Senate Republicans plan hearing on Biden’s alleged cognitive decline cover-up
FIRST ON FOX — Senate Republicans plan to launch their own investigation next month that delves into the alleged “conspiracy” behind former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. Senators Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, announced plans to hold a Senate Judiciary hearing June 18 to look into the alleged cover-up of the 82-year-old former president’s mental decline while in office by the media and those closest to him. The lawmakers are still gathering witnesses for the probe, which would be the first full congressional committee hearing on the subject. “It’s time to expose how a cadre of Biden aides and family members were the de facto commander in chief, while President Biden was sidelined,” Schmitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “I look forward to getting the American people the answers they deserve.” SCOOP: GOP PUSH FOR NEW HOUSE COMMITTEE TO PROBE BIDEN DECLINE ‘COVER-UP’ GAINS STEAM Both lawmakers contend Biden’s decline was hidden for “years.” Cornyn argued the country depended “on having a president who has the mental capacity to do the job, and it’s clear that President Biden did not, so we must use this hearing to uncover the facts.” KEY BIDEN STAFFERS ASKED TO TESTIFY ON ALLEGED ROLE IN MENTAL DECLINE ‘COVER-UP’ “For this conspiracy between the mainstream media, Joe Biden’s family and his inner circle to have hidden the impairment of the president of the United States for years, and lied consistently to the American people about his capacity to make decisions, which are solely vested by the Constitution, is unacceptable,” Cornyn said in a statement to Fox News Digital. Schmitt and Cornyn join a growing chorus of Republicans demanding answers about what really went on behind the scenes during Biden’s presidency. In the House, lawmakers are pushing to create a select committee that would investigate the Biden administration’s alleged cover-up. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., is leading the charge to create the panel and introduced legislation Thursday to start the committee that would dive into “the potential concealment of information from the American public” regarding Biden’s health. And House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., has called on several high-ranking staffers from the Biden White House to participate in transcribed interviews regarding their alleged roles in covering up the former president’s decline. Comer called on Neera Tanden, the former director of the Domestic Policy Council; former assistant to the President and deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini; former senior adviser to the first lady Anthony Bernal; former deputy director of Oval Office operations Ashley Williams; and Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, to participate. The growing fervor among Republicans to uncover whether Biden’s allies and family hid concerns about his health from the public comes after the release of “Original Sin” by CNN host Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson. Their book claimed the Biden White House was trying to control the narrative about the former president’s health and that his allies worked to cover up his decline.
Federal judge blocks 5 Trump tariff executive orders
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., sided with a Chicago-area toy company on Thursday, blocking five executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that imposed tariffs on Chinese imports. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras determined the International Economic Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize Trump to impose the tariffs in his executive orders. Contreras granted a motion for a preliminary injunction, filed by the toy company, Learning Resources, Inc., which will be stayed for 14 days in case the administration decides to appeal the decision. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS: COMPANIES THAT WILL INVEST $1B OR MORE IN THE US Trump announced his “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariff plan on April 2, imposing a 10% baseline tariff on all countries. In certain countries, hostile negotiations led to even higher levies, with taxes on Chinese imports reaching 145%. Rick Woldenberg, CEO of Learning Resources, said in April the third-generation family business that had been manufacturing in China for four decades would face an almost 98% increase in its tariff bill. He said the $2.3 million the company paid in 2024 would jump to $100.2 million in 2025. AMAZON DENIES TARIFF PRICING PLAN THAT WHITE HOUSE CALLED ‘HOSTILE AND POLITICAL’ “I wish I had $100 million,” Woldenberg wrote in a statement. “Honest to God, no exaggeration: It feels like the end of days.” China produces 97% of America’s imported baby carriages, 96% of its artificial flowers and umbrellas, 95% of its fireworks, 93% of its children’s coloring books and 90% of its combs, according to a report from the Macquarie investment bank. GROCERY GIANT WARNS ITS SUPPLIERS THAT SUPERMARKET WON’T BE ACCEPTING TARIFF-RELATED PRICE HIKES On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled the administration overstepped its authority over tariffs under IEEPA. “The Constitution assigns Congress the exclusive powers to ‘lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,’ and to ‘regulate Commerce with foreign Nations,’” the court wrote in its opinion. “The question in the two cases before the court is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (‘IEEPA’) delegates these powers to the President in the form of authority to impose unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world.” Three judges, appointed by former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, and Trump, found IEEPA did not “confer such unbounded authority.” DONALD TRUMP SHOULD BE PRAISED FOR SIGNALS HE MIGHT COOL TARIFF FIGHT, WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL PRAISES The Trump administration appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it is unclear what goods will be subject to tariffs in the meantime, Reuters reported. “Foreign countries’ nonreciprocal treatment of the United States has fueled America’s historic and persistent trade deficits,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told FOX Business after the decision. “These deficits have created a national emergency that has decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defense industrial base — facts that the court did not dispute.” “It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency,” Desai added. “President Trump pledged to put America First, and the Administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness.” FOX Business’ Greg Wehner and Bill Mears, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Justice Department tells American Bar Association it will no longer comply with ratings for judicial nominees
FIRST ON FOX— The Justice Department on Thursday formally notified the American Bar Association that it will no longer comply with its ratings process for judicial nominees, the result of what it argues is a biased system and one that “invariably and demonstrably” favors nominees put forth by Democratic administrations. The letter, sent by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to ABA President William R. Bay, was previewed exclusively to Fox News. It marks the latest escalation in a protracted legal fight that Republicans have waged against the nation’s largest association of legal workers. “For several decades, the American Bar Association has received special treatment and enjoyed special access to judicial nominees,” Bondi said in the letter. “In some administrations, the ABA received notice of nominees before a nomination was announced to the public. Some administrations would even decide whether to nominate an individual based on a rating assigned by the ABA.” The Justice Department said in the letter that it will no longer grant the ABA the “special treatment” and first access it has received for years. “Accordingly, while the ABA is free to comment on judicial nominations along with other activist organizations, there is no justification for treating the ABA differently from such other activist organizations and the Department of Justice will not do so.” It also ended an Office of Legal Policy that directed judicial nominees to provide waivers allowing the ABA access to non-public information for nominees, including bar records. “Nominees will also not respond to questionnaires prepared by the ABA and will not sit for interviews with the ABA,” Bondi said. The Trump administration’s decision to excise the ABA from the judicial nomination process comes after several Republican senators on the Senate committee tasked with vetting judicial nominees told the ABA in a letter earlier this year that they planned to ignore its rating system. The ABA, established in the late 1800s, has grown into a sprawling organization that touts a membership of over 400,000 legal workers. But it has sparked criticism from Republicans, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, previously blasted the ABA as a “radical left-wing advocacy group.” He and others on the panel previously took aim at the group for embracing so-called “woke initiatives,” including its heavy use of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI efforts, in many facets of its work. This is not the first time Republican administrations have broken with the ABA. The George W. Bush administration ended the practice of giving the ABA a first look at nominees, and Trump also did so in his first presidential term. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
White House discloses who will lead DOGE efforts after Musk’s departure
President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet will spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts, now that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is stepping aside from leading the initiative. “The DOGE leaders are each and every member of the president’s cabinet and the president himself, who is wholeheartedly committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse from our government,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday at a White House press briefing. Since January, Musk has been heading up DOGE, which was tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the federal government’s budget through efforts to slash spending, government programs and the federal workforce. Musk announced his departure in an X post. “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk said on X Wednesday. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Kazakhstan’s president on balancing Russia, China and the West
Kazakhstan sits at the crossroads of global power between Russia, China and key trade routes. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev talks to Al Jazeera about his reform agenda, the legacy of Nazarbayev, and plans to reduce inequality in a resource-rich nation. He also addresses Kazakhstan’s economic dependency on oil and Russia, growing ties with China and the West, and criticisms over press freedom and political openness. With the war in Ukraine redrawing alliances, is Kazakhstan truly neutral, or simply under pressure? Adblock test (Why?)
Will Southeast Asian nations pick sides between the US and China?
They’ve long been hedging their bets.But Southeast Asian nations are caught in the dispute between the United States and China.The trade-dependent countries are under threat from Trump’s tariffs, too.They face a delicate balancing act between economic survival and strategic neutrality.The message was clear at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – ASEAN’s recent summit in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.Member countries are recalibrating their economic partnerships to insulate their economies.That includes a push to deepen trade ties with China and Gulf countries. Why is the price of Japanese rice rocketing? Plus, should older people work longer? Adblock test (Why?)
Most LGBTQ adults in US don’t feel transgender people are accepted: Poll
By contrast, about six out of 10 LGBTQ adults said gay and lesbian people are generally accepted in the US. A new poll by the Pew Research Centre has found that transgender people experience less social acceptance in the United States than those who are lesbian, gay or bisexual, according to LGBTQ adults. About six out of 10 LGBTQ adult participants in the poll said there is “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of social acceptance in the US for gay and lesbian people, according to “The Experiences of LGBTQ Americans Today” report released on Thursday. Only about one in 10 said the same for non-binary and transgender people — and about half said there was “not much” or no acceptance at all for transgender people. The survey of 3,959 LGBTQ adults was conducted in January, after US President Donald Trump’s election, but just before his return to office when he set into motion a series of policies that question transgender people’s existence and their place in society. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order calling on the government to recognise people as male or female based on the “biological truth” of their future cells at conception, rejecting evidence and scientific arguments that gender is a spectrum. Advertisement Since then, Trump has barred transgender women and girls from taking part in female sports competitions, pushed transgender service members from the military and tried to block federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender people under age 19. A poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in May found that about half of US adults approve of the way Trump is handling transgender issues. Transgender people are less likely than gay or lesbian adults to say they are accepted by all their family members, according to the Pew poll. The majority of LGBTQ people said their siblings and friends accepted them, though the rates were slightly higher among gay or lesbian people. About half of gay and lesbian people said their parents did, compared with about one-third of transgender people. Only about one in 10 transgender people reported feeling accepted by their extended family, compared with about three in 10 for gay or lesbian people. According to the Pew poll, about two-thirds of LGBTQ adults said the landmark US Supreme Court ruling that legalised same-sex marriage nationally on June 26, 2015, increased acceptance of same-sex couples “a lot more” or “somewhat more”. The Supreme Court is expected to rule in the coming weeks on whether Tennessee can enforce a ban on gender-affirming care for minors in what is seen as a major case for the transgender community. Adblock test (Why?)
Operation Shield: Mock drills to be conducted in Rajasthan, Punjab, J-K, Haryana, Gujarat on this date
An official said these drills will include blackouts, siren tests, simulated aerial attacks, and rapid rescue operations.
IRCTC to launch 14-day ‘mystic tour’ from India to THIS country with breathtaking views along journey, know how to book tickets, other details
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will soon launch the ‘Bharat-Bhutan Mystic Mountain Tour,’ a journey that will allow passengers to witness the mesmerising natural beauty and cultural treasure of Northeast India and Bhutan.
Price tag estimate for House GOP tax package rises to $3.94T
The estimated revenue impact of the GOP tax plan would be nearly $4 trillion in the negative over a decade, the Joint Committee on Taxation — a nonpartisan committee of the U.S. Congress — has indicated. A document issued by the committee puts the net total estimated revenue effects at -$3.939368 trillion for fiscal years 2025-2034. “The problem with all of these studies is they willfully ignore current tax policy. You can’t do that and be taken seriously,” an Office of Management and Budget spokesperson indicated. Fox News Digital reached out to the Joint Committee on Taxation for comment, but no comment had been provided by the time of publication. GOP RAILS AGAINST ‘BLATANTLY FALSE’ DEM CLAIMS ABOUT MEDICAID REFORM IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ The GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last week, even with the U.S. national debt at more than $36 trillion. The measure cleared the chamber with zero Democrat votes, and two House Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio — voting against it. House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., voted present, explaining in a statement, “I voted to move the bill along in the process for the President. There is still a lot of work to be done in deficit reduction and ending waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicaid program.” SPEAKER JOHNSON CLASHES WITH RAND PAUL OVER ‘WIMPY’ SPENDING CUTS IN TRUMP’S BILL Some Senate Republicans have indicated that they would not be willing to support the measure as it stands coming out of the House. Elon Musk is not happy with it either. The business tycoon said during an interview for “CBS Sunday Morning” that he was “disappointed to see the massive spending bill,” and that the measure undermines the Department of Government Efficiency team’s work. “I’m not happy about certain aspects of it, but I’m thrilled by other aspects of it,” President Donald Trump said of the measure when asked about Musk’s comments. Last week, Trump hailed the House’s passage of the proposal, calling for the Senate to pass it as well. “Great job by Speaker Mike Johnson, and the House Leadership, and thank you to every Republican who voted YES on this Historic Bill! Now, it’s time for our friends in the United States Senate to get to work, and send this Bill to my desk AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!” the president declared in part of a Truth Social post last week. MUSK OFFICIALLY STEPS DOWN FROM DOGE AFTER WRAPPING WORK STREAMLINING GOVERNMENT CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller asserted in a post on X, “I see some self-described libertarians siding with lefty bureaucrats at CBO who claim the Big Beautiful Bill will ‘explode the debt.’ This is based entirely on CBO claiming that extending the current tax rates (not raising them) will ‘cost’ the government $4 trillion in revenue. “Since when have libertarians argued that NOT raising taxes ‘costs’ the government money? Private money yet to be earned does not “belong” to the government. This is a Democrat-collectivist argument and I’m shocked to see libertarians deploying it. Under this ludicrous theory, one could raise taxes to 90% on everyone and declare the deficit solved. BBB cuts taxes, cuts spending, reforms welfare and *ends mass migration*,” he declared.