The White House News

Miami University in Ohio is my alma mater. And for decades, Miami’s football teams played on a field which featured a mystifying, archaic, non-digital game clock which nobody – and I mean nobody – could understand. 

Not even the players and coaches from Miami.

Most clocks tell time.

But all that old clock told was ambiguity.

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No one was ever quite sure how many minutes or seconds were left in the game.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., never set foot on Miami’s field. But the clock he’s dealing with in Congress is reminiscent of the bizarre timepiece on the gridiron in Oxford, Ohio.

Johnson’s held the Speaker’s chair for less than a month. But he is already on the clock. And much like football games at Miami, no one quite knows how to read the clock or how much time is left in the game for Johnson.

The Speaker maneuvered to pass an interim spending bill last week to avoid a Thanksgiving government shutdown. Johnson did so with a margin nearly identical to that of his predecessor to sidestep a September shutdown. Only that bill cost former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., his job.

Everyone knew that McCarthy was on the clock this year after it took 15 ballots and parts of five days to elect him Speaker back in January. McCarthy’s clock was far different from the outmoded clock at Miami.

McCarthy’s clock was a chronograph with quartz movement. Everyone knew it was just a matter of time with McCarthy.

McCarthy finally won the gavel following the longest Speaker’s election since 1859. But to understand Johnson’s clock management, one only need to examine the failure of a procedural vote on the House floor just before lawmakers abandoned town for the Thanksgiving recess.

The House was trying to rifle through one more, individual spending bill before the break. This measure would fund Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) programs. Also on the docket: a bill to freeze $6 billion in Iranian assets the U.S. sent to Tehran as part of a prisoner exchange.

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House Republicans have struggled for weeks to pass even their own appropriations bills. That was a hallmark of McCarthy’s tenure. Things haven’t gotten much better under Johnson. In fact, the GOP leadership has either yanked from the schedule or the House has blocked an astonishing four spending bills during Johnson’s abbreviated Speakership.

Such was the case last Wednesday when House conservatives teamed with Democrats to bar the House from even beginning debate on the (CJS) appropriations bill and the Iran measure. 

With no bill to debate, the House brass pulled the plug and sent everyone home a day-and-a-half earlier than expected.

“The swamp won,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Tex., about Johnson writing yet another temporary spending bill. But he called Johnson “a good man.”

Still, Roy was just heating up.

 “Republican voters are tired of promises to fight. We want to actually see change,” barked Roy on the House steps.

A few minutes later, Roy was inside, ranting on the House floor. Roy’s voice cracked in anger as he bellowed about Johnson’s bipartisan gambit to fund the government.

“I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing – one – that I can go campaign on and say we did! Anybody sitting in the (Capitol) complex, if you want to come down to the floor and come explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done besides ‘Well, I guess it’s not as bad as the Democrats,’” beseeched Roy.

The Texas Republican had no takers.

Except perhaps by Democrats.

Republicans might not have a lot to show for their efforts. But considering the chaos on the GOP side of the aisle – punctuated by the three-week vacancy in the Speakership – Democrats will likely deploy Roy’s diatribe about the dearth of GOP accomplishments in every political ad for competitive House contests next year.

Roy was relentless in his criticism of how Republicans quickly reverted to old ways under Johnson. That’s why he and other conservatives torched the provision for the House to consider the spending bill and Iran measure.

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“We went through an entire month without a Speaker and we just did the same damn thing that we’re doing,” exploded Roy. “I didn’t come here for more excuses. I didn’t come here to have the Speaker of the House assume the position and in 17 days, pass a continuing resolution (the interim spending plan) on the floor of this House through suspension of the rules.”

Johnson used a procedure called “suspension of the rules” to approve the emergency spending plan because Roy and other right-wing members would have blocked the House from considering the “rule” required to put a bill on the floor. The House must first approve a “rule” before it considers most major pieces of legislation. No rule? Then no debate on the floor.

That is, unless you go around the rule and consider the measure as a suspension bill. 

House Freedom Caucus Chairman & Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn., described the CJS/Iran bill as “very, very, weak.”

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., was more strident.

“We’re going to make sure that he follows through on what he said he was going to do,” said Luna of Johnson.

Yours truly asked Johnson why the Speaker’s two-step spending plan “didn’t seem to satisfy some of the arch-conservatives in your caucus.”

“I’m one of the arch-conservatives and I want to cut spending right now,” answered Johnson. “But when you have a three-vote majority, as we do right now, we don’t have the votes to be able to advance that right now. 

In short, it’s about the math. 

But that might not satisfy the likes of Roy and other conservatives. They essentially argued in favor of a government shutdown over Thanksgiving in their quest to secure immediate spending cuts.

They’ll get to go to the mat over that in the coming weeks. Johnson’s two-leveled spending plan sets up government funding deadlines on January 19 and February 2.

With a note of irony, we’ll note that February 2 is also Groundhog Day.

It’s not 100 percent clear that Johnson is in the precise position that Kevin McCarthy was. But a trendline is emerging. Johnson says he won’t allow another temporary spending measure. And if he does, Johnson has gone back on a promise. If he sticks to his promise, that could spark a government shutdown.

That’s why there’s worry about Johnson facing a challenge to his leadership much like McCarthy. Thus, he is on the clock.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., summoned the Congressional press corps for a news conference a few hours after House members fled Washington last Wednesday.

A reporter asked Jeffries about his relationship with Johnson and if he had “any advice for him as he faces these difficulties.”

“Good luck!” chortled Jeffries, eliciting laughter from reporters as he concluded the session with the scribes.

Jeffries speaks the truth.

Johnson is on the clock. And if time’s not on his side, perhaps luck will be.

Pope Francis hosted a group of transgender women — many of whom are sex workers or migrants from Latin America — to a Vatican luncheon for the Catholic Church’s “World Day of the Poor” last week.

The pontiff and the transgender women have formed a close relationship since the pope came to their aid during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they were unable to work. Now, they meet monthly for VIP visits with the pope and receive medicine, money and shampoo any day, according to The Associated Press. 

“Before, the church was closed to us. They didn’t see us as normal people, they saw us as the devil,” one member of the transgender group, Andrea Paola Torres Lopez, told the AP.

Some 1,200 people who are impoverished or homeless also attended the luncheon inside the papal audience hall for a full meal and dessert. 

VATICAN APPROVES TRANSGENDER PEOPLE RECEIVING BAPTISM, BECOMING GODPARENTS 

The invitation to the transgender women comes as the Vatican released a controversial document earlier this month affirming that individuals suffering from gender-identity disorders are allowed to be baptized or be named as godparents under specific circumstances.

The document is an official response to a dubia submitted by Brazilian Bishop Giuseppe Negri of Santo Amaro seeking guidance on the issue. It was propagated by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and signed by Pope Francis.

However, in a somewhat ambiguous clarification, the guidance specifies that in order for individuals with gender-identity afflictions to be baptized, it must not cause “scandal” or “disorientation.”

This same stipulation applied to their eligibility to act as godparents or witness marriages, according to the Vatican. The move was praised by LGTBQ+ advocates.

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The ruling’s ambiguity is consistent with a variety of theological statements from the Vatican under Pope Francis and can make understanding how to implement the ruling difficult for the clergy.

Father Brian Graebe, a priest with the Archdiocese of New York who holds a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, told Fox News Digital previously that the Vatican’s guidance is not contradictory to church teaching, but possibly “deficient.”

“There’s nothing in the document that contradicts church teachings. My reaction to it when I read it yesterday was that it’s deficient. The problem isn’t so much in what it says as in what it leaves unsaid,” Graebe said.

He continued, “What I was disappointed not to see in the document was affirmation that in the right of baptism itself, whatever name the person has, we call it a Christian name [or] their baptismal name […] what we must affirm is that the correct biological pronouns are to be used.”

The Catholic Church teaches that gender ideology and transgender lifestyles are a “grave disorder” in need of correction through spiritual and secular therapy.

CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE DEFENDS POLICY TO NOT ADMIT CHILDREN WHO REJECT THEIR BIOLOGICAL SEX

“I think the fact that Pope Francis today allows us to approach baptism with this legislation, or to perhaps take care of our best friend’s child, or of friends who ask us to be godfather or godmother, is something that makes us transgender [people] feel more human,” Argentine sex worker Carla Segovia said of the pope, Reuters reported.

Fox News’ Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report. 

The three individuals charged with running brothels in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. that allegedly hosted high-profile clientele, including political and military leaders, brought in over a million dollars running the operation, a top federal investigator on the case said Wednesday.

According to an affidavit submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts by the Department of Homeland Security, the alleged ringleaders of the operation, James Lee of California, along with Han Lee and Junmyung Lee of Massachusetts, made the chunk of change while running the service out of high-end apartments in Massachusetts and the Washington, D.C., suburbs since 2020.

The affidavit also said the defendants kept “impeccable” records of the operation showing the amounts it brought in.

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“I do not believe that HAN has legitimate employment but I do believe she has made an astounding amount of money running her prostitution business over the last several years,” DHS Special Agent Zachary Mitlitsky wrote, referencing the alleged ringleader of the operation.

The affidavit added that two of Han Lee’s bank accounts brought in $965,000, mostly in cash, from Dec. 2019 to Oct. 2023, and that she is believed to have access to other foreign accounts.

The DOJ charged the three earlier this month after busting the operation. They face maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and fines of up to $250,000 if convicted.

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According to prosecutors, the D.C.-area brothels were housed in apartment complexes in Fairfax and Tysons, Virginia, and hosted a variety of consorts from varying backgrounds. The defendants allegedly rented the apartments while paying for the prostitutes’ transportation and flights to the locations.

They also said the defendants advertised the prostitution for rates going between $350 and $600, and required solicitors to provide a plethora of identifying information, “not limited to, full name, birth date, credit card information, employer information, and websites,” as well as a “reference if they have one.”

“Some of these professional disciplines included, but are not limited to, politicians, pharmaceutical executives, doctors, military officers, government contractors that possess security clearances, professors, lawyers, business executives, technology company executives, scientists, accountants, retail employees, and students,” prosecutors said.

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One investigator said “there are potentially hundreds of yet to be identified customers that may include other professional disciplines not included in the list above,” but the DOJ has yet to give any further details on the clientele.

Fox News’ Houston Keene and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has denied bombshell sexual assault allegations made by an alleged female former colleague in a new lawsuit. 

“The mayor does not know who this person is. If they ever met, he doesn’t recall it. But he would never do anything to physically harm another person and vigorously denies any such claim,” a City Hall spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

Adams is named as a defendant in a summons filed Wednesday night in the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, The Messenger reported on Thursday morning.

“Plaintiff was sexually assaulted by Defendant Eric Adams in New York, New York in 1993 while they both worked for the City of New York,” the summons says, according to the report. 

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Taxpayers are paying for transgender inmates in U.S. prisons to transition to another gender if a medical assessment deems it necessary, according to a June Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) memo obtained by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project.

The memo, discovered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request this week, details the “immediate implementation” of a new pathway for inmates to undergo invasive surgery to transition to their desired gender. The last time clinical guidance for BOP was released was in 2016.

All evaluations and procedures are overseen by an advisory group called the Transgender Clinical Care team. Medical review meetings are attended by a pharmacist, psychiatrist, physician and social worker from the group.

“Healthcare providers should utilize a gender-affirming approach, including using the individual’s preferred name and pronouns during each clinical encounter,” the memo reads under the section Gender-Affirming Medical Assessment. “This also includes using non-gender specific terminology (ex. genital instead of penis/vagina or chest instead of breast) for anatomical body parts or asking if the patient has a preferred term to be used.”

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Some operations listed in the BOP clinical guidelines funded by taxpayers include hormone therapy, feminization and masculinization procedures such as permanent hair removal, male chest contouring, breast augmentation, scrotoplasty, hysterectomy and other surgical operations.

“It’s crazy when you look at the document, the sophistication of the apparatus they built to govern just transitioning prisoners,” Mike Howell, director of the Oversight Project — Heritage Foundation’s investigative branch — told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“And we have other investigative work that shows in state prisons, overwhelmingly and disproportionately transgender prisoners account for sex crimes,” he said. “And we’re just like, diluting these people with taxpayer dollars and giving them surgeries.”

TRANSGENDER INMATE TO BE TRANSFERRED TO WOMEN’S FACILITY, GET SURGERY AFTER LAWSUIT

Sam Dewey, Heritage Foundation’s attorney, said the BOP guidelines apply to all federal inmates, regardless of what crime they are serving time for.

“So this policy applies not to some kid who made some mistake, got caught up with the wrong people on the streets,” he told Fox News Digital. “This would apply here and there for hardened criminals.”

“And why are our tax dollars going to that, when these people are in jail to be punished?” he said.

Lawsuits have already been underway for transgender inmates seeking sex reassignment surgery. A Minnesota transgender inmate is being moved to a women’s prison and will receive a vaginoplasty as well as $495,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections, according to a June ruling.

ACLU, LGBT GROUPS SUE MISSOURI AG OVER GENDER TRANSITION EMERGENCY RULE

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in August against the Indiana Department of Corrections on behalf of a transgender inmate, Jonathan C. Richardson, also known as Autumn Cordellionè, who was convicted of strangling his 11-month-old stepdaughter to death in 2001.

Fox News Digital has reached out to BOP for comment.