Additional pardons, measures to prevent homegrown political extremism, and more military aid for Israel are among the plans that Biden and his administration have during their final days before passing the baton to President-elect Donald Trump and his team.
Biden will end his presidency with one more international trip, during which he will travel to Italy and Vatican City to meet with Pope Francis, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella. Biden’s trip to the Vatican is aimed at discussing ways to advance peace around the world with Pope Francis, and his time with Italy’s heads of state will serve to highlight the strength of the U.S.-Italy alliance, the White House said. Biden also plans to thank Meloni for her leadership of the G7 over the last year and discuss future challenges facing the globe’s leading nations.
Upon Biden’s return from overseas, the president will address the nation twice more before Trump’s inauguration, sources in the Biden administration told NBC News. The first speech will focus on foreign policy, while the second will serve as a farewell address for Biden to be held during his final days in the Oval Office. Neither speech has been fully drafted, sources said Saturday.
Sources familiar also indicated that Biden is considering additional pardons for people deemed to have been given unusually harsh sentences, measures to combat domestic violent extremism in the U.S., and additional military funding – roughly $8 billion, the State Department said – to Israel amid its ongoing war with Hamas.
The pardons come after Biden set a record for the largest single-day act of clemency when he commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people in mid-December. Sources told NBC News that Biden was also still considering pre-emptive pardons for those who might face political retribution from Trump.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice indicated Monday that it was still weighing whether to prosecute an additional 200 Jan. 6 cases in the final days before Trump takes office, during which he is expected to grant pardons to many of those who were convicted of crimes related to their participation in the events of that day.
In addition to the plans of action that Biden and his administration plan to take ahead of Trump’s inauguration, it is also notable that Biden will not act on pressure to bolster protections for transgender student athletes or cancel any additional student loan debt, according to the Associated Press.
Biden’s actions after Trump’s election victory in November have garnered criticism from both sides of the aisle.
‘This is one of the lamest of lame ducks we’ve seen with a Democratic administration,’ a spokesperson for progressive nonprofit Justice Democrats said last month. ‘There is no leadership coming from the White House,’ a Democrat close to senior lawmakers also said. ‘There is a total vacuum.’
Some Democrat lawmakers, such as Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, were angry at Biden’s lack of resistance to many of Trump’s Cabinet picks.
Republicans, on the other hand, have challenged Biden’s actions during the final weeks of his presidency as an affront to the American public who voted for Trump.
‘On his way out the door, President Biden is governing as he has always wanted, as a far-left ideologue hellbent on pushing the country in a direction detached from the will of the voters,’ GOP campaign strategist Colin Reed said.
‘While Trump can undo whatever Biden does, Biden is trying to create litigation traps for Trump that will discourage investors from projects on public lands,’ added American Energy Institute fellow Steve Milloy after news broke Monday that Biden was once again moving to restrict domestic energy production on certain land. This move is part of a series of actions Biden has taken in his final weeks to strengthen the country’s defenses against Trump’s plans to reverse many of his green energy initiatives.
Trump blasted Biden’s last-minute policy decisions in an interview Monday, calling out the lame-duck president for making a ‘smooth transition’ more difficult.
‘I see it just came over that Biden has banned all oil and gas drilling across 625 million acres of U.S. coastal territory. It’s just ridiculous. I’ll un-ban it immediately. I have the right to un-ban it immediately. What’s he doing? Why is he doing it?’ Trump said during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. ‘You know we have something that nobody else has. Nobody has to the extent we have it, and it’ll be more by the time we finish, because I’ll be able to expand.’
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.