‘It’s still no’: KJP suggests Biden won’t pardon his son in the tax case
The White House suggested Thursday President Biden will not pardon his son after Hunter Biden’s attorneys indicated that he intends to change his plea in the federal tax case against him. “It’s no, it’s still no,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday when they questioned whether the plea had affected President Biden’s decision on whether he would consider a pardon for his son. “I’m not able to comment on it, but I can say that it is still very much a ‘no’ to the questions I have gotten about if the president is going to pardon [Hunter].” Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, made the announcement about the plea Thursday in court, the same day jury selection was slated to begin for an expected trial. The expected guilty plea will spare the president’s son from a public trial over his alleged failure to pay taxes while he spent lavishly on drugs, escorts, luxury hotel stays, clothing and other personal items, according to prosecutors. The reversal came as a surprise to prosecutors. According to NBC News, it followed a private meeting Thursday between Hunter Biden’s attorneys and the presiding judge, Mark Scarsi. The conditions of Hunter Biden’s proposed plea were not immediately disclosed, nor was any indication on whether Scarsi plans to accept the plea. Hunter Biden’s reversal comes after he was convicted of three felony gun charges in June. The first son, according to prosecutors, lied on a mandatory gun purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs. Following the conviction, President Biden indicated he did not plan to pardon his son. Hunter Biden is scheduled to be sentenced for the gun charges Nov. 12. BIDEN COMMITTED ‘IMPEACHABLE CONDUCT,’ DEFRAUDED UNITED STATES TO ENRICH HIS FAMILY’: HOUSE GOP REPORT The president’s son was indicted in December on three felony and six misdemeanor counts alleging he evaded paying at least $1.4 million in taxes while he was simultaneously spending money on “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,” according to the December indictment. POLL COMPARES WHTHER TRUMP, HUNTER BIDEN SHOULD GET PRISON SENTENCES, ACCORDING TO US ADULTS Prosecutors also allege the tax returns Hunter Biden ultimately did file falsely claimed that things like prostitutes, strip club visits, porn website subscriptions, a sex club membership and other personal expenses were actually deductible business expenses. The aim, according to the indictment, was to “evade assessment of taxes to reduce the substantial tax liabilities” that Hunter Biden faced.
Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales predicts GOP will lose control of the House
Gonazales, who represents a Texas border district, tells a Tribune Festival audience that his own party will be to blame for defeats in the November election.
Secret surveillance of congressional staff by DOJ in focus after whistleblower advocates notch court win
A federal judge last week ruled in favor of a whistleblower advocacy group that sued the Justice Department to unseal documents related to its secretly obtaining communications about congressional staffers who were investigating the DOJ. Empower Oversight Whistleblowers & Research won a partial victory in a lawsuit it filed in May, when a federal court ordered the DOJ to release documents. The victory on Friday came days after the group filed a second lawsuit to force the Justice Department to unseal additional records. “The requested records are likely to show a startling failure by DOJ to respect the long-established separation of powers in the United States Constitution,” the recent Empower Oversight complaint said. “These records will show the lengths to which DOJ went starting in 2016 to secretly surveil various congressional staff members (of both political parties) who were actively engaged in oversight of the DOJ pursuant to their constitutional authorities.” The Justice Department subpoenaed Google in 2017 for records of Google email addresses and Google Voice phone numbers. Empower Oversight found that the DOJ scooped up records of multiple Republican and Democratic attorneys for the Senate Judiciary Committee, the House Intelligence Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee, panels that were engaged in oversight of the department. HOUSE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO STRENGTHEN PROTECTIONS FOR DOJ WHISTLEBLOWERS The Justice Department kept this secret for six years through gag orders it obtained in Washington, D.C., federal court against providers such as Google, according to Empower Oversight. “This is a massive, massive separation of powers issue,” Tristan Leavitt, president of Empower Oversight, told Fox News Digital. He questioned whether the Justice Department properly informed the court that subpoenas were for congressional lawyers conducting oversight of the department. PROSECUTORS WANT 2-YEAR PRISON TERM FOR EX-SENATE INTEL STAFFER JAMES WOLFE IN LEAK CASE “Congressional oversight is supposed to have safeguards. If the security apparatus allows the DOJ to see when a congressional committee is communicating with a whistleblower, that will out the whistleblower,” Leavitt added. Empower Oversight founder Jason Foster, a former senior staffer for Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa., learned earlier this year that the Justice Department obtained his records through Google. A Justice Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital in an email, “The department will decline to comment on on-going litigation.” However, the New York Times reported that Carlos Felipe Uriarte, an assistant attorney general, wrote to the House Judiciary Committee in January to say the department would change its subpoena policies and largely blamed the Trump administration. “The new policies require additional consultations and approvals,” the letter said. The subpoenas of the Google email and phone records appear to be related to a federal leak investigation of confidential information about the surveillance warrant of Carter Page, a 2016 Trump campaign aide. The leak probe led to the eventual guilty plea of James Wolfe, former security director for the Senate Intelligence Committee, for lying to the FBI about his relationship with a New York Times journalist. WATCHDOG GROUP ASKS TO UNSEAL RECORDS OF DOJ’S SUBPOENAS OF CONGRESSIONAL STAFFERS’ MESSAGES Still, after the Wolfe conviction, the Justice Department continued getting annual renewals of the secret gag orders from the federal court. This is the second lawsuit, as Empower Oversight filed an earlier public records lawsuit in May for documents about the department’s subpoenas related to court filings that justified the years of secrecy the DOJ imposed on providers like Google. Under the recent judgment, Empower Oversight will obtain the underlying documents it was seeking in the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The group submitted public record requests to the Justice Department in October, November and June about the department’s use of grand jury subpoenas to get personal and official communications records of attorneys for congressional oversight committees investigating the department. The department did not provide the initial records. A spokesperson for Google did not respond to an inquiry for this story. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP However, in a May statement to Fox News Digital, a Google spokesperson said, “We’re seeing non-disclosure orders issued for an increasing number of court orders, warrants, and subpoenas from U.S. authorities. Delayed notice results in users not having the opportunity to assert their rights in court to contest demands for their data. For these reasons, we support the bipartisan NDO Fairness Act, which would ensure that gag orders are issued only when warranted and for reasonable periods.” A non-disclosure order (NDO) is commonly referred to as a gag order. The NDO Fairness Act —sponsored by Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Mike Lee, R-Utah —would require the federal government to adhere to established legal norms for electronic searches that apply to physical searches, such as notifying individuals unless a higher standard to delay such notice is met.
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury in critical condition, put on ventilator at Delhi AIIMS
According to sources, Yechury’s condition, which was already considered serious upon his initial admission three days prior, quickly deteriorated.
House GOP presses Hochul on alleged CCP agent’s influence in New York, including secret Chinese police station
FIRST ON FOX – Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., is demanding answers from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul regarding former senior aide Linda Sun, who was recently indicted for allegedly being an agent for the Chinese Communist Party. Tenney penned a letter to the Democratic governor this week, and inquiring about how Sun had influenced the state’s government and economy, as well as possible links to reported secret Chinese police stations operating in the Big Apple. “These allegations are deeply disturbing and call into question your judgment in hiring, and listening to, such an individual. I urge the appointment of a bipartisan panel to investigate you and your administration’s actions, and the full impact of Ms. Sun’s influence on the New York State government and economy,” Tenney wrote to Hochul, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Fox News Digital. Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, were arrested on Tuesday in connection to a federal indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of New York accusing her of acting as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government and wielding her influence as a deputy chief of staff in the New York State executive chamber to covertly promote People’s Republic of China (PRC) and CCP agendas. Prosecutors say the scheme, which allegedly also involved them laundering millions of dollars for China and using kickbacks to buy themselves properties and luxury vehicles, directly threatened national security. HOCHUL AIDE ACCUSED OF WORKING FOR CCP USED POSITION TO PROMOTE ‘EQUITY’ POLICIES IN RESURFACED VIDEO Tenney, in her letter, called into question Hochul’s judgment in hiring Sun. Hochul told reporters on Wednesday that she found the allegations against Sun “absolutely shocking” but was still “confident in our vetting process right now,” which includes “very high levels of background checks.” The congresswoman’s letter said the allegations against Sun “call into question numerous policy decisions by your administration,” and asked “what influence, if any, Ms. Sun had on these decisions.” “For example, numerous reports have detailed that the CCP operates secret police stations in New York City to monitor, intimidate, and control Chinese New Yorkers and New York State has yet to take serious action against these stations. Did Ms. Sun play any role in the decision to allow these police stations to operate?” Last year, two people were arrested in New York City for allegedly operating a clandestine police station in Manhattan’s Chinatown for a branch of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. The U.S. Department of Justice said in the complaint at the time that the defendants had worked together “to establish the first overseas police station in the United States.” In her letter, Tenney encouraged Hochul to “wholeheartedly apologize to our Taiwanese partners for this detrimental impact that Ms. Sun’s actions have had on the relationship between Taiwan and the New York State Government,” noting how the federal indictment alleges that Sun frequently screened anti-CCP or pro-Taiwan rhetoric from New York State officials’ remarks, fraudulently used New York State resources to assist CCP officials to enter the United States, blocked meeting requests from anti-CCP or pro-Taiwan organizations and leveraged her position for private material gain. “While these actions have only recently come to light, we still do not know the full impact that Ms. Sun’s actions have had on the New York State government or economy,” Tenney wrote. Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul’s office for comment, but they did not immediately respond. The governor’s office said that Sun, who had worked in Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administrations, had been fired in March 2023 for misconduct and that they are fully cooperating with the federal investigation. Tenney’s letter asks Hochul to disclose when she learned that Sun was a compromised CCP agent, including whether that was before or after being informed by the DOJ. Noting Sun’s “repeated attempts to censor New York State officials’ speeches to comply with CCP talking points,” Tenney asked Hochul if the governor ever suspected that Sun “may have had an inappropriate relationship with the CCP.” DEM GOVERNOR REVEALS CCP OFFICIAL WITH DEEP TIES TO HER OFFICE ‘NO LONGER’ IN ROLE AMID FORMER AIDE’S ARREST Hochul is also asked to provide a list of how many, if any, meetings she had with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) or the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) officials during her time as governor and lieutenant governor, as well as a list of how many meetings she had with CCP officials during that same time. “Will you commit to meeting with TECO and apologizing for Ms. Sun’s attempt to bar them from official meetings with New York State officials?” Tenney asked. The letter asks Hochul whether she recognizes “the important role that New York’s trade relationship with Taiwan plays in our economy and the importance of maintaining strong ties with Taiwan.” It also asks whether the governor will commit to recognizing a Taiwanese-American Heritage Week in 2025, whether Hochul recognizes “the ongoing CCP genocide of the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Province” and whether the governor regrets not including a remark “about this atrocity in your 2021 Lunar New Year video, as was originally intended before Ms. Sun’s intervention.” Tenney also asks Hochul what steps, if any, the governor has taken to ensure that there are no other compromised CCP agents within her administration or who will be allowed to join it. The letter lists a Sept. 18 deadline for Hochul to provide responses to Tenney’s questions. Tenney also asked that Hochul advise on her intentions to create a panel “to investigate the impacts of Ms. Sun’s actions” and to provide information on her “intentions to apologize to our Taiwanese partners.”
Trump vows to cut business tax rate to 15%, create government efficiency commission led by Elon Musk
NEW YORK CITY — Former President Donald Trump delivered a major economic address in New York City on Thursday, announcing his plan to cut the corporate tax rate to 15% and create a “government efficiency commission” led by Elon Musk, while vowing to “make America richer and stronger” if elected in November. Trump made the announcement during a speech to The Economic Club of New York. The former president touted the strength of the U.S. economy under his first administration, while blasting his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, for her “Kamalanomics” and tying her to the rising inflation and negative economic impacts of Biden-Harris administration policies. Trump said Harris and her “radical left agenda” poses “a fundamental threat to the prosperity of every American family and America itself.” “I’m here today to lay out my plan to rescue our country from this nightmare, and to bring back to its citizens the American dream — bigger, better and stronger than ever before,” Trump said. Trump said that during his administration, he “fought for American workers like I would fight for my own family.” “I took care of our economy like I would take care of my own company in every decision. I asked, will I create jobs here or will I be sending jobs overseas? Will it make America richer and stronger, or will it make our country weaker and poorer?” Trump said. “I always put America first every single time. And when our country was hit by the China virus, we saved the economy. We rescued tens of millions of jobs.” “We delivered an economic miracle, which Kamala and Joe turned into an economic disaster, just like they turned the border and indeed the whole world into a catastrophic surrender. Starting on day one, Kamala launched a war on American energy and orchestrated a nation-wrecking border invasion with illegal aliens pouring in from countries all over the world,” Trump said, adding that Biden and Harris “formed the worst presidency in vice presidency, by far, in the history of our country.” “This election will decide whether we reward Kamala Harris with reelection and four more years of crime, economic calamity and international humiliation, or whether we change that direction and once again build the greatest economy in the history of the world, which we had during the Trump administration,” Trump said. Trump warned that Harris “fundamentally rejects freedom and embraces Marxism, communism and fascism.” “She is promising communist price controls, wealth confiscation, energy annihilation, reparations. The largest tax increase ever imposed, and mass amnesty and citizenship for tens of millions of migrants who will consume trillions of dollars in federal benefits and destroy Social Security and Medicare,” he said. “I am promising low taxes, low regulations, low energy costs, low interest rates, secure borders, low, low crime and surging incomes for citizens of every race, religion, color and creed,” Trump said. “My plan will rapidly defeat inflation, quickly bring down prices and reignite explosive economic growth.” Trump said Harris “will take more money out of American pockets,” but said his plan “will leave the typical family with many thousands of dollars more than they have right now.” First, Trump said he would “end Kamala Harris’ anti-energy crusade and implement a policy of energy abundance, energy independence and even energy dominance.” Trump said his plan “will cut energy prices in half or more than that within 12 months of taking office.” “It will be an economic revival of our country like no one has ever seen before,” he said. “Energy was what caused our problem initially. Energy is going to bring us back.” Trump said that if elected, he would “immediately issue a national emergency declaration to achieve a massive increase in domestic energy supply.” Trump said “electricity is desperately needed for AI.” “So we’ll be the leader in AI and every other form of technology with these sweeping authorities,” Trump said. “We will blast through every bureaucratic hurdle to issue rapid approvals for new drilling, new pipelines, new refineries, new power plants, new electric plants and reactors of all types.” He added: “Prices will fall immediately in anticipation of this tremendous supply that we can create rather quickly.” Trump also said he plans to rescind all unspent funds under the Biden-Harris’ “misnamed” “Inflation Reduction Act.” The former president also vowed to end the electric vehicle mandate and “stop the appalling waste,” which he said will “save taxpayers an estimated $1 trillion.” “I will launch a historic campaign to liberate our economy from crippling regulation. My first term, I pledged to cut ten old regulations for every one new regulation, and we did much better than that,” he said. Trump also stressed he will make America “the world capital for crypto and Bitcoin.” Meanwhile, Trump said that he would create a Government Efficiency Commission “at the suggestion of Elon Musk,” who he said has “given me his complete and total endorsement.” The government efficiency commission would be tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms. Trump said Musk “has agreed” to lead that commission. Trump also announced he would cut the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15% “solely for companies that make their product in America.” Harris has proposed the corporate tax rate increase to 28%. Trump also said he plans to make his “Trump tax cuts permanent.” “They are massive tax cuts,” Trump said. “We will have no tax on tips—something which they copied four weeks after I said it,” Trump said, in a swipe at Harris, who seemingly stole his campaign’s plan. “She got up, said no tax on tips. I said, that she is actually copying a lot of my plan.” Trump also said his plan would not tax Social Security benefits. “We’re not going to tax their benefits. We have so many different ways of making so much money—it is so incredible. We do not have to take it away from people
Former Gov. Rick Perry joins House Speaker Dade Phelan’s team as senior adviser
Perry was the longest-serving governor in Texas history.
Watch Gretchen Whitmer at the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival
In a conversation at 7 p.m. Thursday, the Michigan governor will discuss her memoir, her biggest wins leading the Great Lakes State and why every vote counts.
New poll reveals Republican edging Dem incumbent in key battleground Senate race
A new poll in a key Senate battle that may decide if the GOP wins back the chamber’s majority indicates the Republican challenger with the edge over the Democratic incumbent. Republican Senate nominee Tim Sheehy holds a six-point 51%-45% advantage over Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana in an AARP survey released on Thursday in a two-way match up. And the poll suggests Sheehy leading Tester 49%-41% in a multi-candidate field, with Libertarian Party candidate Sid Daoud at 4% and Green Party candidate Michael Downey polling at 1%. Four percent are undecided. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS 2024 ELECTION POLLS Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and Purple Heart recipient who served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and who serves as CEO of Bridger Aerospace, a Montana-based aerial firefighting and wildfire surveillance services company, enjoys the backing of former President Trump, who headlined a rally in Montana last month. Trump carried red-state Montana by 16 points over President Biden four years ago. The poll indicates Trump is ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ 2024 nominee, by 15 points. TOP SENATE REPUBLICAN CRISS-CROSSES THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL IN ‘MAKE OR BREAK’ MOMENT TO WIN BACK MAJORITY Sheehy also has a strong ally in Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, the chair of the Senate GOP’s campaign committee. Tester is considered of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats running for re-election this year, and Republicans are heavily targeting the incumbent. The poll’s release highlights that “with Republicans accounting for 39% of likely voters and Democrats only 24%, Tester will need to boost his edge with Independents or gain among Republicans to pull ahead.” But beating Tester, a Montana farmer and former state lawmaker who’s running for a fourth six-year term in the Senate and has a history of winning tough contests, is far from an easy task. SENATE DEMOCRATS CAMPAIGN CHAIR GOES ONE-ON-ONE WITH FOX NEWS Democrats control the Senate by a razor-thin 51-49 margin, and Republicans are looking at a favorable election map this year with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs. One of those seats is in West Virginia, a deep red state that Trump carried by nearly 40 points in 2020. With moderate Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joe Manchin, a former governor, not seeking re-election, flipping the seat is nearly a sure thing for the GOP. And in Ohio, which Trump comfortably carried four years ago, Republicans are aiming to defeat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. Five more Democratic-held seats are up for grabs this year in crucial presidential-election battleground states. With Democrats trying to protect their fragile Senate majority, former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan of blue-state Maryland’s late entry into the Senate race in February gave them an unexpected headache in a state previously considered safe territory. Hogan left the governor’s office at the beginning of 2023 with very positive approval and favorable ratings. The new AARP survey in Montana was conducted by the bipartisan polling team of Fabrizio Ward (R) & David Binder Research (D). The firms interviewed 1,064 likely voters from August 25-29, with an overall sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Hunter Biden intends to plead guilty on federal tax charges brought by special counsel David Weiss
Hunter Biden plans to change his plea to guilty on federal tax charges brought against him by special counsel David Weiss, his attorney said in court Thursday, shocking federal prosecutors. Abbe Lowell, the first son’s attorney, said Thursday in federal court that Biden intends to switch his plea and intends to plead guilty. He initially pleaded not guilty. Federal prosecutor Leo Wise said that “this is the first we are hearing about this.” The trial began Thursday with jury selection in Los Angeles. Weiss charged Biden with three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid. Weiss alleged a “four-year scheme” when the president’s son did not pay his federal income taxes while also filing false tax reports. HUNTER BIDEN’S CRIMINAL TAX TRIAL BEGINS WITH JURY SELECTION IN CALIFORNIA In the indictment, Weiss alleged that Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020.” Weiss said that, in “furtherance of that scheme,” Biden “subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions” from the company “outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform.” HUNTER BIDEN TAX TRIAL POSTPONED TO SEPTEMBER The special counsel alleged that Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” and that in 2018, he “stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015.” Weiss alleged that Biden “willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes,” and that he “willfully failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns on time.” This is the second time Biden is on trial this year stemming from charges out of Weiss’ investigation. Biden was found guilty on all counts in Delaware after Weiss charged him with making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a licensed firearm dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. A date has not yet been set for sentencing for those charges. With all counts combined, the total maximum prison time for the charges could be up to 25 years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release. President Biden has vowed not to pardon his son.