New York Appeals Court appears receptive to reversing or reducing $454M Trump civil fraud judgment
Judges on a New York appeals court were open-minded and receptive to the possibility of reversing or reducing the $454 million civil fraud judgment in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against former President Trump. Trump appealed the civil fraud ruling that demanded he pay more than $450 million. The former president’s attorneys called New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling “draconian, unlawful, and unconstitutional.” TRUMP’S $454M JUDGMENT BOND SLASHED BY MORE THAN HALF IN APPEALS COURT RULING Engoron ruled that Trump and other defendants were liable for persistent and repeated fraud, falsifying business records, issuing false financial statements, conspiracy to falsify false financial statements, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. A five-judge panel on a New York appeals court in Manhattan Thursday heard oral arguments on the appeal. The former president did not attend oral arguments Thursday but was instead represented by his legal team. Trump attorney D. John Sauer argued that James’ lawsuit stretched New York consumer protection laws and said there were “no victims” and “no complaints” of Trump’s business from lenders and insurers. Sauer said the cause “involves a clear cut violation of the statute of limitations,” pointing to transactions used in the non-jury civil fraud trial that dated back more than a decade. TRUMP VOWS TO FIGHT NEW YORK AG CASE ‘ALL THE WAY UP TO THE US SUPREME COURT,’ AS DEADLINE TO POST $454M LOOMS Sauer said that if the verdict is not overturned, “people can’t do business in real estate” without fear. The Appellate Division typically rules about a month after arguments are complete, meaning a final decision could come before Election Day on Nov. 5. Judge Peter H. Moulton questioned if James’ lawsuit turned into “something it was not meant to do.” Moulton said the “immense penalty in this case is troubling.” But the state argued that there is evidence to support the verdict. TRUMP BARRED FROM OPERATING BUSINESS, ORDERED TO PAY OVER $350 MILLION IN NY CIVIL FRAUD CASE In September 2023, before the non-jury trial began, Engoron ruled that Trump and the Trump Organization had committed fraud while building his real estate empire by deceiving banks, insurers and others by overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing. Trump was hit with an initial penalty of $355 million. That sum is quickly increasing via interest accruals of approximately $112,000 a day until paid in full, now sitting around $470 million. Trump, the 2024 presumptive GOP presidential nominee, and his legal team had appealed and requested a stay on his $454 million civil fraud judgment. Trump’s legal team said the initial requested bond was “unprecedented for a private company,” and said to post it in the judgment’s full amount was a “practical impossibility.” An appeals court slashed former President Trump’s bond payment in March, and the former president paid $175 million. Trump has vowed to fight the case “all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.” Trump and his family denied any wrongdoing, with the former president saying his assets had been undervalued. Trump’s legal team insisted that his financial statements had disclaimers, and made it clear to banks that they should conduct their own assessments. Throughout the trial, Trump attorneys brought witnesses, including former Deutsche Bank top executives, who testified the banks sought additional business from Trump, whom they viewed as a “whale of a client.” Trump’s defense also brought in expert witnesses, including New York University accounting professor Eli Bartov, who reviewed the Trump financial statements at issue in the case and said he found no evidence of accounting fraud. Bartov testified last month that Trump’s financial statements did not violate accounting principles, and he suggested that anything problematic – like a huge year-to-year leap in the estimated value of his Trump Tower penthouse – was simply an error. “My main finding is that there is no evidence whatsoever of any accounting fraud,” Bartov testified. Trump’s financial statements, he said, “were not materially misstated.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.
GOP gains voter advantage in Pennsylvania swing county near Biden’s birthplace
A key Pennsylvania swing county just a few miles southwest of President Biden’s birthplace has swung to the Republicans’ favor in voter registration figures, a county party district officer confirmed to Fox News Digital. Luzerne County, home of the Democratic stronghold of Wilkes-Barre, and surrounded by working-class cities like Hazleton and Pittston, is now light red, with at least 83 more Republicans on the rolls than Democrats as of Thursday. “We’d all like to thank the Democrats and the Democratic platform because they’re the ones that really inspired people to leave the party and become Republicans,” Luzerne County GOP 119th District Chairman T.J. Fitzgerald said Thursday. “They get most of the credit, then, of course, the [GOP] grassroots and people themselves.” WORKING CLASS WILL COME HOME TO HARRIS, RALLYGOERS IN WILKES-BARRE SAY Fitzgerald, who represents the Nanticoke, Sugar Notch and Plymouth areas in the county party structure, said it was a combined effort of the Luzerne County GOP, Early Vote Action leader Scott Presler and the Trump Force organization that drove new registrants to file with the clerk’s office. Fitzgerald claimed there are also several thousand voter registration forms yet to be processed by county officials in Wilkes-Barre. The trend would suggest somewhere around two-thirds could go to the Republicans, he said, citing information from a recent meeting he attended. Fitzgerald also leads the separate, grassroots group Luzerne County Republicans, adding the group’s work is likely to make a difference in key races this fall. He cited contests between Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pa., and David McCormick and Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., against Rob Bresnahan. “I think a lot of the state representatives are going to get the coattails of Donald Trump, and they’re going to come in as well,” he added. While Luzerne is home to former Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., neighboring Lackawanna County is better known for Democrats Joe Biden and Casey and his late father. Luzerne County Democratic Party Chairman Tom Shubilla reacted to the news by saying his focus is actually getting voters to the polls. “This is something [the Republicans] have been talking about for a while,” he said. “We’re … making sure [voters] have returned their mail-in ballot or whether they could vote early … so that’s not really my primary focus. PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS TAUNT HARRIS RALLYGOERS AS VEEP SUPPORTER HITS BACK: ‘WHAT ABOUT HAMAS’ “I really don’t think that’s going to be a game changer one way or the other. … What if they don’t go?” Shubilla said Luzerne has been a “purple county” for a long time and that Pennsylvania likes to vote “split-ticket.” “Is this something I wanted to see? No. … But, at the end of the day, we are working hard to make sure our voters get to the polls. “Even though maybe the registration numbers aren’t necessarily in our direction this time around, I have a feeling that we, at some point, we will overcome that number,” he said. “Again, we’re going to do amazing this election with Luzerne County.” The county recently hosted Vice President Kamala Harris at Wilkes University, and Shubilla noted it was a “fun” event that attracted a large number of supporters. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “We got to see a lot of people get involved for the first time, or a very long time,” he said, adding some of those supporters may not have been as active since 2008 when Barack Obama entered the political scene. In that regard, Luzerne County did vote for the Illinois Democrat before supporting Trump in both of his recent bids despite its Democratic majority in voter registration at the time. Before then, the last Republican to win the working-class county was George H.W. Bush, against Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1988.
A Black student punished for his hairstyle wants to return to the Houston-area school he left
The legal request comes after a judge dismissed most of the claims in a lawsuit accusing Barbers Hill ISD of discrimination.
White House grilled on Harris’ gun ownership, mandatory gun buybacks
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday declined to answer questions on Vice President Kamala Harris’ gun ownership and previous support of a mandatory gun-buyback program when announcing that President Biden would sign new executive action to address gun violence. The Harris campaign has not responded to multiple requests this week from Fox News Digital seeking answers on what type of gun Harris owns, in what state the vice president is registered and when she last went to a gun range. More than two weeks have passed since Harris declared at the ABC News Presidential Debate in Philadelphia that she and her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are gun owners. Jean-Pierre said at the White House press briefing that Biden and Harris would be holding an event announcing new executive action to combat the gun violence epidemic. In a press release, the White House said that Biden and Harris would announce a new executive order “directing federal agencies to improve school-based active shooter drills and combat the emerging threats of machinegun-conversion devices and unserialized, 3D-printed firearms, as well as additional executive actions that advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s agenda to reduce gun violence and save lives.” “On the gun event today, what kind of gun does the vice president have? And when did she buy it?” Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich asked at the briefing. “That’s something for her office to speak to,” Jean-Pierre shot back. HARRIS CAMPAIGN WON’T GIVE DETAILS ON TYPE OF GUN SHE OWNS, LAST TIME SHE WENT TO RANGE Harris told former President Trump to “stop with the continuous lying” after he claimed the Democratic presidential nominee “has a plan to confiscate everybody’s gun.” She vowed on the debate stage that “we’re not taking anybody’s guns away.” But while serving as San Francisco district attorney in 2005, Harris supported Proposition H, which would have banned handguns within city limits and would have required that residents turn in the handguns that they already owned by a certain deadline or face mandatory jail time, Heinrich noted, asking again Thursday whether the White House would give details on Harris’ gun ownership. “So can the White House get us an answer on that? Because she hasn’t, and her campaign officials also haven’t answered that question, even on television,” Heinrich said. “When it comes to the VP and owning a gun, she can speak for herself. The campaign could speak for that. Her office can speak for that. I’m not — that’s for them to speak to,” Jean-Pierre said. “There is no conflict here when we’re saying that we want to see responsible gun ownership. That’s what we want to see. Responsible gun ownership. I think that is what’s important here.” Decrying gun violence as “an epidemic in our country,” she continued: “Think about our schools, our grocery stores. It’s an epidemic. We have done the work. We have seen violent crimes go down because of the work that this president and this vice president has done. There is an office to prevent gun violence. And that is something that she leads.” HARRIS SURPRISES SOCIAL MEDIA BY SAYING SHE’S A GUN OWNER “We’re asking for responsible gun ownership. That’s what we want to see. That’s what’s important here. And if people don’t, don’t want to, don’t understand that, I don’t know how to further even explain that to them,” she said. “Our kids, our schools. There’s an epidemic here. There’s an epidemic. There are drills happening in our schools right now. That’s something that the president’s going to speak to that is traumatizing some of our kids because of this epidemic. And so that should be the focus. How do we make sure that we end this epidemic? We want to see responsible gun ownership. That’s what we want to see.” Heinrich noted that the question was not about responsible gun ownership. She reiterated that she asked about a measure Harris supported “that would have required that non-law enforcement or military residents of the city turn in their handguns — so, no gun ownership, or face possible mandatory jail time versus what she’s saying now and then also not answering the question of her gun ownership.” Clips have also surfaced of Harris, while San Francisco’s district attorney, telling legal gun owners then that “just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn’t mean we’re not gonna walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs,” while speaking about the proposal. “Again, that’s something that she’s going to have to speak to,” Jean-Pierre said. “What I can speak to, this moment in this time, what we’ve been trying to do for the last three and a half years is making sure that we are dealing with an epidemic that is existing in our communities, that we see in our schools, that we see in, in grocery stores. It is an epidemic here. And what we’re trying to do is prevent gun violence.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “And we have seen that go down. We have, because of this work, because of the executive actions, because of a bipartisan legislation that was able to be done under this administration to deal with gun violence, something that we hadn’t seen in 30 years. So there is some bipartisan support here to deal with a responsible way of having gun ownership. We need to do more here. We need to do more,” she said.
Harris drops millions on private jet spending despite calling climate change an ‘existential threat’
FIRST ON FOX: Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign has spent millions on private jet flights since President Biden announced that he was no longer running for re-election and Harris locked up the Democratic nomination a couple of months ago. Harris, who has jet set on the campaign trail delivering various speeches on combating climate change, said on multiple occasions that the issue is an “existential threat” to humans. “There’s no question we have to be practical. But being practical also recognizes that climate change is an existential threat to us as human beings,” Harris told CNN in 2019. “Being practical recognizes that greenhouse gas emissions are threatening our air and threatening the planet and that it is well within our capacity as human beings to change our behaviors in a way that we can reduce its effects. That’s practical.” Despite calling on people to make changes in their lives to prevent climate change, Harris’ campaign has spent at least $3.8 million on private planes in less than six weeks, according to a Fox News Digital review of disbursements on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) website. KAMALA HARRIS’ NEW CLIMATE DIRECTOR SAID SHE IS HESITANT TO HAVE CHILDREN BECAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE THREATS Between July 24 and August 30, the Harris campaign made dozens of payments to multiple different private jet companies, including the Advanced Aviation Team, Private Jet Services Group, Principal Aviation and FlexJet. Most of the payments were to Advanced Aviation, which offers aircraft ranging from eight-seater turboprop jets for trips of up to three hours to 18-seater ultra long-range jets, which deliver a “comprehensive list of on-board amenities and sophisticated finishes” and include a flight attendant for travel times of up to 16 hours, according to its website. FlexJet promotes itself as “First class meets world-class.” The private flights come after Harris spent years demanding that “we must treat the climate crisis as the existential threat that it truly is.” “The urgency of this moment is clear. The clock is no longer just ticking, it is banging. And we must make up for lost time. And we cannot afford to be incremental. We need transformative change and exponential impact. As nations, we must have the ambition that is necessary to meet this moment,” the vice president said at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2023. “We must lead with courage and conviction, and we must treat the climate crisis as the existential threat that it truly is. It is, dare I say, our duty and our obligation. Not a choice.” CONSERVATIVES REACT TO KAMALA HARRIS’ ‘WORD SALAD’ ON CLIMATE CHANGE ‘DEADLINES’ Harris also suggested that people are hesitant to have children due to climate change fears. “I’ve heard young leaders talk with me about a term they’ve coined called ‘climate anxiety,’ which is fear of the future and the unknown of whether it makes sense for you to even think about having children, whether it makes sense for you to think about aspiring to buy a home,” Harris said during a discussion at the “Fight for Our Freedoms” event in September 2023, a clip that resurfaced since she became the 2024 Democratic nominee. The Biden-Harris administration set climate goals for the aviation industry, releasing an aviation climate action plan that aims for aviation emissions to drop 20% by 2030. In August, the administration announced that $291 million from the Inflation Reduction Act would be allocated to projects in the effort to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from aviation by 2050. Despite these efforts, the National Library of Medicine reports that private aviation is “the most energy-intense form of air travel.” The NLM estimates that fuel use per passenger on private flights varies, “but [is] estimated to be on the order of 10 to 20 times higher than the average fuel use per passenger hour for a commercial flight.” The Harris campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Fox News’ Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report.
Not Minnesota nice: GOP congressman playing Tim Walz in debate prep with JD Vance argues he’s an ’empty suit’
Ask House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer about Gov. Tim Walz, a fellow Minnesotan and Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, and the five-term Republican congressman jokingly takes a shot. “I didn’t realize that Tim Walz and I are around the same age. He looks so much older,” the 63-year-old Emmer said about the 60-year-old Walz. Emmer was answering a question during a Fox News Digital interview about whether Emmer was playing the role of the Minnesota governor in debate prep with GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio because they’re both from the same state and similar ages. Emmer, a one-time college hockey player and attorney who serves as the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House, shared that he and Vance had not yet [as of Thursday afternoon when he spoke to Fox News Digital) conducted a mock debate. FOX NEWS TO SIMULCAST THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE “We’re going to get together at some point,” he said, declining to add any details or specifics on the mock session with Vance ahead of Tuesday’s vice presidential debate in New York City. But Emmer, who steered the House Republicans’ campaign committee in the 2020 and 2022 cycles, had plenty of criticism of Harris and Walz. WHICH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HOLDS THE EDGE ON THE ECONOMY? “It’s an honor to be asked to play a very small part in helping JD and President Trump expose the failures of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.” Emmer argued “the hardest part of playing Walz … is trying to tell lies with a straight face, because that’s what he does. He’s good at the debate game, but there isn’t substance there. There’s a lot of air.” Emmer and Walz overlapped for four years in the House before Walz won election in 2018 as Minnesota’s governor. “I do know him probably as well or better than most on the Republican side. And I can tell you that Minnesotans, people at home, know better than anyone that we can’t afford four years of a Harris-Walz administration in the White House,” Emmer emphasized. And Emmer claimed “it’s very clear today that the Tim Walz that was here in Congress was literally, he was a fraud. He was playing the character of a Greater Minnesota ag-friendly outdoorsman who really cared about the people. Since then, he’s made it very clear to people in Greater Minnesota that he has very little interest in them. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW “It doesn’t get reported enough, but under Walz, Minnesota’s taxes have skyrocketed. Violent crime is up all over, and our communities are worse off,” Emmer said. “No amount of Minnesota nice … is going to make up for Tim Walz’s failed policy record.” Emmer claimed that “Walz is an empty suit who has worked to turn Minnesota into Harris’ home state of California. … This guy is Gavin Newsom wearing a flannel shirt.” A Republican hasn’t carried Minnesota in a presidential election since President Richard Nixon’s 1972 landslide re-election over a half century ago. It was the only state President Reagan lost in his 1984 re-election landslide. Asked if Minnesota is in play in the presidential race, Emmer said, “Are we going to be close enough that Donald Trump has a chance to be the first Republican presidential candidate to win Minnesota since 1972? I think the answer is yes.” Emmer noted that polls suggest Harris’ margin in Minnesota over Trump has dropped since she named Walz as her running mate early last month. “He’s not popular in Minnesota. I think by picking Tim Walz, they may have put Minnesota in play,” Emmer argued. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Oklahoma schools chief dedicates millions to put ‘a Bible in every school’
Oklahoma’s top elected education official said Thursday he is very close to his goal of placing a Bible in “every school” in the Sooner State to both combat “woke” curricula in today’s textbooks and ensure students have access to an incredible “historical document.” In a phone interview with Fox News Digital, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said that America’s founders called upon the Bible when organizing the Republic, and therefore it is key that today’s generation understand the texts from which the country they live in came from. Walters said exclusively that his department has now allocated $3 million of its budget to the endeavor and announced that he will be asking for an additional $3 million in an upcoming legislative appropriation to the Republican-majority legislature to meet his goal. “There were several mechanisms that could have been used here,” he said. “Districts could have used the money already allocated for it. They could have used their textbook funds. But what we’re doing is we, as the state Department of Education, we’re saying we’re going to purchase the Bible for every classroom with $3 million.” “That is what will be a new announcement today: We are actually going to purchase them, deliver them to the schools. And then number two, we’re going to be asking for $3 million moving forward to continue to supply the schools with Bibles moving forward.” Asked about any pushback from legislators or constituents, Walters said that on the whole, parents are excited to see the Bible back in schools, so that their kids are “going to have an understanding of the role the Bible played in American history.” He noted that, decades ago, Bibles in non-parochial schools were the norm. However, while speaking with Fox News Digital, Walters noted that a faint din of protesters could be heard outside his window. “We saw the Supreme Court being weaponized against the Bible in the classroom and prayer in school back in the 1960s. And again, with the help of the teachers’ union, they were able to drive it out of our schools,” he added. A directive from Walters in June had said that school districts will be required to incorporate the Bible in their curriculum, but Thursday’s announcement was notable in that his office now has, and will continue to secure, the funding so that the state can provide the text directly. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Former President Trump has spoken out against “wokeness,” including in schools, and has also spoken about the importance of the Founding Fathers and what they called upon to build the country. Walters said, he is taking those ideas and running with them. “I think you’re going to see that there’s a trend moving forward that other states are going to follow Oklahoma’s example,” he said.
Watchdog sues Pentagon for withholding promotion data they believe will show DEI at play
FIRST ON FOX: A watchdog group is suing the Department of Defense (DOD) after it failed to hand over demographics data on who is receiving promotions in the military. The group, which says it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in March that has gone ignored, is looking for breakdowns by race and gender of military promotions and nominations over the past five years, suspecting that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices might be at play. They’ve also asked for all communications related to these practices between key DOD officials. The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) seeks to analyze whether DEI practices are being implemented transparently and without compromising merit. LAWMAKERS RIP ARMY BRASS OVER TRAINING SLIDES LABELING PRO-LIFE GROUPS AS ‘TERRORISTS’ The group said the DOD acknowledged receipt of the FOIA but has not communicated whether it plans to hand over any documents or give a reason for withholding them. “The increased role diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have played in the military is concerning to many Americans. The American people believe that promotions in the military should be based on merit,” said CASA Director James Fitzpatrick. “Responsive records from this request will show the demographic breakdown of military promotions over the last five years. We know that the DOD has this information readily available and [we] are curious why they are so reluctant to share it with us, which the law requires. This lawsuit will force them to.” WHY REP SCOTT PERRY RESIGNED: ARMY’S WOKE POLICIES After suing the Air Force to comply with a separate FOIA request, the group obtained slides from Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) recruitment standards last week. One slide, labeled “AFROTC White,” had a graph that showed the percentage of White AFROTC applicants declining from 60% in 2019 to a projected 50% in fiscal 2023. The graph detailed the Air Force’s goal of reducing that percentage down to 43% by fiscal 2029. The slide deck also included funding requests for diversity recruiting initiatives, including $500,000 for “diversity advertising campaigns” and $250,000 for “influencer engagements.” Recruitment issues in recent years across the military branches have led to the smallest U.S. fighting force since before World War II. The Navy is expected to miss its recruiting goals in 2024, and the Marine Corps, Army and Air Force are expected to meet theirs after the latter two missed theirs in 2022 and 2023.
Lawmakers fume at Secret Service, demand accountability after first Trump task force hearing
Lawmakers on the House task force investigating the attempted assassinations of former President Trump left their first hearing Thursday fuming at the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), making clear that Acting Director Ronald Rowe has even more questions to answer. The panel heard from a former USSS agent as well as local and state law enforcement officials who were present at the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where one attendee was killed and Trump himself was shot in the ear. “I counted, I think, in the brief five or six minutes that I had, seven different ways in which they could have eliminated that threat, and they didn’t do it,” task force member Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “Which is really just so shocking, because I thought the Secret Service was the premier protective agency in the world, and clearly they’re not.” Multiple lawmakers indicated tht they are looking to hear from Acting USSS Director Ronald Rowe again, particularly after Congress recently allocated $230 billion in additional funding for the agency. TRUMP SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW GUNMAN EVADED SECURITY “There are plans to have Acting Director Rowe in to really—I would like to have their internal investigation complete. And then also what I think all of us are looking for, the American people as well, is some accountability,” said task force member Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., the top Democrat on the panel, said lawmakers were frustrated, but he made clear that it was not aimed at Thursday’s witnesses. “It was the fault of the Secret Service, because the Secret Service is ultimately responsible for the protection at events like that. They did not do their job. They did not provide the clarity and the guidance to local law enforcement. That was pretty clear to me,” Crow told reporters. SECRET SERVICE BOSS SAYS VITAL INFO NOT RELAYED OVER RADIO, DELAYING RESPONSE TO WOULD-BE RALLY ASSASSIN During the first portion of the hearing, witnesses and lawmakers repeatedly signaled that a lack of clear communication of security plans from the USSS helped lead to a 20-year-old gunman being able to open fire on the rally from a rooftop just outside the security perimeter. As lawmakers fumed about USSS shortfalls that allowed the fatal incident to occur, however, drama also played out behind the scenes, with Democrats on the task force apparently feeling blindsided by the GOP majority inviting two House Republicans to testify. “This isn’t the way it should work,” one source familiar with task force Democrats’ discussions told Fox News Digital. A second person explained their thinking, “All of us, in my understanding, have a very bipartisan and sober approach to this . . . we weren’t notified that this was going to be part of the process until late last night, and we feel like that’s not how we should conduct ourselves.” The hearing saw two panels testify. The first group, which included the law enforcement witnesses, took up the majority of lawmakers’ time. ATTEMPTED TRUMP ASSASSIN SEEN WALKING AROUND PENNSYLVANIA RALLY HOURS BEFORE OPENING FIRE Democrats were absent for the second portion, testimony from Reps. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., and Cory Mills, R-Fla. The two Republicans, both military veterans with sniper experience, have been conducting their own “parallel” investigation into the shooting. A third source familiar with the panel’s Democratic minority said that their leadership was not informed of Crane and Mills’ testimony until late Wednesday afternoon. Some Democratic lawmakers were not informed until Thursday morning, however. “We did not receive notice of the second panel until late yesterday. We didn’t have an opportunity to present our own witnesses,” Crow said when asked about Mills and Crane. “[Task Force Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa.] and I are still very committed to having this be bipartisan, consensus-based, and it’s my hope that we can return to that . . . approach going forward.” Kelly similarly told reporters that this would not impede the task force’s bipartisan mission. Waltz largely deferred to Kelly when asked about the discord but added, “From my perspective, we have a lot of expertise, and the more eyes on this, the better.”
Republicans propose bill that would double tariffs on Chinese imports and end favored trade status
FIRST ON FOX: A group of Republican senators is unveiling a new bill that would cease all permanent normal trade relations with China and double the tariffs on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) goods. The bill would, over five years, increase tariffs by 100% on imports deemed “strategic” to national security by the Biden administration in an effort to force the growth of the domestic market for national security-related goods. It would boost tariffs on non-strategic goods by a minimum of 35%. The bill, led by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and cosponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., would also grant the president the authority to institute further tariffs, quotas and bans on specific Chinese goods. It would end “de minimis treatment” for China, or the value threshold below which imports are not subject to customs duties. The revenue generated from this, according to the bill, would go towards farmers and manufacturers injured by potential Chinese retaliation, the purchase of key munitions important to a Pacific conflict, and paying down the debt. GOP SENATORS EYE COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO CURB CCP INFLUENCE “This comprehensive repeal of China’s PNTR [Permanent normal Trade Relations] status and reform of the U.S.-China trade relationship will protect American workers, enhance our national security, and end the Chinese Communists’ leverage over our economy,” Cotton said in a statement. “Giving Communist China the same trade benefits that we give to our greatest allies was one of the most catastrophic decisions that our country has ever made,” said Rubio. Economists forecast that China’s GDP is expected to grow by nearly 5% in 2024. The U.S.’s forecasted GDP growth is half that. The legislation falls in line with one of Trump’s top priorities: during the presidential debate this month, the former president said again that he would impose a 60% tariff on Chinese goods and a 10% baseline tariff on all imported goods. Vice President Kamala Harris scoffed at that plan as a “a sales tax on the American people.” Earlier this month, China instituted new export controls on a batch of minerals that are critical to the U.S. defense industry, including antimony products. The little-known flame-retardant metal is used in ammunition, infrared missiles, nuclear weapons and night vision goggles, as well as batteries and photovoltaic equipment. China produced nearly half of the world’s antimony last year. BIDEN ROLLS OUT NEW CHINA TARIFFS In 2000, the U.S. Congress voted to grant China permanent normal trade relations. The designation fundamentally changed China-U.S. trade relations: American consumers gained access to low-priced Chinese imports and between 2001 and 2021, the value of goods imported from China quadrupled to $500 billion. “More than two decades ago, Washington elites granted China most favored nation trading status, enabling Beijing to exploit our working class. Congress must revoke this sweetheart deal to protect American workers from our greatest adversary and to bring back the millions of manufacturing jobs shipped overseas,” said Hawley. The Biden administration earlier this month finalized plans to increase tariffs on certain Chinese-made products: the tariff rate would double for electric vehicles, go up 50% on solar cells and 25% on EV batteries, critical minerals, steel, aluminum, face masks and ship-to-shore cranes beginning September 27, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Tariff hikes on other products, like semiconductor chips, are expected to go up over the next two years. Trump implemented sweeping tariffs on about $300 billion worth of Chinese-made products. Biden kept those in place and slapped more tariffs on about $15 billion of Chinese imports. China is widely expected to respond with tariffs on U.S.-made goods.