For Republicans, All Roads Lead to the U.S.-Mexico Border
House Oversight Republicans push Biden DHS on ‘conflicting’ border wall positions
FIRST ON FOX: Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are investigating the decision-making behind what they see as “conflicting” statements by the Biden administration on border wall construction at the southern border — after the administration waived dozens of federal regulations to allow construction in Texas.
Committee Republicans, led by Chairman James Comer, have written to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the move to waive 26 federal laws to allow construction of barriers and roads in Starr County, Texas.
The construction is funded by the fiscal year 2019 DHS appropriations bill, which specifically funded wall projects in the RGV Sector and which DHS is required to use for its appropriated purpose.
While the construction announcement was made in June, Mayorkas cited this month an “acute and immediate need” in an announcement on the U.S. Federal Register in order to waive federal laws due to high illegal crossings in the area.
“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas pursuant to sections 102(a) and 102(b) of [the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996],” Mayorkas said.
It immediately drew claims from both Republicans and Democrats that it was a departure from prior positions by the administration on the wall. The administration halted border wall construction in early 2021 and called such projects ineffective while also selling off border wall materials.
BIDEN SAYS ‘NO,’ BORDER WALL DOESN’T WORK, AFTER MAYORKAS CITED ‘IMMEDIATE’ NEED
Comer said the lawmakers agreed with the need for a wall, citing the ongoing record numbers at the border.
“On its face, your words concede a seemingly obvious point: that border barriers are an essential part of securing the border, as they have “proved to be a critical component in gaining operational control of the border” by diverting or slowing illegal crossings of people or contraband, and result in a significant and measurable decrease in illegal entry in the areas they are erected while requiring less manpower to patrol,” he said. “Yet Administration officials continue to assert that this action does not constitute a change in policy and that border barriers are ineffective.”
Mayorkas has since said that there was no new policy on border wall construction, and the administration was mandated to spend the money appropriated by Congress during the Trump era.
“From day one, this Administration has made clear that a border wall is not the answer. That remains our position and our position has never wavered. The language in the Federal Register notice is being taken out of context and it does not signify any change in policy whatsoever,” he said in an Oct. 5 statement.
“We have repeatedly asked Congress to rescind this money but it has not done so and we are compelled to follow the law,” he said.
The Republicans on the Oversight Committee also pointed to comments made by the White House that “we believe that a border wall is not effective” and similar statements by President Biden himself.
A DHS spokesperson said the agency responds to congressional correspondence via official channels and “will continue to respond appropriately to Congressional oversight.” The spokesperson noted the FY 2019 requirement for the money to be spent, and that Congress would not rescind the appropriation.
“After two years of trying to get Congress to reappropriate the funding for smarter, more effective policy interventions, the only way to then spend the money as Congress intended was to then issue a waiver of these laws,” they said. “The language of the waiver was written to ensure that DHS complied with Congress’s 2019 legal mandate that DHS spend the appropriated funds for border wall construction. It is not a statement of the Administration’s policy. ”
“As a matter of policy, the Administration disagrees with Congress’s 2019 mandate and continues to oppose further border wall construction. Nevertheless, DHS must and will comply with the law,” they said.
The administration has also called on Congress to cancel or reappropriate additional border funding and divert them elsewhere. DHS has pointed to calls made in 2022 and 2021 for Congress to move the money elsewhere, including in the FY 2022 budget – which sought to reassign the FY19 funding.
The lawmakers are seeking documents and communications associated with the border barrier construction, as well as Mayorkas’ statement clarifying administration policy — in addition to communications between DHS and the White House.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Comer said that the initial moves by the administration to halt border wall construction amid the ongoing border crisis “is detached from reality.”
“The Department of Homeland Security has finally admitted there is a need to construct physical barriers along the border, only after the Biden administration sold off unused border wall materials that sat idle since President Biden’s first day in office,” he said. “While the White House continues to live in a fantasy land, Oversight Republicans have and will continue to fight for the American people and hold this Administration accountable for their failures along the border.”
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Massachusetts House approves sweeping bill tightening firearm laws
The Massachusetts House approved a sweeping gun bill Wednesday aimed at tightening firearm laws, cracking down on unregistered “ghost guns” and strengthening the state’s assault-style weapons ban.
The bill, which passed on a 120-38 vote, would also prohibit individuals from carrying a gun into a person’s home without their permission and require key gun components to be serialized and registered with the state.
The 125-page bill — a priority for Democratic Massachusetts House Speaker Ronald Mariano — is in part a response to a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that U.S. citizens have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.
MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS PROPOSE NEW GUN CRACKDOWNS
The proposal would create new laws that bar firing guns at or near homes and outlaw carrying firearms while intoxicated. It would also prohibit carrying firearms in schools, polling places and government buildings.
The bill expands the state’s ban on assault weapons by prohibiting new purchases of AR-15-style weapons. It would also ban someone from turning a legal firearm into an illegal automatic weapon.
The proposal includes an enhanced system to track firearms used in crimes to help curb the flow of illegal guns into the state. It would also modernize the existing firearm registration system while increasing the availability of firearm data for academic and policy use, lawmakers said.
Massachusetts, which already has tough gun laws, had the lowest rate of gun deaths in the country, at 3.4 deaths per 100,000 people in 2021, compared to Mississippi, which had the highest rate, at 33.9 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the most recent statistics listed on the website for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The state Senate has yet to release its version of a gun bill. It will be up to both Democratic-led chambers to hammer out a single bill to ship to Democratic Gov. Maura Healey’s desk for her signature before it can become law.
Gun owners opposed to the bill say the measures outlined in the legislation do more to target gun owners than to reduce crime.
MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MAURA HEALEY SIGNS $1 BILLION TAX RELIEF PACKAGE
“All of it goes against us, the lawful people. There’s nothing in there that goes after the criminals,” said Jim Wallace, executive director of the Gun Owners’ Action League.
Wallace also said the bill is an overreaction to last year’s Supreme Court decision.
“This is a tantrum. This is a flat-out tantrum,” he said.
Supporters of the bill say it will help address holes in the state’s gun laws, while also responding to the Supreme Court ruling.
One response is a measure in the bill that would prohibit guns in safe spaces such as schools, polling places and the Statehouse, said Jennifer Robinson of the Massachusetts chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Robinson said the bill also contained what she called commonsense steps.
“We believe that if you’re going to have a license for a gun, you should have live fire training, much like if you’re going to drive a car, we don’t just throw the keys at you and walk away,” she said. She also pointed to a section of the bill that would transfer to the state police the responsibility of inspecting gun dealers.
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Biden to select Kurt Campbell as deputy secretary of State
Joe Biden is preparing to nominate Kurt Campbell as the next deputy secretary of State, three people familiar with the decision said, elevating the architect of the president’s China and Indo-Pacific strategy to the nation’s second-highest diplomatic post.
Campbell’s frontrunner status has been known for weeks, after Biden asked the State Department’s top choice for the role, principal deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, to remain in his current position. Wendy Sherman, the administration’s first deputy secretary, retired in the summer.
Two of the people familiar with the decision said Campbell is nearing the end of his vetting process, and he’ll be formally nominated by the president once the review is completed successfully, as expected. But given a severe bottleneck in the Senate for confirmations, it’s unclear when he’ll get a hearing or even a vote.
Spokespeople for the National Security Council and State Department didn’t respond to requests for comment. Campbell didn’t immediately offer comment about his forthcoming nomination.
Campbell, the National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, has had a hand in virtually everything the Biden administration has done on Asia policy. The nuclear submarine deal with the U.K. and Australia known as AUKUS was his brainchild, and he quietly worked to make it a reality, keeping the development away from many colleagues who were surprised by the deal’s formal announcement.
France, whose own submarine deal with Australia was sidelined by AUKUS, was also caught off guard, and Paris’ anger led to a diplomatic kerfuffle that Campbell’s Europe-focused colleagues had to quash.
That work, and other initiatives, stem from Campbell’s efforts during the Obama administration to “pivot to Asia.” This included sending more U.S. troops to the region, strengthening ties with regional allies, growing partnerships with less friendly countries wary of China and taking a harder line on Beijing. Multiple U.S. officials say that the administration’s current approach toward China and the region writ large was devised by Campbell.
U.S. policy toward China should “seek to achieve not a definitive end state akin to the Cold War’s ultimate conclusion but a steady state of clear-eyed coexistence on terms favorable to U.S. interests and values,” he wrote in a 2019 Foreign Affairs article with Jake Sullivan, now the national security adviser, titled “Competition Without Catastrophe.”
“Coexistence means accepting competition as a condition to be managed rather than a problem to be solved.”
One of the people familiar with Campbell’s potential move said he may use the job to further centralize U.S. competition with China in the State Department’s work.
The Biden administration took office with the goal of taking Beijing on in multiple arenas while avoiding war, but it has faced other pressing challenges demanding senior-level attention, namely Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and now the Israel-Hamas war.
An outstanding question of Campbell’s move is what happens to Victoria Nuland, the acting deputy secretary who was also in line for the post. Nuland did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Go to Source: Politico
Jordan to cancel third vote, will back McHenry as interim speaker through January
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan will cancel the third vote to elect a speaker in the House of Representatives and will back a move to empower House Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry until January, Fox News Digital has confirmed.
Jordan lost support on the second ballot Wednesday — scoring only 199 votes after getting only 200 in the first ballot.
He needed 217 to become speaker and could afford few Republican defections. Fox News was told he was expected to lose further votes in a ballot on Thursday.
JORDAN LOSES HIS SECOND SPEAKER VOTE AS NEARLY TWO DOZEN REPUBLICANS OPPOSE HIM
A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Jordan will not hold a third vote as speaker and will get behind the plan to temporarily empower McHenry until January 3.
The source said Jordan will remain the House GOP nominee for speaker and will continue to run and attempt to shore up votes until then — a move sources had signaled would be in the best interest of Jordan’s candidacy Wednesday.
Jordan’s team had said they intended to keep going with a third vote, with supporters optimistic that he could gain support. However, there had also been other potential candidates emerging from the wings amid the stalemate.
Republicans had held a closed-door meeting at 11 a.m. amid escalating tensions within the House GOP, with several of Jordan’s critics stating that they had gotten credible threats because they did not vote for him for speaker. Jordan has repeatedly condemned those threats.
JORDAN PLEDGES TO ‘BRING ALL REPUBLICANS TOGETHER’ IN LETTER TO HOUSE GOP ON EVE OF SPEAKER ELECTION
It became clear this week that some Republican lawmakers were looking for alternate paths, including how to empower McHenry, who is currently serving as interim speaker.
Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Pa., chairman of the Republican Governance Group, has been calling to flesh out McHenry’s role in leadership, particularly in light of the urgency for Congress to approve aid for Israel as it fights a war with terror group Hamas.
The idea also gained steam among lawmakers who voted against Jordan. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., who has said he will keep voting for McCarthy on the House floor, told Fox News Digital that he was supportive of the effort.
EFFORT TO EMPOWER INTERIM SPEAKER MCHENRY GAINS STEAM AS JORDAN MOMENTUM STALLS
The discussions come as the House of Representatives wades in unchartered territory following Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s ouster earlier this month. McCarthy’s removal was the first in the chamber’s history — and it’s not clear that McHenry’s current powers extend beyond just overseeing the election of the next speaker.
McHenry had said that he had no interest in the role of speaker, but amid heightened tensions in the GOP conference, he has emerged as a consensus candidate that at least some Democrats could agree to.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said McHenry was “respected on our side of the aisle” when asked on Tuesday evening if he could be a viable candidate. Jeffries also said there were “informal conversations” about making a deal on a GOP speaker that he hoped would “accelerate” after Jordan’s rocky performance.
JORDAN PLEDGES TO ‘BRING ALL REPUBLICANS TOGETHER’ IN LETTER TO HOUSE GOP ON EVE OF SPEAKER ELECTION
On Tuesday night, former Republican Speakers Newt Gingrich and John Boehner both endorsed the idea of empowering McHenry.
Still, sources told Fox News Digital that Jordan has a path to the speakership, with some suggesting he just simply may need more time to garner support. That source said a temporary solution could help Jordan do just that.
The uncertainty in the House comes after Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., earlier this month, introduced a motion to vacate against then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. When all Democrats and eight Republicans voted together, McCarthy was ousted from his post — a first in United States history.
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White House calls on House GOP to join Biden ‘at the adults table’
The White House on Thursday took aim at House Republicans’ ongoing struggle to elect a Speaker, calling on the party to “get their act together.”
Andrew Bates, a deputy press secretary, contrasted the House GOP’s infighting that has paralyzed the chamber with President Biden’s focus on various issues in the wake of a wartime trip to Israel to show support for the U.S. ally.
The Biden spokesman credited the president with “leading and standing up for our national security interests on the world stage” while House Republicans “continue their downward spiral into chaos and away from governing.”
“The House GOP’s backbiting and competition to out-extreme each other is also surfacing hardline positions that the American people have solidly rejected again and again,” Bates said in a memo distributed to reporters. “Including dangerous conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, radical abortion bans, and cuts to Medicare and Social Security.”
Bates cited a Speaker candidate forum last week in which neither Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) nor Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) would outright say Biden won the 2020 presidential election legitimately.
He also highlighted an introduction of Jordan as a Speaker nominee this week in which Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) cited Jordan’s willingness to reform programs like Medicare and Social Security to rein in the national debt.
“As President Biden acts to make America more secure, grow our economy for the middle class, and protect our freedoms, House Republicans are falling over one another to find out who can be the most erratic and out of step with the priorities of working families,” Bates said. “They need to get their act together and join this president at the adults table.”
The White House has largely stayed out of the chaos that has engulfed the House since Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted as Speaker, arguing it is up to members to determine the path forward.
Jordan is expected to back a resolution to empower Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) as he continues to work to shore up support for his Speaker bid.
But White House officials have in recent days been more outspoken about the paralysis that has gripped the chamber because of House Republicans’ inability to rally behind one Speaker candidate, seeking to draw a contrast with Biden’s agenda.
The president was asked Wednesday while flying back to Washington from Tel Aviv whether he had a view of Jordan’s issues securing the Speakership.
“I ache for him,” Biden quipped, declining to weigh in further.
Go to Source: Administration News | The Hill
Jim Jordan Will Not Seek a Third Speaker Vote
Go to Source: Breitbart News
Former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell pleads guilty in Georgia election interference case
Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor charges in a Fulton County courthouse in Georgia on Thursday.
The six charges of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election duties carried a recommended sentence of 6 years probation in total, as well as a $6,000 fine and an additional $2,700 restitution payment to the state. As part of her sentence, she also agreed to provide a written letter of apology to the people of Georgia and give “truthful testimony” at any future hearings and trials relating to other defendants.
Powell is one of 19 defendants charged in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ indictment in August.
Powell’s case has been handled separately from the others alongside lawyer Kenneth Chesebro. The two had petitioned the court to have their cases separated from the larger group and to be tried as individuals. Judge Scott McAfee partially granted their request but said they must be tried as a pair for the sake of a speedy trial.
Chesebro’s trial is scheduled to begin Friday.
The rest of the defendants include former President Donald Trump, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis and many others.
The case is one of four criminal indictments currently leveled against Trump, with charges also arising out of New York City, Florida and Washington, D.C.
Trump himself has been busy in court in Manhattan for a civil trial brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is accusing Trump of fraud.
Trump has appeared in court in Manhattan for parts of the trial while also crisscrossing the country, holding speeches and rallies for his 2024 presidential campaign.
Judge Arthur Engoron, last month, ruled that Trump and the Trump Organization committed fraud while building his real estate empire by deceiving banks, insurers and others by overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing.
Engoron’s ruling came after James sued Trump, his children and the Trump Organization, alleging that the former president “inflated his net worth by billions of dollars,” and said his children helped him to do so.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Fox News Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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State Department official calls it quits after Biden says US will support Israel: ‘Policy disagreement’
A Biden administration official has resigned from the State Department, citing President Biden’s announcement of material support for Israel. The official said he “cannot work” as the U.S. helps Israel in its war against the Hamas terrorist group.
Josh Paul, who worked for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, where he was responsible for transferring arms to key American allies, posted his resignation letter on social media. In it, he said “continued lethal assistance to Israel” prompted his decision to leave.
“Today I informed my colleagues that I have resigned from the State Department, due to a policy disagreement concerning our continued lethal assistance to Israel,” Paul wrote on LinkedIn.
He added: “I cannot work in support of a set of major policy decisions, including rushing more arms to one side of the conflict, that I believe to be shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse.”
BIDEN PUTS CONDITION ON HUMANITARIAN AID TO GAZA AS ISRAEL ALLOWS EGYPT TO DELIVER SUPPLIES
In the lengthy statement, Paul condemned Hamas’ brutal attack on Israeli civilians but said Israel’s “response” in seeking to eliminate Hamas was too far.
“Let me be clear: Hamas’ attack on Israel was not just a monstrosity; it was a monstrosity of monstrosities,” he wrote. “I also believe that potential escalations by Iran-linked groups such as Hezbollah, or by Iran itself, would be a further cynical exploitation of the existing tragedy. But I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people — and is not in the long term American interest.”
UK PRIME MINISTER PUTS US OFFICIALS ON BLAST REGARDING HAMAS: ‘CALL IT WHAT IT IS… EVIL TERRORISTS’
His decision came as Biden announced the United States would be supplying weapons and munitions to Israel, its closest ally in the Middle East. Biden also said the U.S. stands unequivocally with Israel and its right to defend itself following Hamas’ ruthless assault on Oct. 7 that left more than 1,400 Israelis dead. It was the worst terror attack in the country’s history.
“When I came to the Bureau, the U.S. Government entity most responsible for the transfer and provision of arms to partners and allies, I knew it was not without its moral complexity and moral compromises, and I made myself a promise that I would stay for as long as I felt the harm I might do would be outweighed by the good I could do,” Paul wrote. “In my 11 years I have made more moral compromises than I can recall, each heavily, but each with my promise to myself in mind, and intact. I am leaving today because I believe that in our current course with regards to the continued — indeed, expanded and expedited — provision of lethal arms to Israel — I have reached the end of that bargain.”
He added: “We cannot be both against occupation and for it. We cannot be both for freedom and against it. And we cannot be for a better world while contributing to one that is materially worse.”
HAMAS TERRORISTS LIKELY USED NORTH KOREAN WEAPONS DURING BRUTAL ATTACK ON ISRAEL, EVIDENCE SHOWS
“This Administration’s response — and much of Congress’ as well — is an impulsive reaction built on confirmation bias, political convenience, intellectual bankruptcy, and bureaucratic inertia,” Paul continued in the statement. “That is to say, it is immensely disappointing, and entirely unsurprising. Decades of the same approach have shown that security for peace leads to neither security nor peace.”
Later in the statement, Paul said the U.S., as a “third party,” should not take a side in the conflict and suggested that Israel had committed “gross violations of human rights.”
Biden’s stance on the conflict includes wholly supporting Israel while ensuring aid is given to civilians caught in the crossfire. On Wednesday, he announced $100 million in humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The president said the aid would be cut off if it fell into the hands of Hamas.
According to his LinkedIn, Paul has worked at the State Department since April 2012.
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