Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages during the first phase of an emerging ceasefire agreement being finalized by negotiators in Doha, two Israeli officials said.
Israel believes that most of the 33 hostages are alive, a senior Israeli official told reporters on Monday, but the bodies of deceased hostages will also likely be among those released during the initial 42-day ceasefire.
The senior Israeli official said that the parties appear to be on the brink of an agreement and that Israel is prepared to immediately implement the deal once it has been inked.
Under the latest proposals, Israeli forces would maintain a presence along the Philadelphi Corridor – a narrow strip of land along the Egypt-Gaza border – during the first phase of the agreement, the officials said. The presence of Israeli troops along the corridor previously contributed to sinking a potential deal in September during the last round of negotiations.
Israel would also maintain a buffer zone inside Gaza along the border with Israel, the official said, without specifying how wide that zone would be – another subject of contention during the negotiations.
The residents of northern Gaza would be allowed to return freely to the north of the strip, but an Israeli official claimed there would be unspecified “security arrangements” in place.
Palestinian prisoners deemed responsible for killing Israelis would not be released into the West Bank, the official said, but rather to the Gaza Strip or abroad following agreements with foreign countries.
A senior Israeli official told reporters on Monday that a “breakthrough” in the talks came late Sunday night during Israeli intelligence agency Mossad Director David Barnea’s meeting with the mediators in Doha, Qatar.
“There is talk of an agreement in the near future – it is impossible to say whether it is a matter of hours or days,” the official said.
The official said Israel is prepared to quickly implement the agreement, but the deal must first pass both the security cabinet and full government cabinet. The government must also allow time for opponents of the agreement to petition the Supreme Court.
Negotiations to reach the second phase of a ceasefire agreement – which is intended to end the war – would begin on the 16th day of the implementation of the deal.
“We are closer than ever to a deal but mediators in Doha are still awaiting official responses from both sides,” said an Arab official briefed on the talks.
Ukraine struck Russian regions with a major drone and missile attack overnight, damaging at least two factories and forcing schools to close in a major southern Russian city, according to Russian officials and media.
The Shot Telegram channel said that Russia had downed more than 200 Ukrainian drones and five US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles.
“The enemy has organized a massive combined strike on the territory of the Russian regions,” the Two Majors war blogger said.
Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region in western Russia, said Ukraine had launched a major missile attack but did not say which missiles had been used.
The Russian defense ministry, which reports on such attacks, made no immediate comment. Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the reports.
In the Russian city of Engels, home to an air base where Russia’s nuclear bombers are based, Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said an industrial enterprise had been damaged by a drone but gave no more details.
Busargin said that classes in schools in Saratov and Engels would be held remotely. Flight restrictions were imposed in Kazan, Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhnekamsk, Russia’s aviation watchdog said.
Nizhnekamsk, in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, is home to the major Taneco refinery. Shot said attack sirens were sounded at the refinery. Reuters was unable to immediately verify the report.
Russia fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik,” or Hazel Tree, at Ukraine on November 21 in what President Vladimir Putin said was a direct response to strikes on Russia by Ukrainian forces with US and British missiles.
Putin, after those attacks, said that the Ukraine war was escalating towards a global conflict after the United States and Britain allowed Ukraine to hit Russia with their weapons, and warned the West that Moscow could strike back.
President-elect Donald Trump has pushed for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war quickly, leaving Washington’s long-term support for Ukraine in question.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands of dead, displaced millions and triggered the biggest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Surrounded by forest-covered mountains cloaked in mist, a patchwork quilt of green farmland and steel-blue waves breaking on mangrove-strewn mudflats, Lai Chi Wo does not look like it belongs in Hong Kong.
The remote 300-year-old village is one of the city’s oldest settlements — and one of its most biodiverse.
Its location is no accident: it draws onthe traditional philosophies of the Hakka people, one of Hong Kong’s pre-colonial indigenous groups, who built the settlement.
“We maintain what is called a feng-shui forest, to preserve the village,” says Susan Wong. The 73-year-old grandmother is the village chief, and was born in Lai Chi Wo, when the town was home to around 1,000 residents. “From our ancestors to now, it has been passed down, not to let anyone cut down the trees. If you cut all the trees out, the mountain will become bare, and nothing can cover the village.”
Feng shui — which literally means “wind” and “water” — is a design philosophy about how homes, villages and cities should be arranged for good fortune.
In Lai Chi Wo, the position of the forest is intended to shelter the village from typhoons, prevent landslides, and manage extreme heat and cold.
However, in the 1960s, residents began to leave their ancestral home: Hong Kong was industrializing rapidly, and it was becoming hard to make a living from farming.
“We didn’t even have shoes or clothes to wear,” Wong recalls. Lai Chi Wo is so remote that, even today, it can only be reached by a three-hour hike through the jungle, or a long boat trip around the coast.
In the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, manyfamilies emigrated overseas — like Wong’s, who moved to the UK when she was 15 — for better opportunities, and elderly residents passed away.
Lai Chi Wo became a ghost town.
This photo was taken in 1976, when Lai Chi Wo was already in decline.
HKSAR Government
A child stands barefoot at the village gate in 1976.
HKSAR Government
Restoring a community
Over the decades that Lai Chi Wo lay empty, buildings crumbled, and farmland grew wild with weeds. The roots of banyan trees twined around open doorways, and wild boar or lost hikers were the only foot traffic through the decaying village.
But Lai Chi Wo was not entirely forgotten.
“Elsewhere in Hong Kong, many abandoned villages had houses collapsed beyond recognition and vegetation invadedthe whole village,” says Chiu Ying Lam, head of the Hong Kong Countryside Foundation. However, when he first visited Lai Chi Wo in 2009, he was surprised to find several homes were well maintained.
Lam speculated that these absentee homeowners were still connected to their ancestral home, and were planning to return one day, perhaps to retire. This sparked an idea that would eventually become the Sustainable Lai Chi Wo program: a decade-long collaboration between NGOs, universities and government agencies to restore the village to its former glory.
In re-establishing the community, the unique biodiversity around the village could be protected too, says Lam.
How an abandoned village in Hong Kong is being revived
Over the years, Lam estimates around HK$100 million ($12.8 million) in funding from businesses, non-profits and the Hong Kong government has been invested into the village’s redevelopment, including the restoration of five hectares of farmland and the reconstruction of 15 dilapidated homes.
While the project aimedto bring back former residents, it also wanted to bring in new people. In 2015, Ah Him Tsang and his wife, who are not Hakka, were one of the first families to move to the village, looking for a life “closer to nature” to raise their then-infant son.
Like many residents in Lai Chi Wo, Tsang works a variety of jobs: he grows vegetables and cash crops on a small farm, and on weekends, runs “Hakka Experience” homestays and a store that serves locally grown tea, coffee, and homemade vegan ice cream to tourists who pass through.
“I also grow these vegetables for my staycation program, (for a) farm-to-table dining experience,” says Tsang, adding that the Hakka Experience is designed to give visitors a more authentic experience of village life. “You can really feel the quietness, the serenity of the nature here. I hope more people can stay longer and enjoy the slow pace.”
Homecoming
The influx of new residents to Lai Chi Wo encouraged more of the original residentsto move back, too.
Upon retiring, Wong returned to Hong Kong from the UK to care for her elderly parents, and heard about the revitalization project.
In 2019, she decided to return to the village with her now-103-year-old father, into the home they were both born in. “I’m very happy because I like this village. I have so many friends (who have) come back,” she says.
With her father, Wong runs a small farm, growing mandarin oranges, lemons, chilis, flowers, and vegetables, and uses organic agriculture techniques, such as grinding up discarded oyster shells to make plant food.
The project also introduced new crops like coffee, which grows in the shade. This agroforestry technique protects the forest by growing high-value plants around the perimeter of the native woodland, while boosting profits for farmers.
Lai Chi Wo now has around 700 coffee plants across several farms, making it the “biggest coffee-producing region in Hong Kong,” says Ryan Siu Him Leung, senior project officer at the Centre for Civil Society and Governance at the University of Hong Kong, which oversaw parts of Lai Chi Wo’s revitalization program.
The University of Hong Kong is leasing some of the land for experimental farming, and helping villagers turn their crops into higher-value products in a licensed food processing plant in nearby Sha Tau Kok, on Hong Kong’s border with mainland China. Products include pickles and unusual fruit jams, or seasonal foods like popular radish cake for Chinese New Year, says Leung.
“We’re also looking at traditional Hakka recipes, and trying to explore the possibility of turning those recipes into commercial products,” he says, adding that they are currently selling via local supermarket suppliers and pop-up farmers markets, and plan to launch an online shop soon, to reach more customers.
A model for redevelopment
While the project has garnered positive attention — including recognition from UNESCO in 2020 for cultural heritage conservation and sustainable development — it’s not all been smooth sailing.
There’s been resistance from some of the original villagers, who claim they were not properly consulted about the redevelopment.
Additionally, more than a decade into the project, the village is still not financially sustainable, and is supported by external funding, including government subsidies for the farmers.
Farming at such a small scale is largely unprofitable; so like Tsang, most residents have multiple income streams. Leung says that most of the new residents work remote jobs online, or in creative industries, with farming as a hobby where any income is a bonus.
Leung says that, aside from preserving the town’s traditional lifestyle, there’s an ecological advantage to maintaining the farmland: sustainable agriculture helps to better manage water drainage and improve soil health.
Even if the village isn’t economically independent, he feels it’s worthwhile, and that cultivating a sustainable community is more important. “As long as there are people willing to stay in the village, and they are making their living — to me, it’s financially viable for those individual households.”
The project has become a model for sustainable revitalization, and the Forest Village Project, launched in 2024, is applying the lessons from Lai Chi Wo to two nearby hamlets, Mui Tsz Lam and Kop Tong. These settlements are around one-tenth the size of Lai Chi Wo, says Leung, but they both have a feng shui woodland, diverse flora and fauna, and offer the potential to develop a wider eco-tourism destination.
“Hopefully, we could have a more comprehensive region of revitalized villages, which (could be) a bigger attraction to the wider (Hong Kong) community,” Leung adds.
Venezuela’s foreign minister on Monday accused opponents of President Nicolás Maduro as being linked to damages at the country’s diplomatic facilities in five nations.
Foreign Minister Yvan Gil in a statement said the vandalism was coordinated by grassroots groups known as “comanditos” – meaning small commandos – but he did not offer any evidence to back up the accusation, which comes three days after Maduro was sworn in to a third six-year term, despite credible evidence of his election defeat.
Gil said he has asked the authorities in Portugal, Germany, Spain, Colombia and Costa Rica to expedite their investigations “to find those responsible and to ensure the integrity of our facilities.” He did not say when exactly the diplomatic facilities were vandalized.
The main opposition coalition did not immediately respond to the minister’s accusations.
Damage to the Venezuelan consulate in Lisbon, Portugal, is seen Sunday.
Luis Boza/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Law enforcement authorities in Lisbon, Portugal, are investigating a weekend attack with a small incendiary device that caused some minor damage on the façade of Venezuela’s consulate in that city.
Portugal’s Foreign Ministry in a statement Sunday called it and “intolerable act” and said it was reinforcing security in the area.
Portugal has a strong immigrant community in Venezuela, the second largest following Brazil.
According to official data by the diplomatic mission in the country, at least around 200,000 Portuguese nationals are registered in the country – a figure that does not include the descendants already born in Venezuela.
Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry on Monday released images of the alleged vandalism that Gil announced.
One shows hanging from a building a Venezuelan flag spray-painted with the word “Edmundo,” which is the first name of the opposition candidate recognized by several governments as the legitimate winner of Venezuela’s July presidential election.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, stacked with government loyalists, declared Maduro the election winner hours after polls closed. But unlike in previous contests, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts to back the announced result.
The opposition, however, collected tally sheets from 85% of electronic voting machines and posted them online – showing its candidate, Edmundo González, had won by a more than a two-to-one margin.
UN experts and the US-based Carter Center, both invited by Maduro’s government to observe the election, said the tally sheets published by the opposition are legitimate.
The comanditos groups were formed by supporters of the main opposition coalition to encourage voter participation and organize other efforts for the July presidential election.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is meeting with Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Democrats on Monday evening to discuss the confirmation hearing for controversial Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth — just hours before its set to take place.
A Senate Democratic source confirmed the last-minute meeting to Fox News Digital.
Schumer and other Democrats have made their opposition to the former Fox News host clear in the days leading up to the hearing, which is the first to take place of all President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees.
The meeting, first reported by Axios, comes after the New York Democrat urged his fellow caucus members to grill Trump’s nominees in their upcoming hearings and force them to go on record about controversial Trump agenda items, per a Senate Democratic source.
The source added that Democrats are planning to lay the groundwork to say that they warned about Trump’s Cabinet picks early on.
In floor remarks on Monday, Schumer said, ‘Unfortunately, Mr. Hegseth’s background is deeply troubling, to put it generously. We have all read the reports about his radical views, his alleged excessive drinking, the allegations about sexual assault, and his failures in the financial stewardship of multiple organizations.’
Hegseth has denied all allegations, including those suggesting financial mismanagement, sexual assault and alcohol consumption.
The Secretary of Defense nominee’s spokesperson did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
Democrats on SASC include Ranking Member Jack Reed, D-R.I., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Tim Kaine, D-Va., Angus King, I-Maine, Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Gary Peters, D-Mich., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.
Reed and Hegseth met last week for a notably brief discussion. Afterward, the SASC ranking member said in a statement, ‘Today’s meeting did not relieve my concerns about Mr. Hegseth’s lack of qualifications and raised more questions than answers.’
‘As with any nominee for this critical position, Mr. Hegseth must undergo the same high-level of scrutiny as prior Secretary of Defense nominees,’ he added.
Longtime Democrat fundraiser and Kamala Harris critic Lindy Li was named this month to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fundraising committee, an about-face that she says has been met with overwhelming support from donors, including from some longtime contributors to the Democratic Party vying to get a spot at the table.
Li’s appointment to the Trump fundraising committee was previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital. It comes just weeks after Li announced her decision to leave the Democratic Party last month, citing what she described as its broader culture of finger-pointing, vitriol and blame in the aftermath of the 2024 elections.
Li herself endured a torrent of criticism and calls to exit the party after she criticized certain spending decisions made by Harris’s campaign, despite having raised millions on its behalf and donating several Philadelphia-area buildings to the campaign. She in turn voiced concerns about party leadership ‘permitting no dissent, no criticism’ and failing to learn from their wide losses in the House, Senate and presidential elections.
For Li, her departure from the DNC’s national fundraising committee has been an eye-opening one. She told Fox News in an interview this week that she was approved as a member of Trump’s inaugural fundraising committee just three days before many of the events reached capacity, forcing the committee to block access, if only for the near-term, in hopes of securing a bigger venue.
When she told the donors that they were at capacity, she noted, some responded by doubling their offer in hopes of gaining access.
‘The demand has just been unprecedented,’ Li said of the response from donors. ‘Honestly, Biden and Harris never had this issue. They never had to turn people away.’
Fox News Digital was told that donors offering as much as $1 million to the inaugural committee have been turned away due to space limitations, as first reported by the New York Times. Since then, the inaugural committee said they are working to find a bigger location for some of the events in order to meet the intense and growing demand.
To date, Trump’s inaugural committee has raised a record-shattering $170 million in donations, with proceeds used to fund both the inauguration weekend and longer-term projects, such as a presidential library.
For donors, their contribution earns them access to an inauguration weekend agenda of highly exclusive VIP events before the Inauguration Day ceremony, including intimate dinners, black-tie galas and sit-downs with Cabinet nominees. It’s an opportunity to make inroads and gain influence in an incoming administration.
And ahead of Trump’s second term, many are shelling out big-time to do so.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are all among the tech executives who announced within the past month that they plan to donate at least $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
For Li, a prominent fundraiser whose experience is largely rooted in the Democrat world, pivoting to raising money for Trump’s inauguration has been easier than expected.
Li formerly served as a member of the DNC’s national fundraising committee, a membership that requires raising ‘millions of dollars’ on behalf of Democrat candidates.
Still, she said, the inaugural committee donations and enthusiasm surrounding them feels unprecedented.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this,’ Li said in an interview of the funding raised, which could roughly triple the amount raised by Biden in 2021 and exceeds Trump’s first inaugural committee, which raised roughly $117 million.
The committee is expecting donations to climb higher to upwards of $200 million, according to estimates shared with Fox News Digital.
Asked whether it was difficult to build out a base of Republican donors less than a month after leaving the Democratic Party, Li told Fox News that she is dealing with many of the same financial contributors.
‘These are Democratic donors,’ she said.
While Li noted they aren’t among the most liberal Democrat donors she has worked with, ‘They’re still donating,’ she said.
‘They’re still so eager and willing to come to the table.’
Many, she said, share in the belief that Trump has been ‘great for the business community’ and hope to build on that in future conversations with the administration.
And even donors who have been wait-listed or turned down from attending the VIP events during the inaugural weekend due to the lack of space have expressed interest in working with the administration in the future.
Just yesterday, she said, a donor noted, ”You know, even if we can’t can’t come this time, please let us know the next time that we can show our support.”
The reception as a whole has been ‘overwhelmingly positive,’ Li said of the response from donors. ‘The enthusiasm is just through the stratosphere.’
As negotiations for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas approach a decisive moment, the toll of the conflict continues to grow.
Today, the Israeli military reported five soldiers were killed in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, and eight injured from an ammunition explosion, one of the deadliest incidents in recent operations. On Sunday, another four soldiers were killed in Gaza. Meanwhile, Hamas has fired 20 rockets at Israel over the past two weeks, highlighting its continued ability to launch attacks after 15 months of war.
Negotiations involving the U.S., Qatar and Egypt are reportedly close to an agreement. The draft deal would secure the release of 33 hostages out of 98 – children, women, female soldiers, men over the age of 50 and humanitarian cases – in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile detainees. This phase is expected to last 42 days.
According to an Israeli official, most of the 33 hostages who were abducted by Hamas from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, are still alive. Humanitarian aid will be delivered to the Gaza Strip during this phase. Israel will reportedly release 50 prisoners for every female hostage and 30 children and women for every hostage.
The deal would also include a significant Israeli concession allowing 1 million displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, a move security experts warn could enable Hamas to regroup.
‘The pace at which Hamas is rebuilding itself is higher than the pace that the IDF is eradicating them,’ retired IDF Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi told the Wall Street Journal on Monday.
Avivi also told Israeli radio that the deal has to include all the hostages, but there is only one Hamas demand that can’t be agreed to: ‘ending the war.’ He said as long as ending the war is not part of the deal, then ‘hard concessions’ can be made.
During his farewell foreign policy address at the State Department on Monday, President Biden said, ‘We’re on the brink of a proposal laid down months ago finally coming to fruition. We’re pressing hard to close this – free the hostages, halt the fighting, secure Israel and ensure humanitarian aid to Gaza. Palestinians deserve peace, Israel deserves peace, and we are working urgently to close this deal as we address the challenges.’
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan emphasized the urgency in a statement, ‘We have coordinated very closely with the incoming administration to present a united message to all the parties, which says it is in the American national security interest…to get this deal done as fast as possible. And now we think those details are on the brink of being fully hammered out, and the parties are right on the cusp of being able to close this deal. Whether or not we go from where we are now to actually closing it, the hours and days ahead will tell.’
Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the proposed cease-fire over the phone on Sunday, reflecting the high-level coordination between the U.S. and Israel. U.S. envoy Brett McGurk has been stationed in Qatar working nonstop to finalize the agreement.
The Israeli military has reported killing approximately 17,000 Hamas terrorists and detaining thousands more since the war began. Before the conflict, Hamas maintained a force of 30,000 terrorists organized into 24 battalions. While the IDF claims to have dismantled much of this structure, Hamas, which still controls large parts of Gaza, has not disclosed its losses or new recruitment figures. The Hamas-run Ministry of Health claims some 46,000 Gazans have been killed so far in the war.
The cease-fire proposal has sparked fierce debate within Israel’s government. Most coalition members, including Netanyahu, support the deal, viewing it as a critical step toward the hostages’ release. However, some coalition members to Netanyahu’s right strongly oppose the deal, citing security risks and fears that Hamas will use the pause to rebuild.
Special Counsel David Weiss blasted President Biden in his highly-anticipated report on his years-long investigation into Hunter Biden, saying the commander-in-chief’s characterizations of the probe into his son were ‘wrong’ and ‘unfairly’ maligned Justice Department officials, while admitting that the presidential pardon made it ‘inappropriate’ for him to discuss whether any additional charges against the first son were warranted.
Fox News Digital obtained a copy of Weiss’s final report after his years-long investigation into Hunter Biden.
The Justice Department transmitted the report to Congress on Monday evening.
Weiss, in his report, chided President Biden for his Dec. 1, 2024 decision to grant his son a ‘Full and Unconditional Pardon’ covering nearly eleven years of conduct, including conduct related to both convictions the special counsel obtained.
Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony firearm offenses stemming from Special Counsel David Weiss’ investigation. The first son was also charged with federal tax crimes regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. Before his trial, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea.
The charges carried up to 17 years behind bars. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16, but his father, President Biden, pardoned him on all charges in December.
Weiss, in the report, blasted the president’s decision to pardon but also the press release that was sent out to the public that ‘criticized the prosecution of his son as ‘selective,’ ‘unfair,’ ‘infected’ by ‘raw politics,’ and a ‘miscarriage of justice.”
‘This statement is gratuitous and wrong,’ Weiss wrote in his report. ‘Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations.’
Weiss also pointed to a comment made by Judge Mark C. Scarsi, who said: ‘The Constitution provides the President with broad authority to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 1, but nowhere does the Constitution give the President the authority to rewrite history.’
‘These prosecutions were the culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics,’ Weiss wrote in his report. ‘Eight judges across numerous courts have rejected claims that they were the result of selective or vindictive motives.’
Weiss added: ‘Calling those rulings into question and injecting partisanship into the independent administration of the law undermines the very foundation of what makes America’s justice system fair and equitable. It erodes public confidence in an institution that is essential to preserving the rule of law.’
In another section of the report, Weiss notes that, in light of the presidential pardon, he ‘cannot make any additional charging decisions’ and said it would be ‘inappropriate’ to discuss ‘whether additional charges are warranted.’
‘Politicians who attack the decisions of career prosecutors as politically motivated when they disagree with the outcome of a case undermine the public’s confidence in our criminal justice system,’ Weiss wrote. ‘The President’s statements unfairly impugn the integrity not only of Department of Justice personnel, but all of the public servants making these difficult decisions in good faith.’
Weiss added: ‘The President’s characterizations are incorrect based on the facts in this case, and, on a more fundamental level, they are wrong.’
The federal investigation into Hunter Biden began in November 2018.
But it wasn’t until 2023 that whistleblowers from the IRS, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, brought allegations of politicization in the federal probe of Hunter Biden to Congress.
The two alleged that political influence had infected prosecutorial decisions in the federal probe, which was led by Trump-appointed Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who they said had requested to become a special counsel.
After Shapley and Ziegler testified publicly, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel to continue his investigation of the first son and, ultimately, bring federal charges against him in two separate jurisdictions — Delaware and California.
Justice Department regulations require Weiss to transmit any final report to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has pledged to release as much as possible to the public.
The Justice Department and Special Counsel Weiss’ office declined to comment.
Meanwhile, President Biden’s pardon of his son came after months of vowing to the American people that he would not do so.
But last month, the president announced a blanket pardon that applies to any offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden ‘has committed or may have committed’ from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.
‘From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ Biden said. ‘There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.’
Biden added, ‘I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.’
The Justice Department made public Volume I of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his now-closed investigations into President-elect Donald Trump, days before he is set to be sworn into office.
Attorney General Merrick Garland released the first volume, which focuses on the election case against Trump, of Smith’s report on Tuesday at midnight after back-and-forth in the federal court system.
An opening letter from Smith to Garland said that it is ‘laughable’ that Trump believes the Biden administration, or other political actors, influenced or directed his decisions as a prosecutor, stating that he was guided by the Principles of Federal Prosecution.
‘Trump’s cases represented ones ‘in which the offense [was] the most flagrant, the public harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain,’’ Smith said, referencing the principles.
In the lengthy report, Smith said his office fully stands behind the decision to bring criminal charges against Trump because he ‘resorted to a series of criminal efforts to retain power’ after he lost the 2020 election.
Smith said in his conclusion that the parties were determining whether any material in the ‘superseding indictment was subject to presidential immunity’ when it became clear that Trump had won the 2024 election. The department then determined the case must be dismissed before he takes office because of how it interprets the Constitution.
‘The Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind,’ the report stated.
In an early Tuesday morning post on Truth Social, Trump called Smith ‘desperate’ and ‘deranged’ for releasing his ‘fake findings’ in the middle of the night.
Garland appointed former Justice Department official Jack Smith as special counsel in November 2022.
Smith, a former assistant U.S. attorney and chief to the DOJ’s public integrity section, led the investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving the White House and whether the former president obstructed the federal government’s investigation into the matter.
Smith was also tasked with overseeing the investigation into whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021.
Smith charged Trump in both cases, but Trump pleaded not guilty.
The classified records case was dismissed in July 2024 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel.
Smith charged Trump in the U.S. District Court for Washington D.C. in his 2020 election case, but after Trump was elected president, Smith sought to dismiss the case. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted that request.
This month, though, Cannon temporarily blocked the release of Smith’s final report. A federal appeals court reversed her ruling, allowing the Justice Department to make Smith’s report public.
In the classified records probe, Smith charged Trump with 37 federal counts including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements. Trump pleaded not guilty.
Trump was also charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment out of the investigation: an additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts.
In the 2020 election case, Smith charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; violation of an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. Trump pleaded not guilty.
The cases brought by Smith against Trump never made it to trial in either jurisdiction.
Despite efforts by Trump attorneys to prevent the report’s release, Attorney General Merrick Garland had maintained that he would make at least one volume of Smith’s report public.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
In a major reversal, some U.S. intelligence agencies are now saying a foreign adversary could be behind the mysterious ‘Havana Syndrome’ brain injuries reported by U.S. diplomats and government workers overseas. While the overall assessment from the intelligence community remains, it is ‘very unlikely’ Havana Syndrome could be caused by a foreign actor, two out of seven U.S. intelligence agencies now say it is possible a foreign adversary could have developed a weapon that could cause such brain injuries.
Adam, a former government employee whose identity Fox News agreed to protect, considered to be ‘Patient Zero,’ was first attacked in December 2016 while living in Havana on assignment. Adam experienced multiple attacks and described pressure to the brain that led to vertigo, tinnitus and cognitive impairment.
Adam and other victims have been pressing the U.S. government to find a culprit. He said he is starting to feel hopeful now that two of the seven U.S. intelligence agencies acknowledge a foreign adversary, he says likely Russia, has developed a weapon that could be responsible for the kind of neurological injuries reported by those suffering from Havana Syndrome.
‘This has been an eight-year fight. I don’t know if I would say I feel vindicated yet. We will get there. The truth will come out. And when that’s fully exposed, I think that’s when I will say that I’m vindicated… I’m hoping the new administration can pay that debt and we can hold those responsible that have covered this up and partaken in some egregious behavior, frankly, because we all deserve better. The American people deserve better than to be lied to like this,’ Adam told Fox News.
Adam was one of six Havana Syndrome victims to attend a meeting in the White House situation room on November 18th, 2024. The meeting was designed to provide the incoming administration with a roadmap on Havana Syndrome, also called Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI’s). The three-hour meeting was chaired by NSC Coordinator for Intelligence and Defense Policy Mahar Bitar. The victims say they received a moving apology from the NSC staff on how they were treated by the U.S. Government.
The NSC released a statement following the updated assessment from the intelligence community:
‘Today’s updated Intelligence Community Assessment, which is the product of ongoing analytic efforts and includes a shift in key judgements by some intelligence components, only reinforces why it is vital that the U.S. Government continue critical research, investigate credible incidents, and strengthen efforts to provide timely care and long-term clinical follow-up,’ the statement read.
The NSC will brief the incoming Trump administration on the ‘full scope of ongoing work that should continue,’ the statement continued to say.
Adam said it has long been obvious to the victims that a foreign adversary could be behind the suspected directed energy attacks.
‘Here’s the piece that, you know, astounds me. Can the CIA not Google? Because if anyone could sit and Google China, neuro-strike weapons, Russia, super weapons, they have been very public in the press that they have directed energy weapons programs that do exactly what they did to us and that they plan on deploying them in conventional warfare,’ Adam said.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released the report and held a background call with reporters on Friday.
The new assessment from the intelligence community said, ‘New reporting led two components to shift their assessments about whether a foreign actor has a capability that could cause biological effects consistent with some of the symptoms reported as possible AHIs. This shift consequently led two IC components to subtly change their overall judgment about whether a foreign actor might have played a role in a small number of events.’
The ODNI official explained the change in assessment of the two intelligence agencies.
‘They judge there is a roughly even chance a foreign actor has developed a novel weapon or prototype device that could have harmed a small, undetermined subset of the U.S. personnel or dependents who reported medical symptoms or sensory phenomena as AHIs,’ the official said.
For both of these components. They have a low confidence in their judgments,’ the official continued to say.
The Republican-led CIA Subcommittee Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) released an interim report on the committee’s separate investigation into Havana Syndrome. The report concluded that it is ‘increasingly likely’ that a foreign adversary is responsible for ‘some portion’ of the incidents.
The subcommittee accused the intelligence community of withholding valuable information from them in the interim report.
‘The IC’s inconsistent approach has had detrimental effects on IC personnel, trust in the IC by policymakers, the understanding of the American public, and perceptions of the IC by both foreign allies and adversaries,’ the report said.
Crawford vowed to work with the incoming Trump administration to get answers for affected federal employees and the public.
Attorney Mark Zaid who represents some of the victims said the new assessment indicates, ‘evidence has only moved closer to the Intelligence Community acknowledging the involvement of a foreign adversary, not away.’
Adam hopes the Trump administration will keep pressing for answers on Havana Syndrome and what caused hundreds of workers brain injuries.
‘Now there is also new information that’s in play, and it’s so irrefutable that even they can’t stand by and watch this cover-up continue… we’re hoping that we’re going to have a more amenable administration that cares about its workforce and cares about the truth,’ Adam said.
