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Federal prosecutors plan to indict Hunter Biden by end of September

admin — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 06:37:10 +0000

Federal prosecutors plan to indict Hunter Biden by end of September

By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Published: 16:49 EDT, 6 September 2023 | Updated: 16:49 EDT, 6 September 2023

Federal prosecutors plan to indict Hunter Biden by the end of the month: Bombshell court

admin — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 06:13:48 +0000

Hunter Biden could face charges of illegally possessing a gun while he was using drugs following a bombshell court filing revealing prosecutors want to indict him by the end of September.

The president’s son had reached a deal that would have allowed him to avoid trial for the firearms charges if he abided by parole conditions over 24 months.

But now charges that could land him up to 10 years in prison appear to be back on the table, according to a new filing signed by Special Counsel David Weiss.

‘The Speedy Trial Act requires that the Government obtain the return of an indictment by a grand jury by Friday, September 29, 2023, at the earliest,’ the filing read. ‘The Government intends to seek the return of an indictment in this case before that date.’

Hunter Biden is also under investigation for his foreign business dealings, which are also the focus of probes started by House Republicans in Congress.

Hunter Biden will likely be indicted on gun charges by the end of the month, a new bombshell court filing from Special Counsel David Weiss revealed

A picture from Hunter Biden’s laptop showed the now 53-year-old first son posing nude with the firearm in question

He was supposed to be spared from jailtime when Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware, and his lawyers inked a plea deal where the younger Biden would plead guilty to two misdemeanor crimes of failure to pay more than $100,000 in taxes.

Hunter had made more than $1.5 million in income in 2017 and 2018.

As part of the plea deal, he would avoid prosecution for the gun charge as long as he met certain conditions over a 24-month period.

Hunter had lied on a 2018 application to buy a gun.

A photo of the form shows he answered ‘no’ when asked if he was an ‘unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance.’

Hunter wrote about his extensive drug use during that period of his life in his 2021 memoir, Beautiful Things.

Republicans in Washington complained that the president’s son had gotten himself a ‘sweetheart deal.’

Hunter allegedly lied on a firearm report (above) required for his gun transaction. A photo of the form shows he answered ‘no’ when asked if he was an ‘unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance’

But it all fell apart when he was in the Wilmington, Delaware courtroom of the Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in late July.

Due to Noreika’s probing, daylight was discovered between the government and Hunter’s lawyers’ understanding of the plea deal and whether it provided blanket immunity – essentially whether it let the first son off the hook from facing any future federal charges.

Noreika complained that the U.S. attorney’s office and Hunter’s lawyers had expected her to ‘rubber-stamp’ the deal.

‘I’m not going to say I’m going to accept the agreement. I’m not going to say I’ll deny it,’ she said.

The day in court ended with Noreika saying she would need additional briefings from the parties.

Since then, Hunter’s defense attorneys have argued that despite the broader plea deal falling apart, the gun deal was ‘valid and binding,’ because it was signed.

The deal was put under further scrutiny when two IRS whistleblowers accused the Justice Department of giving the president’s son special treatment.

In August, Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, announced that Weiss, a Trump appointee but who got approval from the state’s two Democratic senators, would be elevated to the level of special counsel.

Promoting Weiss and not bringing in a new special counsel from the outside to manage the Hunter Biden case raised the eyebrows of some Republicans in Congress who had been angered by the plea deal.

‘Did they appoint him special counsel so he doesn’t have to testify before the Congress of the United States?’ GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley told DailyMail.com, reacting to the news. ‘If that’s your game – then I’d say there’s ulterior motives.’

Grassley pointed out ‘you can see this plea agreement that the judge didn’t take raises a lot of questions about him.’

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy also suggested Weiss being elevated was a way to thwart ongoing House Republican investigations.

‘This action by Biden’s DOJ cannot be used to obstruct congressional investigations or whitewash the Biden family corruption,’ the speaker said.

Texas woman accused of calling judge overseeing Trump’s federal case

admin — Sat, 19 Aug 2023 10:37:45 +0000

Texas woman accused of calling judge overseeing Trump’s federal case

By Stephen Lepore

Published: 10:19 EDT, 17 August 2023 | Updated: 10:19 EDT, 17 August 2023

A Texas woman and supporter of Donald Trump has been charged with threatening to kill the federal judge overseeing a criminal case against the former president, as well as a member of Congress. Abigail Jo Shry (pictured left) of Alvin, Texas, allegedly called the federal courthouse in Washington and left the threatening message – using a racist term for U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan (pictured right) – on August 5, court records show.

‘Hey, you stupid slave [expletive],’ she began the message, which she left at the judge’s chambers at 7:50 p.m, according to Department of Homeland Security officials. Investigators traced her phone number and she later admitted to making the threatening call, according to a criminal complaint. In the call, Shry told the judge, who is overseeing the federal election interference conspiracy case against Trump, ‘You are in our sights, we want to kill you,’ the documents stated. A judge earlier this week ordered Shry jailed. On Monday, she was held without bond and charged with communicating a threat to injure another person across state lines, according to WUSA.

Special prosecutor Jack Smith has indicted Trump for alleged crimes to obstruct the 2020 election results and also for his mishandling of classified documents. Trump also faces state charges in New York for alleged hush-money payments. This week, the former president was also indicted in Georgia for his alleged role, along with 18 co-defendants, to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state. Smith has called for the trial on the federal election interference charges to start in July.

Prosecutors allege Shry also told Chutkan in the message, ‘If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread lightly [expletive].’ She also threatened to kill U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (pictured), a Texas Democrat running for mayor of Houston, according to court documents. In addition, she set her sights on ‘all Democrats in Washington D.C. and all people in the LGBTQ community.’ ‘You will be targeted personally, publicly, your family, all of it,’ she added. When she was questioned by DHS agents, Shry claimed she had no plans to go to Washington but said if Lee came to Alvin, ‘then we need to worry.’

Trump has publicly assailed Chutkan, a former assistant public defender who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, calling her ‘highly partisan’ and ‘ VERY BIASED & UNFAIR!’ because of her past comments in a separate case overseeing the sentencing of one of the defendants charged in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Chutkan in a hearing Friday imposed a protective order in the case limiting what evidence handed over by prosecutors the former president and his legal team can publicly disclose. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12415571/Abigail-Jo-Shry-Judge-Tanya-Chutkan-message-election.html?ito=msngallery

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US on the way to curbing inflation: Federal Reserve looks set to hold fire on rate rises

admin — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 00:59:16 +0000

US on the way to curbing inflation: Federal Reserve looks set to hold fire on rate rises

By Calum Muirhead

Published: 17:38 EDT, 10 August 2023 | Updated: 17:38 EDT, 10 August 2023

Inflation battle: Prices in America climbed by 3.2% year-on-year in July, a slight rise from the 3% recorded in June but a touch below the 3.3% predicted by economists

The US appeared to have finally brought inflation to heel as prices rose by less than expected last month.

Prices in America climbed by 3.2 per cent year-on-year in July, a slight rise from the 3 per cent recorded in June but a touch below the 3.3 per cent predicted by economists.

Core inflation, which strips out volatile costs of items such as food and energy, also slowed to 4.7 per cent in July from 4.8 per cent, a relief for many US policymakers as the figure had proved more stubborn than the headline inflation rate.

The 3.2 per cent figure is well down on the peak US inflation rate of 9.1 per cent which was hit last summer and is steadily moving closer to the Fed’s target of 2 per cent.

Inflation slowing: Traders are now almost certain the US central bank (pictured) will keep rates at their current level of 5.25-5.5%

It is also less than half the rate recorded in the UK where inflation remains stubbornly high.

The UK will release its inflation print for July next Wednesday and analysts have pencilled in a fall to 6.8 per cent, still well above America and the rate of 5.5 per cent in the Eurozone.

Recent rises in US fuel and gasoline prices were among the main causes of the uptick in inflation, although the country’s vast reserves of domestic energy such as shale oil have managed to keep it relatively insulated from global price swings sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The rating will provide relief for the Federal Reserve and chairman Jerome Powell. It also raised hopes the US central bank will opt to keep interest rates steady at its meeting next month.

David Henry, investment manager at Quilter Cheviot, said the reading for July was likely to buoy markets as the Fed would have ‘enough cover now to hit the pause button on the interest rate rises.’

Traders are now almost certain the US central bank will keep rates at their current level of 5.25-5.5 per cent, with over 90 per cent predicting the status quo will be maintained.

‘It is increasingly looking like the Fed has done a good job, for now anyway. While we could see inflation track upwards again, markets will be giving them the thumbs up in the short term,’ said Neil Birrell, chief investment officer at Premier Miton.

The dollar weakened as traders priced in fewer rate hikes, with the pound rising briefly above $1.28, while yields on US two-year Treasury bonds, which are sensitive to interest rates, fell around 0.03 per cent.

The lower-than-expected inflation figures followed data last week that showed the US jobs market was cooling after the Fed raised rates to their highest level in over two decades.

The prospect of a pause to interest rate rises sparked a rally in equities markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 53 points while the S&P 500 gained one point and the Nasdaq rose 1.75 per cent.

London markets also received a boost with the FTSE 100 up 31 points or 0.4 per cent while the FTSE250 added 0.3 per cent or 57 points to just under 18.994.

But the data highlights the growing gulf between the US and the UK.

The Bank of England has already raised interest rates fourteen times in a row and is expected to hike at least another two times before the end of the year, peaking at just under 6 per cent.

UK inflation is expected to remain above the Bank’s own 2 per cent target for at least another year, with its forecasters predicting price rises won’t hit that level until ‘early 2025.’

But analysts also cautioned that a pause in rate hikes across the Atlantic did not mean the Fed would be lowering rates any time soon.

‘While inflation is moving in the right direction, the still-elevated level suggests that the Fed is still some distance from cutting rates,’ said Seema Shah, strategist at Principal Asset Management.

‘Indeed, disinflation is unlikely to be smooth and will require some additional economic pain before the 2 per cent target comes sustainably into view,’ she added.

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Politics dampens optimism: US downgrade reflects the failure to put a lid on federal

admin — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 06:28:16 +0000

Politics dampens optimism: US downgrade reflects the failure to put a lid on federal spending, says ALEX BRUMMER

By Alex Brummer for the Daily Mail

Updated: 16:54 EDT, 2 August 2023

The Fitch downgrade of the US’s credit rating to ‘AA’ predictably produced a panicked reaction on financial markets and drew a strong riposte from the Biden Administration.

There were similar responses in 2013 when a ratings agency downgraded the UK in the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis.

Then shadow chancellor Ed Balls described George Osborne as a ‘downgraded Chancellor’. A decade later the British protagonists are locked together in a podcast.

The American downgrade matters. It affects the credit profile of US companies and the debt profile of government entities raising funds.

In some cases, where rules are drawn tightly, it may require asset managers to go back to trustees and seek a derogation from existing rules.

Concerns: The American downgrade affects the credit profile of US companies and the debt profile of government entities raising funds

Fitch is onto something in spite of the repudiation of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Another credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s moved Washington down a notch to ‘AA+’ in response to the 2008-09 banking crisis. The decision was polluted by hypocrisy.

It was, after all, S&P, Moody’s and others which accorded packages of sliced-and-diced sub-prime mortgages a top rating before they imploded, pulling the whole financial system apart.

The Fitch downgrade, by coincidence, was unveiled on the same day a special prosecutor delivered a damaging series of indictments against former president Donald Trump over his efforts to falsify his way back into the White House.

In spite of a cascade of legal problems Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024 – at a moment when Joe Biden is facing challenges from within his own party for the nomination.

It is rare for a sitting president (it happened to Jimmy Carter back in 1980) to find his grip on power under threat from within his own party.

The financial underpinning for the Fitch decision is the failure of successive presidents since Bill Clinton to put a lid on federal spending.

An American default was narrowly averted two months ago when Biden and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives ended months of uncertainty and signed up to a £24.5trillion debt limit.

The US’s net debt to GDP ratio stands at 121 per cent and looks set to keep rising given Biden’s spending spree.

How worried should investors be? Not very according to a senior asset managers.

America, among all the richest countries in the world, has the extreme privilege of being the world’s reserve currency. Efforts by China to diversify into gold and the euro have enjoyed limited success.

A lack of liquidity and trust in anything but the greenback has left it supreme. Most holders do not focus very closely on the federal government’s debt overhang.

Nevertheless, if portfolio managers do feel the need to adjust the valuations it could still cause temporary volatility and create uncertainty.

All the more reason for the Bank of England to go easy when it sets UK interest rates today.

Guns and butter

Among the reasons why US budgetary policy is the penalty area is the £59bn which the White House and Congress have voted to shore up Ukraine’s defences and the necessary extra capability of American forces.

Britain will never be in the same class as the US but the country’s primary defence contractor BAE Systems is one of the few overseas weapons manufacturers to enjoy special status at the Pentagon.

War is a terrible thing as anyone watching the awesome movie Oppenheimer or tuning into the BBC’s World on Fire could testify.

For BAE – with its footprint in aerospace, the UK’s seagoing platform and weapons building capacity – it is transformative.

Earnings and dividends are up sharply, there is a £1.5billion share buyback programme and the order book is overflowing with a backlog of £66.2billion.

Quite a rebuke to fund managers who eschew defence companies even when they are battling an evil empire.

Silicon setback

The potential value of Cambridge-based chip designer Arm continues to rocket.

The latest initial public offering estimate of £55billion, reported by Bloomberg, underlines why it was a disastrous mistake for Theresa May’s government to allow the company to be flogged off to Japan’s Softbank in 2016.

Even more galling Britain was insufficiently robust to bring the re-float back home to the City.

So frustrating for the nation’s tech future.

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Americans think Republican-led House will have a POSITIVE impact on the federal budget

admin — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 13:23:30 +0000

Americans think Republican-led House will have a POSITIVE impact on the federal budget – but are divided on whether they have more confidence in the GOP Congress or the Biden White House

Americans believe that the federal budget will be most positively impacted by a Republican-led House of Representatives
A new CNN/SSRS poll released Monday found that 43 percent of respondents said the federal budget would be positively effected
Respondents were split almost evenly when asked if they had more confidence in a GOP Congress or the Biden White House

By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Published: 18:48 EDT, 12 December 2022 | Updated: 20:19 EDT, 12 December 2022

Americans believe that the federal budget will be most positively impacted by a Republican-led House of Representatives.

A new CNN/SSRS poll released Monday found that 43 percent of respondents said the federal budget would be positively effected by Republican control – the largest percentage of any topic asked.

On the question of which branch of government gave Americans more confidence, respondents were split – with 51 percent saying Republicans in Congress and 49 percent saying Democratic President Joe Biden‘s White House, within the survey’s 3.6 percent margin of error.

Respondents were skeptical that the investigation into the January 6 Capitol attack would continue with Republican control of the House and they also feared divided government would bring gridlock.

Forty-four percent of survey respondents said Republican control of the House would have a mostly negative effect on the January 6 investigation.

Americans believe that the federal budget will be most positively impacted by a Republican-led House of Representatives. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (pictured) hopes to be elected speaker early next year

A new CNN/SSRS poll released Monday found that 43 percent of respondents said the federal budget would be positively effected by Republican control – the largest percentage of any topic asked

But on the flip side, 44 percent said the House being controlled by the GOP would have a negative impact on the investigation into the January 6 Capitol attack

Forty-three percent said the level of cooperation in Washington would be negatively effected with GOP control of the House.

Forty-one percent of respondents said immigration laws and gun laws would also be negatively impacted.

Responses were more evenly divided on tax policies, inflation and government oversight.

For example, 38 percent of respondents said a Republican-controlled House would have a negative impact on Congressional oversight of the Biden administration, while 35 percent viewed this mostly positively.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will step down from the top post with a majority of Americans viewing her negatively.

Fifty-three percent said they held an unfavorable opinion of the California Democrat, while 33 percent said they liked her.

About one-in-five survey respondents, 21 percent, said they had never heard of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the Republican vying for speaker.

Around the same number, 19 percent, of respondents said they liked McCarthy, while 36 percent held an unfavorable view of the California Republican.

Even fewer Americans hadn’t heard of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who Democrats elected to be their leader once the new Congress begins.

Sixty-four percent had never heard of him or had yet to form an opinion of the rising New York Democrat.

Federal Reserve pauses interest rate hikes as inflation eases in US

admin — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 19:27:13 +0000

Fed holds steady as inflation eases in US: Central bank keeps interest rate at 5% – 5.25% after run of ten successive hikes since March 2022

By Hugo Duncan for the Daily Mail

Updated: 15:23 EDT, 14 June 2023

The Federal Reserve last night left interest rates in the US unchanged for the first time since it kicked off an aggressive round of hikes last year.

The central bank held its benchmark rate at between 5 per cent and 5.25 per cent following ten successive hikes since March 2022.

But in a sign that rates have not yet peaked, officials suggested there would be two further increases before the end of the year.

While further rate rises are therefore likely in the coming months, the move reflected the fact that inflation in the US has fallen to 4 per cent.

Rate relief: The US Federal Reserve (pictured) held its benchmark interest rate at between 5% and 5.25% following ten successive hikes since March 2022

That is still double the 2 per cent target but marks significant progress after inflation peaked at 9.1 per cent in June last year.

By contrast, inflation in the UK is still running at 8.7 per cent having peaked at 11.1 per cent last year.

So while the Fed was last night able to leave interest rates unchanged, the Bank of England looks set to press ahead with further increases next week.

The Bank has already raised rates from 0.1 per cent to 4.5 per cent since December 2021 and is widely expected to hike them to 4.75 per cent next week.

It is feared rates could hit 6pc by the end of the year – driving up mortgage costs for millions of borrowers.

With investors betting on yet more rate rises in the UK, the pound rose to a 14-month high against the dollar close to $1.27.

Sterling also topped €1.17 against the single currency for the first time since August last year.

Official figures yesterday showed the UK economy grew by 0.2 per cent in April as it bounced back from March’s decline.

Against that backdrop, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warned the Bank has ‘no alternative’ but to hike interest rates again in order to tame runaway inflation.

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Donald Trump LIVE: Former president slams federal indictment as ‘political persecution’

admin — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 01:06:13 +0000

LIVE

Donald Trump LIVE: Former president slams federal indictment as ‘political persecution’ in speech at his New Jersey golf club

By Claudia Aoraha, Senior Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 20:03 EDT, 13 June 2023 | Updated: 21:01 EDT, 13 June 2023

Follow along with DailyMail.com’s live blog as Donald Trump is set to speak and hold a fundraiser after pleading not guilty in his federal classified document case.

Trump lawyer slams ‘two tier system of justice’ as ex-president hit by historic federal

admin — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 06:47:15 +0000

Donald Trump‘s lawyer accused the United States of having a ‘two tier system of justice’, noting that Donald Trump has been indicted while Bill and Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden have not.

Alina Habba told Fox News that the indictment against Trump on federal charges related to the mishandling of classified documents were a sign of ‘a sick world’.

She said it made her ‘ashamed’ to be a lawyer, called the indictment ‘persecution’, and said it was a ‘sad attempt at political interference.’

‘There is a two tier system of justice that we are seeing right now,’ she told Jesse Watters.

‘Hillary Clinton smashed a computer and got rid of emails.

‘We had recordings in sock drawers.

‘We have Biden and Obama who were hiding things – Biden still has things in Chinatown, in his home, with a son who is a drug addict.

‘And nothing happens to these people.’

Alina Habba, a lawyer for Donald Trump, said that her client was being persecuted

Habba told Fox News host Jesse Watters that Trump’s indictment was the sign of ‘a sick world’

Hillary Clinton’s aides admitted that they used a hammer to destroy two of her old phones.

Her staff also in 2015 deleted 30,000 emails on her server which were unrelated to government work, and were older than 60 days.

Her husband spoke to historian Taylor Branch while in office, with the pair of them recording their discussions for a book. Bill Clinton kept his tapes in a sock drawer. Conservatives have argued that they amount to presidential records and should be handed over.

Biden found classified material at the offices of his think tank, in Washington DC, and his Delaware home: they were handed over.

Obama’s office denied taking any classified documents.

Donald Trump on Thursday published a video insisting he was innocent, and being persecuted

Yet Habba said there was a distinct prejudice against her client, which she blamed on his political prowess.

‘When your name is Donald Trump, and you’re leading in the polls, you are going to get hit hard,’ she said.

‘You are going to get indicted, until you can’t take it any more.

‘But they picked the wrong guy.’

Habba said that Trump’s indictment – the first federal charges ever filed against a former president – was unfair, and ‘shows what a sick world we are living in.’

She continued: ‘I am petrified for the country at the moment, and sad for my client – although he is resilient and strong.

‘And it just shows me once again why we need him back in the White House.’

Habba said that the ‘establishment’ was terrified by Trump because he was independent.

‘Donald Trump is not owned by any lobbyist. He is not owned by any funder – anybody who would give him money in exchange for access,’ she said. ‘He does not need the money.

‘And that is the most frightening thing to the current political climate in America.

‘And because of that, he is the biggest threat to the corrupt political system we have; to the corrupt Justice Department we have.’

Habba said that they were looking forward to putting Trump’s version of events forward.

Jack Smith was appointed in November as special counsel to investigate Trump’s handling of classified information

She attacked the special counsel, Jack Smith, and accused him of being a political hack intent on bringing Trump down.

‘All of these indictments, the American people need to remember, are a one-sided evidentiary hearing in a grand jury that is put on by far left Democrats,’ she said.

‘Jack Smith is effectively what you would call a Democrat, left wing operative.

‘All he does is hate Trump, hate the right wing.

‘He puts these people in a silo and gives them his evidence.’

She concluded: ‘Now we get the opportunity to present our evidence, and see it through.

‘If we get an impartial judge, an impartial jury, we will be vindicated on all fronts.’

Timeline of the classified documents

May 2021: National Archives realizes some records from Trump’s presidency are missing

December 2021: Archives requests the documents from the former president

January 2022: Archives received 15 boxes of material that had been stored at Mar-a-Lago, some of which were found to contain classified material

February 2022: The matter is referred to the Justice Department. Trump’s team perform a ‘dress rehearsal’, to ready for the possibility of a search for the documents

May 2022: After several back-and-forths with Trump’s legal team, the Justice Department issues a subpoena for additional records they believe to be in the former president’s Florida home

Investigators believe after that subpoena arrived, storage boxes, including some containing classified material, were moved from a Mar-a-Lago storage area, so Trump personally examined some of them

June 2, 2022: Walt Nauta and two employees move documents out of a store room. Hours later, Trump’s lawyers contact the DOJ and say they are welcome to visit and retrieve the documents

June 3, 2022: Three FBI agents and one DOJ attorney go to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve the additional material. They were given a single Redweld envelope, double-wrapped in tape, containing the documents, according to later court filings. That envelope contained 38 records with classification markings, including five papers marked confidential, 16 marked secret and 17 marked top secret

August 2022: DOJ applied for a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, citing ‘probable cause’ that additional presidential records and records containing classified information remained at Trump’s Florida home. Court papers show that the original search warrant application showed agents believed that ‘evidence of obstruction will be found at the premises’

August 8, 2022: FBI agents raid Mar-a-Lago: They recover 18 documents marked as top secret, 54 marked secret, 31 marked as confidential, and 11,179 government documents or photographs that had no classification markings

November 18, 2022: Merrick Garland, the attorney general, announces that he has appointed a special counsel to investigate the handling of the classified documents – Jack Smith

June 8, 2023: Donald Trump says he has been indicted on federal charges over the classified information

State of the Union: Republicans urge Biden to address Chinese spy balloon, federal

admin — Mon, 15 May 2023 06:24:14 +0000

Ahead of President Joe Biden‘s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, Republican lawmakers told DailyMail.com that they want to see the commander-in-chief pledge to rein in federal spending and be ‘truthful’ with Americans about the current threats to U.S. homeland security.

The president will be delivering his first speech to a divided Congress, tasked with bringing a unifying message to a Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a Democrat-held Senate.

But before he even begins, Biden’s address is already likely to be overshadowed by the recent diplomatic incident caused by a suspected Chinese ‘spy balloon’ floating over multiple U.S. states at a low enough altitude to be seen with the naked eye – alarming millions across the country. Multiple GOP lawmakers told DailyMail.com that he will need to address the near-crisis.

Meanwhile, some House Republicans indicated they’re already skeptical of what Biden will bring to the table.

Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern (R-OK), among the conservatives leading the charge for spending cuts to offset raising the U.S. debt limit, pointed out that the president’s speech is coming one day after he’s expected to miss a statutory deadline for submitting a budget proposal to Congress for the next fiscal year.

And China hawks within the GOP conference, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) and Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), are demanding that Biden give Americans answers on what happened regarding China’s suspected surveillance device.

President Joe Biden is set to deliver his first address to a divided Congress on Tuesday night with his State of the Union speech

Waltz also called on Biden to broach the crisis at the southern border – an issue that’s been an albatross for the White House for much of his term.

‘This Chinese spy balloon was a wake-up call and I believe a Sputnik moment for the country,’ Waltz told DailyMail.com in reference to the infamous Soviet satellite that epitomized the 20th Century space race.

‘President Biden needs to be honest with the American people that the Chinese Communist Party is in a Cold War with the us and this needs to be made a priority for our country.’

Johnson, a member of the House Select Committee on China, shared a similar call for accountability on Tuesday night.

‘President Biden should absolutely use this moment to express to the American people what in the world happened,’ the South Dakota congressman told DailyMail.com.

Waltz also said Biden ‘needs to be truthful about the threat of our open southern border.’

Biden made his first visit to the border as president just last month, amid growing pressure from federal, state and local authorities. He did not appear to meet with any migrants during the brief trip.

Among the House Republicans who shared what they want to hear from Biden are Armed Services Committee member and ex-Green Beret Mike Waltz (left) and Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern (right)

Back home in Washington, meanwhile, the president is facing pressure from GOP critics to present his budget for the next fiscal year – which Roll Call reported won’t be given to Congress until next month.

Hern, who unveiled the Republican Study Committee’s own proposals for cutting spending to raise the debt limit last week, questioned what Biden could share with Congress about the country’s future without details on how he wants to spend its dollars.

‘February 6th is the deadline for Biden’s budget request – and he’s coming to speak to Congress the very next day. Without a budget, what does he have to present to us?’ the Oklahoma Republican asked.

‘Americans made it clear that they’re sick of the spending; they know what the Biden Administration refuses to admit, that every dollar Biden spends comes from the American taxpayers.

‘Anything short of a full commitment to cut spending and balance the budget is a failure of leadership from this president.’

South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson, a member of the Select Committee on China, said Americans deserve answers for what occurred with the suspected Chinese spy device last week

The White House and House Republicans are gridlocked on how to move forward raising the debt limit in order to avoid a massive national default.

Conservatives have made clear that they won’t allow a clean increase without offsetting it with future spending cuts. But Democrats are standing firm on the debt ceiling being an ‘obligation’ of the U.S. government rather than a bargaining point.

At the RSC’s regular luncheon last week, Hern unveiled a set of proposals to cut back on discretionary spending and advancing ‘targeted, paid-for, pro-growth tax policies’ among others.

The set of proposals, obtained by DailyMail.com, also includes calls to enact ‘inflation-busting reforms to increase domestic energy capacity and reduce associated regulatory and permitting barriers.’

Hern’s plan would also streamline ‘duplicative programs’ and attempt to avert another such crisis by codifying ‘procedures to ensure the federal government honors certain critical obligations’ like debt payments, veterans’ care, social security and Medicare.

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Federal prosecutors plan to indict Hunter Biden by end of September

Federal prosecutors plan to indict Hunter Biden by end of September

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Federal prosecutors plan to indict Hunter Biden by the end of the month: Bombshell court

Texas woman accused of calling judge overseeing Trump’s federal case

Texas woman accused of calling judge overseeing Trump’s federal case

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US on the way to curbing inflation: Federal Reserve looks set to hold fire on rate rises

US on the way to curbing inflation: Federal Reserve looks set to hold fire on rate rises

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Politics dampens optimism: US downgrade reflects the failure to put a lid on federal

Politics dampens optimism: US downgrade reflects the failure to put a lid on federal spending, says ALEX BRUMMER

Guns and butter

Silicon setback

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Americans think Republican-led House will have a POSITIVE impact on the federal budget

Americans think Republican-led House will have a POSITIVE impact on the federal budget – but are divided on whether they have more confidence in the GOP Congress or the Biden White House

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Federal Reserve pauses interest rate hikes as inflation eases in US

Fed holds steady as inflation eases in US: Central bank keeps interest rate at 5% – 5.25% after run of ten successive hikes since March 2022

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Donald Trump LIVE: Former president slams federal indictment as ‘political persecution’

Donald Trump LIVE: Former president slams federal indictment as ‘political persecution’ in speech at his New Jersey golf club

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Trump lawyer slams ‘two tier system of justice’ as ex-president hit by historic federal

Timeline of the classified documents

State of the Union: Republicans urge Biden to address Chinese spy balloon, federal