Jordan subpoenas Mayorkas for case files of illegal immigrants with murder, terror charges
FIRST ON FOX: Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee on Friday subpoenaed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for documents regarding case files of illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes including murder and terrorism. In a cover letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, Chairman Jim Jordan says that the committee has been seeking the alien files (A-files) of 14 illegal immigrants “charged with serious crimes, such as theft, brutal assault, murder, and terrorism-related charges.” “The Committee has followed up on its requests – the vast majority of which have remained outstanding for months on end – regularly and on numerous occasions,” Jordan says. TOP HOUSE GOP COMMITTEE RENEWS DEMAND FOR DOCS FROM DHS ON TEXAS BORDER WIRE CUTTING However, he says that there have only been partial summaries of two A-files produced, with only limited productions. Since then, the committee wrote to DHS in November seeking the outstanding 14 documents, but says it has not received anything. “Your response without compulsory process has, to date, been woefully inadequate,” Jordan says. Jordan says the Supreme Court has recognized that Congress has broad power to conduct oversight and the committee has jurisdiction to conduct oversight of matters relating to federal immigration law. “These potential legislative reforms could include, among other proposals, legislation to enhance the vetting of aliens to ensure criminal aliens are not released into American communities and proposals to end mass catch-and-release. The information the Committee has requested is necessary to inform such potential reforms and to understand DHS’s current application of the immigration laws,” he says. “Accordingly, and in light of your disregard of our earlier voluntary requests, please find attached a subpoena for the requested documents and information,” he says. Mayorkas is required by the subpoena to produce the documents to the committee on Jan. 8. MIGRANT CRISIS SMASHING NEW RECORDS AMID FRESH SURGE AT SOUTHERN BORDER The subpoena marks the latest escalation of efforts by House Republicans to investigate the ongoing crisis at the southern border, where new records have been set for migrant traffic. Republicans have hammered the administration, and specifically Mayorkas, over the crisis — which they say has been caused by the policies of the administration. Specifically, they point to an increase in “catch-and-release,” reduced interior enforcement, the ending of border wall construction, and other rollbacks of Trump-era policies. House Republicans have introduced and passed their own legislation that would restart border wall construction and limit asylum and the use of parole. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has said it is dealing with a hemisphere-wide crisis and is working within a “broken” system that needs additional funding and comprehensive immigration reform from Congress. TEXAS AG PAXTON SUES BIDEN ADMIN OVER CUTTING OF RAZOR WIRE AT SOUTHERN BORDER: ‘THIS IS ILLEGAL’ The White House has requested over $14 billion in supplemental border funding, but it is currently being negotiated in Congress as Republicans are seeking limits to the use of humanitarian parole by the administration and stricter standards for initial asylum screenings. Democrats have balked at that idea, with some saying it would need to be accompanied by amnesty for some illegal immigrants already in the U.S. President Biden this week said that he is open to “significant compromises,” while Mayorkas has said that some GOP proposals were worthy of consideration while others were not. The subpoena comes just hours after Judiciary Committee Republicans also pushed for more information on a migrant surge in Texas in Sept. 20, and the cutting of razor wire set up by the state of Texas by federal officials.
Indiana county judge strikes down ‘unconstitutional’ voting law in favor of GOP Senate hopeful
An Indiana county judge ruled Thursday a contested state law that stipulates voting requirements for candidates’ party affiliation is unconstitutional, dealing a win to a U.S. Senate hopeful who is seeking to run as a Republican in the primary. The Marion County judge granted the injunction sought by John Rust, former chair of the egg supplier Rose Acre Farms who is running to replace Sen. Mike Braun. Rust filed a lawsuit in September against Secretary of State Diego Morales, the Indiana Election Commission and Jackson County Republican Party Chair Amanda Lowery to challenge the law and ensure the possibility of his place on the ballot. The law in question says a candidate’s past two primary elections must be cast with the party the candidate is affiliated with or a county party chair must approve the candidacy. In court documents, Rust argued that this statute “should be struck down as being unconstitutionally vague and overly broad.” ANOTHER REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER RETIRES FROM INDIANA LEGISLATURE “It is a spectacular victory for the voters of Indiana,” Rust said when reached by phone Thursday evening. It was not immediately clear if the secretary of state will appeal the decision. The Associated Press sent an email to its office and left messages with its attorneys Thursday. Rust voted as a Republican in the 2016 primary but as a Democrat in 2012. He did not vote in the 2020 Republican primary due to the pandemic and the lack of competitive Republican races in Jackson County, the lawsuit said. Rust said his Democratic votes were for people he personally knew. Lowery, the county’s Republican Party chair, said in a July meeting with Rust that she would not certify him, according to the lawsuit. Rust has said Lowery later cited his primary voting record. FORMER REPUBLICAN INDIANA AG CURTIS HILL ENTERS 2024 PRIMARY RACE TO REPLACE OUTGOING GOP GOV HOLCOMB When reached by phone, Lowery said she believes party chairs from both parties will be disappointed by the ruling, and questioned how candidacy can be determined without the primary record. She expects the ruling to be appealed. In a November hearing, Rust said the law keeps legitimate candidates who have recently moved to Indiana or have switched political identifications from running for office. In his ruling, Marion County Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Dietrick said the law “unduly burdens Hoosiers’ long recognized right to freely associate with the political party of one’s choosing and to cast one’s vote effectively.” He also ordered the defendants to pay Rust’s attorney fees. Rust still faces an uphill challenge for the GOP nomination. U.S. Rep. Jim Banks has received the endorsement of the Indiana Republican Party and former President Donald Trump. Rust must also fulfill a signature quota for the nomination. Casting himself as a conservative gay man with an “outsider’s voice” to Washington D.C., Rust is the former chair of his family business Rose Acre Farms in southern Indiana. Rose Acre Farms identifies itself as the second-largest egg producer in the U.S. SELF-DESCRIBED ‘GAY CONSERVATIVE’ EGG FARMER CHALLENGES JIM BANKS IN INDIANA GOP SENATE PRIMARY The company was one of four major egg producers in the country accused of fixing the price of eggs in the 2000s. A jury in an Illinois federal court recently ruled the producers conspired to limit the domestic supply of eggs to increase prices between 2004-2008 and ordered the companies to pay $17.7 million in damages. The ruling inflamed the Senate race. Rep. Banks has accused Rust of being a “conman pretending to be a Republican.” Rose Acre Farms has denied any wrongdoing and Rust has said the verdict will be appealed. Sen. Mike Braun is vacating the seat in his bid for governor.
What about Bob? Santos’ expulsion sets new precedent, but Sen Menendez is hanging on
What about Bob? As in Sen. Bob. Menendez, D-N.J.? That is, indicted Sen. Bob. Menendez, D-N.J. The senator faces charges of being a foreign agent for Egypt. “How can you eject (former Rep. George) Santos, R-N.Y., and not really have any kind of actions for a real sleazeball like Menendez?” asked Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. SENATE LEADERS SILENT ON POTENTIAL EXPULSION OF SEN. MENENDEZ AFTER REP. SANTOS OUSTED The Pennsylvania Democrat noted that a federal court just cleared Menendez on corruption charges a few years ago. “This is the second dance to the prom,” said Fetterman. “He must believe he was empowered or can get away (with) it.” Fetterman is new to the Senate, so he is still learning the upper chamber’s folkways. “You have to be trying really hard to get expelled in the Senate,” opined Fetterman. For decades, there was an unofficial standard for what it took for the House and Senate to expel a lawmaker. One had to either be a convict or a Confederate. Both the House and Senate ousted a slate of Confederates in the 1860s. Then, the House expelled former Rep. Ozzie Myers, D-Penn., in 1980 and late Rep. Jim Traficant, D-Ohio, in 2002. Both were found guilty in federal court. The one anomaly for expulsion was late Tennessee Sen. William Blount in 1797. The Senate booted Blount over treason for trying to help the British. GOLD BARS STASHED IN DEM SENATOR’S HOME RECOVERED AFTER 2013 VIOLENT ROBBERY However, everyone else was a Confederate or a convict. That was until George Santos. Santos was charged with defrauding his own campaign and faces a litany of federal charges. A House Ethics Committee report found that the former congressman bilked donors out of money and used the cash to buy luxury items at Hermes and receive Botox treatments. Santos faces trial in February. Menendez goes on trial in May. Both Santos and Menendez hold a parallel legal status. However, one remains in office, and one is gone. But is there a new precedent on Capitol Hill after the expulsion of Santos? House Democrats were ready to pounce had Republicans failed to expel Santos last week. A failure to expel Santos from the House would have been a gift to Democrats. The party could point to the refusal of Republicans to expel Santos as an example of what was wrong with the House majority heading into 2024. That is on top of general chaos which saturated the House all year long. A five-day speaker election in January. The removal of the speaker in October. A three-week struggle to tap a new speaker — incinerating three candidates along the way. A dance with the debt ceiling. Two flirtations with government shutdowns. And then there were various scuffles over failed spending bills and other initiatives. However, the expulsion of Santos could present an opportunity for Senate Republicans to hammer Democrats about Menendez. Republicans could use such an approach to target vulnerable lawmakers facing tough re-elections this year in red or purple states. Think Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pa., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Jon Tester, D-Mont. The double standard between Santos and Menendez seems obvious. But so far, Republicans are not seizing the opportunity. “This is an internal problem with the majority,” replied Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., when asked about Menendez. “He obviously has some external problems. I’ll leave it up to the majority leader to decide how to deal with it.” McConnell also noted that he was “glad” Menendez is “not a Republican.” Yours truly asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., if the Ethics Committee should probe Menendez the same way the House Ethics panel investigated Santos and if senators should kick him out. Schumer dodged. “The Senate has standards as to proper behavior and Sen. Menendez’s behavior has fallen way below that,” replied Schumer, before moving on to another question. CNN’s Manu Raju asked Schumer if it was “appropriate” for Menendez to attend a classified briefing on Ukraine, considering that he is charged with operating on behalf of the Egyptians. At the time, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy was scheduled to speak to senators at the briefing via a secure video conference line. “He has a right to do it as a senator,” replied Schumer of Menendez. “You’ll have to ask him.” Like in the House, it also takes two-thirds to expel a senator. It is unclear if the Senate could ever reach that bar with Menendez. The Senate has not expelled anyone since 1862 — although it did flirt with potential expulsion for the late Sen. Harrison Williams, D-N.J., in the 1980s. The same with former Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., in the 1990s. It is about the “math” if the Senate were to expel Menendez. However, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., has a theory about Democratic inaction regarding the New Jersey Democrat. “Democrats don’t do this to their guys. They protect their members,” charged Donalds. “Number two, they’ve got a slim majority in the Senate. And Chuck Schumer is not going to give that up over an indictment. That’s why the there’s no resolution in the Senate. Let’s just call it what it is.” The Senate breakdown is currently 51 senators who caucus with the Democrats and 49 Republicans. So even if the Senate expelled Menendez, Democrats would cling to a 50-49 majority, and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, would still appoint a Democrat to the Senate. FETTERMAN DEMANDS SEN. MENENDEZ TO BE EXPELLED FROM SENATE ON ‘THE VIEW’: ‘SENATOR FOR EGYPT NOT NEW JERSEY’ Possibly his wife? Tammy Murphy is running for Menendez’s seat in the Democratic primary. The Senate would be 50-50 if Democrats somehow lost the New Jersey seat. However, based on the operating agreements of “tied Senates” in 2001-2002, and 2021-2002, Democrats would likely maintain control because of the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris — serving as president of the Senate. Schumer was not the only Democrat unwilling to weigh in on whether Menendez should face the
Top House GOP committee renews demand for docs from DHS on Texas border wire cutting
FIRST ON FOX: Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are pushing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for documents and information related to moves by the administration to cut razor wire set up by the state of Texas to allow illegal immigrants deeper into the interior. Chairman Jim Jordan, as well as Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock and Subcommittee on Responsiveness and Accountability to Oversight Chairman Ben Cline, have written to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas following up on two requests for more information about the situation in Eagle Pass, Texas in September. On Sept. 20, a massive surge of mostly Venezuelan illegal immigrants surged into Eagle Pass, leading to the closing of two bridges as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) struggled to deal with the numbers they were seeing. MIGRANT CRISIS SMASHING NEW RECORDS AMID FRESH SURGE AT SOUTHERN BORDER “While thousands of illegal aliens flooded into Eagle Pass, shutting down lawful commerce across the bridges, the Biden Administration’s DHS cut and removed Concertina wire and fencing installed as a deterrent by state and local governments, helping the aliens cross illegally,” the lawmakers say. The cutting of the border wire, set up by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as part of Operation Lone Star to deter illegal immigration, set off a furor among Republicans, with Texas suing the administration. That case is still ongoing. TEXAS AG PAXTON SUES BIDEN ADMIN OVER CUTTING OF RAZOR WIRE AT SOUTHERN BORDER: ‘THIS IS ILLEGAL’ A DHS spokesperson told Fox at the time that it does not comment on pending litigation but “generally speaking, Border Patrol agents have a responsibility under federal law to take those who have crossed onto U.S. soil without authorization into custody for processing, as well as to act when there are conditions that put our workforce or migrants at risk.” The Judiciary Committee Republicans wrote to Mayorkas on Nov. 6 requesting information about the crisis, including the cutting of fences by Border Patrol, and followed up again on Nov. 22 with the DHS’ Office of Legislative Affairs. “To date, however, the Department has not replied or provided an adequate response to our requests,” they say. They noted that influxes of migrants “are becoming more and more common” which they say “underscores the importance of the Committee’s oversight.” CONGRESS STALLS ON TACKLING BORDER SECURITY AS MIGRANTS STREAM IN WITH NO END IN SIGHT They have set a deadline of Dec. 22 for information on the matter. “Please be advised that the Committee may be forced to resort to compulsory process if these requests remain outstanding,” they add. The letter comes amid a new surge in migrants at the border this week, during which a new record for daily encounters was set when more than 12,000 migrants were encountered at the border. Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats are working to find a deal on supplemental spending, with ongoing talks about border security measures. The White House has requested $14 billion for border operations, but Republicans want to see stricter standards on asylum and a reduced use of humanitarian parole.
Weather update: IMD predicts heavy rains, hailstorm in several states for coming weekend; check latest forecast
Tomorrow morning, there will probably be dense fog in a few isolated areas over Punjab, Haryana, and East Uttar Pradesh. Furthermore, comparable weather patterns are anticipated for Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura from tomorrow through Monday.
‘For next 30 years, I will…’: TMC MP Mahua Moitra makes big statement after getting expelled from Lok Sabha
TMC MP Mahua Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha after a discussion on the report of the Ethics Committee in the ‘cash for query’ that was tabled in the Lower House today.
Biden admin facing congressional probe for sending billions to solar company accused of scamming elderly
FIRST ON FOX: Republican leaders in the House and Senate are probing the Department of Energy (DOE) over its recent $3 billion award to a solar energy company that has been accused of scamming vulnerable customers. In a letter to DOE Loan Programs Office Director Jigar Shah, the Republicans — House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Ranking Member John Barrasso, R-Wyo. — expressed concern about rewarding the Houston-based Sunnova Energy Corporation. They cited reports highlighting how Sunnova has previously scammed and misled consumers. “We are alarmed about recent, credible reports that Sunnova has racked up numerous consumer complaints, including those alleging troubling sales practices, such as Sunnova pressing elderly homeowners in poor health to sign long-term contracts costing tens of thousands of dollars,” they wrote to Shah. “These reports cite interviews with individuals who struggled to deal with large contracts that their elderly parents signed shortly before passing away as well as state consumer complaints alleging maintenance delays and predatory sales strategies,” the letter continued. BIDEN’S BILLION-DOLLAR PLAN TO BUILD 500,000 EV CHARGERS HAS YET TO YIELD A SINGLE CHARGER In late September, the DOE Loan Programs Office announced that it had closed on a $3 billion partial loan guarantee to Sunnova’s Project Hestia which will provide solar and battery storage to low-income individuals, as part of President Biden’s sweeping green energy agenda. The agreement marked the federal government’s largest commitment ever made to solar power. The announcement stated that the project will provide loans for clean energy systems for approximately 75,000 to 115,000 homeowners throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. But, while the reports cited in the letter by McMorris Rodgers and Barrasso focus on specific incidents, the Republican leaders wrote in their letter that those reports “are not isolated incidents.” HOUSE PANEL TO PROBE BIDEN ADMIN’S NEGOTIATIONS WITH ECO GROUPS TRYING TO TEAR DOWN KEY POWER SOURCE Earlier this year, for example, the Better Business Bureau issued an alert for Sunnova and assigned it an “F rating” over its pattern of “deceptive sales practices,” poor customer service and repair technicians not arriving on schedule. And consumers reported that their issues were only resolved by Sunnova after filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. “To this date, despite countless phone calls, we still have not received service for that part almost 5 months later,” one complaint filed in October with the Better Business Bureau states. “Our panels have not been working, therefore we are not receiving any benefit for them given that we are not receiving any credit with our electrical company due to them not working. We have tried over 100 times to call and work with the company to get them fixed.” “Our solar system (Sunova) [sic.] has not been working properly for 4+ months,” another October complaint states. “We have contacted Sunova [sic.] multiple times with little to no action. Our contract states that Sunova [sic.] will monitor our system and if there is an issue will fix in a timely manner. We have been fighting with this company for months to fix our system with no success. We have paid over a thousand dollars for electricity to national grid since our system isn’t working. Sunova [sic.] is in breach of contract.” US MILITARY BASE’S GREEN ENERGY PROJECT WITH CCP TIES DISCONNECTED OVER NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS In 2019, Puerto Rico’s Energy Bureau published a report, USA Today reported, that accused Sunnova of misleading consumers on the costs, contract length and potential savings from their services. The report went as far as to state that the company’s “practices during the contracting process are not consistent with the obligations that power companies have.” Sunnova, which owns a majority of the residential market share in Puerto Rico, was hit with 436 complaints in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, the report stated. And the Washington Free Beacon reported last month that Sunnova has allegedly scammed vulnerable consumers including the elderly and sick. The report pointed to multiple examples of door-to-door Sunnova salesmen persuading such individuals to sign 25-year solar panel leases. “It was truly ripping off old people,” Terry Blythe, a Texas resident, told the outlet. “It was the biggest ripoff I’ve ever seen.” Blythe said her late father had been coerced into signing a 25-year solar panel lease in 2020 when he was 86 years old and suffering from dementia. Sunnova was founded in 2012 and ultimately went public seven years later in 2019. The company offers to install rooftop solar panels, mainly for residential customers, in exchange for a low-cost lease. However, in recent years, the company has lost hundreds of millions of dollars and its stock price has plummeted. In 2021, it lost $147.5 million, in 2022, it lost $130 million and, since January 2021, its stock price has fallen more than 77%. The DOE and Sunnova didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Here’s what’s in Hunter Biden’s new California indictment
President Biden’s embattled son Hunter Biden is facing a new set of tax-related charges in California. Hunter Biden is facing nine charges alleging a “four-year scheme” when he did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports. The charges break down to three felonies and six misdemeanors centered around $1.4 million in owed taxes that were since paid. HUNTER BIDEN FACES NEW INDICTMENT IN CALIFORNIA Special Counsel David Weiss alleged Hunter “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020.” Weiss said that, in “furtherance of that scheme,” the younger Biden “subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions” from the company “outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform.” The special counsel alleged that Hunter “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” and that in 2018, he “stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015.” Weiss alleged that Hunter “willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes,” and that he “willfully failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns on time.” FROM SEX CLUBS TO STRIPPERS: HERE ARE THE 5 MOST SALACIOUS DETAILS FROM THE HUNTER BIDEN INDICTMENT “[W]hen he did finally file his 2018 returns, included false business deductions in order to evade assessment of taxes to reduce the substantial tax liabilities he faced as of February 2020,” Weiss alleged. Counts one, two, four and nine allege that Hunter did not pay his taxes in the years 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. Counts three and five allege that Hunter failed to file his taxes in the years 2017 and 2018, respectively. Count five of the indictment noted that Hunter raked in a “gross income in excess of $2.1 million” and alleged the presidential scion failed to pay his taxes on his millions of dollars of income. Count six alleges Hunter’s “evasion of assessment for 2018 Form 1040” regarding his taxes, while count seven alleges Hunter filed “a false and fraudulent 2018 Form 1040.” The sixth count also alleges Hunter “finally filed his 2018 Form 1040 in 2020 in order to avoid being held in contempt of court in two civil proceedings.” Additionally, count eight alleges Hunter filed “a false and fraudulent 2018 Form 1120.” Hunter pleaded not guilty in October to federal gun charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware after being charged out of Weiss’ yearslong investigation. Thursday’s development comes ahead of an expected vote from House Republican leaders next week on a measure that would formally initiate an impeachment inquiry into President Biden over possible ties to his son’s business dealings. Hunter’s defense attorney Abbe Lowell attacked Weiss over the Thursday charges, accusing the special counsel of “bowing to Republican pressure” when talking to the press. “Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought,” Lowell said in a statement. Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz, Jake Gibson, David Spuntz and The Associated Press contributed reporting.
UPSC IAS Mains Result 2023 to release soon; Know where, how to check
The UPSC CSE Mains Result 2023 can be out anytime, check below for the latest updates.
‘Shame on BJP’: Mamata Banerjee accuses BJP of vendetta politics for expelling TMC MP Mahua Moitra from Lok Sabha
Mamata Banerjee who on Friday was in Kurseong accused the BJP of indulging in vendetta politics and said that her party was standing behind the now expelled member of Parliament Mahua Moitra.