MS-13 gang member suspected of murder allowed to attend Maryland high school
An unsuspecting Maryland high school allowed a MS-13 gang member at the center of a murder investigation to enroll after authorities failed to alert the administration of the gang member’s suspect status. Walter Martinez, an MS-13 gang member who at 16-years-old was the primary suspect in the July 2022 murder of Kayla Hamilton, enrolled in and attended Edgewood High School in Harford County, Maryland, without the district being informed of his status as a suspect in the case, according to a report from Baltimore’s Fox 45. “When I start from the very beginning and get to the very end, they’re like, ‘Wow, that is a really crazy story,’” Hamilton’s mother, Tammy Nobles, told Project Baltimore for the report. “And I say, ‘It is a crazy story. But it’s a true story.’ It’s the worst pain that a parent can ever get.” “She was just found with a cord wrapped around her neck and her mouth. Then just left her on the floor, like trash,” Nobles added. ILLEGAL MIGRANT ARRESTED, ACCUSED OF RAPE AFTER BEING RELEASED BY MASSACHUSETTS COURT: ICE Martinez, a native of Salvador who was in the U.S. illegally, was quickly identified as the primary suspect and was detained by police, with surveillance video and an audio recording placing the gang member at the scene of the crime. “They knew he was guilty. They just needed that DNA to really lock it in,” Nobles said. According to the Fox 45 report, Martinez was read his Miranda Rights and police sent out his DNA for testing, but the process took six months. In the meantime, he was allowed to enroll at the school without any agency warning administrators about the investigation. “It makes me angry,” Nobles said. “You’re sitting there putting this monster into high school with other people’s children, and you’re putting children at risk. Look what he did to Kayla.” Martinez entered the U.S. illegally through Texas as an unaccompanied minor through Texas in March 2022, the report notes, being apprehended by Border Patrol and eventually sent to Maryland to live with a sponsor. MIGRANTS FORM ‘CONSTELLATION’ OF TENTS OUTSIDE OF MEGA SHELTER IN NEW YORK CITY: REPORT Four months later, Martinez moved to the mobile home in Aberdeen where he was accused of killing Hamilton. DNA results finally came back in January 2023, resulting in Martinez being arrested. He pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 70 years in jail in August 2024. The report notes that before he had been charged with murder, Maryland law allowed Martinez to attend the school and that authorities were not required to inform the district about his situation. Nevertheless, Nobles believes they should have. “Why did you put him in a public school? I want to know why,” said Nobles. “Somebody needs to be held accountable.” “We need to change the laws,” Nobles added. “If you’re a suspect, the main suspect of a felony, you should not be able to attend school with other children. They have virtual school and computers.” In a statement to Fox 45, Harford County Public Schools said that there was “no information in our possession that would suggest he was a danger to other students and staff. HCPS is not afforded unfettered access to information held by law enforcement which may suggest that a potential student is dangerous, gang-affiliated, or suspected of heinous and disturbing crimes.” Nobles, who lives in Virginia with Hamilton’s younger brother and sister, said she is now speaking out in hopes of raising awareness about her daughter’s story. “Imagining what she went through that day, how she felt — her last moments knowing that she was dying, and she wasn’t going to see me again — how scared she must have been,” Nobles said. “I want to make sure that it doesn’t happen to someone else. People need to know what actually happened and what is going on. Her death is not going to be in vain.” The Aberdeen Police Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment. Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.
Romania and Latvia confirm incursions by Russian drones into NATO airspace
Latvia and Romania, two member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said Russian drones violated their airspace over the weekend in a move that could stoke boiling-hot tensions between Moscow and the military alliance. Latvia’s government said Sunday a Russian drone had fallen over the east of the country the previous day, likely crossing in from Belarus. Separately, on Sunday, Romania’s foreign ministry said “criminal” Russian airborne drones encroached on its airspace while targeting Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure. Mircea Geoana, the outgoing deputy secretary general of NATO and Romania’s former top diplomat, said the military alliance condemned Russia’s violation of Romanian airspace. “While we have no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against allies, these acts are irresponsible and potentially dangerous,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Article 5 of NATO stipulates that if a NATO country is attacked, all member nations will come to its defense. “The one I would be more concerned about is Latvia,” Andrew D’Anieri, resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, told Fox News Digital. “It’s a country away from Ukraine. You have to go through all of Belarus to get to Latvia from Ukraine.” “If you were going to try to test NATO’s Article 5, you do it by sending a fully strapped drone essentially, and having it kind of just veer into Latvian airspace and see what the reaction is as kind of a low-risk move by the Russians.” RUSSIA LAUNCHES ONE OF DEADLIEST STRIKES AGAINST UKRAINE KILLING 41: ZELENSKYY Latvia’s military also said there were no indications that Moscow or Minsk purposely directed a drone into the country. “There’s certainly a chance it was intentional,” claimed D’Anieri. “I think the Latvians want to kind of manage their response. If you say, ‘Oh, the Russians tried to hit us with a drone,’ then that demands a much greater response. So I think cooler heads right now are prevailing, but there could be more info that comes out, or we could certainly see this again over the next several months.” Romania’s defense ministry said Russia attacked Ukraine close to its border in the early hours of Sunday, and two Romanian F-16s took off from an airbase to “monitor the situation” around 2:30 a.m. local time. Fragments from the drone were found in a Romanian village near the Danube River, and officials are conducting searches in a second area where fragments may have fallen. DOGS OF WAR: BRITAIN’S NEW ROBOTS AIDING UKRAINE, TERRORIZING RUSSIA AS DRONES CONTINUE DOMINATING BATTLEFIELD While incidents such as this would have been “unthinkable” three years ago, they “are now treated as routine,” Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis wrote in a post to X on Sunday. “Nothing should be landing on Ukraine, or Latvia, or anywhere on NATO territory, but this is the new reality our inaction has allowed to emerge. Lithuania will, of course, be supporting a strong allied response.” Ukraine’s new foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said the incidents served as a ”stark reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions extend beyond Ukraine.” The war has intensified in recent weeks as Russia has launched large-scale strikes on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and closed in on the capture of Pokrovsk, a key transportation hub that could lock up its control of the Donetsk region. The Russians are advancing on Ukraine’s frontlines in the east in an effort to take control of the whole of the Donbas region. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Ukraine, meanwhile, has been stepping up its long-range strikes inside Russia and urging its western allies to lift restrictions on using the weapons they provide to strike deep into Russia.
Liberal think tank’s deep ties to Biden admin, far-left policies could come back to haunt Harris campaign
As former President Trump faces backlash from Democrats over ties to the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” the Biden-Harris administration has been working hand in hand with a prominent liberal think tank through a revolving door of employees working to turn progressive policy recommendations into executive actions and legislation, which could come back to haunt the Harris campaign. The Center for American Progress (CAP) has been labeled the “most influential” think tank in the Biden era, while the group publicly boasts that it has turned at least 10 policy recommendations into “executive action and policy legislation.” Patrick Gaspard, the current president of CAP, has visited the Biden White House at least 20 times between December 2021 and January 2024, which included five solo meetings with high-ranking Biden officials. CAP’s ties to the Biden White House go even deeper than Gaspard, as at least 60 alumni from the think tank have joined the administration, including Neera Tanden, who previously served as president of CAP and has served in multiple roles in the Biden administration, including senior adviser and staff secretary. PETE BUTTIGIEG REGULARLY CONSULTS DARK MONEY-FUNDED GREEN GROUPS, CALENDAR ENTRIES SHOW She was promoted in May 2023 to the “Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor” titles, replacing Susan Rice, according to a White House press release. President Biden also hired CAP founder and chairman John Podesta as a senior White House clean energy czar in 2022. Podesta was tasked with overseeing roughly $370 billion in climate spending appropriated by the Inflation Reduction Act. The former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman was then tapped by Biden earlier this year to serve as his top climate diplomat after John Kerry stepped down to help with campaign efforts, which received backlash from top Republicans due to concerns over his ties to China dating back to his CAP days. Fox News Digital first reported on his connection to top CCP official Tung Chee-hwa, who he repeatedly referred to as his “friend” and took several calls from. CAP’s influence within the Biden White House began months before he entered office. In late 2020, a half dozen of the group’s employees joined Biden’s transition team in the Treasury, Federal Reserve, Labor Department, Interior Department, National Security Council and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. CAP’s organization appears primed to push a policy agenda on several key issues on the progressive wish list if the Biden administration, now led by Vice President Kamala Harris on the presidential ticket, were to continue into a second term. CAP has voiced support for both setting term limits for Supreme Court justices and packing the court, which are two efforts being pushed by Demand Justice, a left-wing dark money group that Harris’ senior campaign adviser Brian Fallon co-founded and left less than a year ago. The liberal think tank has signed onto multiple letters pushed by Demand Justice, which was reportedly planning a $10 million offensive against conservative Supreme Court justices this year “on a range of activities, from conducting opposition research on potential Supreme Court picks to advocating for ethics reforms for the high court,” Politico reported. “The Supreme Court has taken off its mask this term by creating unconstitutional de facto immunity for future presidents who act illegally and by gutting the ability of public agencies and Congress to protect Americans from abuse by right-wing special interests,” CAP states on its website. BIDEN OMB NOMINEE NEERA TANDEN RECEIVED $731G OVER 2 YEARS FROM LIBERAL NONPROFIT CAP has pushed a variety of other left-wing efforts, which include censoring speech it believes to be “misinformation,” taxpayer-funded student loan bailouts, taxpayer-funded reparations, DEI mandates, federal taxpayer funds for abortion by eliminating the Hyde Amendment, and phasing out gas-powered cars. “With skyrocketing profits and expanding domestic manufacturing, U.S. automakers have everything they need to help the country switch from fossil fuel-powered vehicles to electric,” CAP said in a 2024 post, despite multiple reports highlighting how consumers have complained about the cost and lack of charging stations. CAP’s influence on Biden also spread to his messaging on the campaign trail before he dropped out of the race. In 2022, the Washington Post reported that Biden’s move to label Trump as “ultra MAGA” was the result of a six-month research project from the CAP Action Fund that was headed by his top aide Anita Dunn, who has performed consulting work for CAP. CAP Action Fund’s president, Navin Nayak, has visited the Biden White House at least a couple dozen times, a Fox News Digital review of White House visitor logs found. Biden’s former chief of staff Ron Klain, who was on the CAP Action Fund board for several years, has also repeatedly praised their efforts on his X account. CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS SUPPORT COMES FROM ALL CORNERS, INCLUDING YOURS VP Harris has worked with the Center for American Progress dating back to her time as California attorney general, when she joined the group for a press conference via telephone. She has also participated in several events hosted by the liberal think tank and her sister, Maya Harris, joined as a senior fellow, according to a 2013 press release. Tanden said, “Maya has worked tirelessly in many different arenas to ensure that the United States is a more inclusive country and that all Americans can live up to their potential” and looked forward to her involvement with CAP. Despite its extensive connections to the Biden White House, CAP blasts Project 2025 on its website as a “far-right assault on America” that it claims will “serve as a road map” for a “far-right presidential administration.” A CAP spokesperson dismissed the Heritage Foundation as “no longer a think tank” in a statement to Fox News Digital on Sunday. “When it comes to the Heritage Foundation and their work, one needs to look no further than yesterday’s New York Times story exposing Heritage creating fake digital content and pushing lies about election integrity,” the spokesperson said. “Couple that with Heritage’s embrace of authoritarianism and their president threatening to
Senate to swear in Menendez successor following NJ lawmaker’s conviction, resignation
The replacement for former Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., will be sworn into the upper chamber of Congress on Monday. The Senate will swear in George Helmy, the former chief of staff for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, to serve out the remainder of Menendez’s term, which expires on Jan. 3. The ceremony is expected to take place at approximately 5 p.m. ET. Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray, D-Wash., will swear in Helmy, since Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, who is president of the Senate, is not there. Menendez resigned Aug. 20 following his conviction for taking bribes for corrupt acts, including acting as an agent of the Egyptian government. NEW JERSEY GOV. MURPHY TO APPOINT FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, GEORGE HELMY, TO VACATED MENENDEZ SENATE SEAT: REPORT Helmy will not serve for long, as the seat was already up for election on Nov. 5. Democrats have nominated U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, who is in a strong position in the Democratic-leaning state. He faces Republican Curtis Bashaw. While still on trial in July, Menendez filed to run as an independent candidate for re-election. Helmy served as Murphy’s chief of staff for more than four years and most recently was employed as an executive and head of external affairs for RWJBarnabas Health. He also previously served as state director for Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and will now serve beside Booker in the upper chamber until the end of the 118th Congress. Murphy could have handed Kim a possible advantage by appointing him to the vacated seat. Kim competed against the governor’s wife, Tammy Murphy, in the Democratic Senate primary. The New Jersey first lady withdrew her candidacy in late March. Last week, a New Jersey real estate developer convicted alongside Menendez this summer pleaded guilty to a separate bank fraud charge. Fred Daibes, 67, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Newark, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement Thursday. He was charged with making false statements concerning a 2008 loan. DEMOCRATIC SEN. BOB MENENDEZ GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES IN FEDERAL CORRUPTION TRIAL While Daibes was chairman and CEO at Mariner’s Bank, he falsely said another person was the borrower on a $1.8 million loan when in fact the line of credit was for him, prosecutors said. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a top fine of $1 million. Daibes, Menendez and a third businessman, Wael Hanna, were convicted in July on bribery charges stemming from what prosecutors said was a scheme in which the three-term senator took cash, gold bars and a car in exchange for helping them. Another businessman, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty, while attorneys for Menendez, Hana and Daibes plan to appeal. Nadine Menendez, the senator’s wife, was also charged and pleaded not guilty but has yet to go on trial. The senator had insisted after the July 16 verdict that he was innocent and in a July 23 letter announcing his upcoming resignation to Murphy, Menendez promised to appeal “all the way,” including to the Supreme Court. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Conservative group registers 50K voters in swing states: ‘Could change the outcome’
EXCLUSIVE: A conservative grassroots group said Monday they registered 50,000 new voters in two key swing states, as the two major-party presidential nominees prepare to meet for a highly-anticipated debate. Heritage Action for America, which boasts 2 million activists in states across the country, announced that its six-figure, data-driven endeavor to register voters in Georgia and Arizona has been a success. To build on that, the group also announced it is considering resourcing another project in the two states to drive voter turnout among those they have just registered. The drive was geared toward conservative voters, not Republicans, Democrats or others on a party-line basis. As a 501c(4) organization, Heritage Action is permitted to back specific legislation but cannot work in support of partisan candidates. Founded in 2010, Heritage Action seeks to work toward conservative policy victories at the state level and trains volunteers and other activists to be “sentinels” in their home states to “fight for America’s future.” PENNSYLVANIANS OFFER MIXED ANSWERS ON WHERE HARRIS STANDS ON KEY ISSUES Of the project in the two key states, Heritage Action Vice President Ryan Walker said the last several election cycles have shown that “every vote matters.” “Registering as many like-minded voters as possible can and will make the difference between conservatives winning and losing in 2024,” Walker said. “Heritage Action is proud of our work to register more than 50,000 conservative voters in Georgia and Arizona —and motivated to further our investments in these must-win states.” Walker added that voter engagement is key to returning a conservative majority to Congress and enacting conservative policies from the executive branch. CONSERVATIVE GROUP LAUNCHES MASSIVE VOTER REGISTRATION EFFORT IN KEY STATES “The future of our country is on the line and Heritage is running through the tape to save her,” Walker said. After identifying potential new registrants, the project’s organizers and activists followed up with door-to-door visits, text messages and telephone conversations. President Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in the two states by about 12,000 votes each, a figure dwarfed by the 50,000 number announced by Heritage Action. “Based on data from the 2020 election, the addition of 50,000 conservative voters in Georgia and Arizona could change the outcome of the presidential election,” the organization said in a statement. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In previous comments, Heritage Action President Kevin Roberts noted Biden won the White House in 2020 by a very small margin and, therefore, conservative change can be realized with targeted grassroots organizing. “After he opened our borders, destroyed our economy through overspending and inflation, and invited conflict around the globe with failed foreign policy, voters are eager to fire him for good,” Roberts said. “Heritage Action’s strategic voter registration campaign is finding and equipping the voters needed to ensure conservative majorities in must-win states across the country.”
New report sounds alarm on China’s role in destroying US families with deadly drug: ‘Destabilizing crisis’
FIRST ON FOX: A new report is shining the spotlight on the role that China plays in fueling the ongoing fentanyl crisis in the United States, calling for more action against the communist geopolitical foe from the federal government. The Heritage Foundation released the report, a copy of which was obtained early by Fox News Digital, called “Holding China and Mexico Accountable for America’s Fentanyl Crisis.” The report, by Andrés Martínez-Fernández and Andrew J. Harding, noted the massive numbers of deaths linked to the drug, which can be fatal in small doses and is estimated to have killed 75,000 Americans in 2023. CITY IN FLORIDA PROVIDING $1M IN OPIOID SETTLEMENT MONEY TO NONPROFITS FIGHTING OPIOID EPIDEMIC “At the heart of this crisis is an intricate global partnership bringing together America’s top geopolitical adversary and powerful transnational criminal organizations,” they said. Officials have frequently said that illicit fentanyl is created in Mexico using Chinese precursors and is then smuggled across the border by drug cartels. It is often laced in other drugs so that users do not know they are ingesting fentanyl. The authors argue that while the Mexican role in the crisis is widely known, the Chinese moves are largely unknown. “Indeed, unknown to most Americans, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is actively funding, supporting, and pushing America’s most deadly drug threat in history. The combined forces of deadly Mexican drug cartels and hostile Chinese ambitions have delivered to the United States a destabilizing crisis and a death toll that each year eclipses the total of U.S. casualties from the Vietnam War,” they wrote. They note congressional reports that found the CCP directly subsidizes the manufacturing and export of illicit fentanyl materials, as well as a tax rebate program that actually incentivizes the export of some fentanyl precursors in a way the authors say undercuts Chinese claims that they cannot control illegal activities by smugglers and cannot identify which manufacturers are exporting them. “It may also be possible that China might not have a full understanding of the specific precursor shipment volumes because it does not allocate a sufficient number of inspectors over its pharmaceutical chemical manufacturing industries,” they wrote. The report finds that chemicals are arriving through air cargo, postal facilities and maritime routes. The authors also point to reports of an increased Chinese role in networks in Canada. OREGON REVERSES COURSE AND RECRIMINALIZES DRUG POSSESSION The Biden administration has taken a number of moves to crack down on the fentanyl crisis, including greater access to treatment and increased funding and technology at ports of entry, where the majority of fentanyl is seized. The report notes that the Treasury has sanctioned dozens of individuals and entities involved with smuggling, and has used diplomacy to get China to pledge tougher action against suppliers. However, the authors warned that those successes “are likely to ring hollow,” arguing that China has historically used negotiations to get other concessions from the U.S. “Furthermore, China’s announcements “don’t carry substantial costs for [its] chemicals industry,” meaning, as long as suppliers can evade rules—which has been documented for years, the production of fentanyl precursors will continue to prove profitable,” they continued. “If past patterns are repeated, then the Biden Administration’s fentanyl diplomacy is unlikely to curtail this deadly scourge.” The report also criticizes what it calls “complicity” between corrupt Mexican officials and narco-smugglers, arguing that the government has shed the pretext of going after the cartels. The report recommends that the U.S. strategy must accept that it “lacks good-faith partners in both the Chinese and Mexican governments.” Instead, they argue that the U.S. should ask U.S. intelligence agencies to publicly expose Chinese involvement in fentanyl trafficking, including increasing penalties for financial institutions. They argue the U.S. should also facilitate the reshoring and nearshoring of the pharmaceutical supply chains away from China to areas with a competitive advantage, while also working to uncover Mexican “complicity” in the crisis. “If the U.S. government continues to passively accept the fentanyl crisis as simply another illicit drug challenge and fails to prevent the CCP from facilitating this deadly trade, hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of Americans are at risk of losing their lives,” they said.
Filipino fugitive preacher appears in court after weeks on the run
NewsFeed Filipino preacher and self-proclaimed ‘son of God’ Apollo Quiboloy appeared in court after a weeks-long manhunt that ended with his arrest on sexual abuse and human trafficking charges. Published On 9 Sep 20249 Sep 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Republican-led probe blames Biden for chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal
Washington, DC – In a new report, Republicans in the United States House of Representatives have placed the blame for the chaotic 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan on the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden. The assessment by the majority on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released late on Sunday, said the Biden administration chose “optics over security” as it oversaw a withdrawal agreement reached by former President Donald Trump and the Taliban in 2020. Democrats, meanwhile, released their own minority report on the 18-month investigation on Monday, accusing Republicans of shutting them out of the probe and choosing partisan politics over the pursuit of truth The Republican report said the Biden administration “had the information and opportunity to take necessary steps to plan for the inevitable collapse of the Afghan government”. Such planning would have allowed Washington to “safely evacuate US personnel, American citizens, green card holders, and our brave Afghan allies”, said the more than 350-page report, titled Willful Blindness. It added that Biden and his vice president, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, “misled and, in some instances, directly lied to the American people at every stage of the withdrawal” in what amounted to a White House-led “misinformation campaign”. The assessment came just before Harris and Trump are to face off on Tuesday in their first presidential debate. Republicans have increasingly criticised the Democratic administration over its foreign policy record, especially the Afghanistan withdrawal. Democrats on the committee swiftly condemned the Republicans’ framing, saying in their own report: “The American people deserve the truth.” “We owe it to them to highlight the facts elicited in this investigation without undue spin and with respect for the seriousness of the subject and the witnesses who have voluntarily testified to us about it,” the Democrats’ report said. “We must continue to wrestle with these matters not to rewrite the past or assign partisan blame, but to identify lessons that can help us better fight and end wars in the future.” Chaotic exit The two reports are only the latest evaluations of the end of the US involvement in the two-decade war in Afghanistan. Several government agencies, including the independent Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), have conducted their own probes. US involvement in Afghanistan began with coalition troops toppling the Taliban from power in 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks. It ended with the Taliban’s lightning offensive in 2021 as American troops withdrew and the US-backed Afghan government crumbled. The Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15, 2021, just days before the last US soldiers left the country. While the Biden administration had pushed back an earlier withdrawal date agreed to by the Trump administration, the final days of the withdrawal devolved into chaos. The disarray turned particularly deadly on August 26, 2021, when an attack by ISIL (ISIS) outside the Kabul airport – where tens of thousands of Afghans had gathered in hopes of boarding a Western evacuation flight – killed at least 170 Afghans and 13 US military personnel. The withdrawal also left hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Afghans – many of whom had worked directly with US forces – in the lurch, prompting an ongoing refugee crisis. In February 2023, a report by SIGAR said actions by both the the Trump and Biden administrations “ultimately accelerated the collapse” of the Western-backed Afghan military and government. Biden administration responds For its part, the Biden administration has broadly defended its decision to go forward with the withdrawal. It has given only muted acknowledgement to shortcomings in its execution. Instead, the administration has largely emphasised Trump’s role in reaching the initial deal with the Taliban, which White House officials have criticised for imposing an unrealistic timeline while sidelining the Afghan government. On Monday, White House spokesperson Sharon Yang said the Republican report was based on “cherry-picked facts, inaccurate characterisations and pre-existing biases”, according to The Associated Press news agency. In a lengthy statement responding to the Republican report, the Department of State also said the Trump deal “was, and remains a flawed agreement that hampered efforts to end the war through negotiations among Afghans” and that Biden entered office to find a “complete lack of planning for a withdrawal”. The State Department also pushed back on claims in the Republican report that the Biden administration relied on “severely limited” input from officials on the ground in Afghanistan before the withdrawal as well as claims that US officials rewrote reports to water down security warnings. The Republican report cited witness testimony and records collected throughout the probe. In its statement, the State Department said “it stands ready to work alongside any member [of Congress] who expresses serious interest in finding legislative and administrative solutions”. “However, we will not stand by silently as the department and its workforce are used to further partisan agendas.” Republican Congressman Michael McCaul, who led the investigation, has denied the report’s release was timed to impact the November 5 presidential election. Its release comes as Republican candidate Trump has sharpened attacks seeking to tie Harris to the Afghanistan withdrawal. The former president has regularly featured family members of US soldiers killed during the evacuation at his campaign events. “This is not about politics to me – it never has been,” McCaul said in a statement. “It’s about getting to the bottom of what happened so we can make sure it never happens again. And it’s about finding who was responsible for this catastrophe so they can finally, after three long years, be held accountable.” Adblock test (Why?)
Trump says he supports effort to legalise marijuana in Florida
Endorsement puts former US president at odds with social conservatives but in line with majority of American public. Former US President Donald Trump has said he will support a ballot measure in the southern state of Florida that would legalise marijuana for people over the age of 21. In a social media post on Monday, the Republican presidential nominee said that as president he would support state-level efforts to decriminalise and regulate marijuana, as well as research into the drug’s potential medical applications. “As I have previously stated, I believe it is time to end needless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use,” Trump said. “We must also implement smart regulations, while providing access for adults, to safe, tested product. As a Floridian, I will be voting YES on Amendment 3 this November.” Trump also said he would work with the US Congress to pass “common sense” laws around the issue, including safe banking for state-authorised marijuana vendors. Efforts to ease restrictions on marijuana usage are widely popular in the United States. A 2024 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 57 percent of people in the US believe that the drug should be legal for medical and recreational purposes, with only 11 percent stating that it should not be legal at all. The announcement comes as Trump is locked in a tight race for the US presidency with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. The two candidates are set to hold their first debate on Tuesday. But in Florida, a Republican-leaning state with a long history of strict policies on criminal justice, the legalisation bid – known as Amendment 3 – has divided conservative lawmakers. The state’s right-wing Governor Ron DeSantis, who mounted an unsuccessful primary challenge against Trump for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, has expressed his opposition to the effort. Trump’s social media post came several hours after DeSantis told a group of Florida churchgoers that Amendment 3 was an effort to create a “drug cartel” using the state’s constitution. “Public use of this will be rampant,” DeSantis said. “You can’t point to a state that is better off for doing it.” Polls show the effort on track to win a sizable victory in the state, with a recent Emerson poll showing 64 percent in favour and 27 percent opposed. Recreational marijuana usage is legal in about two dozen US states. For decades, the US pursued a harsh approach to drug use that contributed to surging jail populations, disproportionately affecting people of colour and low-level drug offenders. Democrats have taken a more lenient approach to marijuana in recent years. In April, President Joe Biden said “nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed”, but his administration has stopped short of pushing to legalise the drug at the federal level. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump allies offer debate strategies to beat Harris: ‘Already knocked one Democrat out’
In a margin of error race with eight weeks to go until Election Day and early voting getting underway this month in some crucial battleground states, it is hard not to underscore the importance of Tuesday’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. “It’s going to frame the race in people’s minds and have a decisive impact,” veteran GOP strategist and Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks told Fox News Digital. Republican consultant and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer emphasized that there is “a lot at stake in this debate.” While Trump is a very well known commodity in the minds of American voters, they are considerably less familiar with Harris. TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT’S DEBATE ADVICE FOR TRUMP: ‘LET HARRIS SPEAK’ “For the first time people are really going to get to see her and whether she can stand on her own two feet,” argued Fleischer, a White House press secretary under then-President George W. Bush. Harris and Trump will share the same stage at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center in an ABC News debate in their first and perhaps only face-to-face encounter ahead of the presidential election. Harris has enjoyed a wave of momentum in both polling and fundraising since replacing President Biden at the top of the Democrats’ 2024 ticket in July, but Republicans argue Americans’ honeymoon with the vice president is subsiding. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE HARRIS-TRUMP DEBATE Fleischer’s advice for Trump is, “Hit her on policy. Just like you did to Biden in the first debate. That was a disciplined, tough, policy-oriented Donald Trump. I would love to see the same Donald Trump against Kamala Harris.” Brooks highlighted that “on policy the distinctions are sharp and clear. It will be teed up to the American people if we stick to policy. That’s what they’re looking for and that’s what they want to hear about.” Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who was seriously considered a Trump 2024 running mate, told Fox News that the former president “doesn’t need my advice. He just needs to be himself.” Scott said that “I think the American people have mostly made up their minds. Those independents, those uncommitted voters, this debate will show why Donald Trump is the only choice in 2024.” Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, another Trump ally and surrogate, emphasized that “the American people know where President Trump stands. They know what they got when President Trump was president.” TRUMP AND HARRIS ON COLLISION COURSE AS 2024 CAMPAIGN ENTERS FINAL STRETCH Pointing to the vice president, Cotton charged that “Kamala Harris has tried to run as a blank slate.” When asked what advice he would give the former president, Cotton agreed with Scott that “I don’t think President Trump needs my advice.” “The last time he debated he ended one presidential campaign. I look forward to him doing the same thing…by exposing Kamala Harris’ radical record,” Cotton said. Biden’s disastrous performance in his late June debate against Trump instantly fueled questions about his physical and mental abilities to serve another four years in the White House – and spurred a rising chorus of calls from within his own party for the 81-year-old president to end his bid for a second term. Facing increased pressure from fellow Democrats, Biden, in a blockbuster announcement on July 21, ended his re-election campaign and endorsed his vice president. Harris and Trump are taking vastly different approaches to preparing for Tuesday’s showdown. Harris spent most of the past four days hunkered down in a downtown Pittsburgh hotel, taking part in an intensive “debate camp,” which included numerous mock debate sessions. Trump spent much of this past weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, taking part in less formal “policy sessions” with aides and allies. However, Trump also traveled to swing state Wisconsin on Saturday to headline a campaign rally. “It’s really important for Donald Trump to know the playbook,” Fleischer emphasized. “He needs to know Kamala Harris’ positions that she took in 2019 and 2020 about gun confiscation, about likening the border patrol to the KKK, ending fracking, ending offshore oil drilling. He needs to know her positions, and that requires studying ahead of time.” When asked about the former president’s preparations, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a Fox News interview, said “let me tell you, President Trump is ready.” Biden’s halting delivery and uneven responses in the first debate gave Trump an almost unhindered ability to make his case. However, it is unlikely the 78-year-old Trump will have such free-range against the 59-year-old Harris, a veteran prosecutor who served as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general before winning election to the Senate in 2016. A big question heading into Tuesday’s debate is how Trump will react if Harris gets under the former president’s skin, by going on offense and calling him out over his likely insults and misstatements. “With President Trump, you never know what you’re going to get. There’s always an element of surprise, which is what makes him so authentic and real. But there can be risks to that,” Fleischer noted. “I’m hoping he’s going to be the same person he was against Joe Biden with that disciplined debate. He already knocked one Democrat out of the race – Joe Biden. Maybe he can do it twice.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.