White House offers meeting with House GOP over subpoena standoff in Biden classified docs probe
FIRST ON FOX: The White House is offering to meet with House Republicans to discuss their subpoena for former White House Counsel Dana Remus, suggesting her testimony could violate Executive Branch interests and threaten the ongoing special counsel investigation into President Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified records. Fox News Digital obtained a letter Special Counsel to the President Richard Sauber wrote to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. COMER, JORDAN SUBPOENA FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL FOR TESTIMONY RELATED TO BIDEN’S CLASSIFIED DOCS “We were pleased to read that after several months of not responding to my letters, you are now ready to discuss accommodations to address the substantial Executive Branch institutional interests implicated by your subpoena to former White House Counsel Dana Remus,” Sauber wrote in a letter to Comer and Jordan Wednesday. “We propose a meeting with your staff to start this important process.” NATIONAL ARCHIVES TO HAND OVER 62,000 BIDEN RECORDS TO HOUSE GOP, INCLUDING EMAILS USING ALIASES Sauber, pointing back to previous correspondence with House Republicans, said that “by seeking testimony on matters that are the subject of an ongoing Special Counsel investigation, your efforts raise the troubling appearance that Congress seeks to interfere with a Department of Justice investigation.” “I have also raised concerns about your attempt to use compulsory process as part of your ‘impeachment inquiry,’ as this inquiry, along with subpoenas issued pursuant to it, was not properly authorized,” Sauber wrote. “Nonetheless, we believe engaging in good faith is critical to avoid a constitutional conflict, and we propose a meeting with your staff to start this important process,” Sauber said. “Given the compressed timeline created by your waiting nearly three weeks to respond to my prior letter, we expect you will pull down the return date for your subpoena to allow the accommodation process to proceed.” Sauber’s letter was in response to a previously unreported letter Comer and Jordan sent to Sauber this week in which the committee chairmen said they were “willing to work with the White House to address any legitimate Executive Branch institutional interests.” Comer and Jordan, last month, subpoenaed former White House Counsel Dana Remus last month to appear for a deposition as part of their investigation into President Biden’s alleged mishandling and improper retention of classified records. Comer and Jordan said this week that without a “specific legal basis or privilege that would prohibit her compliance with our subpoenas,” they expect Remus will comply and appear for a deposition. The White House, last month, requested that the committees “withdraw all subpoenas issued in connection with this investigation of President Biden,” but House Republicans said White House officials “did not assert ay legal reason, let alone privilege, that would prevent Ms. Remus from sitting for a deposition with the committees.” Comer first requested Remus appear for a transcribed interview before the House Oversight Committee in May. That request came after the panel obtained information that they said “contradicts important details from the White House’s and President Biden’s personal attorney’s statements about the discovery of documents at the Penn Biden Center, including the location and security of the classified documents.” Comer has described Remus as a “central figure in the early stages of coordinating the packing and moving of boxes that were later found to contain classified materials.” Comer, in May, said Remus could be a witness “with potentially unique knowledge” about the matter. COMER DEMANDS ANSWERS ON WHETHER BIDEN CLASSIFIED RECORDS MENTION COUNTRIES RELATED TO FAMILY BUSINESS DEALS Meanwhile, the subpoena also came after Comer, in October, demanded answers from Special Counsel Robert Hur, who is investigating Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified records, on whether the sensitive, classified documents Biden retained were related to specific countries which were involved in his family’s lucrative foreign business deals. Comer is investigating the Biden family’s foreign business dealings as part of the House impeachment inquiry, as well as Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. Comer also requested from Hur a list of the countries named in any documents with classification markings recovered from Penn Biden Center, Biden’s residence, including the garage, in Wilmington, Delaware, or elsewhere; and a list of all individuals named in those documents with classification markings; and all documents found with classified markings. Biden sat down for an interview with Hur in October. BIDEN INTERVIEWED BY SPECIAL COUNSEL ABOUT CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS “As we have said from the beginning, the president and the White House are cooperating with this investigation, and as it has been appropriate, we have provided relevant updates publicly, being as transparent as we can, consistent with protecting and preserving the integrity of the investigation,” White House spokesperson for investigations Ian Sams said after the president’s interview with the special counsel. Hur’s investigation comes after a batch of records from President Biden’s time as vice president, including a “small number of documents with classified markings,” were discovered at the Penn Biden Center by the president’s personal attorneys on Nov. 2, 2022. Additional classified records were discovered at President Biden’s Wilmington home in January. After that discovery, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur as special counsel to investigate the matter.
National Archives to hand over 62,000 Biden records to House GOP, including emails using aliases
EXCLUSIVE: The National Archives plans to provide more than 62,000 pages of additional records in response to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer’s requests, including President Biden’s communications using email aliases, and records related to Hunter Biden, Fox News Digital has learned. A source familiar told Fox News Digital that the records are expected to be turned over to the committee in the coming days. The source said the production will be in addition to the more than 20,000 pages of records from Biden’s time as vice president that the National Archives already has made public on its website. BIDEN WAS IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH HUNTER’S BUSINESS PARTNERS USING EMAIL ALIAS AS VP Comer, R-Ky., initially asked for unredacted emails involving communications between Biden and Hunter Biden’s business associates in September. The committee was seeking unrestricted special access to a case record by the National Archives titled, “Records on Hunter Biden, James Biden, and Their Foreign Business Dealings,” which was first made public as a result of an ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by America First Legal. Comer, in August, specifically requested any document or communication in which a pseudonym for Joe Biden was included, either as a sender, recipient, copied, or was included in the contents of the communication. The aliases and pseudonyms included but were not limited to Robert Peters, Robin Ware, and JRB Ware. Comer also requested any communication in which Hunter Biden and/or his business associates Eric Schwerin or Devon Archer were listed as a recipient, sender or copied. He also requested drafts of Biden’s speech delivered to the Ukrainian Rada on Dec. 9, 2015; communications from his official vice presidential office to Schwerin, Archer, or Jeffrey Cooper; any records related to travel on Marine Two and Air Force Two; calendars; and more. “The Biden White House still has an ‘F’ in document production to the Oversight Committee,” Comer told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “The White House is trying to make an appearance of cooperation after two brave IRS whistleblowers yesterday provided information revealing Joe Biden used an alias as vice president to email directly with Hunter Biden’s business associate.” Comer was referring to records released by the House Ways & Means Committee turned over by IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler. Shapley and Ziegler turned over metadata that revealed that Joe Biden, while serving as vice president, used email aliases to communicate with his son Hunter Biden and his business associate Eric Schwerin hundreds of times. Schwerin was president of Hunter Biden’s Rosemont Seneca. “Just today, President Biden lied again when confronted with information that he interacted with his family’s business associates,” Comer told Fox News Digital. “The White House must comply with all of our requests for records from Joe Biden’s time as vice president and all other committee requests related to the impeachment inquiry.” Comer added: “Anything less is obstruction.” DOJ DEVIATED FROM ‘STANDARD PROCESSES,’ GAVE HUNTER BIDEN ‘SPECIAL TREATMENT’ IN PROBE, HOUSE GOP REPORT SAYS President Biden, on Wednesday, was asked about the hundreds of emails exchanged using his email alias to Hunter Biden and Schwerin, and denied they took place. “I did not, they’re lies. It’s a bunch of lies,” Biden said at the White House Wednesday. Responding to the president, House Oversight Committee Republicans posted on X: “President Biden SHOCKED when confronted about the lies he told regarding his interactions related to his family cashing in on the Biden name.” “We have produced evidence revealing Joe Biden spoke, dined, took meetings, and had coffee with his son’s foreign business associates,” the post continued. “Where are the fact checkers?” Schwerin, in addition to working as president of Rosemont Seneca, also served as then-Vice President Biden’s “bookkeeper” from 2009 to 2017. Schwerin, during a March 2023 meeting with the House Oversight Committee staff, explained that “he was not aware of any transactions into or out of the then-Vice President’s bank account related to business conducted by any Biden family member,” a spokesperson for the Democrats on the committee told Fox News Digital. COMER, JORDAN THREATEN TO HOLD HUNTER BIDEN IN CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS AFTER HE REJECTS SUBPOENA FOR DEPOSITION The White House has also cited Schwerin’s statement that Biden was not involved in his family’s business dealings when pushing back against Republicans’ impeachment inquiry. A person familiar with Schwerin’s role in handling then-Vice President Biden’s finances told Fox News Digital that Schwerin worked on Biden’s personal budget and helped coordinate with his tax preparers. The individual also pointed to the frequency of Schwerin’s communications with Biden and his top aides and said it was “inevitable” Rosemont Seneca business came up in conversations. Comer has subpoenaed Schwerin for a deposition on Nov. 9. The committee is in communication with his attorney to set a date for the deposition. Comer is co-leading the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.
US military base’s green energy project with CCP ties disconnected over national security concerns
A U.S. energy developer said it shuttered a battery storage facility connected to its solar panel array located on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, citing national security concerns. North Carolina-based Duke Energy confirmed to Fox News Digital Wednesday the facility, which began operations in April, was disconnected late last week after Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate raised concerns about the project. The storage facility was constructed with batteries manufactured by Contemporary Amperex Technology, Limited (CATL), a Chinese company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) apparatus. “Nevertheless, some concerns about this project have been raised, and, as a result, Duke Energy disconnected these batteries as we work to address these questions,” Duke Energy spokesperson Kaitlin Kirshner told Fox News Digital in a statement. “As an American energy company, we welcome the ability to use American-manufactured batteries. JOE MANCHIN GOES SCORCHED-EARTH ON BIDEN ADMIN OVER EV ACTIONS BOOSTING CHINA “Given the rapidly increasing demand for electricity, we support more domestic manufacturing to help expand energy resources in the United States and accelerate the energy transition.” Kirshner added that Duke Energy designs its projects with “security in mind.” She further noted the battery storage facility was connected to Duke Energy’s system with a “robust network security and safeguards fully in place,” not to Camp Lejeune’s internal network or other systems. Duke Energy’s action to disconnect the new facility was taken almost immediately after more than two dozen lawmakers led by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., the chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Friday expressing concern about the project and its ties to CATL. MICHIGAN DEMOCRAT SIGNED NDA INVOLVING CCP-TIED COMPANY, DOCUMENTS SHOW, CONTRADICTING HER PAST CLAIMS “In safeguarding our national security, decisive actions must be taken to eliminate potential threats,” Rubio told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Disconnecting systems supported by the Chinese Communist Party is common sense, especially when it comes to securing our military bases. It is important that we as a nation take proactive, not reactive, measures to protect ourselves from our adversaries.” In their letter Friday, Rubio, Gallagher and the other lawmakers said the Camp Lejeune project should be completely reversed and that the Department of Defense should review whether CATL systems have been installed at other U.S. military bases. The letter notes Fujian, China-based CATL is closely linked to the highest levels of the CCP, and Chinese President Xi Jinping even praised the company earlier this year. And the letter cites a recent report published by the nonpartisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), which raises the alarm on CATL’s rapid expansion in the U.S. green energy market. “CATL and other companies involved in the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses, including the Uyghur genocide, should not be allowed to build critical infrastructure for U.S. military bases like Camp Lejeune,” Gallagher told Fox News Digital. “FDD’s new report illustrates the U.S. critical infrastructure vulnerabilities created by introducing battery electric storage systems from foreign entities of concern — like those installed at Camp Lejeune — into some of the most critical parts of the U.S. power grid,” he said. “Our service members need to be ready to defend our country at a moment’s notice; we cannot allow their readiness to depend on our nation’s foremost adversary, the Chinese Communist Party.” HOUSE CCP PANEL PROBES BIDEN ADMIN OVER CHINESE GREEN ENERGY PROJECT ON US SOIL Although it is not state-owned, Chinese investors tied to the CCP have held financial stakes in CATL, according to a New York Times review. The Chinese government has also taken strategic steps over the last decade to bolster CATL and other electric vehicle companies based in China. In addition, Zeng Yuqun, who founded CATL in 2012 and remains its top executive, was identified last year as a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee. According to a U.S. government report published in 2018, the CPPCC is a “critical coordinating body” that brings together representatives of Chinese interest groups and is led by the CCP’s Politburo Standing Committee. In March 2022, the CPPCC highlighted Yuqun’s work with CATL fortifying China’s lithium supply chains, which are crucial for electric vehicle production and other green energy development. DOZENS OF REPUBLICANS PROBE US AUTOMAKER FOR PARTNERSHIP WITH CCP-LINKED EV COMPANY “Legislators from both political parties are slowly waking up to the fact that China is seeking to strategically position itself to dominate our electric future,” Craig Singleton, the author of the report cited by Gallagher and deputy director of FDD’s China Program, told Fox News Digital in an interview Wednesday. “It’s very clear that policymaker pressure can result in meaningful changes, even if the Biden administration has been lax in fully vetting these battery systems, all in pursuit of decarbonization or a transition away from fossil fuels.” “While Duke Energy should be applauded for proactively discontinuing this battery system and turning it off, it raises lots of questions about where else these batteries have been deployed across the United States, potentially on sensitive U.S. military facilities,” Singleton added. “I fear that we are really just at the starting point of what has to be a much deeper conversation about China’s access to our electrical grids and our critical infrastructure and the lack of stringent oversight which is very clearly a looming national security blind spot.” Ford Motor Company announced earlier this year it would build an electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall, Michigan. As part of the announcement, the U.S. automaker said it had reached an agreement with CATL to manufacture the battery cells at the plant using services provided by the Chinese company. Since the announcement, which was applauded by Michigan state Democrats, Ford has faced growing pressure to cancel its deal with CATL. The company announced it would scale the project down last month. The U.S. Marine Corps
Rep. Pressley introduces legislation to guarantee right to vote for people with felonies on record
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation that would allow people convicted of a felony to vote in federal elections, a proposal that if enacted could restore the voting rights of millions of people in U.S. elections. Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont submitted the legislation, named the Inclusive Democracy Act, on Tuesday which would guarantee the right to vote in federal elections for all citizens regardless of their criminal record. MINNESOTA LAW LETTING EX-FELONS VOTE TAKES EFFECT In a statement, Pressley said the legislation was necessary due to policies and court rulings that “continue to disenfranchise voters from all walks of life — including by gutting the Voting Rights Act, gerrymandering, cuts to early voting, and more.” Welch called the bill necessary due to “antiquated state felony disenfranchisement laws.” In late 2022, approximately 4.6 million people were unable to vote due to a felony conviction, according to a study by the Sentencing Project, a nonpartisan research group. The same study found that Black and Hispanic citizens are disproportionately likely to be disenfranchised due to felony convictions. “With Republicans and the Supreme Court stopping at nothing to undermine voting rights and exclude Black and brown folks from participating in our democracy, we must protect and expand access to the ballot box — including for incarcerated citizens,” Pressley said. The legislation would also require incarcerated people to be educated on their voting rights and offered systems and resources for how to register to vote. The bill also requires means of vote by mail for incarcerated people. States and territories currently determine a citizen’s voting eligibility for all levels of government. The proposed bill would not change states’ ability to expand or restrict access for state or local elections. The legislation stands long odds of being passed by the Republican-controlled House. In 2021, all Republicans and a majority of Democrats voted against an amendment to Democrats’ then-flagship voting rights reform bill that would have permitted people with felony convictions to vote. The bill later passed the House but stalled in the Senate. “As someone whose family has been personally impacted by mass incarceration, I know how important it is for people to maintain ties to their community, including by voting,” Pressley said. Voting rights for formerly incarcerated people can vary dramatically by state. While in states like Vermont and Maine people convicted of a crime never lose their right to vote in elections, 11 states generally bar formerly incarcerated people from voting indefinitely, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Welch said the bill is meant to help voters “who have been systemically robbed of their right to participate in our democratic process” and promised that the legislation was part of a broader push for greater voting rights, including through potential reforms to the Voting Rights Act and limits on gerrymandering. Democrats broadly agree on a need for greater voting rights reform but differ in what specific policies are needed. “We are still in the Civil Rights movement and Jim Crow is not behind us when laws and courts continue to disenfranchise voters from all walks of life — including by gutting the Voting Rights Act, gerrymandering, cuts to early voting, and more,” Pressley said. “We must reject this unjust status quo and advance bold policies to strengthen our democracy and make it more inclusive.”
GOP lawmaker seeks to torpedo DOJ efforts targeting Texas’ border buoy barrier
FIRST ON FOX: A Republican lawmaker is introducing legislation that would block the Department of Justice from using the Rivers and Harbors Act to sue states over border security measures after the DOJ used the act to stop Texas building a barrier in the Rio Grande. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, introduced the Prevent Aliens Through Rivers of Lands (PATROL) Act that would bar the DOJ from using the act to file a lawsuit against states. The bill currently has 19 co-sponsors, including Republican Texas Reps. Brian Babin, Dan Crenshaw, Chip Roy, Beth Van Duyne and Randy Weber. Texas set up buoys in July in the Rio Grande due to the ongoing migrant crisis at the Texas-Mexico border. Texas says it is designed to save lives by preventing people from entering the river, but humanitarian groups and the DOJ argue that the barrier poses a safety risk. JUDGE ORDERS TEXAS TO REMOVE FLOATING BUOUS USED TO CURB FLOW OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS “The State of Texas’s actions violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government’s ability to carry out its official duties,” the DOJ said in a letter to Abbott before the suit was filed. The DOJ lawsuit argues that the buoy barrier violates the Rivers and Harbors Act, which protects navigable waters from obstructions and outlines authorities for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. An appeals court ruled last week that Texas must remove 1,000 feet of the barrier, dealing a blow to the Republican-led state’s efforts to keep it in place as the lawsuit goes forward. Cloud’s bill would prevent the DOJ from using that specific act when launching lawsuits against states. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FILES INJUNCTION AGAINST TEXAS OVER FLOATING BORDER BARRIER IN RIO GRANDE It marks the latest tension between Republicans and the Biden administration over how to handle the border crisis. Republicans have pushed for more barriers and limits on asylum and other releases into the interior while the administration has called for more funding and comprehensive immigration reform. “The Biden administration should be applauding states for working to mitigate the border crisis, not suing them,” Cloud said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Yet, the Biden administration’s willful disregard of our immigration laws continues to enrich and embolden criminals while harming law-abiding Americans. The PATROL Act allows states to build barriers to secure this nation and have more control in keeping their communities safe,” he said. “If Joe Biden and his White House won’t do their jobs, Texas will.” Meanwhile, the fight over border security is ongoing in Congress, with negotiations over the White House’s supplemental spending request for the border, Israel and Ukraine. The White House wants $14 billion for border operations, including staffing and migrant care, but Republicans have said there needs to be greater limits on asylum and parole to stop the crisis at the border.
Dem governor calls out Penn president comments on antisemitism: ‘Failed leadership’
Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Wednesday said the University of Pennsylvania’s leadership has failed after its president did not unequivocally condemn anti-Jewish chants on campus as harassment. Penn President Elizabeth Magill appeared Tuesday on Capitol Hill for a hearing on antisemitism on college campuses and was asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates the university’s codes of conduct regarding bullying and harassment. She told Congress that if the speech turned into conduct, it would be considered harassment, adding that it was a “context-dependent” situation that would constitute bullying and harassment if it was “directed,” “pervasive” and “severe.” Shapiro, who is Jewish, told reporters that Magill’s comments were “unacceptable” and showed the university was under a “failed leadership,” Jewish Insider correspondent Gabby Deutch reported on X. HARVARD, MIT AND UPENN PRESIDENTS PRESSED ON ‘RACE-BASED IDEOLOGY OF THE RADICAL LEFT’ AT ANTISEMITISM HEARING Shapiro added that the Ivy League university’s board should decide whether Magill’s comments represent the school’s “values,” according to the report. Fox News Digital reached out to Penn for comment, but they did not immediately respond. Shapiro also took a stand against antisemitism earlier this week when protesters against the bombardment of Gaza chanted about genocide outside an Israeli-style restaurant. Shapiro told reporters that the demonstration was “antisemitic.” HARVARD WHISTLEBLOWER POINTS TO ‘UNDISGUISED CALLS FOR THE MURDER OF JEWS’ AFTER LAUNCH OF FEDERAL PROBE “The purposeful gathering of a mob outside of a restaurant simply because it is owned by a Jewish person. Well, that’s antisemitism, plain and simple,” Shapiro said at a conference Monday in suburban Philadelphia. Shapiro later said he spoke to one of the restaurant’s owners in support of him and his staff. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Schumer blasts House Republican for ‘antisemitic’ meme accusing Congress of snubbing ‘American patriotism’
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accused a House Republican of sharing an “antisemitic” meme that suggested Congress has been snubbing “American patriotism.” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., posted a meme on X that depicts the rapper Drake representing “Congress these days” by gesturing away from the words “American patriotism” and then smiling next to the word, “Zionism,” implying that American lawmakers as a whole prefer the latter over the former. “Rep. Massie, you’re a sitting Member of Congress. This is antisemitic, disgusting, dangerous, and exactly the type of thing I was talking about in my Senate address. Take this down,” Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history, wrote in response to Massie’s post. Massie, who serves on the House Judiciary, Rules, and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, shot back: “If only you cared half as much about our border as you do my tweets.” STEFANIK GRILLS HARVARD PRESIDENT OVER STUDENTS CALLING FOR ‘INTIFADA,’ RAMPANT ANTISEMITISM ON CAMPUS White House Deputy Communications Director Herbie Ziskend echoed Schumer’s criticism of Massie’s meme. “All Americans – including @HouseGOP leadership – should condemn this virulent Antisemitism from a sitting member of Congress,” Ziskend wrote on X. The office of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said President Biden’s efforts “would be better spent condemning the 100+ Democrats who refused to support a resolution condemning antisemitism today on the House floor,” according to NBC News. Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, took Massie to task for the meme. “Let me be crystal clear on this. This post is antisemetic (sic). Plain and simple. Shame on you @RepThomasMassie. You’re a disgrace to the US Congress and to the Republican Party,” Brooks wrote on X. On Wednesday, a House resolution “strongly condemning and denouncing the drastic rise of antisemitism in the United States and around the world” passed in a 311-14 vote with overwhelming Republican support, while 92 Democrats voted present, 13 voted no and 13 did not vote. HARVARD, MIT AND UPENN PRESIDENTS PRESSED ON ‘RACE-BASED IDEOLOGY OF THE RADICAL LEFT’ AT ANTISEMITISM HEARING Jewish Democrat Reps. Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler of New York, as well as Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., encouraged colleagues to vote present, deeming the Republican-written resolution as “the latest unserious attempt by Republicans to weaponize Jewish pain and the serious problem of antisemitism to score cheap political points.” Last week, Schumer gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor addressing the rise in antisemitism in the United States, calling out those on his own side of the political spectrum whose demonstrations attempted to justify Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre that left 1,200 people dead at a music festival and kibbutz communities in southern Israel and roughly 240 others taken as hostages in to the Gaza Strip. “Many of the people who have expressed these sentiments in America aren’t neo-Nazis or card-carrying Klan members or Islamist extremists. They are in many cases people that most liberal Jewish Americans felt previously were their ideological fellow travelers,” Schumer said. “Not long ago, many of us marched together for Black and Brown lives, we stood against anti-Asian hatred, we protested bigotry against the LGBTQ community, we fought for reproductive justice out of the recognition that injustice against one oppressed group is injustice against all. But apparently, in the eyes of some, that principle does not extend to the Jewish people.” Schumer also said that the speech, “is not an attempt to label most criticism of Israel and the Israeli government generally as antisemitic. I don’t believe that criticism is. And this speech is also not an attempt to pit hate towards one group against that of another.” The Senate majority leader has warned against placing conditions on U.S. aid to Israel, saying that conditions could potentially reduce the ability to deter Hamas’ threat, free hostages, deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and urge Israel to minimize civilian deaths. Top Republicans have already rejected attaching specific conditions for the aid package to Israel, as the U.S. does with aid to other allies. Schumer said any final package would need to be bipartisan. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Minnesota projects short-term budget surplus, long-term deficit as health, education spending hikes kick in
Minnesota’s budget picture remains stable in the near term but there are clouds on the horizon, officials announced Wednesday. An updated forecast from Minnesota Management and Budget projects a surplus of $2.4 billion in the two-year budget period that runs through June of 2025. That’s up $808 million from the estimate at the end of the legislative session in May. The bigger surplus still accounts for just a fraction of the budget of $72 billion. MINNESOTA CONSIDERS CHANGING FLAG AFTER HISTORIC 1893 DESIGN ACCUSED OF RACISM AGAINST NATIVE AMERICANS Higher expectations for consumer spending and corporate profit growth are expected to raise tax revenues above the previous forecast. Budget officials say that’s because the near-term U.S. economic outlook has improved since February, driven by stronger than expected consumer spending, business investment, and employment. But budget officials also warned of potential problems for the next two-year budget period, which begins in July of 2025. Higher estimates for health and human services spending, and education spending, are expected to result in a projected deficit. The updated projection means that lawmakers will have a little more money to work with when they reconvene in February for the 2024 legislative session. Their options will include spending it, banking it or cutting taxes. Officials plan to release more details later Wednesday. Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders from both parties plan to provide reaction.
US to assist Cyprus in crackdowns against anti-Russia sanctions violations
A group of experts from the United States is in Cyprus to assist law enforcement authorities with investigations into alleged sanctions evasion by Russian oligarchs, Cyprus’ government said Wednesday. Spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis told reporters that President Nikos Christodoulides has met the experts who will advise police on how best to conduct probes into cases involving financial crimes. They will stay for a few days in the east Mediterranean island nation and return later to continue providing assistance. Cypriot officials said the six-member team includes experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss the matter publicly. US SANCTIONS 3 SUDANESE OFFICIALS OVER TIES TO EX-DICTATOR AL-BASHIR Christodoulides told The Associated Press in an interview last month that he personally reached out to a “third country” he didn’t name for help with new and old allegations that Cypriot financial service providers helped Russian oligarchs skirt international sanctions. The president said “many” probes into alleged sanctions evasion are running but wouldn’t give details. Christodoulides said he wants “absolutely no shadows” cast over the European Union member country because any adverse publicity would hurt efforts to attract “quality” foreign investment. The experts will assist a team of seven police investigators in sifting through old and new media reports alleging that Cyprus-based lawyers and accountants shifted Russian oligarchs’ money through a murky network of companies and trusts in order to avoid their seizure in line with sanctions related to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The latest allegations came in several stories published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists last month. They cited leaked documents claiming to show how some Cypriot firms helped Russian oligarchs move their money around to evade sanctions.
Biden State Dept. blacklists conservative news outlets, lawsuit claims: ‘Censorship regime’
The State Department is facing a lawsuit for funding a “censorship regime” built by technologies that blacklist conservative media outlets. In a suit filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), the State Department is accused of “funding and promotion of censorship technologies and private censorship enterprises that blacklist” conservative news sites The Federalist and The Daily Wire, which negatively impacts the platforms’ “ability to circulate and distribute their publications to both current and potential audiences.” The lawsuit claims that the State Department technologies are “intentionally destroying” the conservative sites’ ability to obtain advertisers. “Defendants have been granted no statutory authority to fund or promote censorship technology or censorship enterprises that target the American press, tarring disfavored domestic news organizations as purveyors of ‘disinformation,’” the lawsuit says. GOP LAWMAKER PROBES ALLEGED STATE DEPT FUNDING OF UK’S ‘GLOBAL DISINFORMATION INDEX’ “There is no enumerated general power to censor speech or the press found in the United States Constitution, and the First Amendment expressly forbids it, providing: “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech or of the press,” it continues. “The State Department’s use of tax dollars to fund the silencing of a segment of the American press is appalling—and terrifying. A free and open press is foundational to our constitutional Republic, which is precisely why the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press in the First Amendment,” Margot Cleveland, counsel at NCLA, said in a statement. According to the lawsuit, the State Department uses its Global Engagement Center (GEC) to finance the development and promotion of censorship technology and enterprises, including NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index. “These entities generate blacklists of ostensibly risky or unreliable American news outlets for the purpose of discrediting and demonetizing the disfavored press and redirecting money and audiences to news organizations that publish favored viewpoints,” the lawsuit states. Mark Chenoweth, president and general counsel at NCLA said, “The federal government cannot do indirectly what the First Amendment forbids it from doing directly. The chilling censorship machinations alleged in this complaint will frighten all liberty-loving Americans to the core.” HOUSE REPUBLICAN AMAZED AFTER EXCHANGE REVEALS BIDEN DOJ OFFICIAL DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT MAJOR FIRST AMENDMENT CASE The GEC’s stated mission is to “direct, lead, synchronize, integrate, and coordinate U.S. Federal Government efforts to recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States, its allies, and partner nations.” The lawsuit notes that while Congress dramatically expanded the breadth of GEC’s mission, its purpose remained limited to combating “foreign” disinformation. “Congress explicitly included a limitation in the spending bills that provided: ‘None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available to carry out this section shall be used for purposes other than countering foreign propaganda and misinformation that threatens United States national security.’” CRUZ: BIDEN ADMIN FUNNELED TAXPAYER CASH TO UNIVERSITIES FOR ‘MISINFORMATION’ RESEARCH TO ‘CENSOR’ AMERICANS “While Congress forbade GEC from using funds appropriated or otherwise made available to it to counter Americans’ speech… many of GEC’s activities and initiatives targeted speech spoken in America among Americans, including Media Plaintiffs’ speech and press rights,” the lawsuit says. “George Orwell, call your office: The Disinformation Governance Board is back!” said Peggy Little, senior litigation counsel at NCLA, referring to a now-shuttered controversial office within the Department of Homeland Security. The State Department did not return comment by time of publication. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.