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Trump pardons former US Congress member accused of insider trading

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Republican Stephen Buyer was convicted and sentenced to 22 months in prison, though he has maintained his innocence.

United States President Donald Trump has issued a pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana who served nearly two years in prison for making illegal stock trades based on inside information after he left office.

The pardon was dated Thursday and released by the White House late Friday night.

Buyer was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2023 for trades made while working as a consultant and lobbyist. He was ordered to forfeit more than $350,000, representing the amount of the illegal gains, as well as pay a $10,000 fine. He was released in 2025.

The Supreme Court in May rejected Buyer’s appeal without comment or noted dissent.

In granting “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon” to Buyer, Trump cited the Republican’s work, both as a judge advocate general in the US Army and as a politician in the US House. Trump described his career as “distinguished and highly productive”.

Buyer said the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution” and that it was “horrific to be imprisoned for a crime that I did not commit”. He maintains that he is innocent.

Trump used his Truth Social media platform on May 31 to share a pair of letters requesting a presidential pardon for Buyer, a lawyer and Gulf War veteran who left office in 2011.

He was a House prosecutor at Democratic President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial, and in 2016, he served on Trump’s transition team, focusing on veterans’ issues.

A letter signed by more than 40 former Republicans in Congress said Buyer was “targeted by the deep state” because of his involvement in Clinton’s trial.

“Like you, Mr President, Steve has been the victim of lawfare conducted by the Biden Administration,” they wrote in the April 2025 letter.

A second letter, from five current House Republicans, said pardoning Buyer would bring justice to his case. The June 2025 letter was signed by Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Ken Calvert of California, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, Jack Bergman of Michigan and Pete Sessions of Texas.

Buyer, 67, was convicted in connection with insider trading involving the $26.5bn merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, and illegal trades in the management consulting company Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to acquire it in a deal publicly disclosed weeks later.

The US Constitution gives the president broad power to grant pardons for federal crimes.

A pardon does not erase a recipient’s criminal record but can be seen as an act of mercy or justice.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/6/trump-pardons-former-us-congress-member-accused-of-insider-trading?traffic_source=rss

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Iran fires missiles at Israel after Beirut attack ‘crossed all red lines’

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Iran’s IRGC says the barrage of missiles is ‘a warning’ to Israel amid its ongoing siege of Lebanon.

Iran fires missiles at Israel after it attacked Beirut

Iran has launched a barrage of missiles towards Israel, after warnings from Tehran that Israel must halt its ongoing assault on southern Lebanon or face more attacks.

Multiple rounds of strikes targeted Israel starting at about 10pm local time (19:00 GMT) on Sunday, triggering sirens in locations across the country, the Israeli army said in a series of Telegram posts.

The army said it “intercepted all missiles from Iran thus far”, with the Home Front Command advising residents they could leave protected spaces about an hour later.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed it targeted Israel’s Ramat David airbase with ballistic missiles in a statement circulated by Iranian media, calling the attack a response to “the widespread killing and displacement of the oppressed people of the Tyre and Nabatieh regions” of southern Lebanon.

“Tonight’s operation was a warning, and if the aggressions are repeated, the responses will be broader and will encompass all American-Zionist targets in the region,” the IRGC statement said.

Shortly after the launches began, Mohsen Rezaee, the military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, wrote on X that Iran “repeatedly stated that it will not tolerate violations of the ceasefire and aggression against Lebanon”.

“Tonight, the aggressors received their response,” he said. “This response is a warning to stop their evil; any new action will be met with a more crushing response and heavier costs.”

US President Donald Trump said he was going to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “right now” to tell him not to hit back at Iran.

Speaking to Channel 12’s Barak Ravid, Trump said: “The Iranian strikes didn’t hurt anybody. Hopefully, Israel is not going to retaliate. If Bibi strikes them back, it’s just gonna keep going like the last 47 years, or the last 3,000 years.”

Trump added, “We are very close to a final deal with Iran. It is going to be a good deal. I don’t want it to blow up because of what is happening now.

“I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate. Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one.”

“I don’t want to see an additional attack tonight,” Trump reportedly added.

Ravid suggested it is “not clear” that the US would support Israel if it decides to attack Iran. Decision-makers will need to think twice before doing so, Ravid added, noting that a senior US official has told him that “we’re not in this” – in apparent reference to a new escalation.

Channel 12 notes that Israeli officials said earlier on Sunday they were indeed planning a “forceful response”.

The strikes followed multiple Iranian warnings over Israel’s ongoing invasion of southern Lebanon, which has continued apace despite Israel and Lebanon agreeing to a ceasefire earlier this week in Washington, DC.

Israel crossed “all red lines” by continuing to target the southern suburbs of Beirut, known as Dahiyeh, the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters said in a statement on Sunday.

“We had previously warned that if the crime in the suburbs of Beirut spreads, we will attack targets in the occupied territories,” it said.

Khatam al-Anbiya added that if Israel “expands its attacks on that region or responds to Iran’s actions, it will face more crushing and regrettable blows and destructive attacks will begin against the regime and its supporters”.

Israel’s latest wave of strikes on Dahiyeh killed at least two people and injured 11 more in a densely populated civilian neighbourhood on Sunday afternoon.

Netanyahu ⁠and ⁠Defence Minister Israel Katz said in ‌a joint statement that the army hit a Hezbollah command centre.

Iran’s top negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran would “not only halt the path of negotiations”, but also come “in direct confrontation with the enemy” over violations of the ceasefire agreement.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon since March 2.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/7/iran-fires-missiles-at-israel-after-beirut-attack-crossed-all-red-lines?traffic_source=rss

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Celebrations seen in Tehran as missiles fly overhead towards Israel

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Celebrations seen in Tehran as missiles fly overhead towards Israel

Iranian state TV broadcast scenes of celebration in Tehran as missiles flew overhead en route to Israel. Iran says the launch was retaliation for Israel’s earlier attack in Beirut, and other US-Israeli ceasefire breaches.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/6/7/celebrations-seen-in-tehran-as-missiles-fly-overhead-towards-israel?traffic_source=rss

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Videos show missiles launched from Iran into Israel

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Iranian media has released video showing missiles being launched towards Israel, while videos captured incoming missiles making impact in northern Israel. Iran says it’s a response to Israel attacking Beirut in violation of a US-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/6/7/videos-show-missiles-launched-from-iran-into-israel?traffic_source=rss

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