Less than a week after President Joe Biden issued a sweeping pardon for his only surviving son — despite denying for months that he would do so — the White House appears to be leaving him room to maneuver on another, similar issue.

The question of whether Biden might grant unprecedented preemptive pardons to a range of public figures who might find themselves in the crosshairs of Donald Trump’s second administration remains unanswered.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC.

President-elect Donald Trump will join world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prince William, at the re-opening of France’s Notre Dame Cathedral on Saturday.

This visit will mark Trump’s return to the global stage with just six weeks until he returns to the White House.

French President Emmanuel Macron invited the president-elect soon after congratulating him on X for his victory last month.

“Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump. Ready to work together as we did for four years,” Macron wrote on X last month. “With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”

Donald Trump’s aides have suggested that Iowa Senator Joni Ernst may be trying to sink the nomination of Pete Hegseth as defense secretary so that she can get the job instead.

Ariana Baio has the story.

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

The picture of who will be in charge of executing President-elect Donald Trump‘s hard-line immigration and border policies has come into sharper focus after he announced his picks to head Customs and Border Protection and also the agency tasked with deporting immigrants in the country illegally.

Trump said late Thursday he was tapping Rodney Scott, a former Border Patrol chief who’s been a vocal supporter of tougher enforcement measures, for CBP commissioner.

American politicians like to talk about why their country is different from all others, with the clear implication that it is better. And when they talk about the idea of American exceptionalism, they tend to use a biblical phrase – first used by one of the Puritans who came over on the Mayflower – that America is “the shining city on a hill”.

It’s a metaphorical allusion, but in Washington, DC, it is – sort of – literal. The top of Capitol Hill does indeed shine with the magnificent, gleaming marble and white stone of the Congress. And just across the road the equally imposing Supreme Court, itself a neoclassical masterpiece: the pinnacle of the justice system in the United States.

But has the rule of law in America ever looked so battered and tattered? Shining city? You’re having a laugh.

Donald Trump’s campaign pledged to be a champion for the working class. He ran campaign ads vowing to lift up the “hardest working citizens.” The Republican National Convention even put the spotlight on “everyday Americans.”

But his incoming administration reflects a government run by billionaires, stuffed with Wall Street fixtures, investment bankers, real estate developers and oil executives, all within reach of power to slash services that millions of poor and vulnerable Americans depend on.

A high-profile Democrat who rose to power during Donald Trump’s first term is pitching for a very significant job during his second. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is hoping to become the ranking minority member of the powerful House Oversight Committee, continuing a generational shift among House Democrats in the wake of Trump’s 2024 election victory.

In a letter to the House Democratic Caucus, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — often known colloquially as AOC — said she is asking for their support to lead their party’s side of the committee. The committee is the lower chamber’s principal investigatory arm with the power to look into “any matter,” even those under the jurisdiction of other standing committees.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC.

Federal Election Commission documents published Thursday revealed that Musk handed over more than $230 million to the America PAC — a political action committee that the Tesla billionaire created and which ultimately grew into a vital fundraising organ for the Trump campaign.

In the few weeks before Election Day, Musk made three separate $25 million donations to America PAC, the filings show.

Mr Perdue, who lived in Hong Kong during a 40-year career as a business executive, will be “instrumental in implementing my strategy to maintain peace in the region and a productive working relationship with China’s leaders”, Mr Trump added.

In his time as senator from 2015 to 2021, Mr Perdue advocated for the US to build a more robust naval force to cope with foreign threats and was labeled “anti-China” in a 2019 Chinese think tank.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports.