Rubio introduces bill to crack down on ‘malign foreign influence’ in American schools
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Marco Rubio introduced a bill Thursday to safeguard U.S. schools from foreign adversaries’ influence. The legislation, first obtained by Fox News Digital, prohibits higher education institutions, their faculty and staff from establishing or maintaining relationships with specified individuals, or undercover foreign adversaries, referred to as “covered persons.” Additionally, universities would be required to develop and enforce policies that necessitate faculty and staff disclosure of such relationships, along with guidelines to prevent these connections or identify existing ones. Institutions owned or controlled by these covered persons would eventually lose eligibility for federal funding. “The integrity of our schools is one of the most basic guarantees that we should give to our students. Current federal policies to protect our students from adversaries are incomplete and disappointing. The U.S. is being infiltrated through its educational institutions,” Rubio said in a statement. “This bill aims to close those gaps, securing a robust defense against malign foreign influence in our classrooms,” he added. AMERICAN, CHINESE EXCHANGE STUDENT PROGRAMS ‘UNDER THREAT’ BY SUPERPOWERS’ GEOPOLITICAL RIVALRY: REPORT The bill comes as the bipartisan, bicameral U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission sent its annual report to Congress last month. One of its 30 recommendations requested that the House and Senate “address China’s state-sponsored influence and interference” within U.S. education. Rubio’s bill doesn’t stop at higher education; it also targets K-12 schools. States receiving administrative funds for schools must create rules stopping school staff from having relationships with identified foreign adversaries. The secretary of education also has to report these relationships to Congress each year, and private schools run by covered persons won’t be eligible for federal funds. BIDEN MEETS XI, SAYS THERE IS ‘NO SUBSTITUTE’ FOR ‘FACE-TO-FACE DISCUSSION’ ON ISSUES FACING US, CHINA For educational institutions receiving gifts or contracts from foreign sources, the bill would reduce the minimum value for reporting such gifts or contracts from $250,000 to $50,000 and expand reporting obligations to include faculty and staff, not just the institution. Exemptions from foreign agent registration only stand if the activities don’t further a foreign government’s political agenda and compliance with these rules becomes a prerequisite for federal funding. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is cosponsoring the legislation. In September, a congressional hearing entitled, “Academic Freedom Under Attack: Loosening the CCP’s Grip on America’s Classrooms,” explored alleged CCP influence in American schools through Confucius Classrooms, whose stated purpose is to promote Chinese language and culture. They have been described by the National Association of Scholars as “a smaller version” of the Confucius Institutes. In July, Parents Defending Education (PDE), a grassroots organization dedicated to fighting indoctrination in the classroom, said it uncovered disturbing evidence linking Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-sponsored financial entities to American K-12 schools. The findings were detailed in a report dubbed “Little Red Classrooms,” which was sent to 34 governors, key lawmakers and committee chairs. Fox News’ Brian Flood and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
Haley grilled by debate opponents, social media over record on trans issues: ‘Will cave to big donors’
Ambassador Nikki Haley faced sharp criticism at the final GOP primary debate off 2023 on Wednesday night as her surging campaign was slammed for what her opponents say is a record that is not conservative enough and weak on social issues like ESG, transgender policies, and free speech. “Nikki Haley she caves any time the left comes after any time the media comes after her,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in the debate during an argument over transgender bathroom bills and how each of them approached the issue as governor. “You killed it, I signed it, I stood up for little girls,” DeSantis said, accusing Haley of not doing enough to push bathroom bills as the two went back and forth on previous statements and positions. Haley was also slammed by her opponents for not being conservative enough on ESG issues, meeting with supporters of ESG and taking money from Democrat donors. NIKKI HALEY LAUNCHES FIRST CAMPAIGN AD, CALLS FOR ‘MORAL CLARITY,’ MOVING ON FROM ‘CHAOS AND DRAMA’ Vivek Ramaswamy, who accused Haley of playing “identity politics”, criticized Haley for meeting with BlackRock’s Larry Fink, a proponent of ESG. “One of Nikki Haley’s largest supporters, Larry Fink, the king of the woke industrial complex, the ESG movement, the CEO of BlackRock, the most powerful company in the world, now supporting Nikki Haley,” Ramaswamy said, adding that her campaign launch video “sounded like a woke Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light ad talking about how she would kick in heels at the first debate.” “I took $2 billion away from BlackRock,” DeSantis said. “We took action. This ESG, they call it environment, Social governance. And again, Nikki is meeting with all these people. They want to use economic power to impose a left wing agenda on this country.” HALEY CELEBRATES MOMENTUM AS GOP RIVALS RAMP UP ATTACKS: ‘THESE GUYS KNOW WE’RE SURGING’ DeSantis and Ramaswamy both promoted the idea that Haley taking money from liberal donors, including a liberal mega donor who gave her super PAC $250,000 this week, would make her beholden to those donors in the future. “Nikki will cave to those big donors when it counts,” DeSantis said. Haley was also criticized over her record on free speech related to her previous comments saying her administration crackdown on anonymous accounts online. “It’s something that’s important, and especially given how conservatives have been attacked and they’ve lost jobs and they’ve been canceled,” DeSantis said, pointing out that the authors of the Federalist Papers used pseudonyms. “You know, the regime would use that to weaponize that against our own people.” Ramaswamy piled on and said her position was “more dangerous than the Democrats.” “You’re lying,” Haley shot back. Haley also faced similar criticisms on social media during the debate related to her perceived coziness with liberal donors. “What’s not fine is Nikki Haley caving on every issue that matters most to Republicans,” political strategist David Polyansky posted on X. “She has sold out parents, conservative principles and our party in order to side with her Democrat donors.” RAMASWAMY SPARKS SOCIAL MEDIA FIRESTORM OVER ‘NIKKI = CORRUPT’ SIGN AT GOP DEBATE Haley, whose campaign was the top search on Google on debate night, dismissed many of the criticisms from her opponents at one point remarking that they were “jealous” and they “wish they were supporting them.” Haley addressed the criticism that she would be beholden to liberal donors and ESG supporters in one of her debate responses. “As much as Ron says that it’s not true,” Haley said. “But when it comes to these corporate people that want to suddenly support us, we’ll take it. But I don’t ask them what they support. They ask me what my policies are and I tell them what it is. Sometimes they agree with me sometimes they don’t.” In a statement to Fox News Digital, Haley spokesperson Ken Farnaso said the attacks on her in the debate were a sign of desperation. “This is the sign of a desperate, losing candidate, and Ron DeSantis is both losing and desperate, “Farnaso said. “Everyone knows Nikki was the conservative, outsider governor in South Carolina. She took on the establishment and Barack Obama—and won. She cracked down on illegal immigration, implemented E-Verify, opposed Wall Street bailouts, protected life, cut taxes, expanded Second Amendment rights, and signed the first anti-BDS bill in the country. The more Ron DeSantis loses, the more he lies.”
McCarthy exit underscores House GOP’s perilously slim majority
House Republicans are approaching the new year wary about their slimming majority in the wake of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s announced exit. McCarthy, R-Calif., said he would leave Congress by the end of this month after he was ousted from the speakership two months ago. It comes on the heels of the House expelling scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y. House Republicans will only be able to lose three votes on any legislation to pass it without Democratic votes for the first several weeks of the new year, until special elections bring new members and change the margins yet again. “I mean, we’re operating on razor-thin margins here,” Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital. “Between God, gravity, indictments, and retirements, we’re one day away from losing the majority depending on what happens.” KEVIN MCCARTHY, MATT GAETZ TRADE JABS AS FIERCE RIVALRY CONTINUES: HE ‘BELONGS IN JAIL’ GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore, R-Utah, conceded that the numbers were tight but argued it was not much different than their current situation. “It’s tough to operate in a four-seat [majority], it’s tough to operate in a two-seat [majority]. We’ve got to be judicious in what we get done, and do something that we can all get behind,” Moore said. However, others echoed Garcia’s concerns that the slim majority would mean that any single member’s absence is consequential when the House is in session. MCCARTHY MAKES STUNNING ADMISSION ON BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY: THE FACTS HAVE LED ‘EVEN CLOSER’ Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla., said he did not believe it would make a difference “from a policy standpoint,” but he added, “I just think from an attendance standpoint, it’d be hard.” “What are we going to be governing by, one vote? It’s always a concern when people get sick, they get injured. It makes the whip’s job measurably more difficult with a narrower majority,” said Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C. A special election will take place to replace Santos in mid-February. California Gov. Gavin Newsom must set a date for an election to replace McCarthy. That means House Republicans are likely to stay on thin margins through their Jan. 19 deadline for funding part of the government. MORE AMERICANS THAN EVER THINK US HEADED IN WRONG DIRECTION AS CONGRESS’ APPROVAL NEAR ROCK BOTTOM: SURVEY Conservatives like Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, urged GOP leaders to resist giving Democrats concessions to pass legislation until the numbers in the House change. “It’s gonna be tight…We’ve dealt with it before, though, and I think that Speaker Johnson is doing an excellent job of keeping everybody together. And, frankly, I think people will realize how important it is to stay together,” Self explained. “What I do not want to see is bills put on the floor that pass with more Democrat than Republican votes. No, that is not a way to govern.”
‘Squad’ Dems double down on ‘genocide’ accusations against Israel, say IDF is ‘targeting civilians’
“Squad” Democrats gathered on Capitol Hill to call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza on Thursday, doubling down on accusations that Israel is targeting civilians and committing “genocide.” Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., held the press conference alongside Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. They also invited members of the Doctors Without Borders organization, which provides humanitarian aid in Gaza. Bush had vicious words for Israel during her opening remarks. “When we hear genocidal rhetoric, when we witness devastation and mass murder, when we finance the bombs being dropped, when we intentionally disregard the suffering, we allow the people we represent to be complicit in mass atrocities,” Bush said. “And let me be clear about what’s happening: These are war crimes. The targeting of civilians is a war crime; the targeting of medical facilities is a war crime, the starvation and withholding of water and electricity is a war crime; the collective punishment of 2.3 million people is a war crime, and we refuse to be silent,” she added as Omar and Tlaib nodded in agreement. RASHIDA TLAIB’S TOP CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISER ACCUSES ISRAEL OF WANTING TO ETHNICALLY ‘CLEANSE’ PALESTINIANS Israel, meanwhile, gave civilians in the Gaza Strip warnings and urged them to evacuate war zones ahead of strikes targeting Hamas’s terror infrastructure. While many Palestinian civilians have died during the war, the Biden administration has defended Israel’s right to self-defense, noting that civilian deaths, while tragic, are a result of “the nature of conflict.” The “Squad” trio has already faced heavy criticism for their incendiary rhetoric around the Israel-Hamas war. Tlaib herself was censured in the House of Representatives in November after she defended a chant calling for the destruction of the state of Israel. Tlaib also jumped to accuse Israeli Defense Forces of bombing a hospital in Gaza in October. RASHIDA TLAIB, ‘SQUAD’-LINKED COMMITTEES PUSHED LARGE SUMS TO ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST’S CONSULTING FIRM “Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that,” Tlaib wrote on social media at the time. KELLYANNE CONWAY BLASTS RASHIDA TLAIB FOR ‘OUTWARD ANTI-SEMITIC’ CLAIMS: ‘I’M WITH DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ’ Data would later show that the explosion came from a terrorist rocket that fell short of its target in Israel. The true death toll was also only a fraction of the 500 deaths Tlaib suggested. Israel’s war with Hamas entered its third month on Thursday, with Israeli forces making significant progress against Hamas following the collapse of a cease-fire late last week.
Senate leaders silent on potential expulsion of Sen. Menendez after Rep. Santos ousted
Senate leaders are holding silent on whether they’d move to expel disgraced New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat, in the wake of the House’s recent expulsion. Fox News Digital asked the offices of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., if the senators would support expelling Menendez in the wake of the removal of now-former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y. Menendez is facing federal bribery charges that were announced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) earlier this year. Santos, who is facing criminal charges in his own case, was expelled from the House on Friday, weeks after a damning ethics committee report. GOLD BARS STASHED IN DEM SENATOR’S HOME RECOVERED AFTER 2013 VIOLENT ROBBERY Only McConnell’s office responded to Fox News Digital, pointing to the minority leader’s comments to the press leaving action against Menendez up to the Democrats. The offices of Schumer, Durbin and Thune did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. Thune appeared behind McConnell at the press conference earlier this week. “I’m glad he’s not a Republican,” McConnell said, repeating his previous comments. “This is an internal problem with the majority.” “[Menendez] obviously has some external problems, and I’ll leave it up to the majority leader to decide how to deal with him,” McConnell said. SCHUMER WON’T SAY IF HE’LL TAKE UP HOUSE BILL FREEZING BIDEN’S $6 BILLION TO IRAN Menendez is facing calls to resign amid criminal bribery charges levied by the DOJ earlier this year. Several gold bars discovered by federal agents in the senator’s residence as part of a high-profile bribery investigation can be traced to a violent robbery a decade ago, it was reported this week. According to a sprawling indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors in September, Menendez and his wife allegedly played a role in a years-long bribery scheme that involved the Egyptian government and local businessmen, including Fred Daibes, a wealthy New Jersey real estate developer. Prosecutors revealed they retrieved multiple gold bars from Menendez’s home that were allegedly used as payment in the scheme. At least four of the gold bars discovered by investigators can be linked to Daibes, both because of their unique engraved serial numbers and thanks to court documents related to a 2013 robbery which Daibes was a victim of, an NBC New York investigation revealed Monday. In November 2013, four assailants beat and robbed Daibes at gunpoint in his Edgewater, New Jersey, apartment, stealing 22 gold bars, jewelry and cash. Photographs released by the Department of Justice in September showing the gold bars discovered at Menendez’s home, for example, reveal one of the bars has a serial number of “590005.” Daibes reported a gold bar with that same serial number stolen during the 2013 heist, NBC New York reported. And the federal indictment notes that the serial numbers on the gold bars indicate they had previously been possessed by Daibes. Fox News Digital’s Thomas Catenacci contributed reporting.
SC to deliver verdict on pleas challenging abrogation of Article 370 on Dec 11
The apex court had on September 5 reserved its verdict in the matter after a marathon 16-day hearing.
After failed test vote, prospects dim for new Ukraine aid in US Congress
U.S. Senate leaders vowed on Thursday to keep trying to reach an agreement to provide billions of dollars in new security aid to Ukraine, but faced uncertainty about doing so quickly after Republicans blocked a sweeping foreign security assistance bill.
Republican-majority US House takes step toward vote on Biden impeachment inquiry
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives took a procedural step on Thursday toward voting to authorize their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, an escalation of a Republican probe the White House has dismissed as baseless.
Dem PA senator and potential GOP challenger blast UPenn president for antisemitism response
A Democratic senator in Pennsylvania and his likely GOP challenger both blasted UPenn’s president for her response to antisemitism on campus. Republican candidate Dave McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, West Point graduate, Gulf War combat veteran and Treasury Department official in former President George W. Bush’s administration, called on the University of Pennsylvania’s board of trustees to immediately remove President Liz Magill following her testimony before the House Education and Workforce Committee. At the hearing, House GOP Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., pressed Magill, and the presidents of Harvard and MIT, on whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated the Ivy League school’s code of conduct on bullying or harassment, but their unclear responses drew swift backlash. “For weeks, I’ve watched President Magill fail to respond appropriately as antisemitic incidents mounted on her campus. Yesterday, Magill was repeatedly asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violates Penn’s rules or code of conduct, and she repeatedly failed to answer affirmatively,” McCormick said in a statement shared on X Wednesday. UPENN PRESIDENT TORCHED OVER ANTISEMITIC SPEAKERS, TEACHERS ALLOWED ON CAMPUS BUT NOT TRUMP ICE DIRECTOR “This is completely unacceptable from the leader of one of America’s top universities. I today call on Penn’s board of trustees to immediately removed President Magill and replace her with a leader who understands that calling for genocide against Jews is wrong, and it must be combated,” he said. “Based on President Magill’s performance in the Congress yesterday, she lacks the depth, understanding and awareness of how antisemitism is real and how it must be fought. She has failed the students of Penn, its alumni and our state. This is a scary time for the Jewish community, and every person in a position of power must unequivocally support them and put a stop to antisemitism at every opportunity.” HARVARD, MIT AND UPENN PRESIDENTS PRESSED ON ‘RACE-BASED IDEOLOGY OF THE RADICAL LEFT’ AT ANTISEMITISM HEARING McCormick is running to unseat Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who also condemned Magill’s remarks. “President Magill’s comments yesterday were offensive, but equally offensive was what she didn’t say. The right to free speech is fundamental, but calling for the genocide of Jews is antisemitic and harassment, full stop,” Casey wrote on X. The senator stopped short of calling for Magill to resign or be removed. When asked if Casey also supports Magill’s ouster, a spokesperson for the Democratic senator told Fox News Digital, “Like Governor Shapiro, Senator Casey wants UPenn’s board to meet and determine whether President Magill’s comments align with the university’s values.” Magill, meanwhile, attempted to walk back her rhetoric in a video statement shared Wednesday. “There was a moment during yesterday’s congressional hearing on antisemitism when I was asked if a call for the genocide of Jewish people on our campus would violate our policies. In that moment, I was focused on our university’s long-standing policies aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which says that speech alone is not punishable,” Magill said on camera. “I was not focused on, but I should have been, on the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate. It’s evil. Plain and simple.” “A call for genocide of Jewish people is threatening, deeply so. It is intentionally meant to terrify people who have been subjected to pogroms and hatred for centuries and were the victims of mass genocide in the Holocaust. In my view, it would be harassment or intimidation,” she added.
Trump visits Manhattan court to blast NYAG case, praises appellate ruling in his favor
Former President Trump called the non-jury New York civil trial against him and his business a “weaponization of justice,” and again bashed the proceedings and lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James as “election interference.” Trump appeared in court Thursday, days before he is expected to take the stand in the trial for a second time on Monday. Trump reacted to Thursday morning testimony from a defense expert witness, New York University accounting professor Eli Bartov, who reviewed the Trump financial statements at issue in the case and said he found no evidence of accounting fraud. TRUMP DEMANDS JURY, SAYS NEW YORK AG HAS ‘NO CASE’ IN HEATED TESTIMONY Bartov testified that Trump’s financial statements didn’t violate accounting principles, and he suggested that anything problematic – like a huge year-to-year leap in the estimated value of his Trump Tower penthouse – was simply an error. “My main finding is that there is no evidence whatsoever of any accounting fraud,” Bartov testified. Trump’s financial statements, he said, “were not materially misstated.” Trump, reacting to that testimony during a court break, said Bartov is a “highly respected man.” “I don’t know him, but he’s a expert witness. And he found no fraud whatsoever. He found no accounting fraud whatsoever,” Trump said. “And like everyone else, he said, what are we doing here? What are we doing here? This is a political witch hunt. This is meant to influence an election. This also comes from the White House. This is not just a state matter because the White House is controlling district attorneys.” TRUMP, JUDGE ENGORON TRADE JABS DURING FORMER PRESIDENT’S TESTIMONY IN CIVIL TRIAL STEMMING FROM NYAG LAWSUIT Trump added: “This case should be over. This case should never have been brought.” The former president, again, characterized the case as a “weaponization of justice. “This is something that nobody’s ever seen to this extent is called election interference,” Trump said. “It’s a sad day for our country that if things like this can take place.” The former president and 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner added: “I’m sitting in a courthouse instead of being in Iowa where I should be, even though I’m leading by about 40 points.” Meanwhile, during his time in court Thursday, a New York State Appeals Court on Thursday affirmed an October decision that paused the dissolution of the Trump Organization until after the trial is complete. The New York Appellate Division in October temporarily halted the dissolution of some of the former president’s most valuable properties amid the civil fraud trial. DEUTSCHE BANK SOUGHT OUT ‘WHALE’ OF A CLIENT IN TRUMP, BENEFITED FROM RELATIONSHIP, FORMER EXECUTIVE TESTIFIES That ruling paused a September pre-trial ruling made by Judge Arthur Engoron, who found that Trump and his family business committed fraud. That order stripped the Trump family of certain properties, like Trump Tower and 40 Wall St. Trump, who appeared in Manhattan court Thursday, said the ruling was a victory for business. “The appellate division, New York State, just gave us a very good ruling,” he said. “Appreciate it. I think the country appreciates it.” “Businesses are watching this case. No business will move back into New York. No business will, frankly stay in New York. A lot of businesses are talking about leaving New York,” Trump continued. The trial, which Engoron is presiding over, stems from James’ lawsuit against Trump, his family, and his businesses. James accused Trump of inflating his financial statements and deceiving banks. James filed the lawsuit against Trump “under a consumer protection statute that denies the right to a jury,” a Trump spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “There was never an option to choose a jury trial,” the spokesperson said. “It is unfortunate that a jury won’t be able to hear how absurd the merits of this case are and conclude no wrongdoing ever happened.” Trump and his family have denied any wrongdoing. The former president has repeatedly said his assets were actually undervalued. Trump has repeatedly said his financial statements had disclaimers, requesting that the numbers be evaluated by the banks. Maria Paronich and The Associated Press contributed to this report.