In Congress – like baseball – there’s always next year
It is sometimes said that “politics and sports don’t mix.” But frankly, politics is dotted with sports. And sports is utterly loaded with politics. Which brings me to the intersection of politics and sports. The end of the regular baseball season is near. The Cincinnati Reds (my team, by the way), just fired their manager, David Bell, after a disappointing season. There are still a handful of games left in the season. Other teams will likely show their skippers the door soon. Look for possible vacancies in Colorado, Miami, Toronto and perhaps the Los Angeles Dodgers – depending on how they fare in the postseason. But the Reds are a special case. There were high expectations with star players Hunter Greene and Elly De La Cruz. Lots of speed. Fresh talent. With one of the best starting rotations in the game, some believed the Reds could win the division and maybe even compete for the National League pennant after years as also-rans. SHOW VOTE: REPUBLICANS MAKE POLITICAL STATEMENT IN GOING AGAINST SPEAKER JOHNSON But next to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Reds are the most disappointing team in Major League Baseball. The Reds have been churning in a continual “rebuilding” cycle since 2013. They haven’t won a postseason playoff series since 1995. The Reds haven’t appeared in the World Series since 1990. Wait till next year, they say. Which brings us to Congress and its appropriations bills. The end of the government’s fiscal year aligns nearly perfectly with the baseball season. The final day of the government’s fiscal year is September 30. The last day of the regular season in baseball falls on September 29. A few teams will march into the playoffs. But most, like the Reds, will saunter home for the winter. Such is the case with Congress. Since the 1990s, Congress has struggled to approve its 12 spending bills to run the government on time. That’s led to various political standoffs between the parties, a few protracted and ugly government shutdowns and little success. There’s been almost zero reform by Congress toward passing the bills in a timely fashion for decades – despite constant promises from bipartisan lawmakers to do better next time. Sound familiar, Reds fans? A DECISION TO MAKE: HOUSE SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON’S GOVERNMENT FUNDING BILL DIVIDES REPUBLICANS The House of Representatives edged right up to the deadline of a possible government shutdown around this time last fall. After the House stumbled, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., finally put forth a straightforward bill to just fund the government at current spending levels with no ad-ons until early November. The government remained open. And even though McCarthy excoriated Democrats for failing to pass individual spending bills by the book when they were in the majority, Republicans didn’t do much better. In Fiscal Year 2023 (when Democrats controlled Congress), the House approved six individual spending measures. The Senate: zero. In Fiscal Year 2024 (after Republicans claimed control of the House), the GOP-led House passed seven bills. The Senate: three. For Fiscal Year 2025 (what Congress has been working on now), the House approved five bills. The Senate: nada. When House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., assumed the Speakership last October, he wanted the House to continue to work on individual spending bills to do things “by the book.” All the while, Congress – with Johnson’s blessing – kept adopting stopgap bills to fund the government. That ran all the way until this past April. Johnson told members he’d continue to push for passage of individual spending measures for Fiscal Year 2025 (which begins October 1). Again, the House had moderate success – but nothing special. It approved five appropriations bills: Defense, Energy & Water, Interior, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and State/Foreign Operations. In an embarrassing vote on July 11, the House failed to approve the “Legislative Branch” appropriations bill. In other words, the House failed to even fund itself. Jokes abounded around the Capitol that Congress was teaching itself a lesson. Perhaps Congress didn’t deserve to receive its annual allocation. So Congress finds itself in a similar position this year. In the fall of 2023, conservatives heckled McCarthy for not keeping Congress in session during the August recess to tackle appropriations bills. There is similar hectoring from Republicans this time. REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: WHAT THE END OF THE YEAR LOOKS LIKE IN CONGRESS “I think this is a complete failure of the Speaker’s strategy,” complained Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. “We weren’t here in the entire month of August. We could have finished our 12 separate appropriations bills.” So now Johnson is forced into the same corner that McCarthy found himself this time last year. The House will vote on an interim spending bill just to keep the lights on. It’s notable that Johnson even wanted a bill to run through next spring. But the best he could manage was a measure which runs through December 20. Among other reasons, Johnson pushed for the longer spending bill because he didn’t want a “Christmastime omnibus” spending bill. That may still happen if lawmakers can’t advance some of the bills between now and mid-December. But this is similar to what we saw last year. And when it comes to appropriations, the same movie repeats itself. Like McCarthy, there could be calls from some conservative quarters to remove Johnson. Especially if Republicans maintain control of the House. The mid-December funding date really puts Johnson in a bind – if he’s to stand for re-election as Speaker on January 3. This is where we find a nexus of politics and sports. Cincinnati Reds fans have endured promise in season after season. The potential of catcher Devon Mesoraco was dashed after he made the All-Star game in 2014 – and then suffered a debilitating hip injury. CONTINGENT ELECTIONS: WHAT THEY ARE, AND WHAT TO EXPECT IF 2024 TRIGGERS ONE The Reds dealt ace starting pitcher Johnny Cueto to Kansas City during one rebuild. Two of the pitchers the Reds received as “compensation” went
Video resurfaces of Harris chanting ‘down with deportation’ at 2018 parade with disgraced actor
Newly emerged footage shows then-Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., chanting “down, down with deportation” at a parade in Los Angeles in 2018 when she was pursuing more aggressively left-wing positions on immigration. The video, obtained by Fox News Digital, took place at the 2018 Annual Kingdom Day Parade, where she was named Grand Marshal. In the clip, she can be seen joining in with a chant of “up, up with education, down, down with deportation” as she chants along while also applauding and smiling. HARRIS SHIFTS KEY POSITIONS ON BORDER, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AS CAMPAIGN PROMISES ‘PRAGMATIC’ APPROACH The video was first reported by the Daily Mail Online, which also noted that in the video is actor Jussie Smollett, who would eventually be convicted of falsely claiming to have been attacked by Trump supporters in Chicago. Harris came to Smollett’s defense shortly after he falsely claimed he was attacked by Trump supporters, saying, “This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin.” Harris adopted left-wing proposals in her 2019 presidential primary campaign. She promised to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) by executive order — which gives protection to illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors. She said she would eliminate age requirements on applications, and use parole authority to create a “parole in place” program to put those illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. Since becoming the 2024 presidential nominee, she has faced scrutiny over her role overseeing the root causes of the migrant crisis at the southern border — which led to her being dubbed the “border czar.” She has also shifted some of her campaign positions, moving more to the center. Her campaign confirmed to Fox earlier this month that she changed her positions on a number of immigration and border-security policies, including decriminalizing illegal crossings and closing immigration detention centers. ‘TOTAL BULLS—’: TRUMP CAMPAIGN RIPS ‘PREPOSTEROUS’ HARRIS PRO-BORDER WALL NARRATIVE AFTER MEDIA REPORT A Harris campaign adviser told Fox that her positions have been “shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration.” The campaign says now that she is “continuing to ensure sufficient resources to enforce our laws and prioritize detention and removal for individuals who pose threats to public safety and national security, as well as ensure compliance with immigration proceedings and decisions, including removal.” CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS She has repeatedly backed the bipartisan Senate package that emerged from negotiations in the chamber earlier this year, which increases funding for the border, including ICE bed space, and a mechanism to limit asylum entries into the U.S. “While Donald Trump is wedded to the extreme ideas in his Project 2025 agenda, Vice President Harris believes real leadership means bringing all sides together to build consensus,” spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement last month. “It is that approach that made it possible for the Biden-Harris administration to achieve bipartisan breakthroughs on everything from infrastructure to gun violence prevention. As President, she will take that same pragmatic approach, focusing on common-sense solutions for the sake of progress.”
Indiana judge rules prison must provide transgender surgery for inmate who killed baby
A federal judge has ruled that it would be unconstitutional for an Indiana prison to deny a transgender inmate sex reassignment surgery following the inmate’s lawsuit against the facility. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the Indiana Department of Corrections last year on behalf of a transgender inmate, Jonathan C. Richardson, also known as Autumn Cordellionè, who was convicted of strangling his 11-month-old stepdaughter to death in 2001. Indiana law, however, prohibits the Department of Corrections from using taxpayer dollars to fund sex reassignment surgeries for inmates. However, the ACLU argues in the lawsuit, filed on Aug. 28, 2023, that the law is a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment.” ACLU SUES INDIANA OVER DENIAL OF SEX REASSIGNMENT SURGERY FOR INMATE WHO STRANGLED 11-MONTH-OLD TO DEATH The surgery for Richardson, who is serving out a 55-year prison sentence for reckless homicide, “is a medical necessity,” according to the ACLU lawsuit. Judge Richard Young agreed with the ACLU’s claims and ruled in favor of Cordellioné last week. “Specifically, Ms. Cordellioné has shown that her gender dysphoria is a serious medical need, and that, despite other treatments Defendant has provided her to treat her gender dysphoria, she requires gender-affirming surgery to prevent a risk of serious bodily and psychological harm,” the ruling states. The DOC must now take “all reasonable actions” to ensure Cordellioné undergoes sex surgery, according to the order. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, said in a post on X that his office is still reviewing the judge’s decision, “but you can undoubtedly expect our office to appeal this decision.” “An Indiana inmate convicted of murder wants our taxpayers to fund their gender-altering surgery! Hoosiers do NOT want thism” Rokita said. TRANS INMATE WHO KILLED BABY AND IDENTIFIES AS MUSLIM WOMAN SUES CHAPLAIN FOR ALLEGEDLY NOT ALLOWING HIJAB The original ACLU filing says Cordellioné was diagnosed in 2020 with gender dysphoria and prescribed female hormones and testosterone blockers, both of which he has “consistently taken since that time.” Other accommodations provided for the inmate include “panties, make up, and form fitting clothing.” “Accordingly, at this point gender-affirming surgery is necessary so that her physical identity can be aligned with her gender identity and so her gender dysphoria can be ameliorated,” the lawsuit states. “She believes that the only remedy for her persistent gender dysphoria, and the serious harm it causes her, is to receive gender-affirming surgery, specifically an orchiectomy and vaginoplasty,” it said. Cordellioné has identified as a woman since 6 years old, the ACLU lawsuit also claims, and the inmate is “a woman trapped in a man’s body.” According to court documents, Cordellioné strangled his then-wife’s 11-month-year old daughter to death while she was at work on Sept. 12, 2001. During RCordellioné’s initial interview with one of the detectives, he was calm and “unemotional” when recounting what happened, court documents from Indiana’s Court of Appeals show. TRANSGENDER GOLFER HAILEY DAVIDSON FIRES BACK AT ‘MASSIVE LIE’ AS HOPES OF EARNING LPGA TOUR CARD INCREASE In a separate lawsuit last year, Cordellioné filed a civil lawsuit against the prison chaplain for allegedly prohibiting him from wearing a hijab outside his immediate bed quarters, despite identifying as a Muslim woman.
Former AG Barr ‘dumbfounded’ at DOJ’s decision to release letter of Trump would-be assassin
EXCLUSIVE – Former Attorney General William Barr says he is “dumbfounded” that the Justice Department released a chilling letter penned by would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh on Monday, calling the decision “rash” and serving no purpose “other than to risk inciting further violence.” Routh is the suspect in former President Donald Trump’s second foiled assassination attempt. The DOJ obtained the letter from a witness who says they received it inside a box delivered to them by Routh several months prior to the assassination attempt. The box contained several handwritten letters as well as ammunition, among other things. One of the letters, addressed “Dear World,” admitted to an assassination attempt on Trump. He also offered money to anyone willing to finish the job. “I was dumbfounded that the DOJ made public this morning the contents of the letter that, Ryan Routh, left with an acquaintance prior to the attempted assassination of former President Trump,” Barr said in a statement to Fox News Digital. FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SUSPECT ROUTH NOT TO BE RELEASED “The letter calls on people to ‘finish the job’ of killing President Trump, attempts to rouse people in incendiary terms to do so, and offers $150,000 to anyone who succeeds. There was no apparent justification for releasing this information at this stage,” he continued. Barr, who served during both the Trump and George H. W. Bush administrations, says that “DOJ had more than enough evidence to have Routh detained pending trial, without publicizing these details.” “Even if DOJ thought it important to provide the letter to the court, it could have redacted inflammatory material or arranged to have the letter submitted under seal. It was rash to put out this letter in the midst of an election during which two attempts on the life of President Trump had been made,” Barr said. TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: FBI’S RYAN ROUTH TIP HIGHLIGHTS VETTING DEMAND CHALLENGE, FORMER AGENT SAYS “It served no purpose other than to risk inciting further violence,” he added. The department’s detention memo revealed that Routh traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach, Florida, on Aug. 14, a month before the Sept. 15 golf course incident. One of Routh’s cell phones pinged cell towers near Trump’s golf course and his Mar-a-Lago residence “on multiple days and times” from Aug. 18 to Sept. 15, the detention memo alleged. Investigators say they also found a book Routh had authored in 2023, titled “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen-Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea, WWIII and the End of Humanity.” TRUMP ASSASSINATION PLOT EXPOSES RYAN ROUTH’S BOMB BUST, BARRICADE WITH ILLEGAL GUN IN PROFESSIONAL DEMISE The detention memo also provided a fresh detail on the witness who saw Routh flee the sniper’s nest. The witness made eye contact with the suspect before Routh jumped into a Nissan Xterra and sped away. The witness is credited with photographing the vehicle and reporting it to law enforcement. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Routh will likely face additional charges in the coming days, which could include aggravated assault for allegedly pointing the rifle at a Secret Service agent and making threats against a former president, State Attorney Dave Aronberg previously told Fox News Digital.
Cruz race now a ‘tossup’ should be warning for Texas GOP, says expert
The race between Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, for Senate in Texas is heating up, something one expert believes should serve as a warning to Republicans in the dependably red state. “Texas is an interesting political environment and will become a bellwether within the next decade,” Jimmy Keady, the founder and president of JLK Political Strategies, told Fox News Digital. “With the recent influx of West Coasters, and a fast-growing Hispanic population, recent elections in Texas are closer than Republicans want.” The comments come as Cruz seeks to fend off yet another tight challenge from a Democratic opponent, this time from Allred, who has represented Texas’ 32nd Congressional District in the Dallas area since 2019. CRUZ INTERRUPTED BY ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATOR WHO YELLED, ‘F—ING JEWS’ DURING HEARING ON ‘HATE’ While the Real Clear Politics polling average shows Cruz with a five-point lead in the race, there are some troubling signs for the Republican incumbent, including recent polls that show Cruz with a lead close to within the margin of error. Allred has looked to capitalize on the momentum, taking to social media to highlight a Morning Consult poll that showed him with a slim lead in the race. “For the first time in this race, a new poll has us leading Ted Cruz by 1 point. I don’t know about y’all but I’m fired up and ready to WIN,” Allred said on X. “We’ve got 47 days, let’s do this Texas.” Prominent Republicans have noticed the challenge, with Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita taking to X to question what is “wrong with the Senate race in Texas” and calling for “some real professionals” to “save” Cruz. TEXAS DEM’S SENATE AD FEATURES BORDER WALL HE ONCE BLASTED AS ‘RACIST’ The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment. Some polls leading up to Cruz’s 2018 Senate race with former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, showed a similarly close race, though Cruz was able to hold off the Democratic challenger by under three percentage points. But that close win was also a stark departure from Cruz’s 2012 victory, when he easily topped former Texas Democratic state Rep. Paul Sadler by nearly 16 percentage points. That narrowing of the margins in Texas should have Republicans on edge, Keady argued, though he stressed he believed Cruz would be safe in 2024. “Texas will stay red this November and Ted Cruz will win re-election,” Keady said. “But Republicans should not take the threat of losing this state lightly. As the Republican Party makes a play for blue states, Democrats are going to start making a play for red states… to hold these seats, Republicans will have to stay disciplined on messaging and prioritize candidate recruitment.” The Cruz campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Request for comment.
Enigmatic voter group could split ticket for Trump, Dem Senate candidate in Arizona
One group of voters could fuel a win for Democrats in the Arizona Senate race while also propelling former President Trump to victory in the key battleground state. Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris among registered voters in Arizona 49% to 45% in a new poll from the New York Times and Siena College. This was a notable shift from their numbers last month, when Harris came out on top. At the same time, Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., bested Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake 50% to 41%. ‘PRETTY DAMN SIGNIFICANT’: SLOTKIN SUFFERS BLOW IN MICHIGAN AS FARM BUREAU JILTS DEMS TO ENDORSE GOP CANDIDATE According to the New York Times, “The respondents who said they were splitting their ticket – supporting Mr. Gallego and Mr. Trump – were much more likely to be Latino, less college-educated and lower-income.” The poll was conducted in English and Spanish on cell phones and landlines in Arizona and 2,077 likely voters were surveyed between Sept. 17 and 21. The margin of error is +/- 2.5 percentage points for the likely electorate and +/-2.4 percentage points among registered voters. For each state poll, the margin of sampling error among likely voters is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points in Arizona, plus or minus 4.6 percentage points in Georgia, and plus or minus 4.2 percentage points in North Carolina. Gallego voted 100% in line with President Biden and Harris’ administration in the 117th Congress, per FiveThirtyEight, and is by no means a fan of Trump, and the former president is an ardent supporter of Lake. Despite their political disagreements, they’ve managed to simultaneously attract a key group of voters. RICK SCOTT LEADS EFFORT TO UP SECRET SERVICE PROTECTIONS AFTER 2ND ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON TRUMP “You always have to consider in American politics whether gender is playing a role,” Melissa Michelson, the dean of arts and sciences and a political science professor at Menlo College in California, told Fox News Digital. Trump and Gallego are both facing off against women in their respective races. “What gender scholars will tell you is that when women are running, they face additional challenges,” she explained. With Trump’s election in 2016, his strength among those without college degrees became evident. He’s also shown an ability to appeal to non-White voters, including Latinos, who are considered integral to the Democrats’ coalition. ‘I’VE NEVER SEEN THIS’: TOP REPUBLICAN DETAILS LEVEL OF SECRET SERVICE ‘LACK OF COOPERATION’ His enduring appeal to these types of voters is on display in the latest poll as well. “And yes, those same voters would be more likely to prefer the Latino candidate,” said Michelson, explaining the preference of some of those voters for Gallego in the Senate race. She noted that Latinos tend to vote Democrat more often than not and that they also tend to vote for Latino candidates. “If a candidate before you is both your shared racial group and your shared party, then that’s easy,” Michelson remarked. When it comes to women perhaps feeling inclined to vote for women candidates, she pointed out that gender isn’t “as strong of an identity or as strong of a motivator of vote choice.” “People just don’t think about their gender the same way they think about their race.” The potential for a split result in Arizona, with Trump winning the presidency and Gallego taking the open Senate seat, would be notable given the recent decline in split-ticket voting. HARRIS, TRUMP DEADLOCKED IN PENNSYLVANIA AS FORMER PRESIDENT TRAILS IN OTHER ‘BLUE WALL’ STATES: POLL Republican strategist Kevin Madden said the vote is ultimately “candidate-dependent.” “Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Ruben Gallego in Arizona are examples of two candidates running very carefully tailored races that are customized to their state’s political environment,” he told Fox News Digital. It’s true that Gallego has made a concerted effort to reach a male, Latino audience. For Cinco de Mayo this year, his campaign held a watch party in Glendale at JL Boxing Academy for a match between champion Mexican boxer Canelo Álvarez and fellow fighter Jaime Munguía, who was undefeated until that point. The venue was reportedly outfitted with large screens displaying the fight, and the event featured food trucks serving birria tacos and Mexican Cokes outside. The watch party was expected to draw over 100 guests, mainly Latino Arizonans and their families. “They’re doing whatever they can to get out of the national political jet-stream and make their campaign less of a proxy on the presidential contest,” Madden said. Michelson claimed that recent endorsements from the Arizona Police Association (APA) for both Gallego and Trump could encourage the increasingly rare practice of split-ticket voting. Despite backing Trump and reportedly endorsing Lake during her 2022 gubernatorial bid, the union chose Democrat Gallego in the Senate race in 2024. However, Lake did get the backing of a separate police union, the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police, earlier this month. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Dozens of Senate and House lawmakers unleash on Biden-Harris admin’s child migrant ‘cover-up’
FIRST ON FOX: Dozens of Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate are slamming the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children who have come into the U.S. since 2021 – alleging a “cover-up” of information and how policies have led to potential exploitation. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, led lawmakers in a lengthy letter to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing the administration of failing unaccompanied migrant children “by rushing them out of the custody of your Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) into the hands of unvetted sponsors who often continue to exploit and abuse them.” More than 500,000 unaccompanied alien children (UAC) have crossed the border without a parent or guardian since 2021. When unaccompanied children come to the border, they are currently turned over by Border Patrol to Health and Human Services (HHS) who will attempt to find them a sponsor within the country — typically a family member. THOUSANDS OF MIGRANT KIDS MISSING ACCORDING TO WATCHDOG REPORT, GOP SENATOR SLAMS DHS: ‘RECKLESS DISREGARD’ The letter claims the administration has cut back on background checks and vetting procedures, as part of an effort to speed up the process. They say the administration “continued Vice President Harris’s longtime priority of cutting back on information sharing between HHS ORR and law enforcement related to unaccompanied children and sponsors.” The letter is led by Grassley, and includes Senate Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Ron Johnson, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Bill Cassidy and House Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock. The lawmakers point to moves by the administration to limit familial DNA testing, and Trump-era proposals to provide post-release check ups for those handed over to sponsors. The issue came into the spotlight last year when the New York Times reported on how the agency has been unable to reach 85,000 minors and lost immediate contact with a third of them. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said at that time that the number “doesn’t sound at all to be realistic” and “what we do is we try and follow up as best we can with these kids.” “Congress has given us certain authorities. Our authorities end when we have found a suitable sponsor to place that child with. We try and do some follow up but neither the child or the sponsor is actually obligated to follow up with us,” he said. ICE LOST TRACK OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF MIGRANT KIDS, DHS INSPECTOR GENERAL FINDS This year, the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General sent a report to Congress finding that, over the past five years, more than 32,000 UACs did not show for immigration court hearings, and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could not account for the location of all of those who did not appear. The lawmakers said that HHS ORR is “actively attempting to cover up the results of its egregious decisions” to roll back vetting, also accusing the administration of silencing whistleblowers. The letter also says that DHS recently informed Grassley’s office that HHS has not complied sufficiently with two out of three subpoenas/information requests from his referral of possible child trafficking rings. “By not supplying the information law enforcement requested, ORR denied Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents critical information, including the last known addresses of children and sponsors and the identity of other household members,” the letter says. They also argue that HHS’s alleged failure to vet sponsors has led to the ignoring of possible gang affiliations, with no policy in place to refer suspected gang members for prosecution or investigation. It highlights the death of Kayla Hamilton, allegedly at the hands of an unaccompanied migrant. HHS CHIEF ‘UNFAMILIAR’ WITH REPORTS THAT AGENCY CAN’T CONTACT 85,000 UNACCOMPANIED MIGRANT KIDS “HHS must stop its cover-up and cooperate with law enforcement and Congress to end this crisis and protect unaccompanied children and the American people,” they say. Fox reached out to the White House and HHS for comment. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS The letter comes as immigration remains a top 2024 issue. Republicans have pointed to the historic crisis at the southern border and tied it to the “open borders” policies of the administration. The administration says that those numbers have dropped sharply in recent months after President Biden signed an executive order limiting asylum claims at the border. It has called on Republicans to support a bipartisan border security bill unveiled earlier this year. Republicans have said that bill will codify high levels of illegal immigration.
‘No dictators’: Top Democrat signals effort to restrain Trump if he wins White House
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is pushing back against the Supreme Court’s recent presidential immunity ruling, suggesting Democrats are eyeing ways to limit former President Trump’s abilities that were expanded by the high court’s decision. “It is up to Congress, the representative branch of the people, to defend the constitutional order against presidents who would trample the freedoms of the people,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said at a press conference alongside former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh. “This declaration is about protecting the freedoms of the people by closing statutory loopholes that could allow a president to exploit the executive power to trample constitutional freedom and liberty.” He’s helping to spearhead an effort urging members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to sign a “No Dictators Declaration.” NATION’S LARGEST AND OLDEST POLICE UNION MAKES AN ENDORSEMENT IN THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RACE Raskin, who held the press conference backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Monday, did not mention Trump by name. The website for the effort similarly stresses that “this isn’t a partisan issue.” When explaining the “five pillars” of the pledge, however, Raskin alluded to a host of accusations that have been lodged against the former president. “It’s got five main pillars to it – one, limiting the president’s power to declare bogus domestic and foreign emergencies to seize power and bypass congressional authority. Two, restricting the president’s ability to use the Insurrection Act to deploy the military domestically against the people,” Raskin said. CASH DASH: THIS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HOLDS A SUBSTANTIAL FUNDRAISING LEAD “Three – preventing the adoption of partisan, personal and ideological loyalty tests, loyalty oaths and similar authoritarian measures designed to purge the professional civil service, and replace qualified workers with unqualified party loyalists and sycophants.” “Four, ensuring that presidents who abuse their powers to commit crimes can be prosecuted like all other citizens. Because no one is above the law in America, and those of us who aspire and attain to public office are nothing but the servants of the people,” he continued. “And fifth, constraining the president’s ability to use investigative and prosecutorial decisions and resources to pursue personal political vendettas against disfavored groups and perceived enemies of the president.” Trump’s Supreme Court case stems from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into the ex-president and his allies’ alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Smith filed an amended, superceding indictment against Trump in the case after the court’s conservative majority granted the office of the president broad immunity for “official” acts, the specifics of which were to be determined by lower courts. Asked by Fox News Digital whether the effort could turn into legislative action if Democrats win the House majority in November, Raskin suggested it was possible. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLL SHOWS IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP 2024 SHOWDOWN “I hope that when we get back in, that we will be able to have at least a couple of serious hearings about the problem of overreach in the executive branch and weakness to potential tyrants and despots and dictators,” Raskin said. “I hope that those hearings would lead us to create a legislative package to address these structural deficiencies in our statutory system.” He added, “I would hope that Republicans would come along.” Walsh, a Tea Party Republican who left office in January 2013 and who has been a vocal Trump critic, also heavily suggested Trump inspired the “No Dictators” effort but noted it brought together himself and Raskin, despite their larger political disagreements. “We’re locked in arms right now because we have somebody running for president who has promised to be a dictator,” Walsh said. “This is a bipartisan effort every member of the House and every member of the Senate should easily sign and pledge that they don’t want – we will not have a dictator as president.”
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