Vice President JD Vance will have his turn sitting down with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, just less than a week after his boss did the same.
In the interview, broadcast on Wednesday evening, the former pair are expected to discuss the administration's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration so far.
It comes as Donald Trump directed his administration to revive a migrant detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba to hold detained migrants while they await deportation.
“Today I‘m also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay,” Trump declared while signing the Laken Riley Act into law.
Earlier on Wednesday, Robert F Kennedy Jr was the latest controversial cabinet pick to be grilled by Senators over his nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
The 71-year-old declared war on chronic illness, refuted anti-vaxxer claims, and said he would follow Trump’s lead on abortion despite once being pro-choice. There were tense moments when Democrats read out conspiracy-laden statements he had made in the past including about AIDS and Covid-19.
Key Points
- Trump says he'll send migrants to Guantanamo Bay hours after idea floated on Fox & Friends
- ANALYSIS: In a chaotic Senate hearing, RFK Jr. insists that some of his best friends are vaccines
- RFK Jr says he is not coming after your Big Mac or Twinkie
- White House abruptly backs off Trump's federal funding freeze after lawsuits and outrage
- Trump offers 2 million federal workers pay to resign
Coming soon... Trump Media's own financial investment brand
00:30
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Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump’s media company, the Trump Media & Technology Group, revealed on Wednesday its plans to begin to sell financial products.
The company said that it will launch a finance firm known as Truth.Fi. While it didn’t state if it plans to begin offering investment or savings products to the public, it indicated that it’s possible that the company will offer investments backed by Trump, according to The Wall Street Journal.
To help the venture, Trump Media is taking about $250 million of the company’s cash into cryptocurrency and other investments, according to the Journal. Charles Schwab will hold the funds.
Gustaf Kilander has the details.
Watch: Bernie Sanders grills RFK Jr. over 'unvaxxed' baby clothes
00:00
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Oliver O'Connell
‘Hold the line, don’t resign’
Wednesday 29 January 2025 23:45
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Oliver O'Connell
The Trump administration has offered a buyout to around 2 million federal employees and claims they can stop working and still receive pay through the end of September, but workers are rallying each other on Reddit to stay onboard, arguing their presence is “the last line of defense against fascism.”
Josh Marcus reports for The Independent:
ANALYSIS: Trump has just given Starmer a salutary lesson in the art of the deal
Wednesday 29 January 2025 23:30
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Oliver O'Connell
David Maddox writes:
There were sighs of relief this week when the White House finally confirmed that Donald Trump would accept the credentials of Lord Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US.
The threat that, for the first time ever, an ambassador between the two countries would be rejected had seemed very real with all the potential for personal humiliation on the international stage for Sir Keir Starmer.
But in reality, it now appears that the man who in 1987 wrote The Art of the Deal may have just given the British prime minister a lesson in his craft.
Continue reading...
Cuban president says Trump’s Guantanamo plan 'act of brutality'
Wednesday 29 January 2025 23:15
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AP
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel deemed the decision as “an act of brutality” in a message on his X account, and he described the based as one “located in illegally occupied #Cuba territory.”
The Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez also lambasted the announcement.
“The US government’s decision to imprison migrants at the Guantanamo Naval Base, in an enclave where it created torture and indefinite detention centers, shows contempt for the human condition and international law,” Rodriguez said on X.
En acto de brutalidad, nuevo gobierno de EEUU anuncia encarcelamiento en Base Naval en Guantánamo, ubicada en territorio de #Cuba ilegalmente ocupado, de miles de migrantes que expulsa forzosamente, a los que ubicará junto a las conocidas cárceles de tortura y detención ilegal.
— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) January 29, 2025
Watch: Hegseth says 'accountability is back' over actions against Milley
Wednesday 29 January 2025 23:07
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Oliver O'Connell
Days after he was sworn into office, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revoked a security detail for retired Gen. Mark Milley, becoming the fourth former Donald Trump appointee-turned-critic to be stripped of protections after the president’s return to the White House.
Here’s what Hegseth had to say on Fox News today:
Hegseth on actions against General Milley: Accountability is back…. Mark Milley got a pardon. That’s something President Biden— was in his purview to do. Just like in our purview at the defense department, we have the opportunity to review things he may have done.. pic.twitter.com/850SialK49
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 29, 2025
Read more here:
Trump looks to repurpose federal money to expand school choice programs
Wednesday 29 January 2025 23:00
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AP
Private school vouchers and other school choice initiatives would expand under an order coming from President Donald Trump telling government agencies to repurpose federal dollars.
The Education Department is being told to use discretionary money to prioritize school choice programs and give states new guidance on how they can use federal money to support K-12 voucher programs.
The executive order that he plans to sign Wednesday could free up some pockets of federal money to be used on school choice, but it is not clear how far he could move the needle with federal money alone. The vast majority of school funding comes from state and local sources, and school choice policies are generally the purview of state governments.
Read on...
Rubio meets with Canadian FM
Wednesday 29 January 2025 22:45
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Oliver O'Connell
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has met with his Canadian counterpart ahead of a looming weekend threat from President Donald Trump to impose massive tariffs on imports from Canada.
Rubio and Foreign Minister Melanie Joly held talks at the State Department on Wednesday amid concerns and counterthreats from Canadian officials over the potential 25% tariffs that could be announced on Saturday.
Neither Rubio nor Joly spoke as they posed for photographs before their meeting and they ignored questions from journalists.
Watch: Whoopi Goldberg describes Trump's presidency as 'reality show'
Wednesday 29 January 2025 22:30
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Oliver O'Connell
Senate confirms Zeldin to lead Environmental Protection Agency
Wednesday 29 January 2025 22:27
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Oliver O'Connell
The Republican-controlled Senate has confirmed Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s a key role to help President Donald Trump fulfill his pledge to roll back major environmental regulations, including those aimed at slowing climate change and encouraging use of electric vehicles.
The vote was 56-42 in Zeldin’s favor.
Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York, is a longtime Trump ally. He has pledged to be a good steward of the environment and support career staff at EPA, but has declined to commit to specific policies. Trump led efforts to dismantle more than 100 environmental protections during his first term and has promised to do so again.
Trump sign order banning 'indoctrination' in schools
Wednesday 29 January 2025 22:10
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Alex Woodward
Donald Trump has signed a new executive order on “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” which orders the creation of an “Ending Indoctrination Strategy” within 90 days and outlines threats to federal funding.
It also re-establishes “the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission” to promote “patriotic education.”
That is defined by:
(i) an accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling characterization of America’s founding and foundational principles;
(ii) a clear examination of how the United States has admirably grown closer to its noble principles throughout its history;
(iii) the concept that commitment to America’s aspirations is beneficial and justified; and
(iv) the concept that celebration of America’s greatness and history is proper.
Trump signs order for Guantanamo Bay detention facility
Wednesday 29 January 2025 22:03
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Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump has signed the expected executive order, titled: “Expanding Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Full Capacity”
The text reads:
I hereby direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to take all appropriate actions to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to full capacity to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs identified by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.
This memorandum is issued in order to halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty.
This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
New: Trump orders Defense & DHS to “expand … Guantanamo Bay to full capacity to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States.” pic.twitter.com/iF5jmmaQip
— Frank G. Runyeon (@frankrunyeon) January 29, 2025
Vogue faces backlash over ruthless takedown of Melania Trump portrait
Wednesday 29 January 2025 22:00
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Oliver O'Connell
Conservatives are coming after Vogue for posting a “scathing” review of Melania Trump’s new White House portrait in which the magazine accuses the First Lady of “cosplaying The Apprentice.”
The official image, printed in black-and-white and shot by Belgian photographer Régine Mahaux, features the 54-year-old woman standing over a reflective desk while dressed in a finely-tailored Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo jacket, an unbuttoned white undershirt, and suit pants.
According to Vogue, the entire shot — clothing, set, and pose included — looked as if it were taken for her husband President Donald Trump’s former reality show, which ran from 2004 to 2017.
Kaleigh Werner reports.
BREAKING: Meta to pay President Trump $25 million as settlement for suspending his Facebook accounts
Wednesday 29 January 2025 21:53
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Oliver O'Connell
Mike Bedigan is following this developing story...
Noem and Homan spoke with reporters about the Guantanamo migrant facility
Wednesday 29 January 2025 21:37
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Oliver O'Connell
Sec. of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem and border czar Tom Homan spoke with press on the North Driveway of the White House and answered questions about President Donald Trump’s announcement about a migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay.
Homan said: “What you probably don’t know, is there’s already a migrant center there, it’s been there for decades. So we’re just going to expand upon that existing migrant center.”
He added that ICE would run it. “ICE has the highest detention standards in the industry,” he said, whether federal, state, or local. “So every facility, including GITMO will have the highest standards.”
Noem said this is something the White House is working on, "to use resources that we currently have."
“We’re going after these guys,” she added.
“We’re already doing it,” Noem said. “We’re building it out.”
In answer to a question about civilian oversight, Noem said “Civilian oversight would be the same as current civilian oversight in federal government today.”
“We had an election in November that clearly says the American people don’t want these criminal and dangerous individuals on our streets anymore,” she said.
“The law applies to everybody” — American citizens, people who come to the country illegally, Noem said. “You will be held accountable for breaking our laws.”
Both referred to Guantanamo Bay as being for “the worst of the worst.”
On the cost, Noem said they were working on it with reconciliation and congressional appropriators.
Pundits weigh in on Karoline Leavitt's debut
Wednesday 29 January 2025 21:30
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Oliver O'Connell
Political pundits have weighed in on Trump’s new White House press secretary hire following her first official press debut on Tuesday.
Karoline Leavitt, a 27-year-old mother of one, and the youngest press secretary to take up the role in White House history made her first official statements to the media Tuesday, giving the rundown on everything from Trump’s staunch immigration policies to Biden’s presidency.
Madeline Sherratt reports.
Watch: Sean Duffy sworn in as secretary of transportation
Wednesday 29 January 2025 21:27
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Oliver O'Connell
"Whether it's drones or autonomous vehicles or eVTOLs" which are "the Ubers in the air," Transportation department will be innovative, @SeanDuffyWI said at his swearing in with @VP Vance.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 29, 2025
With 7 of his 9 kids present, Duffy said he'll work on highway infrastructure and… pic.twitter.com/wBPFUY60DO
Trump administration aims for 'at least' 75 arrests every day at each ICE field office
Wednesday 29 January 2025 21:15
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Oliver O'Connell
The Trump administration has reportedly ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to make “at least” 75 arrests every day at each of the agency’s 25 field offices.
Senior ICE officials have been told by President Donald Trump’s team to aggressively ramp up their efforts from a few hundred every day to at least 1,200 to 1,500 nationally as the administration carries out his anti-immigration agenda, according to the Washington Post.
Rhian Lubin reports.
Trump administration to cancel student visas of pro-Palestinian protesters
Wednesday 29 January 2025 21:09
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Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday to combat antisemitism and pledge to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests, a White House official said.
A fact sheet on the order promises "immediate action" by the Justice Department to prosecute "terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews" and marshal all federal resources to combat what it called "the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets" since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
"To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you," Trump said in the fact sheet.
"I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before," the president said, echoing a 2024 campaign promise.
Rights groups and legal scholars said the measure would violate constitutional free speech rights and would likely draw legal challenges.
BREAKING: Disgraced former US Senator Bob Menendez sentenced to 11 years in prison in corruption case
Wednesday 29 January 2025 20:59
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Oliver O'Connell
Former New Jersey senator Bob Menendez has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for his involvement in a years-long corruption scheme in which he wielded his political influence to conduct favors for the Egyptian government in exchange for lavish gifts.
Once a three-term senator who chaired the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez sat before a federal judge in downtown Manhattan on Wednesday, flanked by lawyers, to receive his punishment after becoming the first senator to ever be convicted of acting as a foreign agent.
Menendez, 71, accepted bribes – in the form of lavish gifts – from three New Jersey businessmen who sought his help in meddling in state and federal criminal investigations and securing lucrative deals with officials from Egypt and Qatar.
Ariana Baio has been following the story.
First Latina and Black justice appointed to Arizona Supreme Court
Wednesday 29 January 2025 20:45
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AP
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs appointed Maria Elena Cruz to the Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday, making the state appellate judge from Yuma County the first Latina and first Black person chosen for the state’s high court.
Hobbs’ selection of Cruz marks the first Supreme Court appointment by a Democratic governor since 2005. It also broadens the racial, geographic and political diversity of the seven-member, Republican-dominated court.
Continue reading...
ANALYSIS: In a chaotic Senate hearing, RFK Jr. insists that some of his best friends are vaccines
Wednesday 29 January 2025 20:25
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Oliver O'Connell
Richard Hall writes:
A former gravesite in Central Park that once contained the corpse of a bear is a testament to the chaos that has followed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. throughout his life. His Senate confirmation hearing for health secretary was no different.
RFK Jr. arrived in the hearing room on Wednesday to cheers of “We love you Bobby!” from his applauding fans in the bleachers, with his long-suffering wife Cheryl Hines alongside him, and his children in tow.
Before long, the proceedings descended into a series of verbal brawls. There were interruptions by protesters, a fight about baby onesies, and a forensic search for the authentic views of a man who has operated on the fringes of health science for most of his life.
Continue reading...
Fed chairman declined to respond to Trump’s call for lower rates
Wednesday 29 January 2025 20:15
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Oliver O'Connell
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has not responded to Donald Trump’s call for lower rates. On Wednesday, the Fed announced that short-term rates would remain unchanged.
“I’m not going to have any response or comment whatsoever on what the president said,” Powell told reporters at a Wednesday news conference. “It’s not appropriate to do so.”
Powell said he has had no contact with Trump.
The Fed has wanted to base its choices on short-term rates based on jobs data, inflation, and other economic factors rather than political pressures.
This political independence has meant Powell has not publicly engaged much with Trump’s desire to shape its policies.
Trump said in his first week back in the White House that he wanted the Fed to cut interest rates, howver, the central bank has hit pause for an uncertain duration.
The president argued he understands monetary policy better than those charged with setting it.
“With oil prices going down, I'll demand that interest rates drop immediately, and likewise, they should be dropping all over the world,” Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland by video link.
Full story: Trump says he'll send migrants to Guantanamo Bay hours after idea floated on Fox & Friends
Wednesday 29 January 2025 20:09
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Oliver O'Connell
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade ended a Fox & Friends discussion on revoking Venezuelan migrants’ temporary protected status by asking Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem if she planned on housing immigrants in a prison facility most known for housing 9/11 terror suspects.
Calling the Guantanamo Bay prison camp an “asset,” Noem said that the administration was “evaluating” that possibility but that it was ultimately President Donald Trump’s decision.
Hours later the president revealed that was exactly what he was going to do, as Justin Baragona reports.
Trump signs Laken Riley Act
Wednesday 29 January 2025 20:06
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Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump has signed the Laken Riley Act.
The bill is named after the Georgia nursing student who was killed by a person in the U.S. illegally while out for a run — an incident that became a rallying cry in his effort to return to the White House House.
Welcoming lawmakers and Riley’s family in the White House East Room, Trump said: “It’s so sad we have to be doing it,” but added, “Her name will live forever in the laws of our country.”
The legislation requires the detention of people in the U.S. illegally who are accused of theft and violent crimes. The bill won bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
“It’s a landmark law that we’re doing today,” Trump said.
President Trump signs Laken Riley Act pic.twitter.com/8DEIJdzZN5
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 29, 2025
Watch: RFK Jr. challenged on false Covid-19 claim
Wednesday 29 January 2025 20:00
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Oliver O'Connell
Wednesday 29 January 2025 19:58
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Oliver O'Connell
General Milley and other former Trump Administration officials continue to face credible, deadly threats from Iran because they carried out President Trump’s order to kill Iranian General Soleimani. It is unconscionable and recklessly negligent for President Trump and Secretary Hegseth to revoke General Milley’s security detail for their own political satisfaction. The Administration has placed Milley and his family in grave danger, and they have an obligation to immediately restore his federal protection.
Indeed, just months ago President Biden said that a foreign assassination attempt against then-candidate Trump would be an “act of war.” Do President Trump and Republicans—who celebrated the Soleimani strike—not believe that U.S. military servicemembers deserve the same protection?
Senator Jack Reed, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth pulling Gen. Mark Milley’s details
Trump signs antisemitism executive order
Wednesday 29 January 2025 19:50
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AP
Donald Trump has signed an antisemitism executive order that threatens to cancel student visas for Hamas sympathizers.
The president’s order calls on the Justice Department to “aggressively prosecute terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews.”
Perhaps most notable is the order’s focus on reports of antisemitism on many college campuses during protests following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that prompted Israel’s war in Gaza.
“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump said in a statement issued by the White House.
“I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
Watch: Trump to order opening of 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay
Wednesday 29 January 2025 19:46
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Oliver O'Connell
Trump: Today I'm also signing an executive order to instruct the departments of defense and homeland security to begin preparing the 30,000 person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay pic.twitter.com/2gBXWK4hFz
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 29, 2025
Hegseth strips Mark Milley’s security detail and clearances
Wednesday 29 January 2025 19:40
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Oliver O'Connell
Days after he was sworn into office, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revoked a security detail for retired Gen. Mark Milley, becoming the fourth former Donald Trump appointee-turned-critic to be stripped of protections after the president’s return to the White House.
A Pentagon spokesperson said Hegseth also directed the Department of Defense inspector general to investigate “the facts and circumstances” of Milley’s time in office to determine whether to “reopen his military grade review determination,” which could retroactively demote Milley and throw his retirement benefits into question.
Alex Woodward reports.
White House pushes back on recission of funding freeze memo
Wednesday 29 January 2025 19:25
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Oliver O'Connell
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is pushing back on reporting on the recission of the memo from the Office of Management and Budget regarding the federal funding freeze.
“This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo,” she wrote on X.
“Why? To end any confusion created by the court's injunction. The President's EO's on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”
This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze.
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) January 29, 2025
It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo.
Why? To end any confusion created by the court's injunction.
The President's EO's on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.
Warren and RFK Jr spar over vaccine and money-making claims
Wednesday 29 January 2025 19:20
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Oliver O'Connell
Robert F Kennedy Jr and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts got into a heated exchange during the Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Warren began by saying that the two of them agree on one thing – Big Pharma “has too much power in Washington.”
Gustaf Kilander reports on how things went downhill from there...
COMMENT: From grinding up baby animals to freezers full of roadkill: What RFK Jr’s weirdest habits tell us about him
Wednesday 29 January 2025 19:00
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Oliver O'Connell
