Category: fox-news/person/joe-biden

Congressional Dems plot revenge for Supreme Court ruling on Trump immunity

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Democratic lawmakers are already calling for congressional action to respond to the Supreme Court's decision on presidential immunity, arguing that the decision is a blow for democracy while empowering former President Trump.

But the forceful outcry is a stark contrast to Democrats mostly downplaying concerns regarding President Biden's chances of beating Trump in November.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has threatened to introduce articles of impeachment against the Supreme Court's conservative justices when Congress is back in session next week.

"The Supreme Court has become consumed by a corruption crisis beyond its control. Today’s ruling represents an assault on American democracy. It is up to Congress to defend our nation from this authoritarian capture," Ocasio-Cortez said on X, formerly Twitter.

BIDEN FAMILY BLAME STAFF FOR DEBATE PERFORMANCE AS HE LAYS LOW AGAIN AT CAMP DAVID: REPORTS

Another Democrat, Rep. Joe Morelle, of New York, said he would introduce a resolution to reverse the Supreme Court's decision.

He wrote on X after the ruling came out: "The conservative, extremist majority on the Supreme Court has decided former President Trump is above the law. Today's decision further erodes the public’s confidence in our institutions and poses as great a threat to our democracy as the former president's behavior."

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump's classified documents case that presidents do have immunity for official acts while in the White House, and that those acts cannot be used as evidence against them in a trial. However, it also ruled that not all of a president's actions are official, and left it to a lower court to decide which of Trump's actions constitute which.

Democrats argued that it gave Trump a vast legal shield over matters he should be prosecuted for. It also almost guaranteed that the ex-president will not have a federal trial in his classified documents case before November.

SOURCES CLOSE TO BIDEN REPORT 'MARKED INCIDENCE OF COGNITIVE DECLINE' IN LAST 6 MONTHS: BERNSTEIN

It prompted Sens. Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to renew their calls to expand the Supreme Court.

But to stand any chance of doing so, Democrats would need to win commanding victories in the House, Senate and White House – and several polls since Thursday night's debate show Biden's appeal slipping among general election voters.

Discussions surrounding Biden's viability as a candidate have swirled in the media and among pundits on the left after the 81-year-old president's poor performance in his debate against Trump last Thursday. 

BIDEN CAMPAIGN SPOTLIGHTS MASSIVE JUNE FUNDRAISING HAUL IN 2024 ELECTION REMATCH WITH TRUMP

Elected Democratic officials have largely defended Biden since then, however, arguing he's still the best candidate to beat the ex-president in November – while others have stayed silent. 

A new CBS News and YouGov poll released over the weekend showed nearly three-quarters of Democratic voters believe Biden does not have the cognitive health to serve as president. 

A USA Today/Suffolk University poll released Monday shows Trump leading Biden 41% to 38% among nationwide voters.

But the aforementioned Democratic lawmakers did not respond to queries from Fox News Digital about whether they were concerned Biden's performance in the debate would enable Trump, who they view as a threat to democracy, to win in November.

Morelle said earlier this week that he "wouldn't write Joe Biden off because of one bad performance," according to local outlet WXXI.

He indicated, as others have, that Biden himself should decide his own viability. "I think he has to make a decision, his family and his inner circle about whether they think he feels he can still fulfill his obligations." Morelle said.

Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez, who has publicly broken with Biden on certain issues in the past, appeared on video days after the debate urging Latin American voters watching the Copa America soccer tournament to support Biden.

House Judiciary sues Garland for Biden audio that Hur says shows him as ‘elderly man with a poor memory’

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

The House Judiciary Committee is suing Attorney General Merrick Garland to obtain recordings of President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur.

The committee, as part of the lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, stressed the importance of the "verbal and nonverbal context" of Biden's answers that could be provided by the audio recordings – especially considering that Hur opted against charging Biden after the interview, in part, because he was viewed as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." 

DOJ WON'T PROSECUTE AG GARLAND FOR CONTEMPT FOR REFUSAL TO TURN OVER AUDIO FROM BIDEN, HUR INTERVIEW

The lawsuit comes amid chaos in the Democratic Party as leaders consider whether Biden should continue with his re-election campaign after the president’s widely panned debate performance last week.

The committee, in its lawsuit, says the president’s invocation of executive privilege over the materials "lacks any merit," and it asks the court to overrule that assertion of privilege. 

"This dispute is about a frivolous assertion of executive privilege," the lawsuit states. 

As part of the House impeachment inquiry against the president, the committee issued a subpoena to Garland to obtain records related to Hur’s investigation of Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified records. The committee sought materials related to Hur’s interviews with Biden and Mark Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter of Biden’s 2017 memoir. 

The Justice Department has provided the committee with transcripts of those interviews, but Garland "has refused to produce the audio recordings of the Special Counsel’s interviews with President Biden and Mr. Zwonitzer." 

"Instead, Attorney General Garland asked that President Biden assert executive privilege over those recordings, and President Biden complied with that request," the lawsuit states. 

The committee argues that audio recordings "are better evidence than transcripts of what happened during the Special Counsel’s interviews with President Biden and Mr. Zwonitzer." 

"For example, they contain verbal and nonverbal context that is missing from a cold transcript," the committee states. "That verbal and nonverbal context is quite important here because the Special Counsel relied on the way that President Biden presented himself during their interview – ‘as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory’ – when ultimately recommending that President Biden should not be prosecuted for unlawfully retaining and disclosing classified information."

The committee argued that the audio recordings – not merely the transcripts of them – are "the best available evidence of how President Biden presented himself during the interview." 

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

"The Committee thus needs those recordings to assess the Special Counsel’s characterization of the President, which he and White House lawyers have forcefully disputed, and ultimate recommendation that President Biden should not be prosecuted," the suit states. 

The committee said Biden’s "self-serving attempt to shield the audio recording" of his interview from the public "represents an astonishing effort to expand the scope of executive privilege from a constitutional privilege safeguarding certain substantive communications to an amorphous privilege that can be molded to protect things like voice, inflection, tone and pace of speech." 

The committee also noted that the transcript of the interview was made public, which essentially "waived" executive privilege." 

"Additionally, the heart of the privilege claim – that Executive Branch employees will be less likely to cooperate with DOJ investigations if they know that audio recordings of their interviews may be released to Congress after DOJ has made transcripts of those same interviews publicly available – is at odds with common sense," the lawsuit states. 

"If the potential for disclosure would chill cooperation, it would be the disclosure of a transcript, which DOJ voluntarily disclosed here, not the disclosure of audio recordings after the transcripts are widely available," the lawsuit states. 

The committee argued that because of this, Biden’s invocation of executive privilege "lacks any merit." 

"The Committee therefore asks this court to overrule the assertion of executive privilege and order that Attorney General Garland produce the audio recordings of the Special Counsel’s interviews with President Biden and Mr. Zwonitzer to the committee," the lawsuit states. 

The lawsuit comes just weeks after the House of Representatives voted to hold Garland in contempt of Congress, referring him for criminal charges over defying the congressional subpoenas for the audio recordings.

The Justice Department, though, said it would not prosecute Garland. 

"Consistent with this longstanding position and uniform practice, the Department has determined that the responses by Attorney General Garland to the subpoenas issued by the committees did not constitute a crime, and accordingly the Department will not bring the congressional contempt citation before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the Attorney General," Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte told House Speaker Mike Johnson in a letter last month. 

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

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."

Olbermann leads left-wing meltdown against CNN, calling to ‘burn it down’ after Biden’s performance

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann led liberal outrage toward CNN, calling for the network to be "burn[ed] down," after its moderators otherwise received praise over its forum between President Biden and former President Trump.

While bipartisan voices lauded moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, Olbermann and other Biden loyalists appeared to take their outrage at the president’s performance out on the moderators and network.

"No audience, no moderators, no journalism," Olbermann fumed as he opened the latest episode of his "Countdown" podcast.

Olbermann called what he characterized as the refusal to "fact-check" former President Trump one of the most "immoral decisions" in the history of American journalism.

STATE DEMOCRATIC OFFICIALS RALLY BEHIND BIDEN AS A DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR SUGGESTS REPUBLICANS PULL TRUMP

"Literally, I am suggesting that at some point tonight CNN should -- it will not -- go off the air in shame, fire everybody, seal off the buildings, make sure everybody's out, and burn the Godd--- place to the ground," the onetime ESPN anchor added.

Olbermann lashed out at CNN Worldwide CEO Sir Mark Thompson and called for Bash and Tapper to be "fired for journalistic malpractice" for how the debate went on.

In an interview Friday, Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro – a Biden campaign surrogate – also criticized the network directly to anchor John Berman’s face.

"Frankly, I think CNN could have a done a better job in calling [Trump's] lies out," Shapiro said while admitting Biden had a rough night.

"I’ll be the first to admit that…," Shapiro said, while adding that Biden’s "bad night" is less egregious than Trump being a "bad president."

Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-N.Y., one of Trump’s staunchest critics who served as Democratic counsel during his impeachment, claimed CNN did not properly push back when the Republican "blatantly mischaracteriz[ed] the disaster that was his presidency."

BIDEN SENIOR ADVISER CLASHES WITH CNN ANCHOR OVER BIDEN'S DEBATE PERFORMANCE

"He intimidated your network," Goldman told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper.

Former Playboy White House correspondent Brian Karem, a columnist at Salon who was known for his outbursts in the briefing room during Trump’s tenure, also took aim at Bash and Tapper.

"The biggest sin was the fact that the moderators failed to moderate the debate. A complete abdication of journalistic responsibility," Karem said, according to the Daily Mail.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff – a former top adviser-turned-critic of former first lady Melania Trump who wrote a "tell-all" about her former boss – criticized CNN's lighting during the debate.

Wolkoff claimed on X that the network's choice of framing and lighting design conveyed "intended perceptions of fragility vs. dominance in visual composition."

"Biden was filmed in profile, looking pale as a ghost. Trump was filmed straight on, not looking his usual shade of tangerine, but more like marmalade," she said. 

"Biden is a man of honor, integrity, resilience, and resolve."

Meanwhile, liberal actor John Cusack claimed CNN was letting a "deranged liar lie with no consequences," adding on X that "this is the end, my beautiful friends."

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In a statement, CNN pointed to the aforementioned bipartisan praise, citing quotes from Republicans, Democrats and Fox News talent Sean Hannity and Charlie Gasparino, defending its debate production.

"The role of the moderators is to present the candidates with questions that are important to American voters and to facilitate a debate, enabling candidates to make their case and challenge their opponent," a CNN spokesperson said.

"It is up to the candidates to challenge one another in a debate. CNN offered robust fact-checking coverage in post-debate analysis on TV and across our digital platforms during and following the debate’s conclusion."

Axios omits crucial details about economists who say Trump will destroy the economy

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: A letter signed by 16 top economists warning of the economic dangers of electing former President Trump, which is being amplified by the Biden campaign and other Biden surrogates, is littered with signatories who have either donated to Biden or supported him politically in the past.

"While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we all agree that Joe Biden's economic agenda is vastly superior to Donald Trump," the economists wrote in a letter first reported on by Axios this week that has been promoted by various members of the Biden campaign on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

A Fox News Digital review of the letter’s Nobel Prize-winning signatories shows political donations to President Biden's 2020 and 2024 campaigns. The signatories also donated tens of thousands of dollars to other Democrat candidates and signed previous letters supporting Biden's agenda, including attacking "selfish and restless" Trump.

Economist Joseph Stiglitz, the Columbia University professor who reportedly spearheaded the letter, previously signed a letter supporting Biden’s Build Back Better agenda and donated $1,250 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020. 

EXPERTS PREDICT INFLATION ELECTION TROUBLE FOR BIDEN: 'TOO LATE' TO FIX

Between 2004 and 2020, Stiglitz donated over $90,000 to Democrat candidates, FEC records show.

Georgetown University Professor George A. Akerlof, who is married to Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, donated $25,000 to the Biden Victory Fund and maxed out as a donor in 2020, giving the campaign $5,600.

Akerlof, who donated nearly $90,000 to Democrats between the 1990s and 2022, also signed a letter supporting Build Back Better, and signed a letter in 2020 calling Trump’s re-election effort "selfish and reckless."

Harvard University economist and historian Claudia Goldin donated $500 to the Biden campaign in 2020 and 2024 and has donated over $8,000 to Democrats in recent years. Goldin also signed a 2020 letter endorsing the Biden campaign. 

Economist and mathematician Eric Maskin signed a 2020 letter expressing support for the Biden campaign’s agenda and donated $3,000 to Democrats in recent years, including Senate candidates Raphael Warnock, Beto O’Rourke and Jon Ossoff. 

When reached for comment on his background supporting Biden and Democrats, Maskin said, "Although I am a registered Democrat and have donated money to Democratic candidates on occasion, I have also voted for many Republicans over the years (including Bill Weld and Charlie Baker for governor of Massachusetts)" in a statement to Fox News Digital.

He added that he considers himself to "be more a centrist than a strong partisan in either ideological direction" and pointed to an op-ed he recently wrote against political polarization in favor of a Republican senator and "supported the 2020 Biden agenda on its economic merits and signed the recent letter for the same reasons."

BIDEN REPEATS FALSE CLAIM THAT INFLATION WAS AT 9% WHEN HE TOOK OFFICE AFTER BEING CALLED OUT LAST WEEK

Paul Milgrom, an economist at Stanford University, also previously signed letters supporting Build Back Better and calling Trump’s 2020 campaign "selfish and reckless."

Daniel McFadden, an economics professor at UC Berkeley, donated at least $4,500 to Democrats in 2020. He also signed onto a letter saying Biden's Build Back Better plan will "ease" inflation. He was also part of another letter endorsing Biden in 2020.

Roger Myerson, an economist at the University of Chicago, donated $2,350 to the Biden campaign in 2020 and $250 in 2024 on top of donating over $40,000 to Democrats between 2004 and 2024.

Myerson also previously signed a letter backing Build Back Better and Biden’s economic recovery agenda. The University of Chicago economist took to X after the letter was published, posting, "A dictator from day 1 would be bad for America, and we should testify to that fact as patriotic Americans."

"As economists we can testify that his policies would not help against inflation either," he added.

Economist Edmund S. Phelps wrote an article in 2020 called "The Economic Case for Biden" and also said that everything Trump has stood for in the past has been a "disaster."

INFLATION IS UP 20% SINCE BIDEN TOOK OFFICE

Phelps has also donated to Democrats in the past, including a $1,500 donation to a Democratic House candidate and $25 to Pete Buttigieg.

Paul Romer, an economist at Boston College, has previously described the Trump years as "miserable" and publicly supported his impeachment. Romer endorsed Biden in a 2020 letter, praised Biden’s pandemic plan, and signed a letter in support of Build Back Better.

Stanford University economist Alvin Roth also signed multiple letters opposing Trump and supported the letter that referred to him as "selfish and reckless" on top of donating $1,250 to presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008.

Nobel Prize-winning economist William Sharpe donated $500 to the Biden campaign and $500 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020. Sharpe also signed a letter to business leaders in 2020 arguing that it was time to speak out against Trump and the "threat" he "poses to the Republic."

Robert Shiller, a Yale University economist, donated $1,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020 and over $20,000 to Democrats in total in recent years. In 2019, Shiller said he would support any candidate over Trump.

Princeton University economist Christopher Sims donated $500 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020 and over $9,000 to various Democrats. 

Two British economists on the list, Sir Oliver Hart and Sir Angus Deaton, signed a letter in support of Build Back Better. Hart endorsed Biden in 2020 and also signed the 2020 letter calling Trump "selfish and reckless."

Several Biden campaign officials pounced on the story Tuesday morning to amplify the Axios report, including the Biden campaign's rapid response adviser, James Singer, and campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez.

White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates and other Biden surrogates also shared the report and quoted from it, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Tim Murtaugh, who served as Trump's 2020 campaign spokesman, mocked the report on social media Tuesday saying, "How amazing that this happens just in time for Biden to reference it in the upcoming debate (it’s a good bet that he does)."

"It’s almost as much of a stroke of luck as the letter from 51 intelligence officers claiming that Hunter’s laptop was Russian disinformation," Murtaugh continued. "Amazing."

Axios did not note the previous political activism of the economists in the story nor did they note that one of the top signatories is married to Biden’s treasury secretary, Janet Yellen.

Axios did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign and all 16 economists for comment.

Mayorkas to tout decrease in border encounters in 1st visit to border since failed impeachment vote

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will visit Arizona on Wednesday on his first trip to the southern border since the Senate quashed articles of impeachment against him. 

Mayorkas will speak to reporters in Tucson, where he is expected to tout the decrease in illegal migrant numbers after President Biden took executive action on asylum processing three weeks ago. Arrests for illegal border crossings have fallen more than 40% since the executive order went into effect, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 

Border Patrol's seven-day average of illegal migrant encounters dropped from well over 5,000 to about 2,200, according to the latest Customs and Border Protection numbers obtained by Fox News. Mayorkas said border encounters were "moving in the right direction" in an appearance on MSNBC Wednesday morning. 

"You correctly note that the number of encounters at the southwest border have decreased in the three weeks that we've been implementing the president's proclamation by more than 40%," Mayorkas told host Mika Brzezinski, adding it was a "remarkable implementation" by immigration enforcement agencies.

RACHEL MORIN'S MOM BLASTS MAYORKAS' DESCRIPTION OF SLAIN DAUGHTER AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT NABBED

"We are conducting more removal flights than ever before. We are moving people through the system, and those who do not qualify are being removed or returned more rapidly." 

The latest Border Patrol figures are welcome news for President Biden, who must defend his record from withering attacks by former President Trump at the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday. 

The U.S. has seen record numbers of migrant crossings at the border, with more than 2.4 million in FY 23 alone, on top of three years of the highest crossings ever seen. Republicans and Trump have hammered Biden over the crisis, arguing that it is his policies — and the rolling back of Trump-era policies — that have fueled the crisis. 

Trump lambasted Biden's border policies at a rally in Philadelphia over the weekend and accused him of "releasing illegal criminals into our communities to rape, pillage, plunder and to kill." 

BIDEN OFFERS ‘CONDOLENCES’ BUT NO SOLUTION AFTER LATEST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MURDER ALLEGATION

"Just this week, a 12-year-old girl in Houston, Jocelyn Nungaray, was tied up, stripped, and strangled to death after walking to a 7-Eleven," Trump said, referencing the suspected murder and sexual assault of a Texas girl who was found strangled to death in a creek last week. 

"Charged with Jocelyn's heinous murder are two illegal alien savages that Joe Biden recently set loose into our country. They came across our border claiming they feared for their lives in Venezuela."

Trump has promised the largest domestic deportation operation in U.S. history if elected, and to terminate "every Open Border policy of the Biden administration." He has also promised to deploy special forces to the border and reinstate his 2017 travel ban.

Biden, on the contrary, has argued that Congress must pass reforms to fix what he calls a "broken" immigration system. He has proposed legislation that Republicans oppose which would grant a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants present in the U.S. 

BORDER PATROL INTERCEPTS MULTIPLE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SEX OFFENDERS IN A SINGLE WEEKEND

He also backed a bipartisan Senate bill introduced earlier this year, but it has failed to pick up steam in the upper chamber. Biden has blamed Trump for stifling the bill, which included additional funding for border operations and a mechanism to shut down crossings after a certain level.

"Republicans in Congress, not all, walked away from it. Why? Because Donald Trump told them to," he said in February.

With no progress in Congress, Biden took unilateral action to further limit asylum claims by migrants once average border encounters exceed 2,500 a day. Last week, he also announced a deportation shield for some illegal immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens. He has repeatedly said, however, that it is not enough, and he needs Congress to act in order to fix the system. 

Mayorkas reinforced the president's arguments on MSNBC, calling on Congress to "fix" the "broken immigration system." 

CNN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION LOOMS AS TOP ISSUE AMID OUTRAGE OVER 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL'S MURDER

"Remember that our detention capacity — and this is not specific to our administration, this has been historic, ever since the 90s, when I was a federal prosecutor — our detention capacity is not sufficient to meet the number of people we encounter," he said. "We have to release people into the United States when they are in immigration enforcement proceedings. And we put them on alternatives to detention when that is necessary from an enforcement perspective." 

House Republicans approved articles of impeachment against Mayorkas earlier this year, accusing him of "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law" and breach of public trust.

However, the Democratic-controlled Senate had the articles declared unconstitutional and dismissed without a trial. 

Fox News Digital's Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Mayorkas to tout decrease in border encounters in visit to border

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will visit Arizona on Wednesday to tout the decrease in illegal migrant numbers after President Biden took executive action on asylum processing three weeks ago. 

Mayorkas will speak to reporters in Tucson. Arrests for illegal border crossings have fallen more than 40% since the executive order went into effect, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 

Border Patrol's seven-day average of illegal migrant encounters dropped from well over 5,000 to about 2,200, according to the latest Customs and Border Protection numbers obtained by Fox News. Mayorkas said border encounters were "moving in the right direction" in an appearance on MSNBC Wednesday morning. 

"You correctly note that the number of encounters at the southwest border have decreased in the three weeks that we've been implementing the president's proclamation by more than 40%," Mayorkas told host Mika Brzezinski, adding it was a "remarkable implementation" by immigration enforcement agencies.

RACHEL MORIN'S MOM BLASTS MAYORKAS' DESCRIPTION OF SLAIN DAUGHTER AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT NABBED

"We are conducting more removal flights than ever before. We are moving people through the system, and those who do not qualify are being removed or returned more rapidly." 

The latest Border Patrol figures are welcome news for President Biden, who must defend his record from withering attacks by former President Trump at the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday. 

The U.S. has seen record numbers of migrant crossings at the border, with more than 2.4 million in FY 23 alone, on top of three years of the highest crossings ever seen. Republicans and Trump have hammered Biden over the crisis, arguing that it is his policies — and the rolling back of Trump-era policies — that have fueled the crisis. 

Trump lambasted Biden's border policies at a rally in Philadelphia over the weekend and accused him of "releasing illegal criminals into our communities to rape, pillage, plunder and to kill." 

BIDEN OFFERS ‘CONDOLENCES’ BUT NO SOLUTION AFTER LATEST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MURDER ALLEGATION

"Just this week, a 12-year-old girl in Houston, Jocelyn Nungaray, was tied up, stripped, and strangled to death after walking to a 7-Eleven," Trump said, referencing the suspected murder and sexual assault of a Texas girl who was found strangled to death in a creek last week. 

"Charged with Jocelyn's heinous murder are two illegal alien savages that Joe Biden recently set loose into our country. They came across our border claiming they feared for their lives in Venezuela."

Trump has promised the largest domestic deportation operation in U.S. history if elected, and to terminate "every Open Border policy of the Biden administration." He has also promised to deploy special forces to the border and reinstate his 2017 travel ban.

Biden, on the contrary, has argued that Congress must pass reforms to fix what he calls a "broken" immigration system. He has proposed legislation that Republicans oppose which would grant a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants present in the U.S. 

BORDER PATROL INTERCEPTS MULTIPLE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SEX OFFENDERS IN A SINGLE WEEKEND

He also backed a bipartisan Senate bill introduced earlier this year, but it has failed to pick up steam in the upper chamber. Biden has blamed Trump for stifling the bill, which included additional funding for border operations and a mechanism to shut down crossings after a certain level.

"Republicans in Congress, not all, walked away from it. Why? Because Donald Trump told them to," he said in February.

With no progress in Congress, Biden took unilateral action to further limit asylum claims by migrants once average border encounters exceed 2,500 a day. Last week, he also announced a deportation shield for some illegal immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens. He has repeatedly said, however, that it is not enough, and he needs Congress to act in order to fix the system. 

Mayorkas reinforced the president's arguments on MSNBC, calling on Congress to "fix" the "broken immigration system." 

CNN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION LOOMS AS TOP ISSUE AMID OUTRAGE OVER 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL'S MURDER

"Remember that our detention capacity — and this is not specific to our administration, this has been historic, ever since the 90s, when I was a federal prosecutor — our detention capacity is not sufficient to meet the number of people we encounter," he said. "We have to release people into the United States when they are in immigration enforcement proceedings. And we put them on alternatives to detention when that is necessary from an enforcement perspective." 

House Republicans approved articles of impeachment against Mayorkas earlier this year, accusing him of "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law" and breach of public trust.

However, the Democratic-controlled Senate had the articles declared unconstitutional and dismissed without a trial. Mayorkas last visited the U.S.-Mexico border in May.

Fox News' Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: This report has been updated to clarify that Mayorkas visited the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2024.

DC Bar moves to suspend Hunter Biden’s law license after felony conviction

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Hunter Biden is poised to lose his license to practice law in Washington, D.C., this week after a disciplinary counsel moved to suspend him after his felony convictions.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel handles penalties for members of the bar in D.C. It issued a letter to the D.C. Court of Appeals seeking to ensure that the first son "is suspended immediately from the practice of law in the District of Columbia pending resolution of this matter."

The D.C. bar classifies any felony as a "serious crime," and bar policy mandates that the court immediately suspend the law license of anyone convicted of such an offense regardless of the status of an appeal.

The court does have discretion to waive the suspension "when it appears in the interest of justice to do so," according to NBC News.

HUNTER BIDEN FOUND GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS IN GUN TRIAL

Biden was found guilty of three felony gun charges in his Delaware trial on June 11. The charges included making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

'LIKE A SON': FORMER TOP BIDEN ADVISER WITH DEEP BUSINESS TIES TO CHINA SPOTTED INSIDE HUNTER BIDEN GUN TRIAL

Prosecutors worked to prove that Biden lied on a federal firearm form, known as ATF Form 4473, in October 2018, when he ticked a box labeled "No" when asked if he is an unlawful user of substances or addicted to controlled substances. Biden purchased the gun from a store in Wilmington.

Biden has a well-documented history of drug abuse, which was most notably documented in his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things," which walks readers through his previous need to smoke crack cocaine every 20 minutes, how his addiction was so prolific that he referred to himself as a "crack daddy" to drug dealers, and anecdotes revolving around drug deals, such as a Washington, D.C., crack dealer Biden nicknamed "Bicycles."

HOUSE REPUBLICANS REFER HUNTER BIDEN, JAMES BIDEN FOR CRIMINAL PROSECUTION AMID IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

Hunter Biden's legal team filed and quickly withdrew a motion for a new trial on Monday. Biden attorney Abbe Lowell had argued the court lacked jurisdiction as two appeals in the case are still pending.

"The Third Circuit [appeals court], however, did not then and has not yet issued its mandate as to the orders dismissing either appeal," Lowell wrote in the filing. "Thus, when this Court empaneled the jury on June 3, 2024 and proceeded to trial, it was without jurisdiction to do so."

The motion, however, was quickly withdrawn from a court document website, Reuters reported.

Fox News' Emma Colton contributed to this report

House Republicans say Hunter Biden used dad’s role as VP to ‘discourage’ further SEC scrutiny in 2016 probe

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FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans say Hunter Biden "gratuitously" used his father's role as vice president in an effort to "discourage" further scrutiny in a 2016 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation involving his business associates and their entities, Fox News Digital has learned. 

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, penned a letter to the chairman of the SEC as part of the ongoing impeachment inquiry against President Biden.

"In 2016, attorneys within the SEC’s Enforcement Division were investigating a tribal bond scheme in which several individuals were charged with violating federal securities laws. As part of this investigation, several of Robert Hunter Biden’s (Hunter Biden) business associates and inter-connected entities were implicated by the alleged conduct," Comer and Jordan wrote. 

HOUSE REPUBLICANS REFER HUNTER BIDEN, JAMES BIDEN FOR CRIMINAL PROSECUTION AMID IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

As part of the investigation, the SEC subpoenaed individuals and entities "for documents, communications, and testimony."

At the time, the SEC subpoenaed Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer, and Rosemont Seneca Bohai – an entity utilized by both Archer and Hunter Biden. 

Comer and Jordan revealed that Hunter Biden was also subpoenaed as part of the investigation in March 2016, while Joe Biden was serving as vice president. 

The subpoena for Hunter Biden compelled him to produce documents and communications regarding Rosemont Seneca Bohai. 

Comer and Jordan wrote that Rosemont Seneca Bohai "was directly implicated in the tribal bond scheme." 

Citing the initial complaint, Comer and Jordan noted that in October 2014, Rosemont purchased "the entirety of the Second Tribal Bond Issuance" for $15 million. 

Archer, during his interview before the House Oversight Committee last year, testified that Hunter Biden, at the time, was "a corporate secretary" of Rosemont and that "they had a handshake 50-50 ownership." 

Comer and Jordan also noted that last month the House Ways and Means Committee voted to release IRS documents that showed that Hunter Biden certified on a document that he was, in fact, the secretary of Rosemont Seneca Bohai. 

"According to Mr. Archer, ‘Rosemont Seneca Bohai was set up to hold the equity of BHR,’ which stands for Bohai Harvest Rosemont [Partners]. BHR was supposed to be a private equity fund based in China to engage in cross-border investments," they wrote. "The RSB bank account was used to funnel other foreign payments and benefits to Hunter Biden, including money from Ukraine and a new sports car from an oligarch in Kazakhstan." 

Comer and Jordan revealed that Hunter Biden was responsive to the subpoena in 2016 and provided 1,749 responsive documents to the SEC as part of the investigation. 

But Comer and Jordan said that, "concerningly," Hunter Biden’s attorney reminded in his response that his father was the sitting vice president. 

HOUSE GOP CLAIMS HUNTER BIDEN LIED UNDER OATH MULTIPLE TIMES DURING CONGRESSIONAL DEPOSITION

"As a threshold matter, we request that you treat this matter with the highest degree of confidentiality, consistent with Commission policy and applicable law," Hunter Biden’s attorney wrote on April 20, 2016. "The confidential nature of this investigation is very important to our client and it would be unfair, not just to our client, but also to his father, the Vice President of the United States, if his involvement in an SEC investigation and parallel criminal probe were to become the subject of any media attention." 

Comer and Jordan said Hunter Biden’s response "gratuitously invoked his father’s position as the Vice President in what could be interpreted as an effort to discourage further SEC scrutiny." 

Comer and Jordan also noted that on May 11, 2016, the SEC published its press release announcing the charging of seven individuals, with no mention or charging of Hunter Biden. 

His business associates Devon Archer and Jason Galanis, however, were charged. 

Galanis pleaded guilty to securities fraud based on bonds issued by a company affiliated with a Native American tribe in South Dakota. The funds were reportedly supposed to be used for certain projects but were instead used for his personal finances. He was sentenced in 2017 to 14 years. House Republicans interviewed Galanis from his prison cell as part of the impeachment inquiry. 

Archer was also tied to the scheme and convicted in 2018 for defrauding the Native American tribal entity and various investment advisory clients of tens of millions of dollars in connection with the issuance of bonds by the tribal entity and the subsequent sale of those bonds through fraudulent and deceptive means. Archer was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. 

As part of the ongoing impeachment inquiry, Comer and Jordan are demanding all documents and communications between the SEC and the White House, including the Office of the Vice President and all documents provided by Rosemont Seneca, Archer, and Hunter Biden in the SEC investigation.  

COMER INVITES BIDEN TO TESTIFY PUBLICLY AS PART OF HOUSE IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

They also are demanding the SEC’s "justification for seeking documents from Hunter Biden" in the matter; all internal documents and communications regarding Hunter Biden’s response; and any internal ethics opinions rendered by the SEC regarding Hunter Biden or then-Vice President Biden. 

Comer and Jordan are also asking the SEC to make Tejal D. Shah, a former staff attorney who led the investigation who now serves as a principal adviser, appear for questioning by the committees in the form of a transcribed interview. 

"In short, the records sought by this request are critical to the impeachment inquiry," they wrote. 

The requests come after the Comer, Jordan and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, earlier this month, sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department recommending Hunter Biden and James Biden be charged with making false statements to Congress about "key aspects" of the impeachment inquiry. 

One of the false statements allegedly made by Hunter Biden was regarding his role at Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC as corporate secretary. 

House Republicans allege that during his deposition before Congress earlier this year, Hunter Biden made false statements about holding a position at Rosemont Seneca Bohai. The committees describe the entity as one which was used to receive millions of dollars from foreign individuals and entities who met with then-Vice President Biden before and after transmitting money to the RSB account that then transferred funds to Hunter Biden. 

House Republicans are continuing their impeachment inquiry against the president. They are investigating his role and knowledge of his family’s international influence-peddling schemes that they say generated more than $18 million for Biden family members and their companies, and more than $27 million, when including the payments to their business associates, who they say were often used to transfer funds to Biden family members. 

Trump’s lead just won’t budge: Why the debates may be Biden’s last shot

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

The presidential campaign is as frozen as the Arctic Circle.

Virtually nothing seems to melt the ice caps that have encased the race. 

The former president convicted of 34 felonies? Feels like it happened months ago, without exactly dooming the Trump candidacy.

TRUMP FOUND GUILTY BUT, FACING BIDEN, COULD STILL WIN BACK THE WHITE HOUSE

The current president’s son, also convicted of felonies? Now that’s deemed a mere distraction by those who used an impeachment inquiry to try to sink the Biden campaign.

Each attack, each smear, each controversy dominates the news and then quickly yields to the next real or perceived outrage, leaving little lasting impression on the shape of the race.

All this is bad news for Joe Biden, who has an anemic 38 percent approval rating and is on track to lose, despite the apparent closeness of the contest.

While Trump’s lead in such core battleground states as Michigan and Pennsylvania is often just 2 to 3 points, it’s been remarkably consistent (with the president having a slight edge in Wisconsin). If Scranton Joe can’t win Pennsylvania despite endless trips there, the election is over.

That’s why Biden abruptly challenged Trump to two debates, with the first one, on CNN, in less than 10 days. It’s really his last chance to bring some heat and shake up the race.

Now I could make the argument that the Trump team has lowered expectations for Biden to the point that if he avoids major gaffes and doesn’t fall off the stage, he wins. The CNN rules – two-minute answers, no notes, muting the opponent’s mike – will also favor the president.

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But debates can be overrated. Mitt Romney clobbered Barack Obama in their first debate and it didn’t matter. Hillary Clinton arguably won two or even three of her debates against Trump and it didn’t matter. 

The pressure is on Biden, who’s drilling with former top aide Ron Klain, to show that he’s aggressive and feisty as well as knowledgeable. Trump, who is doing only informal prep, will be hailed by his base no matter what he says or does.

In short, it will take something highly unusual to change many minds. Most Americans already know what they think of these guys.

The same goes for the Trump veepstakes. As Donald Trump told me, it doesn’t matter much because people vote for the top of the ticket. I think Doug Burgum has a somewhat better chance than when I first interviewed him three weeks ago, on this shorter short list that seems to include Tim Scott, Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance. 

But I can’t see that changing the race’s trajectory. What’s striking is that the anchors are now handling these as "vetting" interviews about each candidate’s record, because they believe one of them may well be moving into the vice president’s mansion.

Trump’s GOP unity day on the Hill got muddied when he criticized Milwaukee, the host city for next month’s convention. Even though Trump said he was talking mainly about crime in the city – which is actually down substantially this year – I’m not sure why he needed to go there.

The 78-year-old Trump is so anxious to depict the 81-year-old Biden as mentally unfit for the job that minor incidents are being exaggerated and distorted. There’s no question, as I said on the air, that Biden often comes across as frail and confused. 

But after a $30-million L.A. fundraiser over the weekend, Obama grabbed his arm and then kept touching his back as they exited the stage. This went viral as the former president was depicted as "leading" his onetime VP away.

Earlier, the New York Post, taking its lead from the RNC, misleadingly cropped a photo as if Biden was talking to no one at the G-7 in Italy. A wider angle showed Biden was saying a few words and giving a thumbs up to a skydiver who had landed next to the world leaders before the Italian prime minister led him back to the group. 

THERE’S ‘CORROSION’ IN HOW THE MEDIA COVERS POLITICS: LUCY CALDWELL

Despite a couple of flashy media headlines, I did not criticize Fox’s coverage, though sometimes that comes with the job. I made a point of saying that the coverage by "Fox & Friends" was perfectly straightforward. We played a clip of Sean Hannity criticizing Biden, but there was no suggestion that he didn’t show the proper footage; he was paired with Joe Scarborough hitting Biden’s critics, as we often do to convey the range of commentary.

In my view, there’s little doubt that most of the media believe Trump will win the election, and here’s the proof.

The New York Times just ran a deep dive on how the Trump resistance is already laying the groundwork to battle and stymie him in a second term.

These groups "are drafting potential lawsuits in case he is elected in November and carries out mass deportations, as he has vowed. One group has hired a new auditor to withstand any attempt by a second Trump administration to unleash the Internal Revenue Service against them. Democratic-run state governments are even stockpiling abortion medication.

"A sprawling network of Democratic officials, progressive activists, watchdog groups and ex-Republicans has been taking extraordinary steps to prepare for a potential second Trump presidency, drawn together by the fear that Mr. Trump’s return to power would pose a grave threat not just to their agenda but to American democracy itself." 

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A newspaper simply doesn’t devote the enormous resources the Times did to this investigative piece without believing a Trump victory is at the least very likely.

Some groups are described as "wary" of discussing their plans for fear of signaling a lack of confidence in the Biden campaign, which is exactly what it signals.

And that brings us back to the CNN debate.

Biden is really running out of time to change the narrative of the race. The debate will probably be a wash, but it’s his only shot. Otherwise, the frozen campaign will wind up freezing him out.

White House stymied bipartisan support for presidential ethics bill, says top House Dem

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

A Democratic member of the House Oversight Committee alleged Monday that several in her party who had initially indicated support for a bipartisan presidential ethics bill got cold feet after talking to the White House.

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., previously announced the filing of a "landmark federal ethics reform bill" with Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the committee’s chairman, targeting financial disclosures, family members joining official travel junkets and other issues.

Comer and Porter announced the Presidential Ethics Reform Act in late May, which itself reportedly stemmed from a back-and-forth between lawmakers during a March hearing on the impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

Porter, who lives in Orange County, California, claimed Monday that after she and Comer worked to recruit an equal number of bipartisan co-sponsors, the deal imploded while she was in the air on her way back to Washington.

FORMER HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS PARTNER OFFERED CRITICAL TESTIMONY: COMER

"I … was proud that I had found three senior Democratic co-sponsors. When I landed, I was really disappointed to learn that those co-sponsors had decided not to support the bill and had had conversations with the White House," Porter claimed in comments to The Hill newspaper.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment, as the paper cited three Democratic lawmakers it reported to be whom Porter was referring – Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.

Mfume declined comment and the other two lawmakers did not respond. Porter’s office also did not provide comment.

A source familiar with the situation, however, confirmed reports on the matter to Fox News Digital.

The ethics bill did garner at least one major public supporter, as billionaire "Shark Tank" investor Mark Cuban posted, "All for this."

Congress’ official website shows Comer introduced the legislation on May 22 and listed Porter as its only current co-sponsor. Congress.gov indicated the bill has since been referred to the Oversight Committee.

SCHWEIZER: HUNTER'S TIES TO CHINESE BUSINESSMAN ‘SUPERCHAIRMAN’ SHOULD DRAW SCRUTINY

During a March 20 Biden impeachment inquiry hearing, Porter said the probe hit a "dead end" and that the next step should be to "stop bipartisan attacks on each other."

"The American people think that the rules that prevent corruption are way too weak to stop politicians from both sides of the aisle from influence peddling," Porter added. 

After she ended her remarks, Comer interjected to say he believed the Democrat was "sincere" and that he "look[ed] forward to working with [her] on that legislation" in the future.

The bill would require presidents and vice presidents to record and disclose payments or "items of value" given to them by foreign sources two years prior to and after their terms, as well as while they are in office.

It would also require the two top national executives to disclose inter-familial payments of more than $10,000 during that same time period, and also provide stricter rules regarding disclosure of conflicts-of-interest.

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"Influence peddling is a cottage industry in Washington, and we’ve identified deficiencies in current law that have led to a culture of corruption," Comer said of the bill.

"By creating this bipartisan legislation to provide greater transparency to the financial interactions related to the office of the president and vice-president, we can ensure that moving forward, American presidents, vice presidents, and their family members cannot profit from their proximity to power."