Amal Clooney played key role in ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Hamas leaders
Amal Clooney, wife of actor George Clooney, was among the experts who advised the International Criminal Court (ICC) in seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar over alleged war crimes. The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, asked Clooney, 46, to assist him with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and the Gaza Strip, where Israeli military forces have been operating since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. “I agreed and joined a panel of international legal experts to undertake this task,” Clooney, an attorney, said in a lengthy statement on the Clooney Foundation for Justice website. The ICC determined that it has jurisdiction over crimes allegedly committed by Sinwar, top Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, and military commander Mohammed Deif, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. ICC REQUESTS ARREST WARRANTS FOR NETANYAHU, HAMAS LEADERS OVER ‘WAR CRIMES’ “We unanimously conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including hostage-taking, murder and crimes of sexual violence,” Clooney wrote of the panel’s determination. She cited Israeli war crimes of “starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution and extermination.” BIDEN SLAMS ICC’S ‘OUTRAGEOUS’ REQUEST FOR NETANYAHU ARREST WARRANT “As a human rights lawyer, I will never accept that one child’s life has less value than another’s. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law,” she wrote. “So I support the historic step that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has taken to bring justice to victims of atrocities in Israel and Palestine,” Clooney added. Her husband is a well-known supporter of President Biden. The Biden campaign enlisted George Clooney as well as actress Julia Roberts and former President Obama for a star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles next month. George Clooney will appear in social media posts and digital ads in support of President Biden. Amal Clooney was joined on the panel by legal experts in international humanitarian and criminal law. Two members are former judges at criminal tribunals at The Hague. Meanwhile, Netanyahu called the ICC’s decision the latest example of “what the new antisemitism looks like.” “It is directed against the IDF soldiers, who are fighting with extraordinary heroism against the vile Hamas murderers who attacked us with terrible cruelty on Oct. 7,” Netanyahu said in an English-language statement. “What a travesty of justice! What a disgrace!” he wrote.
Republicans unite to block White House and Schumer backed ‘fake border bill’
Republicans in both chambers of Congress are preparing to band together to block any hope of a Democrat-backed border bill getting to the finish line. In a letter to senators dated Sunday evening, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., revealed his plan to bring an immigration bill to the floor once again after it was rejected primarily by Senate Republicans in February. “We are hopeful this bipartisan proposal will bring serious-minded Republicans back to the table to advance this bipartisan solution for our border,” he wrote. DUELING IVF BILLS TAKE CENTER STAGE AS PARTIES BUTT HEADS ON REPRODUCTIVE TECH REGULATION He noted that he doesn’t expect to get full support from either party, but described the border measure negotiated by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and James Lankford, R-Okla., as “a tough, serious-minded, and – critically, bipartisan – proposal to secure our border.” The White House promptly backed Schumer’s plan, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling on “every senator to put partisan politics aside and vote to secure the border.” BALANCE OF POWER: VULNERABLE DEMS LOOK TO DIFFERENTIATE THEMSELVES FROM UNPOPULAR BIDEN Republicans were quick to push back on the majority leader’s characterization of the bill. “The fake border bill will fail, again, because it does nothing to seriously secure the border – just cement outrageous levels of illegal immigration,” wrote Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Ironically, some Democrats will vote against it, because even pretending to limit illegal immigration is a step too far for them,” he added. The bill failed a test vote in February, by a vote of 49-50, short of the 60 votes needed to proceed. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., slammed Democrats reviving the bill as “political theatre.” “He thinks this vote will make you think Republicans are to blame for Biden’s border crisis,” he wrote on X. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., similarly labeled Schumer’s plan as “kabuki theater.” Republicans were quick to reject the negotiated legislation after hearing some of the elements and seeing the bill text, which many described as weak and even counterproductive. SEN DURBIN DEMANDS JUSTICE ALITO RECUSE FROM TRUMP CASES AFTER FLYING UPSIDE-DOWN US FLAG Lankford, who notably helped craft the bill, denounced last week the then-speculation of Schumer bringing the measure back to the floor. “Listen, if we’re going to solve the border issues, it’s not going to by doing competing messaging bills. If we’re going to solve this, let’s sit down like adults and let’s figure out how we’re going to actually resolve this together,” he said in floor remarks. Lankford was one of only four in his party to vote in favor of moving forward with the negotiated bill in February. It’s unclear if he would support it again. His fellow negotiator, Murphy, has led the charge to reconsider the bill. “Republicans don’t care about fixing the border,” he wrote Monday on X. “They want the border a mess because it helps them politically.” It’s unlikely that the measure will be able to get 60 votes in order to move forward, spelling doom for the bill a second time. But if it were to get past the upper chamber, House Republican leadership made it clear it would be “dead on arrival” in its lower counterpart. AOC RIPS FETTERMAN FOR COMPARING HOUSE TO ‘JERRY SPRINGER’ SHOW: ‘I STAND UP TO BULLIES’ In a statement, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Republican conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said, “Leader Schumer is trying give his vulnerable members cover by bringing a vote on a bill which has already failed once in the Senate because it would actually codify many of the disastrous Biden open border policies that created this crisis in the first place.” They further highlighted several tougher illegal immigration and border bills that have been passed by the Republican-majority House. “If Senate Democrats were actually serious about solving the problem and ending the border catastrophe, they would bring up H.R. 2 and pass it this week,” they said. H.R.2 includes nearly all Republican priorities and has been disregarded by Democratic leaders. Schumer previously remarked that the bill was full of “hard-right border policies” and said it would never be able to pass through Congress.
Cohen’s bombshell admission could lead to hung jury, if not acquittal: expert
Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s admission in court Monday that he stole from the Trump Organization further damaged the disbarred attorney’s credibility, and could lead at the very least to a deadlocked jury that cannot reach a verdict, a legal expert told Fox News Digital. “I think after last week’s cross-examination, Michael Cohen’s credibility as a witness had already pretty much been eviscerated,” Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Zack Smith told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. “If there were any lingering doubts in the minds of any jurors, I suspect today’s testimony was even more damaging.” “It does make you wonder two things: One, did the prosecution not know about this before they put Michael Cohen on the stand? I find that doubtful. But if they didn’t, that’s its own issue. But if they knew about this, and chose to put Michael Cohen on the stand regardless, that in some ways is even more shocking. Because it really it begs the question of what kind of credibility can Michael Cohen be expected to have, given that even he admitted to stealing from the Trump Organization for his own benefit,” Smith continued. Cohen admitted in testimony Monday that he stole $30,000 from the Trump Organization by overstating how much he paid a tech company that provided services for the Trump Organization. Cohen said he told former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg in 2017 that he had paid tech firm Red Finch $50,000 out of his own pocket, and that he still needed to be reimbursed for the payment. NY V TRUMP: MICHAEL COHEN ADMITS TO STEALING TENS OF THOUSANDS FROM FORMER PRESIDENT’S BUSINESS Weisselberg and Cohen in 2017 calculated a $420,000 repayment to Cohen for his $130,000 payment to former pornography star Stormy Daniels, as well as the alleged $50,000 payment to Red Finch. Cohen’s payment to Daniels came ahead of the 2016 election to quiet her claims of an alleged affair with Trump. Cohen said Monday before the court, however, that he only paid Red Finch $20,000 – meaning he pocketed $30,000 when he was reimbursed. “You stole from the Trump Org, right?” Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked Cohen Wednesday morning. “Yes, sir,” Cohen responded. NY V. TRUMP: MICHAEL COHEN TESTIFIES HE’S CONSIDERING CONGRESSIONAL RUN He testified that the Trump Organization thought he paid the full amount, for which he was still reimbursed despite not having actually paid it. “You lied to Weisselberg about how much you needed for Red Finch?” Blanche asked Cohen, with Cohen confirming he had. “Have you paid back the Trump Organization for the money you stole from them?” Blanche also asked. “No, sir,” Cohen responded. Later Monday, Cohen said taking the $30,000 was “almost like self help,” claiming he took the funds because he was “angry” about his bonus getting slashed. TRUMP SLAMS NY COURT SYSTEM, BOASTS HE’S GOING ‘TO WIN’ EMPIRE STATE “I was angry because of the reduction in the bonus and I just felt like it was almost like self help,” Cohen said. “To have my bonus cut by 2/3 was very upsetting to say the least,” he later added. Smith continued in his comment to Fox News Digital that the admission in court could potentially impact the jury’s verdict in the case. “It’s increasingly likely that even if you don’t get an outright acquittal, I think there’s a very good chance you could at least – at least – get a hung jury in this case. And keep in mind, the reason Michael Cohen’s testimony is so pivotal is because Alvin Bragg has to bootstrap what would ordinarily be misdemeanor bookkeeping charges into this felony charge. [He has to] basically show that those bookkeeping offenses were made in the furtherance of, or in an effort to cover up, this other offense, which it looks like is this supposed campaign finance violation,” Smith said. NY V. TRUMP TO RESUME WITH CONTINUED CROSS-EXAMINATION OF MICHAEL COHEN AS TRIAL NEARS CONCLUSION Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in the case. DA Alvin Bragg must prove to the jury that not only did Trump falsify the business records related to payments to Stormy Daniels, but that he did so in furtherance of another crime – conspiracy to promote or prevent election. “If he can’t do that, then the bookkeeping charges themselves would just be misdemeanors, and the statute of limitations has already run on those misdemeanor offenses. And so that’s why Michael Cohen’s testimony is so critical. And I have to tell you, the fact that Alvin Bragg and his team lean so heavily on Michael Cohen, made him become the linchpin of their case in some ways, is absolutely shocking to be perfectly honest.” MICHAEL COHEN ONCE SWORE TRUMP WASN’T INVOLVED IN STORMY DANIELS PAYMENT, HIS EX-ATTORNEY TESTIFIES Smith is joined by fellow legal experts who sounded off Monday that Cohen’s admission to stealing has further torpedoed his credibility. The comments Monday come after Cohen had already repeatedly been labeled a “grifter” and liar by legal experts. Cohen is a disbarred attorney who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 after he pleaded guilty to charges such as campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress. “It was quite a morning to have someone admit to stealing money from his client and then confirm that he wants to run for Congress. It will be a novel campaign: people usually wait to get into Congress before they commit major felonies,” Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley posted on X. “Committing major larceny is not a particularly appealing pitch for taking an office with the power over the purse. Then again, Cohen can claim that Congress cannot possibly corrupt him . . . he was corrupt before he went to Congress.” Amid his testimony Monday, Cohen said he’s mulling a potential congressional run, citing he has the “best name recognition out there.” FLASHBACK: TRUMP-MANHATTAN DA CASE: BOB COSTELLO TESTIFIES TO GRAND JURY, SAYS MICHAEL COHEN IS
Newsom bashes Trump at Vatican climate summit: ‘Open corruption’
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California took a moment in his keynote speech at the Vatican’s Climate Summit last week to jab Donald Trump, accusing the former president of cozying up with big oil companies in what he called “open corruption.” “And with respect and, forgive me, if this comes off a little too harsh. It’s been said and I’ll repeat it: the polluted heart of the climate crisis are these fossil fuel companies that have been lying to us,” Newsom said in his 10-minute speech Thursday. “They’ve been deceiving us. They’ve known the science. They’ve denied the science. They’ve delayed advancement.” “And in peril of further alienating some, I have to call this out as well. I don’t want to talk in the paradigm of a political conscience – I mentioned two Republicans, but let me mention one other,” Newsom continued. “Former President Donald Trump, who just last week, I never thought I’d see this. I’ve heard it, but I’ve never seen it. Donald Trump, just last week, had oil executives convening, talking about his election. And he openly asked them for $1 billion to roll back the environmental progress of the Biden administration, the environmental progress that we’ve made over the course of the last half century. Open corruption.” NEWSOM IGNORING CALIFORNIA CRISES TO PROMOTE HIMSELF IN PRO-ABORTION CAMPAIGN, GOP LAWMAKERS SAY Newsom’s reference was to a meeting the former president reportedly had at Mar-a-Lago with top oil excecutives, the New York Times reported earlier this month, citing two people who were present at the meeting. The Vatican summit, which was spearheaded by Pope Francis in 2022 after he deemed climate change an “ecological sin” caused by human negligence, is organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. According to the academy, so-called climate resilience “requires both cross-disciplinary partnerships among researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs, as well as [transdisciplinary] partnerships between science and community leaders including faith leaders, NGOs, and the public.” “Mayors and Governors form the core of such transdisciplinary partnerships,” it says on its website. During Newsom’s speech, he also hailed California as a leading example in its progressive green energy policies, as the state is investing more than $48 billion in climate change initiatives alone, including $10 billion in zero-emission vehicles and chargers. “California has exceeded its nation-leading environmental goals,” Newsom said. “We’re in the ‘how’ business, and it’s about the power of emulation, proving that we can run the fifth-largest economy, its economic engine, as we change the way we produce and consume energy.” However, the Golden State will fail to meet its climate change mandates unless it nearly triples its rate of reduction of greenhouse gases through 2030, an analysis in March by Beacon Economics, an L.A.-based economic research firm, reported. Newsom’s office dismissed the report at the time to Fox News Digital and said “we’ll continue proving everybody wrong.” OUTSPOKEN PRO-ABORTION GOVERNOR GETS SPEAKING SLOT AT VATICAN SUMMIT Nonetheless, Newsom’s invitation to speak at a prominent Vatican event came as a surprise to many. Newsom, who is Catholic, has touted social progressive policies – often at odds with the Catholic Church’s dogma – in his state since he assumed office in 2019. One of those policies was when the blue-state leader made California the first “sanctuary state” in 2022 for transgender children from more restrictive states seeking sex-change surgeries. Meanwhile, the Vatican also formally reaffirmed and expanded on the Catholic Church’s teaching regarding gender theory – which it holds as an inadmissible ideology – asserting that attempts to alter an individual’s immutable gender are ultimately misguided attempts to play God. But in an interview that aired Sunday, Pope Francis took aim at conservatives opposed to the evolutionary doctrines of the Catholic Church, saying they held a “suicidal attitude” toward it. VATICAN PREPARING DOCUMENT ON ‘IMMORAL TENDENCIES’: GENDER THEORY, SURROGACY, AND MORE Francis was asked about his controversial comments about LGBTQ individuals and the Vatican’s endorsement of blessings for individuals in same-sex relationships during the “60 Minutes” interview that aired on Sunday. Host Norah O’Donnell asked him if he had a message for conservative bishops in the U.S. who’ve criticized his “efforts to revisit teachings and traditions” in the church. “You used an adjective, ‘conservative.’ That is, conservative is one who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that,” Francis said. “It is a suicidal attitude. Because one thing is to take tradition into account, to consider situations from the past, but quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box.” Fox News Digital’s Kristine Parks contributed to this report.
NY v. Trump: Michael Cohen testifies he’s considering congressional run
Former President Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen is mulling a run for Congress. The admission came on the witness stand Monday in what is Cohen’s fourth day of testimony in the NY v. Trump case. Cohen told the court that he would pursue congressional office because he has the “best name recognition out there.” He did not elaborate if he would run in New York, or if he would run as a Republican or Democrat. Trump attorney Todd Blanche pressed Cohen if his name recognition is due to Trump, sparking Cohen to explain that his well-known name is partly due to his work for Trump, but is not because of Trump. NY V TRUMP: MICHAEL COHEN ADMITS TO STEALING TENS OF THOUSANDS FROM FORMER PRESIDENT’S BUSINESS “My name recognition is because of the journey I have been on,” Cohen said. His testimony in Manhattan court came amid him also saying that he worked on pitching a TV show about himself, called “The Fixer,” but that it has not yet been picked up by a network. Cohen has previously floated a potential congressional run, including earlier this month on his TikTok account when he said he would run as a Democrat, the Washington Post reported. TRUMP SLAMS NY COURT SYSTEM, BOASTS HE’S GOING ‘TO WIN’ EMPIRE STATE “I am interested and there’s a multitude of folks encouraging me to run,” Cohen said of a potential congressional run last year in comments to Semafor. He also previously ran as a Republican for New York City Council in the early 2000s, Spectrum News previously reported. A Democrat defeated Cohen in his quest for the seat. Cohen is a disbarred attorney who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 after he pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress. Cohen’s testimony in the NY v. Trump case included him detailing last week that he also lied under oath to Judge William H. Pauley, who sentenced him to three years in prison. NY V. TRUMP TO RESUME WITH CONTINUED CROSS-EXAMINATION OF MICHAEL COHEN AS TRIAL NEARS CONCLUSION Cohen has been slammed as a “grifter” by some critics and legal experts. Last week, a lawyer who formerly advised Cohen, Robert Costello, testified before Congress that Cohen is a serial liar. NY V TRUMP: AS ‘STAR WITNESS’ MICHAEL COHEN TESTIFIES, TRUMP ALLIES FLOCK TO COURT TO ‘SUPPORT THEIR FRIEND’ NY v. Trump focuses on the prosecution team trying to prove Trump falsified business records 34 times to conceal a $130,000 payment to former pornography star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to quiet her claims of an affair with Trump. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case and has repeatedly denied any affair with Daniels. BIDEN MOCKED FOR APPARENT SMALL SHOWING OF SUPPORTERS IN DEM CITY: ‘NOBODY CARED’ Trump briefly addressed the media on Monday morning, when court started nearly an hour earlier than its typical 9:30 a.m. start time, when he slammed the case as one promoted by the Biden administration and Department of Justice ahead of the 2024 election, and lamented that the trial has kept him from the campaign trail. “It’s an attack on [President Biden’s] political opponent. That’s all it is. All of the things you saw over the last four weeks, most of it should have never even been brought up. And then on top of that, there’s no crime. And we go on day after day. And I have to tell Iowa, ‘I’m sorry, I won’t be able to make it.’ I tell New Hampshire, ‘Sorry, I won’t be able to make it. I’m sitting in an ice box all day,’” he said.
Netanyahu arrest warrant called ‘gift to terrorists’ as pro-Israel lawmakers vow revenge
A top House Republican leader is accusing the International Criminal Court (ICC) of equating Israel’s democratically elected government with terror group Hamas after its chief prosecutor petitioned for arrest warrants against top officials in both. “The ICC’s decision to equate Israel with Hamas as a war criminal is a gift to terrorists around the globe and a slap in the face to the only free-standing democracy in the Middle East,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 House GOP lawmaker, told Fox News Digital. “There is no comparison between the deliberate killing, raping, and torturing of thousands of innocent civilians and those who are rightfully defending themselves against it.” He’s one of several pro-Israel lawmakers who have called for the ICC to face consequences over the developments. Others are calling for the U.S. to take action directly against the international judicial body. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Monday morning that he believes there are “reasonable grounds” to accuse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in the Gaza strip. ICC REQUESTS ARREST WARRANTS FOR NETANYAHU, HAMAS LEADERS OVER ‘WAR CRIMES’ Among the charges Khan listed are the intentional targeting of civilians and “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.” He’s also seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, top Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, the head of Hamas’s military wing – known as the Al-Qassam Brigades – over the Palestinian liberation group’s Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack in Israel. It’s prompted a flurry of outrage from Israel’s defenders in Washington, many of whom pointed out that Israel, like the U.S., is not under ICC jurisdiction. The Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank, however, joined in 2015. STEFANIK DEFENDS SPEECH AT ISRAEL’S KNESSET RIPPING BIDEN, DEMOCRATS Emmer went a step further in his condemnation on Monday, declaring, “It’s time for the rest of the world to defend and refuse to recognize any legitimacy from a pro-terrorist international court.” Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., suggested ICC officials should be banned from setting foot in the U.S. “There is no legal or legislative basis for these charges,” he told Fox News Digital, vowing that Congressional Republicans “will push to end American support for the ICC and bar their officials from entering our country.” Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., called the ICC a “kangaroo court” and urged President Biden to stand up against the Israel arrest warrants. “The ICC is a sham kangaroo court that’s drawing a moral equivalency between our ally Israel and the Hamas terrorists who are currently holding U.S. citizens hostage. This is why I co-sponsored legislation to sanction the ICC if it goes after Americans and our allies,” he told Fox News Digital. House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who was in Israel meeting with Netanyahu when the news first broke Monday, is also urging Congress to mount a legislative response. She said her bill would “punish those in the ICC that made this baseless, undemocratic decision.” NETANYAHU RIVAL THREATENS TO QUIT WAR CABINET OVER GAZA STRATEGY On the other side of Capitol Hill, pro-Israel hawks in the Senate are equally furious. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant are “politically motivated” and warned, “My colleagues and I look forward to making sure neither Khan, his associates nor their families will ever set foot again in the United States.” The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said in a statement, “Today’s actions have hurt the credibility of the court and seriously harmed legitimate accountability efforts where true war crimes are occurring, like Ukraine, Syria, and across Africa.” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., accused Khan of lying about his intentions. He said in a statement, “Prosecutor Khan’s team was supposed to be in Israel today to arrange a meeting for next week with the prosecutor’s office about the allegations. I was told by ICC staff that the investigation would likely take months and not weeks, and that there would be meaningful consultation with the State of Israel. Instead of the ICC following through with scheduled consultations with Israel, they announced the warrants.” Even Democrats up to the White House condemned the move – President Biden slammed the ICC’s warrants against Israel as “outrageous.” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Requesting arrest warrants for both Israel and Hamas leaders suggests there is a moral equivalence between them—there is none and it’s disgusting to suggest otherwise. The ICC’s credibility is now in shambles and they have only themselves to thank.”
ED seeks FCRA probe in Rs 7 crore foreign funding, AAP calls it BJP’s new conspiracy
The Enforcement Directorate has written to the Union Home Ministry alleging the Aam Aadmi Party, which rules Delhi and Punjab, has received more than Rs 7 crore foreign funds in contravention of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), official sources said Monday.
Biden slams ICC’s ‘outrageous’ request for Netanyahu arrest warrant
President Biden is condemning the International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) decision to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as “outrageous.” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced earlier Monday that his office has “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leaders have committed “war crimes and crimes against humanity” since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7. “The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous,” Biden said in a statement issued Monday afternoon. “And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas,” Biden added. “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” the president continued. ICC REQUESTS ARREST WARRANTS FOR NETANYAHU, HAMAS LEADERS OVER ‘ WAR CRIMES’ Secretary of State Antony Blinken also took aim at the ICC’s announcement, saying in a separate statement Monday that the State Department rejects the “[p]rosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas,” calling it “shameful.” “The United States has been clear since well before the current conflict that that ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter. The ICC was established by its state parties as a court of limited jurisdiction. Those limits are rooted in principles of complementarity, which do not appear to have been applied here amid the Prosecutor’s rush to seek these arrest warrants rather than allowing the Israeli legal system a full and timely opportunity to proceed,” Blinken argued. DEMOCRATS DIVIDED OVER ICC PROSECUTOR SEEKING ARREST WARRANTS Blinken noted that in other matters, “the Prosecutor deferred to national investigations and worked with states to allow them time to investigate” and “did not afford the same opportunity to Israel, which has ongoing investigations into allegations against its personnel.” “There are also deeply troubling process questions. Despite not being a member of the court, Israel was prepared to cooperate with the Prosecutor. In fact, the Prosecutor himself was scheduled to visit Israel as early as next week to discuss the investigation and hear from the Israeli Government,” Blinken continued. “The Prosecutor’s staff was supposed to land in Israel today to coordinate the visit. Israel was informed that they did not board their flight around the same time that the Prosecutor went on cable television to announce the charges. These and other circumstances call into question the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation.” The decision also “does nothing to help, and could jeopardize, ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement that would get hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in, which are the goals the United States continues to pursue relentlessly,” Blinken said.
GOP Senate candidate in crucial state rips Schumer’s immigration push after border trip: ‘Height of cynicism’
Pennsylvania may be 1,600 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, but the GOP candidate aiming to flip the crucial Northeast battleground state’s Democratic-held Senate seat from blue to red this fall is spotlighting the combustible issues of border security and immigration. Republican Dave McCormick claims that a new move by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the chamber, to vote this week on a standalone border policy bill is “the height of cynicism.” McCormick is challenging longtime Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. in a high-profile and expensive Senate showdown that is one of a handful across the country that will likely decide whether the GOP wins back the Senate majority. The GOP Senate nominee, a West Point graduate, Gulf War combat veteran, and former hedge fund executive and Treasury Department official in George W. Bush’s administration, spent the weekend touring the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. IT’S GAME ON IN THIS BATTLEGROUND STATE’S CRUCIAL SENATE RACE McCormick, in an interview Monday morning on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” took aim at President Biden, charging that the situation at the southern border is “a leadership failure that you just can’t believe.” “I’m on the border at 2 a.m. and about 50 illegal migrants walk across the border. In that group that I saw there’s five or six military-aged men from Syria and there’s a handful of Chinese nationals, just when I was there at 2 in the morning,” McCormick recollected. McCormick argued that it’s “a killer on two levels… the cartels are not just in the drug business, they’re in the human trafficking business.” REPUBLICANS CLAIM CASEY’S SHIFTED HIS STANCE ON BORDER CRISIS Illegal immigration and border security have long been top of mind for Republican voters, and GOP leaders for over three years have heavily criticized Biden and his administration over the surge in migrant crossings, as well as the smuggling of deadly fentanyl, across the border. The president’s approval rating on handling the border and immigration remains deeply underwater. The issue is front and center not only in the rematch between Biden and former President Trump, but it’s also in the spotlight in this year’s battle for the Senate majority. McCormick returned to Pennsylvania from his trip to the border on Sunday, as Schumer in a letter to fellow senators wrote, “We are hopeful this bipartisan proposal will bring serious-minded Republicans back to the table to advance this bipartisan solution for our border.” The bipartisan border security bill was negotiated by Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. The measure went down to defeat earlier this year when most Republicans withdrew their support at the urging of Trump, in an apparent move to prevent Biden from securing a victory on the key campaign issue. The bill is not expected to pass this time around, with most Republicans, including Lankford, still opposed, as well as a handful of far-left Democrats. The vote appears to be an election-year move by Schumer to paint Republicans as putting campaign politics over policy and unwilling to solve the border crisis. And House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said if the bill reaches his chamber, it would once again be “dead on arrival.” SCHUMER SAYS SENATE TO VOTE ON BORDER SECURITY BILL THIS WEEK McCormick argued that the move by Schumer is “the height of cynicism.” And he claimed that “the bipartisan legislation that was put forward is in fact essentially giving resources to accelerate the processing of the asylum cases, not to secure the border. And so that’s why I oppose it.” “Right now, Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey are working to accelerate the resettling of illegal immigrants into our communities, not to secure the border,” McCormick charged. But Democrats counter that the Border Act would not only reform U.S. asylum laws – by making modifications to parole and asylum provisions – but also lead to the hiring of thousands of border agents. McCormick, who has repeatedly highlighted border security and immigration as he runs a second straight time for the Senate, claimed, “If Joe Biden and Bob Casey really wanted to do something about the border, they would have done something years ago…. Democrats don’t want to deal with it until it becomes a political challenge, which is where we are now.” Casey has been a leading voice among Senate Democrats in recent months in urging more action from the White House to deal with the immigration and fentanyl crisis at the southern border. “In order to meaningfully address the fentanyl crisis, law enforcement officers at our Nation’s borders must be equipped to combat the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs,” Casey and 16 of his Senate colleagues wrote earlier this year in a letter to Biden. “We must also support the law enforcement agencies that are investigating these smuggling and trafficking crimes and working to disrupt the transnational criminal networks that threaten our country and our communities.” But the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, pointing to Casey’s voting record in the Senate, has argued that he pushed certain immigration fixes during election years and voted against them in off years – a characterization Casey’s office disputes. In a statement earlier this year to Fox News Digital, Maddy McDaniel, communications director for Bob Casey for Senate, said, “Casey has a long record of working to strengthen border security and passing bipartisan legislation to combat fentanyl smuggling across the border.” McDaniel also charged that “McCormick refused to support a bipartisan bill that was called the ‘toughest border and immigration law in modern history,’ was supported by border patrol and would have cracked down on fentanyl trafficking – that’s why Pennsylvanians know McCormick can’t be trusted.” Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Louisiana governor poised to sign stringent transgender bathroom bill
The Louisiana House and Senate became the latest state legislature to pass a bill aimed at transgender restroom policies, as it approved HB 608 on Friday and sent it to Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s desk. The bill, dubbed the “Women’s Safety and Protection Act,” aimed to codify the meanings of “sex,” “male” and “female” in state law, while mandating what sponsors described as protection of women who may be targeted by biological males who elect to use female facilities, including restrooms, prisons and dormitories. “The legislature finds and declares that physical differences between men and women, however, are enduring, the two sexes are not fungible; a community made up exclusively of one [sex] is different from a community composed of both,” an excerpt of the bill’s text read. Proponents also wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court recognized through U.S. v. Virginia that there are inherent differences between men and women, and that they remain “cause for celebration, but not for denigration of the members of either sex.” The bill also cites the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. PARENT OF VA ASSAULT VICTIM SPEAKS OUT AFTER YOUNGKIN PARDON While Landry’s office did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment, while serving as the state’s attorney general in 2016, Landry pushed back hard against then-President Obama’s scholastic bathroom-related Title IX interpretation. “Let me be perfectly clear. President Obama and his appointees do not have legal authority to require our children to share locker rooms and bathrooms with children of the opposite sex,” Landry said at the time, WBRZ reported. Before the bill hit the House floor in Baton Rouge in April, LGBTQ+ advocates criticized it as one of the most restrictive draft policies in the U.S., while claiming it could increase the vulnerability of the transgender community. Around the same time, Louisiana’s top state education official instructed schools in the Pelican State to ignore Biden administration changes to federal Title IX protections on the gender identity front, according to The Hill. DESANTIS ACCUSES REPORTER OF PEDDLING ‘FALSE NARRATIVE’ ON EDUCATION BILL IN HEATED PRESS CONFERENCE CLASH Louisiana Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley wrote in a letter to school officials that the federal adjustment conflicts with established state law instructing student-athletes to compete on teams determined by their biological sex. Brumley and Landry launched a lawsuit against the Biden administration on that front in late April. During a press conference, Landry said he wished he could identify as legendary NBA center Shaquille O’Neal in order to try out for Louisiana State University’s basketball team but would be “laughed off the court,” according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP On April 11, the bill originally passed the State House 80-17 after being drafted by State Rep. Roger Wilder III of Denham Springs. The likelihood of the bill becoming law illustrates the major shift felt in Louisiana as, in January, the Republican Landry succeeded former Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who vetoed three related bills in 2023. Among the bills Bel Edwards had vetoed included a “pronoun restriction bill,” transgender surgery restrictions, and a version of a policy forwarded in Florida by Gov. Ron DeSantis that critics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. Bel Edwards had been the only Democratic governor in the heavily-Republican Deep South, with the next closest geographically being North Carolina’s Roy Cooper. In a veto message at the time, Bel Edwards called the trio of GOP-led bills harmful to “a very small minority, who happen to be comprised of the most vulnerable, fragile, children in our state.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.