

‘Tonight I’m going to be signing on the J6 hostages, pardons to get them out,’ Trump said at the parade at Capital One Arena in Washington. ‘I’m going to the Oval Office and we’ll be signing pardons for a lot of people.’

Those pardoned include Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys chairman, who faced a sentence of 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy. Tarrio’s attorney told the Associated Press he expects Tarrio to face release Monday evening. 

Trump previously promised that he would be ‘acting very quickly’ on his first day in office to pardon to the so-called ‘hostages.’  

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called Trump’s pardon ‘shameful,’ and said to remember the ‘courage’ of law enforcement ‘heroes’ who ‘ensured that democracy survived.’ 

‘The President’s actions are an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol, the Congress and the Constitution,’ Pelosi, who didn’t attend Trump’s inauguration Monday, said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. 

‘It is shameful that the President has decided to make one of his top priorities the abandonment and betrayal of police officers who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power,’ Pelosi said. 

The pardon was one of more than 200 executive orders Trump was expected to sign on Inauguration Day. Other directives he signed on Monday include withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement that the U.S. initially entered under former President Barack Obama’s administration in 2015. 

Trump previously withdrew the U.S. from the agreement during his first term in 2020. 

On Monday morning, then-President Joe Biden issued a series of pardons just hours before Trump’s swearing in at the U.S. Capitol. Those pardoned by Biden include former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Gen. Mark Milley, whom Trump has accused of committing treason. Others Biden pardoned were those involved in the Jan. 6 Select Committee investigation that conducted a probe into the attack. 

‘The issuance of these 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,’ Biden said in a statement. ‘Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.’

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

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President Trump’s youngest son Barron, 18, stepped into the spotlight at his father’s inauguration on Monday.  

Standing at a towering 6’9′, many attendees and viewers remarked about how mature the younger Trump has become since his father first took office back in January 2017.

At 10 years old, Barron Trump was often the victim of cruel jokes and rumors from his father’s critics. His mother, Melania Trump, attempted to shield him from unwanted scrutiny, though sometimes to no avail.

On Monday, the first son commanded respect from onlookers as he stood by his father’s side during the inaugural ceremonies. Here’s a look at how Barron Trump has grown up since 2017.

2017

At 10 years old, Barron Trump became the first son to reside in the White House since John F. Kennedy, Jr. in 1961.

Barron, who turned 11 in March of 2017, also lived at Trump Tower in New York at the same time, attending Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School on the Upper West Side.

Beginning in 2016, rumors swirled about Barron Trump possibly having autism, which comedian Rosie O’Donnell amplified. In 2024, Melania Trump said that the rumors deeply impacted her son, who was bullied at school.

‘I was appalled by such cruelty,’ Melania Trump wrote in her memoir. ‘It was clear to me that she was not interested in raising awareness about autism. I felt that she was attacking my son because she didn’t like my husband.’

‘There is nothing shameful about autism (though O’Donnell’s tweet implied that there was), but Barron is not autistic,’ she added. ‘Barron’s experience of being bullied both online and in real life following the incident is a clear indication of the irreparable damage caused.’

2018

Barron turned 12 years old in March 2018 and continued to be a common target for Trump’s enemies.

Actor Peter Fonda called for officials to ‘rip Barron Trump from his mother’s arms and put him in a cage with pedophiles.’ He later apologized for the remarks.

‘I tweeted something highly inappropriate and vulgar about the president and his family in response to the devastating images I was seeing on television,’ Fonda said in the statement shortly after. ‘Like many Americans, I am very impassioned and distraught over the situation with children separated from their families at the border, but I went way too far.’

2019

Barron was 13 years old when his family permanently relocated to Mar-a-Lago in 2019. That year, Trump said he would have a ‘hard time’ allowing his son to play football.

‘I just don’t like the reports that I see coming out having to do with football — I mean, it’s a dangerous sport and I think it’s really tough,’ Trump said at the time. ‘I thought the equipment would get better, and it has. The helmets have gotten far better, but it hasn’t solved the problem.’

During a 2019 House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing, Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan remarked that then-President Trump could ‘name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron.’

Melania Trump was upset that her young son was mentioned at the hearing.

‘A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics,’ the first lady tweeted at the time. ‘Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it.’

2020

As Trump was fighting for his re-election bid in 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the United States, Barron Trump continued to attend school and stayed out of the public spotlight. In 2020, ‘Jeopardy’ host Ken Jennings apologized for a joke he told about Barron in 2017. 

‘Barron saw a very long necktie and a heap of expired deli meat in a dumpster,’ Jennings tweeted at the time. ‘He thought it was his dad & his little heart is breaking.’

‘Hey, I just wanted to own up to the fact that over the years on Twitter, I’ve definitely tweeted some unartful [sic] and insensitive things,’ Jennings wrote in 2020. ‘Sometimes they worked as jokes in my head and I was dismayed to see how they read on screen.’

2021

Barron Trump was 14 years old when his father left office in January. He lived with his mother at Mar-a-Lago full-time and stayed out of the spotlight.

In July 2021, he was seen leaving Trump Tower with Melania Trump.

2022

Barron Trump was 16 when FBI agents raided his father’s Florida estate. He kept a low profile during this year, but he was seen in public with both of his parents at the funeral of Ivana Trump, Trump’s first wife, in July 2022.

In November 2022, his father announced his bid for the presidency.

2023

As President Trump’s campaign kicked up again in 2023, Barron was still absent from the public spotlight. In August of that year, his father’s mugshot was released.

2024

Barron Trump matriculated at New York University (NYU) in the fall of 2024. He graduated from Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach in May, and was seen attending classes at NYU’S Stern School of Business.

In November, he also voted for the first time, casting a ballot for his father in Florida.

2025

Barron looked sharp as he attended his father’s inauguration on Jan. 20 Later during the day, he waved to the crowd after his father mentioned his role in the 2024 campaign.

‘I have a very tall son named Barron. Has anyone ever heard of him?’ Trump said to cheers, as the first son waved at attendees.

‘He knew the youth vote. You know, we won the youth vote by 36 points… He said, ‘Dad, you got to go out, do Joe Rogan, do all these guys,’’ Trump recalled. ‘We did, we did. And Joe Rogan was great.’

The 18-year-old also wowed attendees when he shook hands with President Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris, with some social media users speculating that he may pursue a political career in the future.

‘Barron Trump just shook hands with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,’ one X user wrote. ‘This kid will be our President one day. Bet on it.’

‘Barron Trump is a natural,’ another said of Barron. ‘Totally owned the moment.’

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Curto and Kyle Schmidbauer contributed to this report.

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