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Trump Has Absolute Immunity for Official Acts, US Supreme Court Rules

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The United States Supreme Court has for the first time recognised that former presidents have immunity from prosecution for certain actions taken in office, as it threw out a judicial decision rejecting Donald Trump’s bid to shield himself from criminal charges involving his efforts to undo his 2020 election loss.

The court on Monday ruled 6-3 that while former presidents enjoy immunity for actions they take within their constitutional authority, they do not for actions taken in a private capacity.

The ruling marked the first time since the nation’s 18th-century founding that the Supreme Court has declared that former presidents may be shielded from criminal charges in any instance.

The decision will boost Trump’s defence against federal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 vote, which he lost to President Joe Biden. It could also affect similar state-level election interference charges in Georgia.

Trump was quick to welcome the ruling. “BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN,” the former president wrote in a social media post.

Chief Justice John Roberts announced the landmark decision on behalf of the court’s six-justice conservative majority. The court’s three liberal justices dissented.

The Supreme Court justices argued that enabling the prosecution of former presidents over their official acts in office could open the door for political retribution and despotism.

“The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official. The President is not above the law. But Congress may not criminalize the President’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution,” they wrote.

They stressed that the immunity does not apply just to Trump but “to all occupants of the Oval Office, regardless of politics, policy, or party.”

Three of the six justices who backed the ruling were appointed by Trump himself.

Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor forcefully rejected the majority’s opinion on Monday, arguing that the ruling effectively legalises abuse of power.

“The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world. When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution,” she wrote.

“Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”

Source: Aljazeera

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America 2028: Kamala Harris Considers Throwing Hat in the Ring

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Former Vice President Kamala Harris confirmed on Friday that she is “thinking about” running for president in 2028 at the 2026 National Action Network Convention – in her most open public remarks to date about her political future.

“Listen, I might, I might. I’m thinking about it. I’m thinking about it,” Harris told Rev. Al Sharpton when asked about whether she plans to run another White House campaign. Harris was the Democratic presidential nominee in the 2024 election.

Her comments came amid mounting speculation about what she may do next with her political career after she released a campaign memoir in late 2025 and embarked on a subsequent book tour.

Harris is also set to appear at Democratic Party events in four Southern states this month, CNN previously reported.

While Harris said in an August 2025 interview with CBS’ Stephen Colbert that she did not “want to go back in the system,” she hinted later in the year that she could make another bid for the White House, telling the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “I am not done.”

On Friday, Harris received a warm welcome at the progressive organizing conference steeped in civil rights history, prompting loud chants of “run again,” which briefly interrupted her remarks at one point.

“I am thinking about (running again) but let me also say this. I served for four years being a heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States,” Harris said. “I spent countless hours in my West Wing office, footsteps away from the Oval Office. I spent countless hours in the Oval Office, in the Situation Room. I know what the job is. And I know what it requires.”

She went on to lay out the “work that needs to be done” as she considers what would be a third presidential campaign, with a crowded potential field taking shape.

“I’ve been traveling the country the last year, I’ve been spent a lot of time in the south and many other places. And the one thing I’m really clear about also, is the status quo is not working, and hasn’t been working for a lot of people for a long time,” the former nominee said.

Since leaving the White House, Harris has continued to be an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.

In her sit-down with Sharpton, Harris condemned Trump’s foreign policy actions, particularly the war with Iran, which she called a “choice.”

At Friday’s event, the former vice president went on to argue that Trump’s increasing bitterness toward some allies, particularly NATO countries, “is harmful to the people of America, not to mention people in allied nations around the world.”

She added that the impact of Trump’s foreign policy “keeps me up at night.”

The gathering of Black African American and progressive leaders at the annual conference in New York served as a staging ground for potential 2028 presidential contenders, several of whom sat down with Sharpton to test-drive their message.

Kicking off the proceedings on Wednesday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — one of the party’s young, progressive stars — quipped about his ineligibility to run for president as a non-natural-born citizen.

“It is such a pleasure to be here, and I joked with the reverend that I’m proud to announce that I am not running for president in 2028, which I know that some people may be considering when they come to this conference,” Mamdani said.

The potential candidates – including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, California Rep. Ro Khanna, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Harris – fielded personal questions and touted local successes. Another potential contender, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, is set to address the conference on Saturday.

Shapiro promoted his work to repair the I-95 bridge in his state, echoing his “GSD” (get s*** done) slogan; Moore grappled with the fight over redistricting in his state, warning Republicans, “don’t play with me”; and Buttigieg criticized the TSA staffing shortages at airports amid the ongoing DHS funding stalemate, reflecting on his own experience leading the Transportation Department.

The conflict with Iran also created a throughline for the conversations, each Democrat laying into the Trump administration’s decision making and leadership. Gallego, Moore and Buttigieg, each veteran, grounded their criticism in personal terms.

“I know exactly what it feels like to get on that gray-tailed military transport plane and be on your way into a war zone, and how important it is to be able to believe that the people who sent you there only did that because they had no other choice,” Buttigieg said. “You do not put American troops’ lives on the line unless you have no other good alternative.”

Meanwhile, with speculation growing about their plans, every member of the potential 2028 field was emphatic about their commitment to Democratic successes in the 2026 midterms. “In these midterms, we’ve got four competitive US congressional races that I’m going all in on, so we can make Hakeem Jeffries the speaker of the House,” Shapiro declared.

Sharpton attempted to cut out the speculation, closing every interview by directly asking each would-be contender about their plans for the next White House race. But he received a series of artful dodges.

Executive Branch

“We have an opportunity to have a real debate in our party about what we stand for. About what our affirmative vision is,” Shapiro said. “And what I can tell you for sure is that I want to be a part of that debate.”

Pritzker was similarly noncommittal. “My answer is, I don’t know what I’ll be doing after. I hope I win reelection after, but I can tell you this, I’m going to fight like hell to elect a Democrat in 2028,” he said.

Getting a loud reaction from the crowd during his turn, Moore relished the speculation. “We’re gonna send a message in Maryland. But I’m telling you, while I am – I tell people, you know, I’m hungry, but I’m not thirsty,” the Maryland governor remarked.

Finally, Sharpton asked Buttigieg, “When you ran for president, you met me, and we went up for a well-publicized lunch at Sylvia’s Restaurant, in Harlem. Just so my calendar is clear. Should I be reserving a table at Sylvia’s? Are you – are you gonna run again?”

“You save me a seat, I’ll be there,” he replied.

CNN

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Operation Epic Fury: I’m No Longer Interested in Nobel Peace Prize, Says Trump

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Trump, on Friday said that he is no longer “interested” in winning the Nobel Peace Prize, claiming he had “no idea” whether Operation Epic Fury would “get him over the finish line” with committee members in Oslo, Norway.

“I’m not interested in it,” Trump said in a phone call with the Washington Examiner, a conservative news publication.

Asked whether the subject had been broached in his recent conversations with foreign leaders, Trump said: “No, I don’t talk about the Nobel Prize.”

Trump frequently opined on his desire for the prize in the past. The winner of the 2025 prize, Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado, handed her prize to Trump in January in a meeting at the White House, a move the Nobel committee criticized.

Trump was clamoring for the Nobel as recently as January. In a social media post, he took credit for “single-handedly” ending eight wars — and yet “Norway, a NATO Member, foolishly chose not to give me the Noble Peace Prize.”

“But that doesn’t matter! What does matter is that I saved Millions of Lives,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Source: nbcnews.com

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US Group Appeals to Trump to Help Halt Christian Genocide in Nigeria

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A strong and passionate appeal has been made to US President, Donald Trump, and the international community, to take immediate and conclusive actions, in collaboration with the Nigerian government, to halt the upsurge of genocidal killings and maiming, being carried out by extreme Islamist terrorists and other insurgents, in the country, particularly its northern region.

The ‘Save Our Souls’ (SOS) message was contained in a statement from the Save Nigeria Group (SNGUSA), a civil society body based in the USA, endorsed by Stephen Osemwegie and Victor O. Ben, its President/Founder and respectively.

The statement was against the backdrop of renewed killings and kidnapping by the armed militants in the northern Nigeria’s Middle Belt, including on Sunday, January 18, 2026, where innocent Christians were attacked in Kajulu, Kaduna State, resulting in the abduction of over 177 worshippers, during Sunday worships.

While expressing the group’s profound gratitude to President Trump, for his pivotal leadership and empowering the 2025 Christmas Day’s fatal airstrikes against the ISIS and Lakurawa camps in Sokoto, which it said was a powerful message to terrorists and that it brought hope to persecuted communities across Nigeria, the statement asserted that the recent brutal attacks in Kaduna and others indicated that the job was not finished.

(SNGUSA), the US-based not-for-profit, which collaborates in its activities with the Save Nigeria Initiated (SNI), a coalition based in Nigeria, also called on religious groups, traditional rulers and the civil society leaders to synergise, in order to halt the massacres and insecurity, and prevail on the United Nations’ Secretary General and others global bodies, to urgently intervene in Nigeria’s worsening insecurity and humanitarian crisis.

The massive kidnap of Christian worshippers in Kajulu, Kaduna, which was initially denied by the Nigerian police, but later confirmed by it, had been condemned across the world, hence the appeal by SNGUSA.

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