Politics
Biden to Dole Out 19 Medals of Freedom, and One Unmistakable Message
With 16 days left in a political career that spanned a half-century, President Biden is expected on Saturday to confer one of the nation’s highest honors on core members of the political, financial and celebrity establishment of which he has long been a part.
President-elect Donald J. Trump will replace Mr. Biden on Jan. 20, determined to continue his assault on what he has long called “the swamp.” In 2016, Mr. Trump vowed to wage war against establishment members in both parties who he said had “reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.”
But on Saturday, Mr. Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 Americans, including some of the brightest lights of the old guard that Mr. Trump wants to tear down. In doing so, the 82-year-old outgoing president is sending an unmistakable message of support for a democratic order he has said is threatened by Mr. Trump’s re-election.
Among those receiving the award are Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, senator and secretary of state whom Mr. Trump threatened to jail; Robert F. Kennedy, the assassinated senator whose son has embraced Mr. Trump; and George Romney, the late father of Senator Mitt Romney, the Republican from Utah who repeatedly rejected Mr. Trump’s actions and philosophy.
As many presidents have done with the Medal of Freedom, Mr. Biden also will honor some of his party’s most prolific fund-raisers, including the man who looms largest of all among Democratic donors — George Soros, the liberal activist billionaire whom Republicans have cast as the party’s evil puppet master.
They also include the magazine editor and cultural figure Anna Wintour, who put the first lady, Jill Biden, on the cover of Vogue twice in the last four years while spurning Melania Trump during her husband’s presidency. Ms. Wintour is one of the leading fund-raisers in the fashion industry, having hosted events for Mr. Biden’s re-election campaign in London and Paris last year.
Mr. Biden will also recognize artists, musicians, sports figures, philanthropists and others who have contributed to society, including the singer Bono, the actor Michael J. Fox, the basketball legend Magic Johnson and the investor David M. Rubenstein.
All modern presidents have awarded the medal to those whom they found deserving, often as they are leaving the political scene for good and sometimes with an ideological tilt. It is seen by historians as a final use of the presidential megaphone to say to Americans: This is whom we should admire and emulate.
After Mr. Trump won in 2016, President Barack Obama gave the medal to the N.B.A. star Michael Jordan, the actors Tom Hanks and Robert De Niro and others. Earlier, Mr. Obama had given the award to Mr. Biden, who had served as his vice president.
Four years later, as Mr. Trump was leaving office, he gave the medal to two professional golfers, an Olympic athlete and Representatives Devin Nunes of California and Jim Jordan of Ohio, two of his fiercest Republican loyalists in Congress.
But Mr. Biden’s use of the presidential prerogative appeared to be more even pointed than that of some of his predecessors.
His decision to give the medal posthumously to Mr. Kennedy could be read as a rebuke to Mr. Kennedy’s son, a member of perhaps the country’s most famous Democratic family. The decision by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to endorse Mr. Trump during the campaign — despite denunciations from most of his relatives — helped lead to Mr. Trump’s choice of him to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
The White House noted that the elder Mr. Romney, a Republican, had been the chairman and president of American Motors Corporation and had later served as governor of Michigan and as secretary of housing and urban development. But he was also the father of the younger Mr. Romney, the only Republican to vote twice to convict Mr. Trump after his two impeachments.
The award for Mr. Romney echoes Mr. Biden’s decision this week to award the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, to Representative Liz Cheney, who led the effort to hold Mr. Trump accountable for his actions during the assault on the Capitol in 2021.
Both awards from a Democratic president to prominent Republicans offered to give Mr. Biden the kind of public relations jolt that has mostly been reserved for Mr. Trump since the election.
The same could not be said for Mr. Soros. By awarding the medal to him, Mr. Biden is acknowledging how important the investor and philanthropist has been to the Democratic Party. That is something that many members of Mr. Biden’s party have been wary of doing, fearing that Mr. Trump and other Republicans would seize on it as evidence of the conspiratorial control they say he has.
But Mr. Biden seems willing to ignore that concern. After weeks in which Mr. Trump has showcased Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, as a member of his inner circle, Mr. Biden appeared to want to say: We have our billionaires, too.
Mr. Soros has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on progressive politics since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which unleashed a torrent of money into politics from businesses and the wealthy people who run them. Mr. Soros and his family crucially stood by Mr. Biden immediately after Mr. Biden’s disastrous debate performance last year.
The White House description of Mr. Soros was more staid, focusing on his creation of the Open Society Foundation, saying that “through his network of foundations, Soros has supported organizations and projects across the world that strengthen democracy, human rights, education and social justice.”
Other major benefactors include Tim Gill, a software entrepreneur, who has been among the most important donors in the gay community, working to push L.G.B.T.Q. rights first in his home state of Colorado and then nationally. He gave $355,000 to the Biden Victory Fund during the 2020 race.
Theodore Schleifer contributed reporting.
Politics
Trump to jet off to Asia as North Korea fires ballistic missiles and China trade questions loom
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President Donald Trump is heading off to Asia Friday evening — not long after North Korea fired off a ballistic missile for the first time in months and as questions loom regarding trade negotiations with China.
The White House confirmed that Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.
The meeting comes amid escalated tensions between the two countries on trade after Beijing announced Oct. 9 it would impose export controls on rare-earth magnets, which are used in a host of products ranging from electric cars to F-35 fighter jets. In response, Trump announced the U.S. would impose a new 100% tariff on all Chinese goods, which is slated to take effect Nov. 1.
Even so, Trump sought to diffuse tensions and routinely has touted his relationship with Xi in recent weeks. Additionally, he has voiced confidence that both parties will walk away from the summit pleased and that a deal will be made.
TRUMP THREATENS ‘MASSIVE’ CHINA TARIFFS, SEES ‘NO REASON’ TO MEET WITH XI
The White House confirmed that President Donald Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
“I think we are going to come out very well and everyone’s going to be very happy,” Trump said Thursday.
The summit between Trump and Xi will be the first time they’ve met in person since Trump took office in January. The two previously met in person in June 2019 in Japan.
Trump’s meeting with Xi will come on the tail end of a larger trip to the region. Trump is first headed to Malaysia to meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim Sunday afternoon before participating in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) dinner in the evening.
NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES BALLISTIC MISSILES DAYS BEFORE TRUMP’S VISIT TO THE PENINSULA

Xi Jinping, China’s president, during a news conference with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president, not pictured, at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (Ton Molina/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
While in Malaysia, he will also meet with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.
Trump will then head to Tokyo Monday, and is slated to meet on Tuesday with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who was just elected earlier in October. Takaichi is the first woman to serve as the prime minister of Japan.
Trump will then close out his trip heading to South Korea, where he will meet with the South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and will deliver keynote remarks at the APEC CEO lunch.
TRUMP ANNOUNCES MEETING WITH XI JINPING AT SOUTH KOREA APEC SUMMIT SCHEDULED FOR NEXT MONTH

President Donald Trump, right, and Xi Jinping, China’s president, greet attendees waving American and Chinese national flags during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Nov. 9, 2017. (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump is then scheduled to return to Washington Thursday.
Meanwhile, North Korea has upped its aggression in recent days, and fired off multiple short-range ballistic missiles Wednesday — the first one Pyongyang has launched since May. Meanwhile, North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un showed off a new intercontinental ballistic missile at a military parade in front of Chinese, Russian and other top officials Oct. 10.
“We are aware of the DPRK’s multiple ballistic missile launches and are consulting closely with the Republic of Korea and Japan, as well as other regional allies and partners,” U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The United States condemns these actions and calls on the DPRK to refrain from further unlawful and destabilizing acts,” INDOPACOM said. “While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, or territory, or to our allies, we continue to monitor the situation.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Politics
Federal immigration enforcement surge is now paused in East Bay too, Oakland mayor says
A planned increase in federal immigration enforcement in the Bay Area is now on pause throughout the region and in major East Bay cities, not just in San Francisco, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said Friday.
Lee said in a statement that Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez had “confirmed through her communications” with federal immigration officials that the planned operations were “cancelled for the greater Bay Area — which includes Oakland — at this time.”
The announcement followed lingering concerns about ramped up immigration enforcement among East Bay leaders after President Trump and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced Thursday that a planned “surge” had been called off in San Francisco.
Trump and Lurie had very specifically addressed San Francisco, even as additional Border Patrol agents were being staged across the bay on Coast Guard Island, which is in the waters between Alameda and Oakland.
At a press conference following Trump’s annoucement about San Francisco, Lee had said the situation remained “fluid,” that she had received no such assurances about the East Bay and that Oakland was continuing to prepare for enhanced immigration enforcement in the region.
Alameda County Dist. Atty. Ursula Jones Dickson had previously warned that the announced stand down in San Francisco could be a sign the administration was looking to focus on Oakland instead — and make an example of it.
“We know that they’re baiting Oakland, and that’s why San Francisco, all of a sudden, is off the table,” Jones Dickson said Thursday morning. “So I’m not going to be quiet about what we know is coming. We know that their expectation is that Oakland is going to do something to cause them to make us the example.”
The White House on Friday directed questions about the scope of the pause in operations and whether it applied to the East Bay to the Department of Homeland Security, which referred The Times back to Trump’s statement about San Francisco on Friday — despite its making no mention of the East Bay or Oakland.
In that statement, posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump had written that a “surge” had been planned for San Francisco starting Saturday, but that he had called it off after speaking to Lurie.
Trump said Lurie had asked “very nicely” that Trump “give him a chance to see if he can turn it around” in the city, and that business leaders — including Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Marc Benioff of Salesforce — had expressed confidence in Lurie.
Trump said he told Lurie that it would be “easier” to make San Francisco safer if federal forces were sent in, but told him, “let’s see how you do.”
Lurie in recent days has touted falling crime rates and numbers of homeless encampments in the city, and said in his own announcement of the stand down that he had told Trump that San Francisco was “on the rise” and that “having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery.”
In California and elsewhere, the Trump administration has aggressively sought to expand the reach and authority of the Border Patrol and federal immigration agents. Last month, the DOJ fired its top prosecutor in Sacramento after she told Gregory Bovino, chief of the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector, that he could not carry out indiscriminate immigration raids around Sacramento this summer.
In Oakland on Thursday, the planned surge in enforcement had sparked protests near the entrance to Coast Guard Island, and drew widespread condemnation from local liberal officials and immigrant advocacy organizations.
On Thursday night, security officers at the base opened fire on the driver of a U-Haul truck who was reversing the truck toward them, wounding the driver and a civilian nearby. The FBI is investigating that incident.
Some liberal officials had warned that federal agents who violated the rights of Californians could face consequences — even possible arrest — from local law enforcement, which drew condemnation from federal officials.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche responded with a scathing letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and others on Thursday in which he wrote that any attempt by local law enforcement to arrest federal officers doing their jobs would be viewed by the Justice Department as “both illegal and futile” and as part of a “criminal conspiracy.”
Blanche wrote that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution precludes any federal law enforcement official to be “held on a state criminal charge where the alleged crime arose during the performance of his federal duties,” and that the Justice Department would pursue legal action against any state officials who advocate for such enforcement.
“In the meantime, federal agents and officers will continue to enforce federal law and will not be deterred by the threat of arrest by California authorities who have abdicated their duty to protect their constituents,” Blanche wrote.
The threat of arrest for federal officers had originated in part with San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins, who had written on social media that if federal agents “come to San Francisco and illegally harass our residents … I will not hesitate to do my job and hold you accountable just like I do other violators of the law every single day.”
Politics
Video: Bay Area Protesters Try to Block Base Entrance Before Immigration Operation
new video loaded: Bay Area Protesters Try to Block Base Entrance Before Immigration Operation
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