I’m not thrilled that Donald Trump has renewed his attack on the "corrupt media."

Fresh off his $15-million victory over ABC and George Stephanopoulos, Trump yesterday sued the Des Moines Register and gold-standard pollster Ann Selzer over a bad survey. She projected him losing by 4 points, and he won the state by 13 points. He called this "brazen election interference."

Trump is also pursuing legal action against CBS for the "60 Minutes" blunder in substituting a crisper Kamala Harris response to a different question than was asked. But the network can argue that this was normal television editing.

Trump is unlikely to win those suits, but he doesn’t care. Just putting his perceived opponents through the ordeal and considerable expense of defending themselves is reward enough.

A KINDER, GENTLER TRUMP? PRESIDENT-ELECT TAKING A MORE MODERATE STANCE

Most legal experts say ABC could have won its suit, involving Stephanopoulos’ repeatedly saying Trump was found liable for "rape," as opposed to "sexual abuse," in the E. Jean Carroll suit, because of the malice standard for a public figure. Trump would have to prove the network knowingly showed reckless disregard for the truth. But ABC would have endured the embarrassment of turning over emails, texts and cell-phone records.

What surprised me, though, was that the president-elect shifted to attack mode just days after saying he had "tamed" the press and was getting better coverage. So much for the cease-fire.

But some of Trump’s more positive aspects were on display during the hourlong presser, a seriousness of purpose that I saw in our New York interview two weeks before the election.

I’ve known Donald Trump for more than three decades, interviewed him twice this year, and now that we’re done with the sometimes incendiary rhetoric of the campaign, he sounds different.

With apparently boundless energy at 78, he deliberately speaks a bit more slowly and softly, while moderating his positions on a number of divisive issues. He knows how to deflect questions he shouldn’t answer, such as "Will you retaliate against Iran." He threw in phrases like "maybe it was my fault," deflating any superhuman image. He recently admitted it would be hard to get grocery prices down.

The incoming president was asked whether Republican senators who oppose his nominees should be primaried. His response was carefully composed.

TRUMP THREATENS MORE LAWSUITS AGAINST MEDIA AS ABC TO PAY $15 MILLION TO SETTLE CASE

"If they are unreasonable, I'll give you a different answer. An answer that you'll be shocked to hear. If they're unreasonable, if they're opposing somebody for political reasons or stupid reasons, I would say it has nothing to do with me. I would say they probably would be primaried, but, if they're reasonable, fair, and really disagree with something or somebody, I could see that happening."

Of course it’s Trump who determines what’s reasonable or fair.

Asked about the parade of Silicon Valley executives who have come or are coming to Mar-a-Lago – the leaders of Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple and others – Trump noted they were "very hostile" in his first term ("and maybe that was my fault, but I don’t really think so"). It doesn’t hurt that Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos are kicking in a million bucks for his inauguration.

"One of the big differences" is that "everybody was fighting me" in the first term. Now, "everybody wants to be my friend. I don't know, my personality changed or something." That was tongue in cheek.

What was striking about the press conference was how much news Trump made on a wide range of subjects, some of which barely got mentioned. 

He weighed in on the bogus Duke rape accuser, who finally admitted that she lied back in 2006, saying life would never be the same for the lacrosse players who did nothing wrong. He talked about how the Biden team was not leveling with the public about the drones. He described the "sickness" of those who positively view the alleged murderer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. He backed the polio vaccine. He defended Pete Hegseth. He talked Venezuela and Syria and Turkey and North Korea and Bibi. He ruminated about TikTok. 

There was a sense of deja vu, a stark reminder of how Trump was a round-the-clock source of news in the first term, even when he was talking to reporters he disliked, sometimes denigrating them or counterpunching against their coverage. The contrast with the soon-to-be Former Guy, who made no news on the weekends that he usually spent in Delaware or at Camp David, could hardly be greater.

So beyond the full-throated attack on the media, long his favorite foil, the Incoming Guy actually showed restraint and nuance and was clearly enjoying himself.

Now maybe Trump has just been in a bad mood the last couple of days. After Judge Juan Merchan refused to toss out the hush money conviction on grounds that his private actions were not covered by the recent Supreme Court ruling on official acts, the incoming president yesterday posted this:

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"Merchan, who is far worse and even more corrupt than [Jack] Smith in his fight for my hopeless political opponents, just cannot let go of this charade. Is it because of his conflicts and relations that he keeps breaking the Law? This has to stop!... 

"In a completely illegal, psychotic order, the deeply conflicted, corrupt, biased, and incompetent Acting Justice Juan Merchan has completely disrespected the United States Supreme Court, and its Historic Decision on Immunity. But even without Immunity, this illegitimate case is nothing but a Rigged Hoax."

Now there’s the Donald we all came to know during the trial.

Donald Trump said yesterday at a Mar-a-Lago news conference that he would take a couple of questions. 

By the time he finished speaking, he had gone on for an hour. 

Trump made news on a dozen topics, a reminder of the freewheeling approach in which even among journalists who can’t stand him, the incoming president is a newsmaking machine who provides headlines around the clock, setting the terms of debate – in a sharp contrast with the reclusive Joe Biden. 

Trump also deflected a few questions that he absolutely should not have answered, such as strategy on Ukraine and whether he’d retaliate against Iran.

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I was a bit surprised, though, that he launched an attack on the press, though, since this contradicted his recent remarks about reaching out to even hostile news outlets, as long as they treat him fairly. 

This took place two days after ABC and George Stephanopoulos apologized to Trump to settle a defamation, agreeing to donate $15 million to a presidential library or foundation, plus another million bucks to cover his legal fees. This averted what could have been an embarrassing and grueling deposition by its star anchor.

The network’s problem is that Stephanopoulos had repeatedly said Trump had been found liable for "rape," repeating the word about 10 times, in the E. Jean Carroll civil suit, when the jury held him liable for "sexual abuse." 

While the judge said this would commonly be understood as rape, they are legally different in New York. You don’t agree to 15 million bucks unless you think you don’t have much of a case.

While left-leaning pundits are accusing ABC of "caving" to Trump, the network made a different judgment call.

Trump ripped the media as "very corrupt" and ticked off more lawsuits he has filed or plans to file.

The president-elect said he planned to sue the Des Moines Register for having a poll before the election that turned out to be wrong. He praised pollster Ann Selzer as always having gotten him right until the Iowa caucuses, when she said he’d lose by 4 points and he won the state by 13. 

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Trump said he was taking legal action against "60 Minutes" for substituting a different, tighter answer to a different question than had been asked—a practice that most journalists, including me, said was a huge blunder by the CBS show. 

"We have to straighten out the press," he said. "The press is very corrupt. Almost as corrupt as our elections."

He added: "I’m doing this not because I want to. I’m doing this because I feel I have an obligation to," Trump said. "In my opinion, it was fraud and it was election interference."

Trump also said he would pursue a suit against Bob Woodward for making public the audiotapes from a book project. Woodward has said he never agreed not to do so. 

And Trump plans to pursue his action against the Pulitzer Prize board for giving the Washington Post and New York Times awards for what he calls the Russia Russia Russia hoax. While it was certainly overplayed, the board says Trump could not point to any inaccuracies in the articles submitted. 

And then there was Trump commenting on, well, just about everything else. 

He said he would consider a pardon for indicted New York Mayor Eric Adams because he’d been treated "very unfairly."

He said he couldn’t understand how people could sympathize with the suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson: "It was cold-blooded. Just a cold-blooded, horrible killing, and how people can like this guy is — that’s a sickness, actually."

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He heaped praise on Lara Trump but said the decision on whether to name her to a vacant Florida Senate seat was up to DeSantis. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that he has lobbied the governor to choose her.

He defended DOD nominee Pete Hegseth, saying all he wants to do is improve the military. He also provided visual backing by bringing Hegseth to the Army-Navy Game, along with JD Vance, Elon Musk (of course), Ron DeSantis, Tulsi Gabbard and Speaker Mike Johnson.

Trump said he would keep the polio vaccine but would have discussions with RFK Jr. about other vaccines, including his totally debunked theory that vaccines cause autism. Trump did argue there has been a rise in autism among boys. "I think he’s going to be much less radical than you would think," he told reporters.

Trump demanded that Biden officials explain what is happening with the mystery drones, since they obviously know. 

That is a whole lot of news. Perhaps we’ve forgotten how Donald J. Trump loves to sound off on everything under the sun. We’re about to get a four-year refresher course.

Donald Trump is making a deliberate effort to soften his tone.

Or is he?

I’ve given this a lot of thought, having interviewed Trump twice this year, including two weeks before the election. He was focused and substantive, trying to reach a more independent audience, and while he took some campaign-style shots, he was relatively restrained by Trumpian standards.

Now that he’s the de facto president, I saw a similar Trump on display in the "Meet the Press" interview. Kristen Welker’s follow-ups must have annoyed him, because he told her she had asked "nasty" questions.

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During the campaign, such episodes were overshadowed by Trump’s rock-n-roll rallies, where he’d ramble on about the great Hannibal Lecter or Arnold Palmer’s genitalia. But his declaration on NBC that he also wants to represent those who didn’t vote for him is a long way from his 2017 "American carnage" inaugural address.

And yet, the president-elect has also mastered the art of saying things that can be interpreted two ways, or sending not-so-coded messages.

The Washington Post editorial board, not a big fan, says Trump "tried to sound a conciliatory tone" with Welker, backed by substance.

Trump declared he wouldn’t oust Fed chief Jerome Powell, and wants to work with Democrats to protect the Dreamers. Trump said he "would not restrict the national availability of abortion medication, and that the United States will ‘absolutely’ remain in NATO, as long as other member states spend what they have pledged on defense." 

And why shouldn’t he appear more reasonable? He’s got the job he believes was unfairly taken from him. He can’t run again. He knows his first term was savaged by the left-leaning media establishment. If he can have a more successful second term – after turning on some top aides in the last go-round – he could modify history’s verdict.

And that brings us to the question of retribution. He said on NBC that the best retribution is success, the same line he used with me. On "Meet the Press" he even retracted a campaign declaration that he would name a special prosecutor to go after Joe Biden. 

BIDEN, TRUMP BOTH RIP DOJ AFTER PRESIDENT PARDONS HUNTER

When Welker asked whether he’d order the Justice Department, which he sees as having persecuted him, to investigate Biden and his administration, Trump gave a response that I doubt he would have offered in the first term.

No, he said, that would be up to his attorney general and FBI director, which will definitely be Pam Bondi and probably Kash Patel. Would he tell them to do it? Nope.

It’s called distancing.

Now one could argue that he was in effect suggesting they do it by announcing it on national television. But I’m sure they knew his views anyway. 

Trump’s one misstep on NBC was lashing out at members of the House Jan. 6 Committee. He said Liz Cheney "did something that’s inexcusable, along with [Bennie] Thompson and people on the Un-Select Committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps," Trump told moderator Kristen Welker, arguing without proof that they "deleted and destroyed" testimony. "Honestly, they should go to jail."

So that was a gift to his critics, enabling most journalists to lead with him wanting the lawmakers behind bars. By the way, their investigation and hearings are protected by the Speech and Debate clause, which gives the members immunity.

Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told CNN that his boss’ words had been taken "out of context," that he "wants everyone who he puts into key positions of leadership ... to apply the law equally to everybody," mentioning Bondi and Patel.

In a similar vein, Trump has mainly avoided attacks on individual journalists, this after saying he would reach out to even hostile outlets. But he made an exception and mocked Maggie Haberman of the New York Times when she co-authored a couple of stories he didn’t like.

So will we be getting Trump 2.0, or Trump 1.0 with plenty of fancy packaging?

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Veteran Trump watchers know that he can slip off the high road when he gets angry, that it’s not just about mass deportations, slashing inflation and drill, baby, drill. 

But I still believe we’re seeing a more disciplined, restrained and moderate Trump so far. He campaigned on shaking things up, so there are plenty of clashes to unfold. What’s fascinating is that he’s already essentially running the country while Biden has faded and, since the pardon fiasco, is refusing to talk to the press.

The pardon debate – individual, group, partisan, preemptive – is spinning out of control.

In his "Meet the Press" interview, Donald Trump mocked Joe Biden’s repeated assurances about Hunter: "‘I’m not going to give my son a pardon. I will not under any circumstances give him a pardon.’ I watch this and I always knew he was going to give him a pardon."

In a portion of that interview that did not air but was posted online, the president-elect complained to Kristen Welker:

"The press was obviously unfair to me. The press, no president has ever gotten treated by the press like I was."

BIDEN'S PARDONING OF HUNTER INDICATES HE HAS 'A LOT MORE TO HIDE': LARA TRUMP

Why did he appear on "Meet the Press"? "You’re very hostile," Trump said. Her response: "Well, hopefully, you thought it was a fair interview. We covered a lot of policy grounds."

"It’s fair only in that you allowed me to say what I say. But you know, the answers to questions are, you know, pretty nasty. But look, because I’ve seen you interview other people like Biden."

"I’ve never interviewed President Biden," Welker responded. Trump said he was speaking "metaphorically."

"I’ve seen George Stephanopoulos interview. And he’s a tough interviewer. It’s the softest interview I’ve seen. CNN interview. They give these soft, you know, what’s your favorite ice cream? It’s a whole different deal. I don’t understand why."

The strength of Welker’s approach is that she asked as many as half a dozen follow-ups on major topics, making more news. When she asked, for instance, whether he would actually deport 11 million illegal immigrants, as he’d said constantly on the campaign trail, he answered yes – which for some reason lots of news outlets led with. But a subsequent question got Trump to say he didn’t think the Dreamers should be expelled and would work it out with the Democrats.

As for Trump, he reminded me of the candidate I interviewed twice this year. He was sharp and serious, connecting on each pitch, fouling a few off. This was not the candidate talking about sharks at rallies. 

BIDEN, TRUMP BOTH RIP DOJ AFTER PRESIDENT PARDONS HUNTER

With one significant misstep, he made the case that he was not seeking retribution – even backing off a campaign pledge that he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Biden.

That misstep, when Trump couldn’t hold back, was in saying of the House Jan. 6 Committee members, including Liz Cheney: "For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail."

He did add the caveat that he would let his attorney general and FBI chief make that decision, but it allowed media outlets to lead with Trump wanting his political opponents behind bars. For what it’s worth, there’s no crime in lawmakers holding hearings, and this business about them withholding information seems like a real stretch.

Now back to the pardons. This mushrooming debate was obviously triggered by the president breaking his repeated promise with a sweeping, decade-long pardon of his son, a 54-year-old convicted criminal.

But then, as first reported by Politico, we learned that the Biden White House is debating whether to issue a whole bunch of preemptive pardons to people perceived to be potential targets of Trumpian retaliation.

But the inconvenient truth is that anyone accepting such a pardon would essentially admit to the appearance of being guilty. That’s why Sen.-elect Adam Schiff says he doesn’t want a pardon and won’t accept one.

MEDIA ADMITS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS TOO 'WOKE' AFTER KAMALA HARRIS' 2024 LOSS

But many of those potential recipients don’t even know they’re under consideration for sweeping pardons covering anything they may or may not have done.

It is a truly awful idea, and with Biden and Trump both agreeing that DOJ engages in unfair and selective prosecutions – which in the Republican’s case made his numbers go up – the stage is set for endless rounds of payback against each previous administration.

I remember first thinking about the unchecked power of presidential pardons when Bill Clinton delivered a last-minute one to ally and super-wealthy Marc Rich.

So it’s time to hear from Alexander Hamilton, who pushed it into the Constitution. Keep in mind that in that horse-and-buggy era, there were very few federal offenses because most law enforcement was done by the states.

In Federalist 74, published in 1788, Hamilton said a single person was better equipped than an unwieldy group, and such decisions should be broadly applied to help those in need.   

"In seasons of insurrection or rebellion," the future Treasury secretary wrote, "there are often critical moments, when a welltimed offer of pardon to the insurgents or rebels may restore the tranquillity of the commonwealth."

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Otherwise, it might be too late.

But another founding father, George Mason, opposed him, saying a president "may frequently pardon crimes which were advised by himself. It may happen, at some future day, that he will establish a monarchy, and destroy the republic. If he has the power of granting pardons before indictment, or conviction, may he not stop inquiry and prevent detection?"

An excellent argument, but Hamilton won out.

As Hamilton envisioned, George Washington, in 1794, granted clemency to leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion to calm a fraught situation.

Something tells me that Biden, Trump and their allies aren’t poring over the Federalist papers. But it’s still an awful lot of sweeping power to place in the hands of one chief executive, for which the only remedy is impeachment.

Let’s face it, trust in most of our government institutions has utterly collapsed.

Many people don’t have faith in the FDA, the DOD, HUD, Homeland Security, the health agencies, and the list goes on. And they don’t trust the media to deliver basic facts about Washington without bias and blunders.

These sentiments have basically been growing for the last 60 years, since the lies about Vietnam merged with the lies about Watergate and forced Richard Nixon to resign.

BIDEN, TRUMP BOTH RIP DOJ AFTER PRESIDENT PARDONS HUNTER

But the most sensitive federal agency, everyone would agree, is the Justice Department, including the FBI. Donald Trump has been attacking these agencies for years (along with the "fake news"), accusing them of politically persecuting him. He campaigned outside courthouses by telling reporters the prosecutors and judges were awful people who were out to get him solely because he was the leading candidate to win back the White House.

Joe Biden, by breaking his promise not to pardon his son Hunter, did more than just lie. He ripped his own DOJ for "selectively and unfairly prosecuting" his son. 

I used to patrol the endless hallways of the J. Edgar Hoover building as the Justice Department beat reporter. On the criminal side, it is supposed to be independent, since Justice often winds up investigating the administration. Back in the day it was filled with fair-minded career prosecutors who pursued legitimate leads regardless of party.

In saying that Hunter Biden was singled out for harsh treatment, the outgoing president is making the same argument as the incoming president, that the department is badly biased. Little wonder that so many people don’t trust DOJ.

All Biden had to do when repeatedly asked about a pardon or commutation was "I’m not going to discuss hypotheticals." Then at least he wouldn’t have the lying part.

There is no question that Pam Bondi, despite some roughing up, will be the next attorney general, having precisely the experience (Florida AG, career prosecutor) that Matt Gaetz so blatantly lacked. She is not going to blow up the department.

But in picking Kash Patel to run the FBI – and ignoring that Chris Wray is not through with his 10-year term – Trump is sending a very different message. And this isn’t some dark secret. It’s in the nominee’s own words.

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Patel has vowed to shut down the bureau’s Washington headquarters. He said last year on Steve Bannon’s podcast, which we played on "Media Buzz": "We will go out and find the conspirators…not just in government, but in the media.… Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out."

In his 2022 book "Government Gangsters," Patel names 60 people as part of the deep state,  "a cabal of unelected tyrants…the most dangerous threat to our democracy." The press has dubbed this an enemies list.

It includes the aforementioned Bill Barr (for blocking his appointment), NSC chairman John Bolton (an "arrogant control freak"), and Defense Secretary Mark Esper (who tried to fire him).

Also on the list, as recounted by the New Republic:

Joe Biden. 

Kamala Harris.

Hillary Clinton.

Merrick Garland.

Samantha Power, who now runs the Agency for International Development.

Former Obama officials James Clapper; John Brennan; Peter Strzok (who trashed Trump in texts with his FBI girlfriend, Lisa Page), Andrew McCabe (FBI deputy director), Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch.

A striking number are Donald Trump’s own appointees: Pat Cippolone (his White House counsel). Gina Haspel (his CIA director). Mark Esper. Charles Kupperman (his deputy national security adviser).

TRUMP DROPPED MATT GAETZ AFTER COMPLAINING ABOUT HIGH POLITICAL COST OF DEFENDING HIM

Cassidy Hutchinson (Mark Meadows’ top aide, who criticized Trump in her testimony before the House Jan. 6 committee).

It’s a pretty big list. And having worked for Trump hardly provides immunity.

Patel would have his work cut out for him, though he’d have to get a career prosecutor to submit a wiretap request or search warrant to the courts.

Meanwhile, many Democratic lawmakers are hitting their party’s president pretty hard for the Hunter pardon, in interviews with the Times.

Colorado Congressman Jason Crow: He promised he would not do this. I think it will make it harder for us going forward when we talk about upholding democracy."

Washington Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: "The president made the wrong decision. No family should be above the law."

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet said the Biden move "put personal interest ahead of duty and further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all." And his late dropout from the race was also "putting his personal interest ahead of his responsibility to the country."

Vermont Sen. Peter Welch: "President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter is, as the action of a loving father, understandable — but as the action of our nation’s chief executive, unwise." 

Michigan Sen. Gary Peters: "Wrong."

Pretty bracing stuff.

Some progressives defended Biden, such as Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett: "Way to go Joe!" She said a 34-count convicted felon is about to walk into the White House, perhaps missing the news that Jack Smith has dropped the charges.

On "Morning Joe" yesterday, Mika Brzezinski, while saying she wished Biden hadn’t promised no pardon, took on the coverage: "You look at what has happened on the Trump side, especially if you even parallel pardons that Trump has done himself, it’s just always so — it seems so hysterically imbalanced!"

Joe Scarborough spoke of "the frustration that many Democrats are having on the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, a lot of mainstream organizations blowing this up to the size that they believe is really out of proportion, given everything Donald Trump has done in the past and what he’s doing right now."

Still, the two presidents have wound up in the same place in their view of the Justice Department as partisan and politicized.

One fascinating tidbit dug up by the Times: When Biden had Trump to the White House, according to three sources, and listened to his familiar grievances about the biased DOJ – the president-elect "surprised his host by sympathizing with the Biden family’s own troubles with the department."

There is no other way to put it: Joe Biden lied. Over and over.

After repeatedly promising, pledging, vowing not to pardon his son Hunter, the President of the United States did exactly that.

The move amounted to a devastating vote of no confidence in his own Justice Department, matching Donald Trump’s own denunciations of that very department.

PRESIDENT BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER, SPARING HIM POSSIBLE PRISON SENTENCE

Trump, who also pardoned several political allies during his first term, was quick to react on Truth Social:

"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!"

And prominent Republicans are calling Biden a liar, with ample justification.

I think most people assumed that a father wouldn’t let his son go to jail. And if the president had explained it in those terms, he might have garnered some public sympathy. But he did not.

You know how the president often talks about "my word as a Biden"? I mistakenly assumed that he wouldn’t promise again and again not to pardon his son or commute his sentence if he had thought there was any possibility he would get Hunter off the legal hook. 

But what is anyone going to do? He leaves office next month, his political career is over and the story will quickly fade.

MEDIA ADMITS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS TOO 'WOKE' AFTER KAMALA HARRIS' 2024 LOSS

Biden sounded very much like Trump as he accused the DOJ, which he had long defended, of treating his son unfairly – swinging the political door wide open for the president-elect to retaliate against Justice, in part by naming longtime confidant Kash Patel to run the FBI.

Biden said his son had been "selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted," and he blamed  political pressure on the special counsel named in the case.

"No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been 5-1/2 years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough."

But that bolsters the Trump argument that he too was singled out for selective prosecution by the DOJ – and will be in a position to do something about it.

Hunter put out his own statement after the Sunday pardon: "I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction — mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport."

The feeble attempts by some in the media and in Democratic politics to defend Biden are just sad, because they only tell half the story.

Let’s say Hunter Biden was in fact singled out for prosecution, that the case would have been routinely disposed of if his last name was Jones. (Hunter had already been convicted in one case and pleaded guilty in another to tax and gun-related charges.)

But as Hunter admitted in one email, it was his last name, when his father was vice president, that enabled him to land all those buckraking contracts from around the world. It’s why the Ukrainian energy giant Burisma hired him, why he was able to get money from China. 

TRUMP HIT FOR HIRING LOYALISTS LIKE PAM BONDI: DOESN’T EVERY PRESIDENT DO THAT?

Hunter had no expertise in any of these areas. What he had was a connection to a powerful father.

The pardon is so sweeping that it covers everything Hunter may have done from Jan. 1, 2004 through Sunday – which could be a way of his father protecting himself as well.

Karine Jean-Pierre also told reporters on several occasions that Biden would not pardon Hunter.

Hunter Biden on Sunday night released a statement noting his recovery from addiction and his sobriety:

"I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction — mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport."

Mark Halperin argues that Biden put his son in jeopardy by running for president, knowing the full range of Hunter’s addiction problems – and lied about Hunter not getting money from China and not helping his business clients (even if he just made small talk at a couple of group meetings).

TRUMP NOMINATES KASH PATEL TO SERVE AS FBI DIRECTOR: 'ADVOCATE FOR TRUTH'

Meanwhile, Trump’s choice of Kash Patel for the FBI (who would replace his own appointee, Chris Wray, who replaced the fired Jim Comey) has sparked a media backlash.

One thing no one can argue is that Patel lacks experience. He has been chief of staff at the Pentagon and a deputy assistant to the president. In fact, he was a national security prosecutor in the Obama Justice Department, before Trump got into politics.

But on Steve Bannon’s podcast last year, Patel said: "Yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We're going to come after you, whether it's criminally or civilly." 

Patel has also said that on day one he’d shut down the FBI headquarters in Washington – ironically named for J. Edgar Hoover – and turn it into a museum on the "deep state." Its 7,000 employees would be dispersed around the country.

One thing Biden never did was put any family members on the government payroll, as Trump did in naming Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, to top White House positions in the first term.

Now Trump is continuing that tradition by naming Charles Kushner, Jared’s father, as ambassador to France.

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The elder Kushner had already served a couple of years in prison for a scheme that involved hiring a prostitute and sending the tape to his sister. But at least he had paid his dues when Trump later pardoned him, sparking Jared’s interest in prison reform.

Trump also picked Massad Boulos – the father of Tiffany Trump’s husband – as White House adviser on Arab and Middle East affairs. All in the family.

One thing the press does is refer to Trump nominees as "loyalists," as if that’s a dirty word. Sunday’s Washington Post had a headline describing "loyalist Kash Patel."

But while Biden named an inner circle of aides who had been with him as long as four decades, they were not dismissed as loyalists. That’s because the media agree that these were the good guys. And who can forget former AG Eric Holder describing himself as Barack Obama’s "wingman."

The Hunter pardon has set in motion a potential cycle of both presidents using the DOJ and FBI for purely partisan ends, and Joe Biden bears full responsibility for that.

It’s spat out like a dirty word.

Donald Trump – take a deep breath – is hiring loyalists.

The president-elect – can you imagine?? – is nominating people he knows will support him. He’s used plenty of curse words, but nothing said by the media is more disdainful than loyalists.

TRUMP DROPPED MATT GAETZ AFTER COMPLAINING ABOUT HIGH POLITICAL COST OF DEFENDING HIM

Now stop and think: Doesn’t every president hire loyalists? 

Didn’t Joe Biden surround himself with folks who had been with him for decades? Ron Klain, Steve Richetti and Tom Donilon created a protective bubble around the president. But few, if any, prognosticators dismissed them as loyalists.

Why? The press generally approved of Biden’s picks, including Tony Blinken; the non-communicative Lloyd Austin (who didn’t tell the boss about his cancer surgery), and the equally non-communicative Janet Yellen. The only person who stood out for great TV skills was Pete Buttigieg, the former presidential candidate and outgoing Transportation secretary.

It’s hardly a recent development. George Washington took a team-of-rivals approach, naming Thomas Jefferson secretary of state and Alexander Hamilton as treasury secretary. So did Abraham Lincoln, with Salmon Chase as treasury secretary and William Seward as secretary of war.

But if Trump picks people he expects to support him, the knee-jerk media reaction is that they’re dangerous to the country and will run roughshod over the rule of law.

Trump didn’t make much use of his Cabinet in his first term and I doubt he will this time, except for a handful of top positions. Besides, he runs the show. Any Cabinet member who strays off the reservation can get fired, "Apprentice"-style. Serving at the pleasure of the president and all that.

HACKER OBTAINS HOUSE ETHICS TESTIMONY ON MATT GAETZ AS TRUMP MAKES CALLS FOR AG NOMINEE

For what it’s worth, Trump wound up with an ideologically balanced Cabinet. The first wave – from Marco Rubio as secretary of state to a spate of current and former members of Congress – is generally impressive.

But then there was the fiasco over Matt Gaetz, now charging hundreds of dollars for Cameo videos, and such controversial nominees as Pete Hegseth, RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard. And also Dr. Oz. Not to mention animosity toward pro-union Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer as labor secretary.

It’s quite obvious that the president-elect likes people he’s seen on TV, and he watches a lot of Fox News.

But consider: Jen Psaki and Symone Sanders-Townsend were both CNN contributors when they joined the Biden campaign and then held top jobs in the White House. Now they’re hosting or co-hosting shows on MSNBC. Nobody bats an eye because they’re viewed as good guys joining the right team.

From Fox, Trump has picked Army combat veteran Hegseth; ex-Congressman Sean Duffy, a FOX Business co-host, and two frequent medical commentators. 

What’s fascinating is the way many in the media have turned on Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and career prosecutor who possesses the experience Gaetz lacked. 

TRUMP, DEFYING MEDIA PREDICTIONS, MAINLY PICKS SEASONED CAPITOL HILL VETERANS SUCH AS MARCO RUBIO

Sure, Bondi has said plenty of partisan things over the years, such as "prosecuting the prosecutors," then quickly adding, "the bad ones." She was part of Trump’s first impeachment legal team and then ran the legal arm of a pro-Trump PAC.

Bondi was passed over in the first Trump term because she accepted a $25,000 campaign donation from Trump’s foundation while her office was conducting a probe of Trump University (itself a mess). 

In 2013, Bondi accepted a $25,000 campaign donation from Trump’s foundation at the same time her office was conducting a fraud investigation into Trump University. 

"Her acceptance of the donation coincided with her decision not to bring fraud charges against Trump University," says MSNBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade. No evidence of a quid pro quo emerged. And a Florida ethics panel cleared her of any wrongdoing. But that’s old news now.

"Bondi has shown a taste for vengeance herself — at the 2016 Republican National Convention, Bondi embraced chants of ‘lock her up,’" McQuade says. "Even joking about jailing a political opponent is an insult to the rule of law."   

But wait – didn’t Barack Obama’s AG, Eric Holder, describe himself as the president’s "wingman"? There’s clearly a different standard for Democrats. 

Rachel Maddow producer Steve Benen says Bondi "falsely accused then-special counsel Robert Mueller of leading a ‘corrupt’ investigation that was "worse than Watergate.’" 

On the other hand, Dave Aronberg, now state’s attorney for Palm Beach County, lost his race to challenge Bondi as AG, but she hired him anyway as drug czar. "She’s someone who believes in the rule of law..I do not believe she will be Matt Gaetz 2.0. She is not going to burn it all down."

I suppose it comes down to a question of trust. The pro-Kamala media refuse to give many Trump nominees the benefit of the doubt. Bondi has criticized the weaponization of the DOJ. You might even call her a loyalist. 

But she will be the new attorney general, and that will be the ultimate test.

Donald Trump was in the room with JD Vance, Stephen Miller and other top advisers after calling senators to try to salvage the sinking nomination of Matt Gaetz.

He wasn’t having any luck.

"I’m using a lot of my political capital," the president-elect told his inner circle. He could only spend so much of it, he explained.

Trump had picked up the phrase from a lawmaker who bluntly told him there was a cost to any continued effort to push the ex-congressman for attorney general, amid allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. 

HACKER OBTAINS HOUSE ETHICS TESTIMONY ON MATT GAETZ AS TRUMP MAKES CALLS FOR AG NOMINEE

"Sir, we’re going to vote for you" on Gaetz, "but you’re using a lot of political capital." 

Once Trump told Gaetz that he didn’t have the votes, prompting him to withdraw, he quickly settled on Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and career prosecutor who had precisely the experience that the embattled Gaetz lacked – and without the personal baggage. Gaetz, who is accused of sleeping with a 17-year-old girl, continues to deny any wrongdoing.

He formally withdrew 45 minutes after CNN told him it would report that he’d had a threesome – specifically, that there had been another alleged incident with Jane Doe, the woman who says she had sex with Gaetz at 17, and an adult woman.

Bondi has a history of partisan loyalty to Trump, such as defending him at his first impeachment trial, and this year, headed the legal arm of a pro-Trump firm and became a registered lobbyist. 

But here’s the difference, according to insiders: She won’t go in and blow up the Justice Department, as Gaetz wanted to do. She respects the rule of law, say Florida colleagues. She even hired the Democrat who ran against her for AG, who is praising her. Yes, Bondi has talked about prosecuting "bad" prosecutors, but who can object to that?

With Gaetz out, more scrutiny has shifted to Pete Hegseth’s nomination to run the Pentagon’s global bureaucracy.

WHY TRUMP IS STICKING WITH GAETZ, HEGSETH DESPITE NEW ACCUSATIONS – AND HIS 'MORNING JOE' MEETING

The view from Trump World is that Hegseth, as a decorated Army combat veteran, probably gets confirmed, though there is annoyance that he didn’t come clean with the transition team about having paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault, and had her sign an NDA, in what he calls a consensual encounter in California in 2017.

The transition team’s view is that Hegseth did nothing illegal, that he made a deal with the accuser who lied to save her marriage – and didn’t go to the hospital for four days – and he didn’t want this public because he feared losing his job at Fox. 

I agree he’ll probably be confirmed, and the transition gang is more worried about Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. As a practical matter, I think the GOP-controlled Senate can reject only one other nominee.

The concern about Gabbard for director of national intelligence is that she has no experience in that sensitive area, that the former Democratic congressional representative met with Syrian strongman Bashar Assad despite his murder of hundreds of thousands of people, and often seems to echo the Putin line. The question is whether she is even qualified.

There is even more concern about Kennedy’s bid to become HHS secretary. He has some good ideas, but even putting aside his history of infidelity, he embraces one conspiracy theory after another: Vaccines cause autism, WiFi causes cancer, water systems should stop using fluoride.

The worst, by far, is what he said in 2020, embracing the idea that the federal government deliberately created the pandemic – what he called the "plandemic" – that killed 1.2 million Americans. This is the equivalent of 9/11 truthers.

The key here is that the criticism is coming from the left. Liberals in the media and on the Hill don’t like RFK because he’s pro-choice and is seen as a rogue Democrat who has said a lot of crazy things over the years, and that could be enough to sink his nomination.

Trump World doesn’t care about the other nominations on the theory that the average voter has never heard of most of Trump’s picks for Energy or HUD. 

There’s some Republican resentment at his selection of pro-union Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Labor, but that’s among the insiders.

What’s striking is that this is the most ideologically diverse Cabinet of the modern era.

As Axios was the first to point out, the lineup ranges from Marco Rubio as secretary of State to a slew of current and former members of Congress to such controversial picks as Hegseth, Gabbard and RFK, to Dr. Oz, to run the Medicare and Medicaid programs, to frequent Fox medical commentators Marty Makary to manage the FDA and Janette Nesheiwat as surgeon general; both are medical doctors. And he chose former congressman Dave Weldon to take over the CDC.

In a CBS poll, 59% approve of the way Trump is handling the transition.

GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP'S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR?

The internal jockeying also led to leaks like this, to the Washington Post:

"Donald Trump’s attorney and adviser Boris Epshteyn arrived recently for a meeting about Cabinet picks in the Tea Room at Mar-a-Lago only to find his way blocked.

Transition co-chair Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, told Epshteyn in front of others that this was not a meeting for him. ‘We’re not talking legal nominees today,’ Lutnick said, according to one person familiar with the exchange.

"Epshteyn refused to budge. Using his forearm, he pushed Lutnick out of the way, according to two people familiar with the incident, which Lutnick later recounted to others. ‘I’m coming in,’ Epshteyn retorted, according to one of the people.

"A third person described the incident more as Epshteyn simply brushing past Lutnick on his way into the meeting."

This flood-the-zone approach diverted attention from the Gaetz fiasco and raised questions about incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and how much input she has. And unlike the traditional one-nominee-per-day approach, it blurs the focus on nominees who otherwise might draw media criticism, such as Dr. Oz, who was often accused of peddling ineffective remedies on his TV show, because you’d need a scorecard to keep track of the blizzard of Trump picks.    

So why did Trump pick Matt Gaetz in the first place?

SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE'S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY'S HOTTEST STORIES

It may have been an impulsive move while Trump was on the plane with him, along with Wiles. But the president-elect is savvy enough to know it would trigger a media firestorm, and insiders call it a screw-you decision to the establishment.

Or Trump may have figured that Gaetz was unlikely to make it, but it would be difficult to reject the backup nomination, especially one as qualified as Pam Bondi.

Whatever your view, there’s no question that Trump has managed the transition quite well and, with some exceptions, is off to a good start.

David French, the conservative New York Times contributor and longtime anti-Trumper, has a provocative take on why the president-elect won.

It’s the economy and the border, stupid.

"I can’t help but think that if the withdrawal from Afghanistan hadn’t been a bloody mess (that’s when President Biden’s approval rating went underwater, and it never came back), if inflation hadn’t spiked and if migration hadn’t surged at the border, then we’d be having a different conversation.

"I know that the Harris campaign had answers for all these criticisms. The American people wanted to end the Afghan war, and Biden was saddled with Trump’s terrible deal with the Taliban. Inflation was a global phenomenon, and it was unfair to entirely blame Biden when, by 2023, America had the lowest inflation rate among the Group of 7 countries. The Biden administration had finally cracked down on the border and had endorsed a tough new border bill." 

WHY TRUMP IS STICKING WITH GAETZ, HEGSETH DESPITE NEW ACCUSATIONS – AND HIS 'MORNING JOE' MEETING

He adds that "they also rightly argued that Trump nostalgia was misplaced. It was wrong to give the former president a pass for the pandemic or for the chaos and murder spikes of 2020. His term did not end in 2019, with peace and prosperity. It ended near the beginning of 2021 with disease, violence and cultural decay. Even the memories of the time before Covid are idealized."

So it was really Joe Biden who lost the election by letting inflation spiral – he was, in fairness, digging out of the pandemic – and turning the border into a free-for-all zone. He was also a terrible salesman for a series of bipartisan victories.

When his mental decline became obvious at the debate, and he stepped aside for Kamala Harris, she had to run on that record – and famously told "The View" that she couldn’t think of a single thing where she differed with the president.

So the powerless Democrats may be more screwed than you think.

THE PODCAST CAMPAIGN: IS IT CURTAINS FOR MAINSTREAM MEDIA?

Given the party’s evolution from champion of the working class to representing the highly educated coastal elites in politics, academia and journalism, the Dems are left without a winning coalition they once took for granted.

In a Times news story, Jennifer Medina writes:

"The working-class voters Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign needed were not moved by talk of joy. They were too angry about feeling broke.

"The losses up and down the ballot leave Democrats in crisis. Voters without a college degree make up a solid majority of the electorate. Without them, the White House could be out of reach. And for a party that stands for and takes pride in its diversity, the erosion of support from voters of color calls its identity into question."

What’s more, in interviewing hundreds of working-class minority voters, Medina found that "for many, hope had already hardened into cynicism. Promises about affordable housing fell flat and promoting accomplishments on insulin prices failed to break through. Simply put, their trust in the Democratic Party was gone."

MEDIA LIBERALS SAVAGE KAMALA AS TRUMP PICKS EXPERIENCED HARD-LINERS

Now that brings us to Donald Trump’s self-proclaimed mandate, even if CNN was happy to report that Trump’s vote share had dropped slightly below 50% (Who cares? He’s the 47th president.)

Now comes news, first reported by ABC, that an unidentified hacker has obtained the sworn testimony of Matt Gaetz accusers from the House ethics probe and apparently plans to make it public.

The hacker accessed the file through a law firm involved in a civil suit against Joel Greenberg, a former Gaetz pal now serving an 11-year prison term for sex trafficking. The file includes testimony under oath by a woman who says she had sex with Gaetz when she was 17, back in 2017, and from another woman saying she witnessed the sexual encounter.

Asked for comment, Trump transition spokesman Alex Pfeiffer said: "Matt Gaetz will be the next attorney general. He’s the right man for the job and will end the weaponization of our justice system. 

"These are baseless allegations intended to derail the second Trump administration. The Biden Justice Department investigated Gaetz for years and cleared him of wrongdoing. The only people who went to prison over these allegations were those lying about Matt Gaetz."

Trump is making calls on behalf of Gaetz, and J.D. Vance is escorting him and other nominees around the Hill. 

The Times reports that Trump realizes that Gaetz may not be confirmed. This is a matter of simple math, since most GOP senators have not committed to supporting him. Yet the president-elect will not back off or force Gaetz to withdraw the nomination.

But if Gaetz falls short, it would be hard for the Senate to reject a replacement nominee, who might have the same views on disrupting and perhaps politicizing the DOJ, but without the ex-congressman’s baggage. 

The House ethics panel, while stymied by Gaetz’s abrupt resignation, is meeting today on the report.   

One new disclosure that could hurt him: Gaetz used his adopted son’s PayPal account to pay one of the women, who was not a minor. Doesn’t that sound like someone with something embarrassing to hide? 

The Democrats have some influence in this process, as they’d only have to pick off four of the 53 GOP senators to block Matt Gaetz. But they are also consumed by their election shellacking and will have a hard time defeating Trump on just about anything.