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Name-calling, personal jabs round out top 5 moments from the fiery Republican presidential debate in Alabama
The fourth Republican presidential debate saw no shortage of fireworks, including plenty of name-calling and personal jabs between the participating candidates. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley repeatedly clashed in heated exchanges throughout the debate, which was held on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday. Here are the top five fiery moments from the debate: WHO WERE THE WINNERS AND LOSERS IN THE FOURTH REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE? PUNDITS NAME THEIR PICKS 1. DeSantis and Ramaswamy pile on Haley over ties to billionaire donors The debate opened with Haley drawing the ire of DeSantis and Ramaswamy when she defended her ties to banking billionaires and other wealthy individuals. “Look, we will take support from anybody we can take support from,” Haley said, arguing that support from corporate billionaires didn’t translate to her automatically agreeing with them on policy. Ramaswamy ripped Haley for accepting money from corporate CEOs he said were supporters of environment, social, governance (ESG) investing, a strategy where environmental factors, such as how a corporation contributes to pollution or climate change, are included in investment decisions. He went on to accuse Haley of being “corrupt,” citing her status as a millionaire after only being out of government for a few years, to which she defended herself by accusing DeSantis and Ramaswamy of being “jealous” that she had the support of those billionaires. DeSantis jumped in, warning that Haley’s donors were aiming “to use economic power to impose a left-wing agenda” on the country before Ramaswamy joked that Haley used a book he previously wrote criticizing ESG as “a how-to manual” rather than a warning about such policies. TRUMP ONCE AGAIN GETS OFF THE HOOK AT THE LATEST GOP PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, DESPITE ONE CANDIDATE’S BEST EFFORTS 2. Christie calls Ramaswamy an “obnoxious blowhard” as he defends Haley Christie stepped in to defend Haley from Ramaswamy after he attacked her support for aiding Ukraine in its “pointless” war with Russia. “One thing that Joe Biden and Nikki Haley have in common is that neither of them could state for you three provinces in Eastern Ukraine that they want to send our troops to … She has no idea what the hell the names of those provinces are, but she wants to send our sons and daughters and our troops and our military equipment to go fight,” Ramaswamy said. Christie interjected, accusing Ramaswamy of wanting to concede “stolen” land to Russia, beginning a nearly inaudible shouting match between the two, which culminated in Christie calling Ramaswamy an “obnoxious blowhard.” “We’re now 25 minutes into this debate, and he has now insulted Nikki Haley’s basic intelligence, not her positions, her basic intelligence,” Christie said. “I’ve known her for 12 years, longer than he’s even started to vote in a Republican primary, and while we disagree on some issues … what we don’t disagree on is this is a smart, accomplished woman. You should stop insulting her.” “Your version of foreign policy experience was closing a bridge from New Jersey to New York. So, do everybody a favor, just walk yourself off that stage, enjoy a nice meal, and get the hell out of this race,” Ramswamy hit back. 3. Ramaswamy holds up a sheet of paper accusing Haley of corruption While railing against Haley for what he described as utilization of identity politics, Ramaswamy held up his debate notebook to reveal he had written, in large letters, “NIKKI = CORRUPT.” Prior to holding up the paper, Ramaswamy blasted Haley’s use of her gender in her campaign, citing various instances she had referenced being a woman. “She said that I have a woman problem. Nikki, I don’t have a woman problem. You have a corruption problem, and I think that’s what people need to know. Nikki is corrupt,” Ramaswamy said as he held up the sign. “This is a woman who will send your kids to die, so she can buy a bigger house. This is the problem. Using identity politics more effectively than Kamala Harris is a form of intellectual fraud,” he said. RNC CHAIR MCDANIEL DEFENDS THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING GOP 2024 FIELD 4. Haley and DeSantis continue their months-long spat on China DeSantis slammed Haley as the “number one” governor for bringing the Chinese Communist Party into her state during her time leading South Carolina, citing a video of her welcoming a Chinese company as she stood next to a Chinese flag. He went on to argue her “liberal donors” wouldn’t allow her to be tough on China. “First of all, he’s mad because those Wall Street donors used to support him, and now they support me,” Haley retorted, before arguing DeSantis had his own history of bringing Chinese companies into Florida. DeSantis rejected the claim, stating one of the companies she named was an American company, and that he banned the Chinese from buying land in his state. “I have a record of standing up and doing what’s right,” DeSantis said, to which Haley responded, “You have a record of lying.” TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREVIEWS ‘EXTREMELY AGRESSIVE’ PUSH IN IOWA 5. Christie lays into DeSantis on question about former President Donald Trump’s age Christie laid into DeSantis after the latter avoided directly answering a question about whether Trump, 77, was still “mentally fit” to serve as president, and instead stressed the need for a new generation of leaders. “Why doesn’t he just answer the question? The question was very direct. Is he fit to be president or isn’t he? The rest of the speech is interesting, but completely non-responsive. And if we were in a courtroom, they’d strike the answer … They would strike the answer because you’re not answering it,” Christie said. DeSantis jumped in, interrupting Christie as the two began inaudibly talking over each other. “Is he fit or isn’t he?” Christie repeatedly yelled until the moderators eventually stopped the back-and-forth. DeSantis repeated another version of his previous answer before Christie
Unions pumped $700M into Democratic Party causes nationwide, nonprofit report finds
The nation’s largest labor unions spent a staggering $708 million on politics to propel Democratic Party causes during the previous election cycle on activities that will likely continue throughout the 2024 elections. A new report from the Commonwealth Foundation found the nation’s four biggest government unions — the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) — combined to drop the massive sum into lobbying and on contributions to political organizations and candidates in federal, state and local races during the 2022 midterm elections. “Our research illuminates the considerable political influence wielded by government unions, both in Washington, D.C., and in states throughout the nation,” David Osborne, the Commonwealth Foundation’s senior fellow of labor policy, told Fox News Digital. “Government unions use this power not only to advance leftist causes but also to elect political leaders who will protect their interests and influence. The result, unfortunately, is that federal, state and local governments are increasingly led by politicians who care more about union executives than union members or taxpayers.” BIDEN ADMIN SCRUBS WEBPAGE SHOWING HOW TAXPAYERS FUND UNION ACTIVITIES The Commonwealth Foundation provided Fox News Digital with a copy of its report highlighting how the AFT, NEA, AFSCME and SEIU combined to spread astronomical amounts of cash across multiple sectors to boost liberal causes. According to the report, unions spent more on what the Commonwealth Foundation deemed political activity than on categories closely aligned with membership support. “Most of a union’s revenue comes from its membership, in the form of member dues. Given this fact, it may make sense for the unions to allocate most financial resources toward membership support,” the report states. “However, this is not the case. The four largest government unions spent over $2.79 billion in 2021 and 2022, yet representational activities, the spending category most closely linked to membership support, only accounted for $554 million, or less than 20 percent of total expenditures.” Among its considerable political expenditures was a combined $157 million between the unions’ PACs at the federal level, including disbursements of $38 million to the Sen. Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC, $30 million to the NEA Advocacy Fund and $28 million to the SEIU Political Education and Action Fund/United We Can. The union PACs also sent $8.34 million directly to candidates, with an overwhelming majority ($8.29 million) benefiting Democrats. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia was the top recipient, and his campaign landed over $60,000 from the PACs. REPUBLICANS WARN BIDEN ADMIN’S FOREIGN FARM WORKER RULE IS ‘GIVEAWAY TO BIG LABOR’ Additionally, the Commonwealth Foundation discovered that around $145 million had made its way to the state and local levels throughout the 2022 election cycle. “Of this, $118.1 million went directly toward candidates for public office and partisan PACs, while $26.9 million went to nonpartisan candidates, staff costs, membership mailers and other miscellaneous costs,” the report states. “Unsurprisingly, an overwhelming majority of the partisan contributions went to Democratic candidates.” The unions pushed most of their state cash into Illinois, California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Washington. Overall, over 99% of the federal union PAC money favored Democrats, while 95% of state PAC contributions benefited the party, according to the report. The Commonwealth Foundation wrote that the “extensive spending on federal politics” could explain the “preferential treatment” unions receive from the Biden administration. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden’s Center for Disease Control directly adopted language suggestions from the AFT into the organization’s school reopening guidelines. The Biden administration also proposed nearly half of a billion dollars in funding for union-backed community schools,” the group wrote in the report. The NEA, AFT, AFSCME and SEIU did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Schumer won’t say if he’ll take up House bill freezing Biden’s $6 billion to Iran
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., won’t say if he will take up a House of Representatives bill freezing the $6 billion released to Iran by the Biden administration. Schumer gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor last week, condemning the rise of antisemitism in America as well as the Oct. 7 surprise terrorist attacks on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas terrorists. Iran has been a staunch supporter of Hamas amid the Palestinian terrorist organization’s war with Israel. Earlier this year, prior to the war, the Biden administration unfroze $6 billion in Iranian funds from banks in South Korea to Qatar in a prisoner exchange. IRAN’S ARCH-TERRORIST WAS ARCHITECT OF HAMAS MASSACRE OF 1,300 PEOPLE: REPORT The House passed a bill last week to re-freeze the Iranian funds and the bill is awaiting action in the Senate. Shortly after the Hamas attacks, Schumer told the New York Post that there “would be no Hamas without Iran” and that he was confident Iran wouldn’t see a dime of the $6 billion. However, Schumer’s office did not respond when asked by Fox News Digital if the top Senate Democrat would be taking up the House legislation. The Senate majority leader has been a vocal supporter of Israel, condemning the anti-Israel protests in America while batting down calls for a cease-fire in the war. In his Senate floor speech last week, Schumer — the top Jewish lawmaker in Congress — condemned the rising antisemitism in America following Hamas’ attack on Israel, calling it a “five-alarm fire that must be extinguished.” “There is no question that antisemitism is a serious problem in America,” Schumer said on Nov. 29. “In general, Jewish Americans represent 2% of the U.S. population, yet we are the targets of 55% of all religion-based hate crimes recorded by the FBI,” the Senate majority leader continued. “This problem has been steadily worsening in recent years, but after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, hate crimes against Jewish Americans have skyrocketed,” he noted. Schumer said that the “solidarity that Jewish Americans initially received from many of our fellow citizens was quickly drowned out by other voices” and that while “the dead bodies of Jewish Israelis were still warm, while hundreds of Jewish Israelis were being carried as hostages back to Hamas tunnels under Gaza, Jewish Americans were alarmed to see some of our fellow citizens characterize a brutal terrorist attack as justified because of the actions of the Israeli government.” “A vicious, bloodcurdling, premeditated massacre of innocent men, women, children, the elderly – justified!” Schumer said. “Even worse, in some cases, people even celebrated what happened, describing it as the deserved fate of quote, colonizers, and calling for quote, glory to the martyrs, who carried out these heinous attacks.” The Iranian regime’s organized plan to aid Hamas in its massacre of 1,300 people, including 30 Americans, was front and center in the thinking of the dictator who rules over Iran, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to claims in a new think tank report. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) published a shocking report earlier this year, noting that Khamenei hinted on two different occasions, in 2022 and 2023, at “the complete conquest.” According to a MEMRI translation from Khamenei’s propaganda outlet, Kayhan, the plan of mass murder was engineered by the late Iranian global terrorist Qassem Soleimani in 2020. The U.S. military assassinated Soleimani in early January 2020 for his overseeing the killing of over 600 American military personnel. Kayhan wrote, according to the translation, that in August 2023, “The significance is that, last year, the Leader [Khamenei] gave ‘the promise of the imminent conquest,’ and this year he gave ‘the announcement of the complete conquest,’ and Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is part of this imminent conquest. This promise and announcement, along with the clarity and power of [Khamenei’s] statements and positions in his meeting [with leaders and ambassadors of Islamic countries] on the occasion of the Prophet [Muhammad’s] birthday, have profound significance and content.” Additionally, a top United Nations humanitarian aid official was ripped last month by an Israeli ambassador after sharing an image on X, formerly Twitter, showing him shaking hands with Iran’s foreign minister, who reportedly helped Hamas plan the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths posted that he held a meeting in Geneva with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian about the “devastating” situation unfolding in the Gaza Strip and the “critical” need to deliver aid to the area. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Amirabdollahian had taken part in at least two planning meetings in Lebanon with the terrorist groups Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad ahead of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which launched the Middle East war. Fox News Digital’s Benjamin Weinthal and Greg Norman contributed reporting.
Jim Banks unveils bill to protect adoption rights of parents who want to raise kids based on biological sex
FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., is out with a new bill aimed at preventing child welfare agencies from denying prospective adopters who say they will raise kids in a manner consistent with the minor’s biological sex. “The Biden administration is cruelly preventing countless children in the foster care and adoption system from going to loving homes just because parents are opposed to irreversible sex change procedures on kids,” Banks told Fox News Digital. “This isn’t a liberal or conservative issue. This is just plain wrong, and every sane person knows it.” RILEY GAINES, WOMEN LEADERS TO TESTIFY BEFORE HOUSE PANEL ON PROTECTING GIRLS’ SPORTS FROM BIDEN POLICIES It comes after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a new rule aimed at ensuring minors are placed in homes accepting of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The rule “would require that child welfare agencies ensure that each child in their care who identifies as LGBTQI+ receive a safe and appropriate placement and services that help them thrive.” RILEY GAINES TAKES SHOT AT PROTESTERS, SAYS PUNCHES FROM ‘MEN IN DRESSES’ ‘DON’T HURT’ “The proposed rule would protect LGBTQI+ youth by placing them in environments free of hostility, mistreatment, or abuse based on the child’s LGBTQI+ status. And the proposed rule would require that caregivers for LGBTQI+ children are properly and fully trained to provide for the needs of the child related to the child’s self-identified sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression,” the HHS website stated. Banks’ bill, the Sensible Adoption for Every (SAFE) Home Act, would prevent child welfare agencies and related groups that receive federal funding from getting those funds if they refuse prospective parents who insist against the child’s stated LGBTQ status. ‘TOMBOY’ WHO REGRETTED GENDER TRANSITION BREAKS DOWN CRYING DESCRIBING DIFFICULTY OF BREAST REMOVAL SURGERY That includes prospective parents who say they will refuse a child’s desire for medical, surgical, pharmacological and psychological treatment if it is inconsistent with their biological sex. Several states have already passed bills banning doctors from performing gender-affirming surgery on transgender youth. Banks himself led a House bill earlier this year that would have allowed people who received transgender surgeries as minors to sue the medical practitioner responsible.
GOP Rep. Collins assembles Christmas display ‘poking fun’ at Biden
FIRST ON FOX: One first-term House Republican lawmaker is using a congressional holiday tradition to send a message to President Biden. Each December, the halls on the Longworth House Office Building’s second floor transform into a Christmas card come to life as lawmakers compete to outdo each other with festive decorations. Outside the office of Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., guests are greeted with a life-size cardboard cutout of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, holding a sign that says “Let it snow.” The cutout was made by a Georgia-based company, his office said. COMER, JORDAN DEMAND HUNTER BIDEN APPEAR FOR DEPOSITION, SAY HE WILL NOT RECEIVE ‘SPECIAL TREATMENT’ “When we got our room assignment, we didn’t realize that we were signing up on the second floor, where there’s always the big Christmas decoration competition,” Collins told Fox News Digital. “When we do something, we’re in it to win it.” Collins said he met with his staff, and each person “had their own little input into what we thought we ought to put there.” COMER DEFENDS PRIVATE DEPOSITION OF HUNTER BIDEN, VOWS TO RELEASE TRANSCRIPT AND HOLD PUBLIC HEARING A Christmas tree adorned with tributes to the Peach State as well as internet memes shared by Collins this year stood right nearby. Gifts underneath had tags addressed to various reported aliases of Biden’s such as “The Big Guy.” One names the gift’s sender as Chinese President Xi Jinping. Nearby was a bag of coal addressed to Hamas in reference to the ongoing conflict between the Palestinian terror group and Israel. DOJ DEVIATED FROM ‘STANDARD PROCESSES,’ GAVE HUNTER BIDEN ‘SPECIAL TREATMENT’ IN PROBE, HOUSE GOP REPORT SAYS Tributes to Collins’ own Georgia-based trucking company dot the wide-ranging display, from tree ornaments to a massive blow-up candy truck adorned with the phrase “Keep on truckin’.” Above, visitors can spot “snowflakes” hanging from the ceiling, each a tribute to liberal figures and memes. And Collins even saved a gag for his fellow House Republicans. A life-sized cutout of Mariah Carey with the words, “All I want for Christmas are 12 appropriations bills.” “We like poking fun at everybody,” Collins said. “We just had a lot of fun.” Asked how long the intricate display took to set up, a spokesperson for the congressman told Fox News Digital, “The Collins elves popped it up overnight!”