Walz is ‘terrible in a crisis,’ says former Republican Minnesota Senate leader
MINNEAPOLIS – A former top Republican state lawmaker says there are two concerning things about a potential Gov. Tim Walz vice presidency: He “is terrible in a crisis” and “how he spends money.” Paul Gazelka, former Republican Senate majority leader, shared his experience working alongside Walz over the years, including during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 riots. The former lawmaker said his early experiences with Walz were collaborative, but that, eventually, “rather than working with him, I was working against him.” “I wouldn’t say at first that he was difficult to work with. He comes in with what I would say is kind of a country charm, but that is not really where he is trying to drive his agenda. It is much more liberal,” Gazelka told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. TIM WALZ HAS TIES TO MUSLIM CLERIC WITH ANTISEMITIC VIEWS, GAVE STATE FUNDING TO HIS GROUP: REPORT “When he has power, I don’t think he can be trusted. And when he has to make decisions in a crisis, they’re terrible decisions,” the former lawmaker added. There are two top concerns that Gazelka, who served as the state’s Senate majority leader from 2017 to 2021, has about Walz in a leadership role. TIM WALZ ‘MISSPOKE’ ABOUT USING WEAPONS ‘IN WAR,’ HARRIS CAMPAIGN SAYS: REPORT “My concern for him as a leader, number one, is he’s terrible in a crisis. And then how he spends money. It’s like he has no sense of what the value of a dollar is. And they just spend money until they go into debt. And so people need to pay attention.” Gazelka reflected on the 2020 riots that erupted in Minneapolis after the death of George Floyd and Walz’s leadership during the chaotic event. “The mayor of Minneapolis, Mayor Frye, said to the governor, ‘I need your help. I need the Guard.’ And that’s when the governor just sat on his hands. He froze. He didn’t do anything,” Gazelka said. He added that voters “need to know” that “when he presents this country charm, it does not represent rural American values.” Gazelka drew a contrast between the Harris-Walz and Trump-Vance tickets. “Both sides are very, very clear. They didn’t pick somebody opposite of them to get votes. They just said, you know, this far-left liberal that goes toward socialism or the Trump direction, which is Make America Great Again,” he said. “Trump is a strong leader. Harris is not. She hasn’t even done a press conference. She won’t get out there and stand up and be who she is. And that presents herself and therefore America as weak, and that is not what we want to do.”
Pelosi gushes about warm relationship with Bush family amid Biden turmoil
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi highlighted her warm and longstanding relationship with the Bush family in an interview with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki. “We were friends. He was such a lovely man,” Pelosi told Psaki of her friendship with President George H.W. Bush, who died in 2018. Pelosi joined MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” where the former speaker discussed the upcoming election, President Biden dropping out of the race, her new book, “The Art of Power,” as well as her decades-long friendship with the Bush family. “You also speak glowingly – I kind of love this part of the book – about the Bush family, specifically George H.W. Bush. Your family goes way back. But you even have some nice things to say about his son, George W. Bush, which might surprise people who read the book because you were a strong opponent of the Iraq War,” Psaki asked Pelosi in an interview that aired Sunday. NANCY PELOSI WIELDS BIBLE, QUOTES BUSH, OBAMA IN RESPONSE TO TRUMP Pelosi said she first formed a relationship with George H.W. Bush in the late 1980s as the two sparred over policies in China after the Tiananmen Square massacre. PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH TURNS 78 YEARS OLD: A LOOK BACK AT HIS PRESIDENCY, LIFE “I went in there [Congress], started fighting against our policy on China right after Tiananmen Square. I came in ‘87, that happened in ’89. So, I had a disagreement with President George Herbert Walker Bush on that. But we kind of – it was a difference of opinion. It wasn’t an animosity. It was just policy, it wasn’t personal,” Pelosi explained. A friendship soon bloomed between the two before H.W.’s son, George W. Bush, was sworn in as president in 2001. Pelosi also struck up a friendly relationship with the 43rd president despite the pair’s political differences, she said in the interview. PELOSI ADDRESSES WHETHER THERE’S ‘WAY BACK’ TO BIDEN FRIENDSHIP AFTER DEM PRESSURE CAMPAIGN TO DROP OUT “When President George W. Bush was being sworn in, I, as is the custom, go to the … the White House to escort him to the Capitol. And he said, ‘My father and mother will be here.’ And I said, ‘Well, I can’t wait to see him. He’s a sweetheart.’ And he said, ‘Why does everybody say that about him and not about me?’” Pelosi said while smiling about the encounter. She also recounted in the interview that during President George W. Bush’s administration, Pelosi joined a Christmas gathering at the White House where H.W. Bush came up to her and chit-chatted about family, before he quipped, “Madam Speaker, give my kid a break.” “Such a great story,” Psaki responded while laughing about the exchange. “I mean, every parent can relate to that.” Pelosi released her book, “The Art of Power,” this month, which repeatedly cites the Bush family and her “warm relationship” with H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush. PELOSI ADMITS BIDEN CAMPAIGN WASN’T ON ‘PATH TO VICTORY,’ DENIES SHE PRESSED HIM TO LEAVE RACE PELOSI DEMURS ON IF ‘EVERYTHING IS OK’ BETWEEN HER AND BIDEN: ‘YOU’D HAVE TO ASK HIM’ Pelosi’s interview comes after the 2024 presidential election took a turn last month, when Biden dropped out of the race after mounting concerns over his mental acuity. Amid the speculation that Biden would drop out, the Associated Press reported that leaders within the Democratic Party, such as former President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Pelosi, were reportedly working in the background to encourage Biden to drop out due to concerns he could not defeat former President Trump. Pelosi has denied speculation that she helped lead a coup to pressure Biden to exit the race, but she revealed this month that she has not spoken to Biden since he dropped out of the race. CNN PANEL REACTS TO PELOSI REVEALING SHE, BIDEN HAVEN’T SPOKEN SINCE HE DROPPED OUT: ‘SHE’S IN CHARGE’ “Is everything OK with your relationship?” CNN’s Dana Bash asked Pelosi during an interview this month. “You’d have to ask him,” Pelosi answered. “But I hope so.” Psaki pressed Pelosi in her interview that aired Sunday whether there is a “way back for your friendship?” “In our family, we have three generations of love for Joe Biden. My husband and I, of course, we’ve known him for a very long time – respect him, love him and Jill. He and Jill are so remarkable and their family. Our kids have always loved them. I had pictures with him from our children growing up and now our grandchildren growing up,” Pelosi responded. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “But the most important thing we have to do is to win the election, just to sustain his legacy, and to have the legacy be to do even more in the presidency and the vice presidency of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Pelosi continued.
Schools to teach how to spot fake news, misinformation after UK riots
Schools in the United Kingdom will begin to teach students how to spot fake news and extremist content in the aftermath of riots that spread across the country last week. Schools across the U.K. will look to revamp their curriculum to help children identify and dismiss extremist content by “embedding” critical thinking lessons in subjects such as English and math, according to a report by The Telegraph. “It’s more important than ever that we give young people the knowledge and skills to be able to challenge what they see online,” Bridget Phillipson, the U.K.’s secretary of state for education and minister for women and equalities, told the Telegraph. UK GOVERNMENT WARNS ‘THINK BEFORE YOU POST’ AMID THREATS TO ARREST CITIZENS FOR OFFENSIVE RHETORIC ON SOCIALS “That’s why our curriculum review will develop plans to embed critical skills in lessons to arm our children against the disinformation, fake news and putrid conspiracy theories awash on social media,” she added. Phillipson said the country would still place “high and rising standards in core subjects,” which she said were “non-negotiable,” but that the new curriculum would widen “access to cultural subjects and give pupils the knowledge and skills they need to thrive at work and throughout life.” The push to revamp U.K. schooling comes after days of riots across the country in response to a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed event, resulting in the deaths of three girls and leaving several others wounded. The murders were allegedly committed by an 18-year-old British citizen who was born to Rwandan immigrants, with the protests tapping into widespread concern about immigration in the country. In response, the government has warned of a crackdown on online content deemed extremist or that could “incite violence.” UK GOVERNMENT ‘SCOURING SOCIAL MEDIA’ TO ARREST PEOPLE FOR SHARING ‘HARMFUL’ RIOT FOOTAGE REGARDLESS OF INTENT “Content that incites violence or hatred isn’t just harmful – it can be illegal,” the U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service said in a post on X on Wednesday. Phillipson argued that the revamped curriculum would help students identify and dismiss that content, stressing that both far-left and far-right views would be highlighted. An example of how U.K. schools could use current classes to introduce their pushback against extremist content would be for English classes to teach students how to break down news articles and the language used as compared to “fake news” examples, the report said. Computer classes could teach students how to identify and avoid unreliable sources of information while being able to spot the difference between websites that offer legitimate journalism and those that contain bias or propaganda. Students could also learn to spot the difference between authentic photographs or those that have been photoshopped or otherwise altered. Meanwhile, math classes would help students better understand how to analyze and put statistics into context, the report notes. The curriculum review will be led by famed U.K. education expert professor Becky Francis, with the goal being for her to report back next year and put a plan in place in time for September 2025.
Minnesota murder stats rose under Walz’s leadership as he tries to tie violent crime trend to Trump: data
Minnesota murder rates have risen under Democratic Gov. Tim Walz leadership as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate attempts to link spiraling crime trends of the 2020 era to the Trump administration. “I just want to set the record straight, because facts do matter and there’s not an alternative set of facts. Violent crime was up during the Trump presidency, and that’s even not counting his crimes,” Walz said at a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday. Walz was named as Harris’ running mate last week, and has since hit the campaign trail to rally support for the newly-formed ticket with less than 100 days until voters head to the polls. His comment on crime sparked critics to call out Minnesota’s violent crime rate under Walz’s leadership, with Fox News contributor Byron York outlining how murders increased in Minnesota after Walz was sworn in as governor. WALZ ACCUSATIONS OF ‘STOLEN VALOR’ PROMPT BATTLE BETWEEN HOUSE VETERANS PELOSI PRAISES “It turns out that rise included an increase in Minnesota. Here are the numbers of murders in Minnesota, starting in 2018, the last year before Walz became governor,” York posted to X. Walz was sworn in as governor in 2019. Data from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety reviewed by Fox News Digital shows that in 2018, the year before Walz took office, the state recorded 104 murders, a figure that increased by more than 12% in 2019, when the state recorded 117 murders. Murders in the state in 2020, when violent crimes spiked nationwide, skyrocketed to 185. In 2021, the state recorded 201 murders, 182 in 2022, and 172 last year. MINNESOTA RIOTS CONTINUED AFTER WALZ TOOK ‘RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE’ THERE WOULDN’T BE CHAOS Data from the state shows that in the four years before Walz took office, from 2015-2018, there was an average of about 113 murders recorded in the state each year, which has increased to 171 murders, according to the yearly average under Walz’s five years as governor. Violent crime rates did spike to historic highs during Trump’s final year in the White House in 2020, which has been attributed to the widespread riots and protests that swept the nation following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day 2020. TIM WALZ’S BLM RIOTS RESPONSE LEFT MINNESOTA HUSBAND, DAD OF 2 ‘DISGUSTED’: ‘CAN’T BELIEVE’ PEOPLE SUPPORT HIM FBI crime data reviewed by Fox News Digital shows that homicides in 2017, Trump’s first year in office, slightly dipped nationally from 15,320 in 2016 to 15,312 in 2017. The data shows violent crime again dipped in 2018, at 14,604 homicides, and again in 2019 to 14,678, before skyrocketing in 2020 amid the riots to 18,965 homicides. All in, the violent crime spike of 2020 saw murders increase by nearly 30% compared to the year prior, according to FBI data. It marked the largest single-year increase in killings since the agency began tracking the crimes. TRUMP PRAISED WALZ’S GEORGE FLOYD RIOT RESPONSE IN 2020, AUDIO SHOWS: ‘VERY HAPPY’ Experts who have previously spoken to Fox News Digital pointed to an array of variables that contributed to the increases of 2020 and the years following, including: anti-police rhetoric voiced by Black Lives Matter and defund the police proponents, the pandemic, a culture of lawlessness promoted by liberal district attorneys, and the “Ferguson effect” – when police pull back during high-profile and violent crime trends. Minneapolis was the epicenter of the 2020 riots, where Floyd, a Black man, died at the hands of a White officer during a police encounter in the city. Floyd’s death was followed by social justice protests and riots across the nation, which came at a time when COVID-19 cases and government-mandated lockdown measures meant to control the pandemic upended society in unprecedented ways ahead of the 2020 election. More than 1,500 buildings in Minneapolis alone were damaged or destroyed due to the riots, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. WALZ SLAMMED FOR ‘HESITATING’ TO SEND IN GUARD AS HIS DAUGHTER TIPPED OFF RIOTERS VIA SOCIAL MEDIA The newly formed Harris-Walz ticket, which secured the Democratic nomination following President Biden dropping out of the race as concerns mounted surrounding his mental acuity, has focused its attention on Harris’ background as a California prosecutor when laying out its crime platform, most notably attacking Trump and his court battles. “As a tough prosecutor, Kamala Harris dealt with men like Trump all the time: Rapists, con men, frauds, criminals – she’s used to guys like Trump, used to putting them in their place,” a narrator for a recent pro-Harris ad says. Meanwhile, Trump has slammed left-wing led cities nationwide that didn’t do more to end the riots of 2020, and vowed to restore law and order across the nation to lower crime rates, including closing the border to illegal immigration. “The cartels will be crushed, crime will plummet, incomes will soar, the wars will end, and the American dream will come roaring back bigger, better and stronger than ever,” Trump said at a rally last week. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Kamala Harris panned for requiring ID to enter Arizona rally after previously painting voter ID laws as racist
Vice President Harris was mocked online for requiring campaign rallygoers to present a government-issued ID upon entry, despite the Democratic presidential nominee opposing voter ID laws. Ahead of Harris’ rally alongside vice presidential running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in Arizona on Friday, her campaign sent out an email advising that only confirmed RSVPs will be admitted. The email said those on the RSVP list must present a matching government-issued photo ID in order to be admitted to the venue, KTAR reported. The exact site of the Phoenix-area campaign event, first announced on July 30, was not revealed until Thursday. The email specified the event would take place at Desert Diamond Arena, located 15 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix, with attendees being admitted Friday between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., according to KTAR. The campaign reportedly said the Arizona Democratic Party would send out “non-transferrable invitations” by email on Thursday afternoon to attend Friday’s event. MINNESOTA GOP DEMANDS PROBE AFTER NONCITIZEN CLAIMS RECEIVING PRIMARY BALLOT WITHOUT REGISTERING TO VOTE X users began sharing screenshots of the email and lambasted Harris for perceived hypocrisy. “Voter ID is racist, but you can’t get into a Kamala rally without ID,” actor Kevin Sorbo wrote to his 2 million followers. “So let me get this straight: Requiring ID to vote is racist… But requiring ID to attend a Kamala Harris ‘rally’ is NOT racist?” Nick Sortor wrote to his more than 448,000 followers. “You need photo ID to get into an invite-only Kamala Harris event, but not to vote?” another user, Ian Haworth, echoed. “Kamala Harris requires photo ID to enter a private campaign event. Kamala Harris doesn’t want to require photo ID to vote. Kamala Harris doesn’t want to require ID before crossing our border. Weird,” political commentator Gunther Eagleman also wrote on X. Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment, but they did not immediately respond. In 2021, Harris gave her first interview as vice president on the topic of changes to voting laws with Soledad O’Brien on BET. “I don’t think that we should underestimate what that could mean,” Harris said about allowing voter ID laws. “Because in some people’s mind that means, well, you’re going to have to Xerox or photocopy your ID to send it in to prove you are who you are. Well, there are a whole lot of people, especially people who live in rural communities, who don’t – there’s no Kinko’s, there’s no Office Max near them. People have to understand that when we’re talking about voter ID laws, be clear about who you have in mind and what would be required of them to prove who they are.” “Of course, people have to prove who they are. But not in a way that makes it almost impossible for them to prove who they are,” Harris added. AG GARLAND PLEDGES TO FIGHT VOTER ID LAWS, ELECTION INTEGRITY MEASURES Not long after then-candidate Joe Biden named Kamala Harris his vice-presidential running mate in August 2020, Harris penned an op-ed in The Washington Post on the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the constitutional right to vote. “That is, unless you were Black. Or Latina. Or Asian. Or Indigenous,” Harris wrote. “And when the 19th Amendment was ratified at last, Black women were again left behind: Poll taxes, literacy tests and other Jim Crow voter suppression tactics effectively prohibited most people of color from voting.” The vice presidential candidate at the time then tried to make a comparison to modern times. Harris accused Republicans of “once again doing everything in their power to suppress and attack the voting rights of people of color.” “They are deploying suppressive voter ID laws, racial gerrymandering, voter roll purges, precinct closures and reduced early-voting days – all of which have been laser-targeted toward communities of color since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013,” she wrote.
Cotton slams Harris as ‘naive’ on Iran, blasts VP for not being tough on Hamas
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., slammed Vice President Harris as “naive” on Iran and blasted the Democratic presidential candidate for not being tough on Hamas. Cotton, who serves on the Senate Intelligence, Armed Services and Judiciary Committees, said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” that Harris’ policy toward Israel over the past 10 months alone is “just an example of how she’s unprepared to be the commander in chief.” “She immediately took at face value Hamas’ claims about the number of people killed and what they were doing,” Cotton said. The death toll in Gaza is reported by the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatant and civilian casualties. “Israel has to strike on occasion at places like hospitals and schools because Hamas uses them for command and control or to fire mortars and rockets,” Cotton said. “There are civilian casualties in Gaza, no doubt, but those are solely the responsibility of Hamas, not Israel. Kamala Harris, like Joe Biden, though, have put more pressure on Israel than they put on Hamas from the very beginning.” The senator also condemned how Harris, who as vice president presides over the Senate, joined the approximately 128 Democratic members of Congress in skipping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to both chambers last month. Harris did have a separate closed-door meeting with Netanyahu at her office on the White House grounds while he was in Washington, D.C. BIDEN SAYING ‘DON’T’ AND OTHER THREATS SEEMINGLY FAIL TO DETER IRAN AS MORE US MIDEAST BASES HIT “She refused to preside over the joint session, her only constitutional duty as president of the Senate, she refused to have a meeting in public with him, and she came out and again blamed Israel for the civilian casualties in Gaza, only emboldening Iran and Iranian-backed terrorists,” Cotton said. “And what did you have two days later, Hezbollah, another Iranian-backed terrorist, shot in rockets to Israel and blew up children playing ball at a playground. “Kamala Harris is naïve, and she’s not prepared to be the commander in chief,” he added. After her private meeting with Netanyahu, Harris did say Israel has every right to defend itself against terrorist factions. “Is that not strong enough for you?” Fox News host Shannon Bream asked Cotton. “Well, she says it all the time like Joe Biden does, and then she immediately says ‘but.’ And usually, Shannon, when a politician says ‘but,’ what matters is what comes after the ‘but,’ not what came before it,” Cotton said. HARRIS VOTERS DEFEND DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE ON ISRAEL-HAMAS CONFLICT: ‘SHE’S MARRIED TO A JEWISH GUY’ “And what comes after the ‘but’ with Kamala Harris is always implying that Israel is responsible for all the civilian suffering in Gaza, not Hamas, that Israel is the one being provocative when it’s waging a defensive war after the October 7 atrocity and that Israel is the one that should pull in its horns, as opposed to supporting Israel and standing strong against Iran and Iranian-backed terrorist throughout the region,” he said. Cotton also ripped Harris over her handling of being interrupted by anti-Israel protesters. “She’s been interrupted twice by pro-Hamas radicals. The first time she accused them of helping Donald Trump get elected. Not telling them they were demented for supporting terrorists, not telling them that the United States stands with Israel, the victim of the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, but that they might help Donald Trump get elected,” Cotton said. “Apparently, though, that was too tough even for her and her campaign because when she was interrupted next, she literally had a script in front of her. She had a piece of paper that she started reading from in which she sympathized with these pro-Hamas radicals. “She said, ‘I hear you. I hear your voice. We need a cease-fire immediately,’” Cotton recalled. “Rather than saying that we need a cease-fire immediately, she should have been saying, like Joe Biden should have said from the beginning, we need an Israeli victory immediately.” CLICK HERE TO FOR THE FOX NEWS APP The senator applauded how Israel has handled the war, “despite the constraints that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have put on them, despite the fact that they’re operating under a significant arms embargo, which Kamala Harris won’t even say that she would worsen if she becomes elected president.” Cotton added that former President Trump understood that “we cannot have peaceful stable relations in the Middle East with daylight between the United States and Israel and our Arab partners.”
Pelosi addresses whether there’s ‘way back’ to Biden friendship after Dem pressure campaign to drop out
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said sustaining President Biden’s legacy is at the top of her to-do list when asked if there’s a “way back” to their friendship after the pair stopped speaking when he dropped out of the 2024 race to retain the Oval Office. “Is there a way back for your friendship?” former Biden administration White House press secretary Jen Psaki asked Pelosi, D-Calif., during a segment of her MSNBC show “Inside with Jen Psaki” that aired Sunday. Pelosi focused her attention on the generational love her family has for Biden and on sustaining the 46th president’s legacy when answering the question. “In our family, we have three generations of love for Joe Biden. My husband and I, of course, we’ve known him for a very long time – respect him, love him and Jill. He and Jill are so remarkable, and their family. Our kids have always loved them. I had pictures with him from our children growing up and now our grandchildren growing up,” she said. PELOSI ADMITS BIDEN CAMPAIGN WASN’T ON ‘PATH TO VICTORY,’ DENIES SHE PRESSED HIM TO LEAVE RACE “But the most important thing we have to do is to win the election, just to sustain his legacy and to have the legacy be to do even more in the presidency and the vice presidency of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Pelosi continued. Biden dropped out of the presidential race last month in a social media message posted to his X account on a Sunday afternoon. He exited the race as pressure from elected Democrats and traditional Democratic allies in the media began calling on the president to pass the mantle to another candidate following his disastrous debate performance against former President Trump in late June. The debate performance opened the floodgates to criticisms that Biden’s mental acuity had slipped. PELOSI DEMURS ON IF ‘EVERYTHING IS OK’ BETWEEN HER AND BIDEN: ‘YOU’D HAVE TO ASK HIM’ Dozens of members of Congress began publicly thanking Biden for his work in the White House and decades in public office while calling on him to pass the torch to another candidate. Biden made the announcement just more than a week after an assassination attempt on Trump’s life during a rally in Pennsylvania and just days after the Republican National Convention wrapped up in Milwaukee, where Trump was certified as the Republican Party’s nominee last month. CNN PANEL REACTS TO PELOSI REVEALING SHE AND BIDEN HAVEN’T SPOKEN SINCE HE DROPPED OUT: ‘SHE’S IN CHARGE’ Amid the speculation that Biden would drop out, the Associated Press reported that leaders within the Democratic Party such as former President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Pelosi were reportedly working in the background to encourage Biden to drop out due to concerns he could not defeat Trump. Pelosi notably publicly suggested before Biden dropped out of the race that the president’s previously adamant resolve to remain in the running was not his final decision. The former speaker of the House has since denied speculation that she helped lead a coup to pressure Biden to exit the race. PRESIDENT BIDEN ADMITS PRESSURE FROM DEMOCRATS CONTRIBUTED TO DECISION TO DROP OUT Pelosi revealed earlier this month that she has not spoken to Biden since he dropped out. “Is everything OK with your relationship?” CNN’s Dana Bash asked Pelosi during an interview this month. “You’d have to ask him,” Pelosi answered. “But I hope so.” Biden admitted in an interview that aired Sunday that pressure from his Democratic colleagues, including name-dropping Pelosi, contributed to his ultimate decision to drop out of the race. “A number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic, you’d be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say – why did – and I thought it’d be a real distraction,” Biden told CBS News’ Bob Costa in an interview that aired Sunday. PELOSI IS WORKING TO UNDERMINE BIDEN’S ATTEMPT TO END DISCUSSION OF HIS CANDIDACY: REPORT “The polls we had showed that it was a neck-and-neck race, it would have been down to the wire,” Biden added. Pelosi continued in her interview with Psaki that she was not impressed with Biden’s campaign and its shot at winning re-election when squaring up against Trump at the polls in November, while praising Biden as a “preeminent” and “consequential” president. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “I wanted the decision to be a better campaign so that we could win. I did not think we were on a path to victory. So that was really more the thing. He made his decision that that would be accomplished by him stepping aside,” she said. Following Biden dropping out of the race, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place. Harris has since secured the Democratic Party’s nomination, and named Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
‘Abundantly clear why…’: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi attacks PM Modi over Hindenburg report
He also asked will the Supreme Court look into this matter suo motu once again.
Minnesota GOP demands probe after noncitizen claims receiving primary ballot without registering to vote
The Minnesota GOP and Republican National Committee are demanding an investigation after a noncitizen came forward claiming he received a primary ballot in the mail without registering to vote. In what was described as “potentially not an isolated incident,” a noncitizen, lawfully present in Minnesota, reported to the state Republican Party that he did not register to vote, or request a ballot, yet is currently on the Minnesota voter roll and received a primary ballot in the mail. The individual claimed he does not know how the ballot was sent and is concerned it may affect residence or future citizenship eligibility. Kevin Cline, election integrity counsel for the Republican National Committee, and David Hann, chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party, brought the matter to the attention of Minnesota Secretary of State Steven Simon in a letter last week, demanding an immediate review of the voter rolls to ensure only eligible citizens are registered and receive ballots, a full investigation, and an immediate remedy. Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who recently became Kamala Harris’ vice presidential running mate, signed into law in March 2023 a bill known as “Drivers Licenses For All,” which allows state residents, regardless of immigration status, to obtain a license. At the time, the governor said there were 81,000 undocumented immigrants in Minnesota, so the law would “increase safety across Minnesota.” HARRIS VP PICK MINNESOTA GOV TIM WALZ LAVISHED ILLEGAL MIGRANTS WITH TAXPAYER-FUNDED ‘BLANKET OF BENEVOLENCE’ “The risk of noncitizens engaging in election activities in Minnesota has never been greater,” Cline and Hann wrote. “Following the passage of HF4-2023, individuals seeking to obtain a Minnesota driver’s license or identification card are no longer required to provide proof of citizenship or lawful presence.” The Republicans cited how county election officials rely on the State Voter Registration System to check the eligibility of voters. “Does the SVRS system have the capability to keep up with the recent changes in Minnesota law in regard to ‘Drivers Licenses For All?’” they asked the Minnesota secretary of state. “Does your office verify the eligibility of people who are automatically registered when a person interacts with state agencies?” WITH 26 DAYS UNTIL VOTING STARTS, ‘ELECTION SEASON’ KICKS OFF SOONER THAN YOU THINK The incident involving the noncitizen reportedly receiving a primary ballot “indicates that the system to ensure noncitizens do not vote in elections in Minnesota may be seriously flawed or that the staff charged with ensuring that only eligible voters are registered to vote were negligent in their duties,” the letter says. “It is our understanding that the rulemaking for automatic voter registration has yet to take place. What steps has your office taken to ensure only American citizens are making it onto the voter rolls?” The letter set a deadline of Monday, Aug. 12, for Simon’s office to provide the RNC and Minnesota Republican Party “with information concerning the protocols and standard operating procedures that your office takes to ensure that noncitizens are not registered to vote, much less receive an unrequested ballot.” The letter also demands Simon’s office “take immediate action to review all voter registrations within the SVRS to ensure that only eligible voters are registered to vote and receive ballots.” “This is a potentially catastrophic failure of the voter registration system,” Cline and Hann wrote. “We demand that you take immediate action to investigate the cause and remedy the situation immediately. Complete transparency in these processes is the only way to ensure the faith in elections that the people of Minnesota deserve.” Fox News Digital reached out to Simon’s and Walz’s offices for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Man handed second-longest prison sentence yet for role in Jan 6 Capitol riot
A California man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, the second-longest sentence yet in hundreds of prosecutions of riot participants. David Nicholas Dempsey pleaded guilty in January to two counts of assaulting police officers with a dangerous weapon, landing him a sentence only surpassed by Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio’s 22-year sentence, according to a report from the Guardian. Prosecutors accused Dempsey of being one of the most violent members of the mob that stormed the Capitol in protest of Congress certifying the 2020 election for President Biden, detailing how the California native stomped the heads of police officers, struck officers with makeshift weapons, including a metal crutch, poles, pepper spray, and broken pieces of furniture. SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF JAN. 6 CAPITOL RIOT PARTICIPANT WHO CHALLENGED OBSTRUCTION CONVICTION He also used other rioters as “human scaffolding,” climbing on top of them to reach officers guarding a tunnel to the building, injuring two of the officers. Dempsey, who worked as a construction and fast-food worker, also attacked a fellow demonstrator who was attempting to disarm him, prosecutors said. “Your conduct on Jan. 6 was exceptionally egregious,” U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth told Dempsey. “You did not get carried away in the moment.” Dempsey apologized for his conduct during the sentencing, telling the judge that his actions were “reprehensible” while also apologizing to the police officers he attacked. “You were performing your duties, and I responded with hostility and violence,” Dempsey said. LEGAL EXPERTS SAY BIDEN ADMIN’S LEGAL THEORY IN JAN 6 PROSECUTION ‘ON THE ROPES’ AFTER SUPREME COURT ARGUMENT Dempsey had a previous conviction for burglary, theft and assault in California after he attacked protesters peacefully demonstrating against former President Trump in October 2019. He served 200 days of jail time for that conviction. Prosecutors sought a 21-year sentence for Dempsey, arguing that he “is political violence personified.” His defense, meanwhile, argued that the government’s sentencing recommendation was “ridiculous” and argued for a sentence of six years and six months. “It makes him a statistic,” his attorney, Amy Collins, said. “It doesn’t consider the person he is, how much he has grown.” Ultimately, the judge sided closer to the prosecution’s preference, settling on 20 years for Dempsey, who has already been in prison since August 2021.