“Joe Biden awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Pope Francis, a personal marker of his Roman Catholic faith after devastating fires in California prompted the president to cancel a Vatican visit during his final days in office,” Bloomberg reports.

“The White House said Biden spoke with the pontiff on Saturday and named him a medal recipient with distinction, an exceptional category of the US’s highest civilian honor that’s rarely awarded.”

“Kamala Harris’ social media post honoring Jimmy Carter seemingly slighted Donald Trump as the vice president shared snapshot from the late president’s funeral featuring all living U.S. presidents except for her political rival,” the Daily Beast reports.

“The wide angle photo, posted to her Instagram Saturday, appeared to crop out Trump, who was seated next to Barack Obama during the ceremony.”

“President Joe Biden said Friday he will not issue a preemptive pardon for himself as he considers pre-pardoning adversaries of President-elect Donald Trump who he fears could be targeted with politically motivated investigations by the Trump administration,” USA Today reports.

Said Biden: “For myself? What would I pardon myself for? No, I have no contemplation of pardoning myself for anything. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Naomi Biden and Peter Neal welcomed a son, making Joe Biden the first sitting president to become a great-grandfather, the AP reports.

“President Joe Biden has decided not to embark on a final overseas trip in office, canceling plans to travel to Rome for a personal meeting with Pope Francis this weekend as wildfires continue to rage across Los Angeles,” Politico reports.

Jonathan Last: “Jack Smith’s report should be public. As a matter of tradition (all previous special counsel reports were published) and also as a matter of morality. The country should have a permanent record of Trump’s once-allegedly-criminal actions.”

“But also as a matter of politics. Remember: 2025 is the year of maximum peril. Every day that can be chewed up forcing the administration to fight on a topic they fear is a day they lose in pursuit of their authoritarian agenda. You would not know it from their current posture, but the Democrats are actually the opposition party. They have a duty to oppose Trump, on all fronts, and inflict political pain wherever they can.”

“It is not clear that the Democratic party, as an organism, understands this reality. And so the final reason for making Smith’s report public by any means necessary is to force Democrats to come to terms with the new rules of American government.”

President Biden said he had not made a decision about issuing preemptive pardons before leaving office, leaving the door open to an unprecedented move to protect some of his allies as he warned President-elect Donald Trump against trying to “settle scores,” CNN reports.

Gallup: “Fifty-four percent of U.S. adults believe Biden will be remembered as a ‘below average’ (37%) or ‘poor’ (17%) president, while 19% say he will be evaluated as ‘outstanding’ (6%) or ‘above average’ (13%). Another 26% think he will be regarded as ‘average.’”

“We must remember the wisdom of the adage that any nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it.”

— President Biden, writing in the Washington Post.

Susan Page sat down with President Biden on Sunday for an “exit interview” which will publish on Wednesday, USA Today reports.

The interview is the only sit-down Biden is giving a print publication as he prepares to leave office on Jan. 20.

“President Joe Biden plans to deliver two major speeches before leaving office as part of an effort to outline what he sees as key parts of his legacy from more than 50 years in public service,“ NBC News reports.

“The first speech is set to focus on foreign policy and is expected to be delivered sometime after Biden returns on Jan. 12 from a trip to Italy… Biden then plans to close out his final days in the White House with a farewell address to the country.”

President Joe Biden will hold a star-studded ceremony at the White House Saturday for the latest batch of Medal of Freedom recipients — which will include Bono, José Andres, Lionel Messi, Hillary Clinton, Jane Goodall and many more, ABC News reports.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will head to New Orleans on Monday, the site of a New Year’s Day terror attack that killed 14 people and wounded dozens more, NBC News reports.

“President Biden is likely to announce a decision as soon as Friday on whether he will approve Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel,” CBS News reports.

“White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan presented President Biden with options for a potential U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities if the Iranians move towards a nuclear weapon before Jan. 20, in a meeting several weeks ago that remained secret until now,” Axios reports.

“A U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear program during the lame duck period would be an enormous gamble from a president who promised he would not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, but who would also risk handing a fresh conflict over to his successor.”

“President Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, to 20 people on Thursday afternoon, including former Rep. Liz Cheney and two close personal advisers, Ted Kaufman and Christopher Dodd,” the New York Times reports.

Washington Post: “In the days before Donald Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the Secret Service needed a member of his protective detail to develop a security plan to keep the former president safe as he addressed a crowd of thousands at an open-air fairground. With agents stretched thin by the presidential campaign, the agency turned to a ‘junior’ member of the detail.”

“In the past, the Secret Service would have trained new agents in a field office for a minimum of five years and had them work at least two more in a protective detail before assigning them to oversee such a large public event… The agent put in charge of security at Butler had joined the Secret Service four years earlier and only started in the protective detail in 2023, the panel found.”