Washington

How Washington reacted to the Hunter Biden pardon: From the Politics Desk

Published

20 hours ago

December 2, 2024

How Washington reacted to the Hunter Biden pardon: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, our reporters go through President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son — and the part that’s particularly rankling fellow Democrats. Plus, senior politics editor Mark Murray looks at three big polling trends that defined 2024.

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Some Democrats bristle at Biden’s pardon justification

By Carol E. Lee, Sarah Fitzpatrick, Gary Grumbach and Dareh Gregorian

It’s not just that President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter. It’s how he did it that’s upsetting some fellow Democrats.

The president issued a “full and unconditional pardon” for any offenses Hunter Biden has “committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024,” according to a White House statement issued Sunday night.

The pardon comes after Biden repeatedly said he would not use his executive authority to pardon his son or commute his son’s sentence. And in his statement, Biden said he was granting the pardon because his son had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”

That, as Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton of Arizona told NBC News’ “Meet the Press Now” on Monday, plays against years of core Democratic Party policy positioning — and into the way President-elect Donald Trump and his allies have described his investigations and prosecutions.

“I’m pretty angry because it’s going to be incredibly important that political leaders of both parties stand up for the independence of the Department of Justice, stand up to these attacks suggesting that the Department of Justice has become politicized and needs to be dismantled or the FBI needs to be dismantled,” Stanton said. (See more from Stanton below.)

Trump, in response to Biden’s action, raised the issue of the defendants and people convicted of violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when he was pushing to overturn the 2020 election results.

“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Special counsel David Weiss’s office on Monday appeared to push back on Biden’s claim that its prosecutions of Hunter Biden were politically motivated, calling such allegations “baseless.” In a court filing challenging Hunter Biden’s request to have his California tax and fraud indictment dismissed in light of his father’s pardon, Weiss noted that a number of judges had already rejected the younger Biden’s claims of vindictive prosecution.

While a handful of members of Congress have spoken out about the pardon so far, one notable group has been silent — those Democrats seen as early possibilities to run for president in 2028. Watch this space going forward.

Three big takeaways from the 2024 polls

By Mark Murray

Beyond signaling that the 2024 presidential election was competitive and uncertain, the polls nailed the political atmospherics that shaped the contest — and could continue to shape politics going forward. Here are some of the biggest lessons we learned.

Most broadly, the polls accurately described an electorate that mostly saw the nation headed in the wrong direction, with an incumbent president, Joe Biden, whose approval rating was stuck in the low 40s — a historical danger zone for the party controlling the White House.

As it turns out, the NBC News Exit Poll found 73% of voters saying they were angry or dissatisfied with the country’s direction, and only 40% approved of Biden’s job performance.

Additionally, the polls foretold many of the key demographic trends that ended up defining the 2024 election, including Trump’s gains with Latino voters.

The NBC News/Telemundo/CNBC Latino poll was among the surveys showing those Trump gains well before the election. Many polls also caught on early to Biden’s and Democrats’ relative struggles with young voters, particularly some men, compared with other recent elections.

But the polls, including the NBC News survey, erred in overstating the size of the gender gap when it came to Harris’ support among female voters and Trump’s backing among men.

According to the exit poll, Harris won female voters by 8 points, and Trump won men by 13 points — a 21-point gender gap that was consistent with recent presidential elections. That was smaller than the 30-point-plus gender gap that the NBC News poll had been showing.

The big thing to keep in mind with the gender gap: For a look at how and where it’s widening, combine it with education and race instead. Harris won white women with college degrees by 16 points, and Trump won white men without college degrees by 40 points — a whopping 56-point gap in the margin between those two different groups.

Read more here →

🗞️ Today’s top stories

🚨 Pardon blowback: GOP lawmakers have been publicly fuming after Biden pardoned his son Hunter, calling it an effort to “avoid accountability” and casting the president as a “hypocrite.” Read more →
🚨 Pardon blowback, cont.: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended Biden’s decision to pardon his son, despite telling the press multiple times that the president had no such plans. Read more →
🏛 Court watch: The Supreme Court will hear a dispute over the Food and Drug Administration’s refusal to approve flavored e-cigarettes over public health concerns, putting the FDA’s role in green-lighting new tobacco products to the test. Read more →
➡️ Preparing for Trump 2.0: Two Democratic senators are urging the Biden administration to issue a policy directive that could temporarily limit Trump’s ability to deploy U.S. military troops domestically after he takes office. Read more →
➡️ Preparing for Trump 2.0, cont.: Consumer advocates say they’re bracing for sweeping changes at one of Washington’s newest financial watchdogs under Trump, whose allies have promised broad deregulation of companies that handle Americans’ money. Read more →
✈️ Air Force One to Angola: Biden became the first American head of state to visit the southern African nation of Angola, where he will showcase U.S.-backed infrastructure projects designed to link Angola, Zambia and Congo. Read more →

That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

And if you’re a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up here.

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Washington Nationals’ Four Best Contracts on Next Season’s Payroll

Published

2 hours ago

December 3, 2024

Press Room

Washington Nationals’ Four Best Contracts on Next Season’s Payroll

The Washington Nationals showed the world in 2024 that their rebuild this time may not be as lengthy as their previous rebuilds.

While they do still have a long way to go to be competitive in the toughest division in baseball, the National League East, their young core has started to make their Major League debuts and prove that the hype surrounding them was justified.

It is only a matter of time before the Nationals are back on the island of relevancy, and these four contracts on their 2025 payroll are massive boons to their success.

All figures accurate as of December 2

Dylan Crews was the No. 2 overall pick of the 2023 MLB draft and quickly rose through the minor leagues before making his Major League debut on Aug. 26.

While his Major League numbers may not look that promising on the surface, it was a small sample size, and when you dive deeper, things begin to look much better.

First, Crews batted .219/.288/.353 with three home runs, eight RBI, 12 stolen bases, and an 82 OPS+ across 132 plate appearances in 31 games.

However, over the last week of the season, Crews batted a much better .286/.400/.429 with no home runs or RBI, three stolen bases, and a 144 OPS+.

The rookie had an xBA of .253 for his time in the Majors and an xSLG of .418, so there was a good bit of bad luck playing into his results.

Crews is under team control for at least five more years, and after seemingly finding his footing at the Major League level to end 2024, it could be off to the races in 2025.

Pre-Arb, League Minimum

Derek Law is a journeyman relief pitcher, who has been much too good throughout his career to not have a forever home with a contending team.

That was no different in 2024, as the reliever was a free agent until Washington signed him to a one-year, $1.5 million deal on February 21.

Law would go on to pitch to a 2.60 ERA across 90 innings in 75 games with 76 strikeouts and a 155 ERA+.

The 34-year-old is arbitration eligible for one more year and will spend more than one season with a team for only the third time since his Major League debut in 2016.

Arbitration Projection of $3 million

MacKenzie Gore is an interesting piece in the middle of the Nationals rotation.

He joined the club as part of the trade that sent Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres in 2022 and made his team debut in 2023.

He has improved his production and his innings count in each of his three seasons in the Majors, with an 84 ERA+ across 70 innings in 2022, a 96 ERA+ across 136 1/3 innings in 2023, and a 103 ERA+ across 166 1/3 innings in 2024.

His success this year came from an extra mile-per-hour added onto his fastball, seemingly from using it less throughout the campaign.

In 2022 and 2023, Gore used his fastball 61 percent and 59 percent respectively, but dropped down to 55 percent in 2024, mixing his pitches more, and throwing that pitch harder, leading to more whiffs.

If Gore can continue his string of yearly improvements, perhaps even dropping the fastball usage to 50 percent, he will be an even bigger piece of the team’s rotation.

Arbitration Projection of $3.1 Million

Left fielder James Wood was another part of the Soto trade in 2022, but he did not make his Major League debut until this year.

Patience proved to be a virtue, however, as the young star produced a promising 122 OPS+ across 336 plate appearances in 79 games.

When Wood connects with the ball, he does not miss, carrying an elite exit velocity (92.8 MPH) and hard-hit rate (52 percent) while pairing those skills with an elite chase rate (21 percent) and walk rate (11.6 percent).

Wood needs to get under the ball more and try and drive it into the gap if he wants to take that next step forward in his game, as he carried a 2.4 launch angle, showing that he got on top of the ball and drove it into the ground more often than not.

With how hard he can hit baseballs if he can improve that launch angle, he will quickly become one of the preeminent power threats in the game today, all at the low low price of league minimum.

Pre-Arb, League Minimum

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Washington State wallops Nevada, 68-57; Wolf Pack drops to 6-2

Published

13 hours ago

December 3, 2024

Press Room

Washington State wallops Nevada, 68-57; Wolf Pack drops to 6-2

Eight days between games proved to be too many for the Nevada men’s basketball team.

That long break, along with a bad week of practices, led to a lethargic Wolf Pack.

The Wolf Pack turned in a dismal performance as Washington State took a 68-57 win on Monday night at Lawlor Events Center in front of 7,748 fans.

Washington State was without its leading scorer, Cedric Coward, but Nevada had no answer for the players the Cougars did have.

Kobe Sanders led Nevada with 14 points and Justin McBride had 11 as the Wolf Pack dropped to 6-2.

The Wolf Pack entered the game third in the nation in shooting and second in 3-point accuracy, but shot 39 percent (22-of-57) from the field, and 4-of-20 from 3-point range.

Washington State had four players score in double figures, led by Isaiah Watts with 17 points. LeJuan Watts added 13, and Ethan Price and Nate Calmese each had 10. The Cougars shot 41.7 percent (25-of-60) as they improved to 7-2.

Nevada coach Steve Alford said having seven seniors, the sixth-oldest roster in the nation, should help alleviate the long time between games.

“We had a really bad week of practice,” Alford said. “Bad practices usually mean bad performances, so we’ve got to do a better job of coaching them. It’s an old group, so it’s shocking this was maybe one of the worst offensive performances this team has had since we’ve been here.”

Nevada plays at Loyola Marymount on Saturday (6 p.m., TV: ESPN+). The Lions (3-3) play at Colorado State on Wednesday.

The Lions are coming off a 73-70 win over Wyoming in the Cancun Challenge Riviera Division.

Alford said the seniors need to take leadership to get the Pack back on the right path.

“If there’s value in what happened today, that I want out of this team, learn to play how you practice,” he said. “That’s the lesson that needs to be sent to this team.”

More stats

Nevada was 9-of-13 from the free throw line while Washington State was 6-of-9. Each team had 36 rebounds.

The Wolf Pack got 30 points from its bench, to 16 for the Cougars. The Pack had 12 points off fast breaks, to one for the Cougars.

Daniel Foster returned to the Wolf Pack’s lineup after dealing with a foot injury and played 17 minutes, scoring two points.

Halftime

Washington State led 31-21 at the half as Nevada struggled from the field, hitting 9-of-35, and just 1-of-15 from 3-point range.

The Wolf Pack was 2-for-3 from the free throw line in in the first half.

The Pack stayed within two to four points of the Cougars for most of the first half, but they pulled away in the final two minutes and scored with two seconds left in the half.

Out for the Cougars

Washington State’s Cedric Coward (shoulder) and Marcus Wilson (undisclosed) were both out for game against Nevada. Coward, who averages 17.7 points and 7.0 rebounds, has not played since Nov. 21.

Series history

Before Monday’s game, the Cougars and Wolf Pack last played in 2000 in Pullman, an overtime win for WSU. The Cougars hold a 4-1 all-time advantage.

NET rankings

Before Monday’s game, Nevada was ranked No 32 in the first NCAA NET Rankings released early Monday. Also from the Mountain West, Utah State was ranked No. 14, Boise State was No. 38, and San Diego State was No. 60.

The NET rankings take into account game results, strength of schedule, game location, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses.

In the AP Poll released Monday, San Diego State is ranked No. 24 and Utah State was ninth among others receiving votes.

Up next

Dec. 7, Nevada at Loyola Marymount, 6 p.m. (TV: ESPN+)
Dec. 11, South Dakota State at Nevada, 7 p.m.
Dec. 14, Texas Southern at Nevada, 7 p.m.
Dec. 21, Colorado State at Nevada, 2 p.m.
Dec. 28, Nevada at Wyoming, 1 p.m.
Dec. 31, Utah State at Nevada, 7 p.m.

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Explore Washington, D.C.’s Science Scene – Eos

Published

1 day ago

December 2, 2024

Press Room

Explore Washington, D.C.’s Science Scene – Eos

From 9 to 13 December, more than 25,000 Earth and space scientists will flock to Washington, D.C., for AGU’s Annual Meeting 2024. After jam-packed days attending talks, presenting posters, exploring the exhibit hall, loading up on swag, networking over endless coffee, and playing with puppies (for, er, science?), attendees might be wondering how to extend their science binge outside the conference center.

Luckily for them, the D.C. metro area has events to keep the science times rolling. Here are just a few places to visit in and around D.C. during AGU24.

Around the City

On 10 December, author Anna Farro Henderson will speak at Busboys and Poets on K Street about Core Samples: A Climate Scientist’s Experiments in Politics and Motherhood. On 12 December, Astronomy on Tap DC is presenting “Geology on the Rocks,” with accessible planetary geophysics talks, drinks, and prizes at the DC9 Nightclub.

The National Museum of Natural History’s hyperwall displays real-time Earth observing data. Credit: Jim Di Loreto, Smithsonian

The National Mall is a museum hot spot, and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is the destination for Earth sciences. A collaboration with NASA led to the new Earth Information Center at NMNH, which connects sky-high views from satellite observations with on-the-ground research. The museum’s Lights Out: Recovering Our Night Sky exhibit one floor down demonstrates the impact of light pollution on our fading night skies.

For the more space-minded person, the National Air and Space Museum showcases innovations and pioneers in flight and space exploration. The D.C.-based museum regularly hosts stargazing, planetarium shows (for adults and kids), and solar observing. A long train ride or car trip can bring you to the museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., to roam among historic planes and space vehicles and be immersed in stories about sustainable cities, butterflies, and space exploration in its IMAX theater.

Several Earth and space science museum displays. — AGU’s headquarters features members’ science. Credit: Beth Bagley/AGU

The visitor’s center at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., gives tours of the facility and hosts permanent exhibits on the Sun, solar system, and beyond, as well as a rocket garden and astrobiology walk.

And, of course, you can stop by AGU’s headquarters at 2000 Florida Avenue to tour the net zero building and explore its Earth and space science museum.

The Great Outdoors

A raging river with rocky rapids and waterfalls. — In the fall zone of the Potomac River, Great Falls National Park is accessible via Virginia and Maryland. Credit: Kimberly M. S. Cartier

Take some time to escape the conference center and see some of the outdoor geologic sights the city has to offer. A curated archaeology tour of D.C. buildings reveals the capital’s secret geologic history, with fossils and minerals embedded in the stones used to build some of the city’s iconic buildings. Theodore Roosevelt Island, nestled between D.C. and Arlington, Va., boasts 18 miles (29 kilometers) of accessible forest trails, interesting geologic and cultural histories, and excellent birding views. The Anacostia Riverwalk Trail winds through forest, fields, and marsh and river ecosystems, as well as historic neighborhoods and hot spots in the District and Maryland.

For those who want to travel a little farther afield, the D.C. region is nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, the fall zone of the Potomac River, and the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The unique confluence of geologies has something for everyone. And those looking for a souvenir to take home can travel out to Maryland to hunt for fossils in Calvert Cliffs State Park or search for shark teeth in Purse State Park. Adventurers can even paddle through a tidal freshwater marsh in Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary.