Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), 89, told reporters Tuesday that she hadn't been away from Washington while recovering from an illness for more than two months, despite her being hospitalized and not being at the Capitol during that time.
“No, I haven’t been gone,” Feinstein said when a reporter asked her about the well-wishes her Senate colleagues have given her since she returned to the Capitol last week. “You should — I haven’t been gone. I’ve been working.”
The Los Angeles Times and Slate both reported on the exchange, in which Feinstein said that she is “feeling fine” after her lengthy bout with shingles.
When a reporter asked if she was referring to working from home, Feinstein reiterated that she's been in Washington.
“No, I’ve been here. I’ve been voting,” Feinstein said. “Please. You either know or don’t know.”
A Feinstein spokesperson declined to immediately comment on the reports.
Feinstein was hospitalized and stayed away from the Capitol for weeks because of complications from shingles.
Her absence led four House Democrats, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), to call for her resignation as Democrats struggled to move judicial nominations through the Senate. Critics have argued she can no longer serve America’s most populous state effectively, given her health.
Feinstein and her office have pushed back at some suggestions, and the pressure to resign has not come from Democratic colleagues in the Senate, key allies in the House, the White House or California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).
The exchange with the reporters, however, is likely to raise more scrutiny about Feinstein’s acuity — and her ability to effectively serve her state.
Feinstein has been told by doctors to maintain a lighter workload since she returned to the Capitol last week for the first time since February.
The longtime California Democrat, a political legend in the state, announced earlier this year she would not seek another term in the Senate.
Feinstein helped Senate Democrats last week advance three judicial nominees that had been unable to move toward full Senate confirmation votes in her absence. She also took part in some Senate floor votes Wednesday and Thursday.
A mayor in upstate New York has accused the Biden administration of conducting seemingly “clandestine” flights of migrant children into the state, with one witness claiming they thought it was “against their will.”
The news comes just weeks after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was accused of “kidnapping” illegal immigrants and sending them to Martha’s Vineyard.
The New York Post reports that at least two flights came from El Paso, Texas and arrived in Montgomery County, New York, and carried dozens of minors between the ages of 13 and 18.
The flights have all the hallmarks of what DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott have been accused of by Democrats and the media.
“This seems clandestine,” Montgomery Village Mayor Steve Brescia told the Post.
He also suggested officials were “never informed” about the flights.
“It’s just disturbing we weren’t informed of any of this,” Brescia complained.
At least @JoeBiden didn’t fly them to Martha’s Vineyard…
‘This seems clandestine’: NY mayor rips into Biden after dozens of migrant kids secretly flown to small town https://t.co/CyXRbrifWK via @nypost
The Biden administration’s flights of illegal immigrants across the country have been an open secret for some time. Officials at the White House contend there is nothing clandestine about them or the timing of their arrivals – oftentimes late at night.
The Political Insider reported in June that the Biden administration had increased migrant flights into New York – happening since at least August of 2021 – with an additional airport being utilized to handle the overflow.
A local reporter shared video and captioned it with a disclaimer stating “officials say flights are legal under U.S. immigration law.”
‘SECRET FLIGHTS’ ALLEGEDLY TAPED IN ORANGE COUNTY: Gubernatorial hopeful, Rob Astorino, tweets video allegedly showing ‘secret migrant flights’ at Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, officials say flights are legal under U.S. immigration law. @RobAstorinopic.twitter.com/Gjd1oE9rSa
But Brescia’s use of the word ‘clandestine’ seems relevant, especially considering that is the exact phrasing the New York Times used in accusing DeSantis of illegality for the Martha’s Vineyard flights.
“Details have begun to emerge of the clandestine mission that was carried out,” they wrote, referencing “flights paid for with state money in possible violation of the state law that allocated the money.”
One can reasonably assume the Times will not only avoid the word ‘clandestine’ in describing the Biden migrant flights, but they will likely not even cover the story at all.
California Governor Gavin Newsom sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland last month requesting the Department of Justice look into “kidnapping” charges for those involved in the effort to send illegal immigrants to Massachusetts.
Several Democrats and media personalities griped that DeSantis did not alert authorities at the flight destination locations and have suggested the illegals were ‘tricked’ into boarding the plane.
And on those counts, the hypocrisy is rich.
Authorities in Montgomery County were allegedly so completely left in the dark about what was happening that somebody noticing “suspicious” activity at the airport and had to alert them to the matter.
The police then had to chase down the buses taking them elsewhere.
“Police quickly intercepted the bus as it left the airport to question the chaperones and migrant kids, who hailed from Honduras, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua,” the Post reports.
Additionally, the initial call to authorities “stated the witness thought he heard one of the children say they were here against their will.”
It is unclear if these flights followed established protocols for transporting illegal immigrant minors.
Montgomery County’s Deputy Police Chief Paul Arteta said adults accompanied the minors and had the paperwork on their flight plans and destinations – including “a dozen different shelters, children’s homes and ‘vetted sponsors’ across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.”
“Taking them 2,000 or 3,000 miles further away from where they originated is just terrible,” Arteta said. “They knew they were going to be helped in some way but they had absolutely no clue what was going on.”
Republican Representative Claudia Tenney of New York called for President Biden’s impeachment over the illegal immigrant flights into her state earlier this year.
“This is a complete, aggravated dereliction of duty, which is why … I called for Joe Biden to be impeached and removed,” she demanded.
“His primary obligation as the commander-in-chief and president of the United States is to enforce our laws, to live up to his oath, to enforce our border security, and to tell the truth to the American people,” Tenney insisted.
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Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) spoke out on Friday to announce plans to file a criminal complain against New York Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa after a report came out stating that she had admitted to hiding nursing home COVID-19 data so that the federal government wouldn’t find out how many people died.
Reed Attacks Cuomo
“[N]ow we have Gov. Cuomo’s second in command, essentially, on a taped confession to fellow Democratic lawmakers admitting she committed criminal activity to cover up for what they were hiding from the federal officials that were responsible to get to the bottom of this, and make sure that,” Reed told Fox Business.
“We learned what happened with the COVID-19-positive order that sent 15,000 [people] to their death that Cuomo issued back in March,” he continued. “This, obviously, cannot go unaccounted for.”
“And that’s why we were arguing this in the committee yesterday, when we demanding that transparency and accountability be part of this COVID-19 package,” the Republican said. “But, most importantly, the days of Cuomo are going to be numbered in Albany here. But, most important, we need to start with this second in command.”
“I’m demanding — I’m going to be looking at filing a personal criminal complaint against this individual, today, in local law enforcement offices, as well as federal offices,” Reed continued. “Because she needs to be arrested today. [L]et’s get this second in command arrested, hopefully today, by filing this criminal complaint.”
DeRosa Admits Cuomo Admin Hid Data
This comes after DeRosa apologized to Democrat leaders for hiding the true nursing home coronavirus death toll, saying “we froze” out of fear that the true numbers would “be used against us.”
She said in a video conference that they rebuffed a legislative request for the tally in August because “right around the same time, [then-President Donald Trump] turns this into a giant political football.”
“He starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes,” DeRosa said. “He starts going after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, starts going after [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, starts going after [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer.”
She went on to say that Trump then “directs the Department of Justice to do an investigation into us…And basically, we froze.”
“Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation,” DeRosa said. “That played a very large role into this.”
DeRosa’s ‘Apology’
Instead of apologizing to the public, DeRosa apologized to Democrats for putting them in a difficult political position.
“So we do apologize,” she said. “I do understand the position that you were put in. I know that it is not fair. It was not our intention to put you in that political position with the Republicans.”
This piece was written by James Samson on February 12, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.
Do you find Adam Schiff, Dem of California, even more supercilious than you did when he ran the House Intel Committee’s impeachment hearing? Is he lying with greater confidence and still getting the facts wrong during the scant moments when he isn’t intentionally fabricating evidence?
That’s because, like Doug Collins of Georgia on the GOP side during the House hearings, Schiff is auditioning for a Senate race. He’s thinking Dem Senator Diane Feinstein of California, who is 86 now and would be 90 in 2024, is going to retire and not make the 2024 race. That would leave it open for Schiff.
His lack of candor would integrate well in ignoring the state’s dark ages public health standards. His intolerance works with their PC culture and his likely soft socialist economic ideas will mesh nicely with their soon-to-be Venezuela fiscal status.
But he will not be alone in chasing that poisoned chalice.
CA Bolshie Governor Gavin Newsom and his radical leftist Attorney Xavier Becerra are also said to be eyeing the seat. And why not?
Newsom is a Ken doll long on narcissism and short on ideas, perfect for a state where pectoral muscle measurements are generally greater than IQ.
Becerra is a Latin and thus, given the blatant racism at the core of the state and national Dem party, will have a leg up based only on his ethnic heritage.
A primary race between those three would be a race to the bottom of an ideological abyss. They would try to outpromise each other with free goodies for Californians and, as the president would be leaving office, would run on an end to the horror of Trumpism and a bright classic red future with one of their hands at a senatorial tiller.
However, as we’re seeing now in Iowa, it will also quickly degenerate into a slagging match.
Given the internal Dem animosity between black and Jewish voters, Becerra would use his minority bona fides to attack Schiff on that front. Newsom would claim he is the only candidate with governing experience, if you count reducing his state to an open sewer as governing.
Schiff will claim to be the man who nobly tried to oust Trump. He will gloss over his failure in that regard.
One of them will win the primary and be elected to the Senate in Dem California.
Schiff is making his move on that right now.
This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.
(@JohnBasham)