🚨 ISRAEL CEASEFIRE

Author

Citizen Frank
January 15, 2025

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, January 15.

Important note: cf.org is rebranding to thefrank.com. Soon you’ll find us under our new name.

 

President Joe Biden touted a ceasefire agreement Wednesday between Israel and Hamas, a goal his administration has been working toward for more than a year now with less than a week before he leaves the Oval Office.

This deal, which will not commence until Sunday and could still fall apart before then, is the culmination of negotiations facilitated by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt. It’s unclear exactly why the deal came together now, though President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly warned Hamas that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released by his inauguration, which is set for next Monday.

Who gets credit? Biden or Trump?

“I’d also note, this deal was developed and negotiated under my administration but its terms will be implemented, for the most part, by the next administration,” Biden said during brief remarks laying out the deal. “For these past few days, we’ve been speaking as one team.”

Six of President-elect Donald Trump’s big-office nominees faced Senate confirmation hearings Wednesday, previewing a parade of policy and political fights that will define his second term.

The picks — Pam Bondi for attorney general, Marco Rubio for secretary of state, Sean Duffy for transportation secretary, John Ratcliffe for CIA director, Chris Wright for energy secretary and Russell Vought for director of the White House Office of Management and Budget — largely avoided the kind of fireworks that can sink confirmation chances.

At the same time, they collectively laid out visions for the agencies they hope to lead that comport with Trump’s campaign promises and political grievances.

President-elect Trump’s Inauguration Day is less than a week away, and he’s begun to plan who will attend various events in Washington to mark his return to the White House.

Trump has invited many other people, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, but it’s not known if they will come to the U.S. to welcome Trump back to office.

Here’s who is confirmed to attend Trump’s inauguration so far.

A contractor embedded in one of the Pentagon’s highest offices has been terminated from his firm, Booz Allen Hamilton, after boasting to an undercover journalist that he worked with retired generals to try to stop Donald Trump, who he viewed as a “sociopathic narcissist,” from winning the presidency.

O’Keefe Media Group caught Jamie Mannina boasting to a young woman that he worked for Hillary Clinton in the Senate and the State Department before joining the FBI to hunt Russian spies because he believed Russia was to blame for Trump winning the 2016 election. From there, he joined government contractor Booz Allen, and the Pentagon embedded the contractor into its inner sanctum.

Mannina, who appeared to believe he was on a date with a younger woman, said if Kamala Harris had won the presidency, he would have been given a “pretty big job.”

TikTok plans to shut its app for U.S. users from Sunday, when a federal ban on the social media app could come into effect, unless the Supreme Court moves to block it, people familiar with the matter said.

The outcome of the shutdown would be different from that mandated by the law.

The law would mandate a ban only on new TikTok downloads on Apple or Google app stores, while existing users could continue using it for some time.

Ross Worthington is expected to be President-elect Donald Trump’s head speechwriter in the White House, according to three people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

It may be an indication that there will be a heavy focus on policy in the second Trump administration.

Worthington and Vince Haley, the incoming director of the domestic policy council, crafted policy-infused speeches for Trump on the campaign trail, as well as the first drafts of scripts Trump used to record the policy videos that appeared on his campaign website.

President Joe Biden notified Congress of his intent to lift the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, the White House announced, as part of a deal facilitated by the Catholic Church to free political prisoners on the island.

Senior U.S. administration officials, who previewed the announcement on the condition of anonymity, said ”many dozens” of political prisoners and others considered by the U.S. to be unjustly detained would be released by the end of the Biden administration at noon on Jan. 20.

The U.S. would also ease some economic pressure on Cuba, as well as a 2017 memorandum issued by then-President Donald Trump toughening U.S. posture toward Cuba.

Sweden has unveiled tough new requirements for citizenship as part of tighter immigration rules aimed at integrating migrants and upholding the country’s values.

The government said on Tuesday it wanted to toughen the rules for obtaining Swedish nationality, with a probe recommending ‘honest living’ as a prerequisite.

It also recommended extending the required duration of time spent in the country prior to obtaining citizenship – increasing to eight years from the current five.

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