Month: September 2023

Rep Chris Stewart’s ex-staffer wins Utah special election bid to replace him

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

A former staffer for Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, has all but won her bid to replace him after he resigns later this year.

Celeste Maloy, who served as Sterwart's chief legal counsel in Congress, won a three-way Republican primary election on Thursday ahead of an upcoming special election. With the Republican nomination, she is now the heavy favorite in the special election against Democratic state Sen. Kathleen Riebe in November.

"It’s exciting that we’re going to have somebody come out of this primary that represents rural and southern Utah. I think it’s time for that, and everybody’s ready for it," Maloy said Thursday.

Stewart has served in the House of Representatives for roughly 10 years, but he is resigning in September due to his wife's illness.

ST. GEORGE, UTAH, FACING LAWSUIT AFTER DENYING PERMIT FOR DRAG SHOW AT PUBLIC PARK: ‘VIOLATIONS OF FREE SPEECH’

Maloy credited her win to her campaign's focus on rural areas in Utah.

"I did debates in the rural counties. I showed up and held events in the rural counties," Maloy said. "We decided early on that our strategy was going to be to win the rural counties, and then get as much as we could in the more urban counties."

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO MCCONNELL’S HEALTH AND A POTENTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Maloy's election effort enjoyed a boost from Stewart's own endorsement as well as an endorsement from former Utah U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop.

Stewart is one of three members of the U.S. House of Representatives to voluntarily leave office early this year. Reps. David Cicilline, D-RI, and Donald McEachin, D-Va., also resigned within the past 12 months.

THE IMPEACHMENT BISTRO: REPUBLICANS CONTINUE TO KEEP IMPEACHMENT ON THE MENU

In all, 15 other senators and representatives have announced that they are not running for re-election in 2024, opening up races across the country.

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Maloy will face off against Riebe on Nov. 21.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Crystal clear: Forecast for possible government shutdown is murky

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I have a parliamentary crystal ball for how September may go on Capitol Hill.

That doesn’t mean I have many answers.

Like most crystal balls, they are limited in their accuracy. They won’t give you the full story. But they will absolutely nail some aspects.

No. The crystal ball cannot definitively predict whether the government will shut down Oct. 1, the start of the federal fiscal year. In fact, information from the crystal ball surrounding that very question is especially cloudy.

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO MCCONNELL’S HEALTH AND A POTENTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Impeachment of President Biden? Or Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas? Or Attorney General Merrick Garland?

Just as hazy.

But the crystal ball does forecast the following:

The Senate will advance a few individual appropriations bills in the coming weeks. And House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will try to advance a fig leaf, interim spending package that appeases the right. The House Freedom Caucus and other conservative members will demand various provisions that either trim spending, address the border or wrestle with potential impeachment. 

McCarthy’s bill won’t actually be what Congress settles on to fund the government. In fact, one can’t even technically call it a "Continuing Resolution" or "CR" if it cuts funding or addresses ancillary issues important to Republicans. By its nature, a CR sustains funding at present levels so the government doesn’t shutter. But McCarthy will have made his point.

However, what’s murky in the crystal ball is whether McCarthy and House Republicans can later digest a CR from the Senate that doesn’t address any of their priorities just to keep the government funded.

However, the crystal ball is crystal clear about one thing: If the House doesn’t eventually swallow a bipartisan CR from the Senate, there will be a government shutdown.

That’s as definitive as anything we’ve drawn from the crystal ball.

So, here are some of the machinations surrounding a potential government shutdown and possible funding measures over the next four weeks.

The Senate is back from its summer recess a full week ahead of the House. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., notes that the Senate cleared 12 appropriations bills in committee before the recess. So, he’ll deposit three of those on the floor soon.

"All 12 appropriations … have been reported out of the committee with bipartisan support. Some of them, many of them, were with unanimous, bipartisan support," said Schumer. "Now, that doesn’t mean everyone agreed on everything. It sometimes means something more important. It means that disagreements haven’t paralyzed the process."

THE IMPEACHMENT BISTRO: REPUBLICANS CONTINUE TO KEEP IMPEACHMENT ON THE MENU

Schumer scored backup from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

"Congress needs to address our nation’s most pressing needs with timely appropriations. And we need to keep the lights on come Oct. 1," McConnell said.

Before the recess, the full House OK'd only one of its 12 spending measures. So, this is a chance for the Senate to get ahead of the House and inoculate it from criticism it hasn’t passed any appropriations bills.

But Schumer understands the stark reality. No matter what, the solution to averting a government shutdown is for the House and Senate to pass some sort of interim spending bill that keeps the federal lights on for a few weeks, if not a couple months. And the only tangible recipe to make that work? A Band-Aid bill can only pass with a coalition of Democrats and Republicans.

McCarthy doesn’t need a crystal ball to understand that a bipartisan, temporary bill is the route too. He’s indicated to House Republicans a stopgap bill is necessary right away, asserting that the GOP will fight for deep spending cuts with the "real" bills later.

But McCarthy hasn’t addressed something else that is clear in the crystal ball. It remains unsaid because it’s politically radioactive: A clean CR likely requires a substantial chunk of Democratic votes in the House. In fact, it may score far more Democratic votes than GOP votes.

"We all agreed a CR is the best way to go," Schumer said of a meeting he had with McCarthy about government funding. "He’s going to have a rough time implementing it."

That’s why a clean CR with substantial Democratic support is politically the most malignant bill to McCarthy.

House conservatives will bray if McCarthy defaults to that position – even if he goes through the proper motions to appeal to the right on impeachment, spending cuts or border policy. However, McCarthy likely needs to embrace some of these appeals by the right if he wants to stay in good graces with the House Freedom Caucus.

But the second McCarthy dials back from those positions …

If he dials back from those positions …

That’s why the crystal ball can’t predict if there might be a government shutdown.

This boils down to the math.

The current breakdown in the House features 222 Republicans to 212 Democrats with one vacancy. In other words, Republicans can only lose four votes from their side and still pass a bill without Democratic assistance. More Democrats voted for the debt ceiling pact with President Biden in the spring than Republicans. And conservatives haven’t let McCarthy forget it.

But it gets worse for the GOP.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., could miss some time for his cancer treatments. And Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah., resigns effective Sept. 15. So, that could mean Republicans are effectively operating with only 220 members. That drops the GOP margin to three votes.

The biggest roadblock for putting any piece of legislation on the House floor is what’s known as the "rule." The House Rules Committee is the gateway for most bills to get to the floor. The Rules Committee and the entire House must first adopt a "rule" before considering legislation. The rule determines the parameters for debate on a given bill. But if the Rules Committee or entire House fails to approve a rule, the bill can’t come up for debate.

This could be nettlesome for McCarthy with Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., serving on the Rules Committee.

That said, there is a way to skate around the Rules Committee on a CR that simply renews all old funding on a temporary basis.

The House can bypass the Rules Committee by putting a "privileged" Continuing Resolution on the floor after Sept. 15. "Privileged" means the resolution is written in a manner that whisks it to the front of the legislative line. 

Granted, such a "privileged" CR is subject to multiple points of order on the floor. That could be messy enough. But such an option to skip a step does exist in the House quiver.

Will that scenario unfold?

The crystal ball has not even considered the "privileged" CR option because it is obscure.

So, what’s going to happen? I have no idea. And frankly, neither does the crystal ball.

This poses a salient question: If the crystal ball can’t foretell what’s going to happen in Congress, what good is it?

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I asked the crystal ball about its future in congressional soothsaying.

The response? Foggy at best.

Prosecutors seeking new indictment for Hunter Biden before end of September

Posted on by Associated Press

Federal prosecutors plan to seek a grand jury indictment of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter before the end of the month, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

The filing came in a gun possession case in which Hunter Biden was accused of having a firearm while being a drug user, though prosecutors did not name exactly which charges they will seek. He has also been under investigation by federal prosecutors for his business dealings.

Prosecutors under U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss, newly named a special counsel in the case, said they expect an indictment before Sept. 29.

Hunter Biden's lawyers, though, argued that prosecutors are barred from filing additional charges under an agreement the two sides previously reached in the gun case. It contains an immunity clause against federal prosecutions for some other potential crimes. Defense attorney Abbe Lowell said Hunter Biden has kept to the terms of the deal, including regular visits by the probation office.

“We expect a fair resolution of the sprawling, 5-year investigation into Mr. Biden that was based on the evidence and the law, not outside political pressure, and we’ll do what is necessary on behalf of Mr. Biden to achieve that,” he said in a statement.

Prosecutors have said that the gun agreement is dead along with the rest of the plea agreement that called for Hunter Biden to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses. It fell apart after U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika raised questions about it during a court appearance in July.

The Justice Department did not have immediate comment.

News of a possible new indictment comes as House Republicans are preparing for a likely impeachment inquiry of President Biden over unsubstantiated claims that he played a role in his son’s foreign business affairs during his time as vice president.

“If you look at all the information we have been able to gather so far, it is a natural step forward that you would have to go to an impeachment inquiry,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News recently.

The younger Biden has been the target of congressional investigations since Republicans gained control of the House in January, with lawmakers obtaining thousands of pages of financial records from various members of the Biden family through subpoenas to the Treasury Department and various financial institutions. Three powerful House committees are now pursuing several lines of inquiry related to the president and his son.

And while Republicans have sought to connect Hunter Biden’s financial affairs directly to his father, they have failed to produce evidence that the president directly participated in his son’s work, though he sometimes had dinner with Hunter Biden’s clients or said hello to them on calls.

In recent months, Republicans have also shifted their focus to delving into the Justice Department’s investigation of Hunter Biden after whistleblower testimony claimed he has received special treatment throughout the yearslong case.

Hunter Biden was charged in June with two misdemeanor crimes of failure to pay more than $100,000 in taxes from over $1.5 million in income in both 2017 and 2018. He had been expected to plead guilty in July, after he made an agreement with prosecutors, who were planning to recommend two years of probation. The case fell apart during the hearing after Noreika, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, raised multiple concerns about the specifics of the deal and her role in the proceedings.

If prosecutors file a new gun possession charge, it could run into court challenges. A federal appeals court in Louisiana ruled against the ban on gun possession by drug users last month, citing a 2022 gun ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.

News of another indictment comes after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland named Weiss a special counsel, giving him broad authority to investigate and report out his findings and intensifying the investigation into the president’s son ahead of the 2024 election.

The White House Counsel’s office referred questions to Hunter Biden’s personal attorneys.

Wisconsin Democrats launch $4M ad blitz targeting GOP lawmakers considering impeachment of new liberal justice

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Wisconsin Democrats are launching a $4 million ad blitz over the next several weeks to target GOP lawmakers that are considering whether to pursue the impeachment of a new liberal justice. 

Justice Janet Protasiewicz's ascension to the Wisconsin Supreme Court created a new 4-3 liberal majority, jeopardizing Republican-drawn state legislative maps and risking the repeal of a 173-year-old state law that bans abortion. The statute became active again after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

The Wisconsin Democratic Party on Wednesday launched a $4 million effort to pressure Republicans to back down from impeaching Protasiewicz. 

After investing nearly $10 million in electing the liberal justice, the effort is meant to protect what Democrats hailed as a major political victory. The new $4 million effort, which leaders said will grow to include other groups, will include digital and television ads, in-person voter outreach and a website that tracks where every Republican lawmaker stands on impeachment.

WISCONSIN OFFICIALS BLOCKED FROM USING FEDERAL VOTER REGISTRATION FORM

"Politicians should not be overturning elections because they don’t like the results or the outcome," said Democrat Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard at a press conference outside the state capitol. "And we cannot let Robin Vos and Wisconsin’s Republicans get away with this unconstitutional, unprecedented power grab in our state."

"Republicans are holding a political nuclear football," Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler said, deeming the threat of impeachment had amounted to "political extortion."

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who has been the most outspoken about possible impeachment, said the effort only proves that the party's and Protasiewicz's interests "are one and the same."

During the campaign, Protasiewicz spoke in favor of abortion and called GOP-drawn maps "unfair" and "rigged." Justices for the Wisconsin Supreme Court are officially nonpartisan, but the candidates have long aligned along partisan lines. Republicans have raised impeachment as a possibility if Protasiewicz does not recuse herself from consideration of two redistricting lawsuits filed in her first week in office last month. The GOP-controlled legislature asked for her to step aside from the cases.

Protasiewicz on Tuesday gave attorneys until Sept. 18 to react to the fact that the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, which investigates complaints against judges, dismissed complaints against her that alleged her campaign comments on redistricting violated the state judicial code.

SUPREME COURT JUSTICES RULE STATE LAWMAKERS DO NOT HAVE EXCLUSIVE CONTROL OVER ELECTIONS IN KEY DECISION

A lawsuit in a county court seeking to overturn Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban was filed before Protasiewicz won the election. That case is expected to eventually reach the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The legislative electoral maps drawn by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2011 cemented the party’s majorities, which now stand at 65-34 in the Assembly and a 22-11 supermajority in the Senate. It would take only 50 votes to impeach. It takes 22 votes to convict in the Senate, the exact number of seats Republicans hold.

If the state Senate moves forward to convict Protasiewicz on impeachment charges and remove her from her position before Dec. 1, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, would be required to announce a replacement. That person would face voters next April when the GOP presidential primary would also be on the ballot, the New York Times reported. 

Though there is not much precedent for an impeachment, the state constitution limits reasons to impeach a sitting officeholder to corrupt conduct in office or the commission of a crime.

The escalating fight over her seat has implications for the 2024 presidential election in the battleground state.

In 2020, the conservative-controlled Supreme Court came within one vote of overturning President Biden's win in the state. More fights over election rules that will be in place for the 2024 election are pending and any disputes over the winner could be decided once again by the state Supreme Court.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

GOP reps Tenney, Roy lead push to reduce Mayorkas’ salary to $1 over border crisis

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FIRST ON FOX: Republican lawmakers in the House are proposing an amendment that would reduce Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ salary to just $1, as Republicans continue to increase pressure on the DHS chief for the ongoing migrant crisis at the southern border.

Reps. Claudia Tenney, R-NY, and Chip Roy, R-Texas, are leading the push to include an amendment to the Homeland Security appropriations bill that would reduce Mayorkas’ salary to $1.

The amendment would use the so-called Holman rule, which allows lawmakers to cut the salaries of federal officials. Republicans have zeroed in on Mayorkas over the ongoing crisis at the southern border, where numbers have again increased in recent months. Conservatives say the crisis has been created and fueled by the policies of the administration.

WHITE HOUSE BLASTS GOP FOR LOOMING SHUTDOWN, SAYS IT COULD HURT FENTANYL FIGHT

"None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to pay Secretary Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas a salary that exceeds $1," the amendment states.

"Secretary Mayorkas should not be paid hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to continually fail to protect American taxpayers from threats crossing our borders," Tenney said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Thanks to Secretary Mayorkas’ work, or lack thereof, there have been at least 5.8 million illegal crossings of our southern border since Biden took office, turning all our communities into border communities." 

‘If the President is refusing to fire him for his dereliction of duty, his salary must reflect his failures," she said.

"It’s time to end this border crisis once and for all. The American people have no obligation to keep paying a federal official who refuses to do his job and uphold his oath, and that's why we should zero out Mayorkas' salary," Roy said in a statement. "I’m glad to work with Rep. Tenney in this fight to regain operational control of the border."

Co-sponsors on the amendment include Reps. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., Russell Fry, R-S.C., Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., Bill Posey, R-Fla., Carol Miller, R-W.Va., Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., and Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo.

The move marks the latest effort by Republicans in relation to the administration's handling of the migrant crisis, which has seen record high numbers at the border, and has become an increasingly difficult political issue for the administration as migrants have also been overwhelming "sanctuary" cities like New York City and Chicago.

Republicans have blamed the administration’s policies, including its reversal of Trump-era policies including border wall construction and the Remain-in-Mexico policy. They have also blasted the expansion of releases of migrants via humanitarian parole and what they have called "catch-and-release."

14 TEXAS REPUBLICANS JOIN ROY IN CALL FOR DHS FUNDING FREEZE: ‘NO BORDER SECURITY, NO FUNDING’

Some Republicans have called for Mayorkas’ impeachment, and the House Homeland Security Committee issued a report accusing him of an "intentional" dereliction of duty and of implementing a "radical open-borders agenda."

DHS CALLS FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO NYC'S MIGRANT CRISIS OPERATIONS AS ADAMS PUSHES BACK 

Roy has been one of the fiercest critics of Mayorkas, and last month called for lawmakers to stop funding DHS altogether until steps are taken to secure the border. Meanwhile, conservatives in the chamber are calling for a sweeping border and asylum reform bill to be included in any continuing resolution that would keep the government open past Sept. 30.

The Biden administration has defended Mayorkas and has pushed back against GOP criticism, saying the agency needs more funding from Congress and for it to pass a comprehensive immigration bill that it introduced on day one to fix what it says is a "broken" system that has not been updated in decades. That legislation has been rejected by Republicans in part due to the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. The White House recently requested an additional $4 billion for border and immigration as part of its supplemental funding request.

A DHS spokesperson emphasized those calls for more congressional action on Wednesday in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

"While the House Majority has wasted months trying to score points with baseless attacks, Secretary Mayorkas has been doing his job and working to keep Americans safe," the spokesperson said. "Instead of continuing their reckless charades and attacks on law enforcement, Congress should work with us to keep our country safe, build on the progress DHS is making, and deliver desperately needed reforms for our broken immigration system that only legislation can fix." 

McCarthy ‘dangling’ Biden impeachment inquiry to delay reckoning over spending, some conservatives say

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Some House conservatives are warily eyeing Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he ramps up rhetoric about a potential impeachment inquiry of President Biden, concerned he is "dangling" the suggestion over their heads to gain more wiggle room in the ongoing talks over government spending. 

"It's almost as if the Speaker is trying to dangle the prospect of proceeding with an impeachment inquiry to attempt to leverage people to vote for a clean [continuing resolution] or other spending proposals that do not comply with the agreement made when we agreed to support him for Speaker in January," Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. 

"An impeachment inquiry is called for against Biden because of the evidence of corrupt dealing on behalf of his son," Bishop said, adding that he believes impeachment probes should also be opened against Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

"It should never be connected with the idea of trying to coerce members to vote for a spending provision that is otherwise unwarranted."

MCCARTHY SAYS BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY WOULD NEED HOUSE VOTE, IN DEPARTURE FROM PELOSI AND DEMOCRATS

The House does not return from August recess until next week, but battle lines are already being drawn over how to fund the government in the next fiscal year. The House Freedom Caucus and other conservatives have urged McCarthy to force deeper spending cuts and to attach GOP priorities to any short or long-term deal, though that’s unlikely to get Senate or White House approval.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have acknowledged that a continuing resolution, known as a CR, is likely needed as a temporary funding patch while a deal is hashed out. Federal funding runs out on Sept. 30, and taking no action before the deadline would risk a partial government shutdown. Conservatives have warned they will not vote for a "clean" CR that simply extends priorities of the previous Democrat-controlled Congress.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERS WANT TO LAUNCH BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY NEXT MONTH, SOURCES SAY

Meanwhile, two sources told Fox News Digital in August that McCarthy has also floated the possibility of holding a floor vote sometime in September to open a Biden impeachment inquiry. 

"He's using impeachment to distract from the issues that he has with the appropriations bills," one GOP lawmaker said at the time. 

McCarthy has not given any public indication of when he’d hold an impeachment inquiry vote, but he told "Mornings With Maria" last month that impeachment was a "natural step forward" in the investigative process. He told Breitbart recently that a vote is a necessary step before proceeding with the inquiry.

The conservative lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital were largely supportive of a Biden impeachment inquiry, but many were still hesitant to trust McCarthy after claiming the GOP got "rolled" in the debt limit deal. 

"The American people will not be fooled into believing that talking about impeachment inquiry in some way diminishes our responsibility to cut spending," Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., told Fox News Digital. Good supports impeaching Biden over the border crisis, he said. "Do I think there is the possibility, if not the probability, that it's intended to be a distraction? I would agree with it, or there is that possibility. However, it’s not fooling anyone."

SPEAKER MCCARTHY SAYS BIDEN TURNED US POLITICS INTO A 'CULTURE OF CORRUPTION' AS IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY INCHES

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, policy chief of the House Freedom Caucus, fired off a warning shot at House GOP leaders over the weekend: "To the [House GOP] – hiding behind impeachment to screw America with status quo massive funding…will not end well."

Fox News Digital reached out to McCarthy's office but did not immediately hear back.

But not all conservatives are on the same page. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a McCarthy ally, indicated she could support a spending deal that is tied to a Biden impeachment inquiry vote.

Meanwhile, Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., a member of both the Judiciary and Appropriations committees, told Fox News Digital that House Republicans can "walk and chew gum at the same time."

"I think both tracks, the spending track and the investigatory track, are on separate courses that are heating up at precisely the same time. But that is really more just happenstance of the calendar rather than anything else," Cline said of the timing.

"I'm confident that we always knew that it will be a challenge to finish our appropriations process by Oct. 1. Had we started from more conservative positions than the debt limit agreement gave us, I think we would have passed most, if not all, of the appropriations bills by now," he said. "But the investigatory track is dependent on the administration's cooperation, or lack thereof, and that's why we are just beginning to find out truly the extent to which [Biden] engaged pay-to-play operation with agents and companies affiliated with foreign adversaries."