Obama silent on resignation of Harvard’s Claudine Gay amid reports about his efforts to try to save her job
Former President Obama reportedly went to bat for Harvard University’s now-former president behind the scenes in an attempt to keep her in the university’s top role, but he has been silent since the resignation announcement ignited a firestorm on social media. A confidential source familiar with the matter told Jewish Insider in late December that Obama, a Harvard graduate, had privately lobbied on Claudine Gay’s behalf after her congressional appearance about antisemitism and threats against Jewish students on the Ivy League campus. “It sounded like people were being asked to close ranks to keep the broader administration stable, including its composition,” the source said of Obama’s involvement. Obama’s push to save Gay’s job was an unsuccessful one. Gay announced Tuesday that she is stepping down as the school’s president but is staying on as a member of the faculty. CRITICS CHEER RESIGNATION OF ‘ANTISEMITIC PLAGIARIST’ HARVARD PRESIDENT CLAUDINE GAY: ‘BYE FELICIA’ Fox News Digital reached out to Obama’s office multiple times for comment, but did not receive a response. “This is not a decision I came to easily,” Gay wrote in her resignation letter to the Harvard community. “Indeed, it has been difficult beyond words because I have looked forward to working with so many of you to advance the commitment to academic excellence that has propelled this great university across centuries. But, after consultation with members of the Corporation, it has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual.” Gay’s tenure as the shortest Harvard presidency in the university’s history came to a close after she testified before Congress last month and struggled to answer a direct question from New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik about condemning genocide against Jewish people as something that violated Harvard’s code of conduct. HARVARD MUST RID ITSELF OF ‘CULTURAL ROT’ IN WAKE OF GAY RESIGNATION, SAYS ADVOCATE FOR JEWISH STUDENTS After her congressional testimony, Gay issued an apology and the university’s board ultimately decided to stick by her despite widespread calls from donors and members of Congress for her ouster. The hearing came in response to rising antisemitism at American universities following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel. After the testimony, Gay found herself facing dozens of plagiarism allegations first reported on by the Washington Free Beacon that included this claim: “In a 2001 article, Gay lifts nearly half a page of material verbatim from another scholar, David Canon, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin.” The total number of plagiarism allegations against Gay are near 50, or “half of Gay’s published works,” according to the Free Beacon. HARVARD MUST RID ITSELF OF ‘CULTURAL ROT’ IN WAKE OF GAY RESIGNATION, SAYS ADVOCATE FOR JEWISH STUDENTS “Elise Stefanik won,” Indiana GOP Rep. Jim Banks posted on X on Tuesday. “Barack Obama lost.” “Neither the resignation from Claudine Gay nor the statement from the Harvard Corporation included any apology for the morally bankrupt testimony,” Stefanik posted on X after Gay’s resignation. “Neither statement included any mention of their failure to protect Jewish students on campus or a pledge to combat antisemitism. As I said, this is just the beginning of a reckoning.” Fox News Digital’s Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.
House GOP majority to shrink again in time for potential government shutdown showdown
The House of Representatives is again teetering on the edge of a government funding showdown as House Republican leaders prepare for their majority to be whittled down to just two. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that he will resign from Congress effective Jan. 21 to be Youngstown State University’s next president. That’s right in the middle of Congress’s two government funding deadlines. Under a continuing resolution (CR) passed late last year, the House and Senate must reach an agreement to fund certain agencies by Jan. 19 and others by Feb. 2. But the narrow two-seat margin Johnson will leave behind won’t last long. Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., said in November that he would leave Congress in February. HOUSE LEAVES FOR THE YEAR WITH CRITICAL BATTLES STILL ON HORIZON Fox News Digital reached out to Higgins’ office multiple times to ask about an exact resignation date. If he stays past the first two days of the month, however, House Republicans will have little wiggle room in bipartisan negotiations on avoiding a government shutdown if a plan is not put in place by Feb. 2. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s departure, effective Dec. 31, reduced the GOP to a three-seat majority just days before Johnson’s plans were announced. WHERE NO CONGRESS HAS GONE BEFORE: FACING GALACTIC-SCALE FISCAL CLIFF AND BORDER SECURITY THREATS Some House Republicans shrugged it off when asked by Fox News Digital in late December, including GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore, R-Utah, who said their situation with Johnson and McCarthy leaving would not be much different than the four-seat majority House Republicans had been operating under for most of 2023. “It’s tough to operate in a four-seat [majority], it’s tough to operate in a two-seat [majority]. We’ve got to be judicious in what we get done and do something that we can all get behind,” Moore said. But others who spoke to Fox News Digital about McCarthy’s departure were more wary. Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., said after McCarthy’s announcement last month, “Between God, gravity, indictments and retirements, we’re one day away from losing the majority, depending on what happens.” SENATE HAS ONLY PASSED 3 OUT OF 12 SPENDING BILLS AS DEADLINE LOOMS Any government funding deal will have to be bipartisan, with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., currently working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on a top-line figure. But it will be more difficult for Republicans to extract the kind of conservative policies that they fit into several House-passed appropriations bills last year if they can only lose two House Republican votes to pass bills. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Schumer said he is hopeful that a bipartisan deal will be reached in time to avoid a shutdown. “We’re getting quite close,” the New York Democrat said. “I’m hopeful that we can get a budget agreement soon, and I’m hopeful that we could avoid a shutdown, given the progress we’ve made. That is certainly not out of the question, as some people have said it would be.”
Haley pushes back but does not categorically rule out being Trump’s running mate
Nikki Haley says derogatory suggestions in recent weeks by two of her top rivals for the Republican presidential nomination that she’s hoping to serve as former President Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate are a clear signal they are “losing.” But Haley, the former South Carolina governor who later served as ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, once again passed on an opportunity to categorically deny she would join Trump on the Republican ticket should the former president win the party’s nomination. In a Fox News Digital interview Tuesday ahead of a town hall in New Hampshire, Haley reiterated she is running to win. “I have said from the very beginning I don’t play for second. It’s offensive for anybody to think that I would do all of this to play for second. And so I have said that. I will continue to say that. If people aren’t satisfied with that, I don’t know what else to say,” Haley said. FIRST ON FOX: HALEY FUNDRAISING SOARS THE PAST THREE MONTHS Haley has surged in the polls over the past month in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP nominating calendar. And in Iowa, whose Jan. 15 caucuses lead off the Republican schedule, Haley’s pulled even with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for a distant second place behind Trump, who remains the frontrunner for the GOP nomination as he makes his third straight White House run. GOP NOMINATION RACE: WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES FOR DONALD TRUMP In recent weeks, DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who’s in third place in the latest polls in New Hampshire, have taken aim at Haley for not being vocal enough in her criticism of Trump. Both candidates have argued Haley has an ulterior motive. “She will not answer directly, and she owes you an answer to this: Will she accept a vice presidential nomination from Donald Trump? Yes or no?” DeSantis said at a town hall in New Hampshire last month. “I can tell you under any circumstance, I will not accept that because that’s not why I’m running,” the Florida governor added. “I’m running for the nomination and to be president.” The DeSantis campaign last month launched a website with a URL of trumpnikki2024.com, which included a video suggesting Haley may serve as Trump’s No. 2 in the general election. Christie, on multiple occasions over the past month, including a town hall in New Hampshire and in a CBS News interview, has emphasized that, “Ron DeSantis and I have both ruled out accepting the vice presidency from Donald Trump. Nikki Haley has not.” “That’s why she’s not saying strong things against Donald Trump,” Christie argued. Haley has frequently repeated that she is not running for second place in the GOP 2024 presidential primary. And early last month, when a voter at a town hall in Iowa pressed Haley on whether she’d settle for the vice presidential nomination, Haley shook her head and made a throat-slashing gesture. This week, when asked about the attacks from Christie and DeSantis, Haley told Fox News, “They’ve criticized me for everything. Let’s be clear. That’s what happens when you’re losing. “We’ve got a race to win. We intend to win it. We’re going to do it fair and square and, at the end of the day, we’re going to make sure America is strong.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
California beats every state for most residents moving away for fourth year in a row: U-Haul list
For the fourth year in a row, liberal California topped U-Haul’s Growth Index list for having the largest net outbound movers in 2023. U-Haul publishes its Growth Index report every year, analyzing the difference between the number of one-way U-Haul trucks coming into a state or city and those leaving. If a mover relocates from California to Texas, for example, that would be calculated as Texas’s gain. “While one-way transactions in 2023 remained below the record-breaking levels we witnessed immediately following the pandemic, we continued to see many of the same geographical trends from U-Haul customers moving between states,” John “J.T.” Taylor, U-Haul International president, said in a statement Tuesday. For the past three years, Texas secured the highest count of movers using one-way U-Haul moving equipment, maintaining its position at the summit of the moving company’s Growth Index. CATHOLIC FRIARS OF CALIFORNIA FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY AMID NEARLY 100 SEX ABUSE CLAIMS Terry Gilliam, founder of the “Leaving California” Facebook group, said the continuing exodus “is no surprise” to conservatives in the deep-blue state. “All you have to do is look at the continuing move left by California and you can see why middle-class and upper-class taxpayers — the producers — are leaving,” Gilliam, whose Facebook group has more than 100,000 members, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. Gilliam lived in California for 25 years and moved to Florida two years ago. His group has grown so much that it now includes a list of moving resources for residents planning to leave the Golden State. “The gas tax — already the highest in the country — goes up every July 1st. Most utilities just received permission for a double-digit increase in rates, which are already more than double the national average for rates,” he continued. “Add to the above the cost of ever-increasing regulations, continuing resentment over pandemic mandates — with possibly more to come — transgender discussions with young children in school, and talk of raising taxes even more to cover an inept state government’s $68 billion deficit.” According to U.S. Census data, California lost more than 75,000 people in 2023. NEW CALIFORNIA LAW WILL CHANGE THE WAY POLICE OFFICERS INTERACT WITH DRIVERS, PEDESTRIANS But which states are former Californians moving to? Texas has held the top spot on the U-Haul Growth Index six times in the last eight years, with half of all one-way U-Haul moves boosting its 2023 lead. Florida, another consistent top choice for newcomers, closely follows Texas, and North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee are also ranked high among preferred destinations for relocating Californians. More than half of all one-way U-Haul rentals in and out of Texas significantly fueled the state’s growth, U-Haul data showed. “While U-Haul migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the U-Haul Growth Index is an effective gauge of how well states and cities are attracting and maintaining residents,” the report reads. According to U-Haul, there are more than 2 million one-way U-Haul truck trips annually in the U.S. and Canada. CALIFORNIA TO FINE STORES THAT DON’T HAVE ‘GENDER NEUTRAL’ KIDS TOY SECTION Similar to Texas, U-Haul’s assessment of California’s standing appears to match U.S. Census records. Between 2021 and 2022, more than 817,000 people left California, surpassing the approximately 475,000 arrivals during the same period. Census data also indicates population declines in blue states like Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
‘They want to call me on pretext of…’: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on ED summons
The 55-year-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor refused to depose before the Enforcement Directorate for the third time on Wednesday.
YS Sharmila, Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Reddy’s sister, joins and merges her party with Congress
YS Sharmila, joined the Congress party in the presence of Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the All India Congress.
ED raids premises of Haryana Congress MLA, ex-INLD legislator, 20 other locations in ‘illegal mining’ case probe
The Enforcement Directorate raided Haryana Congress MLA Surender Panwar and former INLD legislator Dilbag Singh
Fire breaks out at AIIMS Delhi, damages furniture and office records
According to the Delhi Fire Services, the fire broke out inside the director’s office in the teaching block on the second floor of the hospital.
Initial tranche of nearly 950 Epstein court documents released
Papers include names of dozens of powerful men who associated with financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The names of dozens of prominent men with alleged links to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein have been publicly released after court files that formed part of a 2015 case brought by one of Epstein’s main accusers were unsealed. The depositions and statements were part of a long-settled defamation case brought by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite who was once Epstein’s girlfriend. Maxwell was jailed for 20 years in 2022 for sex crimes she committed with Epstein, who socialised with bankers, royalty and celebrities before pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008. He died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. New York judge Loretta Preska ruled last month the documents could be unsealed, saying there was no legal justification for keeping them private. The first tranche of documents – running to nearly 950 pages (PDF) – began to be released on Wednesday night. More papers are expected to be unsealed or unredacted in the coming days. Dozens of women have accused Epstein of forcing them to provide sexual services to him and his guests at his private Caribbean island and homes he owned in New York, Florida and New Mexico. The latest documents include references to men including former United States presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, Britain’s Prince Andrew, billionaire Tom Pritzker, and lawyer Alan Dershowitz. The appearance of the names in the court papers is not evidence of wrongdoing and does not indicate that the men face allegations. Many have previously denied the claims made or having knowledge of Epstein’s activities. Prince Andrew was stripped of most of his royal titles due to his association with Epstein and settled a civil lawsuit with Giuffre last year for an undisclosed sum. Maxwell, the daughter of British media tycoon Robert Maxwell, is appealing her conviction. Giuffre accused Maxwell of recruiting her when she was underage for Epstein to abuse. Preska, who is overseeing the case, ruled that some names would remain confidential, including those of people who were children when Epstein abused them. Adblock test (Why?)
Security tightened outside Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s residence amid AAP’s claims of possible arrest by ED
The ED issued a third summons to CM Kejriwal on December 22 last year, in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor scam case, asking him to appear before the agency on January 3.