Comer, Jordan post official notice for Hunter Biden deposition next week, despite his refusal to commit
FIRST ON FOX: The House Oversight Committee and Judiciary Committee posted an official notice for Hunter Biden’s deposition next week, despite the president’s son so far refusing to comply with the subpoena to testify behind closed doors. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed Hunter Biden to appear for a deposition on Dec. 13 behind closed doors. Hunter Biden’s attorney notified Comer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Wednesday that the president’s son would only appear for testimony before the committee in a public setting. COMER, JORDAN THREATEN TO HOLD HUNTER BIDEN IN CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS AFTER HE REJECTS SUBPOENA FOR DEPOSITION Comer and Jordan, on Wednesday, threatened to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress if he does not appear for his Dec. 13 deposition. Fox News Digital obtained the official notice for Hunter Biden’s deposition, which the committees posted on Thursday. The notice’s subject is “Deposition of Robert Hunter Biden,” and is set to take place at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 13. Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell first notified the committee last week that the president’s son wanted to testify in a public hearing instead. Comer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, last week said Hunter Biden would not receive special treatment and was compelled to appear for a closed-door deposition. They vowed to release the transcript of his testimony shortly after it takes place and vowed to schedule a public hearing at a later date. COMER, JORDAN DEMAND HUNTER BIDEN APPEAR FOR DEPOSITION, SAY HE WILL NOT RECEIVE ‘SPECIAL TREATMENT’ Lowell on Wednesday sent a letter to Comer, saying Hunter Biden will only appear for testimony in a public hearing setting. “Mr. Biden has offered to appear at a hearing on the December 13, 2023, date you have reserved, or another date this month, to answer any question pertinent and relevant to the subject matter,” Lowell wrote. “He is making this choice because the Committee has demonstrated time and time again it uses closed-door sessions to manipulate, even distort, the facts and misinform the American public — a hearing would ensure transparency and truth in these proceedings,” Lowell said. “We look forward to working out the schedule.” COMER DEFENDS PRIVATE DEPOSITION OF HUNTER BIDEN, VOWS TO RELEASE TRANSCRIPT AND HOLD PUBLIC HEARING Comer and Jordan replied, threatening to hold the president’s son in contempt. “On November 8, 2023, we issued subpoenas to your client, Robert Hunter Biden, for a deposition on December 13, 2023,” they wrote. “Contrary to the assertions in your letter, there is no ‘choice’ for Mr. Biden to make; the subpoenas compel him to appear for a deposition on December 13,” Comer and Jordan wrote. “If Mr. Biden does not appear for his deposition on December 13, 2023, the Committees will initiate contempt of Congress proceedings,” they wrote. House Oversight Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., blasted Republicans on Wednesday. “Hunter Biden will answer questions under oath in front of the world—but unless he testifies in secret so he can be misquoted, [Comer] will hold him in contempt? ” Raskin posted to X. “What a joke.” He added: “Jim Jordan blew off HIS subpoena. Comer doesn’t want the truth—and can’t handle it.”
Georgia redistricting plan heads to Kemp’s desk after clearing Legislature
For Georgia Democrats who didn’t get what they want out of a special legislative session to redraw voting districts, their retort Thursday was simple: “We’ll see you in court.” State lawmakers on Thursday completed a special session with the House voting 98-71 to give final passage to a congressional map that preserves a 9-5 edge for Republicans in Georgia’s congressional delegation to Washington, while creating a court-ordered Black-majority district on the west side of metro Atlanta and sharply transforming a congressional district now represented by Democrat Lucy McBath “This plan adds the required district; it complies with Judge Jones’ order,” said House Redistricting and Reapportionment Committee Chairman Rob Leverett, a Republican from Elberton. “It fulfills our obligation as a General Assembly with respect to congressional districts.” GEORGIA’S REDRAWN CONGRESSIONAL MAP NEARS PASSAGE AS SPECIAL REDISTRICTING SESSION APPROACHES LIKELY END It joins a state House and state Senate map that also would safeguard GOP control of Georgia’s General Assembly. All three districting plans must be signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp before they become law. But while Kemp would normally have the last word, that won’t be the case this time. Instead, lawyers for the state and those who successfully sued to overturn earlier GOP-drawn maps will be back before U.S. District Judge Steve Jones on Dec. 20. They’ll argue whether lawmakers’ actions fulfilled Jones’ earlier order, in which he found congressional and legislative districts approved in 2021 illegally diluted the power of Black voters. If Jones disapproves of the maps, he could appoint a special master to redraw them for the court. “It looks like a virtual certainty that the special master will have the last say,” said Rep. Billy Mitchell, a Stone Mountain Democrat. Democrats argue that move violates the part of Jones’ order that says lawmakers couldn’t fix the map “by eliminating minority opportunity districts elsewhere.” The GOP congressional map creates a new majority-Black district in parts of Fulton, Douglas, Cobb and Fayette counties on Atlanta’s west side. But instead of targeting a Republican, it shifts McBath’s current majority nonwhite district in suburban Gwinnett and Fulton counties into a district tailored for current Republican U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, stretching from Atlanta’s northern suburbs into its heavily Republican northern mountains. “The Republican congressional map eliminated a minority opportunity district in Gwinnett County by obliterating Georgia’s 7th Congressional District,” said House Minority Whip Sam Park, a Lawrenceville Democrat. “It is self-evident that the Republican Party’s primary goal is to maintain political power at all costs, to the detriment of Georgia voters, representative democracy and the rule of law.” Democrats’ arguments revolve around the contention that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act protects districts made up of coalitions of nonwhite voters. They point to a 1990 case from Florida’s Hardee County. Republicans say that Jones’ order only protects majority-Black districts. “They’re interpreting it narrowly, to mean only majority-Black districts, and that’s not the law,” said Kareem Crayton, who studies redistricting New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. Republicans point to a recent decision by a three-judge panel that included Jones in another Georgia redistricting case that found the words on coalition districts adopted in the 1990 decision on Hardee County by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals were “dicta.” That’s a legal term for words that are not part of a binding precedent. “The 11th Circuit case that’s being sort of passed around as providing irrefutable support is not that at all,” Leverett said. Democrats also made a larger argument that Republicans are gerrymandering the maps to preserve their own power even though Georgia’s nonwhite population has grown and Democratic support has increased in recent elections. “It is self-evident that the Republican Party’s primary goal is to maintain political power at all costs, to the detriment of Georgia voters, representative democracy and the rule of law,” Park said. GEORGIA REPUBLICANS PUSH FORWARD WITH REDISTRICTING PLANS BY ADVANCING NEW LEGISLATIVE MAPS Republicans, though, say preserving power is not an improper goal, noting the Supreme Court has ruled that partisan gerrymandering is not illegal. They say that it’s Democrats who are improperly using the courts to increase their power. “The map does not use the Voting Rights Act to achieve political aims,” said Rep. Matt Reeves, a Duluth Republican. “It maintains the partisan balance that this body previously enacted.” It’s the second time in two years that Republicans have targeted McBath, a gun control activist. McBath, who is Black, initially won election in a majority-white district in Atlanta’s northern suburbs. Georgia Republicans in 2021 took that district, once represented by Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and drew it into much more Republican territory. At the same time, they made another district more Democratic. McBath jumped into that district and beat Democratic incumbent Carolyn Bordeaux in a 2022 primary. “This map blatantly targets my congresswoman, who unironically was also targeted during the 2020-2021 redistricting cycle,” said Rep. Jasmine Clark, a Lilburn Democrat. “While I’m sure the congresswoman is quite flattered by the GOP mapmakers obsession, it is not quite as flattering to the people of our congressional district that find themselves caught in the crossfire.”
Top abortion group faced wrath of AOC’s office for neglecting key priority to protect Dem majority: book
A new book reveals that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., squared off with Planned Parenthood in a dispute that eventually left her “floored” as she faced resistance on eliminating the Hyde Amendment, a top liberal priority. “The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution” by The Intercept’s Ryan Grim, which was released on Tuesday, provides an insider account of the progressive movement, specifically the “Squad.” One chapter describes a series of events beginning in spring 2019 where presidential candidate Joe Biden was facing “intense backlash” from his party for defending the Hyde Amendment, barring federal money for paying for abortions, and Ocasio-Cortez noted that the amendment was still in the Democrat appropriations bill. “Let’s take it out,” Ocasio-Cortez is said to have told her colleagues, since the Hyde Amendment was widely opposed by most Democrats and it “seemed like an easy one,” according to Grim’s book, with some Democrats thinking it was left in the bill by mistake. AOC CLAIMS WOMEN WILL FACE DOCTOR EXAMS IF BIOLOGICAL MEN BARRED FROM FEMALE SPORTS Ocasio-Cortez soon learned that it wasn’t a mistake, and she was reportedly told by fellow Democrats, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, that Senate Republicans and President Trump would never go along with a bill that stripped the Hyde Amendment so she should drop the idea. That’s when Ocasio-Cortez is said to have approached Planned Parenthood and, much to her chagrin, her former aide Dan Riffle was met with resistance. “AOC’s staff reached out to natural allies on the issue, Planned Parenthood, and NARAL, Pro-Choice America the biggest pro-choice players on the Hill,” Grim wrote. “Publicly, they were strident opponents of the Hyde Amendment and had lambasted Biden for his support of it. Riffle first spoke with Jacqueline Ayers, the top lobbyist for Planned Parenthood, and was surprised to learn that the organization did not want Democrats to try and remove the Hyde Amendment. Planned Parenthood’s reasoning was similar to DeLauro’s: we don’t have the votes in the Senate so we’ll lose.” AOC’S LIFE ‘TRANSFORMED’ FOR THE BETTER AFTER PELOSI’S SPEAKER STEPDOWN, UPCOMING BOOK REVEALS Riffle, according to the book, was told that Planned Parenthood would have to “score” the vote and push Democrats to oppose it if the Hyde Amendment were in it, since that was a stated goal of theirs, and that would force them to give Democrats a bad score, which could hurt their re-election chances. “But Riffle argued, ‘Isn’t it your mission to repeal Hyde and protect abortion rights?’” the book details. “‘Yes,’ she told him. ‘But we can’t do that if Democrats lose the majority so protecting them is the first order of business.’” REPUBLICANS CAN WIN ON ABORTION IF PRO-LIFERS TELL THEIR STORIES After being told by NARAL that they agreed with Planned Parenthood, Riffle relented but said he did not agree with the strategy and was “discouraged” by it. Shortly afterward, Biden reversed his position on the Hyde Amendment in an Atlanta speech. “Ocasio-Cortez was floored,” Grim wrote. “How was Joe Biden to the left of Planned Parenthood and NARAL on abortion rights? It made no sense.” “They’re one-daying us,” former top AOC aide Ariel Eckblad said, according to Grim. Grim wrote that AOC continued to “push” the abortion rights group, and they reached out to her directly to set up a meeting with women of color who support abortion, hoping that they could “sway” her. “At the last minute, AOC didn’t show up, sending an aide instead,” Grim wrote. “She was still intent on repeal.” Grim wrote that AOC eventually worked with fellow squad member Ayanna Pressley to introduce an amendment that ultimately failed to make waves. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Ocasio-Cortez spoke to Pressley, who was the chair of a caucus dedicated to promoting abortion rights, and agreed to cede the issue to her,” Grim wrote. “Pressley ended up writing an amendment that, for procedural reasons, was expected not to get through the rules committee. That would allow opponents of Hyde to make a run at it without forcing a vote or even a debate on the floor.” “As expected, the Pressley amendment was rejected before it could get to the floor. A Planned Parenthood official followed up by complaining to Ocasio-Cortez’s office that Riffle had been too gruff on the phone.” Fox News Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office and Planned Parenthood but did not immediately receive a response.
Trump to court sketch artist: ‘I gotta lose some weight’
A courtroom portrait led Donald Trump to deliver a blunt self-assessment on Thursday: “I gotta lose some weight.”
Biden won’t be dictated to by ‘extreme faction’ of Republicans -aide
President Joe Biden is willing to negotiate with opposition Republicans on U.S. border security in an effort to secure more aid for Ukraine, but not to being dictated to by an extreme wing of the party, a senior aide said on Thursday.
Conservative consulting group rebrands with new name after leader met with white supremacist Nick Fuentes
In a Nov. 13 filing with the Texas Secretary of State, an attorney for Pale Horse Strategies LLC wrote that the firm would also conduct future business under the name “West Fort Worth Management LLC.”
These three Democrats voted to censure ‘Squad’ Rep. Jamaal Bowman
Three House Democrats voted to censure “Squad” Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., for pulling the Cannon House Office Building’s fire alarm in September. The House voted on Thursday to censure Bowman over pulling the alarm, with three Democrats – Reps. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, Jahana Hays of Connecticut, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington – joining the chamber Republicans to pass the bill. Democrat Reps. Chrissy Houlahan and Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, Glenn Ivey of Maryland, and Deborah Ross of North Carolina all voted present, as did GOP Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland. HOUSE VOTES TO CENSURE REP JAMAAL BOWMAN FOR FIRE ALARM STUNT Pappas told Fox News Digital that he “voted to table this resolution because we have far more pressing issues to tackle for the country.” “But at the end of the day, Rep. Bowman broke the law when he pulled the fire alarm during House proceedings and has since pled guilty,” Pappas said. “The resolution was a straightforward condemnation of his actions, and I voted yes,” he continued. Neither Hayes nor Gluesenkamp Perez immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. The privileged resolution was introduced by Michigan GOP Rep. Lisa McClain, which meant the House was required to take the measure up within two legislative days. Bowman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in late October and agreed to pay the maximum $1,000 fine. Lawmakers were on Capitol Hill on Sept. 30 for an intense day of negotiation aimed at averting a government shutdown when the clock struck midnight. As Democrats stalled for more time before a vote on the House GOP’s funding extension, chaos briefly broke out in the Cannon House Office Building on the Capitol complex when a fire alarm rang out, forcing the building to be evacuated. Video and eyewitness testimony soon revealed that it had been pulled by Bowman, a member of the progressive left-wing “Squad” and a former school principal. There was no emergency going on at the time. Bowman denied doing it on purpose to give his colleagues more time, telling reporters after the incident, “I was rushing to make a vote, I was trying to get through a door. I thought the alarm would open the door.” A Democratic vote to stop the censure from coming to the House floor failed 216 to 201, with the top Democrat on the ethics committee, Wild, voting “present.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., accused House Republicans of trying to waste time by moving ahead with the motion after their bid failed on Wednesday evening. “We’re all on the House floor wasting time talking about fire alarms. Not the economy, not inflation, not affordable housing, not lowering costs, not the gun violence epidemic that continues to claim the lives of our young people all across America,” Jeffries said. Bowman is the 27th lawmaker to be censured by the House. Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed reporting.
Top Republicans raise concerns over Eventbrite’s policies as ‘antisemitic’ events remain visible
FIRST ON FOX: Top Congressional Republicans are requesting a briefing with Eventbrite’s CEO over their policies and terms, spotlighting the platform’s hypocrisy in hosting organizers’ purported antisemitic events while removing one by girls’ sports advocate Riley Gaines. “In the last few weeks, Eventbrite, it seems, has selectively enforced its terms of service by removing some events while allowing potentially violative events to remain on the site,” the letter reads. “We raise the issues below not to dictate or remove events and users from your marketplace, but to better understand your Community Guidelines enforcement process.” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the House Committee on Energy and Senate Committee on Commerce, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chair of the Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, Subcommittee on Oversight and Commerce, Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis, R-Fla., and Rep. H. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations signed the letter. In October, Eventbrite removed former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines’ speaker tour stop at the University of California, Davis, from its marketplace. Gaines has been outspoken about transgender females’ participation in women’s sports. An email from Eventbrite Trust & Safety stated that the event violated the company’s “community guidelines and terms of service.” EVENTBRITE MARKETPLACE REMOVES RILEY GAINES’ ‘PROTECTING WOMEN’S SPORTS,’ CITES COMMUNITY GUIDELINES VIOLATION “We struggle to comprehend the rationale for removing this event, while other Eventbrite listings that seemingly violate several of Eventbrite’s Community Guidelines remain live, including some that feature speakers espousing allegiance to entities designated by the U.S. Government as foreign terrorist organizations,” the senators wrote. Lawmakers highlighted that Eventbrite includes events and speakers with connections to controversial and potentially offensive statements and actions concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These instances involve references to the Israeli massacre on October 7, as Eventbrite promoted a fully booked “Palestine Center 2023 Annual Conference” in Washington, D.C., where the organizers described Israel as “Israeli apartheid” within the event’s description on the platform’s “About this event” section. RILEY GAINES LAUNCHES CENTER AT THE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE: IT WILL ‘FIGHT THE MOVEMENT TO ERASE WOMEN’ “Because Gaines’s promotion of the widely held view to preserve women’s athletics starkly contrasts with events on Eventbrite featuring speakers sympathetic to genocide, this leads us to wonder if pro-terrorist and antisemitic events and event speakers do not plainly violate Eventbrite’s prohibition of content that would ‘discriminate against, harass, disparage, threaten, incite violence against, or otherwise target individuals or groups based on their actual or perceived race, ethnicity, religion, national origin,’” the letter said. “We seek information on what metrics Eventbrite uses to enforce its Community Guidelines on selected issues such as women’s athletics versus terrorism and antisemitism.” Senators request information by December 21 from Eventbrite about the company’s review process, the violation of Community Guidelines, the handling of alleged pro-Hamas and antisemitic events, the identification of terrorist organizations, metrics used to enforce guidelines, and the comparison of complaints and review timelines among different events. “We appreciate your stated commitment to be ‘a platform that values diverse opinions and a vibrant community . . .’ but are not confident that you are enforcing this policy with any consistency,” the letter concluded.
Swing district Democrat complains she won’t run for re-election because race is ‘rigged’ against her
A Democrat representing a swing House district announced Thursday she would not be running for re-election in 2024 because the race is “rigged” against her. In a statement announcing her decision, Rep. Kathy Manning, who represents North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District, accused the Republican-led state legislature of passing “flagrantly gerrymandered Congressional districts” to reduce the number of Democrats representing those districts. “I would love nothing more than to continue representing our community in Congress. Unfortunately, the egregiously gerrymandered maps do not make this race competitive, and I cannot in good conscience ask people to invest their time, resources and efforts in a campaign that is rigged against us,” Manning said. NAME-CALLING, PERSONAL JABS ROUND OUT TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM THE FIERY REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE IN ALABAMA She added that she would reconsider her decision not to run if pending lawsuits force the state legislature to redraw the districts. Manning called the district boundaries “shameful,” and claimed Republicans knew they couldn’t “win under fair districts.” She specifically cited how the Democratic stronghold of Greensboro, North Carolina was split between three different districts that include more rural areas in the new map. “As a Greensboro resident of forty years, I am disgusted by the callous disregard of Republican leaders for the citizens of my district. Politicians should not choose their voters; voters should choose their representatives,” she said. WHO WERE THE WINNERS AND LOSERS IN THE FOURTH REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE? PUNDITS NAME THEIR PICKS “It is a true privilege to represent my community in Congress. I am deeply grateful for all the constituents who have placed their trust in me, shared their concerns and triumphs, and welcomed me into their homes, businesses, and places of worship,” she added. A lawsuit seeking to strike down the new map, which was approved in October, was filed in federal court on Monday, arguing it weakens minority voting power and violates the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit specifically challenges four districts where the plaintiffs argue the state legislature minimized the voting strength of minorities, thereby strengthening “the state’s white majority,” and are asking for a new map to be drawn. HERE ARE THE TOP MOMENTS FROM TRUMP’S ‘HANNITY’ TOWN HALL Should the map remain in place, Republicans will be in a good position to win 10 of the 14 congressional districts in North Carolina. The districts are currently split between the two parties at seven apiece. The additional three-seat flip would also boost Republicans’ narrow majority in the House of Representatives, which stands at 221-213. There is one vacancy following the expulsion of former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., last week. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Trump seeks pause of federal election trial to challenge immunity ruling
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have asked for a pause while they challenge the ruling that he is not immune from prosecution in an effort to delay the federal trial relating to charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election. Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal Thursday, indicating that they will challenge U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s decision rejecting Trump’s bid to derail the case headed to trial in Washington, D.C., in March. The one-page filing was accompanied by a request from the Trump team to put the case on pause so the appeals court can take up the matter. “The filing of President Trump’s notice of appeal has deprived this Court of jurisdiction over this case in its entirety pending resolution of the appeal,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “Therefore, a stay of all further proceedings is mandatory and automatic.” TRUMP VISITS MANHATTAN COURT TO BLAST NYAG CASE, PRAISES APPELLATE RULING IN HIS FAVOR The case charges Trump with conspiring to overturn the will of voters in a desperate move to cling to power after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden. It is the first of four criminal cases Trump is facing that are scheduled to go to trial, though it is possible the appeal of the immunity issue could delay the case. Trump’s legal team is working to get the trial postponed until after the 2024 election is decided, or until after the Republican Party holds its nominating convention in July. BILL BURR BASHES JIMMY KIMMEL, ‘YOU IDIOT LIBERALS’ FOR MAKING TRUMP A MARTYR: ‘HE’S COMING BACK’ Trump’s lawyers have stated that he cannot face criminal charges because the actions spelled out in the indictment fell within his duties as president. Trump and his family have denied any wrongdoing and have claimed that the former president has repeatedly said his assets were actually undervalued.