Top Biden official faces public staff revolt over ‘US-funded genocide’ in Gaza


USAID Director Samantha Power faced a public revolt from current and former staff condemning “U.S.-funded genocide” in Gaza when she attempted to deliver a speech on climate change in Washington on Tuesday.

Staff members, some of whom had quit just days prior to the speech, interrupted her and demanded that she resign.

“You wrote a book on genocide and you’re still working for the administration: You should resign and speak out,” said Agnieszka Sykes, who worked for USAID until quitting last week, according to The Washington Post.

A current USAID employee, Hannah Funk, accused the U.S. of “hypocrisy” and suggested the Biden administration had squandered its “moral authority” by supporting Israel.

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Samantha Power

USAID Director Samantha Power faced a public revolt from current and former staff condemning “U.S.-funded genocide” in Gaza when she attempted to deliver a speech on climate change in Washington on Tuesday.

“The U.S.-funded genocide in Gaza has really left us unable to be moral leaders on climate change and all the other pressing development and humanitarian issues those of us who work at USAID care so much about,” Funk told Power later in the event. “How are you leading us to reckon with and overcome this hypocrisy in U.S. foreign policy?”

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Power then reportedly went on to describe the situation in Gaza as “devastating” and stated that over 25,000 Palestinians have been killed. That data comes from the Palestinian health authority, a Hamas-run organization that Biden and the White House have said should not be trusted.

President Biden

President Biden’s administration shows signs of deep division over the president’s ongoing support for Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Nevertheless, Power defended Israel’s campaign as necessary to prevent any further attacks like the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.

“When Hamas leadership is at large, you know, those same kinds of attacks, the same kind of hostage-taking, the same kind of sexual assault, that can happen again,” she said.

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Power’s public spat with staff is only the latest sign of the growing division within the Democratic Party over Israel’s war against Hamas.

Israeli artillery

Democrats have shown signs of division over whether to continue supporting Israel’s war in Gaza. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

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Even interns at the White House have urged Biden to push for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, according to a letter first shared with NBC News and supported by more than 40 interns who work in the White House and other executive agencies. Biden has also faced criticism from within the Democratic Party by leftist “Squad” members and other politicians for not doing enough to push for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Fox News’ Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report



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House Republican cracks down on foreign cash funneled into US nonprofits


FIRST ON FOX: A new House Republican-led bill aims to crack down on the flow of foreign money to U.S.-based think tanks and charities.

Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital that he’s introducing the “Think Tank and Nonprofit Foreign Influence Disclosure Act” to increase awareness of where those groups get their cash from and whether foreign governments could be using them to promote views hostile to U.S. interests.

“We must pull back the curtain on foreign entities that seek to shape U.S. policy and public opinion through covert funding,” Gooden said.

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Lance Gooden and Russian and Chinese flags split image

A new bill by Rep. Lance Gooden aims to crack down on the flow of foreign money to U.S.-based think tanks and charities. (Getty Images)

“This legislation is a necessary measure to shed light on the unreported financing behind the research organizations and nonprofits shaping our foreign policy.”

Under his legislation, donations and other contributions to nonprofits made by other governments or political parties have to be publicly disclosed if the value exceeds $50,000.

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China's President Xi Jinping

China has been accused of trying to wage a foreign influence campaign in the U.S. through think tanks and cultural institutions. (Jack Taylor/Pool Photo via AP)

“Foreign governments and foreign political parties attempt to influence the government and political system of the United States through donations to nonprofit charitable organizations, especially think tanks and cultural organizations,” reads the bill text, obtained by Fox News Digital.

“While institutions of higher learning are required to disclose foreign gifts to the Department of Education pursuant to the Higher Education Act, no such requirement exists for think tanks.”

NEW GROUP LAUNCHES TO COMBAT CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY INFLUENCE ACROSS US: ‘POSES A MAJOR THREAT’

Under the Trump administration, the State Department urged think tanks that it engaged with to prominently disclose their sources of funding.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tightened transparency provisions around think tank donations. (David McNew)

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“We welcome diverse views when doing so. We are mindful, however, that some foreign governments, such as those of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation, seek to exert influence over U.S. foreign policy through lobbyists, external experts, and think tanks,” then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in October 2020.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden administration to find out whether the policy is still active under the Biden administration but has not heard back.



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Disputed Trump-backed Michigan GOP chairman invested thousands in company disposing aborted fetal remains


FIRST ON FOX: The newly elected chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, whose election is currently being disputed, invested thousands in a company targeted by pro-life activists for taking part in the disposal of fetal remains from abortion clinics, a financial disclosure obtained by Fox News Digital shows.

According to the 2017 disclosure filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., invested as much as $50,000 in Stericycle, Inc., one of the nation’s leading medical waste disposal companies that serviced abortion clinics like Planned Parenthood.

Despite a policy that it does not accept fetuses from clinics as medical waste, Stericycle reportedly disposed of such tissue from clinics across North America for years, making it the subject of a number of protests by local pro-life groups, including in 2019 by the group Grand Rapids Right to Life.

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The group had previously reportedly cut ties with hundreds of abortion centers, reiterating its policy against hauling aborted fetal waste, but continued servicing Planned Parenthood facilities while requiring them to certify no such remains were included in the refuge it transports.

Despite that, the continued ties with abortion centers has driven further protests against the company over the years. In 2012, then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney also faced criticism for being part of an investment group, Bain Capital, that reportedly invested millions in Stericycle.

When reached for comment, Hoekstra referenced his record as a staunchly pro-life member of the House. “I am opposed to abortion and believe I was scored at 100% pro-life voting record for most if not all of my eighteen years in Congress,” he told Fox News Digital.

FORMER GREEN BERET SHREDS ‘CRIMINALLY INCOMPETENT’ BIDEN, STRESSES NEED FOR MORE VETERANS IN CONGRESS

Stericycle protest

Protesters with Grand Rapids Right to Life protest outside Stericycle, Inc., a medical waste company that faced criticism for its role in disposing fetal remains from abortion clinics. (Screenshot/Grand Rapids Right to Life Facebook)

“My brokerage account managed by an outside investment adviser does not hold any Servicycle stock,” he added, but did not respond to questions concerning whether he agreed with the company’s past transportation of fetal remains.

Hoekstra served nearly two decades in Congress before being appointed as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands by former President Donald Trump, where he served from 2018-2021. He was elected as the new chair of the Michigan Republican Party on Jan. 20 by a faction of state party committee members that voted to oust chairwoman Kristina Karamo earlier this month.

The contention came about over a split in ideological differences within the organization, but has yet to be resolved since Karamo has refused to accept the vote and argues she is still in charge of the party.

VENTURE CAPITALIST, CONSERVATIVE FIREBRAND RAISES EYE-POPPING AMOUNT IN BID FOR ARIZONA HOUSE SEAT

Hoekstra

Former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., speaks during Herman Cain’s Revolution on the Hill Tax Day Rally in Washington on Monday, April 16, 2012. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Lawyers with the Republican National Committee, however, maintain that she was “properly removed.”

Trump waded into the dispute over the weekend, expressing his support for Hoekstra in a post on Truth Social.

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“I look forward to working with Ambassador Pete Hoekstra as Chairman of The Republican Party of Michigan. He is a winner who was a GREAT Congressman from Michigan and, likewise, did a fantastic job as Ambassador to the Netherlands. Pete will make The Republican Party of Michigan GREAT AGAIN, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be its Chairman — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” he wrote.



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Media meltdown: Why journalism is battered and bleeding


Let’s start with the good news.

With a flick of a finger, more information is instantaneously available than at any time in human history. Stories, columns, opinions, video, photos, music, movies, texts, social media, streaming, podcasts. There are more ways to consume–desktop, phone, tablet, smartwatch–and infinitely more ways to voice your views.

Okay, enough of that.

The news business is in a tailspin. Firings and layoffs and buyouts are decimating its ranks. Publications and websites are folding. Revenue is plunging. Credibility is at an all-time low. And AI is starting to gobble up jobs.

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Worst of all, after the pandemic, scandals and impeachments, economic anxiety and political gridlock, interest in news is declining.

In L.A. they’re always worried about the Big One. For media people it feels like the earthquake has already struck.

The billionaire owner of the once-mighty Los Angeles Times, Patrick Soon-Shiong, has fired the editor and more than 20 percent of its staff, devastating the Washington bureau and several key units. The billionaire owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, has given buyouts to 240 staffers, decimating the metro staff and losing many of the paper’s biggest names.

If newspapers aren’t owned by these wealthy moguls, they’re increasingly controlled by hedge funds whose strip-mining tactics have reduced them to a skeleton of their former selves.

LA Times Gascon

The Los Angeles Times has endorsed District Attorney George Gascón for re-election  (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

From Vice to Vox, from Time (15 percent laid off) to Business Insider (8 percent), from Sports Illustrated (blown up) to BuzzFeed News (shuttered), the carnage is everywhere.

And just yesterday, the Messenger, a news and aggregation site launched by Jimmy Finkelstein, former owner of the Hill, shut down after less than a year, having lost $38 million and some staffers lured from top publications.

CNN just had a major round of layoffs. Cable news audiences are aging, and cord-cutting is growing in popularity. 

It’s not just that the voracious Internet broke the business model; that happened a quarter-century ago. It’s that there seems to be no end in sight. 

“Journalists across the country burst into flames of panic this week, as bad news for the news business crested and erupted everywhere all at once,” writes Jack Shafer in Politico.

The impact is greatest on local reporting, with far fewer folks to check up on their city halls and statehouses, especially in smaller markets.

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“No matter how many heroic nonprofit newsrooms like the Baltimore Banner and Daily Memphian take root, no matter how many Substack-like newsletters blossom or creators emerge to drop their videos on YouTube, you can’t deny the journalism business’ decline,” Shafer writes.

What’s remarkable to me is how many of these pieces, and there have been many, overlook the importance of political bias. Republicans have been complaining about a liberal tilt since I began to read newspapers. Now, in the Trump era, half the country believes the media have become the opposition party, determined to block their man from returning to the White House. But during the Biden presidency, a growing percentage of those on the left have lost trust in the business as well.

You have Red and Blue America, each filled with anger, each side viewing the other as evil and dangerous, with the press having forfeited its standing as a neutral arbiter of facts. 

“What makes this so unnerving,” says the Atlantic, “is the fact that the meltdown has come amid—and in seeming defiance of—a generally booming economy. The ranks of professional journalists keep declining even as overall unemployment stays low, incomes rise, and the stock market reaches new heights.” 

cnn logo red letters

ATLANTA, GEORGIA – NOVEMBER 17: A person walks past the headquarters of the Cable News Network (CNN) on November 17, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. CNN’s CEO and Chairman, Chris Licht, has confirmed that the company will begin layoffs in early December.  (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The author, Paul Farhi, a longtime media reporter for the Washington Post, just took the paper’s buyout.

“What’s more, a presidential-election cycle tends to produce a surge of readers, viewers, and advertisers as people pay closer attention to the news. Not this time, at least so far.”

Beyond news fatigue, Farhi notes, “Facebook has steadily reduced the amount of news that users see in their feed, wiping out a major source of traffic.” I’d add that Google has gobbled some of that revenue as well.

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There are obviously exceptions. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Boston Globe are strong franchises. Fox News exceeds the prime-time ratings of CNN and MSNBC combined. But even television networks feel compelled to pour money into online shows and pay sites.

“Will journalism become a hobby like scrapbooking or street busking, done on the cheap or for donations, but one without much of a career path?” Politico asks.

RUSSIAN-INVASION-JOURNALISTS-KYIV

(REUTERS/Serhii Nuzhnenko)

I’m more pessimistic than I’ve ever been, and there’s no easy solution. Some say government subsidies are needed, but that raises serious conflict questions. And if zillionaires can’t revive newspapers and magazines, what hope is there for ordinary companies and local owners?

I do think that just as television didn’t wipe out radio, journalism will have to morph into new and more compelling forms to survive. Who would have thought even three years ago that everyone and their brother-in-law would have a podcast?

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But people are willing to pay monthly fees for Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV and the like, though they are going through a belt-tightening wave as well, with Spotify having just axed 17 percent of its staff. 

If news outlets can’t convince most of the public that their product is worth buying, they bear the ultimate blame.



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White House does victory lap on handling of East Palestine disaster


The White House is doing a victory lap on its response to the derailment of a train hauling toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, last year as President Biden prepares to visit the site for the first time.

The administration’s media blitz Wednesday comes nearly 12 months after the disaster which occurred in early February 2023, and sparked fears of widespread contamination of the region’s air and water supply. In the aftermath of the event, the federal government led by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took action to clear the derailment site, remove waste and implement new rail safety measures.

“We have been at work here at the U.S. Department of Transportation throughout this entire process and we’ll continue to do so. Safety is our department’s main reason for being. Whether it’s aviation safety, roadway safety or railway safety, it is always our top priority,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters Wednesday. “All of this was at stake and continues to be at stake in the response to what happened one year ago.”

“For many, it’s been a year of fear, a year of uncertainty and a year of change,” added EPA Administrator Michael Regan. “We recognize times have been very challenging. That’s why I’m so thankful for the leadership of President Biden, who mobilized this whole-of-government response to support the people of East Palestine, Ohio, and supported the United States Environmental Protection Agency as we worked hard to hold Norfolk Southern accountable, clean up this mess and restore this tight-knit community.”

EAST PALESTINE RESIDENTS GRILL BIDEN FOR NOT YET VISITING SITE OF MAJOR TRAIN DERAILMENT: ‘WE’RE NOT OK’

Pete Buttigieg at presser

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks during a news conference near the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 23, 2023. (Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The White House also announced Wednesday that Biden would visit the site in East Palestine at some point next month to witness the ongoing cleanup effort. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said shortly after the incident that Biden would visit the site, but those plans never came to fruition last year.

When pressed in September about why he hadn’t made the visit, Biden said he hasn’t “been able to break.”

EAST PALESTINE RESIDENT EXPERIENCING LESIONS, STOMACH PAIN, SHORTNESS OF BREATH SINCE TRAIN DERAILMENT

Overall, according to federal data released on Friday, the EPA has shipped an estimated 176,787 tons of solid waste and 44.4 million gallons of wastewater from the site since February. Workers have also completed all planned excavation and continue to backfill as test results indicate contaminated soil has been removed. 

EPA admin in Eats Palestine

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan answers questions in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Orsagos)

In addition, the White House highlighted additional federal work testing air quality, supporting local community members, investigating the cause of the derailment and monitoring potential health impacts to nearby residents. The work involves EPA, the Department of Transportation, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Agriculture.

OFFICIALS REVEAL BEHIND-THE-SCENES DECISION TO VENT TOXIC CHEMICALS AFTER EAST PALESTINE TRAIN DERAILMENT

“On behalf of FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and the entire Biden-Harris administration, I want to reiterate and express that our agency is committed and we will continue to be with the people of East Palestine as they transition to long-term recovery support,” Anne Bink, the associate administrator for FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, said Wednesday.

Ohio plume

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains on Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, file)

However, despite his administration’s work clearing the area, Biden failed to ever issue a national disaster declaration which Ohio officials repeatedly requested. In July, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine sent a letter to Biden doubling down on his request and, one month later, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, urged FEMA to grant DeWine’s request to “unlock additional resources from the federal government.”

“It’s our responsibility to do everything possible to help them recover. I will continue to do all in my power to support the families and small businesses of East Palestine,” Brown wrote to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. “Now it is your time to step up and provide the support that only FEMA can.”

REPUBLICANS PROBE EPA ON WHY EAST PALESTINE WASTE SENT TO INDIANA AFTER DEMS OBJECTED TO MICHIGAN

In September, Biden signed an executive order ordering FEMA to appoint a federal disaster recovery coordinator to oversee cleanup efforts. But he declined to grant Ohio’s disaster declaration request, instead choosing to hold the request open pending future developments.

“We’re continuing to provide federal coordination through the appointment of the federal disaster recovery coordinator to support the identification of unmet needs in East Palestine,” a senior administration official told reporters Wednesday. “That was one of our major charges through the executive order. We’re continuing to do that right now.”

“But that work remains ongoing, and it’s really premature to judge what additional federal resources may be required at this time,” the official added. “As more information is known, we’ll certainly share it.”

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On Feb. 3, 2023, a train carrying vinyl chloride, a dangerous colorless gas, and operated by the transportation company Norfolk Southern Railroad derailed in East Palestine, which is located along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Shortly after the derailment, Norfolk Southern opted to release the gas from the derailed cars, potentially releasing deadly fumes into the air, to prevent a potentially disastrous explosion.

Local residents were told to evacuate the area during the release, but were assured it was safe to return less than a week later. Experts, though, expressed concern that the air and water was not safe.

“This really looks like a nuclear winter,” Sil Caggiano, a local hazardous materials specialist, told Fox News at the time. “Pretty much, yeah, we nuked this town with chemicals.”



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Republicans unveil legislation reversing Biden’s moratorium on natural gas permitting


FIRST ON FOX: Senate Republicans on Wednesday introduced legislation that would prevent the Biden administration from moving forward with its moratorium on liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits.

The Unlocking Domestic LNG Potential Act — authored by Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Tim Scott, R-S.C., and cosponsored by 16 fellow Senate Republicans — seeks to “depoliticize” LNG exports by eliminating the Department of Energy’s (DOE) authority to greenlight such permits. The effort comes days after the White House and DOE paused permits for LNG export terminals over their potential climate impacts.

“President Biden’s move to halt American energy exports is pure politics,” Scott said Wednesday in a statement. “In fact, exporting U.S. natural gas would actually lower global emissions.”

“President Biden is dead set on bowing to the far-left and making the U.S. and our allies more reliant on foreign adversaries like Russia,” he continued. “Instead, I’m fighting to unleash America’s abundant natural resources, bolster our energy independence and safeguard our national security.”

TRUMP ENERGY SECRETARY, REPUBLICANS BLAST BIDEN FOR BOWING TO ‘ELITE ENVIRONMENTAL LOBBY’

Scott at a committee hearing

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks during a Senate hearing on May 7, 2020. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Scott’s bill would amend the Natural Gas Act of 1938, giving the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) exclusive authority to approve or deny applications for the siting, construction, expansion or operation of LNG export projects. And in approving or rejecting permits, FERC would be required to “deem the importation or exportation of natural gas to be consistent with the public interest.”

The cosponsors of the bill are GOP Sens. Mike Crapo of Idaho, James Risch of Idaho, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, Joni Ernst of Iowa, John Hoeven of North Dakota, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Rick Scott of Florida, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Ted Budd of North Carolina, Katie Britt of Alabama, John Thune of South Dakota, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and John Kennedy of Louisiana.

REPUBLICANS PROBE CCP-TIED NONPROFIT FUNNELING MONEY TO US ECO GROUPS

On Friday, President Biden ordered the DOE to pause pending permits for LNG export facilities while federal officials conduct a rigorous environmental review assessing the projects’ carbon emissions, which could take more than a year to complete. The action is a major victory for eco-activists who have loudly called for such a move, even threatening to hold large protests over the issue.

President Biden ordered pending natural gas export projects to be halted in a stunning move Friday. The action was cheered by environmentalists who oppose fossil fuel development. (Getty Images)

In a statement Friday, the president said the pause on LNG permitting was a part of his sweeping climate agenda, saying the action “sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time.” He also took aim at “MAGA Republicans” for willfully denying the “urgency of the climate crisis.”

However, energy experts and Republicans have argued that LNG exports are critical for maintaining low energy prices in the U.S., helping American allies to wean off Russian gas and decrease global carbon emissions.

BIDEN VETOES BIPARTISAN BILL PROTECTING U.S. EV INDUSTRY FROM CHINA

“It is an act of economic hostility to withhold U.S. LNG supply from the allies we have promised it to, particularly in the midst of ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Europe,” said former Energy Secretary Rick Perry. “The Biden moratorium on LNG permits will empower Putin while killing jobs in Pennsylvania. It will hamstring American national security by forcing our allies back to Russia and Qatar for their energy supply.”

The Asia Vision LNG carrier ship sits docked at the Cheniere Energy Inc. terminal in this aerial photograph taken over Sabine Pass, Texas, U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. Cheniere said in a statement last month. Cheniere Energy Inc. expects to ship the first cargo of liquefied natural gas on Wednesday to Brazil with another tanker to be loaded a few days later, marking the historic start of U.S. shale exports and sending its shares up the most in more than a month. Photographer: Lindsey Janies/Bloomberg via Getty Images

An LNG carrier ship sits docked at the Cheniere Energy terminal in Sabine Pass, Texas. (Lindsey Janies/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“It will also result in an increase in emissions by withholding the most effective tool we have to improve the climate,” Perry continued. “It is a grave mistake for President Biden to reverse course and bow to the elite environmental lobby who do not represent the best interests of the American people and our allies overseas.”

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While it is unclear which proposed projects the action will affect, a senior administration official said at least two have a larger capacity and two have a smaller capacity. Another official added that the pause implemented Friday will only impact projects that have gone through FERC’s lengthy approval process and are ripe for DOE approval.

According to federal data updated last week, there are 11 projects that have been greenlit by FERC but are not yet under construction. An additional four projects are pending before FERC and two are in the pre-filing stage. Those six projects wouldn’t be impacted by the pause since they are not before the DOE yet, but would be impacted if approved by FERC.



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Biden accuser Tara Reade sues DOJ, seeks millions in damages over ‘FBI operation’


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Tara Reade, the woman who came forward in 2020 with a sexual assault allegation against then-candidate Joe Biden, is suing the Department of Justice over alleged misconduct.

A lawyer for Reade filed a tort claim on Wednesday seeking $10 million “for infliction of emotional distress and anxiety” following what was described as an “FBI operation” that was conducted after she came forward with her accusation against Biden. The tort claim alleges Reade’s Fourth Amendment right was violated as well as violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and state privacy laws. 

Included in the tort claim was a July 2020 grand jury subpoena issued to Twitter from the US District Court for the Eastern District of California demanding all records pertaining to Reade’s Twitter accounts.

TARA READE FIRES BACK AFTER JEN PSAKI CLAIMS BIDEN ALLEGATIONS WERE ‘HEAVILY LITIGATED’ DURING ELECTION

Tara Reade

Biden accuser Tara Reade is seeking $10 million in damages from the DOJ over its alleged actions against her after she came forward with her sexual assault claim. (Darin Hayes Photography)

The tort claim outlines several allegations against the FBI, insisting it was behind suspicious occurrences like disruptions in her bank accounts and a manuscript of her book that had gone missing from a FedEx shipment in November 2020 that further detailed her claims against Biden. 

“The United States should not have a two-tiered justice system,” Reade’s attorney Jonathan Levy said in a statement. “If President Trump and Mr. Giuliani can be assessed tens of millions in damages for their words; a weaponized FBI that seeks to silence, intimidate and eliminate Joe Biden’s victim, Tara Reade, must also be held accountable; failing to do so means our justice and legal system has become an instrument of political oppression and suppression.”

The DOJ declined to comment. 

Last month, Reade’s lawyer sent a letter to the DOJ Inspector General’s Office requesting the release of all FBI files it has on her and to expunge any cases.  

TARA READE RIPS NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNISTS FOR CLASSIFYING BIDEN ASSAULT CLAIM AS ‘SEX SCANDAL’

DOJ sign

Reade’s attorney alleges an “FBI operation” was conducted against her when she first came forward with other women in 2019 accusing Biden of inappropriate touching. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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Reade came forward in 2020 alleging Biden had sexually assaulted her on Capitol Hill in 1993 while she served as his Senate staffer. Biden denied her claims. 

Last year, Reade made headlines when she revealed she had moved to Russia citing safety concerns. 



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Dead, not on arrival: Where the bipartisan border deal stands in Congress before anyone has even seen it


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Lawmakers often disparage reporters when they ask about hypotheticals. But Senate conservatives scorched the hypothetical bipartisan border security package. Even before they saw it.

“This could cause as many problems as it solves,” predicted Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

But some on the right were out to kill the bill long before they even knew much about the bill. Frustrated, they complained about a lack of information dribbling out from the tightly held negotiations.

“We’re asking the questions. We’re not getting the answers,” lamented Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc.

CONGRESS KEEPS GOING LIKE A BROKEN RECORD ON SPENDING, BORDER, SHUTDOWN FIGHTS

Sen. John. Kennedy, R-La., said he wasn’t much of a soothsayer. But Kennedy seemed to know who might be clued in.

“One of the gentlemen under the interstate living on a refrigerator box knows more about it than I do,” said Kennedy.

Conservatives opposed the border bill – long before there was much to know about it. But they had particular enmity for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. They railed at McConnell for even fostering the talks and assigned motive to McConnell’s machinations.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has long been an opponent of Russian geopolitical machinations.

(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

“Sadly, Mitch McConnell’s enemies are conservatives in the Senate and House Republican leadership,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., didn’t channel his inner, legislative shaman to divine what might be in the Senate bill. But Johnson warned last week that the border package was “dead on arrival.” During his maiden floor speech as Speaker, Johnson practically performed karaoke of Adele’s “Rumour Has it” as he blasted what he’s heard about the bill via the Congressional grapevine.

Senate conservatives are trying to protect Johnson. They accused McConnell and other members of the GOP Senate brass of “waging war” on the Speaker and aligning instead with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“The Republican leadership is like Charlie Brown with Lucy and the football,” charged Cruz. “Over and over again, they run for the football. And over and over again. ‘Lucy Schumer’ pulls it away and Republican leadership lands on their ass.”

SPEAKER JOHNSON GIVES HIS BLESSING TO BIPARTISAN DEAL: ‘PRO-GROWTH’

That’s one way of saying the GOP’s problems with the bill are behind them.

Democrats abhorred pre-emptive maneuvers to kill the bill – before there is a bill.

“Attempts to sabotage negotiations before they even finish must be shunned by the membership of this body,” warned Schumer.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., drew most of the ire since he’s the lead GOP negotiator in the talks.

Lankford on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON – JANUARY 23: Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., speaks to reporters as he arrives for a vote in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, January 23, 2024.  (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“I think James is smart. He’s hardworking. He knows the issue,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., on FOX. “He’s on a suicide mission.”

Nothing like a backhanded compliment instantaneously morphing into a left cross.

That’s why Lankford needed backup.

“For anybody to think that James Lankford from a ruby red state with the subject matter expertise that he has on the border is going to do something soft, it is beyond my comprehension,” said a bewildered Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. 

Lankford found himself explaining gossip that the bill might allow as many as 5,000 people to migrate illegally to the U.S. each day.

CORI BUSH UNDER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATION OVER ALLEGED MISUSE OF SECURITY FUNDS

“This is not about letting 5,000 people in a day. This is the most misunderstood section of this proposal,” said Lankford on FOX. “This bill focuses on getting us to zero illegal crossings a day. There’s no amnesty. It increases the number of border patrol agents. It increases asylum officers.”

McConnell has been the most ardent backer in Congress of sending money to Ukraine. But after seeing pushback from Republicans about assisting Ukraine last fall, McConnell decided to condition money destined for Kyiv to an effort to secure the border. That launched the bipartisan talks which ran through the holidays. However, McConnell told GOP senators last week that the party was “in a quandary” over money for Ukraine and fixing the border. McConnell declared that the “politics on this have changed.” That briefly cast doubt as to whether the border bill – or for that matter, Ukraine funding – was on ice. But McConnell continued to back the border negotiations – even though many conservatives castigated the discussions.

Yours truly asked McConnell if it was a mistake to marry Ukraine aid to the border negotiations.

“I always thought it would be a challenge and it has been,” replied McConnell. “But it’s time for us to move something, hopefully, including the border agreement.”

However, McConnell seemed to crack the door open to possibly breaking off international aid from the border plan.

“I don’t know how it’s going to end up being presented,” said McConnell. 

Former President Trump condemned the border security effort, characterizing the measure as “horrific.” Some Trump loyalists expressed concern that passing a border bill might boost President Biden. So they protested against the legislation.

Donald Trump, Joe Biden split

Given the stakes of a Trump-Biden rematch this year, Walling said he believes “many of those 13% of Democratic primary voters will come home to the Biden-Harris ticket.” ( Chip Somodevilla, Julia Nikhinson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

That upset another group of Republicans.

“The idea that, that someone running for president would say, ‘Please hurt the country, so I can blame my opponent and help my politics’ is a shocking development,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

When asked if he was doing Mr. Trump’s bidding and trying to kill the bill, Johnson called that “absurd.”

Lankford lamented the topsy-turvy changes in the political landscape.

“It’s interesting. Republicans, four months ago, would not give funding for Ukraine and Israel,” said the Oklahoma Republican on FOX. “So we locked arms together and said ‘We’re not going to give you money for this. We want to change the law.’ And now it’s interesting a few months later when we’re finally going to the end, they’re like ‘Oh, just kidding. I don’t want to change the law because it’s a presidential election year.’”

There is still – still – no legislative text.

One source close to the talks told FOX indicated the bill might grow more complicated as lawmakers need to add provisions to potentially respond to the attacks which killed U.S. troops in northeastern Jordan over the weekend.

Some GOPers believe Democrats are desperate for a border pact ahead of the election.

“I think President Biden has every reason in the world to want to deal here,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “It’s a nightmare for him.”

But other conservatives argued the border bill was simply a façade to score money for Ukraine. That falls on the shoulders of McConnell. And McConnell is facing an internal, conservative revolt. Some conservatives accused McConnell of trying to scapegoat former President Trump if the border talks falter.

“I think it’s blaming somebody else for his poor negotiating tactics and trying to actually get a secure border,” said Ron Johnson.

Johnson added on FOX Business that “the priorities of Mitch McConnell are wrong,” saying “they are more concerned about Ukraine and protecting its border than our own.” 

Democrats lament efforts to use the border, and, for that matter, Ukraine, as a wedge.

“There are a group of Republicans that don’t want to fix this problem,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

Yet the border bill sits on ice.

“We have the outlines of a deal. We’ve had it for several days. It’s 90 plus percent written,” said Murphy.

And consider that the above quote from Murphy came last week.

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But Sen. John Kennedy opined that maybe the border bill was dead. Not on arrival. But because it never arrived.

“It may be that our time has passed,” said Kennedy. “I think a month ago the votes were there. When you have your votes, you take them. You don’t keep negotiating and dithering.”



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Funding gap closes in NC governor race, but Robinson still GOP frontrunner


  • Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina has once again clocked in as the top fundraiser in his party’s gubernatorial primary.
  • Salisbury-based trial lawyer Bill Graham, another Republican, has raised $2.9 million, compared to Robinson’s $3.4 million. However, $2.8 million worth of Graham’s campaign arsenal was funded by Graham himself.
  • Incumbent Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is term-limited and cannot legally seek reelection. He has endorsed state Attorney General Josh Stein to succeed him.

Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson remained the top fundraiser in the GOP primary campaign for North Carolina governor entering 2024, but a recent rival has used his own personal fortune to compete with him monetarily.

Robinson’s campaign said it raised close to $3.4 million for the second half of 2023, according to campaign finance reports due late last week at the State Board of Elections. Bill Graham, a Salisbury trial lawyer who announced his bid for the Republican nomination in October, loaned his campaign $2.8 million of the $2.9 million it had collected through Dec. 31, his campaign’s report said.

Graham, whose personal loans have helped him run television advertising statewide, had said in October that he would invest “at least $5 million of his own resources” in the campaign. Graham, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2008, told The Associated Press in an interview in January that he was on track to spend that amount for the March 5 primaries.

NORTH CAROLINA CHANGES SAME-DAY VOTER REGISTRATION RULES AFTER FORMER PROCESS RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL

On the Democratic side, Attorney General Josh Stein’s gubernatorial campaign had an overwhelming monetary advantage over his four other primary rivals, including former state Supreme Court Associate Justice Mike Morgan, who announced his candidacy in September. Current Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is term-limited from running again this year and has endorsed Stein to succeed him.

Mark Robinson announces governors bid

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson arrives for a rally where he announced his candidacy for governor, Saturday, April 22, 2023, at Ace Speedway in Elon, North Carolina. (Robert Willett/The News & Observer via AP)

Stein’s campaign raised $5.7 million in the last six months of 2023 and had almost $11.5 million in cash entering January — large numbers aligned with what the Josh Stein for North Carolina organization announced a few weeks ago that it would report to the State Board of Elections. His campaign has taken in $16.9 million since early 2021.

Morgan’s campaign report said it raised $119,300 during the second half of 2023 and had $32,100 in cash entering January.

Robinson, a candidate popular within the GOP base and aligned with former President Donald Trump, highlighted in a news release the $9.9 million that his campaign reported raising since early 2021 and nearly $4.3 million in cash on hand. Graham’s campaign finance report said it had $161,600 in cash starting the new year. Robinson also reported more than 31,000 contributions from July through December.

State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who is also seeking the Republican nomination, reported raising $111,900 in the second half of 2023, his report said. He was sitting on almost $1.3 million in cash entering January, which came in large part from $1 million he loaned his campaign last June.

Other Democratic candidates for governor — Gary Foxx, Marcus Williams and Chrelle Booker — reported minimal or no activity during the most recent reporting period.

While finance campaign reports were due at the board Friday, several gubernatorial candidate filings weren’t posted online by the state elections board until this week.

Robinson’s and Stein’s campaigns have largely focused on each other and a potential general election competition, should they both win their primaries. But Graham and Folwell have criticized Robinson, questioning his ability to win in a November matchup in light of harsh comments and social media postings addressing LGBTQ+ people and the role of women.

Graham, who counts U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., among his supporters, has run TV advertisements citing past Robinson posts that discuss Jews and the Holocaust as evidence that he’s not suitable to serve as governor. Robinson’s campaign has pushed back, saying that his comments are being distorted and that he’s a strong supporter of Israel.

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Robinson, in turn, has attacked Graham in speeches about his lawsuits involving hog farm operations in eastern North Carolina. Graham rejected accusations from Robinson that local farmers were punished in the litigation.



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Trump contradicts Biden’s demand for legislation to secure the border: ‘I didn’t have a bill’


Former President Trump took an apparent swipe at President Biden amid White House calls for a border security deal that he “didn’t have a bill” when his administration had “the most secure border in history.”

Trump’s comments Wednesday came after Biden earlier this week claimed he had done everything he could do to secure the U.S. border.

BIDEN CLAIMS ‘I’VE DONE ALL I CAN DO’ TO SECURE THE BORDER

Biden told reporters as he was departing the White House Tuesday that “I’ve done all I can do. Just give me the power.” 

“I asked them the very day I got into office,” Biden said. “Give me the Border Patrol. Give me the judges. Give me the people who can stop this.” 

Trump, the 2024 GOP frontrunner, appeared to contradict Biden’s claim and urged Republicans to avoid entering the border deal, which is still being negotiated in the Senate.

President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden walks on the South Lawn to board Marine One before departing the White House on December 08, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“There’s never been a border like this ever in the world,” Trump said, adding that a “bad border deal would be worse than no deal at all.”

“You don’t need a deal to tighten up the border to make it secure,” he continued. “I had the most secure border in history. I didn’t have a deal. I didn’t have a bill.

“I said no people are coming in, no drugs are coming, and we don’t want to have human trafficking, which nobody even talks about. That is the No. 1.”

Trump added: “You have the right to close up your border… You don’t need bills.”

Trump went on to say the individuals illegally crossing are individuals U.S. officials know nothing about.

Former President Donald Trump in New Hampshire

Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump points to supporters at the conclusion of a campaign rally at the Atkinson Country Club on January 16, 2024 in Atkinson, New Hampshire. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

“Right now, we have no idea who these people are that are pouring into our countries,” Trump said. “Last night I watched where they’re beating a police in New York City, a gang of people that just came in that didn’t speak English. Nobody knows who they are, where they come from. And very importantly, they come from, I can tell you they come from jails and prisons. They come from mental institutions and insane asylums.”

He added: “And they’re terrorists. They have a lot of terrorists coming too, and we don’t want them. I’m sorry, you know, we had a very strong border.”

MAYORKAS LASHES OUT AT ‘BASELESS’ GOP ALLEGATIONS AHEAD OF KEY IMPEACHMENT VOTE 

President Biden has requested $14 billion in funding for the border as part of its supplemental funding request to Congress, which also includes aid to Ukraine and Israel. The request is being negotiated in Congress after Republicans demanded more limits on asylum and migrant releases into the interior.

Biden has urged Congress to pass the deal, but House Republicans and some conservatives in the Senate have said the reported proposals do not go far enough.

Yuma Arizona border

Immigrants wait to be processed by the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the border from Mexico, with the U.S.-Mexico border barrier in the background, on August 6, 2022 in Yuma, Arizona.  (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)

The Biden administration has said it has been expanding “lawful pathways” for migrants while increasing consequences for illegal entry into the U.S. since the ending of Title 42 expulsions in May last year. It has pointed to more than 500,000 removals since May, as well as increased cooperation with Mexico to crack down on human smugglers and fentanyl trafficking. 

The administration also says it has been increasing removal flights — including directly to Venezuela. However, it has stressed that it needs more funding and comprehensive immigration reform to fix what it says is a “broken” system. 

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Migrant numbers officially hit 302,000 in December, a new record, after 2.4 million encounters in FY23. Republicans have said that large releases into the interior and a rolling back of Trump-era policies have fueled the crisis and have accused Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of a “dereliction of duty” in his handling of it.  

The House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday approved, along party lines, two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas — teeing up a floor vote as early as next week to impeach the embattled Biden official.



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Biden tops Trump in new poll, but lead shrinks against third-party candidates


President Biden holds a six-point lead over former President Donald Trump in a likely November election rematch, a new national poll suggests.

But the Quinnipiac University survey released on Wednesday indicates that the president’s advantage over Trump shrinks in a multi-candidate general election field that also includes independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The poll also shows Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley topping Biden by five points in a hypothetical November showdown, but Biden with a slight edge over the former South Carolina governor and former U.N. ambassador in a crowded field of contenders.

The survey also indicates that Biden and Trump are the overwhelming favorites to win the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING IN THE 2024 RACE

Joe Biden campaigs in South Carolina ahead of Democratic presidential primary

President Biden speaks at the First in the Nation Celebration held by the South Carolina Democratic Party at the State Fairgrounds, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in Columbia. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr.)

According to the poll, which was conducted Jan. 25-29, Biden leads Trump 50%-44% among registered voters nationwide, up from a razor-thin one-point edge in Quinnpiac’s December survey.

But a compilation by Real Clear Politics of all the most recent national surveys polling a Biden-Trump rematch indicates the former president with a 2.5-point margin over the White House incumbent.

The new Quinnipiac survey indicates Biden with a 96%-2% margin among Democrats and a 52%-40% advantage among independents, while Trump enjoyed 91%-7% support among Republicans.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

The survey also spotlights a widening gender gap, with women backing Biden 58%-36%, up 10 points from December, and men supporting Trump 53%-42%, which is mostly unchanged from last month.

“The gender demographic tells a story to keep an eye on. Propelled by female voters in just the past few weeks, the head-to-head tie with Trump morphs into a modest lead for Biden,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said.

Trump New Hampshire victory speech

Former President Donald Trump delivers remarks alongside supporters, campaign staff and family members during his primary night rally on Jan. 23, 2024, in Nashua, New Hampshire. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

But Biden’s lead shrinks in a potential five-candidate November showdown.

The poll indicates the president at 39%, Trump with 37%, Democrat turned independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 14%, progressive independent candidate Cornell West 3%, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein 2%.

Haley has repeatedly argued on the campaign trail that she would be a stronger GOP presidential nominee than Trump to face off with Biden in the general election, and the new poll gives Haley further ammunition.

She tops Biden 47%-42% in a hypothetical two-person November showdown, according to the poll.

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But in a five-candidate field, Biden stands at 36%, with Haley at 29%, Kennedy 21%, West 3%, and Stein 2%.

Trump, the commanding frontrunner for the GOP nomination as he makes his third straight White House run, won this month’s Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary – the first two contests in the Republican presidential nominating calendar – by double digits.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley speaks after results came in for the primary during a watch party in Concord, New Hampshire, on Jan. 23, 2024. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

Haley faces a steep uphill climb for the nomination as the race moves to her home state, which holds the next major contest in the GOP schedule on Feb. 24.

The poll indicates Trump crushing Haley 77%-21% among GOP and Republican-leaning voters.

In the Democratic presidential primary race, the president stands at 78% support, with author Marianne Williamson at 11% and Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota at 6%.

The Quinnipiac poll questioned 1,650 self-described registered voters nationwide, with an overall sampling error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.



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Florida DMV won’t allow trans people to change their gender on driver’s licenses


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Florida Democrats are accusing Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Republicans of waging an attack on transgender people after Florida’s DMV issued a policy change stating that genders on driver’s licenses can no longer be altered. 

The new directive from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles surfaced late last week in a memo sent to county tax collectors saying that it has rescinded guidance that previously “directed personnel to issue a new license in the event that a licensee wished to alter the gender marker on his or her license.” 

“Under s. 322.17 F.S., the Department can issue a replacement license only when a license or permit is lost or stolen, or when there is a subsequent change in the licensee’s name, address, or restrictions,” Florida HSMV Deputy Executive Director Robert Kynoch wrote. “Furthermore, the term ‘gender’ in s. 322.08, F.S., does not refer to a person’s internal sense of his or her gender role or identification, but has historically and commonly been understood as a synonym for ‘sex,’ which is determined by innate and immutable biological and genetic characteristics. 

“Additionally, a driver license is an identification document and, as such, serves a critical role in assisting public and private entities in correctly establishing the identity of a person presenting the license,” he added. “Permitting an individual to alter his or her license to reflect an internal sense of gender role or identity, which is neither immutable nor objectively verifiable, undermines the purpose of an identification record and can frustrate the state’s ability to enforce its laws.” 

FLORIDA HIGH SCHOOL FINED, PUT ON PROBATION OVER TRANS PARTICIPATION ON GIRLS VOLLEYBALL TEAM 

Florida DMV office and transgender flag

A Florida DMV office in Miami and a person holding a transgender flag. Florida has issued a policy change no longer allowing gender changes on driver’s licenses. (Monique O. Madan/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images | Reuters/Demetrius Freeman)

Kynoch concluded the memo by writing that “misrepresenting one’s gender, understood as sex, on a driver license constitutes fraud under s. 322,212, F.S., and subjects an offender to criminal and civil penalties, including cancellation, suspension, or revocation of his or her driver license.” 

Florida state Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani ripped the policy change as “another gross example of how every state agency has been weaponized to attack trans people.  

“Florida Republicans’ obsession with trans people has to stop,” added Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried. “Instead of addressing our raging property insurance crisis or out-of-control rent hikes, the GOP continues to pursue blatantly transphobic policies to serve their made-up culture wars. Erasing and criminalizing trans people is absolutely disgusting and can’t be allowed to stand. 

FEDERAL JUDGE SIDES WITH DESANTIS ON TRANSGENDER ATHLETES, UPHOLDS BAN ON BIOLOGICAL MALES ON FEMALE TEAMS 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Florida Gov. DeSantis recently suspended his 2024 presidential campaign and endorsed Trump. (DeSantis 2024)

“We’ve seen state agencies continually weaponized under Ron DeSantis, and this rule change at DHSMV serves the same purpose as the rest – allowing right-wing extremists to get the wildly unpopular policies they want without having to go on the record as voting for them,” she added. 

DeSantis spokesperson Jeremy Redfern, when asked for a response to the outcry, told Fox News Digital, “We believe the memo speaks for itself.” 

Florida HSMV spokesperson Molly Best also told Fox News Digital, “Upon appointment as executive director by Gov. DeSantis in January of last year, Director [Dave] Kerner tasked senior Department leadership with ensuring our policies, procedures and technical guidance/advisories were consistent with both statutory law and the Department’s inherent authority. 

Florida State Rep. Anna Eskamani speaks

State Rep. Anna Eskamani addresses students and others at a rally to protest Florida education policies outside Orlando City Hall on April 21, 2023, in Florida. (Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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“Expanding the Department’s authority to issue replacement licenses dependent on one’s internal sense of gender or sex identification is violative of the law and does not serve to enhance the security and reliability of Florida issued licenses and identification cards,” she also said. “The security, reliability and accuracy of government-issued credentials is paramount.” 



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American Arabs, Muslims refuse to meet with Biden campaign director in key battleground state


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President Biden is facing an electoral revolt among Arab and Muslim voters in Michigan who are outraged by his ongoing support for Israel, with top community leaders refusing to meet with Biden’s campaign manager this weekend.

Arab Americans living in Michigan have traditionally been reliable Democrats, with Biden carrying over 75% of the vote in the Arab-majority city of Dearborn in 2020. That voting block is now under threat, however, with some members of the community launching an “abandon Biden” campaign in protest of his handling of Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza.

Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud says the war in Gaza is issue “number one, two and three” for his voters, according to The Washington Post.

Hammoud was among a group of roughly a dozen leaders in Michigan’s Arab and Muslim communities to refuse a meeting with Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez when she visited the state this weekend. State Rep. Alabas Farhat said they will continue to refuse to meet with Biden until he calls on Israel to accept a cease-fire agreement, the Post reported.

DEAN PHILLIPS SAYS HE HAD A ‘VERY DIFFICULT EPISODE’ WITH FRIEND RASHIDA TLAIB OVER ISRAEL’S RIGHT TO EXIST

President Joe Biden

Arab and Muslim leaders in Michigan say they will not support President Biden until he calls on Israel to accept a cease-fire in Gaza. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

“When elected officials view the atrocities in Gaza only as an electoral problem, they reduce our indescribable pain into a political calculation,” Hammoud wrote on X about his decision to skip the meeting.

RASHIDA TLAIB MEMBER OF SECRET FACEBOOK GROUP WHERE HAMAS TERRORISTS GLORIFIED

Gaza City airstrike damage

Destruction from Israeli airstrikes is seen in Gaza City. (AP/Adel Hana)

Michigan is essentially a must-win state for Biden come Election Day in November. He carried the state by just over 150,000 votes against former President Trump in 2020. The Arab and Muslim communities in the state number roughly 300,000, meaning significant defections could swing the pendulum toward Republicans in November.

RASHIDA TLAIB CALLS ISRAELI PM NETANYAHU ‘GENOCIDAL MANIAC,’ TAKES SHOT AT FELLOW DEMS WHO BACK HIM

Amer Zahr, a Michigan resident and former campaign surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., rejected arguments that Arab voters were effectively supporting Trump, the leading GOP nominee, by rejecting Biden.

“We’re not going to respond to the lesser of two evils argument, we are going to reject that,” Zahr told the AFP. “We’re not going to be held responsible for the alternative.”

Donald Trump wearing a red make america great again hat

Many Arab residents in Michigan have rejected arguments that Arab voters were effectively supporting former President Trump, the leading GOP nominee, by rejecting President Biden. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

“We’re not supporting Joe Biden under any circumstances – or any politician frankly – that is not willing to simply call for a cease-fire,” he added.

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Biden is set to visit Michigan in person on Thursday ahead of the state’s Democratic primary in February.



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Haley targets Biden and Trump in ‘Grumpy Old Men’ spoof


Question: What does a box office hit from three decades ago about two curmudgeonly neighbors have to do with the 2024 presidential campaign?

Answer: The movie “Grumpy Old Men” shares its title with a new digital and video effort by Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley to take aim at 77-year-old former President Trump and 81-year-old President Biden.

In a news release Wednesday, Haley’s campaign pointed to a slew of public opinion polling over the past year which indicates that a majority of Americans are anything but enthused about a Biden-Trump presidential election rematch in November.

Haley’s campaign calls it the “rematch no one wants.”

HALEY HAULS IN BIG BUCKS FROM BOTH WALL STREET AND MAIN STREET

Haley targets Biden and Trump in 'Grumpy Old Men' spoof

An image from a new series of videos and digital spots from GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s campaign, which target President Biden and former President Trump over their age and cognitive abilities. (Nikki Haley presidential campaign)

“Nearly 50% of Republicans and 70% of Americans don’t want to watch ‘Grumpy Old Men’ stumble across America when our country is on the brink and the world is on fire,” Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas argued. “Sadly, this version of ‘Grumpy Old Men’ offers no comic relief — just chaos, confusion, and a bad sense of déjà vu for the American people.” 

Haley, a former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, turned 52 a week and a half ago. She is the last remaining major candidate challenging the former president, who is the commanding frontrunner for the Republican nomination as he makes his third straight White House run.

RNC AVERTS FOOD FIGHT OVER TRUMP-HALEY PRIMARY BATTLE

The new series jabs at Biden and Trump over potential signs of cognitive decline, their anything but robust campaign schedules, and blames them for the high inflation Americans have been dealing with in recent years.

Haley made headlines when she jumped into the White House race a year ago by calling for mental competency tests for candidates who are 75 or older, which would apply to both the incumbent president and former president.

Republican presidential candidate former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event at The North Charleston Coliseum, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in North Charleston, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)

For months, Haley has promoted herself as a “new generational leader” that can steer the GOP into the future and that America is “ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past,” which is a none too subtle knock at Biden and Trump.

Starting last month, Haley started more overtly focusing on the president’s age. “I’ll just say it, Biden’s too old,” she said in a campaign commercial.

In her stump speeches, Haley has repeatedly said “we all know 75-year-olds that can run circles around us. And then we know Joe Biden.”

Haley has upped her criticisms of Trump in recent days, after the former president made some well publicized verbal gaffes.

She has argued that Trump has appeared “confused” and charged that his attacks on her after she won 43% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary last week were “totally unhinged.”

Additionally, she has spotlighted Trump’s age in recent fundraising emails to supporters.

Former President Donald Trump campaigns in Las Vegas ahead of GOP caucus

Republican presidential candidate former President Trump motions before speaking at a campaign event Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Loche)

The former president, responding to the questioning of his cognitive abilities, said this past weekend at a rally in Nevada that he feels “sharper now than I did 20 years ago.”

Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt argued in a statement to Fox News on Wednesday that “the only people who will be grumpy this election are Nikki Haley who has no pathway to victory, Joe Biden who is losing to President Trump in every single battleground state, and all of their Democrat donors when they are defeated by President Trump.”

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Fox News reached out to the president’s re-election campaign, but did not receive a response at the time this story was posted.

Joe Biden campaigs in South Carolina ahead of Democratic presidential primary

President Biden speaks at the First in the Nation Celebration held by the South Carolina Democratic Party at the State Fairgrounds, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in Columbia, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr.)

Thanks to his double-digit wins this month in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary — the first two contests on the GOP presidential nominating calendar, Trump is in the driver’s seat to win the nomination.

Haley, who is vowing to stay in the race at least through Super Tuesday in early March, is aiming to slow Trump’s momentum in her home state, which on Feb. 24 holds the next major contest in the GOP schedule. However, she faces a steep uphill climb.

A Haley aligned super PAC is blasting a new ad on South Carolina airwaves that takes aim at Trump. It includes a line Haley uses in her stump speeches, that “the first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate is going to be the party that wins this election.”

Longtime Republican strategist David Kochel noted that “most voters don’t want this rematch, so Haley’s playing into a message that has a lot of popular sentiment in the country.” 

However, Haley’s spotlight on Biden and especially Trump’s age and mental abilities could backfire among a GOP primary electorate that trends older than the overall voting population.

“Whether it is an effective tool inside the Republican primary electorate remains to be seen. None of this stuff has worked yet in terms of beating Trump,” noted Kochel, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns who remains neutral this cycle. “It’s much better in a general election context.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.



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Senator Joe Manchin’s wife was in car crash involving suspect fleeing police


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West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s wife was hospitalized Tuesday after her car was hit by a suspect fleeing police, authorities said. 

Police say the accident happened while Gayle Manchin was traveling from the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport to an area hotel with her colleague, Guy Land. Manchin was injured in the wreck but is in “stable condition,” according to a statement released by her husband on Tuesday. 

That afternoon, officers initiated a pursuit involving a suspect wanted on felony charges, according to the Homewood Police Department

Police units pursued the vehicle through North Birmingham onto 18th Street North but lost contact with the suspected vehicle in the 1300 block of the street, authorities said. 

SEN. JOE MANCHIN’S WIFE HOSPITALIZED AFTER CAR CRASH IN ALABAMA, IN ‘STABLE CONDITION’

Joe Manchin and Gayle Manchin

Sen. Joe Manchin and Gayle Manchin arrive to attend a state dinner in honor of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted by President Biden and first lady Jill Biden at the White House on June 22, 2023. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Homeland Police continued on 18th Street North and found that the suspect vehicle had collided with another vehicle at the intersection of 18th Street North and 15th Avenue North. 

Land was the driver in the other vehicle, and Gayle Manchin was the passenger. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Services were called to the scene to attend to their injuries. Both were transported to the UAB Gardendale Hospital.  

The suspect was apprehended without incident. 

“The Homewood Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division is currently investigating this case and is in the process of obtaining multiple felony warrants against the suspect,” Homeland Police said. 

MANCHIN HINTS AT POTENTIAL THIRD PARTY RUN AFTER SUPER TUESDAY

Sen. Joe Manchin walks with his wife Gayle Conelly Manchin in the Senate subway at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 4, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Edelman/Getty Images)

The suspect is currently being held at Homewood City Jail pending arrest warrants. 

Gayle Manchin had traveled to Alabama for an Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) event. She is the federal co-chair of ARC, which describes itself as an “economic development partnership entity of the federal government and 13 state governments focusing on 423 counties across the Appalachian Region.”

Land, the organization says, is an ARC congressional liaison.

“While they were driving from the airport to their hotel, another vehicle struck their car,” ARC said in a statement. 

MANCHIN ‘ABSOLUTELY’ CAN SEE HIMSELF AS PRESIDENT, THINKS BIDEN HEALTH OR TRUMP CONVICTION COULD GIVE OPENING

Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin

Sen. Joe Manchin questions Securities and Exchange Commission Chairmain Gary Gensler as Gensler testifies before the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee July 19, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Sen. Manchin, meanwhile, has been teasing a potential third-party presidential bid after Super Tuesday on March 5.

“Super Tuesday pretty much confirms whatever is going to happen, what we believe will happen, and we’ll see where we go from there,” Manchin told reporters last week.

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“But people are looking for options, and we’re going to be looking at that, too,” he added. Whether it’s me or whoever it may be, I think there’s going to be options available if it goes down the way it’s going down.”

Manchin announced he would not seek re-election for his Senate seat last year, creating speculation about whether he’d make a bid in the 2024 presidential race. Manchin started a nationwide campaign called “Americans Together,” aiming to unite the country’s moderate voters away from the “extremes” of the left and right. 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman, Jamie Joseph and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.



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Kentucky bill would downgrade college IDs as voter identification


College-issued student ID cards won’t carry the same weight as a form of photo identification at polling places if a bill that advanced Tuesday in Kentucky’s legislature becomes law.

The Senate voted to revise the state’s voter identification law by removing those student IDs from the list of primary documents to verify a voter’s identity.

The bill — which would still allow those student IDs as a secondary form of identification — won Senate passage on a 27-7 vote and heads to the House. Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers.

KENTUCKY SENATE REVIEWS BILL AIMED AT IMPROVING STUDENT TRANSPORTATION

Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams, a key supporter of the state’s 2020 voter ID law, has expressed opposition to the new legislation.

Supporters of the bill insist that the change would be no impediment to students’ ability to vote.

Students have other forms of primary documents, such as a driver’s license, to present at polling places, they said. If the bill becomes law, college ID cards could be used as a secondary form of identification enabling them to cast a ballot after attesting to their identity and eligibility to vote, supporters said.

Kentucky state Sen. Adrienne Southworth speaks

Kentucky state Sen. Adrienne Southworth is seen here speaking at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort, KY, on Jan. 2, 2024. She is the lead sponsor of the bill to remove college-issued student IDs as a primary document that can be used to verify a voter’s identity. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)

“Anybody in college can read that affidavit and sign it and vote,” Republican Sen. Gex Williams said. “So there is absolutely, positively no impediment to voting with a student ID as a secondary ID.”

Republican Sen. Adrienne Southworth, the bill’s lead sponsor, said it makes a needed change to tighten the list of primary documents, which enable Kentuckians to “show it, no questions asked” at polling places.

“We need to be more careful about what we just have listed out there as approved without question,” Southworth said in an interview afterward. “It’s our job to make the election system as good as possible.”

Adams — whose mantra while in office has been to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat — has raised concerns about the bill’s potential impact on the voter ID law enacted in 2020. Adams has said the voter ID law was carefully crafted to try to ensure success against any court challenges.

“Secretary Adams is concerned that if this bill becomes law it could put the current photo ID law in jeopardy,” his spokeswoman, Michon Lindstrom, said in a statement Tuesday.

Senators opposing the bill said the Bluegrass State’s election system is working well and expressed concerns about what impact the change would have on voter participation among college students.

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“We are sending the wrong signal to our young people,” said Sen. Gerald Neal, the top-ranking Democrat in the Senate.

Kentucky has avoided the pitched fights over election rules that have erupted elsewhere in the country. During that time, Kentucky successfully expanded voting and avoided claims of significant voter irregularity, Democratic Sen. Karen Berg said Tuesday. In 2021, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear signed GOP-passed legislation allowing three days of no-excuse, early in-person voting before Election Day.

The new bill would make another change to Kentucky’s election law by no longer allowing credit or debit cards to be used as a secondary document to prove a voter’s identity.



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Judge orders Wisconsin elections officials to change absentee ballot rules


  • A Wisconsin judge has issued a ruling instructing the state elections commission to implement a decision allowing election clerks to accept absentee ballots with partial witness addresses.
  • Wisconsin’s recent presidential elections were extremely close, with margins under 23,000 votes, indicating another tight race.
  • Republicans have been pushing to tighten absentee ballot rules since Trump’s 2020 defeat in Wisconsin.

A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday ordered the state elections commission to implement his ruling allowing election clerks to accept absentee ballots that have partial witness addresses, a decision that is expected to expand the number of ballots that will be counted in the battleground state.

Each of the last two presidential elections in Wisconsin was decided by fewer than 23,000 votes. Polls show another razor-tight race this year between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Ever since Trump’s defeat in Wisconsin in 2020, Republicans have been fighting in court to tighten the rules to limit how many absentee ballots can be accepted.

WISCONSIN REPUBLICANS WOULD MAINTAIN MAJORITY IN PROPOSED LEGISLATIVE MAPS, BUT WITH REDUCED DOMINANCE

State law requires absentee ballots to be submitted with a witness’ signature and address on the outside envelope that contains the ballot. Three separate lawsuits were filed related to those rules.

Poll workers sort out early and absentee ballots at the Kenosha Municipal Building on Nov. 3, 2020, in Kenosha, Wis. A Wisconsin judge has ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission to implement his ruling allowing election clerks to accept absentee ballots that have partial witness addresses. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

Dane County Judge Ryan Nilsestuen earlier this month ruled, in two cases brought by liberals, that a ballot can still be accepted even if a witness address omits municipalities and ZIP codes, or simply say “same” or “ditto” if the witness lives with the voter. The Republican Legislature fought to have the case dismissed.

Nilsestuen on Tuesday ordered the elections commission to approve guidance no later than Feb. 9 that would direct clerks on what ballots can be accepted. Nilsestuen stressed that he wanted to move quickly given the upcoming Feb. 20 primary for local elections. Wisconsin’s presidential primary and spring general election is April 2.

The Republican-dominated Legislature’s attorney, Kevin LeRoy, said he planned to ask for the ruling to be put on hold pending an appeal. The judge scheduled a Friday hearing on that.

The case is expected to go to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

But first, the state elections commission will likely vote Feb. 8 on approving guidance for Wisconsin’s more than 1,800 local clerks in line with the judge’s order. The local clerks are the ones who run elections and receive the absentee ballots that don’t always have all of the witness address information.

“We’ll try to turn it around as fast possible,” Thomas Bellavia said. “WEC wants this system to work.”

The elections commission published guidance in 2016 saying that a witness address “contain at a minimum, a street number, street name and municipality,” but that clerks could fill in missing address information, known as ballot curing. The practice was unchallenged until after Trump’s narrow loss in 2020 when he tried to have more than 220,000 absentee ballots tossed out in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn his defeat.

Among those he wanted to not count were about 5,500 absentee ballots where clerks filled in missing information on the witness’ address.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling in December 2020 rejecting Trump’s lawsuit noted that state law wasn’t clear on what constitutes an address for witnesses.

A Waukesha County judge sided with Republicans in 2022 and ruled that election clerks can’t fill in missing address information on absentee ballot envelopes. The elections commission withdrew its guidance following that ruling.

However, the judge did not say in that order what constitutes an address.

That led to the filing of a pair of related lawsuits in Dane County, which argued that because there was no longer any state guidance, and the Waukesha County ruling didn’t say what counts as a complete address, clerks didn’t know what to do.

The lawsuits were filed by Rise Inc., a liberal group that mobilizes young voters, and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin.

The judge on Tuesday spelled out four ways a witness address could be accepted with some missing information.

WISCONSIN GOP TO PROPOSE TAX CUTS FOR FAMILIES EARNING UP TO $200K

He said that a witness address can be accepted if it includes the street number, street name and municipality, but neither a state name nor a ZIP code or with everything except a municipality and state name. It would also be acceptable if the witness includes the same street number and street name as the voter, but no other address information is provided.

And it would also be allowed if the witness indicates their address is the same as the voter’s by saying “same,” “same address,” “same as voter,” “same as above,” “see above,” “ditto,” or by using quotation marks or an arrow or line pointing to the other address.

The Legislative Audit Bureau in 2021 reviewed nearly 15,000 absentee ballot envelopes from the 2020 election across 29 municipalities and found that 1,022, or about 7%, were missing parts of witness addresses. Only 15 ballots, or 0.1%, had no witness address. Auditors found that clerks had corrected addresses on 66 envelopes, or 0.4% of the sample.



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Biden to travel to East Palestine nearly one year after train derailment disaster


President Biden will travel to East Palestine, Ohio in February to mark the one-year anniversary of the disastrous train derailment in the town, a White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Biden was heavily criticized at the time of the incident for never visiting the community in the weeks and months that followed. The official says Biden will discuss his administration’s “comprehensive, whole-of-government response” to ensure railroad safety.

Earlier this month, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked whether President Biden still had plans to visit East Palestine, Ohio. She told reporters, “The president will visit when it’s most helpful to the community.”

Fox reached out to East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway to find out when he thought the most helpful time would be, and he told Fox, in “my personal opinion the best time for him to come would be February of 2025 when he is on his book tour.”

EAST PALESTINE RESIDENTS GRILL BIDEN FOR NOT YET VISITING SITE OF MAJOR TRAIN DERAILMENT: ‘WE’RE NOT OK’

President Joe Biden

President Biden will travel to East Palestine, Ohio in February to mark the one-year anniversary of the disastrous train derailment in the town, a White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Conaway additionally told FOX, “The President is always welcome to our town,” adding, “that being said, I don’t know what he would do here now.”

EAST PALESTINE RESIDENT EXPERIENCING LESIONS, STOMACH PAIN, SHORTNESS OF BREATH SINCE TRAIN DERAILMENT

Several other East Palestine residents spoke out against Biden in September for not visiting the town. Local residents Courtney Miller, DJ Yokley and Jami Wallace spoke with “FOX & Friends” guest host Dr. Nicole Saphier about the struggles they endured since the disaster that spewed toxic chemicals and caused health and environmental concerns.

A large plume of smoke rises over East Palestine, Ohio

Local Ohio residents blasted Biden for not visiting after a train derailment spewed toxic chemicals and caused health and environmental concerns. ((AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar))

Biden had claimed in September that he simply hadn’t had time with his busy schedule to visit the Ohio town.

“I still have yet to take my kids into East Palestine — I’m still fearful of what it’s going to cause,” Miller told Saphier about her situation.

She added that most of the people she knows in the area have “ended up sick,” and mentioned she’s been staying in a motel near the town since the derailment.

OFFICIALS REVEAL BEHIND-THE-SCENES DECISION TO VENT TOXIC CHEMICALS AFTER EAST PALESTINE TRAIN DERAILMENT

“I just still don’t feel comfortable,” she continued. “And I don’t want to take my kids into something that obviously Biden doesn’t even want to show up [at].”

Biden’s lack of a visit came in contrast to former President Trump, who met with residents of East Palestine on February 22, 2023, just weeks after the incident. Joining him was Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio.

Washington , D.C.  – February 22 :  Former President Donald Trump looks at Little Beaver Creek and Water Pumps as he visits East Palestine, Ohio, following the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern freight train derailment on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio.  (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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“You are not forgotten. We stand with you. We pray for you. And we will stand with you and your fight to help ensure the accountability that you deserve,” Trump told the crowd at the time. “The community has shown the tough and resilient heart of America. And that’s what it is. This is really America right here. We’re standing in America.”

Fox News’ Patrick Ward and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report



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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

Andrew Yang at FreedomFest

Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang speaks at FreedomFest in Las Vegas on July 16, 2022 (Fox News Digital)

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’

Democrat Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips

Representative Dean Phillips, a Democrat from Minnesota and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, center, speaks during a New Hampshire primary election night event in Manchester, New Hampshire, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. (Mel Musto/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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.”

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Andrew Yang and Dean Phillips

Andrew Yang endorses Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips in New Hampshire. (Dean Phillips Streamed Event)

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.



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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

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought charges against former President Donald Trump on election interference, is taking heat from all sides. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

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

Fani Willis and Nathan Wade

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade (Getty Images)

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’

Fani Willis speaks

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks during a worship service at the Big Bethel AME Church, where she was invited as a guest speaker on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, in Atlanta. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

“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.”

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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. 



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