Massachusetts budget approval lets utilities raise rates to compensate for Canadian hydropower corridor costs
A budget signed by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey this week will allow utilities to raise rates to make up for hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs to complete a transmission line to bring Canadian hydropower to the New England electricity grid. The head of Central Maine Power Co.’s corporate parent Avangrid has said the cost of the $1 billion project grew to $1.5 billion as litigation delayed construction and inflation caused prices to creep upward. Legislation included the supplemental budget adopted Monday allows transmission service agreements to be renegotiated and additional costs to be passed along to Massachusetts ratepayers to cover the added costs. MASSACHUSETTS GOV. HEALEY UNVEILS CLIMATE BLUEPRINT FOR COASTAL COMMUNITIES Avangrid provided the increased costs to Massachusetts’ electricity distribution companies to adjust the rate in the parties’ transmission services agreements, which would be subject to Department of Public Utilities review and approval, Avangrid spokesperson Leo Rosales said in a statement Tuesday. He praised Healey and lawmakers for taking action to “deliver this critical project and needed clean power to benefit the entire New England region.” Avangrid partnered with Hydro-Quebec on the New England Clean Energy Connect to supply 1,200 megawatts of hydropower to meet green energy goals in Massachusetts. That would be enough electricity to power about a million homes. The 145-mile transmission line will stretch from Lewiston, Maine, to the Canadian border. It received all regulatory approvals but was plagued by delays, litigation and a referendum in which Maine voters said “no” to the project. It was allowed to move forward after a Maine jury concluded that the developers had a constitutional right to proceed despite the referendum. DECREASE SET FOR EXORBITANT MAINE ELECTRICITY COSTS Construction resumed in August on a transmission hub that’s critical to the project in Lewiston. But it’s unclear when other work will restart. Workers had already begun removing trees and setting utility poles on a disputed portion of the project, a new 53-mile section cut through the woods in western Maine, before the project was put on hold. The project was envisioned to meet Massachusetts’ clean energy goals, and the cost is fully borne by ratepayers in that state. However, supporters say electricity would lower energy costs across New England as well as reduce carbon pollution.
Biden to supporters: ‘If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running’
President Biden on Tuesday told supporters he’s not sure if he would be seeking a second term in the White House in 2024 if former President Donald Trump wasn’t trying to win back his old job. “If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running. But we cannot let him win,” the president said at a fundraiser at a private home near Boston, Massachusetts, according to a pool report. Biden’s candid comments about his reasons for running for re-election came as he reiterated what he and Democrats have emphasized is the threat Trump poses to American democracy if he wins back the White House. “Trump’s not even hiding the ball anymore. He’s telling us what he’s going to do. He’s making no bones about it,” Biden warned. WILL THESE SIX BATTLEGROUND STATES COST BIDEN THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2024? The president also once again spotlighted Trump’s recent renewed calls to scrap the Affordable Care Act, the sweeping health care law passed during Biden’s tenure as vice president during then-President Obama’s administration. The fundraiser, one of three the president was headlining in the Boston area on Tuesday, comes as the president kicked off a fundraising sprint to close the year, to build resources for what will certainly be an expensive re-election effort in 2024. The president’s remark suggests that Biden may not have run for another four years in the White House if Trump had decided against a 2024 bid. BIDEN FACES A BIGGER POLLING DEFICIT NOW THAT OBAMA DID A YEAR BEFORE THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Trump remains the commanding front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination as he makes his third straight White House run. Trump holds a large double-digit lead over the rest of the shrinking field of Republican rivals for the nomination. Biden made history in 2020 as the oldest person elected president, as he defeated Trump. The now 81-year-old Biden has long viewed himself as the Democrats’ best shot at keeping Trump from winning back the White House. But Biden continues to suffer from underwater approval ratings among many Americans and faces concerns – not just from Republicans and independents but also from Democrats – over his physical and mental stamina. While the president is the commanding front-runner for his party’s 2024 nomination, polls indicate that many Americans – including plenty of Democrats – don’t want the president to seek a second term in the White House. Those same surveys spotlight that voters are far from thrilled with the likely prospect of a rematch between Biden and Trump. Fox News’ Kate Sprague and Kelly Phares contributed to this report Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
AOC claims women will face ‘genital examinations’ if biological men barred from female sports
“Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., claimed that “all” underage women will face “genital examinations” if biological men are barred from women’s sports. Ocasio-Cortez made her claim during the Tuesday House Oversight Subcommittee on Health hearing featuring NCAA swimming legend and women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines. The New York Democrat said there were several proposals looking to “marginalize” transgender Americans before claiming during her questioning that women would have to get their pants checked if someone disbelieves their stated gender. RILEY GAINES HITS BACK AT ‘SQUAD’ DEM CALLING HER TESTIMONY ‘TRANSPHOBIC’: YOU’RE A ‘MISOGYNIST’ “We are talking about opening up all women and girls to genital examinations when they are underage, potentially just because someone can point to someone and say, I don’t think you are a girl,” she claimed. “And we’re saying this in an environment of a post-Dobbs America, where states are criminalizing access to abortion and want nothing more than data on women to figure out when, who’s getting a menstrual cycle, who doesn’t have one, and we’re supposed to believe this is going to make us better and safer?” “I think not, and, per usual, I don’t believe we’re sitting here on a panel of men that has actually thought about the biology and privacy consequences of all women, trans or cisgendered,” the “Squad” Democrat added. Ocasio-Cortez’s claim comes almost a year after the Ohio state Senate removed a controversial provision from a state House proposal barring biological men from competing against women, which would have required “internal and external” exams to confirm a student-athlete’s gender. Ohio Senate Republicans replaced the provision with a requirement for student-athletes whose gender is in question to “present a copy of the participant’s original birth certificate” to compete. “I’m not sure why that’s in the bill, it’s unnecessary,” State Senate President Matt Huffman said about the genital inspection provision in June 2022. “All of these tests can be done with a simple DNA swab,” Huffman added. Tuesday’s hearing saw fireworks from the get-go as Gaines, an outspoken advocate of keeping women’s sports limited to biological women, fired back at Ocasio-Cortez’s fellow “Squad”-mate, Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa. Lee called Gaines’ testimony, as well as the testimonies of the other women leaders looking to restrict women’s sports to biological women, “transphobic” in her opening remarks. Gaines blasted Lee, the ranking member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Health, after the Squad member took her shot at the witnesses’ testimony. “There’s a place for everybody to play sports in this country,” Gaines said, noting transgender Americans were included in her view. “But unsafe, unfair and discriminatory practices must stop.” “Inclusion cannot be prioritized over safety and fairness,” the former NCAA swimmer concluded in her opening remarks. “And ranking member Lee, if my testimony makes me ‘transphobic,’ then I believe your opening monologue makes you a misogynist.” Fox News Digital’s Ronn Blitzer contributed reporting.
Special Counsel Jack Smith claims Trump ‘sent supporters’ to Capitol in new court docs detailing DOJ evidence
Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel Jack Smith claimed in new court documents filed Tuesday that former President Donald Trump specifically “sent” his supporters to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 to obstruct the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. The documents, filed in the Washington, D.C. federal court overseeing the case against Trump related to Jan. 6 and alleged efforts to overturn the election, detailed the evidence Smith’s team will be using in the former president’s upcoming trial, which is scheduled to begin on Mar. 4. “Evidence of the defendant’s post-conspiracy embrace of particularly violent and notorious rioters is admissible to establish the defendant’s motive and intent on January 6—that he sent supporters, including groups like the Proud Boys, whom he knew were angry, and whom he now calls ‘patriots,’ to the Capitol to achieve the criminal objective of obstructing the congressional certification,” Smith wrote. FEDERAL JUDGE DENIES TRUMP’S CLAIM OF PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY IN SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S JAN. 6 CASE “In addition, his statements in this time period agreeing that he then held, and still holds, enormous influence over his supporters’ actions is evidence of his knowledge and intent to obstruct the certification, as he chose not to exercise that influence to mitigate the violence on January 6,” he wrote. Smith said that Trump’s “embrace” of those participating in the Jan. 6 riot was “evidence of his intent” because they “acted as he directed them to act.” Additionally, Smith listed Trump’s “refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power,” and his “motive, intent and plan to interfere with the implementation of an election result with which he was not satisfied,” as evidence. TRUMP IS NOT IMMUNE FROM CIVIL LAWSUITS RELATED TO JAN. 6 FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULES He also wrote he would introduce evidence to establish Trump’s “plan of silencing” those speaking out against his claims of a fraudulent election, and that his public criticism of other officials, such as former Vice President Mike Pence, “could foreseeably lead to threats, harassment, and violence.” Trump’s campaign responded to Smith’s documents by blasting them as an act of desperation. “Crooked Joe Biden, Deranged Jack Smith, and the rest of the Hacks and Thugs attempting to interfere in the 2024 election are getting so desperate to attack President Trump that they are perverting justice by trying to include claims that weren’t anywhere to be found in their dreamt up, fake indictment,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said. BIDEN TROLLS DESANTIS, HALEY, TRUMP WITH GIANT BILLBOARDS AHEAD OF FOURTH GOP PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE “President Trump will not be deterred and will continue speaking truth to corrupt, weaponized power and law enforcement,” he added. Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. Trump pleaded not guilty to all four federal charges. Fox News’ Jake Gibson and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Wisconsin Gov. Evers approves half-billion dollar Brewers stadium overhaul
After months of backroom wrangling, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill Tuesday that spends half-a-billion dollars in taxpayer money over the next three decades to help the Milwaukee Brewers repair their baseball stadium. The governor signed the bipartisan package at American Family Field, calling the legislation a compromise agreement between the team and the public. “All in all, this plan ensures the Milwaukee Brewers will continue to call this city home for nearly 30 more years,” Evers said before signing the legislation on a stage set up at home plate. The stadium’s lights flashed as he lifted his pen from the papers. WISCONSIN SENATE APPROVES BREWERS STADIUM SPENDING PACKAGE, WITH SOME CUTS The Brewers’ principal owner, Mark Attanasio and former Major League Baseball commissioner and former Brewers owner Bud Selig appeared alongside Evers. Attanasio called the signing “a special day” as he thanked legislators, Brewers employees and the public for helping him deliver what he called the best fan experience possible at the stadium. Selig said nothing but nodded as Attanasio introduced him as his mentor. The Brewers say the 22-year-old stadium needs extensive renovation. The stadium’s glass outfield doors, seats and concourses need replacing, the stadium’s luxury suites and video scoreboard need upgrades and the stadium’s signature retractable roof, fire suppression systems, parking lots, elevators and escalators need work, according to the team. Brewers officials warned lawmakers the team might leave Milwaukee without public assistance. Spurred by the threat of losing tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue, legislators unveiled a subsidy package in September. Debates over handing public dollars to professional sports teams are always divisive. Attanasio is worth an estimated $700 million, according to Yahoo Finance, and the team itself is valued at around $1.6 billion, according to Forbes. Critics, including a number of Milwaukee-area legislators, insisted the Brewers deserved nothing and the state should spend its tax dollars on programs designed to help people. The package went through multiple revisions as lawmakers worked to find ways to reduce the public subsidy. The bill Evers finally signed calls for a state contribution of $365.8 million doled out in annual payments through 2050. The city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County will contribute a combined $135 million. The legislation also imposes surcharges on tickets to non-baseball events at the stadium such as rock concerts or monster truck rallies. The surcharges are expected to generate $20.7 million. The Brewers, for their part, will spend $110 million and extend their lease at the stadium through 2050, keeping Major League Baseball in its smallest market for another 27 years. The bill easily passed the Legislature last month, with the Assembly approving it on a 72-26 vote and the Senate following suit 19-14. Attanasio said during the signing that the Brewers have received inquiries from other cities about relocating but moving was never an option. He said he understands how painful it was for the community when the Milwaukee Braves left for Atlanta in 1966. He did not name the cities inquiring about hosting the Brewers. WISCONSIN ASSEMBLY GREENLIGHTS $545M BREWERS STADIUM OVERHAUL Milwaukee was without a Major League Baseball team after the Braves left until 1970, when the Seattle Pilots relocated to the city and became the Brewers. “We never considered going anywhere else,” Attanasio said. “We always wanted to be here.” The stadium opened in 2001 as Miller Park and replaced aging County Stadium. Construction cost about $392 million and was funded largely through a 0.1% sales tax imposed in Milwaukee County and the four other counties that surround the stadium. Evers grew nostalgic about the Brewers before he signed the legislation, reminiscing about collecting Brewer bobbleheads, how as a boy he met Hank Aaron at County Stadium and how he watched Milwaukee Braves’ pitcher Warren Spahn win his 300th game at County Stadium in 1961. Evers has taken criticism from conservatives in recent weeks for using an alternative state email under Spahn’s name.
Petition to repeal Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system threatened by ethics allegations
Supporters of an effort to get rid of Alaska’s ranked choice voting system are accused of “intentional deception” by failing to properly report their activities, including the involvement of Christian organization, according to allegations in a new complaint filed with state campaign finance watchdogs. The group Alaskans for Honest Elections is gathering signatures with the goal of getting on next year’s ballot an initiative that aims to repeal the state’s system of open primaries and ranked vote general elections. But Alaskans for Better Elections, which supports the elections system, wants to halt that signature gathering until the repeal group fixes the alleged violations and pays all potential fines. This is the third time Alaskans for Better Elections filed a complaint against the repeal group with the state election watchdog. The latest complaint, filed Monday, says Alaskans for Honest Elections appears to be using Wellspring Ministries in Anchorage as an “unreported base of operations for signature gathering efforts,” despite public claims by Wellspring that the church was not involved. LT. GOV. NANCY DAHLSTROM LAUNCHES CHALLENGE TO DEMOCRATIC ALASKA REP. MARY PELTOLA Kevin Clarkson, an attorney representing individuals and groups advocating for the repeal of ranked voting, called the complaint “a salacious mash of contorted false allegations,” the Anchorage Daily News reported. Alaska voters in 2020 approved the switch to open primaries and having ranked voting in general elections. Alaskans for Better Elections was behind that successful push. Supporters of ranked voting say it gives voters more choice and encourages candidates who need a coalition of support to win to move away from negative campaigning. Opponents claim the process is confusing. Clarkson, a former state attorney general, said the signature gatherer named in the complaint, Mikaela Emswiler, paid Wellspring Ministries to rent space for her work. The ballot group also paid Emswiler’s company $15,000 on Nov. 13. Clarkson said use of the facility is “perfectly legal,” given that Emswiler paid the church for the space, and that the ballot group paid Emswiler. ALASKA GOVERNOR APPOINTS REPUBLICAN THOMAS BAKER TO VACANT STATE HOUSE SEAT Art Mathias, an Anchorage pastor who is a director of the ballot initiative, its main funder and president of Wellsprings Ministries, has previously testified before the commission about the lack of involvement by the church in the ballot initiative. Churches and other tax-exempt religious organizations, like Wellsprings Ministries, are barred by federal law from participating in political campaign activity. But the Alaska Public Offices Commission lacks authority to investigate potential violations of that law. The commission previously determined the repeal ballot group violated state law by filing campaign finance reports late, incurring more than $2,000 in fines. The panel currently is considering allegations that backers of the repeal effort violated campaign finance rules, including by channeling money through a church-affiliated organization in a way that initially concealed the source of the contributions. Phillip Izon, a leader of the ballot group, also has filed a complaint against Alaskans for Better Elections, alleging it has violated reporting requirements. The commission has not yet considered that complaint.
Riley Gaines hits back at ‘Squad’ Dem calling her testimony ‘transphobic’: You’re a ‘misogynist’
NCAA swimming legend and women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines hit back against a “Squad” Democrat after she called her and other witnesses’ testimony against transgender males in women’s sports “transphobic.” Gaines fired back at Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., the ranking member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Health, after the Squad member took a shot at the witnesses’ testimony during her opening remarks. Lee called the women’s testimonies against biological males playing in women’s sports “transphobic” – something Gaines did not take lightly. RILEY GAINES, WOMEN LEADERS TO TESTIFY BEFORE HOUSE PANEL ON PROTECTING GIRLS’ SPORTS FROM BIDEN POLICIES “There’s a place for everybody to play sports in this country,” Gaines said, noting transgender Americans were included in her view. “But unsafe, unfair and discriminatory practices must stop.” “Inclusion cannot be prioritized over safety and fairness,” the NCAA legend concluded in her opening remarks. “And ranking member Lee, if my testimony makes me ‘transphobic,’ then I believe your opening monologue makes you a misogynist.” Lee called a point of order, urging that Gaines’ remarks to be struck from the record, but the point of order was withdrawn after a brief discussion. Gaines’ testimony comes alongside several women leaders called as witnesses to discuss the Biden administration’s proposed Title IX rule change. Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., the House Oversight Subcommittee on Health chairwoman, announced on Tuesday that Gaines, Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Sarah Parshall Perry, and former Oberlin College head women’s lacrosse coach Kim Russell would attend next week’s hearing titled “The Importance of Protecting Female Athletics and Title IX.” The hearing will delve into the Biden administration’s proposed rules changes to Title IX to expand the definition of sexual discrimination to include gender identity. The proposed change would mean a school or college could not ban transgender athletes from competing. McClain told Fox News Digital last week that “Congress must do everything it can to protect women’s sports.” “The Biden administration is putting women’s safety, privacy and opportunities at risk by dismantling Title IX,” McClain said. “We look forward to hearing from Riley Gaines and other witnesses firsthand about how these rules changes harm fairness and protection for women in women’s sports across the country,” the congresswoman continued. Gaines has been a vocal supporter of women’s sports and has pushed back against biological male athletes competing against women. The two-time Olympic trial qualifier torched the Biden administration’s Title IX rule change proposal in June, calling the “rewrite” of the policy protecting women “an abomination.”
Republicans close ranks, demand Dems face border crisis as Biden Ukraine aid plan hangs in balance
Republicans in the House and Senate are closing ranks in a bid to force President Biden to deal with the ongoing crisis at the U.S. southern border. Both Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have signaled that getting any part of Biden’s $106 billion supplemental aid request passed would require concessions on conservative border and asylum measures. Johnson told GOP lawmakers in a closed-door meeting that passing border security measures is a top goal of his in considering an aid package, two sources who were present told Fox News Digital. One said Johnson called border security a “hill to die on” in the ongoing fight, confirming earlier reporting by the Associated Press. UKRAINE TO RECEIVE NATO SUPPORT FOR ‘AS LONG AS IT TAKES,’ GAIN ALLIANCE MEMBERSHIP AFTER CONFLICT House conservatives have been pushing Johnson to not accept anything less than H.R. 2, the GOP’s marquee border bill, which would reinstate Trump administration-era measures such as Remain In Mexico and limit the ability for undocumented migrants to seek asylum, among other policies. McConnell told reporters at a press conference later that afternoon that he would urge Senate Republicans to vote against advancing Biden’s $106 billion request unless border security measures were included. UNITED NATIONS SLAMMED FOR SILENCE OVER HAMAS RAPES, MUTILATION AND MURDER OF ISRAELI WOMEN, CRITICS SAY It comes after bipartisan compromise talks on the matter fell through over the weekend. Despite that, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., teed up a vote on Biden’s aid request for later this week. “I’m advocating, and I hope all of our members vote no on the motion to proceed to the shell, to make the point – hopefully for the final time – that we insist on meaningful changes to the border,” McConnell said. “We’ve had a number of members who have been involved in it over the years without much success. Now is the time to pay attention to our own border in addition to these other important international concerns.” President Biden’s supplemental aid request includes funding for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, humanitarian aid, as well as the U.S. border. The House has already passed a standalone bill with the roughly $14 billion in Israel aid Biden requested, but the funding would be offset by money allocated toward the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a nonstarter for the Democrat-held Senate. GOP SENATORS INTRODUCE STAND-ALONE BILL TO AID ISRAEL WITHOUT MORE FUNDING TO UKRAINE House Republican leaders have signaled they will only put Ukraine aid on the floor, of which Biden requested roughly $61 billion, if it’s paired with border security measures. Schumer instead suggested at his own Tuesday press conference that he would allow a vote on a border security amendment crafted by Senate Republicans in addition to the supplemental. “I will not interfere with them drawing up an amendment, but it will need 60 votes like any amendment would,” Schumer said. McConnell panned the idea when asked by reporters later. “They don’t want to deal with border security in the context of the supplemental. We do, because we know that will guarantee an outcome – because the other parts of supplemental almost all of our members support,” he said.
FBI says interviews of priest, choir director were part of investigation of ‘an individual,’ not Catholics
The FBI said its interviews of a Catholic priest and choir director were conducted during an investigation of “an individual threatening violence who has since been arrested,” and not a broader probe into Catholics. The FBI’s comment comes after the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released a report suggesting the bureau has been investigating Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists after an FBI Richmond internal memo, titled “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.” FBI INTERVIEWED PRIEST, CHURCH CHOIR DIRECTOR AHEAD OF ANTI-CATHOLIC MEMO, HOUSE GOP FINDS The committee stated that the FBI “relied on at least one undercover agent to develop its assessment and the FBI even proposed developing sources among the Catholic clergy and church leadership.” It also said the FBI “interviewed a priest and choir director affiliated with a Catholic church in Richmond, Virginia for the memorandum.” The committee said whistleblower disclosures reveal that the FBI interview of a priest and choir director affiliated with a Catholic church in Richmond, Virginia, was used to “inform on the parishioner under investigation.” But the FBI told Fox News Digital that “any characterization that the FBI is targeting Catholics is false.” The FBI explained that “the interviews of the priest and choir director highlighted by the committee’s report were conducted by FBI Richmond during an investigation of an individual threatening violence who has since been arrested.” “The interviews were not conducted for the domain perspective as characterized by the report,” the FBI said. The FBI has maintained that “the intelligence product prepared by one FBI field office did not meet the exacting standards of the FBI and was quickly removed from FBI systems.” “An internal review conducted by the FBI found no malicious intent to target Catholics or members of any other religious faith, and did not identify any investigative steps taken as a result of the product,” the FBI said. “The FBI is committed to upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans and we do not conduct investigations based solely on First Amendment protected activity, including religious practices.” SEVERAL FBI OFFICES CONTRIBUTED TO ANTI-CATHOLIC MEMO, REFUTING WRAY’S TESTIMONY, GOP SAYS The FBI said it “investigates violence, threats of violence, and violations of federal law.” “We have provided hundreds of pages of documents and briefings to the Committee to address our findings and the numerous actions we are taking to address identified shortcomings,” the FBI said. But House Judiciary Committee spokesman Russell Dye pushed back at the FBI’s denial, maintaining the committee’s findings. “The facts speak for themselves,” Dye told Fox News Digital. “Contrary to the FBI’s assertions, the Committee has presented evidence that the FBI’s infamous Catholic memo relied on information from multiple field offices, not just the Richmond Field Office.” “The evidence shows that the Richmond Field Office conducted the interviews of a priest and choir director as part of an investigation that served as a basis for the creation of the Catholic memo,” Dye continued. “Whistleblowers have told us that the memo was distributed around the country.” Dye also said the evidence shows that “FBI employees at all levels in the Richmond Field Office, including the office’s top lawyer, saw no concerns with the contents of the memo or its portrayal of faithful Americans.” “Worse, the evidence shows that the FBI considered formalizing the memo into an external product,” Dye said. “The FBI’s actions here are inexcusable, period.” The committee report also states that the basis of the original Richmond memo “relied on a single investigation in the Richmond Field Office’s area of responsibility in which the subject ‘self-described’ as a ‘radical-traditionalist Catholic.’” But the committee found that FBI employees “could not define the meaning of an RTC when preparing, editing, or reviewing the memorandum.” “Even so, this single investigation became the basis for an FBI-wide memorandum warning about the dangers of ‘radical’ Catholics,” the report states. FBI UNDER PRESSURE AS SENATE, HOUSE MEMBERS SEEK ANSWERS FOR ’DISCRIMINATORY’ ANTI-CATHOLIC MEMO “While the FBI claims it ‘does not categorize investigations as domestic terrorism based on the religious beliefs – to include Catholicism – of the subject involved,’ an FBI-wide memorandum originating from the FBI’s Richmond Field Office did just that,” the report states. “Under the guise of tackling the threat of domestic terrorism, the memorandum painted certain ‘radical-traditionalist Catholics’ (RTCs) as violent extremists and proposed opportunities for the FBI to infiltrate Catholic churches as a form of ‘threat mitigation.’” During a hearing in the Senate Tuesday, FBI Director Wray was pressed on the matter by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. Wray maintained that the interview of the priest and choir director was part of “an investigation of a specific individual who was amassing Molotov cocktails and posting about killing people. And it does not surprise me that there were people who knew that subject in that investigation.” Meanwhile, the committee’s report states that the FBI produced a version of the Richmond memo with fewer redactions than the two previous versions it provided. That version revealed that investigations into Catholic organizations in Los Angeles and Portland fed into the Richmond office memo. The report states that FBI Milwaukee was also involved. But Wray, during the Senate hearing, said the “notion that other field offices were involved is a garble.” “And let me explain why,” Wray said. “I mean, why I say that the only involvement of the two other field offices was the Richmond authors of the product, which included two sentences or something or thereabouts, referencing each of these other offices’ cases. And they sent those sentences about the other office cases to them, not the whole product, and asked them, ‘Hey, did we describe your case right?’” Wray added: “That’s all the other offices had. So it was a single field office product, and I stand by that.” Meanwhile, the report said the documents obtained by the committee’s subpoena show that “the FBI singled out Americans who are pro-life, pro-family,
How and where to watch Donald Trump’s town hall with Fox News’ Sean Hannity
PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch the “Hannity” Town Hall with former President Trump on Fox News Channel at 9 pm ET. Fox News’ Sean Hannity will sit down with Former President Donald Trump tonight at 9 p.m. ET for a one-hour interview. The exclusive town hall event will appear on “Hannity” and was pre-taped in Davenport, Iowa. Viewers can expect the former president to touch on issues that are important to the American people and could vary from immigration and border security to abortion, Obamacare and healthcare. Additionally, the former president’s looming indictments are a concern to many Americans and others believe they have been politically motivated. TRUMP SAYS TAKING MUGSHOT WAS ‘NOT A COMFORTABLE FEELING, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’VE DONE NOTHING WRONG’ In August, Hannity questioned the timing of Trump’s indictments, saying, “They want you to focus only on Trump indictments, court proceedings, January 6, documents, anything other than Joe Biden. And we went through the timeline last night. If Joe Biden gets bad news, the next day there’s another Trump indictment. Shocking.” Viewers can anticipate mention of some or all of his 2024 GOP presidential rivals and opponents, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the campaign trail leading up to November. Former Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Senator Tim Scott, political commentator Larry Elder, American author Perry Johnson, former U.S. Representative Will Hurd and Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez have all dropped out of the fight for GOP nominee in the 2024 presidential election. North Dakota Gov., Doug Burgum, is the latest candidate to withdraw himself from the campaign trail. In a post on Instagram Monday, Burgum wrote: “Today, we have made the decision to suspend our campaign for President of the United States.” “Our decision to run came from a place of caring deeply about every American and our mission to re-establish trust in American leadership and our institutions of democracy,” Burgum added. DESANTIS STOPS IN ALL 99 IOWA COUNTIES, BUT WILL IT HELP HIM CLOSE THE GAP WITH TRUMP, STAY AHEAD OF HALEY? In a June interview with FOX & Friends’ Brian Kilmeade, Burgum said of Trump’s indictments that “You cannot have a democracy where people don’t trust what’s going on.” Trump, the GOP frontrunner, has opted out of GOP presidential debates during this campaign cycle thus far. The former president has skipped the first, second and third debates and is expected to sidestep the fourth debate on Wednesday, Dec. 6 in Alabama. Hannity hosted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a red vs blue state debate on Nov. 30. The political rivals went at it during a prime-time event over topics and issues including taxes, transgenderism, COVID-19, education, the Biden administration and more.