Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Author:

Trump VP short list has new top contender: report

Trump VP short list has new top contender: report

Former President Donald Trump is whittling down his list of potential running mates, and one lawmaker is moving up, according to a report from The New York Times. Sources close to Trump claim Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas is quickly becoming a top contender for the role, according to a Friday report from the outlet. The three sources — who remained unnamed in the report — said Trump values Cotton’s reliability and clear communication of policy. ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR WOULD ‘PROBABLY ALREADY BEEN OVER’ IF TRUMP WERE PRESIDENT, SEN. TOM COTTON SAYS Trump has kept his vice-presidential machinations close to his chest since the beginning of the 2024 campaign, offering a variety of names at different points in time. Cotton has been similarly unwilling to confirm or deny any rumors about his prospects in a hypothetical second Trump administration. “I suspect only Donald Trump knows who is really on his short list,” the senator told Fox News on Monday.  SEN. TOM COTTON TAKES AIM AT STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS He continued, “When we do talk, we talk about what it’s going to take to win this election in November — to elect President Trump to another term in the White House and elect a Republican Congress, so we can begin to repair the damage that Joe Biden’s presidency has inflicted on this country.” Many former foes and rivals of Trump now stand as key vice-presidential hopefuls, including Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio is another name that has been circulated. The campaign recently stated that former primary opponent Nikki Haley, a onetime South Carolina governor and former UN ambassador, is not under consideration. Trump’s final selection will likely not be confirmed until the Republican National Convention in July. Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says she cries after some decisions

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says she cries after some decisions

Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has revealed that she is sometimes brought to tears in her chambers after some decisions have been handed down. Sotomayor, 69, made the revelation during a talk at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute on Friday, where she was given an award. “There are days that I’ve come to my office after an announcement of a case and closed my door and cried,” Sotomayor said.  “There have been those days. And there are likely to be more.”  FORMER MSNBC HOST CALLS ON JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR TO STEP DOWN FROM SUPREME COURT: ‘WHY TAKE THE RISK?’ The justice did not say what cases she was specifically referring to, but the court has made several landmark decisions in recent years that have been viewed as big wins for conservatives, including the landmark 2022 Dobbs abortion decision. The Court struck down New York’s prior concealed carry law in June 2022 that required an individual to prove “proper cause” existed before a license would be issued to carry. Sotomayor’s gloom about future decisions indicates there may be more big wins for conservatives in the coming weeks as the court closes out this term. The Court is expected to rule on former President Donald Trump’s immunity case, along with two abortion cases. The Court is also set to decide whether prosecutors may use a federal obstruction statute to charge rioters involved in the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. “There are moments when I’m deeply, deeply sad,” Sotomayor continued. “There are moments when, yes, even I feel desperation.”  “We all do. But you have to own it, you have to accept it, you have to shed the tears, and then you have to wipe them and get up,” she said. SOTOMAYOR DESCRIBES SENSE OF ‘DESPAIR’ FOLLOWING DOBBS ABORTION RULING Sotomayor’s remarks came at the end of a public chat with Martha Minow, a former dean of Harvard Law School and human rights scholar. The court has firmly shifted to the right in recent years after former President Trump appointed three justices to the court during his one term. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch replaced the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh replaced retiring conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy. Justice Amy Coney Barrett was Trump’s final pick – succeeding left-wing heroine Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg – although President Biden was able to appoint Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Justice Stephen Breyer. Sotomayor, whose parents are Puerto Rican and who is the first Latina to serve on the Supreme Court, urged optimism and a focus on future generations. She was nominated to the court in 2008 by former President Barack Obama and is one of three Democrat-appointed judges on the court alongside Jackson and Justice Elena Kagan. While the court is viewed as having a right-leaning 6-3 majority, all nine justices were in agreement earlier this year in a ruling that the 14th Amendment does not allow states to strip presidential candidates from the ballot, rejecting the state of Colorado’s attempt to keep the former President Trump off their presidential ballot for this year’s election. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP There have been calls in recent months, including in op-eds such as the one published in the Atlantic, that Sotomayor should retire under the Biden administration. The recent push for the justice to resign comes ahead of the presidential election, with left-leaning pundits and academics arguing that President Biden and the Democrat-controlled Senate could approve a candidate before the presidential election.  Sotomayor was born the same year as Brown v. Board of Education. She grew up in a housing project in the Bronx in New York City and was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 8.  She was in the majority that upheld the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) twice.  Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Biden gets GOP ally in Ohio ballot access push: ‘Absurd situation’

Biden gets GOP ally in Ohio ballot access push: ‘Absurd situation’

President Biden is receiving help from Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine as his campaign scrambles to ensure that he gets on the election ballot in the state. DeWine called a rare special General Assembly session for Tuesday demanding Republican state lawmakers help pass a bill ensuring that Biden appears on this year’s ballot.  Ohio requires that each political party certify their choice for presidential candidates at least 90 days before the election. The Democratic Party is hosting an uncharacteristically late national convention this year on August 19, only 75 days ahead of the election. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has repeatedly warned that Biden is on track to miss the state’s deadline for filing as a candidate due to this discrepancy.  BIDEN’S BALLOT ISSUES IN OHIO AREN’T GOING AWAY AS STATE DEMOCRATS RECEIVE ANOTHER URGENT WARNING “The Legislature had [a] session yesterday and again failed to take any action. This is simply unacceptable,” DeWine said Thursday. “Ohio is running out of time to get Joe Biden, the sitting president of the United States, on the ballot this fall. Failing to do so is simply not acceptable. This is a ridiculous — this is an absurd situation.” He continued, “The purpose of this session will be for the General Assembly to pass legislation ensuring that both major presidential candidates will be on the Ohio ballot in November, as well as legislation that would prohibit campaign spending by foreign nationals.” OHIO PURGES ‘NON-CITIZENS’ FROM STATE VOTER ROLLS, CALLS ON BIDEN ADMIN FOR DATA AHEAD OF 2024 ELECTION DeWine has scolded members of his own party for not making earnest efforts to put the president on the ballot. LaRose, a Republican who was a 2024 Senate candidate but lost to Bernie Moreno in the GOP primary, says the Democratic Party has yet to offer a solution that fits with existing law.  “I’ve said from here to Colorado that it’s in the best interest of voters to have a choice in the race for president. I’m also duty-bound to follow the law as Ohio’s chief elections officer,” LaRose said in a statement Tuesday. “As it stands today, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee will not be on the Ohio ballot. That is not my choice. It’s due to a conflict in the law created by the party, and the party has so far offered no legally acceptable remedy,” he continued. LaRose has said that either the state legislature needs to change the law to allow Biden’s certification, or the Democratic Party needs to change its plans. Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens, also a Republican, says lawmakers won’t bail Biden out. Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Senate Republicans renew call for Democrats to consider Laken Riley Act after bill blocked again

Senate Republicans renew call for Democrats to consider Laken Riley Act after bill blocked again

FIRST ON FOX: Senate Republicans are renewing their calls for Democrats to bring forth consideration of the Laken Riley Act – a measure requiring federal immigration authorities to arrest and detain illegal immigrants charged with local theft or burglary – after it was blocked for a second time this week. In a Thursday letter to Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., 11 Senate Republicans, including all GOP members of the Judiciary Committee, urged immediate consideration of the bill and called for Durbin to schedule a mark-up of the bipartisan measure. “As you are aware, during the Biden Administration and due to its policies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reported over 7.8 million encounters with illegal aliens at the southern border. That staggering number of encounters is larger than the individual populations of 37 states and larger than the number of people who live in any city throughout the United States other than New York City,” the Republican senators, led by Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, wrote in the letter. The letter was sent after Britt and Graham requested unanimous consent to pass the measure earlier this week, when Durbin objected and blocked passage of the legislation for a second time in recent months. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT IN LAKEN RILEY’S MURDER INDICTED, ACCUSED OF ‘PEEPING’ ON UGA STAFF MEMBER “The Laken Riley Act is the bipartisan border bill that should’ve been on the Senate floor this week. If this legislation had been the law of the land, Laken Riley would still be alive today,” Britt, a lead co-sponsor of the Senate measure and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, told Fox News Digital. “The United States Senate has a responsibility to help prevent this kind of unimaginable tragedy from happening to more families across America,” she added. “It’s past time for Senate Democrats to stop blocking this commonsense measure and put the safety and wellbeing of Americans first.” Applauding Britt’s “determination” and offering his support for the measure, Graham, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox, “In a blatant violation of the parole statute, the man accused of killing Ms. Riley was let into the U.S. by DHS due to a lack of detention space. Then he went on to commit multiple crimes before being indicted for murdering Ms. Riley.” He added, “It would be shameful for Congress to have learned nothing and fail to take corrective action after this senseless murder. The least Democrats can do is allow committee consideration of the Laken Riley Act. We must change our laws so there are no more cases like Ms. Riley’s.” The measure is named after 22-year-old Laken Riley, a college nursing student who was abducted and killed in February while jogging on the campus of the University of Georgia. Jose Antonio Ibarra, the illegal immigrant from Venezuela charged in the murder, was arrested in New York prior to the murder but was not detained by ICE. Before being charged with felony murder, Ibarra was once arrested in New York for endangering a child, and he was cited in Georgia for misdemeanor shoplifting in October 2023 along with his brother, Diego Ibarra, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. READ THE LETTER – APP USERS, CLICK HERE: In the letter, the Republicans referred to Ibarra as “one of the millions of aliens who have been granted parole by CBP under the leadership of President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas, who have implemented an unprecedented increase in the abuse of the parole authority.” “Under the Trump administration and the Obama administration, grants of parole by Customs and Border Protection at the southern border averaged around less than 6,000 a year. Under President Biden, grants of parole across the Department of Homeland Security have skyrocketed to over 1.3 million a year,” the Republicans noted. LINDSEY GRAHAM SAYS DHS TOLD HIM LAKEN RILEY’S ALLEGED MURDERER WAS PAROLED INTO US ILLEGALLY Pushing for consideration of the bill, the Republicans described Riley’s murder as “a senseless tragedy that was entirely preventable had the Biden Administration enforced federal immigration law as it should.” The Laken Riley Act would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest illegal immigrants who commit theft, burglary, larceny or shoplifting offenses and mandate that those who commit such crimes are detained until they are removed from the United States, so they cannot break the same law or commit further crimes. Additionally, the bill would ensure that states have standing to bring civil actions against federal officials who refuse to enforce immigration law or who violate the law. “This bipartisan bill is a common-sense measure that would help to avoid future tragedies resulting from the failure to enforce and follow immigration law, and we look forward to the Judiciary Committee’s consideration of it,” the Senate Republicans told Durbin in the letter. “The Laken Riley Act is but one of numerous pieces of legislation that Senate Republicans have introduced to better protect the American people from the consequences of the ongoing crisis at the southern border and to stop — not merely manage — the flow of illegal aliens to the southern border and into the United States.” “So far during this Congress, the Judiciary Committee has failed to take meaningful action on any of those bills. We hope that will change in the near future, and we request that you start with the Laken Riley Act,” they added. The Senate measure has 47 co-sponsors – including Montana Democrat Sen. Jon Tester – and was introduced in the Senate by Britt and Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., in March to serve as the Senate companion to H.R. 7511, which was originally introduced in the House by Georgia GOP Rep. Mike Collins. Collins’ measure was passed by a 251-170 vote by the House in March. All 170 no votes were Democrats. However, 37 Democrats joined Republicans to advance the bill. Collins has urged the Senate to take up the legislation immediately to “ensure justice for

Top former California Republican has stark message for Biden as migrants infiltrate upscale beach town

Top former California Republican has stark message for Biden as migrants infiltrate upscale beach town

A former top Republican in California is sending a stark message to President Biden and his fellow Democrats as suspected illegal immigrants continue to infiltrate the area surrounding an upscale beach town nearly 100 miles from the southern border. Scott Baugh, the former minority leader in the California State Assembly who is running to represent the state’s 47th Congressional District, told Fox News Digital in an interview that it was because of Biden and his policies more Americans were now living as if they were on the border’s edge. “You have an open border, which is really an existential threat to this country, with 10 million illegal immigrants coming across the border since Joe Biden was elected,” Baugh said. “We need to stop that, and we need to reverse course and set this country back on the right path.” BIDEN’S ABORTION SCRIPT FLIPPED BY BUSINESSWOMAN’S BOOST TO PRO-LIFE GROUPS The district Baugh hopes to represent encompasses Newport Beach, an upscale town on the Southern California coast where, earlier this month, a group of around two dozen suspected illegal immigrants disembarked from a boat and escaped into the community unimpeded. A viral video of the incident circulated on social media, but Baugh said such occurrences “happen regularly in Orange County,” and have indeed been increasingly happening along California’s southern coast. “It makes even Newport Beach a border city, if you will, because migrants continue to come across, illegal immigrants come across. But this is a direct result of my opponent’s policies, where they give free health care and free benefits to illegal immigrants,” he said, referencing his Democrat opponent, state Sen. Dave Min. TOP KENNEDY STAFFER STEPS DOWN FROM ROLE CITING ‘HATEFUL AND DIVISIVE ATMOSPHERE’ “All they have to do is land on our shore, and they qualify for free health care, free education and free benefits. When you continue to have a magnet that draws people in, that welcomes them in illegally, well, it doesn’t surprise you — it shouldn’t surprise you — that they continue to come,” he said. “We have to stop those policies and stop the incentive for them coming in. And we just simply need to secure our border and have stronger enforcement,” he added. Baugh also lamented California’s soft-on-crime policies, such as Proposition 47, a state ballot initiative passed in 2014 that softened penalties for certain crimes, and those preventing local law enforcement from turning illegal immigrants over to federal immigration authorities. EXPERTS QUESTION RFK JR.’S SUDDEN ‘BIZARRE’ MEDICAL CLAIMS THAT INCLUDE BRAIN WORMS, MERCURY POISONING “These policies are inviting crime. And when you don’t enforce crime, guess what happens. More people commit crime because there’s no consequence,” he said. “It’s just a result of progressive policies where they don’t want to hold people accountable for their illegal actions.” Baugh vowed that, if elected, he would first work to tackle the border crisis and America’s rising debt, which he said was driving the massive levels of inflation seen under the Biden administration.  He added that, in what is expected to be a tight race, undecided voters would ultimately trend his direction because they’re “fed up” with crime, inflation, illegal immigration, failing schools, and want a brighter future. Fox News Digital reached out to Min for comment, who said, “While I’ll actually bring solutions to the table and work across the aisle to address the border crisis in Congress, Scott Baugh’s biggest supporters just tanked the most conservative immigration deal in a generation — a bipartisan, Border Patrol Union-backed agreement that would have funded cutting-edge fentanyl detection at our ports of entry and hired more than 1,500 new border agents and enforcement officers.”  “Baugh has yet to admit the truth: he would have tanked this border deal and stood in the way of our nation’s security interests, just like the rest of his do-nothing party, and voters here in CA-47 will see right through his empty attacks in 2024 just like they did in 2022,” he added. Baugh served as a state assemblyman from 1995-2000, and as the minority leader from 1999-2000. He ran to unseat Democrat Rep. Katie Porter, who currently represents the 47th Congressional District, in 2022, but narrowly lost. Elections analysts rate the race for California’s 47th Congressional District as either “lean Democratic,” “tilt Democratic,” or a “tossup.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Jack Smith asks judge to restrict Trump statements after ‘inflammatory’ remarks about FBI raid

Jack Smith asks judge to restrict Trump statements after ‘inflammatory’ remarks about FBI raid

Special Counsel Jack Smith asked a federal judge Friday to bar former President Donald Trump from characterizing the FBI’s 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago as a threat to him and his family, arguing that the claims put law enforcement agents in danger. In the motion filed to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over the classified documents case in Florida, Smith requested Trump be prohibited from making statements that “pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents participating in the investigation and prosecution of this case.” Trump claimed in a campaign appeal that FBI agents were “locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.” Court documents revealed this week that the FBI used its standard use-of-force policy that prohibits the use of deadly force except when the officer conducting the search has a reasonable belief that the “subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.” “These deceptive and inflammatory claims expose the law enforcement professionals who are involved in this case to unjustified and unacceptable risks,” Smith’s filing reads. The FBI has said such contingencies are routine and that similar language was contained in an operational plan accompanying a subsequent search of President Biden’s properties in Delaware.  NEW REVELATIONS IN FLORIDA DOCUMENTS TRIAL PUT TRUMP ON OFFENSE AGAINST ‘DERANGED’ SPECIAL COUNSEL The Justice Department says the policy is routine and meant to limit, rather than encourage, the use of force during searches. Prosecutors noted that the search of the Florida property was intentionally conducted when Trump and his family were out of state and was coordinated in advance with the U.S. Secret Service. Still, the revelation that the dozens of agents sent to search the home were prepared for potential violence was jarring to Trump’s supporters, who say the two incidents don’t compare since the Justice Department is part of Biden’s own administration. Smith’s filing cites Trump’s claim that the FBI “was authorized to shoot me,” and was “just itching to do the unthinkable.” “They invite the sort of threats and harassment that have occurred when other participants in legal proceedings against Trump have been targeted by his invective,” Smith wrote. “Those risks have the potential to undermine the integrity of the proceedings as well as jeopardize the safety of law enforcement.” GOP SLAMS ‘WEAPONIZATION’ OF DOJ AFTER TRUMP’S MAR-A-LAGO RAIDED BY FBI; DEMS CALL IT ‘ACCOUNTABILITY’ The operational plan was revealed when Trump’s legal team filed a motion asking that documents relating to the raid be made public. Smith says Trump’s attorneys omitted a key word —”only” in their motion earlier this week that prompted Trump to make the FBI accusations. “Although Trump included the warrant and Operations Form as exhibits to his motion, the motion misquoted the Operations Form by omitting the crucial word “only” before “when necessary,” without any ellipsis reflecting the omission. The motion also left out language explaining that deadly force is necessary only “when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.” “Those statements create a grossly misleading impression about the intentions and conduct of federal law enforcement agents — falsely suggesting that they were complicit in a plot to assassinate him — and expose those agents, some of whom will be witnesses at trial, to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment,” prosecutors added. Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said that “repeated attempts to silence President Trump during the presidential campaign are blatant attempts to interfere in the election.” Trump is accused of keeping at his estate classified documents that he took with him after he left the White House in 2021, and then obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them. The FBI agents seized 33 boxes of documents in the raid. The investigation is overseen by Smith, who Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed. Smith has charged Trump with 40 felony counts, including violating the Espionage Act, making false statements to investigators and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Trump has pleaded not guilty, and slammed the case as an “Election Inference Scam” promoted by the Biden administration and “Deranged Jack Smith.” Earlier this month, Trump called for Smith’s arrest after the prosecutors handling the 45th president’s classified documents case admitted seized documents are no longer in their original order and sequence.   Prosecutors admitted in a court filing that “there are some boxes where the order of items within that box is not the same as in the associated scans.” The prosecutors had previously told the court that the documents were “in their original, intact form as seized.”   READ SMITH’S FILING – APP USERS CLICK HERE.  Fox News’ Emma Colton and David Spunt, as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.