Jeff Landry, a Hard-Line Republican, Is Elected Governor of Louisiana
Known for His Pointed Questions, a 15-Year-Old Is Ejected From a G.O.P. Event
Trump push for incremental delays risks upending federal trials
Donald Trump’s first few months in federal court as a defendant have shown the former president is employing the same strategy he typically brings to his civil cases: seeking delay.
Trump made headlines with one motion suggesting his May trial in the Mar-a-Lago documents case should be bumped until mid-November 2024 — after the election.
It was a fallback from an earlier position that a Florida judge shouldn’t even set a trial date. And in his election interference case, also brought by special counsel Jack Smith, Trump’s attorneys initially suggested the trial should be in 2026.
But the effort to punt his trials far into the future have overshadowed motions seeking more limited delays that, if successful, could collectively bump the trials beyond election season.
“This is sort of an incremental strategy; you don’t expect to win all at once,” Ankush Khardori, a former federal prosecutor, said of the smaller motions Trump’s team has filed in recent weeks.
“Over time, the aggregate effect can be to push things out.”
Some of Trump’s latest motions have been on more technical matters arising before trial. In both the Mar-a-Lago case and his election interference case, he has sought delays under a law that deals with how classified information is shared at trial.
The Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) lays out a number of junctions for each side to jockey over classified evidence, sorting out how it will be handled and presented at trial.
“There are a couple limited aspects of their motions that have some merit, mainly in the Florida case, where they wanted to have full access to the charged documents before having to go into the court and explain their defense theories,” said Brian Greer, a former CIA attorney.
“Otherwise, their arguments are largely meritless, and they are trying to turn the CIPA process on its head.”
Trump’s team has asked to push back deadlines, arguing the government is trying “to foist rushed CIPA litigation on the Court, President Trump, and his co-defendants.” It has asked to push back CIPA deadlines as well as bump the entire case until after the election.
There have been some delays in sharing certain documents with the Trump team, in part due to the highly classified nature of the secrets they contain.
And the government notes that some issues have been beyond its control, including how personnel assigned to the court to manage the documents have arranged the process for doing so, something expected to be resolved imminently.
But prosecutors argue those are hiccups in the case that at best justify bumping back the deadline by a week.
The current quibbling is over Section 4 of CIPA, which allows the government to seek the court’s permission to redact or summarize some of the classified evidence as a protective measure before sharing it. The defense team, in turn, is also allowed to make their case for what evidence they believe they need to access in order to argue their case.
Trump’s team has access to much of the classified information in the case, with the battle over a subset of the documents at issue.
They are asking for a three-month delay to what Greer called the first substantive stage of CIPA.
“That’s the first step, and Trump’s team is saying, ‘We don’t want that to be the first step. We want that to be a much, much later step.’ But it’s a chicken and egg problem, right? Until the court blesses those summaries and redactions, DOJ doesn’t want to provide the documents,” Greer said.
“The whole purpose of CIPA is to accelerate all the motions practice relating to classified discovery earlier in the case so that parties have an orderly process for narrowing classified information at issue and giving the parties certainty in advance of trial. And they’re basically trying to say ‘No, we should wait until discovery is over and then start CIPA.’ And that’s just not how it works,” Greer said.
The Justice Department has said the nature of the documents means that if they cannot shield them in some form “the Government cannot produce the documents at all,” and they cast Trump’s CIPA delay as “a motion that threatens to upend the entire schedule established by the court and that amounts to a motion to continue the May 20, 2024 trial date.”
Trump’s team similarly sought a delay over the small set of classified documents at issue in the Jan. 6 case, with the judge there agreeing to only a modest deadline bump.
Trump’s team has also filed other motions that, while not directly relating to schedule changes, could succeed in pushing back the case.
In D.C., he filed a motion earlier this month pushing to dismiss all charges in the election interference case, arguing he is immune from prosecution as all actions he took to block the transfer of power ahead of the deadly rampage at the Capitol fall under the umbrella of his official duties.
Khardori dismissed the underlying argument of the motion but said it’s possible the matter could reach the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in that case also recently asked the judge to force Trump’s team to formally assert in court — as they have on the airwaves — that he will use an advice of counsel defense.
Prosecutors said they were asking the judge to force the assertion from Trump, as waiting until the last minute “risks causing substantial disruption and delay, particularly in this case given the number of attorneys involved,” they wrote.
Such a defense requires Trump to waive attorney-client privilege and release his communications with his attorneys, with prosecutors noting 25 witnesses held back information they believe would be covered.
“The government is also doing what it can to try to front-load some of the processes that might otherwise provide delays on the back end,” Khardori said.
He said Trump’s incremental approach could hold the most promise in Florida, where the case is currently scheduled for May and delays risk getting into tricky territory.
“Once you start to get into August, you’re talking about convention season. Once you start to get into September, you’re then right around 60, 90 days right before the election when the Justice Department is trying not to have an overt influence on the election,” Khardori said.
“At that point, I think judges are going to be thinking about pushing them out until after the election.”
Doing so would achieve exactly what Trump has aimed for, as he and his attorneys have complained about how the case could impact the election season – both in terms of his campaign schedule as well as influencing the results.
“From the beginning, they have been tactically, I think, as clear as they can be — the lawyers — in saying that they do not want these trials to happen before the election,” Khardori said.
“And we know the reason why that is: because if Trump can get back into office, these cases are going to be put on ice one way or another by him or his attorney general.”
Go to Source: Administration News | The Hill
Navy SEAL-turned-GOP lawmaker: Special ops hostage rescue mission in Israel would take ‘considerable effort’
Montana GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke said Wednesday that any potential rescue mission involving U.S. special operations forces for hostages taken by Hamas would be a “considerable effort” as he reaffirmed his commitment to supporting Israel.
“When you have the number of hostages that Israel [does] — and many of them are U.S. citizens, as was reported — that is a considerable effort,” Zinke, who served as a U.S. Navy SEAL for 23 years, told Fox News Digital.
At least 150 hostages are still being held by Hamas, including some American citizens, Fox News previously reported. U.S. military advisors are consulting with Israeli special forces for potential hostage rescue missions, in an advisory capacity.
If U.S. special operations forces step in to physically assist Israel, that effort, Zinke said, would be a “national command authority decision.”
“You know, it’s no secret SEAL Team six and select [Israel Defense Forces] forces have had a long relationship sharing tactics, techniques, procedures and an integration of units … to meet the requirements,” he said.
RELATIVES OF LOVED ONES KILLED, KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS PLEAD FOR HELP: ‘THE WORLD HAS TO STEP UP’
Zinke also outlined certain concerns that those who take part in rescuing hostages should keep in mind, such as an attack on one Hamas militant resulting in the deaths of multiple hostages.
Reaffirming his support for the country as it seeks to defend itself from Hamas attacks, Zinke said, “We need to stand behind Israel 100%.”
“What we’re talking about is decapitation of children, of terrorist aggression,” he added. “We need to stand behind Israel. I think it should be recognized that, look, this is a coordination of regional scale — where you have Hamas links with Iran, links with Chinese manufactured weapons systems, Iranian manufactured weapon systems, and now Hezbollah. This is a regional coordinated conflict, and I don’t think one should take for granted that recently you had maritime operations with Russia, China and Iran in the Persian Gulf on coordination of assets and tactics and techniques.”
The comments from Zinke came after National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that the U.S. was offering Israel “additional U.S. advice and counsel.”
“We have a lot of hostage expertise here in the United States, and we’re offering some of that expertise to Israel should they desire it and should they find that appropriate,” he told CNN.
Additionally, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said this week that the U.S. has “people on the ground” to help Israel with “intelligence and planning” when it comes to rescuing hostages captured by Hamas.
“We don’t have any fidelity on the exact number of potential American hostages,” Austin told a reporter, but added that when he spoke on Sunday with Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, he offered the assistance of “our special operators” and the American intelligence community “in planning and developing intelligence to help in this endeavor.”
“We have people on the ground that have… established contact with his operators, his special operators, and will continue to help with intelligence and planning as things go along,” Austin added.
In addition to Austin’s comments, the U.S. always has special operations forces on standby for hostage operations, with teams based out of Fort Liberty, North Carolina.
President Biden said Wednesday evening that his administration is doing “a lot” to free hostages held by Hamas during his comments to a group of Jewish leaders at the White House.
“We’re working on every aspect of the hostage crisis in Israel, including deploying experts to advise and assist with recovery efforts,” he said. “Now, the press are going to shout to me, and many of you are, that you know … what are you doing to bring these — get these folks home? If I told you, I wouldn’t be able to get them home. Folks, there’s a lot we’re doing, a lot we’re doing.”
“I have not given up hope of bringing these folks home,” he added. “But the idea that I’m going to stand here before you and tell you what I’m doing is bizarre. So, I hope you understand how bizarre I think it would be to try to answer that question.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered a strong message of American solidarity in Israel on Thursday alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and revealed that the number of Americans who have died since Hamas’ attack last weekend has now climbed to at least 25 U.S. citizens.
Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Go to Source: Latest Political News on Fox News
Menendez, now accused of acting as foreign agent, has a history of blocking FARA reform bills
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who is now facing an additional charge of acting as a foreign agent in an indictment released Thursday, has a history of opposing Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) reforms, according to Senate records.
In 2020, Menendez blocked Democrat Sen. Chuck Grassley’s bipartisan-led effort to create stricter penalties regulating influence of foreign entities on the U.S. government. The Foreign Agents Disclosure and Registration Enhancement Act of 2019 would have built upon existing law to boost disclosure to the public of foreign lobbying campaigns.
“It seems shortsighted to provide additional enforcement tools before we have figured out what that regime should look like,” Menendez said on the Senate floor, according to congressional records. “The disturbing rise of foreign influence campaigns that use a variety of measures to mask who is the ultimate source or beneficiary should serve as an alarm bell for all of us.
“So, before this body passes any tweaks or new tools and adds to the current patchwork of FARA regulations and exemptions, I think we should take a step back and take a comprehensive look, and we have not done that.”
DEMOCRAT SEN. BOB MENENDEZ ACCUSED OF ACTING AS A FOREIGN AGENT IN SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT
At the time, Grassley said the bill would give “the Justice Department new tools to detect and deter secret foreign lobbying and ensures policymakers and the American public know when influence campaigns are being pushed by foreign interests.”
Another bill seeking to close loopholes in FARA and foreign lobbying disclosure, brought forth this year by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas and called the PAID OFF Act, would have made it more difficult for unregistered foreign agents to lobby in the U.S.
MSNBC’S ALICIA MENENDEZ ADDRESSES FATHER’S INDICTMENT: COLLEAGUES HAVE ‘AGGRESSIVELY’ COVERED
Texas state Rep. August Pfluger, a Republican, led the PAID OFF Act in the House. In response to the additional charges against Menendez, Pfluger said in a statement: “As if the charges against Senator Menendez aren’t incriminating enough, the fact that he blocked a bill to prevent foreign adversaries from influencing our policymakers makes this even more serious.”
A GOP aide told Fox News Digital Menendez “actively fought” to keep the legislation from being added as an amendment to the Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which passed over the summer. Both chambers will have to agree on a package by the end of the year.
Both bills would have established stricter regulations for disclosing foreign lobbying and created harsher penalties for misstatements resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
Menendez is accused of acting as a foreign agent and accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to benefit the Egyptian government through his “power and influence as a Senator,” according to the superseding indictment filed by a grand jury in Manhattan Thursday.
DEMOCRAT SEN. MENENDEZ’S WIFE HIT, KILLED PEDESTRIAN WHILE DRIVING IN 2018: REPORTS
A superseding indictment is a formal document issued by a grand jury that replaces and expands upon a previous indictment in a criminal case. It is used when new evidence or charges arise after an initial indictment has been issued.
In a statement to Fox News Digital after publication, Menendez denied the new charges and insisted he has always been “loyal to only one country — the United States of America.”
According to the indictment, “Among other actions, Menendez provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt.
“It was a part and an object of the conspiracy that Robert Menendez, the defendant, and others known and unknown, being a public official, directly and indirectly, would and did corruptly demand, seek, receive, accept, and agree to receive and accept something of value personally and for another person and entity, in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act and for being induced to do an act and omit to do an act in violation of his official duty,” the indictment says.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Menendez’s office for comment.
Go to Source: Latest Political News on Fox News
House of cards: Five possible scenarios for electing the next speaker
Congress has been in chaos for weeks.
Since coming within hours of a partial government shutdown at the start of the month to a leadership crisis within the GOP, the chaos on Capitol Hill hasn’t let up.
Democratic lawmakers have ridiculed the upheaval, and Republicans have little clarity about what will happen next in the process. But there are several potential avenues to resolve the speakership fight in the coming weeks.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, put his name up for the speakership after eight Republicans voted with every Democrat to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
MCCARTHY BACKS JIM JORDAN FOR SPEAKER AMID AUSTIN SCOTT CHALLENGE
Though he narrowly lost a conference vote for the nomination to Rep. Steve Scalise earlier this week, Jordan emerged as the next in line to try for a consensus this week. After Scalise withdrew, many members considered it right to give Jordan a chance to gather votes.
Yet Jordan ended Friday dozens of ballots short of the 217 Republican votes needed to win the speakership on the House floor. In a GOP conference vote Friday, 55 Republican members indicated in a secret ballot they would not vote for Jordan on the floor. That came after Jordan won a majority of his conference votes as the nominee for speaker.
Changing those votes is a tall order, but if Jordan can convince enough Republicans to support his bid, he could become the next speaker.
Jordan has signaled he wants to take the vote to the House floor, where Republican members would have their votes publicly recorded. But it’s unclear how soon that could happen.
CONSERVATIVE HOUSE GOP GROUP LINKS TOP PLAYERS IN REPUBLICANS’ SPEAKER FIGHT
Multiple lawmakers have told Fox News there would not be a floor vote until another GOP conference meeting is held, which would come on either Monday or Tuesday.
If Jordan can’t convince enough of his party to back him as speaker, the caucus will have to go back to the drawing board for a new candidate.
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., predicted ahead of the caucus vote Friday that Jordan would not secure the votes needed, and, in that case, there would be more candidates jumping in.
“Jordan won’t get the votes. I don’t know if anybody can get the votes. Then they’re going to have four or five other members of Congress that are really, I think pretty strong members, will get in the race,” Buchanan told reporters.
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., put his name in for speaker against Jordan late this week, but he endorsed his rival after losing the first secret GOP ballot Friday.
Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern signaled he’d be interested in running for speaker, but he dropped out before the Scalise-Jordan vote. And he supported Jordan’s recent bid in the GOP caucus meeting Friday, a source told Fox News. It’s unclear whether he would run if Jordan’s candidacy crumbles.
Two lawmakers told Fox News Digital earlier this week that Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, who holds the No. 3 leadership spot within the House GOP, had been floating a run for speaker behind the scenes even while publicly backing Scalise. But Emmer hasn’t said publicly if he would run for speaker.
One idea that has been floated by a few Republicans is to call on someone outside the House. Former President Donald Trump has offered to serve as speaker of the House temporarily if the GOP can’t agree on one.
Technically, the House speaker doesn’t have to be an elected representative, according to the Constitution. But no one outside Congress has ever been elected to the role.
One unlikely scenario would be for moderate Republicans to make a deal with Democrats to get a bipartisan majority to elect some candidate. But that idea has many obstacles.
Democrats are likely to vote for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as they did on every speaker vote in January. And it’s unlikely any Republican would back a Democrat.
“No Republican is going to vote for a Democrat,” Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., told FOX Business this week. “That would be political suicide, even for the most moderate of members.”
Even Republicans on the Problem Solvers Caucus, a major bipartisan group in the House, have grown disenchanted with working across the aisle after Democrats joined the eight GOP hardliners to vote out McCarthy.
“This was a problem to be solved, and folks failed to meet the moment,” freshman Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said this week.
Another possibility would be to give North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry additional authority in his role as speaker pro tempore. After McCarthy’s ousting, McHenry became interim speaker, but his power to call up votes or conduct House business is mostly limited to calling votes for a speaker election.
A few House Democrats on the Problem Solvers Caucus proposed granting McHenry expanded speaker powers in 15 day increments to address a limited number of issues, including spending bills and funding for Ukraine and Israel. In exchange for the expanded powers, the Democrats would want half of the suspension bills on the calendar.
It’s unclear whether that deal would gain enough support.
“I never supported that kind of a maneuver,” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said this week. “And I think Patrick McHenry was very clear that that is not going to happen.”
McCarthy could return
It took 15 rounds of votes for McCarthy to win the gavel in January. With the rules allowing a single member to call up a motion to vacate the chair, it’s unlikely McCarthy could make a comeback.
McCarthy has publicly backed Jordan and has not publicly signaled interest in a new bid for the speakership he lost less than two weeks ago.
But McCarthy still has his supporters.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, for instance, remains a McCarthy-only voter even after McCarthy’s ouster and the chaos that followed.
“We know who our real leader is. … I’m more solidly behind McCarthy now than ever,” Gimenez told reporters Friday. “We need Kevin McCarthy back.”
Fox News’ Liz Elkind, Chad Pergram, Kelly Phares and Tyler Olson contributed reporting.
Go to Source: Latest Political News on Fox News
Liberal groups announce half-billion dollar effort to beef up local news infrastructure ahead of 2024 election
Nearly two dozen liberal foundations will begin dropping $500 million into propping up local media infrastructures to drive coverage of issues that include criminal justice reform and climate change ahead of the 2024 elections.
The initiative, called Press Forward, consists of 22 left-wing foundations and was organized by the MacArthur Foundation, which has pumped millions of dollars into progressive journalistic endeavors to create an “equitable future by informing, engaging, and activating Americans through deep investments in just and inclusive news and narratives.”
The effort will likely aid Democrat candidates who espouse those stances as a byproduct of its mission. The MacArthur Foundation, meanwhile, is linked to the Biden administration through the president’s Community Violence Intervention Collaborative, which seeks to reduce gun violence, according to a White House press release from last year.
“My sense is that we are losing a newspaper in America every week, and that’s a dangerous thing for American democracy,” MacArthur Foundation president John Palfrey told the Washington Post on the new effort. “It’s hard to have a democracy when you don’t have good local news. When you lose credible news sources, misinformation and disinformation swoop in.”
DC PROSECUTORS PROBE LIBERAL DARK MONEY NETWORK AFTER BACKLASH FOR INVESTIGATING CONSERVATIVE ORGS
According to the Post, the coalition plans to thrust $100 million annually into the measure over the next five years for what they call a “lifeline” for local news.
The Post did not indicate what type of journalism the money will support. The MacArthur Foundation, however, elaborates in a press release, suggesting the goal is to create a pipeline to push left-wing causes and issues.
“We have a moment to support the reimagination, revitalization, and rapid development of local news,” Palfrey said in the release. “We are prepared to support the strongest ideas and seed new ones; build powerful networks; and invest in people, organizations, and networks with substantial resources.”
“The philanthropic sector recognizes the need to strengthen American democracy and is beginning to see that progress on every other issue, from education and healthcare to criminal justice reform and climate change, is dependent on the public’s understanding of the facts,” he said.
As the MacArthur Foundation seeks to drive issues such as criminal justice reform through the $500 million effort, it simultaneously funds separate advocacy initiatives on the matter.
TOP DEM DARK MONEY NETWORK FACES IRS COMPLAINT OVER ALLEGED SELF-ENRICHMENT OF ITS FOUNDER
For example, the foundation propels the “Safety and Justice Challenge,” which invests in local “equity-based solutions” on public safety, such as diversion and bail reform, to reduce the jail population by 50 percent.
According to the initiative’s website, “The MacArthur team provides strategic direction and messaging, makes final decisions regarding funding, and exercises grant-making authority.” Its 2021 tax forms show they disbursed around 80 grants for the campaign, which largely went to several counties. Some grants made their way to groups such as the Vera Institute of Justice, which, along with its work to reduce jail populations, receives hundreds of millions from the Biden administration in government contracts to help illegal immigrants fight deportations.
The MacArthur Foundation possesses an endowment of over $7 billion and has already disbursed nearly 1700 grants as part of its journalism program, its website states. Recent examples of “grantees in the news” include stories on reparations and Juneteenth.
Some MacArthur Foundation journalism grantees, such as the Society of Environmental Journalists, aim to dispute “disinformation” by appearing to ban oil and natural gas proponents in news stories, according to the Western Energy Alliance, which itself pushes oil and natural gas.
The Western Energy Alliance points to a webinar the association held earlier this year, where a participant asked about including dissenting voices from “lobbyists and these pressure groups.”
“I definitely don’t include climate denial voices in my stories,” a Los Angeles Times climate reporter said.
“Billionaire foundations should realize local news outlets’ decline largely stems from their parroting elite cities’ outlets, which are rejected by ordinary Americans but speak in lockstep with left-wing foundations like MacArthur,” Capital Research Center president Scott Walter told Fox News Digital.
“These rich, privileged funders don’t want to support genuine local news; they want to manufacture a thousand little New York Times clones. Calling that ‘democracy’ is a bad joke.”
The MacArthur Foundation did not respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiry on the half-billion-dollar journalism campaign.
Go to Source: Latest Political News on Fox News
Increasingly ‘irritated’ Tim Scott lashes out at Biden, GOP rivals following Hamas attack on Israel
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina campaigned on an positive and uplifting conservative since he launched his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
But in the wake of Hamas’ sneak attack on Israel eight days ago, the senator has let loose with some blistering verbal jabs at President Biden and some of his 2024 GOP rivals.
“It’s clear language and is forceful language because it is disgusting to see the evil brought upon the Jewish people,” Scott said this weekend in interviews with Fox News Digital and on Fox News’ “Cavuto Live.”
“I’m just irritated and frustrated by what we’ve seen,” Scott said.
HALEY, RAMASWAMY, WAR OF WORDS HEATS UP WITH FRESH VOLLEYS OVER ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Scott has been sharpening his language for weeks, and on Tuesday he accused President Biden of having “blood on his hands” and argued that Biden was “complicit” in the Hamas assault.
“His weakness invited the attack, his cash giveaways to Iran helped fund terrorism,” Scott claimed during a speech at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., as he referred to the Biden administration’s green light earlier this year to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian oil revenues as part of a deal for an exchange for American prisoners. Iran is a major supporter of both Hamas and the Lebanese based Hezbollah — two groups that aim to destroy the Jewish State.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH LIVE FOX NEWS COVERAGE OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Tehran was not able to access any of the money — which the administration says was heavily monitored and restricted for humanitarian use — but Scott and other Republicans have slammed Biden over the deal. Washington and Qatar quietly agreed following the Hamas attack to re-freeze the funds.
“You have the weakness of President Biden, you invite attacks. When you negotiate a deal, creating a market for hostages, $6 billion to Iran. What did Hamas say? They said thank you to Iran. That, in my opinion, is being complicit,” Scott argued in his Fox News interviews.
Asked about his shift in tone, Scott explained that “as a Christian I gotta tell you I’m just irritated and frustrated by what we’ve seen, the complicit behavior from the President of the United States.”
“I am a big believer in Romans 12:15 that says we should mourn with those who mourn, but the next chapter talks about executing justice, the wrath of God. I think you have to mix those two together to understand why I have a sense of urgency about responding to the atrocities in Israel,” he spotlighted.
Scott’s attacks on Biden last week came hours after the president, in a televised address, once again condemned the Hamas attack.
“In this moment we must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel,” Biden said in remarks from the White House. “And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself and respond to this attack. There’s no justification for terrorism. There’s no excuse.”
The South Carolina Democratic Party pushed back on Scott’s attacks on the president.
“While President Biden is supporting our allies and leading on the world stage in the wake of the horrific attack on Israel, Tim Scott is desperately trying to distract from his lack of foreign policy creds and failure to deliver for the thousands of American service members at South Carolina’s eight military bases and across the world,” state party chair Christale Spain said in a statement
While targeting Biden, Scott also saved some of his verbal venom for his Republican presidential nomination rivals.
He joined a handful of other GOP White House contenders in saying that comments critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by former President Donald Trump — the commanding front-runner in the 2024 Republican race — were “just wrong.”
STATE OF THE 2024 RACE: DID TRUMP STEP IN IT WTIH HIS ISRAEL AND HEZBOLLAH COMMENTS?
He took aim at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy for their past comments on Israel and on the war in Urkaine, arguing that “the last thing we need is a Joe Biden Republican Party wing on foreign policy.”
The senator was anything but the loudest voice at the first Republican presidential nomination debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in August. Because he mostly avoided the numerous verbal fistfights at the first debate, he rarely enjoyed the glare of the primetime spotlight, and his performance was panned by pundits.
“The loudest voices too often say too little,” Scott said in a Fox News interview soon after the first debate.
But in September, Scott told Fox News Digital in an interview that Trump was “wrong” on abortion and charged that Trump, DeSantis, and former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have “run away from protecting life.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The senator’s criticisms were a sign he was sharpening his contrasts with his rivals for Republican nomination.
Scott delivered a much more aggressive performance at the second debate, which was held on Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
Go to Source: Latest Political News on Fox News
Rubio urges Biden administration to cancel visas for foreign nationals who support Hamas’ attack on Israel
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican, is asking President Biden to rescind visas for foreign nationals who defend or support Hamas amid the terror group’s largest attack on Israel in decades.
More than 3,200 people have been killed in the war since Hamas launched its attack last week, leading to retaliatory action from Israeli forces. Thousands more have been wounded, and many others have been taken hostage by Hamas and raped, tortured and murdered. The U.S. State Department confirmed Saturday that 29 Americans were among those killed in the violence while 15 remain unaccounted for.
“America is the most generous nation on earth, but we cannot allow foreign nationals who support terrorist groups like Hamas and march in our streets calling for ‘intifada’ to enter or stay in our country,” Rubio wrote in a press release.
Following the attack on October 7, many Americans began participating in demonstrations supporting Hamas terrorists’ attack on Israel, with several of these demonstrations happening at U.S. colleges and universities. Additionally, the former chief of Hamas’ political bureau last week called for Muslims across the world to head to the squares and streets to protest in support of Palestinians and for neighboring countries to join the battle against Israel.
FORMER IDF COMBAT RESERVIST SAYS ‘EVIL BEAST’ HAMAS ‘MUST BE DEFANGED’
Rubio’s release says some people responsible for organizing and participating in the demonstrations across the U.S. supporting Hamas are in the country on visas.
“The Biden Administration has the authority and an obligation under existing law to immediately identify, cancel the visas of, and remove foreign nationals already here in America who have demonstrated support terrorist groups, and in many cases, even celebrated the slaughter of Israeli babies and the rape of Jewish girls,” the Republican senator said.
Pro-Palestinian student groups at Harvard University and other institutions have also released statements endorsing the violence against Israel while many of the universities themselves have condemned the acts of terrorism.
DESANTIS SAYS US SHOULDN’T TAKE IN REFUGEES FROM GAZA: ‘I AM NOT GONNA DO THAT’
The Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups, comprised of about 30 Harvard student groups, wrote in a statement shortly after the attack, “We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.” The statement was later deleted after several of the groups withdrew their names amid backlash and after some CEOs demanded the university release the names of the students who signed the statement.
“In addition to demanding the Biden Administration apply our existing laws, I will introduce legislation to force them to act,” Rubio said.
Rubio said he would introduce legislation requiring the Biden Administration to rescind visas of foreign nationals who actively support Hamas and legislation to remove federal funding from colleges and universities that allow protests, demonstrations and other activity that can be “reasonably construed” to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.
Hamas was designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997 by the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism.
Other GOP lawmakers calling for the U.S. to not accept refugees from Gaza include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs.
“I don’t know what Biden’s gonna do, but we cannot accept people from Gaza into this country as refugees,” DeSantis said during a campaign stop in Iowa. “I am not going to do that. If you look at how they behave, not all of them are Hamas, but they are all antisemitic. None of them believe in Israel’s right to exist.”
Go to Source: Latest Political News on Fox News