Month: February 2024

House Republicans demand transcript of Biden’s interview with special counsel as part of impeachment inquiry

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry against President Biden are demanding the Justice Department turn over the transcript and any recordings of Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur in his investigation into Biden's mishandling of classified documents.

Hur, who released his report to the public last week after months of investigating, did not recommend criminal charges against Biden for mishandling and retaining classified documents and stated that he wouldn't bring charges against Biden even if he were not in the Oval Office.

BIDEN RETAINED RECORDS RELATED TO UKRAINE, CHINA; COMER DEMANDS 'UNFETTERED ACCESS' AMID IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

Those records included classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other countries, among other records related to national security and foreign policy, which Hur said implicated "sensitive intelligence sources and methods."

Hur did not recommend any charges against the president but did describe him as a "well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory" — a description that has raised significant concerns for his 2024 reelection campaign.

On Monday, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan and House Ways & Means Committee Chair Jason Smith penned a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland to request that he turn over the transcript and any recordings of Biden's October 2023 interview with Hur and the special counsel team. The three committee leaders are leading the impeachment inquiry against Biden.

SPECIAL COUNSEL CALLS BIDEN 'SYMPATHETIC, WELL-MEANING, ELDERLY MAN WITH A POOR MEMORY,' BRINGS NO CHARGES

Comer had asked Hur if any of the classified records that Biden held were related to the countries with which his family allegedly conducted business.

Comer told Fox News Digital last week that he wants "unfettered access to these documents to determine if President Biden’s retention of sensitive materials were used to help the Bidens’ influence peddling."

The letter sent to Garland and obtained by Fox News Digital on Monday detailed the concerns that "Biden may have retained sensitive documents related to specific countries involving his family’s foreign business dealings."

"Further, we seek to understand whether the White House or President Biden’s personal attorneys placed any limitations or scoping restrictions during the interview that would have precluded a line of inquiry regarding evidence (emails, text messages, or witness statements) directly linking the President to troublesome foreign payments," they wrote. 

COMER DEMANDS ANSWERS ON WHETHER BIDEN CLASSIFIED RECORDS MENTION COUNTRIES RELATED TO FAMILY BUSINESS DEALS

"Additionally, the Committee on the Judiciary requires these documents for its ongoing oversight of the Department’s commitment to impartial justice and its handling of the investigation and prosecution of President Biden’s presumptive opponent, Donald J. Trump, in the November 2024 presidential election," they continued. 

"Despite clear evidence the President willfully retained and transmitted classified materials willfully, Mr. Hur recommended 'that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter,'" they wrote. "Although Mr. Hur reasoned that President Biden’s presentation ‘as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory’ who ‘did not remember when he was vice president’ or ‘when his son Beau died’ posed challenges to proving the President’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the report concluded that the Department’s principles of prosecution weighed against prosecution because the Department has not prosecuted ‘a former president or vice president for mishandling classified documents from his own administration.’"

They added, "The one ‘exception’ to the Department’s principles of prosecution, as Mr. Hur noted, ‘is former President Trump.’ This speaks volumes about the Department’s commitment to evenhanded justice."

Comer, Jordan and Smith demanded the materials by Feb. 19.

Rancher sounds alarm on ‘route’ for terror as Mayorkas denies responsibility for mass border crossings

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

A fifth-generation Arizona rancher accused lawmakers of refusing to secure the border for political purposes as the ongoing migrant crisis worsens, potentially giving terrorists the opportunity to sneak into the U.S. through his land. 

"It's people talking about the issues, arguing about the issues. Border security has always been a political football," Jim Chilton, owner of the Chilton Ranch, told Fox News. "That's the nature of our system." 

WATCH MORE FOX NEWS DIGITAL ORIGINALS HERE 

A long-awaited bipartisan border security deal aimed at gaining control of an overwhelmed asylum system at the southern border collapsed just days after it was revealed with all but four Republicans voting against the legislation advancing in the Senate. From the outset, GOP leaders in both chambers criticized the bill, with House Speaker Mike Johnson repeatedly calling it "dead on arrival." Democrats accused conservatives of killing it for political purposes.

"Secure the international boundary and develop a program to bring people into this country legally," Chilton told Fox News as a plea to Congress. "We're a nation of the rule of law. We need to stop people just having the idea that they can walk into the United States." 

HOUSE MEMBER SAYS ‘EULOGY HAS ALREADY BEEN READ’ ON BORDER BILL AS BIDEN BLAMES TRUMP FOR STALEMATE

The bill would have given President Biden and the Department of Homeland Security authority to close the border if migrant encounters reached a certain threshold and allocated $20 billion for immigration enforcement. It also included $650 million for border wall construction and reinforcement.

But Republican critics, including House GOP leaders, said the legislation wasn't aggressive enough to curb illegal immigration with migrant crossings skyrocketing under the Biden administration. In December, migrant encounters reached an all-time high of 302,000, according to Customs and Border Protection data. 

And while lawmakers fumble solutions, the southern border crisis worsens, Chilton said. 

‘HE’S DELUSIONAL': BIDEN'S BORDER COMMENTS SPARK STIFF REBUKE ON CAPITOL HILL FROM SOME LAWMAKERS

"The problem in our area in the last three years has intensified immensely," Chilton told Fox News. He said hidden cameras on his property have caught thousands of people illegally entering the country.

Some dress in all camouflage, Chilton said, and others use "carpet shoes" — footwear with carpet attached to the soles to hide footprints.

"They're entering our country unseen, and they could be terrorists," he said. 

Officials encountered 169 people on the FBI terror watchlist illegally crossing the southern border in fiscal 2023, according to CBP data. That's more than the previous year's record-setting 98 encounters, as well as the last six years combined. 

"I'm really concerned," Chilton said. "If our adversaries around the world want to bring terrorists into our country, this is a route."

ARIZONA BORDER COUNTY OFFICIAL'S BLUNT MESSAGE TO CONGRESS TO REJECT IMMIGRATION BILL: ‘SHUT DOWN THE BORDER’

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas denied blame for mass crossings at the southern border, he said Sunday on NBC's "Meet The Press." Mayorkas, who's expected to soon face a second impeachment attempt for failing to curb the migrant crisis, instead blamed Republicans for sinking the bipartisan bill and said Congress should be held accountable for America's broken immigration system.

The failed border security deal also included a $95 billion foreign aid supplemental package. A standalone bill, which would include $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel and $8 billion for Taiwan, passed a 67-27 test vote Sunday.

But Chilton told Fox News keeping Americans safe should be lawmakers' top priority. 

"It would be outrageous not to secure our border first," Chilton said. "Take care of America first. Seal the border."

Speaker Mike Johnson is getting squeezed from all sides on Ukraine aid

Posted on by Joan McCarter

The Senate voted to move forward on the $95 billion aid bill for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan in the first-ever Super Bowl Sunday session. The vote was 67-27, meaning that it will easily pass in the Senate when they finally get to it. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has been up to his usual obstructing tricks, refusing to agree to shortening the debate time on the bill. That means it will likely not pass until Wednesday, when all the pressure will be on House Speaker Mike Johnson to either get this bill done or prove his MAGA mettle and block it.

There’s a threat looming over Johnson from Georgia’s contribution to the dumbing-down of the nation, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has said she will bring a motion to oust him as speaker if he puts Ukraine aid on the floor. In aid of Greene’s MAGA cause, GOP Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio is circulating a conspiracy theory that the bill contains a setup to impeach Donald Trump again if he is reelected in November. The theory goes that because the bill extends aid into 2025, Trump would either be forced to honor it or face another impeachment if he cancels it.

That’s an implicit warning to House Republicans—and Johnson—to stay on Trump’s good side and block the aid. But Johnson is getting plenty of pressure from the pro-Ukraine side, including from a powerful Republican.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, recently led a delegation of members to Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to assure him that he had allies among Republicans in Congress and that U.S. aid would continue. He returned with an urgent message for Johnson and Congress. The situation is so bad, he told Politico, that Ukrainian troops “are already rationing munitions” and “are unable to fully defend themselves on the battlefield.”

“We have to get this done,” he continued. “This is no longer an issue of, ‘When do we support Ukraine?’ If we do not move, this will be abandoning Ukraine.” He predicts that there will be  “overwhelming support” for the bill in the House, adding, “The speaker will need to bring it to the floor.”

It isn’t an empty threat, because Democrats have the tool to go over Johnson's head to put the bill on the floor with a discharge petition, and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is ready to use it. “House Democrats are prepared to use every available legislative tool to make sure we get comprehensive national security legislation over the finish line,” Jeffries said during the annual House Democrats’ strategy retreat last week. He called on Johnson to “move to consider parallel national security legislation immediately.”

The discharge petition needs 218 signatures to be put on the floor. That means as of now, they need six Republicans to join them. That math could change a little depending on the result of tomorrow’s special election in New York to replace expelled Republican George Santos. If Democrat Tom Suozzi wins, Democrats will need just five Republicans, and it sounds like Turner might be willing to be one of them. 

So might Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon. "I know we need to get aid to Israel quickly, and it’s in our national security interests to keep Ukraine independent and help Ukrainians defeat Russia’s barbaric invasion by sending them military weapons,” he told Politico last week. “I’ll work with the likeminded folks and the Speaker to determine what is best way to move forward.”

There is strong support for Ukraine even among House Republicans—101 of them voted for it as recently as September. If this new package makes it to the floor, it will surely pass. Which means the stunningly incompetent Johnson has a tough decision to make: stand with Ukraine or stand with Trump?

RELATED STORIES:

House Democrats need to dust off discharge petition and pass Ukraine aid

Republicans get Ukraine demands met, so of course they change their minds

Speaker Mike Johnson had a stunningly awful day—and he did it to himself

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Trump’s attacking a military family because that’s who he is

Posted on by Walter Einenkel

Donald Trump continues to go low in his attacks against primary opponent Nikki Haley. During a rally in Conway, South Carolina, over the weekend, Trump mocked Haley’s husband’s absence from her campaign appearances. On the one hand, these attacks are strange considering Haley’s husband, Maj. Michael Haley, is serving our country on a yearlong assignment in Africa. Something that was well-covered as his deployment came at the beginning of his wife’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

On the other hand, Trump has a long history of being dismissive and disrespectful of military servicemembers and their families. Trump famously received a medical exemption from serving in Vietnam in 1968 due to “bone spurs.” According to Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, Trump could not provide any evidence of having the malady, telling Cohen, “You think I'm stupid, I wasn't going to Vietnam.”

But Trump’s chicken-hawk bonafides haven’t stopped him from disrespecting other Americans’ service to our country. Back in 2015, Trump spewed this repulsive statement about the late Sen. John McCain: “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured.” Trump followed up his disapproval of McCain’s military service by refusing to lower the flags at the White House to half-staff after the senator passed away—finally relenting after hours of pressure from members of Congress, veterans, and staff.

When retired four-star-Gen. John Allen endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016, Trump called him “a failed general.” He followed that up by attacking Gold Star father Khizr Khan, whose son, Army Capt. Humayun Khan, died while serving in Iraq. Trump followed that up by implying Khan was a radical Islamic terrorist sympathizer. 

In 2017, Trump told the widow of slain Army Sgt. La David Johnson that “he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt.” To add to Trump’s general cowardice in the face of facts, Trump denied the conversation had happened the way it was reported, including him forgetting Johnson’s name during the conversation with his widow. Johnson’s widow confirmed the account to CNN. 

According to The Atlantic, Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018 because he worried the rainy weather would mess up his hair. Trump’s cavalier attitude towards fallen soldiers included him describing the cemetery as being “filled with losers.” That account was confirmed by Trump’s longest-serving former chief of staff, John Kelly, who added:

“A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in A  merica’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”

Trump’s disregard for service to one’s country led to hundreds of government workers being dismissed or resigning from their positions–people like Army Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman, who Trump attacked relentlessly for testifying before Congress during Trump’s impeachment trial. The attacks on Vindman were as low as it gets, pushing an idea that he was somehow less patriotic or American because he had immigrated to the United States.

Trump’s attacks on military members’ and their families have always been frowned upon by most Americans. But the grotesque nature of Trump’s attacks have not seemed to have made a dent in the MAGA-cult’s confidence in him. Hopefully it helps to remind the rest of the electorate how bad a Trump presidency tastes.

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Ukraine aid package would be used to impeach Trump, Sen Vance warns

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, warned his Republican colleagues that the proposed Ukrainian aid bill could be used to impeach former President Trump if he wins re-election in November.

Vance sent a memo to GOP lawmakers highlighting that the Ukraine package assures the delivery of funding through September 2025. Trump, however, has vowed to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of gaining office, which would also end funding.

"[The package] represents an attempt by the foreign policy blob/deep state to stop President Trump from pursuing his desired policy, and if he does so anyways, to provide grounds to impeach him and undermine his administration. All Republicans should oppose its passage," the memo read.

"Back in 2019, Democrats articulated a novel theory of impeachment, based on Trump’s refusal to spend money from the USAI—Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. Five years after impeaching Trump for refusing to spend money on Ukraine, they have drafted a new law that again requires Trump to spend money on Ukraine. If he negotiates an end to the war, as he has promised to do, they will undoubtedly argue that he has broken the law," Vance wrote in an op-ed for the American Conservative.

NETANYAHU DECLARES ‘VICTORY IS WITHIN REACH’ AS HAMAS REDUCED TO ‘LAST REMAINING BASTION’

On Sunday, the Senate voted to push forward the aid package, which also includes funds for Israel and other U.S. allies. So far, 18 GOP lawmakers have signed on to the effort.

The package would provide $60 billion for Ukraine, mostly to purchase U.S.-made defense equipment, including munitions and air defense systems that authorities say it desperately needs as Russia batters the country. It also includes $8 billion for the government in Kyiv and other assistance.

The 67-27 test vote Sunday on the $95.3 billion foreign aid package came just after Trump moved to kill the assistance and has escalated his attacks on the NATO military alliance.

MODERATE DEMS SILENT AS BIDEN SKIRTS SENATE CONFIRMATION FOR JOHN KERRY'S REPLACEMENT

Trump suggested this weekend that he would let Russia run amok in countries that are not contributing their fair share to NATO's budget.

Even if it makes it out of the Senate, the bill faces an uncertain future in the House of Representatives, where Republican lawmakers are more deeply aligned with Trump.

Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

Vance: Foreign aid bill could get Trump impeached

Posted on by Congress

Another Donald Trump impeachment over Ukraine funding? Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance says it’s a possibility, if the $95 billion emergency foreign aid spending bill becomes law and Trump wins the election.

Vance distributed a memo to Senate GOP offices on Monday arguing that the foreign aid measure could tie Trump's hands if he comes into office next year wanting to pause Ukraine funds as part of negotiations on ending Russia's war on the U.S. ally. That's because some of the legislation's funding expires nine months into the next presidency, effectively — according to Vance — handcuffing a future President Trump from making his own decisions on Ukraine spending.

Vance is one of the most outspoken opponents of Ukraine assistance, and he’s making a last-ditch effort to block the legislation before a critical vote later on Monday to end debate on the foreign aid plan, which needs 60 votes.

“The supplemental represents an attempt by the foreign policy blob/deep state to stop President Trump from pursuing his desired policy, and if he does so anyways, to provide grounds to impeach him and undermine his administration. All Republicans should oppose its passage,” reads the memo by Vance's office.

The then-Democratic House majority impeached Trump in 2019 over the then-president's move to withhold funding slated for Ukraine and pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch investigations into Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in November 2020. The Senate acquitted Trump in early 2020.

Though the 2024 election is nine months away, Trump is trying to kill the foreign aid bill and urging the Senate to stop it. Despite that, the bill is clearly on track for passage — with just one more opportunity for the GOP to block it later on Monday. It would still need to pass the House, which is an uncertain prospect at the moment.

If the overseas aid bill does become law and Trump wins the election, Vance’s new memo argues that the incoming president could be impeached again if he “were to withdraw from or pause financial support for the war in Ukraine in order to bring the conflict to a peaceful conclusion.”

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