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McConnell Backs Post-Jan. 6 Revisions to Elections Law (AP)

MARY CLARE JALONICK Tuesday, 27 September 2022 05:27 PM EDT

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he will “proudly support” legislation to overhaul rules for certifying presidential elections, bolstering a bipartisan effort to revise a 19th century law and avoid another Jan. 6 insurrection.

The legislation would clarify and expand parts of the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which, along with the Constitution, governs how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential winners. The changes in the certification process are in response to unsuccessful efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden.

“Congress’ process for counting the presidential electors’ votes was written 135 years ago,” McConnell said. “The chaos that came to a head on Jan. 6 of last year certainly underscored the need for an update.”

McConnell made the remarks just before the Senate Rules Committee voted 14-1 to approve the bill and send it to the Senate floor, where a vote is expected after the November election. The only senator to vote against the legislation was Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, one of two senators to stand and object to Biden's certification last year.

The GOP leader’s endorsement gave the legislation a major boost as the bipartisan group pushes to pass the bill before the end of the year and ahead of the next election cycle. Trump is still maintaining he was the victim of election fraud and saying he won the election as he considers another run in 2024.

Among the Republicans on the Rules panel who voted for the bill shortly after McConnell's statement were Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, one of only eight senators to vote against Biden's certification, and Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, a strong Trump ally.

The House has already passed a more expansive bill overhauling the electoral rules, but it has far less Republican support. While the House bill received a handful of GOP votes, the Senate version already has the backing of at least 12 Republicans — more than enough to break a filibuster and pass the legislation in the 50-50 Senate.

Senators made minor tweaks to the legislation at Tuesday’s meeting but kept the bill largely intact. The bill, written by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, would make clear that the vice president only has a ceremonial role in the certification process, tighten the rules around states sending their votes to Congress and make it harder for lawmakers to object.

If it becomes law, the bill will be Congress’ strongest legislative response yet to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, in which protesters broke into the Capitol and interrupted the joint session as lawmakers were counting the votes. Once the rioters were cleared, the House and Senate rejected GOP objections to the vote in two states. But more than 140 Republicans voted to sustain them.

Differences between the House and Senate bills will have to be resolved before final passage, including language around congressional objections.

While the Senate bill would require a fifth of both chambers to agree on an electoral objection to trigger a vote, the House bill would require agreement from at least a third of House members and a third of the Senate. Currently, only one member of each chamber is required for the House and Senate to vote on whether to reject a state’s electors.

The House bill also lays out new grounds for objections, while the Senate does not.

Original Article

Appeals Court Rules Presidency Could Shield Trump in Defamation Case (Newsmax)

By Charles Kim | Tuesday, 27 September 2022 12:52 PM EDT

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Tuesday that being president may give former President Donald Trump immunity in a defamation case brought by a woman that claimed he raped her in the 1990s due to being a government employee.

E. Jean Carroll filed a defamation suit against Trump in 2019 after he publicly denied her claim that he raped her in the mid-1990s while she was in a department store dressing room, Reuters reported.

The former president told reporters at the time that Carroll wasn’t "my type," and that she made up the accusation, which was featured in a book she published while he was president.

Trump denied the claims and asserted in court documents that Carroll could not sue him for defamation because he was president at the time.

A lower federal court ruled that the suit could proceed, and the immunity did not protect Trump, a decision that the second circuit court reversed Tuesday, sending the case back to the lower court, according to the ruling.

"Under the circumstances, we cannot say what the District would do in this case," the appeals court wrote on Tuesday. "Under the laws of the District, were the allegedly libelous public statements made, during his term in office, by the President of the United States, denying allegations of misconduct, with regards to events prior to that term of office, within the scope of his employment as President of the United States?"

Trump, through his attorney in the case, said he was "pleased" with the latest 2-1 court decision.

"We are extremely pleased with the Second Circuit's decision today in reversing and vacating the District Court's finding in this matter," Trump attorney Alina Habba said in a statement to WENY News. "This decision will protect the ability of all future presidents to effectively govern without hindrance. We are confident that the [Washington] D.C. Court of Appeals will find that our client was acting within the scope of his employment when properly repudiating Ms. Carroll's allegations."

The Jerusalem Post reported Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan said in a statement she was that "confident" the District of Columbia court would let the case proceed.

The one dissenting judge on the panel, Denny Chin, wrote that Carroll should be able to pursue "at least some" claims, saying "Carroll's allegations plausibly paint a picture of a man pursuing a personal vendetta against an accuser," the Post reported.

Original Article

Trump Attorney Habba to Newsmax: FBI Can't be Trusted in Raid Alina Habba (Newsmax)

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Tuesday, 27 September 2022 12:27 PM EDT

Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master appointed to examine documents taken from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in August, told Trump's legal team to declare if it believes the FBI planted evidence during its search, but Alina Habba, one of Trump's attorneys, said the real issue is that the agency can't be trusted to have followed the law.

"I think the concern is that we have recordings of these agents going in, and then we were not permitted to watch the agents go into his office space or his home, his bedroom, or Melania's closet and that is incredibly concerning," Habba said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," emphasizing she is one of the lawyers on the search case.

"Another thing is, they came in with equipment, with bags, so you never know," said Habba. "Unfortunately the climate that we're in politically has led us to believe that we can't really be sure that they're following the rule of law at any point, and that's the most concerning thing I think for all Americans right now. Just the fact that that the FBI has gone into Barron Trump's room before going into somebody like Hunter Biden's room, it's a little ridiculous."

Habba added that the Trump team backed picking Dearie as a special master after learning that even though he'd been on the FISA court that signed the warrant allowing the FBI to surveil the former presidential campaign in 2016, "he also learned later that he had been misled by the FBI," she said.

"He has become a more neutral party, not necessarily pro-Trump, which is why I believe they selected him and thought that he would be somebody that we could find common ground with."

Meanwhile, Trump remains in "great spirits and is "really optimistic for the midterm elections and optimistic for the country's future," said Habba.

"I think that's what makes a leader," she added. "You can't get down when the country is failing and you're under siege."

Meanwhile, Habba noted that the National Archives and Records Administration has acknowledged moving documents from former President Barack Obama's administration to a Chicago-area warehouse, and Habba called that a "dual system of justice."

"This warehouse was next to a McDonald's in an abandoned parking lot," said Habba. "I urge your viewers to take a minute to Google. The warehouse that he selected was unsecured. There was no Secret Service. This was not a gated property."

According to a statement from NARA, the agency obtained the records in 2017, after Obama's term ended, with 30 million documents being moved to a NARA-operated facility in Chicago. NARA said none of those documents were classified, but the administration's classified documents are in a separate agency-operated facility in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, Habba said she doesn't think Trump will be indicted, but "I think we need to start talking to the DOJ for their benefit and to just clear this up in whatever confusion is going on."

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Original Article

Secret Service Confiscated Phones of 24 Agents Involved in Jan. 6 (Newsmax)

By Peter Malbin | Tuesday, 27 September 2022 11:37 AM EDT

The Secret Service reportedly confiscated the cellphones of 24 agents involved in the agency's response to the Jan. 6 protest at the U.S. Capitol and gave them to the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, according to two sources, NBC News reported.

The cell phones were handed over in late July. DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari's office launched a criminal probe into the Secret Service's missing text messages from Jan. 6, 2021, but it is unclear what, if any, information has been gleaned from the cellphones, NBC reported.

Some agents were disturbed that their leaders were quick to confiscate the phones without their input, but the phones belong to the agency.

Earlier in July, Cuffari told Congress his office couldn't get text messages from the cellphones of agents. The Secret Service has said the texts were lost as part of a previously planned systems upgrade that restored the phones to factory settings, NBC reported.

The cellphone texts sent by agents on Jan. 5-6, 2021, became relevant in June after former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified to the Jan. 6 select House committee that she heard that former President Donald Trump lunged toward a Secret Service agent when the agent refused to drive the president's car to the Capitol during the protest. Trump has denied this, NBC reported.

The House committee has obtained other records and documents from the agency, but only one text message from the 24 Secret Service agents involved with the Jan. 6 response, The Hill reported. In recent weeks, the committee has said it has begun to get more information from the Secret Service.

"The work to investigative the travesty of the Jan. 6th Insurrection is extremely important to us and aligns with the mission of the Secret Service which is to safeguard our nation's highest government leaders. We have and will continue to cooperate fully with all of the oversight efforts, and we have provided everything that has been requested as part of these inquiries," the Secret Service said in a statement.

DHS's Office of Inspector General did not immediately respond to a request for comment, The Hill reported.

In a letter obtained by the Project on Government Oversight and released Friday, anonymous staff in his office accused Cuffari of "significantly editing reports to remove key findings" and "interfering with staff efforts to gather information necessary to perform independent oversight."

Cuffari is a former adviser to Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Gov. Doug Ducey, and was nominated by President Trump to become DHS inspector general and confirmed by the Senate in July 2019.

Original Article

Secret Service Confiscated Phones of 24 Agents Involved in Jan. 6 (Newsmax)

By Peter Malbin | Tuesday, 27 September 2022 11:37 AM EDT

The Secret Service reportedly confiscated the cellphones of 24 agents involved in the agency's response to the Jan. 6 protest at the U.S. Capitol and gave them to the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, according to two sources, NBC News reported.

The cellphones were handed over in late July. DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari's office launched a criminal probe into the Secret Service's missing text messages from Jan. 6, 2021, but it is unclear what, if any, information has been gleaned from the cellphones, NBC reported.

Some agents were disturbed that their leaders were quick to confiscate the phones without their input, but the phones belong to the agency.

Earlier in July, Cuffari told Congress his office couldn't get text messages from the cellphones of agents. The Secret Service has said the texts were lost as part of a previously planned systems upgrade that restored the phones to factory settings, NBC reported.

The cellphone texts sent by agents on Jan. 5-6, 2021, became relevant in June after former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified to the Jan. 6 select House committee that she heard that former President Donald Trump lunged toward a Secret Service agent when the agent refused to drive the president's car to the Capitol during the protest. Trump has denied this, NBC reported.

The House committee has obtained other records and documents from the agency, but only one text message from the 24 Secret Service agents involved with the Jan. 6 response, The Hill reported. In recent weeks, the committee has said it has begun to get more information from the Secret Service.

"The work to investigative the travesty of the Jan. 6th Insurrection is extremely important to us and aligns with the mission of the Secret Service which is to safeguard our nation's highest government leaders. We have and will continue to cooperate fully with all of the oversight efforts, and we have provided everything that has been requested as part of these inquiries," the Secret Service said in a statement.

The DHS Office of Inspector General did not immediately respond to a request for comment, The Hill reported.

In a letter obtained by the Project on Government Oversight and released Friday, anonymous staff in his office accused Cuffari of "significantly editing reports to remove key findings" and "interfering with staff efforts to gather information necessary to perform independent oversight."

Cuffari is a former adviser to Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Gov. Doug Ducey, and was nominated by President Trump to become DHS inspector general and confirmed by the Senate in July 2019.

Harris Focuses Asia Trip on Security, Adds Tour to Korea DMZ A South Korean Army soldier takes part in a live fire military exercise during the Defense Expo Korea (DX Korea) at a training field near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Pocheon on Sept. 20, 2022. (Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images)

CHRIS MEGERIAN Tuesday, 27 September 2022 10:51 AM EDT

In meeting after meeting with Asian leaders Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris emphasized the U.S. commitment to regional security and the White House disclosed that she would visit the Demilitarized Zone dividing the rival Koreas.

An official said Harris would tour the border area between South and North Korea on Thursday, at the end of her trip to Asia. The visit comes amid persistent concerns about North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.

North Korea test-fired a short-range ballistic missile shortly before Harris left Washington, an apparent response to joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea that include the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the DMZ in August, and then-President Donald Trump went in 2019 when he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. President Joe Biden did not go when he was in South Korea earlier this year.

Harris' plan, which had been kept under wraps by her team, was unexpectedly revealed during a meeting with South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Tuesday. A White House official rushed to confirm details of her trip afterward.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Harris "will tour sites at the DMZ, meet with service members and receive an operational briefing from U.S. commanders."

She will also "reflect on the shared sacrifice of tens of thousands of American and Korean soldiers who fought and died together" in the war that divided the peninsula seven decades ago.

According to the White House, Harris also talked with Han about South Korea's complaints about the Inflation Reduction Act, which makes electric cars built outside of North America ineligible for government subsidies.

"They pledged to continue to consult as the law is implemented," the White House said.

Security concerns have dominated Harris' public remarks during her meetings in Tokyo, where she’s attending the state funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in July.

While sitting down with Han, Harris said the U.S. alliance with South Korea is the "linchpin of security and prosperity" in the region.

"We stand with you in the face of threats," she said.

Afterwards, Harris met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, telling him their countries share a “common goal and bond as it relates to our dedication to peace and security.”

The conversations follow Harris’ meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday, shortly after arriving in Tokyo.

During that encounter, Harris described the U.S. alliance with Japan as "a cornerstone of what we believe is integral to peace, stability and prosperity" in the region.

Like the abrupt disclosure of Harris' trip to the DMZ, the meeting with Kishida was also marked by confusion. His staff tried to usher reporters out of the room while Harris was still speaking. The commotion drowned out some of her remarks, making it hard for her office to finalize a transcript of her exact comments.

In addition to concerns over North Korea, there’s been increased tension involving Taiwan, the self-governing island that China views as part of its territory.

Biden recently said that the U.S. would send troops to defend Taiwan if China attacked. Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said Saturday that any attempt to prevent reunification with Taiwan would be "crushed by the wheels of history."

Original Article

Poll: Texas Voters Back Trump Over Biden by 9 Points (Newsmax)

By Jeffrey Rodack | Tuesday, 27 September 2022 10:44 AM EDT

Forty-nine percent of likely Texas voters would vote for former President Donald Trump, while 40% would back President Joe Biden in a hypothetical 2024 matchup, according to a new Emerson College/The Hill poll.

Here are how the poll results break down:

• 8% say they will vote for someone else and 3% say they were undecided who they would vote for.
• 39% say the FBI's raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate makes them more likely to support Trump in 2024, compared to 31% who said it makes them less likely to support him. Thirty percent say it makes no difference.,
• 56% disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president, compared to 37% who approve.
• 40% say the economy is the top issue, followed by 16% who say abortion access is.

The poll conducted Sept. 20-22, surveyed 1,000 likely voters in Texas. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.02 percentage points.

Original Article

Trump Attorney Habba to Newsmax: Republicans Should 'Clean Up' FBI, DOJ After Midterms U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers a statement at the U.S. Department of Justice August 11, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty)

By Luca Cacciatore | Monday, 26 September 2022 10:18 PM EDT

Lawyer Alina Habba told Newsmax that the first thing Republicans should do if they take back Congress in November is "clean up" the FBI and Justice Department.

The personal attorney to former President Donald Trump joined "Eric Bolling The Balance" on Monday to overview the best possible governing agenda for the GOP, which has seen increased calls to break up the intelligence community after the Mar-a-Lago raid.

"We have to start fighting back," Habba proclaimed. "I honestly wish I could say that I think that clean-up can start before the midterms, but I don’t believe it can. I think we have to get the House, and after that, we have to move forward in the midterm elections."

"And then once we do that, the first thing we need to do is go in and clean up the FBI, the DOJ, and any government officials who are using their political stance against people who happen to be on the other side," she continued. "That goes both ways."

Habba also explained her concerns about future job prospects in the current political climate considering she is Trump’s personal attorney, asking if that means "my children and my home are going to get raided?"

Her interview comes after Catholic pro-life activist Mark Houck had his house raided by the FBI in suburban Philadelphia over allegations that he twice assaulted a Planned Parenthood client escort last year, Catholic News Agency reported.

Houck claims that he pushed the clinic escort away from his young son after the man "verbally harassed" the 12-year-old boy.

"A SWAT team of about 25 came to my house with about 15 vehicles and started pounding on our door," Houck’s wife, Ryan-Marie Houck, told the outlet. "They said they were going to break in if he didn’t open it. And then they had about five guns pointed at my husband, myself, and basically at my kids."

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Original Article

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 2:20 PM PT – Monday, September 26, 2022

South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace stated in an interview on Sunday with NBC’s Meet the Press “I’m going to support whomever Republicans nominate in 2024.” During this interview, Mace expressed her opinion on the growing pressure from republicans to impeach President Biden, stating she wouldn’t vote for it if she felt due process was stripped away.

Representative Mace won the South Carolina race against Trump-backed challenger, Katie Arrington.

Nancy Mace had been the target of President Trump’s ire after refusing to speak up against certifying the 2020 Presidential Election. She stated she voted against the bill, saying the Vice President does not have the constitutional right to overturn the results of the electoral college.

Original Article Oann

Neil W. McCabe, National Political Correspondent
UPDATED 11:30 AM PT –Monday, September 26, 2022

The Florida senator chairing the National Republican Senatorial Committee this cycle told the audience at the National Conservatism Conference held here that he was outraged by the FBI’s Aug. 8 raid on President Donald J. Trump’s Palm Beach home Mar-a-Lago.

“This is the latest insanity from the Biden administration,” said Sen. Richard L. Scott (R.-Fla.), who is leading Republican efforts to take over control of the upper chamber in the midterms.

“This should terrify every American,” Scott said. “The Biden administration is abusing its power in weaponizing the federal government to go after a political opponent.”

The unchecked actions by the Justice Department against a former president signal to all citizens they are also at risk, he said.

“If Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland have no worries raiding Trump, then no Americans are safe,” he said. “If they can do this to a former president, they can do this to anyone—and that’s how you have to think about it.”

Scott then compared what the reaction from the mainstream media would’ve been if Trump had done the same thing.

“I think Joe Biden and Merrick Garland need to answer for the action they’ve taken,” the former Florida governor said.

“They need to be telling the American public exactly what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. If a Republican administration had done this to a former Democrat president, the media would have its hair on fire,” he said.

When Republicans take the Senate in November, Scott promised to hold Biden and his people accountable.

“This is a big deal and we cannot let this stand,” the senator said. “This cannot go on without answers, and we haven’t gotten answers.”

The former healthcare industry executive said the Mar-a-Lago raid was not an isolated incident, but linked to other actions, and things will only get worse with thousands of new IRS agents.

“The Democrats just added 87,000 new IRS agents so they can target hard-working American families,” he said.

Then, he asked the audience: “How many of you believe they’re going to go after Democrats? No. They’re going to go after you. They’re going to go after conservatives.”

Original Article Oann

Dick Morris to Newsmax: Dems Have Become 'Party of Abortions,' Not Pro-Choice (Newsmax/"American Agneda")

By Jay Clemons | Monday, 26 September 2022 05:43 PM EDT

Dick Morris, a political strategist, and former adviser to Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, and author of "The Return: Trump's Big 2024 Comeback," said he believes that Republicans have found their niche with the majority of American voters amid the hot-button issue of abortion rights.

In June and July, immediately following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade (by a 5-4 decision), Morris reasons the Republicans "took a drubbing" in the court of public opinion, especially among the pro-choice and pro-abortion audiences.

However, since then, Morris says the GOP leadership has found a "good compromise" in touting a 15-week abortion ban — compared to the Democratic Party's minimum desire for legal abortions at 40 weeks … right up until the birth of a baby.

"Fifteen weeks gives the Republicans a good place to stand," Morris told Newsmax Monday afternoon, while appearing on "American Agenda" with hosts Bob Sellers and Katrina Szish.

As for the Democrats, Morris says, "They've become the party of abortions, not necessarily the party of pro-choice, which is something most Americans don't like."

Morris also says that Democrats, perhaps out of hubris, have blown past "the stop sign" of common-sense compromise, with an issue that has varying layers of support nationwide.

From Morris' perspective, the abortion-rights momentum swing mirrors the Republicans' recent surge with conservatives, independents, and even moderate Democrats.

During the summer, the GOP and Democrats were in a virtual tie with generic-ballot national polling.

But now, Morris says the Republicans hold a 4-point edge over Democrats, with just six weeks before the midterm elections (Nov. 8) — and it's a 9-point swing in battleground states.

As such, the two sets of crowds blaming President Joe Biden for putting America on the wrong track, and appreciating the accomplishments of former President Donald Trump — in hindsight — are steadily coming together, says Morris.

"The two sides of the coin have merged," says Morris, who also hosts "Dick Morris Democracy" on Newsmax, while adding that American voters understand President Trump had "already solved" many of the problems the Biden administration have created since taking over the White House in January, 2021.

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Original Article

Neil W. McCabe, National Political Correspondent
UPDATED 11:00 AM PT –Monday, September 26, 2022

The man behind the Revolver news site told an audience at the National Conservatism Conference held in Miami that it was an open question whether American nationalists should back American corporations, who are pushing woke ideology on the rest of the world.

“That’s true especially acute this problem with the term nationalist because we’ve reached such a stage of corruption and degeneration of this country,” said Darren Beattie, the founder and editor-in-chief at Revolver.com.

“There’s really a profound disconnect that’s emerged from the key stakeholders and institutions in the United States of America and American people who would identify themselves as nationalists,” Beattie said.

“What does it mean to be a nationalist in a situation in which the nation’s dominant institutions and stakeholders have become fundamentally hostile to the would-be nationalist?” he asked.

“During the summer of George Floyd riots, America’s top corporations pledged to donate a collective $50 billion to Black Lives Matter-related causes,” he said.

“It’s risen to the level of a farce how corporate advertisements stumble over themselves, attempting to demonstrate fealty to the latest woke orthodoxies, whether it be BLM, feminism, transgenderism, and so forth,” said the former speechwriter for President Donald J. Trump.

“Ought an American nationalist support such corporations over potential foreign competitors. The big tech companies, Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, that de-platformed Donald Trump while he was sitting President of the United States were American companies?” he asked.

Another question for the American nationalists is what to do about foreign companies that are less offensive than American companies, the former Duke University political professor said.

“Chinese TikTok is a favorite whipping boy among many on the right, though it is actually far less censorious than the American tech platforms—and the censorship they do engage in all likelihood isn’t being pushed from China, but rather comes from woke Western employees catering to the demands of the Western market,” he said.

Beattie said despite the long odds and the strength of the large and work American corporations, he has hope the wokes can be beaten.

“Well, Keynes once said on a long enough timeline, everybody dies and that includes wokeness,” he said.

“It’s a question of timeline. It’s a question of strategy. I don’t think we should dilute ourselves into thinking that it will be an easy task, but I think ultimately it can be defeated.”

Original Article Oann

Stephanopoulos: Polling Shows Trump Beats Biden in '24 George Stephanopoulos (Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)

By Nick Koutsobinas | Monday, 26 September 2022 04:49 PM EDT

Host of ABC's "This Week," George Stephanopoulos, said during a Sunday airing of his program that according to his network's polling, former President Donald Trump beats President Joe Biden in a 2024 presidential run.

"You know Donna, Chris Christie says this is slowly moving away from Donald Trump. And I think I actually agree with him. But the polling right now is not really showing that. It's showing, among Republican voters, he's holding firm. Our poll shows him defeating Joe Biden in 2024," Stephanopoulos said.

During the program, Stephanopoulos's statement was swiftly met with rebuke from guest and former Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Donna Brazile. But still, the former DNC chair offered no pushback that Trump would defeat Biden in 2024.

"Look," Brazile says, "Donald Trump — his house of cards is really crumbling down. He's under investigation just about everywhere. Too bad he's not in Louisiana. We'll put him under investigation just for showing up."

"Donald Trump is, at this point, the major player in the Republican party." Brazile continued. "… Donald Trump has got these candidates into the dance. Now they have to figure out if they know the groove. That's where Democrats will have an advantage because we have better candidates."

The report comes in light of others that Democrats may be pushing for another candidate in the upcoming presidential election. Recently, Dick Morris, an adviser to former President Bill Clinton, said that Democrats would try to run Hillary as a centrist in place of Biden, who ran his 2020 campaign on the moniker as a "uniter."

According to FiveThirtyEight's recent aggregate polling for Monday, 53% disapprove of Biden, while 42.7% approve of the president.

Original Article

France's Macron Lands 1st State Visit of Biden's Presidency (AFP via Getty Images)

AAMER MADHANI and DARLENE SUPERVILLE Monday, 26 September 2022 03:52 PM EDT

French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Washington in early December for the first state visit of President Joe Biden's tenure, an occasion marked by pomp and pageantry that is designed to celebrate relations between the United States and its closest allies.

The Dec. 1 visit, following the U.S. midterm elections and the Thanksgiving holiday, will be the second state visit for Macron, who was first elected to lead his country in May 2017 and won a second term earlier this year. Macron also had a state visit during the Trump years.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the visit Monday, saying it will “underscore the deep and enduring relationship with France, our oldest ally.” It will be the first time the White House has hosted a world leader for a state visit since the coronavirus outbreak.

The invitation comes as a sign that relations between Biden and Macron have come full circle. The relationship tanked last year after the United States announced a deal to sell nuclear submarines to Australia. The decision by the U.S. undermined a deal that had been in place for France to sell diesel-powered submarines to Australia.

After the announcement of the deal, which was born out of a new security agreement between the U.S., Australia and Britain, France briefly recalled its ambassador to Washington, Philippe Etienne, to Paris. Biden also sought to patch thing up with France by eventually acknowledging to Macron that his administration had been “clumsy” in how it handled the issue.

The Biden administration since has heaped praise on Macron for being among the most vociferous Western allies in condemning Russia's 7-month-old war in Ukraine and pressing broad sanctions on the Russian economy and officials close to President Vladimir Putin.

Central to Biden’s pitch for the presidency was a vow to restore America's global leadership after four years of Donald Trump’s “America First” worldview. But Biden has acknowledged that Macron and other allies remain skeptical about whether he can make good on robust U.S. leadership worldwide.

Biden is fond of telling the story of how, at a world leader meeting he attended soon after taking office, he declared that “America is back.” He says his counterparts, starting with Macron, countered by asking, "For how long?”

Macron also was the first world leader to earn a state visit under Trump, though their relationship later became fractious.

The French leader had sought to cultivate a close partnership with Trump and hosted the Republican in 2017 for Bastille Day celebrations in Paris. Trump reciprocated with Macron's state visit.

But the relationship soured after Trump pulled U.S. troops from Syria without coordinating with France and other NATO allies. Trump disparaged NATO.

In one of their last face-to-face encounters, at a gathering of NATO leaders in London in 2019, Trump and Macron hardly hid their frustration with each other.

Not long before that meeting, Macron had complained that the alliance was suffering “brain death” caused by diminished U.S. leadership under Trump. Trump snapped back after a meeting with Macron that the French leader had made “very, very nasty” and “disrespectful” comments.

When Macron visited in April 2018, Trump and his wife, Melania, planned a double date with Macron and his wife, Brigitte, at Mount Vernon, the Virginia estate of George Washington, America’s founding president.

The couples helped plant a tree on the White House lawn before they departed on a helicopter tour of monuments built in a capital city designed by French-born Pierre L’Enfant as they flew south to Mount Vernon, situated along the Potomac River. Macron was welcomed at the White House the next day with a booming 21-gun salute, his first Oval Office meeting with Trump, a joint news conference with the president and a state dinner for 150 guests in the White House State Dining Room.

Scott Morrison, then the prime minister of Australia, also came on a state visit at Trump's invitation in September 2019. Trump had announced a third state visit, by Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, but it was postponed due to the pandemic and could not be held before Trump lost reelection in 2020.

President Barack Obama also afforded France the honor of a state visit, in 2014.

Obama and French President Francois Hollande celebrated ties between their nations by touring Monticello, the sprawling Charlottesville, Virginia, estate owned by Thomas Jefferson, the former U.S. president and famed Francophile. Jefferson was an early U.S. envoy to France.

Hollande’s visit was the first such recognition for France in two decades. But it proved a bit of a diplomatic challenge as he traveled without a female companion following a very public breakup with longtime partner Valerie Trierweiler. Holland and Trierweiler were a couple when the White House extended the invitation, but the relationship ended after a gossip magazine revealed a secret tryst between Hollande and a French actress.

The last-minute change of plans – Hollande coming solo — caused heartburn for U.S. officials planning the diplomatic event. The Obamas tried to put the issue to rest by seating Hollande between them at a state dinner for 350 invited guests in a heated pavilion on the White House South Lawn on a frigid February night.

Original Article

Rep. Cheney: I'll Do 'Whatever it Takes' to Stop Trump (Newsmax)

By Nicole Wells | Monday, 26 September 2022 01:28 PM EDT

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., pledged to do "whatever it takes" to ensure that former President Donald Trump is not the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, according to The Texas Tribune.

During a festival Saturday hosted by the news outlet, Cheney was asked by Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith if she would run for president in a bid to block Trump.

"I certainly will do whatever it takes to make sure Donald Trump isn't anywhere close to the Oval Office," she reportedly said.

Though she recently lost her Republican primary, Cheney will continue to serve as vice chair of the House Jan. 6 Committee until she leaves office in January. She told the Tribune that she continues to see herself as a Republican, in the spirit of Ronald Reagan and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

If Trump receives the party's nomination in 2024, however, Cheney said she would change her party affiliation.

"I'm going to make sure Donald Trump … is not the nominee," she said. "And if he is the nominee, I won't be a Republican."

While Cheney maintained that she is a committed conservative on policy issues, she cautioned that a Republican majority in the House would give excessive power to Trump-allied members, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Jim Jordan.

Cheney slammed Trump for not doing more to quell the protesters who breached the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, and said any decision on criminal prosecution of the former president would be unanimous for the committee's seven Democrats and two Republicans.

Cheney also had words for others in her party, such as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who have not questioned the 2020 election results but have supported other Republicans who have.

"He's demonstrated that he's somebody who has not bought into the toxin of Donald Trump — but he campaigned recently for Kari Lake, who's an election denier, who is dangerous," Cheney said. "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that Kari Lake is not elected."

Lake responded on Fox News on Sunday, saying that Cheney "probably should change her voter registration," before calling the congresswoman's remarks a "gift."

"That might be the biggest, best gift I've ever received," Lake said. "The people of Wyoming can't stand her. I'm pretty much sure that the people of Arizona don't like Liz Cheney."

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a frequent critic of Cheney, questioned her vow to defeat Lake after her own primary loss.

"Liz Cheney gets crushed in her 'home' Wyoming by 40+ points … But now we are supposed to believe she has the juice to take on @KariLake," Gaetz tweeted.

Original Article

Claver-Carone Ousted in IDB Vote After Probe of Intimate Relationship Inter-American Development Bank President Mauricio Claver-Carone (Patrick Fallon/Getty Images)

Cassandra Garrison and Andrea Shalal Monday, 26 September 2022 01:25 PM EDT

The governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) voted on Monday to fire Mauricio Claver-Carone, a person with knowledge of the vote said, after an investigation showed the only American president in the bank's 62-year history had an intimate relationship with a subordinate.

The governors of Latin America's largest development bank began voting early on Thursday and reached the required quorum and majority vote Monday, the source told Reuters. Nominations for Claver-Carone's replacement, likely a politically charged process, were expected to begin as early as next week.

Some members are pushing for Claver-Carone to be replaced with a woman, several sources briefed on the search for his replacement told Reuters.

Headquartered in Washington, the IDB is a key investor in Latin America and the Caribbean, behind nearly 600 ongoing infrastructure, health, tourism and other projects. It was responsible for $23.4 billion in financing and other financial commitments in 2021, and was expected to lend billions to Argentina in 2022 and 2023 to help ease economic turmoil.

Cuban-American Claver-Carone was nominated for a five-year term then-President Donald Trump and took office in October 2020. He had tried to wrest power away from Argentina and Brazil, which have dominated the bank's agenda in the past, and provide more of a role for smaller countries.

The 14 directors voted unanimously on Thursday to recommend firing Claver-Carone after an independent ethics investigation found evidence he had engaged in an intimate relationship with a senior staffer for whom he had made employment decisions, including salary increases totaling more than 45% of base pay in less than one year.

Investigators found that Claver-Carone created a hostile environment at the bank, with numerous staff members fearing reprisals and retaliation for participating fully and honestly in the probe, three sources said. Ten of the 50 people interviewed for the probe expressed such concerns, one source added.

"Across the bank, everyone is celebrating this," one source said about his departure.

Claver-Carone could not be reached by phone on Monday and did not respond to a text message. He has previously denied the allegations, blasting the investigation for failing to "meet international standards of integrity." The bank's executive vice president, Reina Irene Mejia, from Honduras, is expected to take over as acting president until a successor is chosen, a source said.

The bank had no immediate comment.

Original Article

Claver-Carone Ousted in IDB Vote After Probe of Intimate Relationship Inter-American Development Bank President Mauricio Claver-Carone (Patrick Fallon/Getty Images)

Cassandra Garrison and Andrea Shalal Monday, 26 September 2022 01:25 PM EDT

The governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) voted on Monday to fire Mauricio Claver-Carone, a person with knowledge of the vote said, after an investigation showed the only American president in the bank's 62-year history had an intimate relationship with a subordinate.

The governors of Latin America's largest development bank began voting early on Thursday and reached the required quorum and majority vote Monday, the source told Reuters. Nominations for Claver-Carone's replacement, likely a politically charged process, were expected to begin as early as next week.

Some members are pushing for Claver-Carone to be replaced with a woman, several sources briefed on the search for his replacement told Reuters.

Headquartered in Washington, the IDB is a key investor in Latin America and the Caribbean, behind nearly 600 ongoing infrastructure, health, tourism and other projects. It was responsible for $23.4 billion in financing and other financial commitments in 2021, and was expected to lend billions to Argentina in 2022 and 2023 to help ease economic turmoil.

Cuban-American Claver-Carone was nominated for a five-year term then-President Donald Trump and took office in October 2020. He had tried to wrest power away from Argentina and Brazil, which have dominated the bank's agenda in the past, and provide more of a role for smaller countries.

The 14 directors voted unanimously on Thursday to recommend firing Claver-Carone after an independent ethics investigation found evidence he had engaged in an intimate relationship with a senior staffer for whom he had made employment decisions, including salary increases totaling more than 45% of base pay in less than one year.

Investigators found that Claver-Carone created a hostile environment at the bank, with numerous staff members fearing reprisals and retaliation for participating fully and honestly in the probe, three sources said. Ten of the 50 people interviewed for the probe expressed such concerns, one source added.

"Across the bank, everyone is celebrating this," one source said about his departure.

Claver-Carone could not be reached by phone on Monday and did not respond to a text message. He has previously denied the allegations, blasting the investigation for failing to "meet international standards of integrity." The bank's executive vice president, Reina Irene Mejia, from Honduras, is expected to take over as acting president until a successor is chosen, a source said.

The bank had no immediate comment.

Sen. Toomey Blasts Biden's 'Irresponsible' Use of Cold War-Era Defense Law Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., holds a press conference with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz on Sept. 6, 2022 in Philadelphia. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Andrea Shalal Monday, 26 September 2022 12:19 PM EDT

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., on Monday blasted President Joe Biden for what he called the increasing and "irresponsible" use of a Cold War-era defense law to boost production of baby food, solar panel components and other non-defense items.

Toomey, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, told Biden that using the Defense Production Act in this way disrupted supply chains and violated the intent of the law to make goods available in actual national security emergencies.

"If your administration continues to abuse the DPA and skirt legitimate questions surrounding its use, Congress may have to curtail the executive branch’s ability to so easily invoke it," Toomey wrote in a letter obtained by Reuters.

Democrats now control the Senate, but unexpected losses in the November midterms could give Republicans more power to curb use of the DPA.

Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, invoked the DPA in 2019 to stockpile rare earths, the specialized minerals used to make magnets found in weaponry and EVs, and then again in March 2020 to order General Motors to produce life-saving ventilators.

Biden has made broader use of the DPA in his presidency, including using it to ramp up production of supplies used in the response to COVID-19, infant formula and solar panel components. The 1950 law gives the Pentagon wide powers to procure equipment necessary for national defense.

The White House had no immediate comment.

Toomey said Biden had waived a requirement to notify the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees the law, prior to any DPA expenditures, on six separate occasions since March, and expressed concern he was using the law to advance a partisan agenda.

He said a future Republican president could decide the DPA is a convenient means for funding construction of a border wall or finishing a long-stalled natural gas pipeline, even though these projects were not related to the defense-industrial base.

Toomey asked Biden to answer a series of detailed questions about the administration's reasons for invoking the law by Oct. 11.

Original Article

White House: New Rule Will Show 'True Cost' of Plane Tickets An American Airlines plane approaches the runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on April 2, 2022. Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images)

SEUNG MIN KIM Monday, 26 September 2022 12:09 PM EDT

President Joe Biden will announce a new initiative Monday that would eventually allow consumers to see a more complete price on airline tickets – including baggage and change fees – before they buy, as the White House continues to search for ways to lower costs for Americans amid persistently high inflation.

The White House says the proposed rule from the Transportation Department will prevent airlines from hiding the "true cost" of airline tickets, which would help consumers save money up front and encourage more competition among airlines to offer better fares. The requirement will apply not only to airlines directly but also on third-party search sites such as Kayak and Expedia.

Airlines made nearly $700 million on cancellation and change fees last year, according to the White House.

The proposal, which dates back to the Obama administration before it was scrapped in 2017 by then-President Donald Trump, would need to go through a 60-day comment period before final approval.

The president will make the announcement on Monday afternoon at a meeting of the White House Competition Council, established last year as a way for his administration to find cost-saving measures for consumers. It will be the third time that the group, chaired by National Economic Council director Brian Deese, has met.

At the meeting, Biden plans to push other federal agencies to take similar cost-saving actions, particularly by increasing transparency on hidden fees that can balloon the true cost of goods and services.

One example is a proposal from the Federal Communications Commission that would require internet service providers to better outline fees and charges on what the administration calls a "broadband nutrition label." And the Agriculture Department on Monday will also unveil new actions meant to encourage competition in various agricultural markets.

The administration has taken similar actions when it comes to bank and credit card fees, which the White House says have saved consumers $3 billion annually compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Original Article

Pollsters Worried About Inaccurate Predictions Ahead of Midterms (Newsmax)

By Theodore Bunker | Monday, 26 September 2022 11:56 AM EDT

Pollsters at major public firms, academic institutions, and campaign consultants expressed their concerns to Politico about polling errors causing inaccurate predictions about the upcoming midterm elections.

"There's no question that the polling errors in [20]16 and [20]20 worry the polling profession, worry me as a pollster," Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll, told Politico. "The troubling part is how much of that is unique to when Donald Trump is on the ballot, versus midterms when he is not on the ballot."

Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners said that finding the right balance of voters, specifically Trump voters, for its samples "was less [of an issue] for a long time. It looks to us like it is getting to be more of a problem recently, with the Mar-a-Lago thing, with his candidates winning a lot of these primaries, with the Jan. 6 committee."

Don Levy, the director of the Siena College Research Institute, added that he's "as careful as careful can be" when it comes to getting the right share of Trump voters, noting that it's not as simple as calling more Republicans.

"It's not partisan nonresponse. It's hardened Trump-backer nonresponse," he said. "A small majority of those are self-identified Republicans, but a significant number of them are self-identified independents or Democrats. You can't correct that by saying, 'Let's weight up the Republicans.' That doesn't work."

Original Article