Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Author:

Biden expects Iran to attack Israel ‘sooner than later’

Biden expects Iran to attack Israel ‘sooner than later’

President Biden said he expects Iran to attack Israel “sooner than later” as tensions continue to heightened between the Middle East powers.  Biden was asked Friday how imminent an is a potential attack on Israel is from Tehran.  “I don’t want to get into secure information, but my expectation [is] sooner than later,” he replied.

House passes FISA renewal without added warrant mandate for US data

House passes FISA renewal without added warrant mandate for US data

A bill to renew a key federal government surveillance tool known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) passed the House of Representatives on Friday about a week before it’s set to expire. But House Freedom Caucus conservatives and their allies have blocked the bill from heading to the Senate – moments after its passage Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., raised a procedural measure to reconsider the vote, which House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, moved to reverse. Now, the House must vote on whether to reconsider passage of Section 702 on Monday, shortening the Senate’s timeline to consider the bill before its expiry on April 19. HOUSE COMMITTEE SETS UP VOTE TO EXPAND SECTION 702 OF FISA FOR 2 YEARS A modified version of the original bill passed a procedural hurdle late on Thursday after a group of 19 conservative privacy hawks sunk the House GOP’s chance at passing it earlier this week. The legislation is aimed at reforming Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to surveil foreigners abroad with suspected terror links without a warrant. Section 702 allows the FBI to collect communications of a narrow list of foreign targets, even if the person on the other end of the suspect’s communications is an American.  The battle over its renewal has put Johnson in a tough spot between privacy and national security hawks within his conference, while he also navigates a razor-thin majority of just two seats. National security hawks and members of the intelligence community have called it a critical tool for preventing another 9/11-style attack. However, critics, including both conservatives and progressives, have been seeking to limit its scope after reported instances of abuse to collect data on Americans. To do that, the House Judiciary Committee backed an amendment that would have required a warrant to query Americans’ data that was collected in the Section 702 system. Opponents of the measure have said it would critically hamper the intelligence community’s ability to quickly detect major threats, and equated it to forcing police to get a warrant before running a license plate during a traffic stop. It was tense in the House chamber on Friday when that amendment – which ultimately failed to pass in a 212 to 212 vote – was being considered. Johnson cast a critical and potentially decisive vote against the amendment. An unusual political scene unfurled as members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus cheered for progressive Squad members voting in favor of the amendment. HOUSE REPUBLICANS BLAST ‘CRY WOLF’ CONSERVATIVES WHO TANKED FISA RENEWAL BILL The Reforming Intelligence and Securing America (RISA) Act is a compromise effort between the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees aimed at narrowing who can access communications collected, and making it a crime to misuse that data. But the conservatives who voted to tank the bill on Wednesday said it did not go far enough to protect Americans’ data. Many were also angry at the exclusion of an amendment by Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, that would have forced the federal government to seek a warrant before buying Americans’ data from third parties.  HOUSE SINKS JOHNSON-BACKED FISA RENEWAL AFTER TRUMP PUSH Opponents of the amendment argued it did not have to do with Section 702 and would have sunk the bill’s chances of passing in the Senate. They were also backed by former President Donald Trump, who pushed back on the RISA bill on Wednesday morning, declaring on Truth Social, “KILL FISA.” House GOP leaders assuaged conservatives’ concerns by promising a standalone vote on Davidson’s amendment, though the timing of that is still unclear. The modified legislation also shrinks the Section 702 reauthorization window from five years to two years.  It would give the opportunity for the next administration, likely a Trump or Biden White House, to reform the tool early in the next presidential term.

Biden had similar legal aid arrangement he slammed Trump over

Biden had similar legal aid arrangement he slammed Trump over

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) covered legal fees for President Biden during the special counsel probe into his possession of classified documents, while his campaign slammed the Republican National Committee for paying former President Trump’s legal bills for his various criminal indictments.  The DNC paid former President Obama lawyer Bob Bauer, who is also married to senior White House adviser Anita Dunn, for “legal services” after it was revealed the attorney had been tapped to handle the president’s classified documents scandal.  TRUMP RAISES MILLIONS IN ATLANTA NEIGHBORHOOD THAT WANTS TO SECEDE FROM THE HIGH-CRIME CITY Over $1.05 million was doled out to Bauer and other lawyers representing Biden during special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation, with payments being made from July 2023 to February 2024, according to Axios, which first reported the story. DNC spokesman Alex Floyd told Fox News Digital in a statement, “There is no comparison – the DNC does not spend a single penny of grassroots donors’ money on legal bills, unlike Donald Trump, who actively solicits legal fees from his supporters and has drawn down every bank account he can get his hands on like a personal piggy bank.” TRUMP GOES OFF-SCRIPT WITH CHICK-FIL-A VISIT WHILE BIDEN FINE DINES WITH CLINTONS News of the DNC’s payments to Biden’s lawyers in the Hur investigation comes as the president’s campaign has hit Trump for using donor money to pay off his legal debts.  HARRIS TO GIVE PREDICTION OF ‘WHAT A SECOND TRUMP TERM LOOKS LIKE’ DURING ARIZONA CAMPAIGN STOP Biden’s campaign recently slammed Trump over a “lack of funding,” questioning if it is good strategy to reach out to “donors to help cover your own personal debts instead of funding your campaign.” Last week, Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, said Biden’s fundraising was in “stark contrast to Trump’s cash-strapped operation that is funneling the limited and billionaire-reliant funds it has to pay off his various legal fees.” Fox News Digital did not immediately receive comments from the Biden campaign or the White House Counsel’s office. “Joe Biden and the Democrats’ entire campaign against President Trump is based upon lies and hypocrisy — they have repeatedly stated they don’t spend money on Biden’s legal bills, while they attack President Trump for having to defend himself from Biden’s witch hunts,” the Trump campaign said in a statement. “Come to find out, the DNC paid millions to cover Biden’s legal bills to a law firm run by the husband of top White House staffer Anita Dunn. Apparently, ’10% for the big guy’ from Hunter wasn’t enough for Crooked Joe to foot his own bill.” As the DNC’s Floyd noted, Trump’s various committees have spent tens of millions on covering legal bills for the former president, and they have further solicited donations by citing the criminal cases he is involved in. Conversely, Biden’s campaign has not used the legal matter involving the president to prompt supporters to donate.  Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Biden campaign: We don’t want the votes of ‘Death to America’ protesters in Michigan

Biden campaign: We don’t want the votes of ‘Death to America’ protesters in Michigan

The Biden campaign said it does not want the votes of those caught on video chanting “Death to America” during a recent anti-Israel rally in the 2024 battleground state of Michigan. A Dearborn crowd was led in chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” by Michigan-based activist Tarek Bazzi during last Friday’s International Al-Quds Day rally.  When asked if the president was still courting those agitators, who typically lean Democrat, Biden campaign spokesperson Charles Lutvak replied, “No.” Bazzi’s remarks were also denounced by the White House. “The White House condemns these abhorrent and antisemitic remarks in the strongest terms,” deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital. “As President Biden has said, America is the greatest nation on Earth and a beacon to the world.” The question whether Biden wants the votes of those same Michigan protesters in November is a pivotal one, given that the state is likely to play a key role in the rematch between Biden and former President Trump. ‘DEATH TO AMERICA,’ ‘DEATH TO ISRAEL’ CHANTS POUR OUT OF MUSLIM PROTESTERS IN MICHIGAN ON LAST DAY OF RAMADAN The campaign initially limited its comments to the chants themselves, largely reciting the White House statement. Biden’s campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt told Fox News Digital that the chants had been “condemned” by the campaign. Lutvak reiterated that the “Biden-Harris campaign denounces these disgusting and antisemitic remarks.” “President Biden knows America is the greatest nation in the world. Full stop,” Lutvak said. The controversy surrounding the Dearborn rally comes amid the city’s emergence as one of the key centers of resistance to Biden’s re-election bid. During last month’s Democratic primary in Michigan, more than 100,000 voters marked “uncommitted” on their ballots instead of supporting Biden as the party’s nominee.  The voter hostility toward Biden is chiefly a result of the administration’s stance on Israel, which is at war with Hamas after the terror group’s Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish State. Though the White House has shown increasingly tepid support for the U.S. ally, many of those opposed to the Israeli offensive remain unsatisfied. For its part, the campaign has worked to ease the tension with voters in Dearborn, a city with the highest per capita Muslim population in the country. Campaign officials met with Arab American and Muslim leaders in the area in January, though that outreach was derided as “dehumanizing” by Democratic Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud. ACTIVIST WHO SPURRED ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ CHANTS CALLED FOR ISRAEL’S ‘ABSOLUTE ANNIHILATION’ IN UNEARTHED VIDEO “This is not a moment for electoral politics,” Hammoud told CNN after the meeting. “Over the course of now, 115 days, Israel murdered more than 26,000 Gazans and displaced over 2 million.  “For us, this is an issue that demands action and not lip service. This is an issue that requires policymakers to come talk about taking a different course of action. This is not a conversation you have with campaign staff.” That meeting was followed by another in February, with the summit this time featuring top Biden administration officials. Again, it did not go well. Democratic State Rep. Abraham Aiyash vowed there would be no further dialogue between the two sides until the administration made “tangible changes” in its policy regarding the conflict in Gaza, according to CBS. “We want to see a permanent cease-fire,” Aiyash told The Associated Press after the meeting. “We want to be able to see restrictions and conditions on any military aid that is sent to Israel. And we want to see the United States take a serious commitment towards rebuilding Gaza.” Biden appeared to address some of those concerns last week when he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that U.S. policy in Gaza could change if the Israeli military did not do more to improve the humanitarian situation of those in the war zone. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters after that call that the U.S. would shift gears “if we don’t see the changes that we need to see.” White House national security communications adviser John Kirby made clear that the administration expected to see results from Israel within “hours and days” of the call. Biden stressed to Netanyahu the need for an “immediate cease-fire,” something the president argued would be “essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians,” a White House readout of the call stated. However, the conversation was likened to “baby steps” by some of those in Dearborn, ABC reported. Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani told the outlet that the community is looking for “giant steps.” DEARBORN MAYOR SAYS BIDEN CAMP’S TRIP TO MICHIGAN WAS ‘DEHUMANIZING,’ PURELY FOR ‘POLITICAL MEANS’ “All they are trying to do is convince us that there is some kind of movement toward where we want,” Siblani said, according to ABC. “But it’s too slow and it’s dragging. It’s more death and casualties that are happening.” The continued tension with voters in Dearborn threatens to become a problem for Biden’s campaign as Michigan’s status as a swing state looms large in November. The last two presidential elections have been tight affairs in the state. Trump won Michigan by under half a percentage point in 2016, while Biden won it by just over three points in 2020. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.