Cornyn clashes with Ken Paxton over support for foreign aid bill 

Texas Sen. John Cornyn is facing backlash from a Republican official at home after voting in favor of a $95 billion foreign aid package early Tuesday morning. But he’s not taking it quietly.

“Unbelievable that @JohnCornyn would stay up all night to defend other countries borders, but not America,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton posted on X Tuesday morning.

Hours later, Cornyn, a Republican foreign policy hawk and former minority whip, let loose on Paxton. The attorney general recently escaped an impeachment trial over allegations of bribery and corruption and has been dogged by securities fraud charges since 2015.

“Ken, your criminal defense lawyers are calling to suggest you spend less time pushing Russian propaganda and more time defending longstanding felony charges against you in Houston, as well as ongoing federal grand jury proceedings in San Antonio that will probably result in further criminal charges,” Cornyn wrote.

Cornyn was one of 22 Senate Republicans who voted to advance the aid package, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. It now heads to an uncertain fate in the House, against the desires of former President Donald Trump, who has railed against the idea of sending more aid to Ukraine and whose influence has grown among Republican members of Congress as he marches toward another presidential nomination.

Paxton was seemingly undeterred by Cornyn’s criticism. Shortly after the senator slammed him on social media, Paxton posted another diatribe, dubbing Cornyn an “America Last RINO.”

“Unsurprisingly, America Last RINO @JohnCornyn has once again joined hands with the Biden administration to fund and prioritize foreign wars over the national security crisis at the southern border,” Paxton said.

Posted in Uncategorized

House GOP gunning for testimony from Biden Special Counsel Robert Hur, sources say

The House Judiciary Committee is in talks to have Special Counsel Robert Hur potentially testify on Capitol Hill after releasing his report on President Biden’s handling of classified documents, Fox News Digital has learned.

Two sources told Fox News Digital that House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan’s committee is looking at late February or early March for possible dates for Hur to testify.

House Republicans appear poised for a lengthy probe into Hur’s findings after he released a 388-page report clearing President Biden of wrongdoing despite having "willfully retained and disclosed classified materials."

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

Hur said Biden came off "as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" and that "it would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him-by then a former president well into his eighties-of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness."

Republican lawmakers have argued that Hur’s decision not to recommend charges against Biden is an example of the two-tiered justice system in the U.S. It’s also spurred speculation over whether the 81-year-old president is unfit for office.

Jordan, R-Ohio, along with House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and House Ways & Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday calling for him to release the transcripts and recordings of Biden’s interview with the special counsel’s office.

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

In the letter, they accused Biden of lying at a press conference after the report’s release when he said, "I did not share classified information. I did not share it" when asked whether he disclosed the sensitive information to his ghostwriter. 

"As explained to Mr. Hur in October, there is concern that President Biden may have retained sensitive documents related to specific countries involving his family’s foreign business dealings," they wrote.

"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."

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

The Judiciary Committee’s discussion with Hur is likely to come within days of Hunter Biden’s closed-door deposition in front of Jordan and Comer’s panels, the sources said.

The president’s son is sitting down with impeachment inquiry investigators on Feb. 28.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and DOJ for comment on Hur’s potential testimony.

Joe Biden ‘enabled’ family to sell access to ‘dangerous adversaries,’ Tony Bobulinski testifies

EXCLUSIVE: Joe Biden "enabled" his son Hunter to sell access to the United States’ "most dangerous adversaries," including the Chinese Communist Party, Russia and more, the first son’s ex-business associate Tony Bobulinski is expected to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry Tuesday.

Bobulinski, who worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint-venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC, and said he met with Joe Biden in 2017, is testifying behind closed doors at the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees Tuesday. Fox News Digital obtained a copy of Bobulinski’s prepared opening statement.

HUNTER BIDEN'S EX-ASSOCIATE TONY BOBULINSKI HEADS TO CAPITOL HILL THIS WEEK TO TESTIFY IN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

Bobulinski will testify that from his "direct personal experience," it is "clear" that Joe Biden was "'the Brand' being sold by the Biden family.’"

"His family’s foreign influence peddling operation—from China to Ukraine and elsewhere—sold out to foreign actors who were seeking to gain influence and access to Joe Biden and the United States government," Bobulinski will testify.

"Joe Biden was more than a participant in and beneficiary of his family’s business; he was an enabler, despite being buffered by a complex scheme to maintain plausible deniability," Bobulinski will say. "The only reason any of these international business transactions took place—with tens of millions of dollars flowing directly to the Biden family—was because Joe Biden was in high office."

Bobulinski will add: "The Biden family business was Joe Biden, period."

Bobulinski is also expected to raise "possible violations by Joe Biden of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the Foreign Corrupt practices Act, and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)."

Bobulinski is set to detail CEFC’s arrangement with the Biden family, stressing that it is a "surrogate" of the Chinese Communist Party.

FLASHBACK: HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATE'S TEXT MESSAGES INDICATE MEETING WITH JOE BIDEN

"The Chinese Communist Party through its surrogate, China Energy Company Limited, or ‘CEFC’—a CCP-linked Chinese energy conglomerate—successfully sought to infiltrate and compromise Joe Biden and the Obama-Biden white House," Bobulinski will say, noting the work began in 2015 and continued through when Joe Biden left office in January 2017 through March of 2018.

Bobulinski will say CEFC’s "aggressive approach" to the Biden family began around the same time Joe Biden announced he would not run for president in 2016. Biden made that announcement in October 2015.

Bobulinski is also expected to call Hunter Biden "the Biden family’s weakest link."

Bobulinski is expected to testify that Joe Biden "was aware of the CEFC transaction, enabled it and had a constitutional responsibility and obligation to the American people to shut it down before it began."

"This is because CEFC had been identified as a known surrogate of the Chinese Communist Party by the U.S. Government and prosecutors in the Southern District of New York as far back as 2016, possibly earlier," Bobulinski will explain, noting that Biden "should have been aware that his own administration had red-flagged CEFC as a tool of the Chinese Communist Party." 

"This should have made any business transaction with CEFC a non-starter," Bobulinski will say.

BOBULINSKI OFFERED TO TESTIFY AT HUNTER BIDEN GRAND JURY BUT 'NEVER HEARD BACK': SOURCE

Meanwhile, Bobulinski will testify that he "personally met with Joe Biden in Los Angeles in May of 2017 multiple times to discuss the broad contours of our business dealings."

Fox News Digital first reported on those meetings between Bobulinski and Biden in October 2020.

"The only reason Joe Biden met with me privately during the Milken Institute Global Conference and seated me at his head table was because I was a business associate of the Biden family," Bobulinski will say.

Bobulinski will also explain that the Biden family members "were enriched to the tune of tens of millions of dollars from some of our most dangerous adversaries, including the Chinese Communist Party and players from Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Kazakhstan, and other foreign nations and entities." 

Bobulinski is also expected to say that the Biden family "knowingly and aggressively defrauded" him. 

Meanwhile, Bobulinski is expected to say that federal law enforcement has been "singularly unwilling to speak with me or hear the facts" he plans to share with the committee.

Bobulinski will say that he has "never" been contacted to testify in any federal investigation related to the Bidens, including with Special Counsel David Weiss’ team.

In October 2020, Bobulinski voluntarily went to the FBI’s Washington Field Office "with several phones containing years of encrypted communications between me and numerous members of the Biden family and their associates."

EXCLUSIVE: JOE BIDEN ALLEGEDLY PAID $5M BY BURISMA EXECUTIVE AS PART OF A BRIBERY SCHEME, ACCORDING TO FBI DOCUMENT

Bobulinski is set to begin by thanking the committee for giving him the opportunity to share the "facts and evidence" with the American people that he has "been trying to outline for over four years, all backed up and supported by emails, texts, documents, records, pictures, and other evidence."

Bobulinski served in the U.S. Navy’s Naval Nuclear Power Training Command as a decorated master training specialist instructor; the Command’s chief technology officer, holding "Q security clearance" from the Energy Department and from the National Security Agency; and later served as a direct input officer for the command in his final Navy Fitness Report.

"I am here today out of duty to God and country in a nonpartisan manner with only one party in mind, the party I served with honor and gratitude: the United States of America," Bobulinski will say, maintaining that he is "not a political person," while disclosing that he did make campaign contributions to Democrats, like Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., over the years.

Bobulinski first came forward with his story about Joe Biden’s alleged involvement in his family’s business deals weeks before the 2020 presidential election.

"For nearly four years, I have tried to tell the American people the truth about serious corruption at the very top of their government," Bobulinski will say, referring to the Bidens. "In return, I have been falsely accused of being a purveyor of ‘Russian disinformation’ and a political surrogate."

Bobulinski will say that his efforts "to inform the American people of the facts have been actively suppressed by both the United States Government and the so-called ‘mainstream media.’"

Bobulinski is expected to urge congressional investigators to "remove your partisan hats today and focus on one party: the United States of America." 

The White House, President Biden, and Hunter Biden have maintained that Joe Biden was not involved in the family’s business dealings.

House GOP will attempt 2nd impeachment vote for Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas on Tuesday

House Republicans are expected to hold a second vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday, after an initial effort seeking to do so failed last week. He is the first Cabinet secretary to face charges in nearly 150 years.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, has signaled he intends to bring the two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas before the House floor as early as Tuesday evening. These articles were initially filed by the House Homeland Security Committee.

Their passage is far from certain, however, as the GOP holds only a narrow majority in the chamber. While Majority Leader Steve Scalise has returned to the chamber after being away from Washington for cancer care, even one other missing or weather-delayed lawmaker could prevent Republicans from impeaching Mayorkas for a second time.

The chamber's Democratic members staunchly oppose the impeachment effort.

HOUSE FAILS TO IMPEACH DHS SECRETARY ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS IN MAJOR BLOW TO GOP

Republicans are seeking to impeach Mayorkas over failing to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and for repeatedly telling Congress that the Biden administration maintained operational control despite historic levels of migrant encounters and crossings.

The specific article charges Mayorkas with having "refused to comply with Federal immigration laws" and the other of having violated "public trust."

HERE ARE THE 3 HOUSE REPUBLICANS WHO TORPEDOED MAYORKAS’ IMPEACHMENT VOTE

Last week, three Republicans opposed the impeachment vote in the final tally. Democrats remained united, and the vote failed 216-214.

One Democrat, Rep. Al Green of Texas, who had been hospitalized for emergency abdominal surgery, made a surprise arrival and wheeled into the chamber in scrubs and socks to vote against it.

Johnson could push the vote later into the week, should he wish to wait for the outcome of Tuesday's special election in New York to replace ousted Rep. George Santos from New York’s 3rd Congressional District — which could send another Republican to Washington.

GOP LAWMAKER ON KEY IMMIGRATION SUBCOMMITTEE SLAMS MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT

Mazi Pilip, an Ethiopian-Israeli immigrant and a former Israel Defense Forces soldier, is seeking to keep the seat red as she fends off a challenge from her Democratic opponent, former Rep. Tom Suozzi, who served in Congress from 2017 to 2023.

The effort comes as border security remains one of the most important issues for voters around the country.

Republicans, including presidential front-runner former President Trump, have made the issue a focus of their re-election campaigns in November, when the GOP is looking to keep its majority in the House of Representatives, as well as win back the White House and the U.S. Senate.

Trump has vowed to launch "the largest domestic deportation operation in American history" on day one if he retakes the White House.

"We have no choice," Trump said at a rally in South Carolina.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Biden met with chairman of Chinese energy firm Hunter did business with in 2017, ex-associate testifies

President Biden met with the chairman of the Chinese energy firm Hunter Biden sought to create a joint venture with at the Four Seasons in Washington D.C. in 2017, a former business partner of the first son told congressional investigators.

Rob Walker, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, testified at the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees earlier this month as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden.

HUNTER BIDEN'S EX-ASSOCIATE TONY BOBULINSKI HEADS TO CAPITOL HILL THIS WEEK TO TESTIFY IN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

Walker, during his closed-door transcribed interview, told congressional investigators that Joe Biden attended a meeting where he, Hunter Biden, their other business partners and CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming were having lunch.

"I don’t remember the exact time, but I remember being in Washington, D.C., and the former vice president stopped by. We were having lunch," Walker testified, according to a transcript of his interview reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Walker said he did not know the "exact" date, but said "it was 20-probably-17 at some point."

"I can say it was for certain he was out of office," Walker said, referring to Joe Biden being out of the Obama administration at the time of the lunch.

HUNTER BIDEN WAS PAID $100K THROUGH JOINT-VENTURE WITH CHINESE ENERGY FIRM, EX-ASSOCIATE TESTIFIED

Walker said the lunch took place "at the Four Seasons in a restaurant in a private room."

"I’m certain—I’m certain Ye was there," Walker said, noting there were also other CEFC business partners.

Ye Jianming, at the time, was the chairman of Chinese energy company CEFC.

Walker said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss "ways we could work together."

"I don’t think we had structured a deal on how to work together at this point," Walker said, noting the meeting lasted "probably an hour and a half," but said Biden "was not" there for the entirety of the meeting.

DEVON ARCHER: HUNTER BIDEN, BURISMA EXECS ‘CALLED DC’ TO GET UKRAINIAN PROSECUTOR FIRED

"The former vice president was not there the entire time. He was there maybe 10 minutes," Walker said. "He spoke nice, you know, normal pleasantries. I think he probably did most of the talking and then left." 

Walker testified that Biden addressed the entire group—which consisted of approximately 10 CEFC-linked individuals— during his visit.

Walker testified that the visit, and Biden’s appearance, "likely" took place before his Robinson Walker LLC received $3 million from State Energy HK Limited—a CEFC-linked entity.

But Walker maintained that Joe Biden was not involved in any of his business ventures with Hunter Biden, despite his appearance at the lunch.

Walker did, however, say that early correspondence to CEFC was sent on behalf of the group—which included himself, James Gilliar, Jim Biden, and Hunter Biden—by Hunter Biden.

FLASHBACK: HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATE'S TEXT MESSAGES INDICATE MEETING WITH JOE BIDEN

"He had an interesting last name that would probably get people in the door," Walker said.

When pressed again as to why correspondence came from Hunter Biden, Walker testified: "It had just seemed—if a U.S. entity was going to have a foreign national represent them, It would probably make more sense to come from Hunter versus me."

"Because he’s the son of the vice president at the time, correct?" Walker was asked.

"He is the son of a vice president at the time, yes," Walker replied.

"So it made more sense to get this business deal to put him as the front-facing person, right?"

Walker replied: "Yes." 

The House Oversight Committee told Fox News Digital that it can "now confirm Joe Biden met with nearly every foreign national who funneled money to his son, including Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, Romanian oligarch Kenes Rakishev, Burisma’s corporate secretary Vadym Pozharsky, Jonathan Li of BHR, and CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming."

Biden attended dinners at Washington D.C. restaurant Cafe Milano in Georgtown with Baturina, Rakishev and Pozharsky in 2014 and 2015. Biden also met with Li of BHR in China in 2013. Biden met with Ye at the meeting in 2017, according to testimony from Hunter Biden's ex-business partners Rob Walker and Devon Archer. 

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

The revelations come ahead of highly-anticipated testimony from another ex-business associate of the first son--Tony Bobulinski. 

Bobulinski is set to testify behind closed doors Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. at the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees. 

Bobulinski, who worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint-venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC, said he met with Joe Biden in 2017. 

Bobulinski, in December, demanded Biden "stop lying" about that meeting and called on him to "correct the record."

"Why is Joe Biden blatantly lying to the American people and the world by claiming that he did not meet with me face to face?" Bobulinski told Fox News Digital in a statement. "He should call his son Hunter and brother Jim as they can remind him of the facts. The American people deserve the truth!"

HUNTER DEMANDED $10M FROM CHINESE ENERGY FIRM BECAUSE 'BIDENS ARE THE BEST,' HAVE 'CONNECTIONS'

He added: "I call on Mr. Biden to stop lying and correct the record."

Despite Biden’s recent denials of involvement with his son’s business dealings, text messages dating back to May 2017 reveal that Biden met with Bobulinski months after he left the vice president's office. Fox News Digital first reported on the text messages and that meeting in October 2020.

The meeting on May 2, 2017, would have taken place just 11 days before the now-infamous May 13, 2017, email, which included a discussion of "remuneration packages" for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Biden as "Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC," in a reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.

The email includes a note that "Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate." A proposed equity split references "20" for "H" and "10 held by H for the big guy?" with no further details.

Bobulinski has repeatedly said "the big guy" was Joe Biden. IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who claimed that politics had influenced the years-long federal investigation into Hunter Biden, also said "the big guy" was known to be Joe Biden.

The president's brother, Jim Biden, is expected to testify on Feb. 21. Hunter Biden is expected to appear for his deposition on Feb. 28. 

GOP senator fumes over Biden admin providing veteran medical resources to illegal immigrants

President Biden is facing increased scrutiny over his administration providing health care administrative services to illegal migrants amid a worsening border crisis, potentially exacerbating long wait times for American veterans utilizing Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) facilities.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., touted his recently introduced No VA Resources for Illegal Aliens Act, which he introduced alongside Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., that would ban such action, one of the many problems he says are facing the country as a result of the border "disaster" taking place under Biden's watch.

"[Biden's] decided, OK, we've got to feed all these 10 million people we've let come across the border, we've got to house them, and we've got to give them health care," Tuberville said. "They've opened up care from the doctors in these [VA] community care systems. The lines now in the VA's are getting longer. Our funds that are supposed to go to the veterans are going to these illegal immigrants that are coming across."

KAMALA HARRIS ‘READY TO SERVE’ AS DEMOCRATS SOUND ALARM ABOUT BIDEN'S AGE: REPORT

Tuberville lamented that the VA was already not able to provide care for all 19 million veterans living across the country and that the community systems he mentioned had helped reduce wait times until the border crisis began to get worse.

The arrangement between the VA's Financial Service Center (VA-FSC) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to process claims for migrant medical care is a longstanding one that actually predates the Biden administration and was outlined in a 2020 memo during former President Trump's administration.

When an illegal migrant under ICE detention requires health care, they are typically treated onsite by medical professionals. However, if specialist or emergency care is required, they may be taken to an independent private provider.

TREASURY CONFIRMS TERMS LIKE ‘MAGA,’ TRUMP,' KAMALA,' ‘BIDEN’ USED IN PRIVATE BANK TRANSACTION SEARCHES

In such cases, ICE contracts with the VA’s Financial Service Center (VA-FSC) to process reimbursements to those providers. According to a report from July, ICE has hundreds of letters of understanding in which ICE’s Health Service Corps (IHSC) will reimburse providers at Medicare rates. That uses the VA-FSC’s Healthcare Claims Processing System, which a portal that allows providers to submit and view claims and access other resources.

The VA told Fox News Digital in December that it has had an interagency agreement with the IHSC since 2002 to provide processing, but it also noted that the department neither provides health care nor pays for it. Under the agreement with IHSC, ICE pays fees for the claims processing services rendered and covers disbursements made to pay for claims.

However, the crisis at the border, with record numbers of migrants crossing into the U.S. and needing medical care, has likely worsened what one former veterans' affairs adviser told Fox News Digital in December was a "history of a backlog of medical claims which has resulted in veterans getting bills they shouldn't be getting, and … having dissatisfied community care providers who are not getting paid in a timely manner."

BIDEN CONSIDERED RESIGNING VICE PRESIDENCY ‘IN PROTEST’ OVER OBAMA'S AFGHANISTAN POLICY: HUR REPORT

Tuberville expressed hope that the bill could get some bipartisan support, considering the election year and that a number of Democrats up for reelection are running close races.

"I think we've got a great opportunity to get this, maybe not to a vote, but at least where we discuss it on the floor, where the American people start to understand it," he said. "An election year is a great year to try to get some kind of bipartisan help on any type of bill, especially when it comes to the veterans. That means so much to us here in our country."

Tuberville went on to blast the Biden administration's selling of border wall materials purchased under the previous administration rather than using them as a barrier to deter border crossings, and he blasted Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who narrowly survived an impeachment vote last week, as a "globalist" who has no interest in walls or borders.

"If we don't get a guy like President Trump in office, heaven help us. I don't know what we're going to do," he added.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

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

GOP senators continue break with Trump as foreign aid approaches final passage

Senate Republican Ukraine advocates swept away a last-minute cavalcade of attacks on Monday evening, defeating a conservative filibuster of the $95 billion aid package and putting it on a glide path to clearing the chamber.

The 66-33 vote advanced the bill toward final passage, which is expected to take place by midweek, if not earlier. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has objected to moving forward more quickly, and conservative opponents have used the delay to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at the proposal.

Those attacks are taking their toll, to an extent: 39 Senate Republicans supported a standalone $40 billion Ukraine bill two years ago, a number that’s now roughly sliced in half. That reflects the sustained attacks on Ukraine by GOP opponents, including former President Donald Trump, whose verbal assaults carry more weight by the day as he marches toward the Republican nomination.

Still, those fusillades have almost certainly failed to stop passage in the Democratic-controlled Senate. There's no such guarantee over in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson criticized the bill Monday, casting doubt on its future.

“There are chaotic times. And as a support of Ukraine, Israel and our industrial base, it’s adequate. It’s good enough,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) of the Republican support in the Senate.

It’s been roughly 14 months since Congress approved new funding for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s attacks and the latest tranche is expected to pass the Senate just ahead of the Munich Security Conference, which focuses on threats to international security.

Once a hawkish party that attacked Democrats for being weak on funding national security, now the GOP is split between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s more interventionist views and those of Trump, who said any more money to Ukraine needs to take the form of a loan. And the run-up to the vote reflected the intense tension in the Republican Party over continuing to fund Ukraine, which receives roughly $60 billion under the legislation. The rest is destined for Taiwan, Israel and humanitarian assistance for Gaza.

Ukraine opponents met late Monday evening and came out resolving to to delay the bill as long as they can, even if it requires holding the Senate floor overnight. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said they will use as "much time as we can" on the Senate floor.

"We're not helping Ukraine at this point in time. We're fueling a bloody stalemate. It makes no sense," Johnson said after the meeting.

Trump spent the weekend railing against the bill and said he would not defend NATO allies who did not fulfill spending commitments under the international agreement, comments which splits Republicans. A group of conservative senators took to the Senate floor Monday afternoon to denounce the bill; later in the day, some joined Elon Musk on a social media channel to continue the attacks.

On the social media channel, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) questioned the spending pointedly: "This thing still has about $8 billion going directly to the Government of Ukraine. They are not choirboys."

And in a sign of conservatives' fervent pressure campaign to kill the package, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) argued in a Monday morning memo to his colleagues that Trump could be impeached again if he withholds Ukraine funding provided by the bill. Ukraine supporters rebuffed Vance’s argument, but it was picked up across the right-leaning media ecosystem.

“First of all, Trump has to get elected president. Second, Democrats have to get the House. And then they have to think this is the only thing they could use to impeach Donald Trump,” said retiring Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who voted to convict the former president in both impeachment trials. “I can assure you that if Donald Trump becomes president and the Democrats get the House, they'll be able to find many opportunities to impeach Donald Trump if they wish.”

Amid the crosscurrents, some Republicans were deliberating over their final vote, with some still pushing for certain amendment votes in exchange for their approval. That's been severely complicated by Paul’s unwillingness to speed up the process, since Democrats are reluctant to allow amendments without expediting passage.

That led to some GOP senators voting against moving the bill forward. On Monday, some of them were still assessing their vote on final passage of a massive national security spending bill with no border components — sending it to an uncertain fate in the House — after the bipartisan border deal fell apart last week.

“My goal is to be a yes. But also remembering there’s another stage to this, and that’s the House of Representatives. And so we need to help them,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). “Otherwise, there’s no point in just making a point.”

Speaker Johnson made clear he cares little for the Senate bill in a statement on Monday evening. Though he rejected the Senate's bipartisan border negotiations last week, he criticized the Senate's bill for lacking a border component.

It's just the latest sign of uncertainty for Ukraine aid. Johnson said "the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters. America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”

Anthony Adragna contributed to this report.

Posted in Uncategorized

Sen Paul says Ukraine aid package would ‘tie the hands’ of future administrations

Several conservatives agree with Sen. JD Vance's memo circulated early Monday that there's a "hidden" clause in the national security supplemental bill that he believes could be grounds to impeach former President Donald Trump from office if elected to office later this year. 

Vance sent a memo to GOP lawmakers highlighting that the bill, which would send billions of federal dollars to Ukraine, 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.

Vance's memo claimed that the supplemental bill "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," and he urged Republicans to block its passage. 

SEN. VANCE MEMO WARNS GOP COLLEAGUES OF ‘SYSTEMIC FAILURES’ IN US AID TO UKRAINE

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, said he supported Vance's memo on Monday, arguing that Democrats are "setting up" for a possible Trump presidential win.

"They're locking in foreign aid that will even tie the hands of the next president," Paul told Fox News Digital in an interview. "So, I think it's a terrible idea. But also, if the next President were to try to have a different policy, you can see the Democrats again starting an impeachment."

"I think they're going to try to impeach him before he gains office now, and that's exactly what this is," he said.

Mark Paoletta, former Office of Management and Budget (OMB) General Counsel during the Trump Administration, told Fox News Digital in a statement that the clause in the bill text is an "effort to inappropriately tie President Trump’s hands in his next term by locking in Ukraine funding for multiple years." 

"In a presidential election year, Congress should not be making long-term funding commitments, particularly in foreign policy, that will attempt to tie the hands of the next commander in chief," Paoletta said. "President Trump had every right to pause the Ukraine funding for about 60 days, given his concerns about corruption in Ukraine and how best to spend those funds."

He added, "As OMB General Counsel, I issued the legal justification to pause the funding, and would do it again today."

Russ Vought, a former Trump cabinet member, also agreed with Vance's memo and said in a post on X that Vance is "absolutely right to interpret these Ukraine provisions" in this manner. 

PENTAGON FINALLY RUNS OUT OF MONEY FOR UKRAINE, URGES 50 ALLIES TO CONTINUE SUPPORTING KYIV

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said the provision in the bill "is gonna force him to send money and spend money for Ukraine."

"This is in the bill," Tuberville told Fox News Digital. "So, it's just another situation where the Democrats are doing something and working towards making sure that money's spent in a certain area where American taxpayers and this country don't have."

The Trump administration, through the OMB, withheld a total of about $400 million of security assistance from Ukraine in 2019. This came just before Trump asked Ukrainian President Voldomyr Zelenskyy to investigate the family of his 2020 rival, Joe Biden, and while the White House allegedly was withholding an Oval Office visit from Zelenskyy in exchange for that investigation.

These actions are what fueled the impeachment effort against Trump, in which he was ultimately acquitted. 

Trump has indicated that if he is elected president this year, he would resolve the war in Ukraine "within 24 hours." 

RUSSIAN LAWMAKERS WEIGH BILL TO SEIZE PROPERTY FROM THOSE WHO CRITICIZE PUTIN'S INVASION OF UKRAINE

The supplemental package, on track for final passage this week in the upper chamber, would send billions of federal dollars to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. The bill text includes $1.6 billion to finance Ukraine's military as well as just under $14 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, set to expire on Sept. 30, 2025. 

"These are the exact same accounts President Trump was impeached for pausing in December 2019," Vance wrote in a memo distributed to GOP offices early Monday. "Every single House Republican voted against this impeachment solution."

The Senate is gearing up for the last round of procedural votes Monday night to push the supplemental package forward for a final vote this week, despite several Republicans in opposition who are avoiding a time agreement to continue filibustering. It's unclear if the bill would pass in the GOP-led House. 

A former version of this bill that included border-related provisions failed to pass in the Senate last week. 

The offices of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. R-Ky., did not respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment on Vance's memo.

Fox News' Tyler Olson and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.