New group launches to combat Chinese Communist Party influence across US: ‘Poses a major threat’
A new group is set to launch Wednesday to combat Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence in the United States, Fox News Digital has learned. State Armor, a nonprofit organization, will concentrate on global security threats and will begin by working to expose “malign CCP influence operations” to the public and lawmakers nationwide. “States are now on the front lines against foreign adversaries. In fact, for years states have been targeted by well-resourced, technologically sophisticated foreign adversaries, particularly communist China,” State Armor founder and CEO Michael Lucci told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The Chinese Communist Party is engaged in a broad effort to supplant the United States so it can rewrite global norms according to its authoritarian model,” Lucci said. “To achieve its goals, the CCP aggressively pursues a strategy to gain economic leverage over state and local governments, to make states dependent on their technologies, and to suppress the First Amendment-protected speech of Chinese dissidents within America.” UPENN, WHICH HOSTS BIDEN’S THINK TANK, SEES CHINESE DONATIONS SOAR, INCLUDING FROM CCP-LINKED SOURCES State Armor will focus on four primary areas to position itself as a leading research and educational source for state and local governments, including protecting critical infrastructure, building what it calls “supply chains of freedom,” or sourcing products from free nations, stopping influence operations and preparing state supply chains if China were to invade Taiwan. The group will work to mobilize a network ranging from citizens to experts to “aid states in developing and implementing comprehensive, common sense, and bipartisan solutions to protect themselves from what is widely regarded as a generation-defining foreign threat.” According to State Armor, they are currently working on passing several pieces of legislation or executive orders in more than 12 states. “State Armor is going to bring awareness and ready-for-action plans to push counter-China policies that many of our state leaders know need to get done, but just aren’t sure where to start,” former U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said. “It’s no secret the Chinese Communist Party poses a major threat to the American way of life, but until now there hasn’t been a group solely focused on taking on Communist China at the state level,” O’Brien added. “This issue is not partisan. States want to take action; State Armor will be there to show them how.” EXCLUSIVE: CHINESE DONORS TO UNIVERSITY HOUSING BIDEN THINK TANK HAVE TIES TO HUNTER’S BUSINESS DEALS, CCP The National Counterintelligence and Security Center, contained within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, released a report in 2022 on how the CCP is employing a strategy with state and local governments, including growing support for their interests among state and local leaders and leveraging the connections “to pressure Washington for policies friendlier to Beijing.” “The [People’s Republic of China] understands U.S. state and local leaders enjoy a degree of independence from Washington and may seek to use them as proxies to advocate for national U.S. policies Beijing desires, including improved U.S. economic cooperation with China, and reduced U.S. criticism of China’s policies towards Taiwan, Tibetans, Uyghurs, pro-democracy activists, and others,” the report states. State Armor will move to combat such operations and has received support from individuals in the security realm. Alex Gray, a former deputy assistant to the president and chief of staff of the White House National Security Council, who is now the CEO of American Global Strategies LLC, is one individual who will throw his weight behind the group. “U.S. states are on the front line of the long-term competition between the United States and the [People’s Republic of China] and a responsible American strategy requires proactive preparation at the state level,” Gray said. “State Armor will provide the organizing power needed at the state level to spur that preparation and address the dangers of Chinese Communist Party influence and access in the states. The time for action is here, and State Armor will be critical in leading the way.”
Top Republican warns House GOP on border talks: ‘Wishful’ to ‘get everything you want’
The No. 3 House Republican is calling on GOP colleagues to be realistic about their expectations for border negotiations between the Senate and White House. “I think they should be bringing H.R. 2 back. That would seal the southern border, and that should be a Republican-Democrat priority. But if they don’t bring it back in full, we just have to see what it is that they are bringing,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital Tuesday. It’s still unclear whether the bipartisan Senate group working on the border security deal with the White House will produce any results. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has made clear House Republicans back H.R.2, the border bill they passed last summer. Democrats panned it as a “non-starter.” BORDER DEAL PRICE TAG LIKELY TO COST MORE THAN $14 BILLION, BUT GOP LAWMAKERS GROW RESTLESS TO SEE BILL TEXT Some GOP hardliners in the House and Senate have signaled they will oppose anything less than H.R. 2, which includes provisions like Remain In Mexico and new border wall construction. But Emmer warned his colleagues to view H.R. 2 as a starting point in the negotiations rather than the only option. SEN. MARSHALL URGES GOP TO SAY ‘HELL NO’ TO SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING REQUEST WITHOUT TIGHTER BORDER SECURITY “Our members get that we control one-half of one-third of the government. We don’t have everything, so, you know, to get everything you want may be a little bit wishful,” Emmer said. “But that’s where we start. We start with H.R. 2, and then show us what you got, and we’ll figure it out from there.” Asked if he was optimistic that a border security compromise could pass both the GOP-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate and then be signed by the White House, Emmer said he was “always hopeful.” But he warned that certain details that have purportedly been leaked would face opposition. For instance, a reported proposal that would give border agents the authority to expel migrants on sight after 5,000 daily encounters has faced heat from Republicans. MAYORKAS LASHES OUT AT ‘BASELESS’ GOP ALLEGATIONS AHEAD OF KEY IMPEACHMENT VOTE “If this administration and the Senate think that even one illegal coming across the southern border makes sense, you’re not going to get agreement from our guys,” Emmer said. “If those rumors are accurate, well, it’s going to be really hard for them to pass the House.” And while he was pleased the Biden administration was even discussing the border crisis, Emmer accused President Biden of only paying attention to it as an election-year issue. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “The only reason they’re talking about it now is because it has risen to the point that it is a political liability for their re-election,” Emmer said. “This is no longer Republicans or Democrats. This is Republicans and Democrats and others. More than 60% of the citizens in this country, by some polling, believe the border is a problem, and it needs to be solved. That’s the only reason they’re talking about it.”
Sen Rick Scott says Senate border deal won’t fix migrant crisis: ‘Suicide mission’
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is turning up the heat on his opposition to the emerging border deal that officials expect as soon as next week. “James Lankford is smart, hardworking, and knows the issue — he’s on a suicide mission,” Scott told Fox News Digital. “So it’s real simple — if we cannot force Biden to secure the border, we need to just shut the border down.” “If we go back home, the voters are not saying ‘hey, we want to secure border next year,’ — they’re saying, ‘we want to secure borders today.’ So, I’m not going to support something that doesn’t do it,” he said. Scott is part of a growing group of Senate Republicans who have voiced opposition to the purported border deal — with only one portion relating to asylum being worked out in the appropriations committee — as details of the deal were leaked last week. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has already indicated that if the deal resembles what has been reported out of the negotiations, it will be dead on arrival in the House. Scott said he recently chatted with Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is trudging forward with Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to bring the bill to a floor vote as soon as possible. It’s unclear when the final bill text will be available, but the White House has been urging Johnson to grant Biden “authority and funding” to secure the border. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump — expected to be the GOP presidential nominee — has been urging lawmakers to reject the deal. BORDER DEAL PRICE TAG LIKELY TO COST MORE THAN $14 BILLION, BUT GOP LAWMAKERS GROW RESTLESS TO SEE BILL TEXT But Scott shifted blame to the leader, arguing McConnell is disconnected from a majority of American voters. “So, what scares us is that we were told, ‘Oh, you’re gonna have plenty of time,’ and then we’re also told, ‘we’re gonna vote on it this week.’ Well, give me a break, I haven’t read it,” he said. Talks have been ongoing for months as a bipartisan group of lawmakers — Sens. James Lankford, Krysten Sinema, and Chris Murphy — have tried to strike a deal with White House officials to fix the crisis at the southern border. The deal would be included in supplemental spending that includes billions in foreign assistance to Ukraine and Israel. The Biden administration is seeking over $100 billion in funding, including $14 billion for the border. But Republicans have demanded limits on migrant releases into the interior, including the use of parole, and negotiators have been attempting to find a compromise. “The bill needs to say there is no more parole,” Scott said. “The public is tired of an open border. How many terrorists are we okay with? How many human traffickers are we okay with? How many drug addicts are we okay with, or drug sellers, or human traffickers? The answer should be zero.” Multiple sources familiar with the proposal previously told Fox News Digital that the proposal would tighten the language of the initial credible fear standard for asylum screenings, coupled with a Title 42-style expulsion authority to quickly remove migrants at the border similar to the COVID-19-era authority. Multiple sources said that the use of that authority would be mandated only if there was a 7-day rolling average of above 5,000 encounters a day. BIDEN VS. JOHNSON BORDER STANDOFF: EXPERTS SPLIT ON WHO HAS THE AUTHORITY TO SOLVE CRISIS Daily encounters between 4,000 and 5,000 would allow for discretionary expulsions, and any single day when there were over 8,000 encounters, expulsions would be mandated, even if the 7-day average was lower. Those expulsions would also be exempted from judicial review. The use of humanitarian parole at the border by the administration would also be restricted, but migrants could still be paroled in if they cite humanitarian reasons. Those restrictions are not expected to include parole programs in which migrants are flown in, such as those for Afghans and Ukrainians, as well as the Cuban Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan (CHNV) parole program — which allows 30,000 migrants to fly in to be paroled each month, as part of the administration’s “expanded lawful pathways.” Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
Georgia House votes to revive prosecutor oversight panel that could oust Fani Willis
Georgia House members on Monday passed a bill to revive a commission with powers to discipline and remove prosecutors, which Republicans could potentially use to target embattled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the prosecution against former President Donald Trump. Willis has been caught up in scrutiny over allegations she hired special prosecutor Nathan Wade for the case because of their alleged romantic relationship. The House voted 95-75 along party lines for House Bill 881, sending it to the Senate for further debate. A similar bill that would create a special committee to investigate Willis for her “improper” affair advanced out of a Senate committee last week. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation last year creating the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Qualifications Commission. But after the state Supreme Court refused to approve the rules governing the committee’s conduct, it was unable to begin operating. GA SENATE LAUNCHES COMMITTEE TO PROBE TRUMP PROSECUTOR FANI WILLIS FOR ‘IMPROPER’ AFFAIR Justices said they had “grave doubts” about their ability to regulate the duties of district attorneys beyond the practice of law; Monday’s measure removes the requirement for Supreme Court approval. “This commission will now be able to begin their real work, which is bringing accountability to those rogue prosecuting attorneys who abuse their office,” Rep. Joseph Gullett, a Dallas Republican who sponsored the measure, told The Associated Press. The outlet reported that Gullett and some other Republicans deny that the measure is directly aimed at Willis, citing instances of prosecutor misconduct, including occasions in the past when Democrats supported the idea of a prosecutor oversight panel. But Democratic opposition to the commission has hardened, saying Republicans are trying to overwrite the will of Democratic voters. “The commission will be able to unilaterally proceed and have the ability to interfere and undermine an ongoing investigation against Donald J. Trump,” said House Minority Whip Sam Park, a Lawrenceville Democrat. “You are taking action to protect former President Trump from an ongoing criminal prosecution.” John Malcolm, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Atlanta, told Fox News Digital in an interview that the allegations against Willis are “serious.” “They ought to be looked into, and it has certainly imperiled this prosecution and given a black mark, not only to Fulton County, but potentially to the entire state, so I can understand why the Georgia legislature is up in arms about this,” he said. Malcolm, who currently serves as the director of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, said “this is a difficult moment” for Willis, who he says could ultimately decide to recuse herself from the case. FANI WILLIS WHO ‘RELISHED IN’ DONALD TRUMP PROSECUTION SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM CASE FOR ILLICIT AFFAIR: EXPERTS Allegations of Willis’ illicit affair with Wade stem from a court filing by Michael Roman, a Trump co-defendant. According to court documents filed earlier this month by Roman, Willis, who brought election interference-related charges against Trump, has been having an “improper” affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired to help prosecute the 2024 GOP frontrunner. According to the court documents, Wade, who has no RICO and felony prosecution experience, billed taxpayers $654,000 since January 2021. Roman’s filing alleges that Wade billed Fulton County for 24 hours of work on a single day in November 2021, shortly after being appointed as a special prosecutor, and that Willis financially benefited from her alleged lover’s padded taxpayer-funded salary by taking lavish vacations together on his dime. Willis addressed the allegations for the first time at Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta earlier this month. TRUMP BLASTS FULTON COUNTY PROSECUTOR FANI WILLIS AFTER ROMANTIC PARTNER ALLEGATIONS: ‘TOTALLY COMPROMISED’ “They only attacked one,” she said. “First thing they say, ‘Oh, she’s gonna play the race card now.’ “But no God, isn’t it them that’s playing the race card when they only question one,” Willis asked. “You cannot expect Black women to be perfect and save the world,” Willis said, adding that “we need to be allowed to stumble. We need grace.” Lawyers for Trump on Thursday joined Roman’s effort, filing a motion that Willis, Wade and her office should be removed from the case, claiming Willis “inappropriately injected race into the case and stoked racial animus” in response to allegations of misconduct against her. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Former Biden rival says Trump wins if election held today, accuses DNC of stifling democracy
Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang spoke to Fox News Digital this week in South Carolina where he is campaigning for Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips’s primary bid against President Biden and said former President Trump would win the election if it were held today. “There are a lot of voters who are quite negative about Joe Biden, including independents in Wisconsin and Arizona and Georgia and Michigan, who are going to essentially decide the race in November, and that’s where our attention should be focused,” Yang told Fox News Digital this week. “But most Democratic insiders are content to say, Joe, Joe, Joe, essentially, regardless of the numbers.” “I had some conversations like that in South Carolina over the last number of days where people would actually come to me and say, do you really think Joe could lose to Trump? And I would say, not only could he lose to Trump, but if the election were held today, he would lose to Trump and the poll numbers are generally getting worse, not better.” Yang told Fox News Digital he recently had “very edifying conversation with South Carolina primary voters” while campaigning for Phillips in the Palmetto State and “one of the sharpest discussion items was, will Joe Biden be well positioned to win in November?” DEAN PHILLIPS SAYS HE’S ‘RESISTING THE DELUSIONAL DNC’ BY PRIMARY CHALLENGING ‘UNELECTABLE’ BIDEN Yang said the voters were all “middle-aged African American women” and that “half the table” believed Biden was not well-positioned to win.” “I happen to agree with that half,” Yang said. Yang also had sharp criticism for the DNC who he said is not promoting “democracy” in this nomination process. “The most extreme thing the DNC has done to stifle democracy is canceling the primaries in Florida and North Carolina and attempting to do so in another state or two,” Yang said. “I mean, it’s ridiculous to talk about championing democracy on one hand and then literally canceling primaries on the other. So if Democrats want to practice democracy, that would involve having debates. That would involve having genuine competitive primaries. That would involve giving the people a choice.” NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTERS FRUSTRATED WITH BIDEN, DNC FOR SKIPPING STATE: ‘WON’T GIVE US THE TIME OF DAY’ Yang continued, “If Democrats did have a real competitive primary, for example, where the bosses were to say to Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer and J.B. Pritzker and others, please do run. Then you would have a genuine field, as opposed to this coronation that, in my view, threatens to lead us directly back to a Trump presidency.” When asked why more prominent Democrats, including Democrats who ran for president along with Yang in 2020, aren’t speaking out more vocally about concerns over Biden’s candidacy, Yang likened his nomination to a “coronation.” “If you look at the candidates from 2020 in the Democratic field, a very significant number of them are either in the Biden administration or essentially in the Biden administration as Democratic electeds in Washington and the word went out to everyone in the Democratic Party that no one should challenge Joe for fear of their career,” Yang said. “A lot of Democrats, you can tell, are just positioning themselves for 2028 including Gavin Newsom, who was in South Carolina this past number of days and saying, okay, like, ‘I will heed the word of the establishment and wait four years and risk throwing the country to Trump who is beating Joe Biden in most every national poll and in the all important swing states,’ so I think it’s like a blend of self-interest and conformity,” Yang continued. “That’s what’s leading a lot of people getting out of Joe’s way,” he added. “It’s one reason why I admire Dean Phillips so much for doing what he thinks is right for the country even though there were many people in the party who told him not to.” Dean Phillips earned about 20% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary where President Biden was not on the ballot and won 63.9% as a write-in candidate which Yang referred to as “staggeringly impressive.” “It was an awesome achievement and also a clear sign of an appetite for a competitive primary for Joe Biden,” Yang said. Fox News Digital reached out to the DNC for comment. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
How escalating Red Sea crisis poses billions of dollars of risk for India
New Delhi, India – Demand for India’s Basmati, the long-grain aromatic rice, from traditional buyers in the Middle East, the US and Europe has dropped as it has become costly. The reason is the escalating tensions in the Red Sea, the shortest and most efficient trade route for ships moving from Asia to Europe. Attacks by Iranian-backed Houthis from Yemen on commercial vessels passing through the Red Sea have forced shippers to avoid one of the world’s most crucial trade routes. The alternative longer route around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa has added more than 3,500 nautical miles (6,500km) to the journey and close to a half-month of sailing time to each trip, significantly increasing shipping costs. Exporting Basmati from India has become a challenge for shippers as freight costs have shot up as high as five times with an increase in insurance premiums, shortage of containers and longer transit time, said, Vijay Kumar Setia, director of Chaman Lal Setia Exports Ltd and former president of the All India Rice Exporters’ of India. Part of the inventory is lying at various ports or processing units, while some stock is now being sold in the domestic market, resulting in a fall in prices by about 8 percent in the local market. India, the world’s biggest rice exporter, ships over 4.5 million tonnes of basmati rice out of the country annually. About 35 percent of about 7.5 million tonnes of production is shipped to Europe, North America, North Africa and the Middle East through the Red Sea. “Buyers are hesitant to take at higher prices,” said Setia. “Some exports are going on, but business isn’t that smooth. We are losing profits because of higher logistic costs.” Like Basmati, chaos in the Red Sea is disrupting shipments of produce from tea to spices and grapes to buffalo meats from India, resulting in losses to exporters. Similarly, imports of fertilisers, sunflower oil, machinery components and electronic goods to India are getting delayed, raising the risk of higher costs to consumers. This has raised concern that the unrest will lead to supply-chain snarls and contraction of trade, and halt a slowdown in food inflation. India is heavily reliant on the Red Sea route through the Suez Canal for its trade with Europe, North America, North Africa and the Middle East. These regions accounted for about 50 percent of India’s exports of 18 trillion rupees ($217bn) and about 30 percent of imports of 17 trillion rupees ($205bn) in the year ended March 2023, according to CRISIL Ratings. Shipments are currently getting delayed by 21-28 days. The crisis could cost the country more than $30bn in exports for the fiscal year ending March, hitting $451bn of exports a year ago by around 6.8 percent, said Sachin Chaturvedi, director-general of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, a New Delhi-based think tank. Official estimates of the impact on trade in India will be known when the government releases export and import data around mid-February for January. Houthi rebels have been carrying out missile and drone attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea since November, actions they say are in response to Israel’s war on Gaza. Retaliatory strikes to aid the safe movement of ships by a US-led coalition haven’t stopped the Houthi assaults. Shipping costs rise To avoid risk, the shipping industry has temporarily suspended Suez Canal transit. The average number of tankers and cargo ships transiting through the Suez Canal had fallen about 46 percent over two months till January 28, while the voyages around Cape of Good Hope have risen 32 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund PortWatch data. Meanwhile, shipping prices have increased. According to Drewry’s World Container Index, the average price of transporting a 40-feet (12-metre) container on a cargo ship rose 161 percent to $3,964 on January 25 from $1,521 on December 14. The chaos has brought concern for India. Around half a dozen ships heading toward India or with Indian crews on board have been attacked – allegedly by Houthis or hijacked by armed pirates. In response, India has increased its maritime presence in the Arabian Sea by deploying about a dozen warships. But the fear is so high that about 25 percent of the outbound shipments transiting through the Red Sea have been held back and roughly 95 percent of cargo ships from India have been rerouted through Cape of Good Hope, said Ajay Sahai, director-general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, set up by India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Imports more expensive, exports hurt Russia has emerged as one of the largest suppliers of crude oil to India [File: AP Photo] However, there is no disruption in oil flows even as the Red Sea is one of the key routes for oil shipments for India which imports 80 percent of its crude oil needs. Russia emerged as one of the biggest crude suppliers to India in 2023, accounting for more than one-third of its imports. Unlike other sectors, there is no diversion of Russian vessels carrying crude oil bound for India through the Red Sea, as per S&P Global. But the supply of sunflower oil has become tight for India, the world’s biggest importer of the vegetable oil. As most of the vessels from Russia and Ukraine are being rerouted through Cape of Good Hope, freight costs have increased by 35 percent and transit time increased by 15 days, said Sandeep Bajoria, CEO of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage. Part of the higher costs has been passed to consumers, he said. Similarly, shipments of fertilisers have been delayed and logistics costs have risen, minister of chemicals and fertilisers, Mansukh Mandaviya, told reporters, adding India will have no shortage of fertilisers critical for the country’s food security as there are adequate reserves. But the crisis is hurting buffalo meat export. India is one of the major buffalo meat suppliers to the international market. About 60 percent of the
Kataib Hezbollah announces halt of attacks on US forces
Iraqi-based group seeking to de-escalate as Washington mulls response to deadly Jordan strike. Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah has announced the suspension of hostile operations against US troops, as Washington ponders its response to a deadly drone attack that left three of its soldiers dead. The group’s attempt to de-escalate late on Tuesday, which it said was motivated by a desire not to “embarrass” the Iraqi government, was met with some scepticism in the US. The Pentagon alleges that there have been three further attacks since the attack in Jordan on January 28. However, the White House has indicated that it is pondering a “tiered response” to Sunday’s attack. Speaking yesterday in Washington, Biden tied the attacks to Iran. “I do hold them responsible in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it,” he said. However, he specified he did not want “a wider war” in the region. However, Al Jazeera correspondent Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, said that Republican hawks were calling for strikes inside Iran. “For months, this administration has been saying the biggest concern they have is that this will lead to a wider war, and it seems fairly clear that striking inside of Iran would make it more likely rather than less,” she said. Powerful element Kataib Hezbollah is the most powerful element in a group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has claimed more than 150 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria since 7 October. The US has so far responded to that campaign by conducting air raids and imposing sanctions against Iran-backed groups in Iraq, particularly Kataib Hezbollah. In its statement on Tuesday, Kataib Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi noted that many of its allies, in particular Iran, “often object to the pressure and escalation against the American occupation forces in Iraq and Syria”. Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed said the statement aimed to “alleviate or reduce the burden, the pressure that the government in Iraq has been facing since … the beginning of these attacks”. The Iraqi government, he said, has been engaged in talks with US military officials to find mechanisms guaranteeing the withdrawal of US and coalition troops from the country. Hawks apply pressure In the face of Biden’s caution over the US response to the attack in Jordan, hawkish members of the Republican Party have gone into overdrive as they appeal for more direct military action against Iran. Senator Lindsey Graham called on the Biden administration to “strike targets of significance inside Iran, not only as reprisal for the killing of our forces but as deterrence against future aggression”. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee called for “striking directly against Iranian targets and its leadership”. Adblock test (Why?)
How Nikki Haley burned bridges in South Carolina–and still pulls punches against Trump
Nikki Haley says she’s staying in the presidential race at least until Super Tuesday, though most of the media now deem the primary over and done with. While Donald Trump’s media detractors have found new lines of attack, they can’t deny that his big wins in Iowa and New Hampshire have practically given him a headlock on the nomination. But the biggest roadblock in her path is her own home state. AS TRUMP EASILY BEATS HALEY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, SHE VOWS TO STAY IN THE RACE How is it that a former two-term governor is trailing Trump by 20 to 30 points? The Trump juggernaut seems close to unstoppable. This Saturday’s Democratic primary in South Carolina (bold prediction: Joe Biden will win) will draw any potential party-switchers away from the GOP contest. And the Republican Party, transformed by Trump, is much more conservative in her state than when Haley left office in 2017. Even Haley, Trump’s former U.N. ambassador, isn’t predicting victory. She says she simply needs to do better than the 43 percent she won in New Hampshire’s open primary. That’s a tall order. But there’s an even deeper reality hurting Haley, according to some digging in South Carolina by two veteran New York Times reporters. All this came out during her years as governor, but is new to a national audience. There’s a reason, says the piece, that the governor, Henry McMaster, who had been her lieutenant governor, has endorsed Trump. And the House backbencher who she picked for senator, Tim Scott, has endorsed Trump. And the congresswoman whose career was threatened in 2022 until Haley endorsed her, Nancy Mace, has endorsed Trump. Haley said last week that South Carolina lawmakers had “no love for me” because she tried to make state government more transparent and vetoed pork-barrel projects. Longtime GOP consultant Chip Feikel told the paper “she was good on economic development but not great on cultivating relationships. She forgot who helped her get here.” NEW HAMPSHIRE SHOWDOWN: WHY TRUMP IS CONNECTING WITH VOTERS AND HALEY AND DESANTIS HAVE NOT Perhaps the classic case involved former governor Mark Sanford, whose tenure was ruined by the “Appalachian Trail” extramarital affair, who agreed to her request for a $400,000 ad blitz to salvage her campaign. “And then she cut me off,” Sanford told Politico. “This is systematic with Nikki: She cuts off people who have contributed to her success. It’s almost like there’s some weird psychological thing where she needs to pretend it’s self-made.” Ouch. There’s another way to look at this: “Haley and her supporters attribute the hard feelings she left in her wake to jealousy, sexism and the sense that a young woman of color had simply not waited her turn.” But clearly, the accumulation of complaints reflects a pattern of burning bridges and alienating allies, even if it also depicts her as a fighter. While Haley has sharpened her rhetoric against the former president, regularly calling him “unhinged,” she is still pulling her punches. On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” when host Kristen Welker asked whether the $83-million verdict in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case was “disqualifying,” Haley answered in process terms: “I absolutely trust the jury. And I think that they made their decision based on the evidence. I just don’t think that should take him off the ballot.” On the third try, Welker asked: “Why give him a pass on this issue, where a jury has found him liable for sexual abuse?” “I’m not giving him a pass on anything,” Haley said before pivoting to Trump’s supposed decline as a 77-year-old. Everyone supports juries. What she did not do was address the substance of the accusations, which Trump continues to vehemently deny. Welker moved on: “He has mocked your birth name. He has suggested you’re not eligible to be president because your parents weren’t born here. Of course, you are eligible. You were born here…What do you make of him bringing back this birther playbook against you? Do you think it will work in South Carolina and win over voters there?” “I mean, honestly, Kristen, I laugh every time I see one of his tweets, every time I see him throw a temper tantrum, because I know Donald Trump very well. When he feels insecure, he starts to rail. He starts to rant.” She completely ducked the question. Welker, again: “Would you go so far as to call those attacks racist, Ambassador?” “I think that’s for everybody else to decide.” Haley has obviously made a calculated decision not to criticize Trump too harshly on personal matters. She undoubtedly believes that could turn off MAGA voters who might defect to her. But with less than a month to go before her home state primary, the try-not-to-offend-anyone strategy isn’t working. SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES Footnote: Haley confirmed, as previously reported, that her house had been swatted–a false emergency call–while she was not at home. But she disclosed that she and her husband Michael, who’s away on military deployment, “take care of my parents. They are 87 and 90…And they were at home and with their caregiver. And so I will tell you that the last thing you want is to see multiple law enforcement officials with guns drawn pointing at my parents and thinking that something happened. It is an awful situation. It put the law enforcement officers in danger. It put my family in danger.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP This is outrageous and unacceptable. The feds must step up efforts to trace those making these reckless calls and make sure they get significant jail time.
Mayorkas impeachment articles approved by committee, setting up full House vote
The House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday approved, down party lines, two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — teeing up a floor vote as early as next week to impeach the embattled Biden official. The committee voted down party lines to approve the two impeachment articles, which accuse Mayorkas of having “repeatedly violated laws enacted by Congress regarding immigration and border security” and of having “made false statements to Congress” that the border is secure and closed and that DHS is in operational control of the border. The articles will now go to the House where they will be voted on on the House floor. The vote came after a lengthy, and at times, fiery hearing in which Republicans outlined their case for why Mayorkas should be removed from office for allegedly mishandling the crisis at the southern border and Democrats accused Republicans of debasing the impeachment process for political purposes. MAYORKAS SLAMS ‘BASELESS’ GOP ALLEGATIONS AHEAD OF KEY IMPEACHMENT VOTE “Today is a grave day,” Chairman Mark Green said. “We have not approached this day or this process lightly. Secretary Mayorkas’s actions have forced our hand. We cannot allow this border crisis to continue.” Republicans spent the hearing emphasizing their case against Mayorkas, pointing to record high border crossings, with the record for monthly crossings having been broken in December, and mass releases of migrants into the interior along with narrowed interior enforcement. They accuse Mayorkas of not following immigration law, which they say demands the detention of illegal immigrants, and of failing to secure the border. “My colleagues across the aisle, seem to say that it’s acceptable that we’ve had 10 million illegal crossings in three years and we’ve had pushing 300,000 Americans dead from opioid overdose. We’re losing our country down there. And the man responsible for executing that policy is Alejandro Mayorkas,” Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., said. Democrats pushed back, first attempting to adjourn the markup and then ripping into Republicans for the proceedings, accusing them of running a “sham” impeachment and of trying to impeach Mayorkas based purely on political motivations and policy disputes, and of interfering with Mayorkas’ efforts to solve the ongoing crisis. “The extreme MAGA Republicans who are running the House of Representatives are deeply unserious people. They don’t want progress. They don’t want solutions,” Ranking Member Bennie Thompson said. “They want a political issue. And most of all, they want to please their disgraced former president.” MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE PREDICTS MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT ARTICLES WILL PASS HOUSE WITHOUT ANY DEM SUPPORT “You do not have a right to demean this institution, to bastardize the impeachment clause of the Constitution, to belittle the standard of constitutional impeachment to such a degree that you can’t even produce a legal memo in support of your articles of impeachment that do not exist in history and do not exist in the law,” Rep. Dan Goldman, D-NY., said. The hearing comes after a bitter months-long argument over the process. Green’s committee began investigating Mayorkas last year and House impeachment articles were referred to the committee in November. The committee held two impeachment hearings earlier this month. Mayorkas did not testify, despite expressing willingness to testify — a subject of finger-pointing between the two sides over who was responsible. But on Tuesday he sent a lengthy letter slamming the proceedings and defending his record in office. “I assure you that your false accusations do not rattle me and do not divert me from the law enforcement and broader public service mission to which I have devoted most of my career and to which I remain devoted,” Mayorkas said. The Biden administration has repeatedly said the crisis at the border has not been caused by policy, but is instead a Hemisphere-wide crisis combined with a “broken” immigration system that needs reform and comprehensive immigration reform. In his letter, Mayorkas declared that “problems with our broken and outdated immigration system are not new.” MIGRANT CRISIS BROKE NEW RECORD IN DECEMBER WITH 302K ENCOUNTERS, OFFICIALS CONFIRM “Our immigration laws last received an overhaul in 1996. Our immigration laws were simply not built for 21st century migration patterns,” Mayorkas said. He pointed to stats including half a million removals since May, and daily removals nearly double what they were compared to from 2014-2019. He also says that the apprehension rate has been 78%, the same as the prior administration, and there has been a significant increase in removal flights within the Western Hemisphere. He also points to increased Border Patrol hiring, an anti-smuggling campaign and an intensified anti-fentanyl effort that has seen more seizures of the deadly drug. “Instead you claim that we have failed to enforce our immigration laws. That is false,” he said. He also pushed back on the criticism his department has faced over an alleged lack of responsiveness to oversight queries from Congress, claiming instead that he has been responsive to Congress with testimony, witnesses and documents. “The allegations are baseless and inaccurate,” he said. If the House votes to impeach Mayorkas, then the case will go to the Senate for a trial. Fox News’ Tyler Olson, Elizabeth Elkind and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
Hate crime tracker Hindutva Watch blocked in India ahead of national vote
New Delhi, India – The website of Hindutva Watch, a United States-based independent research project that documents hate crimes against religious minorities in India, is no longer accessible in India, days after government officials warned its founder that they might block it. The website of India Hate Lab, another initiative dedicated to exclusively tracking hate speech in the country, can also no longer be accessed in India even though both platforms are available outside the country. “We received communication from MEITY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) under the IT Act last week regarding the potential blocking of India Hate Lab and Hindutva Watch,” Raqib Hameed Naik, the founder of both projects, told Al Jazeera, referring to India’s Information Technology (IT) Act. On January 29, Naik was informed by users in India that both websites had become inaccessible on multiple servers, he said. “Currently, I am exploring legal options,” Naik added. The government issued notices for blocking the websites under section 69A of the controversial IT Act, which empowers authorities to prevent the public from accessing information citing the “interest of sovereignty, integrity, and security” of India. The Supreme Court of India in 2022 had struck down another section of the IT Act that allowed the government to prosecute people for sending “offensive” messages online – multiple governments, across political parties, had used that section to arrest everyday civilian critics, from a cartoonist to a chemistry teacher. Al Jazeera reached out to India’s IT ministry for comments but has not yet received a response. Naik, a Kashmiri journalist living in the US since 2020, launched the Hindutva Watch website in April 2021. He is joined by 12 volunteers, spread across five countries, who work through different time zones to keep up with the documentation of rising hate crimes in India. Since its launch, Hindutva Watch has grown into a rare database that documents hate speech and violence against India’s religious minorities, which have escalated everywhere from major cities to smaller towns, yet often receive little mainstream press coverage in the country or outside it. The project has been documenting two to four hate events daily, nearly double the number of reported incidents from a year ago. Its critics, however, accuse Hindutva Watch, Naik and their coverage of being driven by a bias against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its political ideology, called Hindutva. Indian PM Narendra Modi, right, meets Elon Musk, chief of X, in New York on June 20, 2023 [Narendra Modi Youtube Channel via AP] Censorship fears The blocking of the websites comes two weeks after X – formerly known as Twitter – withheld the account of Hindutva Watch in India on January 16, following the government’s order under the IT Act. The X account of India Hate Lab was still accessible in India as of Wednesday morning. “While shocking, it’s not surprising, considering Prime Minister Modi regime’s history of suppressing free press & critical voices,” Naik wrote on X on January 16, reacting to the ban. “The suppression of our account in India only fuels our determination to continue our work undeterred.” Critics of the government have pointed to a growing climate of censorship involving X accounts in India since the platform was taken over by billionaire Elon Musk in November 2022. Last year, the company also withheld the accounts of US-based human rights groups – the Indian American Muslim Council and Hindus for Human Rights in India – in response to legal demands by the Modi government. “Not only is the Indian state rewriting history, the government does not want information, or any kind of documentation, of violence against minority groups,” said Suchitra Vijayan, an author and founder of The Polis Project, a New York-based research and media organisation. Describing Hindutva Watch as an “institution”, Vijayan said the group of volunteers had effectively used social media to highlight rights abuses against minorities in India. “The Indian government is literally going after anybody still thinking, writing and documenting,” she noted. The blocking of Hindutva Watch’s website in India is a part of a larger pattern, including “the absolute destruction of media in Kashmir,” she said, referring to a crackdown on independent news outlets and journalists in the region, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan and that both partly control. “A story of David versus Goliath,” she added. India’s ranking in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index slipped to 161 out of 180 countries, from 150 in 2022, as per the annual report by global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In 2014, when Modi came to power, India stood at 140. “In any democracy, this kind of violence against minorities should be 24/7 news. But it has been completely wiped out [in India],” Vijayan said. “Even an act of documenting [it] is seen as a threat.” Supporters of India’s ruling BJP light firecrackers as they celebrate winning elections in three states in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir [File: Mukhtar Khan/AP] Run-up to election In a September 2023 report, Hindutva Watch and India Hate Lab jointly analysed more than 255 documented incidents of hate speech aimed at Muslims and noted that 80 percent of the events took place in states governed by Modi’s BJP. About 70 percent of the incidents took place in states scheduled to hold elections in 2023 and 2024, the report added. The majority of the hate speech events mentioned conspiracy theories as well as calls for violence and socioeconomic boycotts against Muslims. India is headed towards a national election, likely to be held in April-May 2024. “There is a huge concern in the way that hate speeches will be used to incite people in the run-up to the elections,” said Geeta Seshu, an editor at Free Speech Collective, a media watchdog. Rather than obstructing the work of such projects, she added, the government should “see them as allies and not adversaries”. “Is the government trying to shield people that are committing illegal acts against the Constitution?” asked Seshu.