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Border Patrol Union slams Biden border visit as ‘too little, too late’ just to ‘try to save himself’

The Border Patrol Union on Monday ridiculed President Biden’s planned visit to the border this week as a cynical ploy to save his presidency at the expense of Americans’ safety.  In a statement received by Fox News Digital, the union said Biden’s planned border visit, three years into his term, “after repeatedly stating there is no crisis is too little, too late.”  The union argued that “there would be no point in visiting the border now” if the president’s assertions that he has done everything he can to secure the border were true.  “But even if he were to put the proper policies in place at this late hour, he’d be doing it only to try to save his Presidency. And self-serving actions when time is winding down should always give Americans pause. Common sense dictates that as a lame duck, he’d revert to his open border policies if re-elected,” the union said.  “Biden is going to the border now solely to try to save himself. Border security should never be about politics, it should always be about the safety and security of this great nation and the American people.” Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for a response.  The union’s statement comes as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will make dueling trips to the U.S-Mexico border this week, as both candidates try to turn the nation’s broken immigration system to their political advantage in an expected campaign rematch this year. GOP AGS PRESS BIDEN ADMIN TO ACT AFTER REPORTS THAT 85,000 MIGRANT CHILDREN ARE MISSING, POSSIBLY TRAFFICKED Biden will travel to Brownsville, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, an area that often sees large numbers of border crossings. He will meet border agents and discuss the need for bipartisan legislation. It would be his second visit to the border as president. He traveled to El Paso in January last year. The trips underscore immigration’s central importance in the 2024 presidential race, for Republicans and increasingly for Democrats, particularly after congressional talks on a deal to rein in illegal immigration collapsed. Biden has blamed Republicans for a collapsed bipartisan border deal after Trump came out in opposition to the plan to tighten asylum restrictions and create daily limits on border crossings, which reached record highs in December.  The Biden administration has been pairing crackdowns at the border with increasing legal pathways for migrants designed to steer people into arriving by plane with sponsors, not illegally on foot to the border. But U.S. policy right now allows for migrants to claim asylum regardless of how they arrive. And the numbers of migrants flowing to the U.S-Mexico border have far outpaced the capacity of an immigration system that has not been substantially updated in decades. 

Sen Hawley urges more compensation for radiation exposure as partial shutdown deadline looms

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., sent a “Dear Colleague” letter Monday ahead of the government funding deadline later this week urging Republicans to reauthorize the federal radiation compensation policy. The policy, known as the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), is on track to expire this spring. It was originally enacted in 1990 to compensate Americans exposed to radiation during the Manhattan Project and Cold War testing. While RECA has compensated many, there are still people awaiting claims, and certain affected groups have been overlooked, Hawley said. “It is our duty to reauthorize and update RECA this spring. I emphasize that this is not a welfare program. It is a matter of basic justice for those the government poisoned,” Hawley wrote in the letter. “We’ve developed the most advanced nuclear weapons on earth, but we cannot forget the working people of this country who were sacrificed for it.” BIDEN CALLS JOHNSON, SCHUMER FOR WHITE HOUSE MEETING AMID CONGRESSIONAL CHAOS STIRRING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN FEARS Hawley, a skeptic of additional funding to Ukraine, added, “If we can send hundreds of billions of dollars in security assistance to foreign nations, we can spend a fraction of that on our own constituents who deserve help.” Studies show that radiation from decades of mining, processing and enriching continues to permeate sites used during World War II and the Cold War. In the 1940s, the U.S. was ramping up its military production to prepare for WWII, which included the government converting farmlands in Weldon Springs, Mo. into the Weldon Spring Chemical Plant. The plant produced a massive amount of TNT and DNT explosives for the war effort. For Hawley, the issue hits close to home. In his home state of Missouri, nuclear waste was reportedly mishandled at one processing site, with leaky barrels left in the open air and contaminating a nearby creek where children have played for years. Hawley says in the letter many of those children have since developed cancer.  CONGRESS LIKELY TO PUNT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN DEADLINES AGAIN, SOURCES SAY “Tens of thousands of other Americans were exposed to radiation ‘downwind’ from over 100 atmospheric tests in western States,” Hawley wrote. “In most cases, nobody was warned of this danger. In others, the government simply lied. Repeatedly.” But this could slow up the legislative process to approve government funding at the end of the week, as the upper chamber scrambles to pass full-year appropriations bills that would fund several federal agencies. The current temporary spending patch, known as a Continuing Resolution (CR), expires Friday and Congress will have to pass legislation by then to avert a partial government shutdown. The Senate has not introduced spending agreements yet for the remaining nine bills.  Hawley’s office told Fox News Digital it will seek to attach the RECA reauthorization to any legislative proposal that is likely to get signed into law.  EXCLUSIVE: SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER JOHN THUNE ENDORSES TRUMP IN 2024 REPUBLICAN PRIMARY This isn’t the first time Hawley has tried to increase RECA’s reauthorization chances by attaching it to any legislative vehicle that has a chance of passing. Last year, the Senate initially amended the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to include Hawley’s RECA amendment, but it was later removed right before the package passed. Hawley’s office has speculated it was removed due to cost.  Last year, some Republicans opposed a similar bill by Hawley that included RECA, arguing it would cost $100 billion over the course of a decade. Hawley proceeded to revise that portion of the bill and slashed the multi-billion dollar price tag, but his colleagues were still not convinced.  House Speaker Mike Johnson has opposed the proposal to reauthorize RECA, citing a commitment to shrink the federal deficit.  Fox News’ Lawrence Richard contributed to this report. 

White House claimed border was ‘secure’ days after Georgia student murder suspect entered US illegally

The Biden White House claimed the border was secure, the federal government had a process for processing migrants and that deportations were unreasonable shortly after the suspect in last week’s brutal University of Georgia murder entered the country illegally in September 2022. President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre all lauded the administration’s work to secure the southern border and handle migrant flows at the time. Their comments, though, have taken on a new meaning after it was revealed Jose Antonio Ibarra, the suspect charged with murdering former University of Georgia student Laken Riley, crossed into the United States illegally on Sept. 8, 2022, after traveling from Venezuela. “We have a secure border in that, that is a priority for any nation including ours and our administration,” Harris remarked during an interview with NBC News on Sept. 12, 2022, four days after Ibarra crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. Harris added that issues related to immigration remained, such as the need for a “pathway for citizenship.” AP REPORT ON LAKEN RILEY MURDER OMITS SUSPECT’S IMMIGRATION STATUS, FOCUSES ON DANGERS OF WOMEN JOGGING ALONE One day after Harris’ comments, Jean-Pierre reiterated during a press briefing that the border was secure. “As far as the border, we’re taking unprecedented action,” she told reporters. “We had to fix something that was broken, especially by the last administration. We’ve secured record levels — this is what we have been able to do — of funding for the Department of Homeland Security.” And, during a press briefing two days later on Sept. 15, 2022, Jean-Pierre reiterated that the Biden administration had taken “unprecedented action” to secure the border and “rebuild a safer and orderly process system.” She further boasted that border agents had made 3,000 arrests related to human trafficking enforcement. TRUMP BLAMES ‘BIDEN’S BORDER INVASION’ FOR LAKEN RILEY MURDER, VOWS ‘LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION’ IF ELECTED Later that same day, the president repeated Jean-Pierre’s comments in remarks at the annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala. Biden also blasted Republicans for “playing politics” in reference to governors sending busloads of illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities. “I’m proud that the Obama-Biden administration stood up for DREAMers,” Biden said. “My predecessor tried to end DACA, but the Biden-Harris administration is working to preserve it and fortify it. And with Secretary Mayorkas’s leadership, we’re committed to fixing the immigration system.” “Instead of working with us on solutions, Republicans are playing politics with human beings, using them as props. What they’re doing is simply wrong. It’s un-American. It’s reckless,” he added. “And we have a process in place to manage migrants at the border. We’re working to make sure it’s safe and orderly and humane.” LAKEN RILEY CASE: GEORGIA AUTHORITIES IDENTIFY MURDER SUSPECT IN CUSTODY IN NURSING STUDENT’S SLAYING Then, on Sept. 20, after a reporter asked Biden why the border had become overwhelmed during his presidency, he said more migrants are coming from certain countries including Venezuela, where Ibarra traveled from weeks earlier. The president then quickly ruled out deportations. “What’s on my watch now is Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. And the ability to send them back to those states is not rational,” he commented. “You could send them back and have them — we’re working with Mexico and other countries to see if we can stop the flow. But that’s the difference.” The comments from Biden, Harris and Jean-Pierre came amid a surge in illegal immigration that began shortly after Biden entered office in early 2021.  In September 2022, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported 227,547, up 18% year-over-year. The figure represented a far higher number than those reported during the Trump administration, when agents generally reported less than 58,000 encounters in the month of September. Then-CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus noted at the time that the figure was driven higher by migrants traveling to the U.S. from Venezuela. LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT JOSE IBARRA LIVED WITHIN 5-MINUTE WALK OF UGA CRIME SCENE Meanwhile, on Sunday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Ibarra entered the U.S. illegally in September 2022. In a statement to Fox News Digital, ICE confirmed he had been encountered by CBP after entering near El Paso, Texas, and was “paroled and released for further processing.” ICE also confirmed that Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Department a year later, on Sept. 14, 2023, and “charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation.” Police in Georgia accused Ibarra of murdering Riley, a 22-year-old UGA nursing student, and charged him with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another, authorities said on Friday. Riley, a nursing student at the neighboring Augusta University was found dead Thursday after she left her dormitory to go on a run. “We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Laken Hope Riley,” a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “People should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law if they are found to be guilty. Given this is an active case, we would have to refer you to state law enforcement and ICE.” The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment about its comments regarding the border being secure in September 2022.

Eric Swalwell appears to have dropped large amounts of campaign cash on Super Bowl tickets

California Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell appears to have doled out large amounts of campaign cash into Super Bowl tickets and other items at the stadium for the big game, according to FEC records reviewed by Fox News Digital. Swalwell posted an Instagram story showing him at the Super Bowl on Feb. 11 dressed in San Francisco 49ers attire, leading to questions about how he landed the tickets, given he has reported massive debts in his past financial disclosure reports. His committee’s pre-primary filing to the Federal Election Commission, which covers its donations and expenditures from January through mid-February, shows the campaign on Feb. 6 spent nearly $22,000 in donor funds on “event tickets” with the Forty Niners Football Company, LLC, or the San Francisco 49ers, as a fundraising expense. ERIC SWALWELL CALLS OUT SOFT-ON-CRIME PROSECUTORS FOR LETTING ‘DANGEROUS PEOPLE THREATEN OUR KIDS’ Swalwell’s filings also show a $962 reimbursement for tickets to 49ers co-owner Gideon Yu on Feb. 8 and expenditures of more than $100 at Allegiant Stadium, where the 49ers played the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.  Another major expense was $30,900 to the “Las Vegas Raiders,” the NFL team that plays at Allegiant Stadium. The filing said the expense was for “Event Tickets for Fundraising Event.” The filing also shows the campaign spending nearly $3,000 for “food and beverages” at Alexxa’s Las Vegas, a restaurant and bar “located at the heart of the last Vegas Strip.” His campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the expenditures, which were first reported by the Washington Free Beacon. The California Democrat’s campaign has spent significant money on high-end items and luxury accommodations for some time.  Before what appears to be the Super Bowl purchase, his campaign spent $1,560 on Dec. 4 on “Fundraising Event Tickets” at Aramark at Lincoln Financial Field, which is where the Philadelphia Eagles play. The Eagles’ schedule shows they played the San Francisco 49ers a day earlier. ERIC SWALWELL SPENT MORE CAMPAIGN CASH ON TRAVEL AND LUXURY ACCOMMODATIONS THAN NANCY PELOSI The most recent filing also showed that Swalwell spent over $3,000 last month at the Loews Hotel Miami Beach, which includes a full-service spa and several restaurants and lounges. The filing also showed nearly another $1,000 being dropped on food and beverages at Mila Miami Beach, a “High-end Mediterranean & Japanese cuisine in a flamboyant venue with a stylish cocktail bar,” according to Citybox Media. Fox News Digital reported earlier this month that Swalwell’s campaign poured over $90,000 into travel expenses during the last three months of 2023, including $1,700 in Dubai at the five-star Burj Al Arab Hotel.  Swalwell spending campaign cash internationally has become a common occurrence. Before Dubai, his committee, which has just three salaried employees, spent thousands of dollars at hotels and restaurants in London and Germany earlier in the year. 

Manhattan DA Bragg requests judge impose gag order on Trump during hush money case

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has requested a judge impose a gag order on former President Donald Trump with less than a month to go until the hush money criminal court case goes to trial. In three separate court filings dated Feb. 22, 2024, Bragg and his team asked for an order preventing Trump from making statements attacking others involved in his legal cases, sought a protective order to prohibit the names and addresses of jurors from being disclosed to anyone other than attorneys and requested evidence and testimony regarding campaign finance be limited. Prosecutors claim Trump has a history of verbally attacking people involved in his cases. “Defendant has a long history of making public and inflammatory remarks about the participants in various judicial proceedings against him, including jurors, witnesses, lawyers, and court staff,” prosecutors state. “Those remarks, as well as the inevitable reactions they incite from defendant’s followers and allies, pose a significant and imminent threat to the orderly administration of this criminal proceeding and a substantial likelihood of causing material prejudice.” COURT DATES AND PRIMARIES: TRUMP FACES COMPETING CALENDARS IN 2024 Jury selection for the criminal trial is scheduled to begin on March 25. The DA’s office requested the names and addresses of those jurors who are selected not to be disclosed to anyone other than counsel, citing the former president’s conduct toward jurors in other court proceedings. The DA’s office cites Trump’s “conduct in this and other matters – including his extensive history of attacking jurors in other proceedings,” saying the conduct presents a “significant risk of juror harassment and intimidation that warrants reasonable protective measures to ensure the integrity of these proceedings, minimize obstacles to jury selection, and protect juror safety.” TRUMP SLAMS BRAGG AFTER PLEADING NOT GUILTY: ‘I NEVER THOUGHT ANYTHING LIKE THIS COULD HAPPEN IN AMERICA’ In the filing, Bragg provided several examples of times when Trump made public statements directed at two different Fulton County grand juries. “Thank you to the Special Grand Jury in the Great State of Georgia for your Patriotism & Courage. Total exoneration. The USA is very proud of you,” Trump said in one instance. “Would someone please tell the Fulton County Grand Jury that I did not tamper with the election,” he said in another. The DA said in March 2023, Trump “repeatedly directed extrajudicial statements” toward members of the grand jury using social media and commented on the credibility of witnesses who testified before the grand jury, as the grand jury investigation was underway. TRUMP PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO 34 FELONY COUNTS OF FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS LINKED TO 2016 HUSH MONEY PAYMENTS One other example brought up by the DA in the filing was that Trump “frequently promises to seek revenge and retribution against his perceived opponents.” Specifically, the DA pointed to a book published in 2007, in which Trump wrote, “My motto is: Always get even. When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades.” The third motion filed looked to limit evidence and expert testimony that could be presented during the hush money trial, including campaign finance, “federal prosecutors’ purported views of Michael Cohen’s credibility,” and evidence that had already been rejected. Judge Juan Manuel Merchan did not immediately rule on the filings, according to The Associated Press. Bragg’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. “Today, the 2-tiered system of justice implemented against President Trump is on full display, with the request by another Deranged Democrat prosecutor seeking a restrictive gag order, which if granted, would impose an unconstitutional infringement on President Trump’s First Amendment rights, including his ability to defend himself, and the rights of all Americans to hear from President Trump,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said. “This is election interference pure and simple. This case, like the others, is a sham orchestrated by partisan Democrats desperately attempting to prevent the reelection of President Trump and distract from the decrepit presidency of Crooked Joe Biden. The Radical Left will fail, and President Trump will Make America Great Again.” Trump is already subject to a gag order in another federal case, in which Washington, D.C. charges him with scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The order was imposed in October by the judge overseeing the case, and then upheld by a federal appeals panel two months later. Still, the court drew in the initial speech restrictions and will allow Trump to criticize the special counsel who brought the case against him. Trump was also under a limited gag order during his New York civil fraud trial and fined $15,000 for violating the order twice. The gag order was imposed by Judge Arthur Engoron on Oct. 3 after the former president posted on social media about his chief law clerk. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

GOP AGs press Biden admin to act after reports that 85,000 migrant children are missing, possibly trafficked

FIRST ON FOX: Nearly two-dozen Republican attorneys general are imploring the Biden administration to act following “grim” reports that 85,000 migrant children are missing with “reason to believe” that some are being trafficked.   In a letter sent Monday, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes wrote to Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and FBI Director Christopher Wray saying that “the United States needs to stop handing over children to ‘probable traffickers.’” “Losing 85,000 kids is like losing the entire population of Sioux City, Iowa. This is unacceptable,” Bird told Fox News Digital in a statement. “As a mom, it makes me sick to know that many of these missing kids have been trapped into forced labor and exploited by heinous sex traffickers. It’s the federal government’s job to keep these children safe.” “President Biden’s own Department of Health and Human Services is sounding the alarm that unaccompanied children are being released into compromising situations but seems unwilling or unable to devise a strategy to address these concerns,” Fitch told Fox News Digital. “This may end up one of the greatest tragedies to come from the chaos they have created at the border.” BIDEN, TRUMP TO MAKE US-MEXICO BORDER STOPS THURSDAY AS MIGRANT CRISIS ROILS ELECTION “President Biden’s border crisis has reached never-before-seen levels. Even worse, we now learn that the Department of Health and Human Services cannot find more than 85,000 migrant children who entered our country over the last two years,” the AGs wrote.  “Reports show that many of those children have been forced into the labor market, where they work debilitating hours under dangerous conditions in violation of child-labor laws or are sex trafficked,” they said.   The Republican AGs cited a report published earlier this month by the HHS Office of Inspector General which they described as “grim.” That report, they said, found “major problems with safety concerns for unaccompanied children,” and “explained that for more than one-in-five children required sponsor safety checks were not timely performed.” “In more than one-third of the cases, IDs submitted by sponsors raised concerns. Some children were released without home studies—to homes investigators later found to be vacant or nonresidential.” “[We] write because there is reason to believe that some of the 85,000 missing children are being trafficked. That cannot continue. But since this news surfaced, neither the Department of Health and Human Services nor the Department of Homeland Security has offered a plan for identifying and protecting those vulnerable children,” the AGs said.  “Trafficking minors cannot continue. We demand a response to this crisis,” they added.  MOST AMERICANS CALL ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ‘VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM,’ POLL FINDS The Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services and the FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.  “Parents send their children alone to the United States for a better life. Some come to escape war, others to escape gangs or violence,” the AGs wrote.  “By law, the Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for keeping these children safe when they arrive. That responsibility includes reuniting children with family or placing them with a sponsor who will protect them from trafficking and exploitation. But that Department is not living up to its responsibilities, and the cost of that failure is tens of thousands of missing children,” they charged. The AGs said that the HHS “loosened vetting procedures” and as a result claim that “thousands of children have now fallen victim to forced labor and sex trafficking.” ICE CONFIRMS GEORGIA STUDENT MURDER SUSPECT ENTERED US ILLEGALLY, WAS PREVIOUSLY ARRESTED IN NYC “They spend their time in this country working dangerous and sometimes inhumane jobs. They are deprived of necessities like sleep and food and denied an education. Some even face life-altering injuries and death,” they said.  One recent example they cited is a sixteen-year-old person who was crushed under an earthmover near Atlanta, Georgia. Another example is a fourteen-year-old person who was hit by a car while delivering food on a bike in Brooklyn, New York. And another — a fifteen-year-old — died on his first day of work for a roofing company when he fell 50 feet.  There are also numerous examples of young women brought across the border in Texas only to be placed immediately into sex trafficking rings, they note.  “In a country that claims to value both children and the rule of law, this cannot happen,” they said. 

Pentagon comes under fire after releasing report of Austin’s hospitalization: ‘We still have questions’

The Pentagon came under a barrage of criticism Monday following the release of an internal review that investigated its failure last month to notify the president about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization for complications from prostate cancer surgery. The review, carried out by Austin’s subordinates, largely absolves anyone of wrongdoing for the secrecy surrounding his hospitalization, which included several days in the intensive care unit. The review states flatly that there was “no indication of ill intent or an attempt to obfuscate.” At a press conference Monday, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder fielded multiple questions from reporters who pressed for answers on perceived gaps in the review.   Ryder said Secretary Austin’s staff decided to transfer authority to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks on January 2 as he was in the ICU. He said the secretary was never unconscious, though it remained unclear why his staff made that call.  Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico, did not learn of Austin’s hospitalization until three days later, after he was transported to an intensive care unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.  Asked by Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin why Hicks was not told it would be a good idea to return to D.C., Ryder said Austin’s staff was faced with an “unprecedented situation.”  PENTAGON SAYS NEW HIGH ALTITUDE BALLOON INTERCEPTED OVER US ‘LIKELY HOBBY’ CRAFT YEAR AFTER CHINA CONTROVERSY “And so they executed a transfer of authority in the same way that they had previously done,” Ryder said, adding that national HIPAA laws, which protect individuals’ medical records and other individually identifiable health information, prevented medical providers from sharing candid information with the secretary’s staff about Austin’s condition.  “[Austin’s staff] were hesitant to pry or share information that was in a state of flux,” Ryder said, insisting that there were never gaps in command and control.  Several reporters complained that the internal review did not adequately provide new information that wasn’t already known and that some questions remain unanswered. “We still have questions about the timeline here. And with all due respect, this answers none of them,” one reporter said, adding that the “glaring question that remains is where was the vulnerability, here?”  The 30-day examination of the lapse in leadership says procedures must be improved and information shared better when the defense secretary must transfer decision-making authorities to the deputy. Austin is set to appear before House lawmakers on Thursday for a hearing on the matter and is expected to face sharp criticism. The Defense Department’s inspector general is also conducting a review, which has not yet been completed. AI TECHNOLOGY COULD HELP US, ALLIES MONITOR CHINA’S TAIWAN INVASION INTENTIONS Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in early December and went to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for surgery on Dec. 22. On Jan. 1, he was taken back to Walter Reed by ambulance after experiencing significant pain and was moved to the intensive care unit the next day. Although he transferred decision-making authorities to Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks during his initial surgery and then again when he was in intensive care, he did not tell her why and he did not inform the White House. Pentagon officials have acknowledged that public affairs and defense aides were told on Jan. 2, that Austin had been hospitalized but did not make it public and did not tell the military service leaders or the National Security Council until Jan. 4. Only then did President Joe Biden find out. It took four more days before the reason for his hospitalization was disclosed. The 30-day review was finished and submitted to Austin on Feb. 8, but only parts of it were publicly released. The Pentagon has argued that portions of the report are classified. Austin, in a press briefing after he returned to work, told reporters that he never told his staff to keep his surgery and hospitalization secret from the White House, but acknowledged he should have handled it differently and he apologized for keeping Biden and others in the dark for weeks. He denied there was a culture of secrecy in his office, and also said that staff members may have perceived that “they’re doing things in my best interest.”

Arabic calligraphy on dress design causes chaos in Pakistan

NewsFeed A Pakistani police officer is being hailed as a hero for negotiating the safe escort of a woman accused of blasphemy by a mob in Lahore. The woman was wearing a dress with Arabic calligraphy that the crowd mistook for verses from the Quran. Published On 26 Feb 202426 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)

Democratic Republic of Congo is facing a humanitarian crisis

Heavy fighting between Congolese army and M23 rebels is fuelling displacement and regional tensions. M23 rebels have closed in on the capital of North Kivu as fighting with government forces escalates in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Hundreds of thousands of people are arriving in Goma in the hope of finding food, water and shelter. This situation is expected to worsen when United Nations peacekeepers withdraw from the country at the end of this year. What is driving this conflict? Can a lasting peace be achieved? Presenter: Adrian Finighan Guests: Patrick Muyaya Katembwe – Minister of Communication and Media and spokesperson for the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo Lawrence Kanyuka – Political spokesperson, M23 rebel group Crystal Orderson – Journalist at The Africa Report Fred Bauma – Executive director, senior fellow at the NYU Center on International Cooperation Adblock test (Why?)

Two years in, left and right united in opposing more US aid for Ukraine

Two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, Americans’ support for the war is waning, creating a surprising alliance between the political left and right. Forty-one percent of Americans told Gallup pollsters three months ago that the United States is spending too much to support Ukraine on the battlefield. That compares with 24 percent of Americans who felt similarly in August 2022, six months after the start of the war. Perhaps most surprising, though, is that the shift is most pronounced among Republicans, the political party that has historically been known for its hawkishness. In March 2022, 9 percent of Republicans believed the US was supplying Ukraine with too much military aid; by December last year, 48 percent of Republicans said their government was spending too much on Ukraine, according to Pew Research Centre surveys. The percentage of Democrats who view the Biden administration’s spending on Ukraine as excessive is only 16 percent, according to the same December poll. To be sure, partisan politics shapes the rift in Washington with Republicans in the House of Representatives refusing to pass legislation that includes $60bn in military aid for Ukraine. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has said the bill passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate doesn’t do enough to protect the southern border from immigration, a stance that bolsters Donald Trump’s presidential campaign against incumbent Joe Biden. US House Speaker Mike Johnson opposes a bill providing more aid to Ukraine, saying it does not go far enough to impose restrictions on the US border with Mexico [File: Eric Gay/The Associated Press] And Representative Marjorie Taylor Green leads a group of staunch conservatives in Congress who have consistently opposed US funding for Ukraine. Still, a number of liberals, such as the writer Glen Greenwald and the podcaster Jimmy Dore, have joined conservatives, such as media presenter Tucker Carlson, in questioning the federal government’s priorities in spending billions on a distant war while the US has so many pressing needs, including immigration, affordable housing, healthcare and student debt relief. “The motivations for the far left and the far right are very different, but what unites them is where they arrive on Ukraine and also this anti-establishment populist strain,” said Dominik Stecula, assistant professor of political science at Colorado State University Republicans divided on Ukraine spending While some in the Republican Party — like presidential candidate Nikki Haley and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — have a traditional national security focus reminiscent of the Cold War, the faction of the party that identifies with former President Trump’s political movement – MAGA, short for his campaign slogan Make America Great Again – is increasingly rejecting Ukraine spending. Isolationism has been a feature of Trump’s political message since 2016, explained Rachel Blum, an assistant professor in the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Political Science. “That is a really core thread of the MAGA movement.” The white working-class voters who make up the bulk of Trump’s supporters are animated by the sense that they are being left behind in a shape-shifting economy and money that would be better spent on their families is going to people of colour, the LGBTQ community and big business, including defence contractors. These sentiments often converge with racist, homophobic and transphobic beliefs. Blum told Al Jazeera that Trump’s isolationism is of a particular type that does not necessarily transfer to other conflicts. “Trump is much warmer toward Israel than he is toward Ukraine,” she explained. “So I think a lot of it has to do with Trump’s very personal animosity toward Ukraine and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and his past problems there and his affinity for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, centre, visits Washington, DC, in December 2023 and meets with US congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, right, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell [Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters] As the MAGA movement has strengthened its hold on the Republican Party, she said, “it’s not surprising that those sentiments are starting to spill over.” Republicans are divided between those who remember Cold War policy and view Putin, a former Soviet intelligence officer, as a threat and those who are inclined to blindly follow Trump, she said. In a Venn diagram, those two groups do not overlap. “It’s hard for me to think of an example of a Republican who is pro-Ukraine aid and super supportive of Trump,” Blum said. As the November election draws closer, Blum said Trump’s position as the presumptive nominee gives Republicans an incentive to oppose aid to Ukraine to win favour with Trump if he returns to the White House. Foreign policy and the culture wars A number of factors played pivotal roles in the Republicans’  shift against Ukrainian aid, said David Hopkins, associate professor of political science at Boston College. A generational divide is part of the story. Older conservatives remember the Cold War alliance between the US and Western Europe against the Soviet Union while younger conservatives don’t have memories of the tensions between the West and the Soviet bloc, he said. Generally, Americans’ foreign policy worldview is likely to be influenced by authority figures they trust, including politicians and media personalities, he said. And conservatives are reflexively sceptical of policies favoured by Democrats, such as Biden’s support for Ukraine. Moreover, Trump supporters’ sense of American exceptionalism extends to unfavourable views on Europe – which is seen as not wholly sharing the same values as the US – and, consequently, NATO. “They are open, just on the merits, to the argument that the US should be looking for ways to remove itself from involvement with European politics and alliances with international allies and organisations like NATO and the UN,” Hopkins said. Trump supporters are also open to viewing Putin as a traditionalist with similar values to theirs. “Under Putin, Russia has advertised itself internationally as a bulwark of traditional Christianity,” Hopkins said. “I think there are elements of the populist right in the United States that respond very positively to that message and indeed see figures like