Lead counsel hits new Dem effort to ‘delegitimize’ Supreme Court amid senator’s report on Kavanaugh probe
A new report led by Judiciary committee member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is “nonsense” and “the continuation of the Democrats’ lawfare against Justice Brett Kavanaugh,” according to the chief counsel on nominations for Republicans at the time. “We followed the normal procedures for a Supreme Court nominee to do his background investigation,” said Mike Davis, the former chief counsel for nominations to former Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. “And the Senate does its own investigation.” Davis is also founder and president of the Article III Project. ‘OUT OF MONEY’: WHISTLEBLOWERS ALLEGE LACK OF SECRET SERVICE FUNDS, DELAYED PAYMENTS, TOP SENATOR REVEALS Whitehouse is among a number of other Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, including Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who have made significant efforts to investigate the personal relationships of Supreme Court justices, namely Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, as well as call on them to recuse from high-profile cases. Critics have claimed the inquiries and demands made by the senators are in an effort to undermine the conservative justices and the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. Whitehouse released a 32-page report on Tuesday, revealing their conclusions from a six-year investigation into the FBI’s probe of Kavanaugh when he was a Supreme Court justice nominee. According to the report, Judiciary Committee Democrat members Whitehouse, now-Chairman Durbin, and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and then-Sens. Patrick Leahy and Kamala Harris sought information on the FBI investigation following Kavanaugh’s ultimate confirmation. In a statement, Whitehouse said, “In 2018, I pledged to Christine Blasey Ford that I’d keep digging, for however long it took, and not give up or move on from Senate Republicans and the Trump White House’s shameful confirmation process for Justice Kavanaugh. A full, proper investigation is the bare minimum that victims who come forward – like Dr. Ford and Deborah Ramirez – deserve. This report shows that the supplemental background investigation was a sham, controlled by the Trump White House, to give political cover to Senate Republicans and put Justice Kavanaugh back on the political track to confirmation.” FOR WISCONSIN DEMS, A 2024 WIN IN THE BATTLEGROUND STATE IS YEARS IN THE MAKING “The lack of FBI investigative standards helped the Trump White House thwart meaningful investigation of the allegations against Kavanaugh, denying Senators information needed to fulfill their constitutional duties. The FBI must create real protocols so Senators and the American people get real answers – not manufactured misdirection – the next time serious questions about a nominee emerge late in the confirmation process.” The report alleged that the FBI’s routine screening of the nominee on behalf of then-President Donald Trump was “flawed and incomplete,” the White House prevented “the FBI from interviewing relevant witnesses and following up on tips,” and that the administration “refused to authorize basic investigatory steps that might have uncovered information corroborating the allegations.” The Democrats noted in the document that Trump had told reporters at the time that the FBI was “all over” the probe of Kavanaugh, adding, “They have been all over it already. They have free rein to do whatever they have to do.” Davis told Fox News Digital in an interview, “It’s just a silly premise that these senators think that the FBI was going to solve crimes in this particular nomination. That’s not their role here.” He also noted that the provision of the report to the Senate for their review was a courtesy that began with President Clinton. “The Senate is not supposed to just rely on the FBI. The FBI does not work for the Senate. The FBI works for the president,” he said. “They’re trying to figure out whether the nominee has the character and fitness to serve,” he emphasized. Davis also recalled that the investigation into Kavanaugh was re-opened on the request of a few Republican senators and additional witnesses were interviewed. Those Republicans were apparently satisfied with the additional interviews and voted to confirm. SEE IT: WISCONSIN DAIRY FARMER SAYS ‘NO QUESTION’ TRUMP ADMIN WAS ‘MUCH BETTER’ THAN BIDEN-HARRIS Davis claimed that Democrats in the Senate “refused to cooperate” during Kavanaugh’s confirmation procedure. “We had witnesses come in for live testimony, including Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh,” he pointed out. “They came in for live testimony. And the Senate Democrats are saying that the FBI didn’t investigate all the tips that came in.” “There were thousands and thousands and thousands of tips that came in. Those tips were printed. Every one of those tips was printed, and it was delivered to the Senate for every senator to review,” he explained. Not only could every senator access all the tips, Davis claimed, but they could have also asked for an investigation or “done the investigation themselves with their own staff.” Additionally, he remarked that “almost every one of those tips were utter garbage.” “An alien crash-landed in my house and said that Brett Kavanaugh sexually abused me,” he joked about the described nonsensical tips. The report is “a pathetic attempt by Sheldon Whitehouse to try to intimidate and cowl the Supreme Court justices before they may have to decide on crucial election cases, with the election coming up,” Davis said. “Maybe Senator Sheldon Whitehouse had one too many Mai Tais at his all-White beach club when he concocted this latest conspiracy theory,” he added. A spokesperson for Grassley, who was Judiciary chairman at the time, said in a statement, “This report doesn’t offer any legitimate, substantive new ground. It’s important to remember, it comes from the same office that strongly pressed claims by a man who alleged he saw Justice Kavanaugh attack a woman on a boat. When committee investigators looked into the matter, the man admitted he lied and was subsequently subject to criminal referral for false statements and obstruction of Congress.” “It’s also important to note the FBI’s confidential investigation not only failed to corroborate any of the allegations against Justice Kavanaugh, including Ms. Ford’s, it undermined them. Senator Whitehouse might recall saying he, himself, was ‘satisfied’ with the FBI’s investigation – all these
Trump, Harris locked in dead heat in 7 battleground states, poll finds: ‘Could not be closer’
A new Wall Street Journal poll has found little separation between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in seven battleground states, prompting a Democratic pollster to say that the 2024 election “really could not be closer.” The survey of 600 registered voters in each of the states, which was conducted from Sept. 28 to Oct. 8 with a margin of error of +/- four percentage points, found that in a head-to-head contest, Trump and Harris are tied in North Carolina and Wisconsin. Harris leads Trump 48-46% in Arizona and Georgia, and 49-47% in Michigan, according to the poll. In Nevada, Trump has his biggest swing state lead of 49-43%, while he leads Harris in Pennsylvania 47-46%, the poll also found. “It really could not be closer,” Democrat Michael Bocian, one of the pollsters who worked on the survey, told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s an even-steven, tight, tight race.” DEMOCRAT STRATEGISTS FRET HARRIS ‘SUGAR HIGH’ IS OVER Overall, Trump leads Harris 46-45%, with 93% of Democrats and Republicans across the seven states indicating their support for their parties’ respective candidates. As for independent voters, 40% said they would vote for Harris, compared to 39% for Trump. On the issues, voters say they trusted Trump more to handle the economy, inflation and immigration and border security. They preferred Harris when it comes to housing affordability, abortion, healthcare and having someone in the Oval Office who cares about you. The poll found that 47% of voters believe Trump will stand up better for the American worker, compared to 45% for Harris, and that nearly two-thirds believe the national economy is poor or not so good. POLL SHOWS HARRIS TAKING A SLIM LEAD OVER TRUMP THANKS TO SUPPORT FROM A SURPRISING GROUP “This thing is a dead heat and is going to come down to the wire. These last three weeks matter,” Republican pollster David Lee told The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper cited Lee as saying that around this time in 2020, Biden had polling average leads of more than 5 points over Trump in each of the industrial northern swing states, compared to the narrower margins Harris is facing right now. However, Bocian says that Trump had a “clear advantage” over Biden in March – the last time The Wall Street Journal polled the swing states – during a period where third-party candidates were having a “massive impact” on the numbers. “Now the third-party support has evaporated almost completely, and the race is tied in all the states,” he said.
Harris makes pitch to Latino voters at Univision town hall: Top 5 moments
Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday took questions from Latino voters at a town hall in Nevada, where she was pressed for specifics on her proposals on immigration, the economy and more. Harris faced about a dozen questions during the roughly hour-long event hosted by Univision, where she sought to win over this key demographic group with just 26 days to go before Election Day. The Democratic nominee pointed to her record as vice president and swung ferociously at her opponent, Republican former President Donald Trump, but she was light on specifics on her plans for the country. Here are the highlights: VOTERS IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES GIVE TRUMP AN EDGE OVER HARRIS ON THIS TOP TIER ISSUE: POLL In the first question of the night, a voter from Tampa asked Harris about rumors that the Biden-Harris administration did not do enough to respond to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Former President Trump, the Republican nominee, has fanned those rumors, claiming at a recent rally that President Biden’s response to the storms was “the worst hurricane response since Katrina,” invoking the heavily criticized federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Harris defended the Biden administration, accusing critics of “playing political games” and insisting claims the response was inadequate are “just not accurate.” She said she has been working with people on the ground in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and other southeastern states to get Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) resources to people in need. “Another piece of work that I’ve been doing, it’s based on my years of being an attorney general in California, is telling those corporations and those companies that during crisis and emergencies jack up prices,” Harris said. “I’ve seen it happen before, that we’re watching them and at a moment of desperation for these individuals and families, whether it be to be able to get temporary shelter at a hotel for gas prices, for even airline tickets, that we’ll be watching if they’re jacking up prices to make sure they’ll be serious consequence. And that’s the kind of work I will do going forward.” TRUMP CHARGES HURRICANE RESPONSE ‘WORST SINCE KATRINA’ AS BIDEN ARGUES TRUMP ‘ONSLAUGHT OF LIES’ MUST ‘STOP’ Voters pressed Harris for specifics on her plans for immigration and how her policies would differ from President Biden’s. In her answer, Harris pointed to her recent trip to visit the border in Arizona and her law enforcement career as a prosecutor and California attorney general to show she’s serious about border security. “I will put my record up against anyone in terms of the work I’ve always done, and it will always be to ensure we have a secure border,” she said. Harris also criticized Trump for leading Republican opposition to a bipartisan border security deal that was endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council in February. She claimed the bill would have sent 1,500 additional Border Patrol agents to the border and provide law enforcement resources to combat fentanyl trafficking. Republicans say the border bill provided too many benefits to illegal immigrants, like work permits and taxpayer-funded attorneys, and would have funded sanctuary city jurisdictions that do not cooperate with immigration enforcement. Harris said there is a “false choice” between a secure border and humane immigration policy. But she did not explain how her policies would be different from Biden, who also supported the border bill. DEM STRATEGISTS FRET HARRIS ‘SUGAR HIGH’ IS OVER: ‘IF YOU’RE NOT NERVOUS, YOU’RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION’ An emotional moment came when a Las Vegas woman, Ivett Castillo, told Harris that she recently lost her mother before she could get her immigration status legalized. “She was never able to get the type of care and service that she needed or deserved,” Castillo said, holding back tears. She asked how Harris would help illegal immigrants who “have to live and die in the shadows.” Another voter, Francisco Medina of San Diego, California, told the vice president that despite his insurance coverage through the Defense Department, he had to cross the border into Mexico to receive treatment. He asked how she would improve the medical system. “I firmly and deeply believe that healthcare is a right, and should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it or have access to it easily,” Harris said. She pointed to the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and cap prescription drug prices as a starting point for what she’d do as president. “The work we have done has been about capping the cost of prescription medication for seniors at $2,000,” she said. “My intention as president of the United States is to make that available for not just seniors, but for everyone.” At one point during the town hall, a self-described independent voter said he was leaning towards voting for Trump because Harris did not win the Democratic nomination through the normal primary process. “I’m a little confused,” said Mario Sigbaum, of Santa Monica, California. “Being a candidate without going through the normal process – that is primary elections or through a caucus – that really caught my attention.” He demanded an explanation for how Biden was “completely destituted.” Harris thanked him for being “candid.” She called Biden’s decision to withdraw from the election amid mounting pressure from the Democratic Party “one of the most courageous a president could make” and said he “put country above his personal interest.” “He made that decision, he… within that same period of time supported my candidacy and urged me to run,” Harris said. “He and I have been partners for the last four years as his vice president to him as the president. And I am honored to have earned the Democratic nomination.” She went on to say there is a “huge contrast” in this election and asserted Trump would be a “dictator on day one,” calling the situation “unprecedented” with “support for democracy” on the ballot. In the closing moments of the town hall, one voter asked
Noida news: New plan to make DND and Film City Road jam-free, more than 1.5 lakh vehicles to get relief
To ease traffic, Noida Authority’s traffic cell General Manager SP Singh stated that during peak evening hours, traffic jams on the DND can stretch up to 2-3 kilometers due to the narrow loop towards Greater Noida.
‘Inviolability must be respected by all’: India voices concern after Israeli strike on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon
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Here’s how the US has helped a tiny fraction of its citizens evacuate war-torn Lebanon
As bombing intensifies around Beirut, only a tiny fraction of the 86,000 Americans and green card holders who reside in Lebanon have been evacuated with U.S. help. The State Department says it’s made some 5,000 seats available on both commercial and chartered flights for U.S. citizens, but there’s a catch: they have to get to the airport amid regular bombings on their own, and many may have to leave family behind. That’s what’s led to only around a quarter of those seats being filled by 1,100 U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents and family members flying out across 10 U.S.-organized flights, according to advocates. Since July, the U.S. has had a level 4 “do not travel” advisory for Lebanon encouraging citizens to get out. On Sept. 27, the State Department said it would not be evacuating Americans, prompting airlines to charge exorbitant prices – between $5,000 and $8,000 per seat. The department then back peddled and said it would help organize flights at reasonable rates. Some 8,500 U.S. citizens have reached out to the U.S. embassy in Beirut for information and assistance in evacuating. “We’re going to continue the flights for the time being because we do assess that there is demand,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. “We believe we have a duty to do everything we can to help American citizens get out of the country.” 1 YEAR AFTER HEZBOLLAH STRIKES, ISRAEL REINFORCES TROOPS AND QUESTIONS MOUNT OVER ‘LIMITED’ OPERATION But human rights attorney Maria Kari says those efforts are futile without a noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO) to bring in U.S. forces to get Americans out. “The writing was on the wall several months ago that the situation in Lebanon was going to start disintegrating,” she told Fox News Digital. Kari said many of the U.S. citizens and green card holders in Lebanon she works with have family members who do not hold U.S. passports and refuse to leave the region without a parent or a child. “The Beirut embassy has made it very clear they’re not processing any new visa applications,” she said. Kari said the U.S. needs to extend the same protections it did to Israeli Americans who were looking to escape the region after Oct. 7 – allow immediate family members of U.S. citizens to get visas. To the State Department, she said: “You’re not talking about how you’re contributing to the problem of why these flights are not filling up. You’re not talking about how it’s not safe to get to the airport, key sites around the airport, including the road and the residential building by the airport, were bombed in the last few days, right?” The only international airport in Beirut is less than three miles from where Hezbollah is headquartered. When citizens contact the embassy, they get a response similar to the one shared with Fox News Digital: “We are only assisting U.S. citizens currently in Lebanon and their immediate family members who have a valid U.S. or Schengen visa at this time. A valid visa is required to enter the United States. Lebanese passport holders can travel to Türkiye without a visa.” “It’s absolutely absurd that the U.S. thinks it’s OK to take out Americans and their non-American relatives and drop them off in Turkey – a foreign government not responsible for Americans or Lebanese citizens,” she said. “Just another example of this administration’s failure to protect Americans, first in Gaza and now in Lebanon.” BIDEN AND NETANYAHU SPEAK AFTER REPORT US PRESIDENT CALLED ISRAELI COUNTERPART A ‘BAD F—ING GUY’ On Oct. 19, 2023, the U.S. government created a Visa Waiver Program for family members of Israeli Americans who looked to flee with their loved ones as war broke out. “We did the right thing there. We have failed consistently to do the right thing for another class of American citizens and their relatives,” said Kari. The security situation in Lebanon is rapidly deteriorating amid Israel’s ground incursion to the home of Hezbollah, but the Biden administration has not yet determined it necessary to declare a noncombatant evacuation to bring in U.S. forces to get Americans out. It calls to mind Israel’s 2006 incursion into Lebanon, when the U.S. brought in service members to secure safe passage out of Lebanon for some 15,000 U.S. citizens. That time, the IDF bombed Beirut’s international airport and its roadways. “The airport is open, but it’s not open indefinitely. Israel did strike directly at the airport last time. I’m sure that they’re under pressure not to this time, but the pressure is no longer really working for the White House right now,” said Zev Faintuch, head of research and intelligence at international security firm Global Guardian. Some 2,000 have been killed in Israeli attacks on the country, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. It’s not clear how many of those were Hezbollah militants, but the figure includes 127 children and 261 women. The fighting has sent some 1.2 million – roughly a quarter of the country’s population – fleeing. The Israeli military said it hit about 185 Hezbollah targets on Tuesday, as Lebanon reported dozens of people killed in Israeli airstrikes. On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck southern suburbs in Beirut to target a “weapons productions facility and a Hezbollah intelligence headquarters.” Israeli airstrikes killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and now his successor, too, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.