Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: A weak Donald Trump tries to deal with the world

Dan Pfeiffer/”The Message Box” on Substack:

The Real Reason Trump Bows Down to Putin

Trump’s comments about NATO and his silence on Navalny have made his relationship with Russia a major issue (again)

Speculating about Trump’s friendship with Putin has been a cottage industry since his 2016 win. Were Trump and Putin in cahoots to defeat Hillary Clinton? Is Trump a Russian sleeper agent? Is this all a play to get a Trump Tower Moscow built? Or, my personal favorite theory, Trump is just worried that Putin will one day release the infamous “pee tape.”

All of these may have elements of truth (especially the “pee tape”), however, I think the correct answer is much simpler. Trump bows down to Putin for the same reasons he bows down to other dictators: he is a weak man. A coward who is scared of confrontation. He would rather preemptively surrender to protect himself than fight to protect others.

He’s the exact opposite of Navalny.

To sum up: RUS/Putin have invaded their neighbor, assassinated the biggest domestic political threat, coopted one of the right's biggest media stars, and seeded a fabricated story about the US President that was echoed by GOP congressional leadership & rightwing media en masse.

— Tim Miller (@Timodc) February 21, 2024

That there is what you call Russian interference.  Or, as Trump puts it, a “hoax”. But I do not think think that word means what he thinks it means.

And I think the voters will care about it when the time comes.

Brian Beutler/Off Message:

Trump's Huge Fraud Verdict Is A Watershed Moment for Accountability—And New Corruption

Democrats and the media need to pay close attention to what happens next.

Democrats, meanwhile, barely talk about Trump’s legal woes at all. The Biden campaign’s Twitter account, a generally spirited rapid-response operation, didn’t mention either verdict.

But the corruption I’m talking about, that I hope Democrats finally take pains to scrutinize aggressively, isn’t the retrospective corruption of a fraudulent businessman who believes he can assault women with impunity.

It’s the corruption he will engage in going forward to avoid the consequences of these verdicts.

Oliver Darcy/CNN:

The Burisma Beginnings: The Burisma bribery narrative pushed by right-wing media against President Joe Biden took an alarming twist on Tuesday after it imploded in spectacular fashion last week. The informant at the center of the narrative, who was charged last week for allegedly lying to the FBI, admitted during an interview with law enforcement that "officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing" along dirt about Hunter Biden. That's according to documents Special Counsel David Weiss filed in court Tuesday. As Todd Zwillich put it on X: "Just so everyone's clear: This would mean that Russia successfully used [Chuck] Grassley[James] Comer, Fox News and others to damage the President of the United States and make fake info about him an article of faith on the right." In the court filing, Weiss also underscored the weight of Alexander Smirnov's alleged lies: "The false information he provided was not trivial. It targeted the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties in the United States," Weiss wrote. "The effects of Smirnov’s false statements and fabricated information continue to be felt to this day." CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz has more here.

This impeachment inquiry is uncovering a scandal but I don’t think it’s the one they were hoping for.

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) February 21, 2024

David Cay Johnston/DC Report:

Trump’s Next Legal Move: Personal Bankruptcy

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones did it two years ago. Rudolph Giuliani did it just before Christmas. Now there’s a very good chance that before March 12, Donald Trump will join them in filing personal bankruptcy.

Trump would do so for the same reason as Jones and Giuliani — to delay paying court-ordered awards for defamation.

Trump has never filed personal bankruptcy, as I will show below. Doing so now might seem at first blush to ruin his brand, his polished image as a multi-billionaire, a modern Midas who turns to gold all that he touches.

But spinning a bankruptcy filing to his advantage would be easy. Trump will tell his cultish believers that he is as rich as ever, but he was forced to seek refuge in Bankruptcy Court by the Marxist-Fascist-Corrupt-Deep State-Liberal-Radical cabal he blames for his legal woes.

Speaking of weak politicians, here’s Berny Belvedere/The UnPopulist on Tim Scott:

Tim Scott Offers His Honor For a Shot at Trump’s Veepstakes

He is the most disappointing politician in America at the moment

A couple of weeks ago, Trump brought Scott on stage with him during his New Hampshire victory party to undergo a humiliation ritual in which he publicly mused about how much Scott “must hate” Haley since he’s chosen to endorse Trump and not her even though she appointed him to the Senate. It wasn’t a secret that Scott’s decision to endorse Trump ahead of the New Hampshire primary, the most critically important contest for Haley’s chances of overcoming Trump, was meant to assist Trump’s plot to cut her down to size. But instead of mitigating the personal fallout between the two that Scott’s endorsement would inevitably create, Trump deliberately stoked it with his remarks.

We know Trump is like this. But far more significant was Scott’s unprompted response (since Trump’s question was more rhetorical than anything): Instead of grimacing in distaste or looking crestfallen, he moved forward toward the lectern and indicated he wanted to say something. Then, turning to look at Trump face to face, and with uncomfortably deep meaning in his eyes and a broad smile, he said, “I just love you.”

Scott has learned to love Trump—a significantly different posture than appreciating things Trump has done (like appointing conservative justices to the Supreme Court) but through gritted teeth the way we might characterize Haley’s stance. No, this now is love. Scott no longer merely shares a party with Trump, but an agenda.

What happens in a red state never stays in a red state. This should be a five alarm fire. https://t.co/7wC5pPX04o

— Amanda Litman (@amandalitman) February 18, 2024

Dahlia Lithwick/Slate:

The Real Way to Think About Biden’s Age This Run

We’re in a Biden-Trump rematch. And the media is focusing on this?

So now Americans face the problem that Biden is old, while Trump is an authoritarian who wants to “create a private red-state army under the president’s command.” The purpose of this army, per Stephen Miller, is to deport as many as 10 million “foreign-national invaders” who he claims have entered the country under Biden, and the plan, as Ron Brownstein describes it, is to “go around the country arresting illegal immigrants in large-scale raids.” Then, he would build “large-scale staging grounds near the border, most likely in Texas,” to serve as internment camps for migrants designated for deportation.

One can certainly see why the two stories would weigh the same.

Perhaps one way to navigate yourself through this seemingly insoluble morass would be to ask yourself why Biden, who is stipulated #Old, has managed to helm the most successful presidency in modern history. Booming economy, eye-popping jobs reports, first gun violence reduction bill in decades, $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan plus COVID relief, Inflation Reduction Act, infrastructure prioritized, judges seated. Pick your metric—there have been a lot of wins. And the reason this old man who sometimes forgets things like dates has gotten all this done? He has, for the most part, surrounded himself with experts, genuine scientists, respected economists, and effective governmental actors and advisers.

Well, there’s that.

Can confirm https://t.co/LkeQMEDDCk

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) February 18, 2024

POLITICO:

Trump allies prepare to infuse ‘Christian nationalism’ in second administration

Spearheading the effort is Russell Vought, president of The Center for Renewing America, part of a conservative consortium preparing for Trump’s return to power.

The documents obtained by POLITICO do not outline specific Christian nationalist policies. But Vought has promoted a restrictionist immigration agenda, saying a person’s background doesn’t define who can enter the U.S., but rather, citing Biblical teachings, whether that person “accept[ed] Israel’s God, laws and understanding of history.”

[…]

While speaking in September at American Moment’s “ Theology of American Statecraft: The Christian Case for Immigration Restriction” on Capitol Hill in September, Vought defended the widely-criticized practice of family separation at the border during the Trump years, telling the audience “the decision to defend the rule of law necessitates the separation of families.”

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 offers more visibility into what policy agenda a future Trump administration might pursue. It says policies that support LGBTQ+ rights, subsidize “single-motherhood” and penalize marriage should be repealed because subjective notions of “gender identity” threaten “Americans’ fundamental liberties.”

At a time when White Christians are falling toward 40% of US population & white evangelicals are down to about 1/7 per @PRRIpoll, religious conservatives are escalating efforts to write their values & grievances into law across the red states on a widening array of issues https://t.co/atVPHLeGSP

— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) February 20, 2024

Dan Shafer/”The Recombobulation Area” on Substack:

'It’s a new day in Wisconsin.' Your votes made that happen.

RIP to The Gerrymander.

This is a victory not for any one political party, but a victory for Wisconsin, for democracy, and for fair representation. The Gerrymander has divided Wisconsin for so many years. It has greatly limited competition in state legislative districts, making it tremendously difficult to hold legislators accountable by way of the ballot box. That part is over now.

I distinctly believe that the end of The Gerrymander in Wisconsin will make for a healthier political process in this state. That legislators having to compete and earn our votes instead of having them handed to them through an unfairly tilted map will bring about better representation across the political spectrum. That this will make legislators more responsive to their constituents, to majority public opinion on key issues, and more respectful and cooperative with each other as lawmakers. That this will bring about a genuine change to our truly toxic legislative branch.

And yet, many of the same people will still be there in the state legislature, of course, so this “new day” will still have many of the same old faces. Many of the same intractable problems will continue to exist. Fixing the deeply broken institution of the Wisconsin State Legislature after more than a decade under the control of Robin Vos and this group of state Republicans is going to take some time.

Celebrate, Badger State! Your activism made it happen. And/but everything is a multi-step process, from reviving Wisconsin Democrats, to electing a fair-minded Wisconsin Supreme Court, to proposing and signing the new maps.

The electoral side of the Resistance (Indivisible, Run for Something, Moms Demand Action) keeps grinding and winning, too. The performative stuff faded but these voters cram into any available polling booth. Ask Tom Souzzi! https://t.co/k1PnTz9Lgp

— David Weigel (@daveweigel) February 19, 2024

For an argument against incrementalism, here’s David Rothkopf and Alon Pinkas/The New Republic:

How One Error May Haunt Biden’s Foreign Policy Legacy

The president’s foolish trust in Netanyahu was a terrible mistake. It’s not too late to correct—barely—but tough medicine is required.

Netanyahu is untrustworthy. He has a proven record of manipulation, deceit, and mendacity. He is a sworn enemy of peace in the region. He has treated Palestinians with disdain and disrespect ever since he entered politics. And the extremists in his coalition are even worse—rabid theocratic nationalists who believe that Israeli lives are infinitely more valuable than those of their closest neighbors.

The secondary error that the Biden team is now making is that, after the catastrophic consequences of its policy have become painfully clear, it is seeking to fix the mistake not by undoing it but by augmenting its policy with incremental measures. You can’t fine-tune a massive error into being a success. That is a lesson the United States learned in Vietnam, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan.

Cliff Schecter highlights Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett:

James Biden to testify in brother’s impeachment inquiry behind closed doors

James Biden is expected to testify in the impeachment inquiry against his older brother, President Biden behind closed doors on Wednesday morning.

The president’s brother is set to appear for a deposition before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees Wednesday at 10 a.m.

JOE BIDEN RECEIVED $40K IN 'LAUNDERED CHINA MONEY' FROM BROTHER IN 2017, COMER SAYS

James Biden, also referred to as Jim Biden, had been subpoenaed in November to appear for a deposition as part of the impeachment inquiry — prior to it being formalized by the full House.

James Biden was involved in the Biden family business ventures with his nephew, Hunter Biden.

So far, during the investigation, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said he has found that Biden family members, their business associates and their "related companies" received "significant payments from individuals and companies in China, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Romania."

Comer said the committee has learned throughout its investigation that the Biden family and their business associates brought in more than $24 million between 2014 and 2019 by "selling Joe Biden as ‘the brand’ around the world."

James Biden is expected to be questioned on whether Joe Biden was involved in the family's foreign business ventures.

James Biden is also expected to be questioned on "loan repayment" checks — one for $200,000 and another for $40,000 — that he wrote to the president.

JAMES BIDEN GIVEN LOAN, DIDN'T PROVIDE SERVICES TO AMERICORE DESPITE PROMISES TO USE LAST NAME, TRUSTEE SAYS

Comer said his panel had uncovered evidence that the president, in 2018, received a "$200,000 direct payment" in the form of a "personal check" from James Biden and Sara Biden. That check was labeled "loan repayment." 

Comer said that James Biden "received $600,000 in loans from Americore — a financially distressed and failing rural hospital operator." 

"On March 1, 2018, Americore wired a $200,000 loan into James and Sara Biden’s personal bank account — not their business bank account," he continued. "And then, on the very same day, James Biden wrote a $200,000 check from this same personal bank account to Joe Biden."

Comer said James Biden "wrote this check to Joe Biden as a ‘loan repayment.’"

"Americore — a distressed company — loaned money to James Biden, who then sent it to Joe Biden," Comer said.

The White House said the committee found that as a private citizen, the president loaned his brother his own money when his brother needed it, and after reviewing bank records, there is a record that he was repaid. 

Comer also said the president received another $40,000 "loan repayment" from James Biden, which the chairman described as "laundered China money."

COMER RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT $200K 'DIRECT PAYMENT' FROM JAMES BIDEN TO JOE BIDEN IN 2018

Comer said the "money trail" began in July 2017 when Hunter Biden demanded a $10 million payment from a CEFC associate. In a WhatsApp message, he claimed "he was sitting with his father and that the Biden network would turn on his associate if he didn’t pony up the money," Comer explained.

Hunter Biden in the WhatsApp message allegedly told a Chinese business associate from Chinese energy company CEFC that he and his father would ensure "you will regret not following my direction."

Hunter requested the $10 million wire for his joint-venture with CEFC called SinoHawk Holdings. 

"I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled," Hunter Biden told Henry Zhao, the director of Chinese asset management firm Harvest Fund Management. "And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction."

Zhao responded, in part, "CEFC is willing to cooperate with the family."

Comer, citing bank records he and his committee have obtained, said that on Aug. 8, 2017, the $5 million in funds were sent to Hudson West III, a joint-venture established by Hunter Biden and CEFC associate Gongwen Dong. The same day, Hudson West III sent $400,000 to Owasco, P.C.— a separate entity controlled and owned by Hunter Biden, Comer said.

BIDEN MET WITH CHAIRMAN OF CHINESE ENERGY FIRM HUNTER DID BUSINESS WITH IN 2017, EX-ASSOCIATE TESTIFIES

Days later, on Aug. 14, 2017, Hunter Biden wired $150,000 to Lion Hall Group, a company owned by James Biden and his wife Sara Biden. By Aug. 28, 2017, Comer said Sara Biden withdrew $50,000 in cash from Lion Hall Group and later deposited it into her and James Biden’s personal checking account.

"A few days later, Sara Biden cut a check to Joe Biden for $40,000," Comer said, referring to the Sept. 3, 2017, check his committee obtained. "The memo line of the check said, ‘loan repayment.’"

James Biden's expected testimony comes days after his former business associate Tony Bobulinski testified before the committee, telling congressional investigators that Joe Biden was involved in the family's business ventures, and testifying that he personally met with him. 

Days before Bobulinski's testimony, another former business associate, Rob Walker, testified that Joe Biden met with the chairman of the Chinese energy firm his brother and son did business with. 

After Walker's testimony, the House Oversight Committee said it was able to "now confirm Joe Biden met with nearly every foreign national who funneled money to his son." 

Meanwhile, the president, last week, called for the House impeachment inquiry to be dropped, calling it "an outrageous effort from the beginning." 

Liberal pundits, urging Biden to withdraw, pushing convention scenario

A growing number of left-leaning pundits are hopping off the Biden train and they’re trying to come up with a plan to enable the president to jump off as well.

The attacks from the right are one thing, but these are Joe Biden’s people, who say he’s been a good president, who say he’s accomplished a great deal, but who say his age renders him either too likely or too certain to lose to Donald Trump. It’s the one problem he can’t fix.

At the same time, a new report says the Resistance is growing frustrated and burned out.

Nate Silver, the data guru and hardly a right-winger, says: "Personally, I crossed the rubicon in November, concluding that Biden should stand down if he wasn’t going to be able to run a normal re-election campaign — meaning, things like conduct a Super Bowl interview. Yes, it's a huge risk and, yes, Biden can still win. But he's losing now and there's no plan to fix the problems."

MEDIA DEEM TRUMP THE NOMINEE, DESPITE HALEY TYING HIM TO PUTIN

After noting that an improving economy hasn’t helped him, Silver says "it’s become even clearer that Biden’s age is an enormous problem for him. As many as 86% of Americans say he’s too old in one poll, though numbers in the 70-to-75% range are more common — still an overwhelming majority in a bitterly-divided country." 

And that wasn’t helped by the special counsel’s report calling him an elderly man with a poor memory.

"But even the most optimistic Democrats, if you read between the lines, are really arguing that Democrats could win despite Biden and not because of him. Biden is probably a below-replacement-level candidate at this point because Americans have a lot of extremely rational concerns about the prospect of a Commander-in-Chief who would be 86 years old by the end of his second term. It is entirely reasonable to see this as disqualifying."

Wait, there’s more. 

FANI WILLIS IS IN A ‘DANGEROUS SPOT’: JACQUI HEINRICH

"I can now point you to moments when he is faltering in his campaign for the presidency because his age is slowing him. This distinction between the job of the presidency and the job of running for the presidency keeps getting muddied, including by Biden himself. And what I think we’re seeing is that he is not up for this. He is not the campaigner he was, even five years ago…The way he moves, the energy in his voice."

Ezra Klein, the uber-liberal New York Times podcaster, also wants the president out. 

"Step one, unfortunately, is convincing Biden that he should not run again. That he does not want to risk being Ruth Bader Ginsburg — a heroic, brilliant public servant who caused the outcome she feared most because she didn’t retire early enough."

Despite what he called the "Kamala Harris problem," Klein says to assume that Biden steps aside. "Then what? Well, then Democrats do something that used to be common in politics but hasn’t been in decades. They pick their nominee at the convention." 

Silver agrees with this scenario as well.

I’m here to tell you, barring a major health scare, that’s not happening. Biden has been running for president since 1987 (I did a long interview with him during that campaign). He finally got the job. He likes being in charge. He’s not going to walk away.

And in fairness, Biden has made adjustments in the last two weeks. He now takes on-camera questions from reporters almost every day, sometimes longer than others. Just yesterday, he walked over to say, in the wake of Alexei Navalny’s murder, he’d be announcing a package of sanctions against Russia on Friday. And he’s given two televised speeches.

Still, liberal Times columnist Michelle Goldberg has been arguing since 2022 that Biden should step aside, and without a major change in strategy, "he should find some medical pretext to step aside in time for a replacement to be chosen at the Democratic convention."

Moderate conservative Ross Douthat says flatly in his Times column that Biden should not be running for re-election.

As if the Times might be in danger of under-covering this issue, the paper also says that "anti-Trump voters are grappling with another powerful sentiment: exhaustion."

"Some folks are burned out on outrage," Rebecca Lee Funk, founder of the liberal activist group Outrage, told the paper. 

A Pittsburgh security guard said  "It’s crisis fatigue, for sure."

DEMOCRATS WIN SEAT, REPUBLICANS WIN IMPEACHMENT, TWO PRESIDENTS CLASH OVER NATO

How about the right? National Review’s Noah Rothman, who thinks Biden will narrowly win, explains the grand voting shift that has the Democrats in trouble:

"Despite his self-set reputation as a lunch-pail-toting nine-to-fiver with familial roots set deep in the carbon-rich soil of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Joe Biden has presided over the hemorrhaging of his party’s support among non-college-educated voters. The Democratic Party is increasingly dominated by degree-holders…The party is pinning all its electoral hopes on driving up turnout among this relatively affluent, highly educated slice of the electorate. The big problem with that plan is that there just aren’t enough of those voters…

"In 1999, according to Gallup’s historical surveys, working-class Americans identified more as Democrats than as Republicans by 14 points. Today, that has flipped, with the GOP enjoying a 14-point advantage over Democrats among those voters. Democrats have suffered similarly with young voters: Today, only 8% more voters between the ages of 18 and 29 associate themselves with the Democratic Party than with the GOP." 

This is eye-popping for those of us who grew up with the Republicans holding the monopoly on wealthier college graduates and favoring aggressive military intervention abroad.

Rothman concludes: "Even with Trump at the top of the ticket, Democrats appear committed to a strategy that will produce, at best, the narrowest of re-election victories."

On the other side, meanwhile, Nikki Haley gave a South Carolina speech to declare she’s not going anywhere. Plenty of Republicans have "surrendered" to pressure because "they didn’t want to be left out of the club. Of course, many of the same politicians who now publicly embrace Trump privately dread him. They know what a disaster he’s been and will continue to be for our party…I feel no need to kiss the ring. I have no fear of Trump’s retribution. I’m not looking for anything from him, my own political future is of zero concern."

But the most important part of her appearance was when she choked up while discussing her husband (who Trump has taken vague shots at). He is a National Guardsman now serving a year-long deployment in Africa after an earlier one in Afghanistan.

"Michael is at the forefront of my mind," Haley said, her voice breaking. "I wish Michael was here today, and I wish our children and I could see him tonight, but we can’t. He’s serving on the other side of the world."

It was a striking moment because Haley is usually so scripted and disciplined. A burst of emotion in 2008 helped Hillary Clinton win the New Hampshire primary. The problem is that the press will write off Haley if Trump clobbers her in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, no matter how long she keeps campaigning.

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A reporter asked Biden yesterday whether he’d rather run against Trump or Haley. He responded, "I don’t care," while walking away.

But given that Haley is 52, I believe he and his advisers very much care. At 77, while projecting a much more vigorous persona, Trump is the one opponent who might help Biden neutralize the issue that most threatens his re-election campaign.

FBI informant who lied about the Bidens’ ties to Ukrainian energy company had high-level Russian contacts: DOJ

A former FBI informant charged with lying about a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme between a Ukrainian energy company and the Bidens had contacts with Russian intelligence officials, prosecutors said Tuesday. 

In court filings, prosecutors said Alexander Smirnov admitted during an interview before his arrest last week that "officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story" about the president’s son, Hunter Biden. They said Smirnov's contacts with Russian officials were recent and extensive, and said Smirnov had planned to meet with one official during an upcoming overseas trip.

They said Smirnov has had numerous contacts with a person he described as the "son of a former high-ranking government official" and "someone with ties to a particular Russian intelligence service." They said there is a serious risk that Smirnov could flee overseas to avoid facing trial.

Prosecutors revealed the alleged contact as they urged a judge to keep Smirnov behind bars while he awaits trial. 

HUNTER BIDEN WAS PAID $100K A MONTH THROUGH CHINESE FIRM VENTURE, EX-ASSOCIATE TESTIFIED

Smirnov, who holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, is charged with falsely reporting to the FBI in June 2020 that executives associated with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Hunter and Joe Biden $5 million each in 2015 or 2016. 

Smirnov had only routine business dealings with the company starting in 2017 and made the bribery allegations after he "expressed bias" against Joe Biden while he was a presidential candidate, prosecutors said. Special Counsel David Weiss said Smirnov’s lies were aimed at affecting the 2024 presidential election. 

Smirnov is charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record. The charges were filed in Los Angeles, where he lived for 16 years before relocating to Las Vegas two years ago.

Smirnov was due in court later Tuesday in Las Vegas. He has been in custody at a facility in rural Pahrump, about an hour drive west of Las Vegas, since his arrest last week at the airport while returning from overseas.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts allowed Smirnov to be released from custody on electronic GPS monitoring while he awaits trial. He must stay in Clark County, Nevada, and is prohibited from applying for a new passport.

Before his arrest, Smirnov had been scheduled to leave the U.S. for a months-long, multi-country trip that – by his own admission – involved meetings with officials of foreign intelligence agencies and governments, prosecutors said. 

Ahead of Tuesday's hearing, Defense attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld had argued for Smirnov's release while he awaits trial "so he can effectively fight the power of the government."

Smirnov's claims have been central to the Republican effort in Congress to investigate the president and his family, and helped spark what is now a House impeachment inquiry into Biden. Democrats called for an end to the probe after the indictment came down last week, while Republicans distanced the inquiry from Smirnov's claims and said they would continue to "follow the facts."

Hunter Biden is expected to give a deposition next week.

The Burisma allegations became a flashpoint in Congress as Republicans pursuing investigations of President Biden and his family demanded the FBI release the unredacted form documenting the allegations. They acknowledged they couldn't confirm if the allegations were true.

Fox News' David Spunt and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

GOP senators demand impeachment trial as government shutdown looms

With a government shutdown looming, 13 Republican senators, led by Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Texas’ pretend cowboy Sen. Ted Cruz, released a letter they said they sent to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell demanding he make a big stink about holding an impeachment trial for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Lee even posted a copy of the letter with some vaguely legible signatures to his X (formerly Twitter) account. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to dismiss the bogus bit of political theater.

The Republican-led House was able to impeach Mayorkas after one embarrassing failure of an attempt, making it the first time a Cabinet official has been impeached in 150 years. The Senate GOP members making hay out of the impeachment process continue to remind the public how Democratic officials proved (and Republican officials admitted) the entire exercise was disingenuous.

The letter, which was signed by Sens. Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Eric Schmitt, Rick Scott, Ron Johnson, J.D. Vance, Roger Marshall, Josh Hawley, Mike Braun, Tommy Tuberville, Ted Budd, Cynthia Lummis, and Marsha Blackburn, contains a lot of what we have come to expect from the do-nothing Republican Party. The general pantomime of the GOP around the impeachment of Mayorkas involves an imaginary belief that the GOP is strong on border security. It is fitting that conservative senators like Lee, who voted against the bipartisan border security deal, would also spend their time trying to create a political theater production of impeachment instead of making the hard compromises and decisions needed to get things done.

Senators like Cruz have used their party’s disarray to take shots at current leaders like McConnell. On Sunday, Cruz told Fox News that “if Republican leadership in the Senate doesn’t like the criticism, here’s an opportunity to demonstrate some backbone.” Cruz and Lee are joined by self-promoters like Sen. Josh Hawley, who has had his own public spats with Republican leadership in recent months.

The government is set to shut down on March 1. House Republicans seem unable to chew gum and … chew gum. Senate Republicans who spent many decades in lockstep with McConnell’s leadership seem to have lost the ability to tie their shoes. The Senate is coming off of an 11-day recess. McConnell has not responded to inquiries from media outlets for his response to the letter as of the writing of this story.

Campaign Action

Ohhhhh yeah! Democrats kicked ass and then some in Tuesday's special election in New York, so of course we're talking all about it on this week's episode of "The Downballot." Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard explain how Tom Suozzi's win affects the math for Democrats' plan to take back the House, then dive into the seemingly bottomless list of excuses Republicans have been making to handwave their defeat away. The bottom line: Suozzi effectively neutralized attacks on immigration—and abortion is still a huge loser for the GOP.

Texas AG Paxton sues NGO aiding migrants, accuses it of encouraging illegal immigration

FIRST ON FOX: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing a Catholic non-governmental organization operating in the state and wants to have its registration revoked, alleging that it is encouraging illegal immigration and operating a stash house for those entering illegally.

Paxton has sued Annunciation House — a Catholic nonprofit set up in the 1980s — and is seeking to revoke its registration to operate in Texas.

Annunciation House describes itself as a volunteer organization that "offers hospitality to migrants, immigrants, and refugees in El Paso, Texas."

TEXAS AG KEN PAXTON SAYS STATE WON’T COMPLY WITH BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ORDER TO REOPEN PARK TO FEDERAL AGENTS

"Rooted in Catholic social teaching, the volunteers of Annunciation House live simply and in community, in the same houses as the guests we serve, who are mostly from Mexico and Central America," the group’s website says. "We also participate in advocacy and education around immigration issues. We seek to be a voice for justice and compassion, especially on behalf of the most marginalized of our society."

But Paxton’s lawsuit accuses the group of "openly and flagrantly violating many provisions of law in a systemic fashion." Specifically, it accuses it of providing shelter to illegal immigrants who have evaded law enforcement, of encouraging illegal immigration, of engaging in human smuggling and of operating a "stash house."

"Annunciation House appears to be engaged in the operation of an illegal stash house by potentially allowing others to use its real estate to engage in human smuggling," the lawsuit says.

Paxton’s office had requested records from the organization to evaluate potential violations of federal law. However, the organization in turn sued the AG’s office, seeking a restraining order and accusing it of making an impossible demand due to its limited volunteer staff and of violating its "constitutional rights of association."

EAGLE PASS MAYOR SAYS SHOWDOWN BETWEEN TEXAS, FEDS OVER BORDER CONTROL IS 'FRUSTRATING,' A 'CONSTANT STRUGGLE'

The lawsuit requests that its right to operate in Texas is terminated and also asks the court to appoint a receiver to liquidate its assets.

"The chaos at the southern border has created an environment where NGOs, funded with taxpayer money from the Biden Administration, facilitate astonishing horrors including human smuggling," Paxton said in a statement. "While the federal government perpetuates the lawlessness destroying this country, my office works day in and day out to hold these organizations responsible for worsening illegal immigration."

In a statement, Annunciation House said it "does its work of accompaniment out of the Gospel mandate to welcome the stranger."  

"This is no different from the work of schools who enroll migrant children, the clinics and hospitals who care for the needs of their ill, the churches, synagogues, and mosques who welcome their families to join in worship," a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "For the Attorney General to suddenly attack Annunciation House after forty-six years of service to the poor is simply shameful."
 

The legal battle comes amid a broader fight between Texas, which has promoted border security and sought to block illegal immigrants entering the U.S., and the federal government, which has embraced the role of NGOs in processing and aiding illegal immigrants and has sought millions in funding from Congress for groups and communities that receive them.

There was a record 2.4 million migrant encounters in fiscal 2023, and December set a record for encounters with more than 301,000 in that month alone. The House last week impeached DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the crisis. Articles of impeachment now go to the Senate for a trial.

Fox News' Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

Pence’s organization demands Congress release government funding agreement as deadlines loom

FIRST ON FOX: Former Vice President Mike Pence's public policy think tank Advancing American Freedom urged congressional leaders on Tuesday to release the government funding agreement as the current temporary spending patch, known as a continuing resolution (CR), will expire the first week of March.

"Three weeks ago, your committees reached a private agreement on the 302(b) allocations for the next fiscal year. Since then, the American people have been kept guessing as to the negotiated funding levels for each of the twelve subcommittee appropriations bills," executive director Paul Teller wrote in a letter to the House and Senate appropriations committees on Tuesday.

House and Senate leaders came together in mid-January to pass a CR to give themselves more time to hash out a deal for the rest of fiscal 2024.

It was the third CR passed since the previous fiscal year ended Sept. 30 and preserved funding for some agencies through March 1 and others through March 8.

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Both chambers are currently in recess.

"The American people deserve transparency on the spending levels of their government as Congress looks to pass additional spending bills," Teller told Fox News Digital in a statement. "With another deadline rapidly approaching, the American people and rank-and-file members are kept in the dark as to the true spending levels, and this needs to change. Advancing American Freedom is calling on these numbers to be immediately released to the American public."

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., agreed upon a top-line funding agreement of $1.66 trillion last month. That figure was part of an agreement mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act last year, a compromise reached during debt limit talks between President Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

"Now, disconcerting rumors are swirling that the 302(b) allocations that were agreed upon blow out the already excessive $1.7 trillion Johnson-Schumer 'cap,' itself built on Speaker Pelosi’s COVID-19 level spending," Teller wrote.

"Although it has become ‘business as usual,’ airdropping an appropriations package on Congress at the last second is no way to govern," he wrote.

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On the Senate floor, only three of the 12 appropriations bills have been passed.

"There isn’t a funding agreement to release," a House appropriations aide told Fox News Digital. "The bills are still being negotiated."

The CR continues funding for four appropriations bills through March 1: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration; Energy and Water Development; Military Construction, Veterans Affairs; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.

Additionally, the CR allocates funding for the remaining eight appropriations bills through March 8: Commerce, Justice, Science; Defense; Financial Services and General Government; Homeland Security; Interior, Environment; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education; Legislative Branch; and State, Foreign Operations.

The aim of having two separate deadlines is to prevent Congress from passing a comprehensive "omnibus" spending bill, a practice widely opposed by Republicans. 

However, the staggered approach may not eliminate the possibility of an omnibus as Congress will only have a few days to pass appropriations bills before the current CR expires. If they fail to either extend current funding levels or reach an agreement on new levels, the government could fall into a partial shutdown, with federal programs on pause and thousands of federal workers potentially furloughed.

Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Chinese illegal immigration on pace to break records at US southern border

A dramatic increase in Chinese illegal immigration is on track to break records at the southern border, with apprehensions from the communist country in one sector alone already eclipsing fiscal 2021 in just a few days.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources tell Fox News that between Saturday and Monday there were 452 Chinese nationals apprehended by Border Patrol in the San Diego Sector alone.

That’s more than the 450 apprehended in fiscal 2021 altogether across the entire southwest border.

The number of Chinese nationals has been increasing since fiscal 2021. In fiscal 2022, numbers increased to more than 2,000 border-wide. In fiscal 2023, that number then surged to more than 24,314.

CHINESE MIGRANTS POURING ACROSS SOUTHERN BORDER SPARK NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS

So far in fiscal 2024, which began in October, there have been more than 18,750 encounters by the end of January, meaning that the fiscal year is already on track to exceed last year’s numbers. There were nearly 6,000 encounters in December alone.

The increase in migration from China is an indicator of how global the U.S. border crisis has become. Officials previously said they have encountered migrants from more than 150 countries. Fox News witnessed migrants from countries including Brazil, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ecuador and China crossing into the U.S. at San Diego this week.

Chinese nationals have quickly become the fastest-growing demographic entering the country illegally. Some officials and Republican lawmakers have raised concerns that single adults entering from the geopolitical rival could pose a national security threat.

Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents all rank-and-file Border Patrol agents nationwide, told Fox News last week that the majority of the Chinese border crossers are single adult males of military age.

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"That is a very scary prospect. We know that China does not like us, we know that we are in the crosshairs of China," Judd said.

"And they are exporting so many people to our country, and you have to really fear about that."

"There have been numerous documented instances of Chinese nationals, at the direction of the CCP, engaging in espionage, stealing military and economic secrets," a group of Republican senators warned last year.

The Republican-held House impeached DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his handling of the migrant crisis. The articles of impeachment now go to the Senate for a trial.

Overall, there have been more than 961,000 migrant encounters this fiscal year after a record-setting 2.4 million in fiscal 2023. December saw a record 301,000 encounters, followed by a sharp drop to 176,000 in January.

Fox News' Aubrie Spady and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

7.2M illegals entered the US under Biden admin, an amount greater than population of 36 states

Nearly 7.3 million migrants have illegally crossed the southwest border under President Biden's watch, a number greater than the population of 36 individual states, a Fox News analysis finds.

That figure comes from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which has already reported 961,537 border encounters in the current fiscal year, which runs from October through September. If the current pace of illegal immigration does not slow down, fiscal year 2024 will break last year's record of 2,475,669 southwest border encounters — a number that by itself exceeds the population of New Mexico, a border state. 

The total number of southwest land border encounters since Biden assumed office in 2021 is 7,298,486, CBP data shows. 

That is larger than the population of 36 U.S. states, including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. 

MIGRANTS CAUGHT ON NEW VIDEO STREAMING DOWN REMOTE CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINSIDE TO ILLEGALLY CROSS THE BORDER

Compared to the largest U.S. states, the 7.3 million number is about 18.7% of California's population of 39 million, 23.9% of the state of Texas and its 31 million residents, 32.3% of the population of Florida and 37.3% of New York. It's more than half the size of Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio. 

Were the number of illegal immigrants who entered the United States under President Biden gathered together to found a city, it would be the second-largest city in America after New York. And the total does not include an estimated additional 1.8 million known "gotaways" who evaded law enforcement, which would make it bigger than New York. 

Taken together, nearly 10 million migrants have crossed into the U.S. illegally during the Biden administration, a record Biden's critics assert could only be achieved by intentionally refusing to enforce the law. 

"This unprecedented surge in illegal immigration isn't an accident. It is the result of deliberate policy choices by the Biden administration," said Eric Ruark, Director of Research for Numbers USA, a nonprofit that advocates for immigration restrictions.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.  

MIGRANT CRISIS: NOEM SENDS NATIONAL GUARD TO SOUTHERN BORDER'S ‘WARZONE’

Republicans and anti-illegal immigration activists have for years blamed Biden for allowing the current overwhelming surge of migrants by reversing former President Donald Trump's border policies. The Biden administration has denied responsibility for the crisis and pointed to external "push" factors like violence and economic instability in South and Central America as the culprit responsible for vast waves of migration to the U.S. 

However, the president's critics say migrants face more of a "pull" factor in the form of job opportunities and government benefits because they know they will not face deportation under Biden's lenient policies. 

"The administration has refused to enforce existing immigration law and taken every opportunity to aid and abet illegal border crossings — through policies such as catch-and-release, mass parole, and offering temporary work permits to tens of thousands of foreigners who make dubious claims for asylum," Ruark told Fox News Digital. "In actual effect, the United States government is completing the human smuggling and trafficking process for the Mexican cartels."

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), said migrants have learned in the last three years that they won't face deportation for entering the country illegally. 

"They have sent the signal that if you come to the U.S. illegally, if you abuse the asylum system, you'll be released into the country and allowed to remain here, in most cases given work authorization," Mehlman said. "Even if you neglect to show up for your hearings, the odds of you being removed are negligible. The president claims he doesn't have the authority to enforce our laws. He absolutely does. He is deliberately not enforcing those laws."

LARGE MAJORITY OF ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSING SHIFT TO ARIZONA AND CALIFORNIA, PIVOTING AWAY FROM TEXAS

Biden has called on Congress to pass new laws he claims would let him solve the border crisis. He endorsed a bipartisan deal in the Senate that included an "emergency border authority" to mandate Title 42-style expulsions of migrants when migration levels exceed 5,000 a day over a seven-day rolling average. It would have also limited the window for people to apply for asylum, provided immediate work permits for asylum seekers and funded a massive increase in staffing at the border and more immigration judges. 

But conservatives tanked the deal in the Senate after House Republicans declared it a non-starter. They argued the bill would have normalized record-high levels of illegal immigration and said Biden currently has all the authority he needs to reenact Trump's policies and secure the border. 

While the debate rages, House Republicans have impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allegedly refusing to enforce immigration laws. Two impeachment articles advanced against Mayorkas accused him of having "refused to comply with Federal immigration laws" and violating the "public trust."

DHS has criticized the effort as politically motivated and insisted the Biden administration is enforcing the laws on the books. 

Biden said that "history will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant in order to play petty political games."

Fox News' Bill Melugin, Adam Shaw and Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.