Good morning from New York City. Across southern Asia, typhoons and seasonal monsoon rains have produced severe flooding, killing at least 1,350 people. In Moscow, President Trump’s envoy is scheduled to meet with Vladimir Putin to talk about a peace proposal. And children who have a smartphone by age 12 are at higher risk of depression and obesity, according to a new study. We’ll get to the rest of the news below, including an interview with Joe Kahn, the executive editor of The Times. But before we do, I’d like to look at Trump’s recent pardon for Juan Orlando Hernández — a former president of Honduras who was convicted in the United States of a vast drug-trafficking conspiracy that prosecutors said raked in millions. It helps explain Trump’s novel use of his clemency powers.
Pardon powerIt is difficult to sketch a philosophy of Trump’s use of presidential pardon power. As my colleague Tyler Pager told me yesterday afternoon, most administrations come up with a process for these things. “With Trump, it often comes down to winning him over — or at least his family or closest advisers.” he said. “And because there are many ways to get in his good graces — donating to his political committees, helping fund the construction of the White House ballroom, having one of his friends vouch for you — there is a cottage industry of lawyers and lobbyists seeking to exploit those avenues.” And so Trump has given clemency to political supporters like Michael Grimm and George Santos, two New York Republicans who pleaded guilty to financial crimes. He has pardoned lawyers who advised him on his 2020 campaign and tried to reverse the results of that election. He has pardoned donors and even the child of a donor, commuting the sentence of Paul Walczak, a tax-evading owner of nursing homes, after Walczak’s mother raised millions for Trump.
He has pardoned stars of reality television who defrauded banks of millions of dollars; the hip-hop artist NBA YoungBoy, who possessed a gun despite a felony conviction; and two commercial divers from Florida who freed sharks hooked by fishermen. (They said they were rescuing the sharks from an illegal poaching operation. The jury didn’t buy it.) And he has pardoned those who benefited his family, such as Changpeng Zhao, who let his crypto platform be used for child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism. (You could file that under Enemies of My Enemies as well. Joe Biden’s team convicted Zhao as it sought to limit the illicit uses of cryptofinance. When Trump issued his pardon, the White House press secretary said, “The Biden administration’s war on crypto is over.”) A kingpinSome of those decisions track with Trump’s larger political aims — to oppose strict gun measures or aggressive I.R.S. enforcement, for instance. But the pardon over the weekend for Honduras’s former president exposes a contradiction, Tyler said.
Since late August, the United States has built up a military presence in the Caribbean, it says, to battle drug cartels in the region. It has rained ordnance down on more than 20 boats it says are smuggling drugs there, killing more than 80 people. It calls Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, a cartel boss. (The administration says it is engaged in formal armed conflict with the cartels. Members of Congress from both parties are skeptical.) On Saturday, Trump declared the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela “CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.” And then, on Friday afternoon, “a Full and Complete Pardon” for Hernández. The juxtaposition, Tyler wrote the other day, “displayed a remarkable dissonance in the president’s strategy, as he moved to escalate a military campaign against drug trafficking while ordering the release of a man prosecutors said had taken ‘cocaine-fueled bribes’ from cartels and ‘protected their drugs with the full power and strength of the state.’” I asked Tyler about that yesterday. What’s remarkable about the pardon, he told me, is how directly it appears to contradict one of the main goals of the administration. Related: Trump said the U.S. would “not be throwing good money” at Honduras if his favored candidate didn’t win an election there.
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Joe Kahn, the executive editor of The Times, leads our newsroom of more than 2,000 journalists. We recently asked readers for questions about his work and our coverage. Patrick Healy, an assistant managing editor, put them to Joe. Here are some excerpts from their chat. Patrick: Joe, most of our reader questions were about President Trump. Some readers want us to call the president a fascist; others want us to portray him as a patriot. There’s a desire out there for us to referee the news. How do you navigate all of that? Joe: Readers already have access to a vast amount of opinion and commentary on the internet that can validate their worldviews. That’s not our role. Our approach is to report deeply and thoroughly, surface facts and a range of perspectives on the news, help people understand the world and deliver accountability journalism on issues of public concern. Sometimes that means presenting people with information and ideas that challenge their own preconceptions and beliefs. We regularly scrutinize Trump’s questionable assertions of power and his disregard for democratic or legal norms. That kind of reporting is a more important service than applying labels. Some readers feel that our coverage is biased toward Israel. Others see it as pro-Palestinian. Some critics say we’re mouthpieces for Hamas. Others appreciate our reporting. How do you think about those conflicting reactions? The core principles of our journalists in the region, like any other, are reporting widely, covering the news, putting events in context and doing in-depth investigative work for a broad and diverse global audience. Good news reporting isn’t aimed at either pleasing or displeasing partisans. Our focus is on producing journalism that matters to understanding a divisive, complicated story more fully, regardless of a reader’s personal point of view. We do come under intense scrutiny and often are accused of having a bias in favor of one side or another in that conflict. Some critics tend to assume that if we’re not clearly on their side, we must be on the other side. But when passions run high, producing an authoritative account of the facts, relevant to the broadest possible audience, has even greater value. What keeps you up at night? The most challenging part of the job is producing an independent news report when some readers really want a more partisan one. We’re committed to independent journalism, unencumbered by ties to political parties, government, corporations or private interests, at a time when partisanship seems more intense than ever. Our readers of course have their own beliefs and loyalties, and some want to see more coverage that aligns with their views. To practice independent journalism, you need a thick skin.
Today is Giving Tuesday, an annual celebration of charitable giving. To mark the day, the Opinion section has put together this guide. The Times’s Community Fund, a charity that distributes 100 percent of donations, is back. This year, it’s focused on education, the editorial board writes. Nicholas Kristof is giving to charities in Africa and Asia. Lydia Polgreen is donating cash directly to those in need. David French asks you support a Chicago ministry that provides care for immigrants. Frank Bruni is giving to an organization that trains assistance dogs for disabled people. Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more.
‘A race against time’: Much of the nation’s musical legacy has been recorded on magnetic tape, which was used regularly from the 1940s into the digital age. But as those analog strips age, they grow fragile. Now one audio engineer, using unconventional machinery, is trying to save as much as he can. Your pick: The most clicked link in yesterday’s newsletter was about the 50 best clothing stores in the U.S. A preacher: Reginald T. Jackson, a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, used his church’s political power to encourage voting and promote civil rights. He died at 71.
120— That’s the weight, in pounds, of this year’s official White House gingerbread house.
Softball: Maya Brady, the niece of Tom Brady, was chosen first in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League draft on Monday. She will join the Oklahoma City Spark for the league’s second season in 2026. College football: The 25-year-old rapper Nau’Jour Grainger, who goes by the stage name Toosii, has committed to play football at Syracuse.
Here’s a recipe for a sausage rice casserole to make this evening and feast on for the rest of the week. It calls for country-style pork sausage. That’s breakfast sausage for many of us. Fried, then cooked with celery, bell pepper and onion before mixing with spices, rice and chicken stock, the sausage adds a silky gloss to the rice. The dish evokes last week’s Thanksgiving stuffings, but it’s more substantial, more delicate, more fragrant, more awesome. Please do not stint on the nutmeg. It’s the secret ingredient!
The New York Times Book Review has unveiled its 10 best books of 2025. The list is the |
