Trump Withdraws from Paris Climate Agreement, Again 

AES Indiana Petersburg Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant, operates in Petersburg, Ind., on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP) 
AES Indiana Petersburg Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant, operates in Petersburg, Ind., on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP) 
TT

Trump Withdraws from Paris Climate Agreement, Again 

AES Indiana Petersburg Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant, operates in Petersburg, Ind., on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP) 
AES Indiana Petersburg Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant, operates in Petersburg, Ind., on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP) 

President Donald Trump once again withdrew the United States from the Paris climate deal on Monday, removing the world's biggest historic emitter from global efforts to fight climate change for the second time in a decade.

The move places the United States alongside Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries in the world outside the 2015 pact, in which governments agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

It reflects Trump's skepticism about global warming, which he has called a hoax, and fits in with his broader agenda to unfetter US oil and gas drillers from regulation so they can maximize output.

Trump signed the executive order withdrawing from the pact in front of supporters gathered at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

"I'm immediately withdrawing from the unfair, one-sided Paris climate accord rip-off," he said before signing the order.

"The United States will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity," Trump said.

China said it is concerned about the announcement, citing climate change as a common challenge faced by all humankind.

"No country can stand aloof from it, nor can any country do it alone," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular news briefing on Tuesday.

Guo said that China has been consistent in addressing climate change, and will actively respond to the challenges and jointly promote global green and low-carbon transformation.

Despite the withdrawal, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is confident that US cities, states and businesses "will continue to demonstrate vision and leadership by working for the low-carbon, resilient economic growth that will create quality jobs," said associate UN spokesperson Florencia Soto Nino, in a written statement.

"It is crucial that the United States remains a leader on environmental issues," she said. "The collective efforts under the Paris Agreement have made a difference but we need to go much further and faster together."

The United States has to formally notify UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres of its withdrawal, which - under the terms of the deal - will take effect one year later.

The United States is already the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas thanks to a years-long drilling boom in Texas, New Mexico and elsewhere, fueled by fracking technology and strong global prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

SECOND US WITHDRAWAL

Trump also withdrew the US from the Paris deal during his first term in office, though the process took years and was immediately reversed by the Biden presidency in 2021. The withdrawal this time around is likely to take less time – as little as a year - because Trump will not be bound by the deal’s initial three-year commitment.

This time could also be more damaging to global climate efforts, said Paul Watkinson, a former climate negotiator and senior policy advisor for France.

The US is currently the world's second-biggest greenhouse gas emitter behind China and its departure undermines global ambition to slash those emissions.

"It will be harder this time because we are in the thick of implementation, up against real choices," Watkinson said.

The world is now on pace for global warming of more than 3 C by the end of the century, according to a recent United Nations report, a level scientists warn would trigger cascading impacts such as sea level rise, heat waves, and devastating storms.

Nations have already been struggling to make steep cuts to emissions required to lower the projected temperature increase, as wars, political tensions and tight government budgets push climate change down the list of priorities.

Trump’s approach cuts a stark contrast to that of former President Joe Biden, who wanted the United States to lead global climate efforts and sought to encourage a transition away from oil and gas using subsidies and regulations.

Trump has said he intends to unwind those subsidies and regulations to shore up the nation’s budget and grow the economy, but has said he can do that while ensuring clean air and water in the United States.

Li Shuo, an expert in climate diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said the US withdrawal risks undermining the United States' ability to compete with China in clean energy markets such as solar power and electric vehicles.

"China stands to win, and the US risks lagging further behind," he said.



Trump Supporters Who Stormed US Capitol Begin to Leave Prison Following Sweeping Pardons

Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers founder, poses for a portrait after being released last night after spending the past 3 years in Cumberland, Maryland at the Federal Correctional Institution on January 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)
Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers founder, poses for a portrait after being released last night after spending the past 3 years in Cumberland, Maryland at the Federal Correctional Institution on January 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)
TT

Trump Supporters Who Stormed US Capitol Begin to Leave Prison Following Sweeping Pardons

Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers founder, poses for a portrait after being released last night after spending the past 3 years in Cumberland, Maryland at the Federal Correctional Institution on January 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)
Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers founder, poses for a portrait after being released last night after spending the past 3 years in Cumberland, Maryland at the Federal Correctional Institution on January 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)

Donald Trump supporters who attacked the US Capitol four years ago began to leave prison on Tuesday after the newly installed president issued sweeping pardons, an early signal that he intends to make aggressive use of his executive power.

The Republican president's pardon of 1,500 defendants on Monday evening, hours after he took the oath of office, drew outrage from lawmakers who were endangered and from some of the 140 police officers injured in the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, when thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 victory.

"I have been betrayed by my country," Michael Fanone, a former officer with Washington's Metropolitan Police Department who suffered severe injuries during the riot, told CNN on Monday after Trump's announcement. "Tonight, six individuals who assaulted me as I did my job on Jan. 6, as did hundreds of other law enforcement officers, will now walk free."

Trump's clemency extended from the people who committed only misdemeanors such as trespassing to those who attacked police officers and to the far smaller group who planned the assault on democracy.

One of Trump's fellow Republicans, Senator Thom Tillis, said pardoning rioters who assaulted police sent a wrong message.

"I saw an image today in my news clippings of the people who were crushing that police officer. None of them should get a pardon," Tillis told Reuters in a hallway interview. "You make this place less safe if you send the signal that police officers could potentially be assaulted and there is no consequence. It’s pretty straightforward to me."

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt defended the pardons, claiming without evidence that many of the convictions were politically motivated.

"President Trump campaigned on this promise," she said on Fox News. "It should come as no surprise that he delivered on it on Day One."

More than 1,000 defendants pleaded guilty rather than go to trial, including 327 who pleaded guilty to felonies, according to Justice Department statistics.

Stewart Rhodes, the former leader of the Oath Keepers militia who had his 18-year prison sentence commuted, was released shortly after midnight on Tuesday in Cumberland, Maryland.

Rhodes did not enter the US Capitol on Jan. 6, but he was found guilty of plotting to use force against Congress to prevent the election certification. He was also accused of helping to stockpile firearms at a hotel in nearby Virginia that could be ferried across the river to Washington, D.C.

Rhodes was one of 14 people whom Trump released from prison early, commuting their sentences, without fully pardoning them. That means they will continue to face some restrictions, including a ban on owning firearms.

The family of Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the Proud Boys, said his release was expected on Tuesday. Tarrio was not present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, but was sentenced to 22 years, the longest imposed on any defendant, after he was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in planning the attack.

LARGEST INVESTIGATION IN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HISTORY

Trump's action shutters the largest investigation in the Justice Department's history, including more than 300 cases that had still been pending. Prosecutors filed dozens of motions to dismiss cases on Tuesday morning, federal court records showed.

In Washington, the trial of Kenneth Fuller and his son Caleb, who faced felony charges of obstructing police during a civil disorder, came to an abrupt end on Tuesday.

Federal judges in Washington - including some appointed by Trump - have for years handled Capitol riot cases and spoken of their alarm at the events of the day. At a November hearing, Trump-nominated US District Judge Carl Nichols said a blanket Jan. 6 pardon would be "beyond frustrating or disappointing," according to a court transcript.

The judge presiding over the Fullers' trial, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, ordered it dismissed without discussion, noting that her ruling satisfied what she called Trump's edict.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Caleb Fuller, 22, told reporters that he and his parents celebrated in their hotel room after hearing Trump's decision on Monday night.

"I'm a free man now," he said.

Fuller said he didn’t witness any violence during the riot.

"I didn't see anyone get hurt," he said. "So I feel like everyone that was around me is deserving of a pardon."

The attack was spurred by Trump's refusal to acknowledge his defeat, which threatened the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in US history.

The sweeping action went further than many of Trump's allies had signaled. Both Vice President JD Vance and Trump's attorney general choice Pam Bondi had previously said they believed people who committed violence were unlikely to be pardoned.

'VIOLENCE IS THE NORM IN THIS COUNTRY'

Among those due to be released were leaders of the far-right Proud Boys organization, including some convicted of seditious conspiracy. About 40 men wearing Proud Boys insignia traded insults with protesters on the streets of Washington during Trump's inauguration on Monday.

Others due for release included Dominic Pezzola, who was accused of stealing a police officer's riot shield and using it to smash a window, beginning the breach of the Capitol.

Attorney Norm Pattis, who represents Rhodes and two other Jan. 6 leaders, disputed the notion that the clemency would lead to an increase in political violence.

"Our politics has always been violent," Pattis said, pointing to events ranging from the Civil War to the protests of the 1960s that sometimes led to bloodshed. "Violence is the norm in this country."

Trump's pardon was only one of a sheaf of executive orders he signed after an inauguration ceremony in the US Rotunda, where his supporters had rampaged four years earlier.

Trump kicked off a sweeping immigration crackdown, cut support for wind power and electric vehicles and cleared the way for oil drilling in the Arctic and in offshore areas. He withdrew from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization.

He delayed the ban of the popular TikTok video app that was due to be shuttered on Sunday.