Netanyahu says he ignored Biden’s war counsel – and threats that Israel would be ‘left alone’ without US help
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made no secret of his feelings toward President Biden after Donald Trump was elected this month, publicly revealing he’d ignored the current U.S. president’s counsel and threats to withhold aid. “The U.S. had reservations and suggested that we not enter Gaza,” Netanyahu revealed to the Israeli Knesset on Monday. The U.S., he said, also was hesitant about Israel’s plans to enter Gaza City, Khan Younis and “strongly opposed entry into Rafah,” threatening to force Israel to fight without U.S. aid. “President Biden told me that if we go in, we will be left alone,” Netanyahu said. “He also said that he would stop shipments of important weapons to us. And so he did. A few days later, [U.S. Secretary of State Antony] Blinken appeared and repeated the same things and I told him – we will fight with our nails.” DEMOCRATIC EFFORT TO BLOCK BIDEN WEAPONS SALE TO ISRAEL GAINS MOMENTUM: ‘CONGRESS MUST STEP UP’ The U.S. ultimately withheld a single shipment of 2,000-pound bombs, allowing all other weapons transfers to go on. “I made clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gotten into Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an interview at the time. The move prompted blowback from supporters of Israel in Congress and Biden eventually moved forward with the shipment. Netanyahu also claimed the U.S. wanted Israel not to respond to Iran’s missile attacks on Tel Aviv in October. “Again, we were told by our friend that there is no need to respond. And I said that sitting and not reacting is not acceptable, and we responded.” He confirmed that Israel had struck Iranian nuclear facilities in its counter-attack. “It’s not a secret, it has been published,” Netanyahu said. “There is a specific component in their nuclear program that was hit in this attack.” COULD BIDEN COPY OBAMA WITH DECEMBER SURPRISE AT UN TO PUNISH ISRAEL’S NETANYAHU? Netanyahu emphasized the importance of Israel making its own decisions. “We must preserve Israel’s independence. We decided to enter – and we occupied Rafah, the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing.” Netanyahu had immediately congratulated Trump following his victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election, deeming it “history’s greatest comeback.” At the Knesset meeting Monday, Netanyahu said he would work with Trump on how to move forward on combating Iran through its proxies, its ballistic missiles and its nuclear program. “Our ability to act against these three threats will be evaluated in the near future together with the incoming administration in Washington,” he said. The Biden administration is working to secure a cease-fire in Lebanon in its final months in power. Amos Hochstein, Biden’s envoy to the Middle East, suggested a peace deal was “within our grasp.” “This is a moment of decision-making. I am here in Beirut to facilitate that decision, but it’s ultimately the decision of the parties to reach a conclusion to this conflict. It is now within our grasp,” he said. But Netanyahu struck a different tone – suggesting his nation would continue to carry out attacks on Hezbollah even if they had reached a cease-fire “on paper.” “The most important thing is not [the deal that] will be laid on paper,” Netanyahu said. “Even if there is a paper [setting out an agreement], worthy though it may be, we will be required, in order to ensure our security in the north (of Israel), to systematically carry out operations – not only against Hezbollah’s attacks, which could come. Even if there is a cease-fire, nobody can guarantee it will hold. So it’s not only our reaction, a preventive reaction, a reaction in the wake of attack, but also the capacity to prevent Hezbollah from strengthening.” “We will not allow Hezbollah to return to the state it was in on Oct. 6, 2023.”
Recess appointments: Can Trump bypass Senate to appoint Gaetz, other aides?
Throughout his business, media and political career, Donald Trump has demonstrated a willingness to break the norm. But the United States president-elect’s latest proposal to do away with the established processes used to appoint cabinet officials to his incoming administration poses grave risks to the rule of law in the country, experts say. Just days after his election victory this month, Trump on November 10 invoked a provision under the US Constitution that would allow him to appoint cabinet members without Senate confirmation. “Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Trump wrote on social media, prompting all three contenders for the leadership role to to quickly say they would comply. The suggestion to use so-called “recess appointments” has sparked concern as Trump continues to roll out a list of controversial nominees to key positions within his government, including far-right firebrand Matt Gaetz as head of the US Justice Department. Bypassing the Senate would dilute the checks-and-balances system that provides Congress with oversight over the executive branch, analysts told Al Jazeera, while effectively giving Trump even more power at a time when Republicans hold “trifecta” control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives. “The selection of the cabinet is the primary way in which the president exercises power,” said David Froomkin, an assistant professor at the University of Houston Law Center who specialises in administrative law. “Eliminating the most important check on that power would massively empower the president.” Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2024 A vestige of the past But what exactly is a recess appointment? The process dates back to the country’s early days, when the US Congress would be in recess for months at a time, usually during the summer. When lawmakers were gone and a vacancy occurred, the US Constitution allowed the president to appoint someone without confirmation, though only through the end of the next session of Congress, explained Gabe Neville, a senior adviser at the law firm Covington & Burling, which focuses on regulatory practices. “In the modern era, when Congress is in session most of the time, there have been some changes in how the process works and is used,” Neville said. Lawmakers are no longer travelling by stagecoach and rail, for example, so there is no longer a need for the president to fill vacancies on an emergency basis because Congress would not be meeting for months. But recess appointments have persisted, although not at the high-profile cabinet level. Former presidents have used the provision mostly to fast-track the approval of federal judges — but the authority technically applies to any appointee, including top cabinet members and Supreme Court justices. Former US President Bill Clinton made 139 recess appointments to full-time positions, for instance, and his successor George W Bush made 171. After that, President Barack Obama made 32 before a US Supreme Court decision in 2014 restricted the president’s ability to invoke the power to periods in which the Senate was in recess for at least 10 days. Wary to give the president too much power, Congress has in the past worked around the provision by calling what’s known as “pro forma” sessions, when no real work is being done, just to stop the president from using the authority. “So a member from Maryland or Virginia who lives close by would come in and call the House and Senate into session and then immediately adjourn for the day. But technically they’re in session that day,” Neville told Al Jazeera. But in theory, members of Congress could also decide to go on recess precisely in order to allow the president to make recess appointments — and Neville said there is an opportunity now, with Republicans in control of Congress and Trump in the White House, for GOP lawmakers to do that. “And we haven’t really seen that before,” he said. Sending a message Still, it remains unclear when — or even whether — Trump may invoke the recess appointment authority, or whether Congress would go into recess to allow him to do so. The new Congress will start on January 3, three weeks before the presidential inauguration, and Republican senators are planning to begin hearings on Trump’s cabinet nominees immediately. Should Trump appoint one of his nominees during a congressional recess, that person would only remain in office for the remaining duration of the two-year Congress. But by mentioning the provision, Trump – whom critics accuse of authoritarianism – is sending a message to lawmakers, even those from his own party, that he may have little patience for their pushback. “If the Senate goes along with Trump’s demand, it will be the first loud sound of the Constitution ripping,” Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, wrote in an op-ed. Nicholas Xenakis, a former chief counsel for late Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein who also works at the Covington & Burling law firm, told Al Jazeera that the president-elect may also be invoking the power as “leverage”. “Like, ‘Hey Senate, don’t make me use this power I have. Hurry up and confirm my nominees’,” he said. “[Opposition] parties often will be very slow to confirm nominees because they don’t support the president’s agenda,” Xenakis said, adding that such situations played out during Trump’s first term as well as during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. “So this may just be used as a way to push back on that,” he said. Avoid public scrutiny Still, with Republicans controlling the Senate, that sort of pushback is
Brazil arrests five suspects in alleged Lula assassination plot
Four G20 security guards reportedly among those arrested after murder bid mentioned for first time as part of coup probe. Five people have been arrested in Brazil for their suspected involvement in an alleged attempt to assassinate then President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his vice president in December 2022, according to police. The police said in a statement on Tuesday that most of those investigated in the alleged coup attempt are military personnel with special forces training. “A detailed operational plan called ‘Green and Yellow Dagger’ was identified, which would be executed on December 15, 2022, aimed at the murder of the elected candidates for president and vice president,” the statement said, in an apparent reference to the colours of the Brazilian flag. This was the first time in the alleged coup attempt investigation that federal police have mentioned a plot to kill Lula and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin. Federal police officers carried out five arrest warrants on Tuesday, the police said without providing any names. The four “were arrested in Rio [de Janeiro], where they were participating in the security operation for the G20 leaders meeting” on Monday, a federal police source told the AFP news agency, adding that a police officer was also taken into custody. Jair Bolsonaro Lula won the presidential election in October 2022, defeating the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, and took office in January last year. Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia on January 8 last year. Several investigations have been opened into those events as well as other alleged plots to prevent Lula from taking office. A federal police investigation will conclude that Bolsonaro conspired to engineer the attempted coup after he lost the election, a source with direct knowledge of the investigations told the Reuters news agency in October. The probe is expected to finish its work this month. The Brazilian army monitored the federal operation against the coup plotters, which was carried out in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Goias, Amazonas and the Federal District. The police said the suspects under investigation had planned for an “Institutional Crisis Management Office” to be installed to manage problems arising from the coup. They also planned to seize and kill a Supreme Court justice if they succeeded, police said without naming the judge. Adblock test (Why?)
EU court starts hearing case over Hungary’s alleged anti-LGBTQ law
The EU alleges the Hungarian law undermines core human rights values while Budapest says it wants to protect children. The top court in the European Union has started hearing a case that marks a major confrontation between Hungary and the bloc over a law criticised as being anti-LGBTQ. A lawyer for the European Commission, which in December 2022 referred the case to the Court of Justice, told the tribunal on Tuesday that the legislation was a “massive and flagrant violation of several important EU rules”. “This is a frontal and serious attack on the rule of law and more generally on European society.” The Hungarian Child Protection Act is legislation approved by the Central European country in 2021 with the ostensible goal of safeguarding children from harm, including by imposing a zero-tolerance policy for convicted paedophiles. But it also puts restrictions on depictions of homosexuality and gender reassignment in media and educational content made for children under 18, prompting outrage from activists and many politicians in other EU countries who criticised the law for stigmatising LGBTQ people and equating same-sex relations to paedophilia. The European Parliament in April adopted a resolution that strongly condemned the law and alleges it works towards dismantling democracy and the rule of law in Hungary. Sixteen of the 27 member states of the bloc, including France and Germany, also joined in on the legal action taken against Budapest in what has been described as the largest human rights case in EU history. They believe the law is modelled after a similar piece of legislation enacted in Russia, which was declared unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights in 2017. In Hungary, bookstores and shops have received hefty fines for depicting blacklisted content after the government started implementing the legislation. The European Commission alleges the legislation violates core EU values on fighting discrimination and upholding human rights while undermining single market rules on services and audiovisual media. Budapest has dismissed the allegations, arguing that the law is meant to protect children and a referendum held on the subject favoured the legislation. If Hungary is found to be at fault by the Court of Justice, it could potentially be ordered to pay a large fine, or such a verdict could even lead to procedures that could suspend the country’s voting rights in EU meetings. Many EU countries have also been angered by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s close relations with Russia and delays in support for Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion of the country nearly three years ago. The EU has other legal proceedings under way against Hungary, including over its “sovereignty” and foreign influence law. Adblock test (Why?)
Democrats in disarray: Growing field in race to chair party
A Midwestern state party chair is off to a fast start in his bid to chair the Democratic National Committee (DNC). “I am running to serve as the Chair of the Democratic National Committee,” Ken Martin, head of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, announced Tuesday in a social media post. Martin becomes the second candidate to launch a bid to succeed current DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, who is not expected to seek a second four-year term early next year in the wake of this month’s major election setbacks for the Democrats up and down the ballot. WHO ELSE IS MULLING A BID TO STEER THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY Former two-term Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a 2016 Democratic presidential candidate who for the past year has served as Social Security administration commissioner in President Biden’s administration, announced his candidacy on Monday. Martin, who has led the Minnesota Democrats for a dozen years, serves as a DNC vice chair and is also the leader of the association of state Democratic Party chairs. WOULD CALIFORNIANS LIKE VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS TO RUN FOR GOLDEN STATE GOVERNOR IN TWO YEARS? “When I took over @MinnesotaDFL, we were in debt and disarray. But we brought people together, built a winning coalition, and delivered results. I’m ready to get to work to rebuild our party,” Martin said in his social media post. In an accompanying video, Martin emphasized, “if you’re looking for a creature of D.C., that’s not me. But I do know how the DNC works and how it isn’t working.” He stressed that Democrats “need to reconnect our ideas — which we know are popular in red, blue and purple states across this country — back to our party and to our candidates.” Martin said he started his bid for DNC chair with the backing of over 80 DNC members. The next DNC chair will be chosen by the roughly 450 voting members of the national party committee. O’Malley, in launching his bid, highlighted that “we must connect our Party with the most important place in America — the kitchen table of every family’s home. Jobs, Opportunity, and Economic Security for all. Getting things done. Hope. A 50 state strategy. Now,” O’Malley emphasized in a social media post. While O’Malley and Martin are the first two candidates to launch bids, others are expected to follow, as the Democrats try to rebound after losing the White House and Senate in the 2024 elections and failing to recapture the House of Representatives. Another potential contender is Ben Wikler, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
Washington state Democrat pushes to give homeless special civil rights
A Democratic state representative in Washington state is pushing legislation that aims to make homelessness a civil right, according to a report. State Rep. Mia Gregerson is promoting a bill that would make homeless people a protected class and shield them from “discrimination based on housing status,” according to a draft of the bill obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “[M]any communities within Washington are enacting and enforcing laws that disproportionately impact homelessness or make living in public a crime,” the legislation reads. “These laws are potentially unconstitutional, make it harder for people to exit homelessness, do not solve the underlying problem of homelessness, and waste precious public funds.” The bill comes in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson, in which the nation’s high court held that the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment does not prevent a city from enforcing public-camping ordinances against the homeless. SAN FRANCISCO RESIDENTS LOOK TOWARDS FUTURE AFTER FIRING DEM MAYOR IN EFFORT TO CLEAN UP HOMELESSNESS, DRUGS The drafted legislation says it would grant the homeless “the right to survive in a nonobstructive manner” on public property, including plazas, courtyards, parking lots, sidewalks, public transportation facilities and services and room or areas within public buildings that are open to the public and during normal operating hours. It further states the homeless would be allowed to live on public property when “that person has no reasonable alternative but to survive in public space and existing shelter facilities within the local government’s jurisdiction are inadequate in number or are functionally inaccessible.” HOMELESS IN VERMONT CITY SEND CHILLING WARNING ABOUT WHAT HOUSING/DRUG CRISIS WILL DO TO CITY: ‘LIKE SAN FRAN’ Kevin Schilling, the mayor of Burien, a suburban city in Gregerson’s district, told “The Jason Rantz Show” that he was “disappointed” that the representative did not consult the City Council or city before drafting the legislation. “My hope is the legislature this year works to offer support to cities by expanding substance use disorder programs, emergency shelter capacity, and law enforcement assistance so that each element of this issue can be tackled accordingly,” he said. Fox News Digital has reached out to Gregerson’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Bipartisan panel urges Congress to toss out decades of trade policy they say China has been exploiting
A federal China commission released its sprawling yearly report to Congress on Tuesday, for the first time recommending lawmakers end China’s favored trade status and the provision that allows goods under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, established by Congress as a bipartisan entity to investigate and provide policy recommendations on China, is now directly advocating for Congress to end the Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) China has enjoyed since 2004. The committee will pitch its 83 policy recommendations to lawmakers on Tuesday, along with a report on China’s military capabilities, its threats to U.S. allies in the region and how it is exploiting U.S. policy for its own advancement. “For decades we have engaged in whack-a-mole policy working within international organizations and guidelines to address the increasing and ambitious efforts by China to skirt laws or take advantage of trade loopholes,” commission chair Robin Cleveland said. “In our hearing on the threats to American consumers this year we heard from administration and expert witnesses who were starkly clear: U.S. agencies do not know if the majority of packages coming from China include a baby toy painted with a toxic chemical—a counterfeit piece of clothing made with slave labor—or a pin head amount of fentanyl which is enough to kill the average citizen.” CHINA’S XI VOWS TO WORK WITH TRUMP DURING MEETING WITH BIDEN “While the administration has existing authority to shut down this flood of troubling products, we have a strong recommendation on legislative action that should strengthen safety and legal protections for consumers and manufacturers.” The commission also identified an urgent need for AI advancement in the U.S., calling on Congress to establish and fund a “Manhattan Project-like program” to acquire Artificial General Intelligence (AG) capability, defined as systems that would “surpass the sharpest human minds at every task.” The prospect of eliminating PNTR, which allowed low-cost Chinese goods to flood U.S. markets throughout the 2000s by giving the CCP the same trade benefits as U.S. allies, faces increasingly likely odds with Republican control of the House and Senate. Eliminating it would grant the president authority to assess and review whether greater tariffs are needed. President-elect Trump has vowed to drastically increase tariffs on Chinese-made goods. The report found that Chinese goods increasingly evade regulatory inspection and tariffs by coming in shipments valued under $800, taking advantage of the “de minimus” exemption in tariff law. TRUMP LOOMS LARGE AS BIDEN SET TO MEET CHINA’S XI DURING LATIN AMERICA SUMMITS Eliminating “de minimus” on e-commerce shipments would require Customs and Border Patrol to institute far greater oversight over small-dollar shipments, prompting a request for more resources in Congress. But the report found these shipments are often used to sneak fentanyl into the U.S. The U.S. has brought in around $4 million in Chinese goods shipped under “de minimus” per day this year, up from $3 million last year. Congress should also consider legislation to eliminate federal tax expenditures for investments in Chinese companies that are on the Commerce Department’s trade blacklist known as the Entity List, per the report. Such legislation could eliminate the preferential capital gains tax rate, the carried interest loophole or capital loss carry-forward provisions for companies that are believed to run afoul of U.S. interests or suspected to be stealing intellectual property. The report also recommended the U.S. bolster its export controls to deny China access to critical dual-use goods and technologies and ban imports of certain technologies controlled by Chinese entities, like autonomous humanoid robots and energy infrastructure products. It urged Congress to direct the administration to create an outbound investment office to oversee dollars flowing to investments in countries of concern and to amend laws to allow the Consumer Product Safety Commission mandatory recall authority over Chinese products. Throughout the year, China has increasingly tried to crack down on dissent and “sanctions proof” its economy, in preparation for a future of potential military or economic warfare with the West, the report noted. It conducted violent attacks on Philippine personnel operating within their own exclusive zone, tried to influence Taiwan’s democratic elections and incurred into Taiwanese air space over 2,300 times. It launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile test into the South Pacific in more than 40 years. Trump has begun to fill out his Cabinet with China hawks. On the campaign trail this year, Trump has proposed a 10% tariff on all U.S. imports and 60% on Chinese-made products. If Trump successfully raises tariffs to 60%, it could reduce China’s exports by $200 billion and cause a one percentage point drag on GDP, said Zhu Baoliang, a former chief economist at China’s economic planning agency, at a Citigroup conference. Last year, China exported about $500 billion worth of goods to the U.S., about 15% of all of its exports.
Trump judge still awaiting Manhattan DA’s sentencing recommendation
The Manhattan district attorney said a Bloomberg report on Tuesday morning claiming that Donald Trump’s sentencing for 34 criminal charges had been “adjourned” was incorrect. The wire was based on an automated schedule alert sent out by the court that stemmed from a court email from last week saying that all future dates had been stayed, according to the DA’s office. District Attorney Alvin Bragg is still slated to file a recommendation to Judge Juan Merchan on how to proceed. Merchan can move to either delay Trump’s sentencing until after he leaves the White House, can dismiss the conviction outright, or can grant a sentence of unconditional discharge, which would leave the conviction intact but free Trump from any prison time, fines, or probation. Trump was convicted in May by a Manhattan jury on 34 counts of falsifying business records, stemming from a case about payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, which could have landed him a maximum sentence of up to four years in prison. But the presidential race — and Trump’s victory — had thrown the timeline for court proceedings into a fog of uncertainty. Merchan granted a request from prosecutors earlier this month to stay all deadlines associated with the New York case, including a planned sentencing date of Nov. 26, in wake of Trump’s election victory. REPUBLICANS FILE 12 PENNSYLVANIA LAWSUITS IN ‘AGGRESSIVE’ PUSH TO END RECOUNT “The People agree that these are unprecedented circumstances,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said in their request, which he added would allow for prosecutors to better evaluate the impact of his election as president. Trump’s attorneys, who have pushed to vacate the charges against him completely, also backed the stay. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July that presidents should enjoy presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for most actions taken as president, further complicating the path forward in the New York case. EVERY DECISION JUDGE MERCHAN HAS MADE HAS ‘FAVORED THE PROSECUTION,’ SAYS THINK TANK PRESIDENT The high court ruled that presidents are entitled to absolute immunity from any actions taken within the scope of “core constitutional powers” as commander-in-chief. A presumption of immunity also applies to other actions taken while holding office, they said. It is not clear whether a president is to be afforded the same level of constitutional protection for state convictions, however, and the matter has never been tested in court. Bragg’s office has insisted its case is focused solely on Trump’s personal behavior, not his actions as president. Trump, for his part, has repeatedly characterized the case as a politically motivated “witch hunt,” a refrain frequently used by the president-elect in an attempt to discredit his critics, political opponents, and prosecutors at the state and federal level. Even if Trump’s convictions were to be upheld, the president-elect has myriad ways to appeal the case or get the charges against him dismissed before the Nov. 26 sentencing hearing — making it all but certain he will face no time behind bars. EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to note that the Manhattan DA has confirmed the sentencing had not been adjourned.
Report: NY judge adjourns Trump hearing without explanation, delaying sentencing
Donald Trump’s sentencing for 34 criminal charges in the state of New York was abruptly adjourned by the court Tuesday, according to Bloomberg News, a decision that gives the presiding judge additional time to weigh how to proceed in the case. The reportedly delayed sentencing came on the same day that District Attorney Alvin Bragg was slated to file a recommendation to Judge Juan Merchan on how to proceed. Fox News was not able to independently confirm the reporting. The adjournment itself is not a dismissal of the charges against Trump. Rather, it takes a previously scheduled Nov. 26 sentencing date off the calendar as the court weighs how to proceed in considering the case against the president-elect. Next steps in the case remain unclear. Judge Merchan can move to either delay Trump’s sentencing until after he leaves the White House, can dismiss the conviction outright, or can grant a sentence of unconditional discharge, which would leave the conviction intact but free Trump from any prison time, fines, or probation. Trump was convicted in May by a Manhattan jury on 34 counts of falsifying business records, stemming from a case about payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, which could have landed him a maximum sentence of up to four years in prison. But the presidential race — and Trump’s victory — had thrown the timeline for court proceedings into a fog of uncertainty. The presiding judge in the New York case, Judge Juan Merchan, granted a request from prosecutors earlier this month to stay all deadlines associated with the New York case, including a planned sentencing date of Nov. 26, in wake of Trump’s election victory. REPUBLICANS FILE 12 PENNSYLVANIA LAWSUITS IN ‘AGGRESSIVE’ PUSH TO END RECOUNT “The People agree that these are unprecedented circumstances,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said in their request, which he added would allow for prosecutors to better evaluate the impact of his election as president. Trump’s attorneys, who have pushed to vacate the charges against him completely, also backed the stay. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July that presidents should enjoy presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for most actions taken as president, further complicating the path forward in the New York case. EVERY DECISION JUDGE MERCHAN HAS MADE HAS ‘FAVORED THE PROSECUTION,’ SAYS THINK TANK PRESIDENT The high court ruled that presidents are entitled to absolute immunity from any actions taken within the scope of “core constitutional powers” as commander-in-chief. A presumption of immunity also applies to other actions taken while holding office, they said. It is not clear whether a president is to be afforded the same level of constitutional protection for state convictions, however, and the matter has never been tested in court. Bragg’s office has insisted its case is focused solely on Trump’s personal behavior, not his actions as president. Trump, for his part, has repeatedly characterized the case as a politically motivated “witch hunt,” a refrain frequently used by the president-elect in an attempt to discredit his critics, political opponents, and prosecutors at the state and federal level. Even if Trump’s convictions were to be upheld, the president-elect has myriad ways to appeal the case or get the charges against him dismissed before the Nov. 26 sentencing hearing — making it all but certain he will face no time behind bars. This is a breaking story. Updates to follow.
‘DOGE’ meets Congress: GOP lawmaker launches caucus to help Musk take on ‘Crazytown’
EXCLUSIVE: A Republican lawmaker has launched a new congressional caucus aimed at working hand-in-hand with President-elect Trump’s soon-to-be DOGE – Department of Government Efficiency. Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., said he dispatched a “Dear Colleague” letter overnight Tuesday seeking other lawmakers to join him. The practice is standard for members seeking co-sponsors of legislation. “Taking on Crazytown is no easy task,” Bean said. Thus far, Reps. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Ralph Norman of South Carolina have joined the caucus. “Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will need partners in Congress to accomplish many of the cuts necessary to rein in the unelected bureaucrats who have had unchecked power for far too long.” BIDEN’S BORDER CRISIS ‘WREAKING HAVOC’ ON K-12 SCHOOLS: TOP LAWMAKER Bean said the national debt’s $36 trillion level “should be a wakeup call for all Americans.” “We must take action to avoid diving headfirst off the cliff of fiscal ruin… Our DOGE Caucus, will work closely with the Department of Government Efficiency to help rein in reckless spending and stop the abuse of taxpayer dollars.” Earlier this month, Trump tapped Musk and Ramaswamy to lead the “DOGE,” which the Tesla CEO has widely touted and begun soliciting civilian help for. Trump said last week he hopes DOGE will become the “Manhattan Project of our time” – in reference to J. Robert Oppenheimer’s secretive atom bomb endeavor during World War II. “Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of ‘DOGE’ for a very long time,” Trump said. In his letter to colleagues, Bean lamented the $6 billion per day the U.S. has borrowed during the Biden-Harris administration, and added that interest accruals on the debt currently exceed the nation’s entire Defense Department budget. “Republicans must live up to our principle of fiscal responsibility by reining in the spending that is driving both inflation and our unsustainable debt. The DOGE Caucus will bring together members from across our conference who are ready to rein-in unelected bureaucrats and end the over-regulation that has crippled American Main Street. “When Republicans stick together, we win,” Bean said. “Join us in reclaiming our country and Making America Great Again.” RAMASWAMY OUTLINES DOGE’S VISION In the immediate aftermath of his solicitation being circulated, a representative for Bean’s office said they are still waiting for other lawmakers to take part. Musk continued sharing examples of government waste he would like to see his new department take on, captioning “Drop the DOGE hammer” on X, formerly Twitter, above a retweet of a Washington Post headline reading “New report estimates U.S. fraud losses exceed $233 billion annually.” Musk also shared a clip Monday of Sen. Rand Paul, R–Ky., speaking about government waste and describing a National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism study that reportedly fed different types of booze to fish, captioned with a furrowed-brow emoji: “Gin to a sunfish versus tequila – which would make the sunfish more aggressive?” “Nearly a million dollars spent studying whether or not Japanese Quail, if you give ‘em cocaine… are more sexually promiscuous,” Paul added. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Sounds like a job for DOGE!” the future department head said over the weekend of a report the Pentagon failed its seventh audit and was unable to account for part of its $824 billion budget. Trump recently said Musk and Ramaswamy’s work will help the next generation have a solvent future. “They will work together to liberate our Economy, and make the U.S. Government accountable to ‘We The People’,” he said on Nov. 12. Trump added at the time that his aspiration is for the department’s collaborative efforts to culminate on July 4, 2026, in concert with the celebration of America’s 250th birthday. Fox News Digital reached out to Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy via the transition team for additional comment.