Hunter Biden to plead guilty in deal with feds

Editor's note: This file has been updated to clarify Hunter Biden will enter a pretrial diversion program as part of a deal with federal prosecutors who are expected to drop a gun charge against him.

Hunter Biden, President Biden's son, will plead guilty to tax crimes in a plea deal with prosecutors, and he reached a diversion agreement relating to unlawful possession of a weapon, according to court papers filed Tuesday.

The plea deal, which must be accepted by a judge, likely would keep Hunter Biden out of jail.

Biden, 53, has been under investigation for tax matters since 2018. He reportedly paid off his tax liability in 2020, with court documents detailing he initially failed to make tax payments of more than $100,000 in both 2017 and 2018 on income exceeding $1.5 million.

Biden was charged with two counts of willful failure to pay income tax. The third charge stems from possession of a firearm in 2018, a weapon he was in possession of while using crack cocaine. Biden denied drug use when applying to secure the gun.


More Hunter Biden coverage from The Hill


In a separate agreement on the gun charge, the president's son will be entered into a pretrial diversion program, meaning those charges are likely to be removed from his record if he complies with the terms of the program. 

“With the announcement of two agreements between my client, Hunter Biden, and the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware, it is my understanding that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved,” Biden attorney Christopher Clark said in a statement.

“Hunter will take responsibility for two instances of misdemeanor failure to file tax payments when due pursuant to a plea agreement.  A firearm charge, which will be subject to a pretrial diversion agreement and will not be the subject of the plea agreement, will also be filed by the Government,” he added. 

A statement from David Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, counters Clark’s claim the issue is resolved.

“The investigation is ongoing,” Weiss’s office said in a release.

According to The Washington Post, Biden is expected to agree to two years of probation in connection with the plea deal.

“I know Hunter believes it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life.  He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward,” Clark said.

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President Biden has repeatedly defended his son from allegations of wrongdoing. The White House on Tuesday stressed support for Hunter Biden following the announcement of the plea deal.

“The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life. We will have no further comment," spokesperson Ian Sams said in a statement.

In an interview last October, the president said his son acknowledged in a book that he noted he was not using drugs on a gun application at a time when he was battling addiction.

The White House has sought to keep its distance from Hunter Biden’s ongoing legal case to avoid any implication the president was pressuring the Justice Department, and officials have repeatedly referred questions about the case to Hunter Biden’s lawyer. Upon taking office, the Biden administration allowed U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a holdover from the Trump administration, to continue to oversee the case.

FILE - President Joe Biden attends his granddaughter Maisy Biden's commencement ceremony with first lady Jill Biden and children Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Monday, May 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

President Joe Biden attends his granddaughter Maisy Biden's commencement ceremony with first lady Jill Biden and children Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Monday, May 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

The plea deal is likely to fuel Republican efforts to keep the business dealings of the president’s family in the spotlight.

Hunter Biden’s involvement in foreign business dealings has been a source of focus for Republicans for years. Former President Trump’s suggestion in 2019 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky investigate Hunter and Joe Biden, then his political opponent, led to his first impeachment.

Reports that broke just before the 2020 election detailing the contents of a hard drive Hunter Biden purportedly owned, which included more details about the business dealings in addition to more salacious content, further fueled GOP interest in his business dealings and attempts to connect the now-president to them.

House Republicans have launched an investigation into the foreign business dealings of Hunter Biden, other family members of President Biden and their associates, raising alarm about foreign funds that flowed to the first family.

Republicans have not produced evidence, though, that directly links President Biden to any of Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. The president has denied knowledge of those business dealings.

In the past few weeks, House Republicans have highlighted an unverified tip to the FBI that then-Vice President Biden accepted a bribe from a foreign national, but they have not substantiated those claims.

In a statement, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) — who is heading up the Biden family business dealings probe — said the charges “reveal a two-tiered system of justice.”

“Hunter Biden is getting away with a slap on the wrist when growing evidence uncovered by the House Oversight Committee reveals the Bidens engaged in a pattern of corruption, influence peddling, and possibly bribery,” Comer said. “We will not rest until the full extent of President Biden’s involvement in the family’s schemes are revealed.”

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.)

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) questions Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic oversight hearing of the CDC over their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday, June 13, 2023.

Comer’s bribery allegations stem from a tip to the FBI the agency was unable to corroborate.

“This development reflects the Justice Department’s continued institutional independence in following the evidence of actual crimes and enforcing the rule of law even in the face of constant criticism and heckling by my GOP colleagues who think that the system of justice should only follow their partisan wishes,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Comer’s Democratic counterpart on the committee, said in a statement. 

“Oversight Committee Republicans have advanced debunked conspiracy theories about President Biden and are now, again, wailing about the work of a Trump appointed U.S. Attorney.”

Hunter Biden’s previous drug addiction also became a GOP attack line.

In 2020, former President Trump pounced on the issue, at one point during a presidential debate mentioning that Joe Biden's son was discharged from the military for cocaine use.

Then-candidate Biden defended his son.

“My son, like a lot of people ... had a drug problem,” he said. “He’s overtaken it. He’s fixed it. He’s worked on it. And I’m proud of him. I'm proud of my son.”

FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., Tuesday, June 13, 2023, after pleading not guilty in a Miami courtroom earlier in the day to dozens of felony counts that he hoarded classified documents and refused government demands to give them back. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Former President Donald Trump speaks at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., Tuesday, June 13, 2023, after pleading not guilty in a Miami courtroom earlier in the day to dozens of felony counts that he hoarded classified documents and refused government demands to give them back. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Trump weighed in on Hunter Biden’s case after news of the plea agreement broke, criticizing the charges as being low-level.

“Wow! The corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket.’ Our system is BROKEN!” the former president wrote on Truth Social.

Trump was arraigned last week on 37 counts following a Department of Justice indictment alleging he violated the Espionage Act and obstructed justice in taking classified records from his presidency and refusing to return them. He is also facing charges for concealing documents and misleading investigators.

Updated at 12:40 p.m.

Alex Gangitano contributed.

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The Disinformation Edition

We begin today with Steven Lee Myers and Sheera Frenkel of The New York Times reporting that Republicans are targeting academic researchers that study disinformation.

The effort has encumbered its targets with expansive requests for information and, in some cases, subpoenas — demanding notes, emails and other information related to social media companies and the government dating back to 2015. Complying has consumed time and resources and already affected the groups’ ability to do research and raise money, according to several people involved.

They and others warned that the campaign undermined the fight against disinformation in American society when the problem is, by most accounts, on the rise — and when another presidential election is around the corner. Many of those behind the Republican effort had also joined former President Donald J. Trump in falsely challenging the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. [...]

Targets include Stanford, Clemson and New York Universities and the University of Washington; the Atlantic Council, the German Marshall Fund and the National Conference on Citizenship, all nonpartisan, nongovernmental organizations in Washington; the Wikimedia Foundation in San Francisco; and Graphika, a company that researches disinformation online.

Paul Wallis of Digital Journal writes about what the targeting of disinformation specialists says about the GOP.

Should someone point out that this was the same election that appointed the current Congress to office, and their own votes might also be invalid? You’d have to be able to read and write to understand that. [...]

Anti-vax propaganda isn’t disinformation because someone getting paid to promote anti-vax says so. The people voted with their jabs, but this very dead horse is still being flogged. [...]

The First Amendment specifically allows a free press. Therefore the GOP is allowed to publish any drivel it likes. In practice, everyone is allowed to call it whatever they want under the First Amendment. So the attacks on the researchers, which can’t achieve anything anyway, must be a great move. This is at least in theory an attack on the First Amendment rights of the researchers.  

Attacking disinformation research is also a clear admission that the Republicans depend on disinformation campaigns to get attention, let alone votes. The GOP and facts haven’t been on speaking terms for years. Disinformation is the only option.

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov wrote a small tweetstorm about podcaster Joe Rogan’s challenge to debate Peter Hotez about vaccines.

Lol. It’s an apt comparison. Whether Ukraine or vaccines, demands to debate the undebatable are similar to the abuse of polls questioning known facts. The goal is to create doubt and fabricate legitimacy for positions that cannot earn it. https://t.co/sAEpds7QdL

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) June 18, 2023

Emily Flitter of The New York Times reports on the ways in which local political officials and the wealthy seek revenge on small-town newspapers.

In most of the country, state and local laws require public announcements — about town meetings, elections, land sales and dozens of other routine occurrences — to be published in old-fashioned, print-and-ink newspapers, as well as online, so that citizens are aware of matters of public note. The payments for publishing these notices are among the steadiest sources of revenue left for local papers.

Sometimes, though, public officials revoke the contracts in an effort to punish their hometown newspapers for aggressive coverage of local politics.

Such retaliation is not new, but it appears to be occurring more frequently now, when terms like “fake news” have become part of the popular lexicon.

In recent years, newspapers in Colorado, North Carolina, New Jersey and California, as well as New York, have been stripped of their contracts for public notices after publishing articles critical of their local governments. Some states, like Florida, are going even further, revoking the requirement that such notices have to appear in newspapers.

Flux publisher Matthew Sheffield rotes a long tweet storm about Confederate Christianty.

🧵 American politics is severely distorted by an extremist form of reactionary Christianity which originated in the former Confederacy. And yet this fact is almost never mentioned by mainstream media journalists, even when they are covering the events these people host. 🧵

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) June 19, 2023

Mr. Sheffield’s long tweetstorm can be read here.

Mr. Sheffield’s tweetstorm led me to Rich Logis blistering June 6 column for Salon about how and why the mainstream media continually props up the GOP.

First, the press intellectualizes salvaging the GOP. Sure, there is a place for intellectual takes on the Republican Party, the conservative movement and our two-party system (which we've always had and always will). But a healthier two-party system will only arise after the GOP is mercy-killed. There are myriad opinions among progressives, liberals, moderates, independents, center-left and even center-right Americans as to what should be done with the GOP. It's nearly impossible to get 10 to concur, much less 100-plus million. This endless "what to do?" cycle probably partly explains why centrist and left-of-center media is so concerned with the "who will save the GOP?" question. [...]

I immersed myself in the MAGA/Trump cult from 2015 to 2022, and congregated with Republican primary voters on a near-daily basis. I was a right-wing pundit. And I now wish I could have all 221 million seconds back. I sincerely adhered to many of the mythologies most GOP base voters adhere to, centered on  gays, sex and marriage; male Caucasian paranoia; Christian theocracy; the evil of Barack Obama; racial and ethnic animus; the sacredness of guns and the demonic nature of COVID vaccines.

I am not convinced that most GOP politicians actually believe the trauma-based conspiracies and mythologies they peddle, but they know that the party's base voters are addicted to them. This dependency on fighting imaginary phantasms — which are  responsible for eroding our "values" and "culture" by making America browner, less Christian, more constitutionally equal and ever less heterosexual — is what unites GOP base voters. The trauma shapes the right's identity politics, brought to them, oftentimes, by affluent Ivy League-educated Republican leaders.

EJ Montini of the Arizona Republic points out that it was the Democratic governor Katie Hobbs that vetoed “nanny state” legislation passed by the Republican-controlled Arizona legislature.

For generations Republicans have railed against Democrats for trying to create a “nanny state,” the kind of place where the government, not individuals, controls just about every aspect of our lives.

But here’s the thing.

It’s a lie.

If anything, just the opposite is true.

And no place proves it better than Arizona, where the Republican-controlled Legislature passed bill after bill that would have replaced free choice with government mandates. And the only thing that prevented it from happening was Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ 100-plus vetoes of “nanny state” legislation.

William Melhado of Texas Tribune reports that Texas state Senator Angela Paxton will attend the impeachment trial of her husband, suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

After weeks of speculation, state Sen. Angela Paxton announced late Monday that she will attend the impeachment trial of her husband, suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton, the McKinney Republican said in a statement issued late Monday.

“Each time I was elected, I took an oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of this great state, and Texas law compels each member of the Senate to attend when the Senate meets as a court of impeachment, Sen. Paxton’s announcement stated. “As a member of the Senate, I hold these obligations sacred and I will carry out my duties, not because it is easy, but because the Constitution demands it and because my constituents deserve it.”

Ken Paxton faces 20 articles of impeachment as a result of a months-long investigation by the House General Investigating Committee. Those articles that included accusations of bribery, retaliating against whistleblowers and obstruction of justice. As a result, the suspended attorney general will face a trial in the Senate by Aug. 28 where the upper chamber’s 31 members will act as jurors in the decision to remove one of the state’s top elected Republicans from office.

Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux of FiveThirtyEight analyzes data on the number of abortions that have been performed since the Dobbs decision.

New estimates provided exclusively to FiveThirtyEight by #WeCount — a national research project led by the Society of Family Planning, a nonprofit that supports research on abortion and contraception — indicate that there were 24,290 fewer legal abortions between July 2022 and March 2023, compared to a pre-Dobbs baseline.1 These people might have remained pregnant or obtained an abortion outside the legal system, which would not be captured in #WeCount’s data.

But the overall decline in abortions is just one part of the story. #WeCount’s estimates, which were collected by contacting every abortion clinic in the country multiple times over a period of twelve months, shows the Dobbs ruling has created intense turmoil for tens of thousands of Americans across the country. There were an estimated 93,575 fewer legal abortions in states that banned or severely restricted abortion for at least one week in the nine-month period after Dobbs.2 The number of legal abortions in states where abortion remained mostly available did rise by 69,285 in the same period, signaling that many people did travel and successfully obtain an abortion within the U.S. health care system. “But a significant number of people are trapped and can’t get out of places like Texas,” said Caitlin Myers, a professor of economics at Middlebury College who studies abortion policy and reviewed the #WeCount data at FiveThirtyEight’s request. “And for the people who are traveling, we’re talking about enormous distances. Some people are likely getting delayed into the second trimester.” With more bans on the horizon in big states like Florida — and abortion clinics and funds struggling to keep up in other states — abortion access seems likely to erode further in the second year after Dobbs.

Finally today, Nels Abbey of Guardian reminds Britons that they were warned about former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Had Britain “heard” the screams of caution from Black people about the racism and, therefore, unsuitability for office of Boris Johnson, there is a good chance Britain would not be “feeling” the pain and shame of demise we are right now.

In the story of race in Britain, Johnson may be as deserving of his own special chapter as Enoch Powell. And a fascinatingly complex chapter it would be. It is hard to conceive of anyone who has seemingly done more to decimate antiracism movements and relegitimise racism in Britain (for his own political gain) but simultaneously just as hard to name anyone who did more for high-level political diversity – once seen as a vital measure of racial progress. Powell gave a speech; Johnson gave power and the respectability of diversity to racism. [...]
Indeed, a cursory study of his time as editor of the Spectator suggests an apparent disdain for, obsession with and envy or fear of Black people in particular. He did not write but he published at least one patently, eye-wateringly racist pseudoscientific article suggesting Black people had low IQs. Another piece published under his editorship described Jamaican immigrants (ie descendants of Africans enslaved by Britain) as “ludicrously self-satisfied, macho, lupine-gaited, gold-chained-and-front-toothed predators of the slums, with the bodies of giants and the mind of a pea”. Another dismissed the idea of disaffected Black youth as politically correct cover for “black thugs, sons of black thugs and grandsons of black thugs”. The piece contained the bigotry bat-signal “boy, oh boy, was Enoch – God rest his soul – ever right!”
Far from making him a pariah, his early catalogue of racist waffle, written by or apparently sanctioned by him, helped to propel Johnson to success.
Have the best possible day, everyone!

If At First You Don’t Succeed

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

And that’s exactly what freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., intends to do in the coming days. Luna is intent on compelling the House of Representatives to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Most Republicans have nothing but enmity for Schiff following his role leading up to and through the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.

"You had Adam Schiff, who was chairman of the Intel Committee, lying day after day to the American public that he had proof (of collusion) by former President Trump with Russia," said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Fox last month. "Now it’s time that people have consequences for their actions."

ADAM SCHIFF NOT OUT OF THE WOODSHED YET: HOP WILL MOVE AGAIN TO CONDEMN HIS ‘FALSE ACCUSATIONS’

In the spring, Luna prepped a resolution to expel Schiff. The House referred that measure to the Ethics Committee. It’s doubtful that plan was ever going anywhere. The House has only expelled five Members in history. And the Constitution dictates a two-thirds vote.

So, Luna settled on censure.

Censure is one of the three formal modes of discipline in the House – right between reprimand and expulsion. A reprimand is exactly what it sounds like. If the House votes to reprimand a Member, they stand in the well of the House chamber before the entire body and the Speaker admonishes the offender for their conduct. Censure looks exactly the same – only the Speaker castigates you with a little more soul.

Consider the dynamic: McCarthy and his personal level of antipathy toward Schiff, standing atop the dais, glaring down at Schiff in the well, awaiting a scolding from the Speaker.

ADAM SCHIFF LIED TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: REP. ANNA PAULINA LUNA

Luna attempted to arrange that political stagecraft in the House chamber last week when she prepared what the House calls a "privileged" resolution to censure Schiff. The House must consider such specialized measures right away or within two days. If the House adopted Luna’s resolution, lawmakers would require Schiff to present himself to McCarthy for reproval and also face an additional inquiry by the Ethics Committee. However, approval of the resolution would also slap the California Democrat with a staggering $16 million fine. That’s what Luna’s office estimates to be half the cost of the Russia probe for former President Trump.

But that plan to fine Schiff killed the censure resolution in the House last Wednesday. The House never even got a straight, up or down vote on censure. The House voted to table – or lay aside – Luna’s plan, 225-196. Twenty Republicans joined all Democrats to euthanize that censure effort.

Fox spoke with several of those GOPers who voted to table the measure. One noted that Republicans are always touting getting the House back to "regular order." That GOPer observed that Luna’s resolution never went before a committee first. Second, the Republican pointed out that such "privileged" resolutions are typically the province of the minority. The House majority controls the floor. So that member questioned why Luna didn’t bring the resolution before the House Republican Conference and talk it through first. That said, any Member may craft a privileged resolution and bring it to the floor if they see fit.

Most of the Republicans who voted to table the original plan didn’t like the $16 million fine. Granted, there aren’t many House GOPers who get along with Adam Schiff. But they worried that approval of such a fine could open Pandora’s Box.

"You wait until Democrats are back in the majority," said one of the 20 GOPers who voted present. "If we pass that, they will stick it to us."

There is also the concern that levying such a stiff fine on a lawmaker could force them to leave Congress to find other work. One lawmaker worried that a fine of that magnitude – imposed by a simple majority – didn’t match the spirit of the Constitutional bar, requiring a two-thirds vote for expulsion. Therefore, this resolution effectively lowered the bar for expulsion.

Undaunted, Luna went back to work and tweaked her censure plan for Schiff.

"He knowingly used his position as chairman of House Intelligence to lie to the American people. To lie to his fellow colleagues," said Luna on Fox Business. "So he will be held accountable."

The updated censure plan basically has the same goal of the first: censure Schiff and refer him to the Ethics Committee for further adjudication. However, it drops the fine. That said, a couple of Republicans with whom Fox spoke wondered why the House would vote to censure Schiff – a serious sanction unto itself – and then send the California Democrat to the ethics panel for further investigation. One source familiar with the resolution said there were other alleged transgressions involving Schiff which could merit further inquiry by the Ethics Committee. 

The source also indicated the ethics panel also has the ability to make a criminal referral to the Justice Department. But the chances of that are slim. That’s because the Ethics Committee is split five to five between Democrats and Republicans. Moreover, Republicans don’t like Schiff because of some of his activities related to Congress. The "Speech or Debate" clause of the Constitution in Article I, Section 6 mostly inoculates lawmakers from prosecution related to their official duties in Congress

ADAM SCHIFF DODGES BULLET: HOUSE VOTES AGAINST BILL CENSURING HIM FOR TRUMP-RUSSIA ‘LIES’

So, the new resolution to censure Schiff likely comes up by mid-week in the House. It’s doubtful the House would vote to table or set aside the new resolution if Luna worked things out with her GOP colleagues. This vote would likely mean an up or down vote on censure for Schiff.

The House has only censured 25 members in history. The last was Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., in 2021. The Democratic-led House censured Gosar after he shared an edited, animated video on social media which looked like he was killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. The House also voted to censure former Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., in late 2010 for a host of offenses, including using House resources for personal benefit.

After the House voted to sidestep the initial resolution, Schiff embraced becoming a target of the GOP.

"It’s a badge of honor when you take on the MAGA crowd. They clearly think I am effective in holding the former President accountable," said Schiff to colleague Hillary Vaughn.

But Luna accused Schiff of flaunting his reprieve.

"It brings me joy to see that he thinks that," said Luna.

The Florida Republican said that Schiff "was singing a different tune" after she informed him of her mulligan.

However, Schiff could reap political benefit of censure. He’s running to succeed Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in the Senate next year. Feinstein isn’t seeking re-election. Schiff’s toughest challenge at the ballot box comes from two Democrats: Reps. Katie Porter, D-Calif., and Barbara Lee, D-Calif.

"It’s an in-kind contribution to Adam Schiff’s campaign," said Los Angeles Times political columnist Mark Barabak of Luna’s attempt to censure Schiff. "Any hour that we’re talking about House Republicans going after Adam Schiff is a good day for his Senate campaign."

Still, Democrats say censure is retribution.

"This is the new normal," observed Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill. "Be careful how well you do your job or you might be on the outside looking in."

There is concern about the weaponization of censure. A tit-for-tat. But Luna will try to sanction Schiff this week. No one wants the ignominy of becoming only the 26th member in House history to face censure. However, the political reality for Schiff is the house is penalizing him for going to the mat with former President Trump. That’s an achievement of which Schiff’s Senate opponents can only dream.

Democrat slammed after accidentally saying Trump ‘needs to be shot’ before quickly correcting herself

Democrat Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett appeared to accidentally say that former President Trump "need to be shot" while discussing his classified documents investigation.

Plaskett, who represents a nonvoting U.S. territory, was criticizing Trump's handling of classified documents during a live segment on MSNBC Sunday when she made the perplexing comment.

"Having Trump not only having the codes but now having the classified information for Americans and being able to put that out and share it in his resort with anyone and everything who comes through should be terrifying to all Americans," Plaskett told MSNBC.

"He needs to be shot," she said, before quickly attempting to correct herself by adding "stopped."

TRUMP INDICTMENT TURNS 2024 ELECTION UPSIDE DOWN, BUT NOT THE WAY DEMOCRATS HOPE

The video immediately began circulating social media, with several Twitter users taking the comment seriously and calling for her removal from office.

"Imagine the outrage if a Republican said this about a Democrat," conservative communicator Steve Guest tweeted.

"Dontcha' hate when your mouth says What you are really thinking?" WorldStrat Corporation President Jim Hanson tweeted.

"This is a direct threat to President Trump and someone needs to investigate. Plaskett needs to be removed immediately," a Twitter user wrote Monday. "That’s not a slip of the tongue. She’s an adult. She should be able to handle public speaking with her position. #RemovePlaskett."

IN OR OUT? NEW POLL WHERE REPUBLICAN VOTERS STAND IN SUPPROT OF TRUMP AFTER SECOND INDICTMENT

"Quite the Freudian slip from Stacey Plaskett," another individual wrote.

Ryan Fournier, founder of Students for Trump, also posted the video and said "lock her up!"

While Plaskett claims that Trump having classified documents "should be terrifying to all Americans," recent polls indicate the former president received a boost in support among the GOP after being indicted for alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Plaskett also claimed in the interview that Trump is "going to have his day in court," after the former president pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges stemming from the classified documents probe.

"Of course, he’s going to have his day in court," the Democrat told MSNBC. "Let’s remember that he was indicted by his peers — individual Americans who live in South Florida, a red state — they saw enough that there was probable cause for him to bring this indictment for him to stand trial."

Plaskett has a history of strong opposition to Trump, serving as an impeachment manager in the case against the former president in 2021, in which House impeachment managers argued that Trump was "singularly responsible" for the January 6th Capitol riot. Despite the Democrat's efforts, Trump was acquitted after the second impeachment trial in February 2021.

Plaskett did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

McCarthy vows to restrict DHS funding over Chilean criminal gangs plaguing the US

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is threatening to withhold funding from a visa program that he said has led to the increased presence of organized crime from Chilean gangs that are "raiding" U.S. homes.

Speaking at a press conference in his home state of California on Friday, the GOP leader called on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to suspend the Visa Waiver Program for Chile. McCarthy said that program has allowed for soaring levels of "burglary tourism" where thousands of dollars worth of stolen items are laundered through China, and the profits of these raids end back up in South America.

Out of 40 countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program, Chile does not allow for criminal background checks for people traveling to the U.S., McCarthy said.

"Now what we are finding, with more than 350,000 people from Chile coming here in the last year out of a country of only 19 million, organized crime is raiding our homes. They're sophisticated. They don't come and break in the front door," McCarthy said.

CHILEAN CROOKS USING VISA WAIVER PROGRAM TO ENTER US, ROB HOMES: LONG ISLAND POLICE

"They put cellphone jamming, knock off your Wi-Fi so your home security doesn't work. They enter on the second story… And they raid the house, stealing the safe. They wear uniforms and camouflage outfits. And then they work with China putting the money back into South America."

He thanked Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer for briefing lawmakers on the matter, and accused Mayorkas of ignoring this problem.

BLACK CALIFORNIANS TOLD TO HAVE ‘BROADER VIEW ON WHAT REPARATIONS COULD BE,’ NOT EXPECT CASH PAYMENTS

"Secretary [Mayorkas] has ignored the safety of Americans. If you've ever been robbed in your house, you lose more than just your property. You lose the sense of safety," McCarthy said.

"When we mark up appropriations coming in the next weeks, we will put a provision in there – because Secretary Mayorkas will not act – that we will not allow him to use money when it comes to Chile for the visa waiver program until this issue is solved so Americans are safe," he added.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment but did not immediately hear back.

The issue of Chilean burglary tourism has sparked bipartisan anger, particularly among California’s congressional delegation. Last week, California Democrats Lou Correa and Mike Levin sent a letter to the Chilean Ambassador claiming businesses had lost as much as $1.2 million due to the abuses of the Visa Waiver Program.

EX-DHS CHIEF WOLF ACCUSES BIDEN ADMIN OF ‘CRISIS BY DESIGN’ AT THE BORDER, CALLS FOR NEW LEADERSHIP

"We have deep concerns that Chile is neither meeting the information-sharing requirements for participation in the VWP nor complying with the Agreement on Enhancing Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Serious Crime. We request you raise such concerns to the relevant entities within the Government of Chile and strongly urge you to meet the requirements of the VWP for continued participation in the program," they wrote.

"If you do not act to comply with such requirements, we are confident that Chile will be suspended or terminated from VWP participation," they added.

McCarthy said he did not speak to Mayorkas about the issue directly but said he anticipated it would play a role in his hearing before the House Judiciary Committee next month.

"I hope he's prepared to answer this question. Because on a bipartisan level, we want America protected. If he won't take action, we will," the speaker said.

Trump slams Republicans who voted to block censure resolution against Schiff

Former President Trump slammed the House Republicans who voted with Democrats to block the resolution that would have censured Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). 

Trump said in a Truth Social post Friday that any Republican who opposed the censure resolution should face a primary challenge for the GOP nomination in their next election. 

“Any Republican voting against his CENSURE, or worse, should immediately be primaried. There are plenty of great candidates out there,” he said. 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) introduced the resolution last month and brought it to the floor as a privileged resolution Tuesday, requiring the House to take action on it. But Democrats were able to successfully pass a motion to table the resolution, with 20 Republicans joining them and effectively stopping it from proceeding. 

"Anna Paulina Luna is a STAR," Trump wrote Friday, adding, "She never gives up, especially in holding total lowlifes like Adam 'Shifty' Schiff responsible for their lies, deceit, deception, and actually putting our Country at great risk..."

Schiff has received widespread criticism from many in the GOP over his role as one of the leaders of the first impeachment inquiry against Trump. Schiff was serving as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee at the time. 

He also led Democratic accusations that the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia. 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) blocked Schiff from serving on the Intelligence Committee in January, accusing him of lying about Trump’s ties to Russia. 

The censure resolution included a nonbinding clause stating that if the House Ethics Committee found that Schiff “lied, made misrepresentations, and abused sensitive information,” he should be fined $16 million. Luna said the amount is half of the cost of the investigation into the relationship between the Trump campaign and Russia. 

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of the 20 who voted against the resolution, said he opposed the effort because of the fine, arguing it violates the Constitution. 

Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the current chairman of the Intelligence Committee, was also one of the GOP “no” votes. 

Luna is planning to try to bring the censure resolution up again, with the potential $16 million fine removed from the text, Axios reported. At least a couple of the Republicans who voted against the resolution could switch their votes to be in favor without the fine included. 

Schiff said after the resolution was tabled that he was “flattered” by the censure attempt, saying it is only an effort to distract from Trump’s ongoing legal challenges. 

He tweeted Wednesday that Luna told him that she is filing another censure resolution next week that will pass. 

“They aren't giving up. But I’ve got news: neither am I,” he said.

Not even the ‘1-800-NEED-A-LAWYER’ crowd want to work with Trump

Attorneys James Trusty and John Rowley resigned from representing Donald Trump in his classified documents case hours after Trump’s federal criminal indictment became public. But Trusty wasn’t done quitting at that point. On Friday he followed up by filing to withdraw from representing Trump in the former president’s lawsuit against CNN.

“Mr. Trusty’s withdrawal is based upon irreconcilable differences between Counsel and Plaintiff and Counsel can no longer effectively and properly represent Plaintiff,” according to the brief filing. That’s less effusive than his resignation from the classified documents case, which claimed that it had been “an honor to have spent the last year defending [Trump], and we know he will be vindicated in his battle against the Biden Administration’s partisan weaponization of the American justice system.”

“We know he will be vindicated” and also “I have irreconcilable differences with him.” Hmm.

The Washington Post reported that Trusty and Rowley clashed with Trump confidant and investment banker Boris Epshteyn, who had previously caused another lawyer, Tim Parlatore, to resign from the classified documents case. Those lawyers had reportedly urged Trump to try to settle ahead of being charged, but he refused on the advice of Epshteyn and Judicial Watch head Tom Fitton, who are telling him what he wants to hear—that he should keep fighting and will be vindicated. As a result, he’s hemorrhaging lawyers.

Losing a lawyer in a long shot defamation lawsuit against CNN that most of us probably forgot he had even filed is not Trump’s biggest legal concern. The fact that he’s lost three lawyers from the team representing him as he faces 37 federal criminal charges, while a fourth lawyer had to recuse himself because he’d become a witness in the case, is a much bigger one. And Trump struggled to find local Florida counsel in that matter, with multiple prominent attorneys turning him down and Christopher Kise, a member of his existing legal team, appearing to step into that role unwillingly after a fruitless search.

This is all part of a pattern. Trump legitimately needs a lot of lawyers because he’s involved in a mind-boggling number of investigations, criminal indictments, and lawsuits. But he also churns through lawyers in a way that’s very familiar to observers of his time in the White House. Trump hires people unwisely and fires them abruptly or drives them away with his outrageous behavior.

The Washington Post counts more than three dozen attorneys who have represented Trump at some point since 2016, from his impeachments to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election to the defamation suit brought by E. Jean Carroll (which Trump lost in court) to the investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia to, of course, the classified documents case and the hush-money payments case in which he has been indicted.

Just as Trump hired White House staffers and administration officials because they were loyal to him, he’s seemed to choose lawyers more for their enthusiasm for going on TV to defend him, than for their legal competence. In late 2020, he seemed willing to take on anyone with a legal degree and a theory of how he could use the courts to overturn the election. In 2023, he’s listening to the people who tell him he had every right to keep those classified documents.

Trump has retained one showboater after another, listened to the advice of the likes of Epshteyn and Fitton, and has been rewarded with a string of brutal legal setbacks and losses. What he needs to do is the thing he has refused to do—and might not be able to at this point. He needs to hire the most competent lawyers he can, ones with no interest in going on television to talk about his cases, and he needs to take their advice. He also needs to pay them. But even if Trump miraculously became a model client, listening to and heeding sound legal advice, his reputation is already so bad that he would likely struggle to find the kind of lawyer he needs.

Donald Trump is facing even more legal jeopardy and the sharks in the Republican Party seem to sense there is some blood in the water. Chris Christie has made his campaign all about going directly at Trump, and Ron DeSantis seems to be closer and closer to becoming completely isolated from the field.