Obama praises families of San Bernardino attack victims

President Barack Obama says the families of the California shooting victims are “representative of the strength and the unity and the love” of their community and the nation.

Obama said, after the meeting, he was inspired by the courage they have shown and that they are “insistent that something good comes out of this tragedy”.

President Barack Obama says Syrian President Bashar Assad will have to leave if the civil war in Syria is to end and the country is to have a non-sectarian future.

The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism. “Every battle I’ve had with Congress over the last five years of time has-been uphill, and we keep on surprising you by getting stuff done”, he stated.

Obama said the capacity of the IS to infiltrate Western countries with operatives who’ve traveled to Syria or Iraq, and the savviness of their social media with their ability to recruit disaffected individuals, will continue to make them risky for quite some time.

It is the largest single group of commutations issued by Obama and brings the total number he has issued to 184, according to U.S. Justice Department statistics.

Authorities identified the shooters in the December 2 attack on a San Bernardino county government facility as American-born Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, of Pakistan.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said on Wednesday there was no indication that Farook or Malik were part of an organized cell or had any contact with overseas militant groups.

“I do want to thank Congress for ending the year on a high note”, Obama said in his annual year-end news conference.

Malik also pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Badghadi in a Facebook post as the San Bernardino attack was happening, three USA officials familiar with the investigation told CNN. He said he’s now hoping to stitch together congressional support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and for criminal justice reform.

“Since taking this office, I’ve never been more optimistic about a year ahead than I am right now”, he said before leaving Washington. “I believe in your ability to prove the doubters wrong, and change your life for the better”, Obama said in a letter to those who received clemency.

The President and first lady are good huggers, Pifer said.

He then will fly to Hawaii where he’ll spend two weeks on vacation with his wife and daughters in what has become a family Christmas tradition.

Laura Trevelyan: If after eight years of President Obama in office, the American people don’t vote for the Democrat’s nominee in 2016, this will be seen at least partially as a rejection of the Obama legacy and his signature policy of Obamacare.

He said he will present a plan to Congress to close it, keeping back the threat of using his executive powers if Congress rejects it.