Double murderer saved from federal death row now wants another gift from Biden
A South Carolina man convicted in the brutal double murder of two bank employees in 2017 is asking for a “compassionate release” days after President Biden spared his life and commuted his death sentence.
Brandon Council, 28, was convicted in September 2019 in the 2017 double murder of Conway bank employees Katie Skeen, 36, and Donna Major, 59. Council was then sentenced to death by a federal court one month later.
Council was one of 37 federal inmates on death row who had their sentences commuted to life in prison by Biden.
On Friday, Council filed a motion in the U.S. District Court in Florence arguing that he deserved a “compassionate release” because he had been subjected to “severe, unnecessary, and unjustifiable psychological harm” that “can only be accurately construed and assimilated as an act of torture,” since he was permanently housed in solitary confinement since Nov. 4, 2019, according to records obtained by WBTW.
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A compassionate release is described by the American Bar Organization as the process by which those incarcerated may seek early release, whether to community supervision or to their communities, due to extraordinary or compelling circumstances.
Several people have openly disagreed with Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences, including Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., who said the decision was “shameful.”
“Biden’s move to pardon 37 federal death row inmates – including 3 men from South Carolina who committed unspeakable acts – continues to shock Americans nationwide. This decision is shameful. It is high time to return America to a country of law and order,” Fry wrote in a post on X.
Fry added in another post following the announcement that Biden’s decision “disgraces victims’ memories nationwide.”
“Joe Biden’s clemency for death row inmates disgraces victims’ memories nationwide, like Donna Major of Conway and Katie Skeen of Green Sea. This shows shocking disregard for innocent families’ pain, right at Christmas. January 20 cannot come soon enough,” Fry wrote in his post on X.
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., echoed Fry and called Biden’s actions “senseless.”
“President Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates is not just senseless—it’s an outrageous example of this administration’s upside down and backwards ideology,” Meuser wrote in a post on his X account.
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During an interview with “Fox & Friends,” Major’s family said they were livid after Biden commuted her killer’s death sentence just days before Christmas.
“I was angry. I’m still angry. I am upset that this is even happening, that one man can make this decision without even talking to the victims, without any regard for what we’ve been through, what we’re going through, and completely hurt, frustrated and angry,” Major’s daughter Heather Turner said during the Christmas Eve interview.
“She was shown no mercy at all. This man walked into the bank, never said two words to her. Shot her three times in total. He went and shot her coworker, Katie Skeen as well, who was totally defenseless and unaware of anything happening,” Major’s husband, Danny Jenkins, added during the show.
“I can’t even believe that this is actually happening…”
Council spent a week at a motel across from the CresCom Bank in Conway, South Carolina, where he watched the movie “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” before he went in with a gun and killed both Skeen and Major.
Council already had a prior felony conviction at the time and told an FBI agent that he went into the bank knowing he would kill someone during the robbery.
He had been on parole for a month at the time of the murders, which came during his second bank robbery since leaving prison.
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President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end the Biden-Harris administration’s moratorium on federal executions when he returns to office.
Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, on Christmas Day to call out Biden for his commutation decision.
“They know that their only chance of survival is getting pardons from a man who has absolutely no idea what he is doing,” Trump’s post read.
“Also, to the 37 most violent criminals who killed, raped, and plundered like virtually no one before them, but were just given, incredibly, a pardon by Sleepy Joe Biden. I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas to those lucky ‘souls’ but instead, will say, GO TO HELL!” Trump continued.
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The U.S. government has executed 50 inmates since 1927, according to the Bureau of Prisons, including Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Cold War spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. That’s far fewer than the individual states, which have executed more than 1,500 condemned inmates in the last 50 years.
The government carried out death sentences for 13 federal prisoners during Trump’s first term, the most under any president in a century.
Biden announces federal holiday to honor late former President Jimmy Carter
Following the death of former President Jimmy Carter, President Biden on Monday signed an executive order closing all executive departments and agencies of the federal government on Jan. 9.
The closures, which Biden described as a “mark of respect” for the 39th president, will be in effect on the day of the late former president’s funeral.
Carter will lie in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. and his funeral will take place at Washington National Cathedral, according to statements from the White House and Carter Center.
Biden signed a proclamation on Sunday, declaring Jan. 9 as a National Day of Mourning and ordering all American flags to fly at half-staff for the next 30 days.
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“I call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President James Earl Carter, Jr.,” Biden wrote in a statement. “I invite the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance.”
Carter, whose family owned a peanut farm in Plains, Georgia, attended the United States Naval Academy and served in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets.
He was later elected state senator, Georgia’s 76th governor and president of the United States — playing key roles in the creation of the modern Department of Education and the Department of Energy, conservation efforts, and nuclear nonproliferation.
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“As President, he understood that Government must be as good as its people — and his faith in the people was boundless, just as his belief in America was limitless and his hope for our common future was perennial,” according to a statement from the White House. “Guided by an unwavering belief in the power of human goodness and the God‑given dignity of every human being, he worked tirelessly around the globe to broker peace; eradicate disease; house the homeless; and protect human rights, freedom, and democracy.”
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Carter’s late wife, Rosalynn, stood by his side for more than 77 years.
Arch Manning explains his transfer portal decision after season as backup QB
Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning on Monday shot down rumors he had made plans to enter the transfer portal at the end of the season as the team prepared for its next College Football Playoff matchup against Arizona State.
Rumors have swirled around Manning for the entire season as he sat as a backup to Quinn Ewers. When Ewers went down with an injury, Manning stepped up and the offense didn’t miss a beat. He has 939 passing yards and nine touchdowns.
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“I mean, I really have no plans on entering the portal or anything,” the redshirt freshman said, via Rivals. “So, I don’t really know about it, about all the windows and everything.”
He did acknowledge that being a backup quarterback was an adjustment after being a celebrated high school quarterback whose family is one of the most celebrated football players of all time.
“It’s definitely an adjustment,” Manning said. “No one ever wants to not play. But like I said, doing anything I can help the team win, whether it’s playing or not playing, that’s what I’m going to do.”
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He did credit Ewers for helping him learn the ropes of being a collegiate football player.
Ewers echoed the sentiment.
“We’ve got a good relationship, so it makes it easy to be like that for sure,” Ewers said.
Manning is definitely in line to become the starting quarterback in 2025 barring Ewers deciding to stay in school for another year before turning pro.
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Texas also has quarterback Trey Owens on the depth chart behind Manning.
Democrats launched ‘calculated effort’ to undermine SCOTUS, reporter says
Senate Democrats have launched a “calculated effort” to undermine public opinion on the Supreme Court, CBS News reporter Jan Crawford argued Sunday.
After CBS correspondent Major Garrett brought up the court’s record-low approval rating on Sunday’s “Face the Nation,” Crawford suggested the issues began way before 2024.
“It really started and took off in the wake of the Dobbs decision, the court’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade,” Crawford said. “The outrage was so extreme that you saw, I think, a quite calculated effort to undermine legitimacy of the Supreme Court by Democrats, Senate Democrats. For example, hearings, stories about scandals, some of which were pretty overblown, to say the least. So that has an impact on public opinion.”
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She continued, “The public starts to believe this court is corrupt, that this is on the take. None of which is true. This is still a court — you may disagree with their decisions — is a very conservative court. It is not a corrupt court. These are nine justices who have very different views on how to interpret the Constitution, who are kind of in this titanic struggle over law, not politics.”
Crawford referenced the high-profile case on presidential immunity from earlier this summer, where, in a 6-3 decision, the court ruled that ex-presidents like President-elect Donald Trump have substantial immunity from prosecution regarding official acts.
She criticized Democratic opponents who “misrepresented” the case when the decision actually protects President Biden from prosecution as well.
“When we look at public opinion polls, sure, the court has taken a hit, but that’s true over the years. The court often takes a hit. So do other institutions. In the court’s opinion, the public opinion remains much higher than our other institutions, including the White House, Congress, and, by far, the news media,” Crawford said.
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A Fox News poll found the Supreme Court’s approval rating dropped to a record low in 2024 at 38% with a 60% disapproval rating. The poll was taken days after the court’s presidential immunity decision.
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Video captures moment team charter almost crashes into Delta flight taking off
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an investigation into what was nearly a catastrophe as a Delta flight almost crashed into the Gonzaga men’s basketball charter plane at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Friday.
Footage of the moment showed that Delta Flight 471 was about to take off when an air-traffic controller was heard screaming, “Stop, stop, stop!” at the charter plane carrying the men’s basketball team across the runway.
Luckily, the warning worked as the Atlanta-bound flight took off without crashing into the Gonzaga charter.
At the time of the incident, the team had recently landed at LAX on a flight operated by Key Lime Air, a Colorado-based airline that provides charter services.
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A plane spotter, Kevin Ray, also uploaded footage of the incident on YouTube, and they could be heard saying, “Wow!” as it was extremely close to being a very serious situation.
Most commercial planes reach between 150 and 180 miles per hour before takeoff, depending on the weight of the aircraft. So, the impact of the charter plane could have been lethal.
“In the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never heard a ATC controller tell a plane to ‘Stop, stop, stop,’” the plane spotter was heard saying.
Delta told Fox News Digital on Monday it was unaware of an FAA investigation into the incident.
“Delta flight 471 operated as normal, and we are not aware of any communication from the FAA regarding this flight,” a spokesperson said. “We are cooperating with aviation officials on their investigation.”
The near-collision came days after a Jeju Air flight crashed in South Korea, killing 179 people. Jeju Air Flight 2216 was attempting to land at Muan International Airport in Muan County, South Jeolla Province, at the time of the catastrophe.
The No. 19 Gonzaga men’s basketball team had landed in Los Angeles from Spokane, Washington for their matchup on Saturday against No. 15 UCLA.
The Bruins defeated the Bulldogs, 65-62, with star guard Eric Dailey Jr. scoring 18 for UCLA. Gonzaga’s Graham Ike had 24 points with eight rebounds and two assists.
The Bulldogs’ Ryan Nembhard had a chance to tie the game at 63 apiece with a free throw, but despite usual success at the charity stripe, he missed to keep the Bruins lead at one with 10 seconds left and UCLA never let it slip.
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Gonzaga remains in California as they’re set to face the Pepperdine Waves on Monday night before heading back to Washington in the new year.
Fox News Digital reached out to Key Lime Air for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
Russia’s top diplomat reacts to peace deal reportedly floated by Trump team
Russia’s foreign minister has rejected a reported peace deal involving Ukraine and NATO, claiming that the proposals have been made by President-elect Trump’s advisors.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the comments during an interview with TASS, a state-run Russian news agency, on Monday. During the interview, Lavrov claimed that the U.S. plans “to suspend hostilities along the line of contact and transfer responsibility for confrontation with Russia to the Europeans.”
“We are not happy, of course, with the proposals made by members of the Trump team to postpone Ukraine’s admission to NATO for 20 years and to station British and European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine,” the foreign minister said, though that deal has not been announced by any American officials.
Lavrov said that the proposal came through “leaks” and Trump’s recent interview with TIME Magazine, but Trump’s interview did not contain any references to NATO. The foreign minister also claimed that NATO “has been expanding its reach for many years, which became one of the primary causes of the Ukraine crisis.”
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“Those who accuse Russia of various doings should be advised to look in the mirror instead,” the foreign minister later said during the interview. “NATO military and mercenaries openly participate in the planning of combat operations and fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
“NATO is complicit in the invasion of the Kursk Region and long-range missile strikes inside Russia,” Lavrov continued. “President Vladimir Putin made this very clear in his recent public statements.”
During his TIME Person of the Year interview, Trump said that it was “an advantage to both sides,” to end the Russo-Ukrainian war, and claimed that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he were president in 2022.
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“I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that?” Trump said at the time. “We’re just escalating this war and making it worse…[but] I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.”
Lavrov’s recent interview came over a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed willingness to compromise with Trump, though he insisted that Russia is in a stronger position than it was in 2022.
“Soon, those Ukrainians who want to fight will run out. In my opinion, soon there will be no one left who wants to fight,” Putin was quoted as saying. “We are ready, but the other side needs to be ready for both negotiations and compromises.”
“We have always said that we are ready for negotiations and compromises.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to Trump’s team for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
Slimmed down Elon Musk makes admission about controversial weight loss drug
Billionaire entrepreneur and top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, Elon Musk, touted that he has reaped the benefits of a controversial class of weight-loss drugs, after fellow top Trump adviser, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said the trendy new class of drugs is bad for Americans’ health.
“Ozempic Santa” Musk posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Christmas Day, alongside an image of himself in front of a well-decorated Christmas tree dressed as Santa Claus — but without his signature big belly. “Like Cocaine Bear, but Santa and Ozempic!”
In a follow-up post, Musk clarified that he is taking the brand-name version called Mounjaro, but said the clunky name didn’t “have the same ring to it.”
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Musk has been tapped by Trump — along with former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy — to head the soon-to-be Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aimed at cutting down on wasteful government spending and red tape. Meanwhile, Kennedy is Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and, if confirmed, Trump has given Kennedy permission to “go wild on health” as long as he doesn’t interfere with Trump’s domestic energy goals.
Musk’s social media post over the holidays turned heads, considering Kennedy has expressed opposition to semaglutide. Originally developed as a diabetes medication, semaglutide has been used more widely in recent years for its appetite-suppressing effects.
“There’s a huge push to sell this to the American people,” Kennedy said of the semaglutide medication Ozempic when asked about his thoughts on the medication in October by Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld. “They make this drug in Denmark, and in Denmark they do not recommend it for diabetes, or for obesity. They recommend dietary and behavioral changes.”
“They’re counting on selling it to Americans because we are so stupid and so addicted to drugs,” Kennedy added. He also concluded that the U.S. could solve the obesity crisis in America “overnight” if they just had access to, and ate, better quality food.
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Kennedy has run on a platform to “Make America Healthy Again,” but Ozempic, he says, will not help in those efforts. Musk, however, has said that “nothing would do more to improve public health” than making Ozempic more widely available.
During President Joe Biden’s final days in office, his administration proposed expanding Medicare and Medicaid coverage for semaglutides to make them more widely available for those who want to reap the weight-losing benefits of the drug.
Besides Musk, Kennedy could also potentially clash with Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who has also expressed support for drugs like Ozempic.
“I think the amount of good done by these medications by helping people lose weight and improve their cardiovascular system — and it might have long-term benefits in a lot of other areas as well, where obesity causes inflammation — is massive,” Oz said last year in a video posted to his Instagram account.
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Kennedy, who very well could become Oz’s boss if they are both approved by the Senate, appeared to scale back his criticism of the new weight-loss drug amid his efforts to court support for his nomination from members of Congress.
“The first line of response should be lifestyle. It should be eating well, making sure that you don’t get obese,” Kennedy said during a quick interview with CNBC on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, before adding that anti-obesity drugs like Ozempic “have a place” in the American medical community.
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Representatives for Musk, Kennedy and the Trump transition team did not provide a comment to Fox News Digital for this story.
Football player addresses accusations of purposefully trying to injure opponent
Arkansas Razorbacks offensive lineman Fernando Carmona was ridiculed after video caught him stepping on the ankle of a Texas Tech player during the Liberty Bowl over the weekend.
Carmona broke his silence on the matter, apologizing for what transpired.
“I’d like to apologize for my actions last Friday night in the Liberty Bowl,” Carmona posted on X. “I let me emotions get away from me. I have nothing but respect for Texas Tech and the game of football. I apologize to my team and coaches. I’m not that kind of player and will learn from this.”
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Many took exception to Carmona stepping on C.J. Baskerville’s ankle, and the thought it was done intentionally was put out there. Some even said they wanted him “banned forever” from the game.
Carmona’s actions led to immediate pain for Baskerville. Meanwhile, Carmona tried to play it off like he was helping a teammate off the turf.
Baskerville accused Carmona of committing a “dirty” play.
“There’s no denying that Arkansas played a great game last night, I am not taking that away from them. But #55 Fernando Carmona blatantly stepping on my ankle and pressing down on it on purpose is straight up dirty,” Baskerville wrote on X on Saturday.
“Proceeds to say “got your b**** a***.” Do better.”
This incident occurred during the fourth quarter of the Razorbacks’ 39-26 win over the Red Raiders to win the bowl game.
Baskerville was Texas Tech’s leading tackler in the game, too, with 10 total as well as one pass deflection. He had 52 total tackles with four interceptions in his senior season.
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Carmona is a junior who spent the 2023-24 season with the San Jose State Spartans before transferring to Arkansas.