A leading progressive House Democrat is commending President Biden’s sweeping commutation order for people on the federal death row, calling the death penalty itself ‘racist.’

‘The President’s decision to commute the death sentences of 37 individuals on federal death row is a historic and groundbreaking act of compassion that will save lives, address the deep racial disparities in our criminal legal system, and send a powerful message about redemption, decency, and humanity,’ Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said in a statement on Monday.

‘The death penalty is a racist, flawed, and fundamentally unjust punishment that has no place in any society.’

Pressley argued the death penalty has overwhelmingly targeted Black and Brown communities ‘and failed to make America any safer.’

The Massachusetts lawmaker, a member of the hardline-left group of House Democrats dubbed the ‘Squad,’ has been on the forefront of the progressive push to abolish the death penalty.

Biden’s clemency order affects nearly everyone on the federal death row in the United States.

 Just three of 40 inmates remain – Dylann Roof, who murdered nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina in 2015; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was found guilty for carrying out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 worshipers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018.

Among those whose sentences were commuted to life imprisonment are Thomas Sanders, who kidnapped and killed a 12-year-old girl; Jorge Avila-Torrez, who sexually assaulted and stabbed two young girls to death and strangled a 20-year-old female Naval officer four years later; and Anthony Battle, who murdered an Atlanta prison guard with a hammer 30 years ago.

Democrats had been mounting pressure on Biden to use his clemency powers after the controversial and broad pardon he granted to his son, Hunter Biden, just weeks before he was expected to be sentenced on federal gun charges.

Biden heeded that pressure earlier this month when he commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 Americans in the largest such single-day order. 

It comes as President-elect Trump has touted plans for months to expand the death penalty to drug traffickers, child rapists and illegal immigrants who kill U.S. citizens.

At the tail end of his first term, Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) performed the first federal executions in 20 years, carrying out sentences for 13 federal prisoners on death row.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a top Trump ally, blasted Biden for his order on Monday.

‘Once again, Democrats side with depraved criminals over their victims, public order, and common decency,’ Cotton wrote on X.

‘Democrats can’t even defend Biden’s outrageous decision as some kind of principled, across-the-board opposition to the death penalty since he didn’t commute the three most politically toxic cases. Democrats are the party of politically convenient justice.’

The Biden administration has lifted a $10 million bounty on the head of Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

In exchange, al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, agreed to a U.S. demand not to allow terrorism groups in Syria to threaten the U.S. or Syria’s neighbors. 

‘We had a good, thoroughgoing discussion on a range of regional issues,’ Barbara Leaf, the U.S.’s top envoy to the Middle East, told reporters of her Friday meeting with al-Sharaa. 

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) drove Assad out of Damascus earlier this month. While other rebel factions remain throughout the country, HTS has amassed control over much of Syria. 

HTS was founded as an offshoot of al Qaeda but broke away from the group in 2016. It evolved from the Nusrah Front, which was designated as a terrorist group in 2012, and in 2018 the U.S. added HTS’ terrorism designation. 

‘It was a policy decision… aligned with the fact that we are beginning a discussion with HTS,’ Leaf explained. 

‘So if I’m sitting with the HTS leader and having a lengthy detailed discussion about the interests of the US, interests of Syria, maybe interests of the region, it’s suffice to say a little incoherent then to have a bounty on the guy’s head.’

The group has been trying to shake its extremist reputation and the designation, with al-Sharaa claiming he does not want Syria to become the next Afghanistan and he believes in education for women.

‘We’ve had universities in Idlib for more than eight years,’ Sharaa told BBC, referring to Syria’s northwestern province that HTS has held since 2011. 

‘I think the percentage of women in universities is more than 60%.’ 

‘He came across as pragmatic,’ Leaf said. ‘It was a good first meeting. We will judge by deeds, not just by words.’

U.S. officials have visited Syria to push for a pragmatic government and to find information on the whereabouts of detained U.S. journalist Austin Tice. 

The U.S. has had a mixed relationship with HTS due to its militant Islamist roots. 

Al-Sharaa has said HTS is not a terrorist group because it does not target civilians or civilian areas, and they consider themselves to be the victims of the crime of Assad’s regime. 

The U.S. has launched an aggressive campaign of airstrikes in northeastern Syria to take out ISIS militants, fearing a resurgence amid the upheaval in Syria which could lead to the release of more than 8,000 IS prisoners, ‘a significant security concern,’ according to the Pentagon.

The Pentagon revealed on Thursday that the U.S. doubled the number of its forces from 900 to roughly 2,000 to fight IS before Assad’s fall. 

Allies of Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are urging President-elect Trump to publicly reaffirm support for the House GOP leader to avoid a messy, protracted battle that could delay the certification of his own victory.

‘If we have some kind of protracted fight where we can’t elect a speaker — the speaker’s not elected; we’re not sworn in. And if we’re not sworn in, we can’t certify the election,’ Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital.

‘I would hope that President Trump would chime in and talk to those who are maybe a little hesitant, and say, ‘We’ve got to get going. We don’t have time.’’

Meanwhile, Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital ‘it would be immensely helpful’ if Trump chimed in.

‘Any time would be great, but right after Christmas if President Trump said, ‘You know, listen’ — it would even be really cool if somehow Mike Johnson ended up at Mar-a-Lago for Christmas… wherever the president is,’ Fallon said. ‘I think it would be incredibly powerful.’

House lawmakers are returning to Washington, D.C., for a chamber-wide vote to elect the speaker on Friday, Jan. 3. Just days later, on Monday, Jan. 6, the House will meet to certify the results of the 2024 election.

Johnson is facing a potentially bruising battle to win the speaker’s gavel for a full Congressional term, with several House Republicans vocally critical of the Louisiana Republican and his handling of government funding.

His predecessor went through 14 public defeats in his quest to win the gavel, finally securing it after days of negotiations with holdouts on the 15th House-wide vote.

When he was ousted, Johnson won after a three-week inter-GOP battle that saw Congress paralyzed for its duration.

But some House Republicans are now warning that they can afford few delays in what Trump himself said he hopes will be a very active first 100 days of his second term.

‘To ensure President Trump can take office and hit the ground running on Jan. 20, we must be able to certify the 2024 election on Jan. 6. However, without a speaker, we cannot complete this process,’ Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital. 

Tenney warned it could delay ‘the launch of his agenda.’

Congress narrowly avoided a partial government shutdown hours after the Dec. 20 federal funding deadline, passing a bill to extend that deadline to March 14 while also extending several other key programs and replenishing the FEMA Disaster Relief Fund.

It angered GOP hardliners who opposed the addition of unrelated policy riders to what they believed would be a more straightforward government funding extension.

Johnson also tried and failed to heed Trump’s demand to pair action on the debt limit — which was suspended until January 2025 — with his government funding bill, after 38 House Republicans and all but two Democrats voted against it.

Fallon told Fox News Digital that it did not necessarily mean they would defy Trump if he backed Johnson again ahead of Jan. 3.

‘Some of the people in the 38 — that was more of a principle thing — they really want to attack the debt,’ Fallon said. ‘They felt like just letting the debt ceiling latch for two years — they like to use that as a negotiating tool to say, ‘Let’s reduce the debt to GDP ratio.”

But one of Johnson’s biggest critics, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has already told reporters he is not voting for Johnson next year.

Two more, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., and Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, suggested they were no longer committed to backing Johnson over the weekend.

Meanwhile, there have been media reports that Trump is unhappy with how Johnson handled government funding and that his demand for the debt limit was not heeded. 

Trump himself has not mentioned Johnson publicly since the Friday vote. But top Trump allies, like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have come to Johnson’s defense.

‘He’s undoubtedly the most conservative Speaker of the House we’ve had in our lifetime,’ Cruz said on his podcast ‘The Verdict.’ ‘If Mike Johnson is toppled as Speaker of the House, we will end up with a speaker of the House who is much, much more liberal than Mike Johnson.’

Others have also signaled that Trump’s influence will weigh heavily on what ultimately happens.

One House Republican granted anonymity to speak freely told Fox News Digital early last week that they considered opposing Johnson but said Trump would be the final deciding factor.

‘I think, ultimately, it’s going to be decided who President Trump likes, because I believe that will weigh in heavily on the decision-making of that, because, currently, President Trump works very well with Mike Johnson. They have a great relationship,’ Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’

When asked if he would support Johnson if Trump did, despite opposing his government funding plans, Burchett said ‘Possibly.’

Johnson will head into the Jan. 3 speaker vote with just a slim GOP margin of three votes — and is virtually unlikely to get Democratic support.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is calling out the Biden administration for spending over a trillion taxpayer dollars on ‘government waste’ this year, including on a bearded lady cabaret show, Arabic Sesame Street, and ‘girl-centered climate action.’

The Kentucky senator released his annual ‘Festivus’ report that details different ways in which the current administration spent taxpayer dollars throughout the year. 

The 2024 Festivus Waste Report found that the Biden-Harris administration spent over $1 trillion this year, including giving a $10,000 grant to ‘Beards on Ice’ — an ice skating drag show on climate change put on by the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, a self-described ‘queer cabaret arts organization.’

Additionally, the Agency for International Development (USAID) spent $20 million on a Sesame Street spin-off show in Iraq, titled ‘Ahlan Simsim,’ in an effort to promote ‘inclusion’ and ‘mutual respect.’

About $1.5 was spent experimenting how different species, such as young female kittens, respond to motion sickness. 

According to the report, researchers would strap kittens to a table, where they are spun around in several directions and have holes drilled into their skulls to keep them in place — ‘and it’s all being done with your money,’ Paul writes in the report. ‘More than one and a half million dollars of it.’

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reportedly gave New York University (NYU) over $400,000 to study whether lonely rats seek cocaine more than rats who are in positive environments, while the Department of the Interior (DOI) allocated $12 million to fund a pickleball complex in Las Vegas, according to the report.

‘Now, did the government really need to spend nearly half a million dollars to verify that social isolation and starvation may lead to increased drug usage? One thing is for sure, we must end this rat-wheel of waste!’ Paul wrote in the report.

The State Department spent $3 million on ‘Girl-Centered Climate Action’ in Brazil, a program reportedly designed to ’empower young women to become climate leaders by integrating equity and inclusivity into environmental activism,’ the report writes, citing the grant details.

‘As the average American taxpayers struggle to pay rent, their hard-earned dollars are ironically funneled into more real estate,’ the report read, referring to the Biden struggles spending $10B on maintaining and furnishing buildings that were almost entirely empty.

The Department of Energy (DOE) gave automakers $15.5 billion to push the industry into the electric vehicle (EV) sector, while another $388,000 was given to ‘Magic in the United States,’ a podcast discussing how magical beliefs and practices have evolved in the U.S.

The senator also mentioned the Biden administration giving $2.1 million to fund Paraguay’s border: ‘Nothing says ‘America First’ like securing someone else’s border,’ Paul wrote.

Concerns over a resurgence of the Islamic State in Syria remain heightened following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime and an increase in attacks targeting U.S.-aligned Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

President-elect Donald Trump may well face another round against the extremist group as the SDF faces a reality in which it may have to divide its focus between ISIS and threats levied at it by Turkey.

The SDF said five of its soldiers were killed Saturday in attacks by Turkish-backed forces in northern Syria, reported Reuters. 

The attacks came following an apparent collapse in a cease-fire agreement brokered by the Biden administration as the U.S. and the SDF ramp up efforts to counter ISIS. 

National security advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday told CNN that his ‘single biggest concern’ is the return of ISIS, which was deemed ‘defeated’ in 2019. 

‘ISIS loves vacuums,’ he said in reference to the extremist group’s use of power struggles in places like North Africa to gain footholds. ‘What we see in Syria right now are areas that are basically ungoverned because of the fall of the Assad regime. 

‘Our goal is to ensure that we support the SDF — the Kurds — and that we keep ISIS in check,’ he added.

The U.S. has long had to balance its campaign against ISIS in Syria — which it is fighting with the help of the Kurdish coalition forces, despite Turkey deeming the SDF as akin to the terrorist network the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) — with Washington’s partnership alongside Ankara as a NATO ally. 

‘The SDF and the Assad regime were the primary opponents of ISIS,’ Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and founding editor of ‘The Long War Journal,’ told Fox News Digital. ‘With the former gone and the latter under pressure from Turkish proxies, concerns about the expansion of ISIS are warranted.’

‘Turkey wants to destroy the SDF,’ Roggio confirmed. ‘Turkey has the ideal opportunity to destroy the SDF, and it will take advantage of this unique situation. I expect attack[s] against the SDF to increase.’

The Biden administration has already taken steps to ramp up its campaign against ISIS, hitting more than 75 sites in a significant strike earlier this month on known ‘ISIS leaders, operatives and camps,’ U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed.

The operation coincided with the fall of Damascus on Dec. 8 following a sweeping takeover of Aleppo, Hama and Homs by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was aided by the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA).

In addition, CENTCOM on Thursday killed ISIS leader Abu Yusif aka Mahmud using a precision airstrike in eastern Syria — an area where, according to Syrian news outlets, ISIS has been able to seize weapons depots belonging to the former Syrian military under the Assad regime amid the ‘chaos.’

SDF forces in an attempt to clamp down on ISIS uprisings captured 18 ISIS terrorists and suspected collaborators on Sunday near the city of Raqqa, which was once an ISIS stronghold, according to ANF News.

The campaign was reportedly done ‘in cooperation with the international coalition forces,’ but CENTCOM has not yet confirmed whether the U.S. was involved. 

But concern remains high that the SDF could see its operational abilities divided as attacks from the Turkey-backed SNA coalition forces increase — which could spell trouble for the upcoming Trump administration as it looks to prevent another resurgence of ISIS, while balancing U.S. relations with Turkey, which is further expected to exercise outsized influence over the new Syrian government.

‘We continue to monitor the situation in Syria,’ Brian Hughes, Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson said in response to questions from Fox News Digital. ‘President Trump is committed to diminishing threats to peace and stability in the Middle East and to protecting Americans here at home.’

The White House is concerned that Iran’s weakened position will prompt the regime to pursue a nuclear weapon, and national security adviser Jake Sullivan is coordinating with the Trump team on this concern. 

Iran has suffered a year of setbacks amid Israeli assaults on its proxy forces and a pull-out from Syria amid the takeover by Sunni Muslim forces, hostile to Iran’s Shiite government. 

Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses, have reduced Iran’s conventional military capabilities, Sullivan told CNN on Sunday. 

‘What I found over the last four years is that when good things happen, like Iran being weaker than it was before, there are frequently bad things lurking around the corner,’ Sullivan said.

‘If you’re Iran right now and you’re looking around at the fact that your conventional capability has been reduced, your proxies have been reduced, your main client state has been eliminated, Assad has fallen, it’s no wonder there are voices saying: ‘Hey, maybe we need to go for a nuclear weapon right now,” the outgoing national security official said. 

‘They’re saying it publicly, in fact. They’re saying: Maybe we have to revisit our nuclear doctrine. A doctrine that has said: We’ll have a civilian nuclear program and certain capabilities, but we’re not going for a nuke,’ he added. ‘It’s a risk we’re trying to be vigilant about now.’

While Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, but it has expanded uranium enrichment since the last Trump administration to 60% purity, a short step away from the 90% needed for a nuclear weapon. 

Last week the United Kingdom, Germany and France publicly called on Iran to ‘reverse its nuclear escalation,’ arguing there is no ‘credible civilian justification’ to stockpile 60% uranium.

Sullivan said there was a risk Iran would abandon its promise not to build nuclear weapons.

‘It’s a risk we are trying to be vigilant about now. It’s a risk that I’m personally briefing the incoming team on,’ Sullivan said, adding that he was consulting with Israel too. 

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, could bring back his ‘maximum pressure’ policy to cripple Iran’s oil financing.

Sullivan held out hope Trump could come in and use Iran’s weakened position to get them to agree to a new nuclear deal. 

‘Maybe he can come around this time, with the situation Iran finds itself in, and actually deliver a nuclear deal that curbs Iran’s nuclear ambitions for the long term,’ he said.

Trump’s team is currently weighing its options to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, including preventive airstrikes. 

A group of four NATO leaders and a representative from the European Union on Sunday said they agreed it was time to invest more in defense spending as Russia remains a chief security threat in Europe amid the war in Ukraine, and as Western leaders brace for the incoming Trump administration. 

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis argued the era of spending 2% of a nation’s GDP on defense was ‘probably history’ but he, along with the other four leaders in attendance at the North-South Summit in Lapland, Finland fell short of saying what that figure should look like. 

‘We know that we need to spend more than 2%,’ Mitsotakis said. ‘But it will become very clear… once we interact with the new president, what is the figure that we will agree on within NATO.’

The summit was convened by Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, and was also attended by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

The leaders were questioned about a recent report by the Financial Times that said President-elect Donald Trump intends to push NATO to increase its defense spending requirement from 2% to 5% — a requirement that would demand all nations, including the U.S. which spends just over 3% of its GDP, to drastically increase spending on defense.

The Trump transition team did not answer Fox News Digital’s questions on whether Trump is going to be pushing all NATO nations, including the U.S., to drastically ramp up defense spending.

Instead, a spokesperson for the Trump transition team said, ‘President Trump believes European nations should meet their NATO defense spending obligations and step up their share of the burden for this conflict, as the U.S. has paid significantly more, which is not fair to our taxpayers. He will do what is necessary to restore peace and rebuild American strength and deterrence on the world stage.’

Fox News Digital also could not get clarity over whether an increase in defense spending would be supported by GOP lawmakers given the large number of conservatives in Congress, as well as his Vice President-elect, who have called for cutting U.S. aid to Ukraine, as well as last week’s internal fighting in the House among Republican lawmakers over spending disagreements. 

Even as NATO leaders at the North-South Summit agreed Russia is Europe’s ‘greatest threat,’ they urged caution when it came to dealing with ‘rumors’ surrounding the incoming Trump administration. 

‘I would wait to understand exactly what is the real will of the new president of the US,’ Meloni said, according to a Bloomberg report. ‘On NATO, we all know and understand that we have to do more. A lot of what we can do is up to the tools that we are able to put on the table.’

The Finnish prime minster echoed a similar sentiment and said, ‘Europe has to take greater responsibility for its own security. This means that European countries have to be strong leaders, both in the EU and in NATO.

‘[Russia] is trying to consolidate power and sow discord in Europe. The geopolitical situation is also very challenging in the Middle East and North Africa, for example,’ Orpo added, according to Euro News. 

Kristersson said spending more on defense was important, in part, so that European nations were less dependent on the U.S. being ‘the main sponsor’ of the alliance’s defense, but also to show Washington that European nations do take defense ‘seriously.’

‘European countries — individually, most of us, and collectively — need to strengthen our defense. And let’s do that,’ he said. 

Trump during his first administration pushed NATO leaders to meet their 2% defense spending pledge, which several did — increasing the number of allies to meet the terms of the NATO agreement from five in 2016 to nine in 2020.

But that number dropped to just six once Trump left in 2021.

By 2022, however, NATO leaders have once again began re-evaluating their defense budgets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and by 2024, a historic number of NATO allies had met their spending agreements, with 23 out of 32 nations spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense. 

Only Poland spends over 4% of its GDP on defense, while four nations spend over 3%, including Estonia, the U.S., Latvia and Greece. 

Croatia, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Spain have yet to meet their defense spending commitments.