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Republicans 2 seats away from House majority, giving Trump leeway to implement agenda

Republicans 2 seats away from House majority, giving Trump leeway to implement agenda

Control of the House of Representatives remains undecided, with Republicans sitting just two seats away from a majority as of Wednesday morning. The Associated Press has yet to call 12 House races across the country. In one of those 12 races, California’s 47th Congressional District, Republican candidate Scott Baugh has conceded in the open race against Democrat Dave Min. At-Large District Democratic incumbent Rep. Mary Sattler Peltola is in a tight race in Alaska’s at-large congressional district, where she is trailing Republican entrepreneur Nick Begich. As of Wednesday morning, Begich holds a three-point lead at 49.1% of the vote compared to Peltola’s 45.8%. The vote count sits at 142,023 to 132,473 with roughly 91% of the vote counted. SHUTDOWN STANDOFF LOOMS IN CONGRESS’ FINAL WEEKS BEFORE TRUMP’S RETURN TO WHITE HOUSE 6th Congressional District The race in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District is tight, with Republican incumbent Rep. Juan Ciscomani holding a narrow lead. The first-term lawmaker holds a two-point advantage over former Democratic state lawmaker Kirsten Engel as of Wednesday morning. The vote count sits at 196,293 to 189,426, with 90% of votes counted. 9th Congressional District Democratic incumbent Josh Harder leads Republican challenger Kevin Lincoln by four points. While Harder asserted victory in the race on Tuesday evening, Lincoln has not conceded, and The Associated Press has not called the race. The district had about 74% of the vote recorded as of Wednesday, and Harder’s lead sits at over 7,000 votes. 13th Congressional District Republican Rep. John Duarte is leading former Democratic State Assembly member Adam Gray in California’s 13th. Roughly 70% of the vote has been counted, and Duarte holds a 51% to 49% lead. The contest is separated by just over 3,000 votes as of Wednesday morning. 21st Congressional District Incumbent Democratic Rep. John Costa leads his Republican challenger, Michael Maher, in a 51.7 % to 48.3% race as of Wednesday morning. So far, 79% of the vote has been counted, and Costa’s lead is just over 5,000 votes. 41st Congressional District Republican incumbent Rep. Ken Calvert holds a 51.3% to 48.7% lead over Democratic challenger Will Rollins. Roughly 79% of the vote has been counted as of Wednesday, and Calvert’s lead sits at over 8,000 votes. 45th Congressional District Incumbent Republican Rep. Michelle Steel leads her Democratic challenger Derek Tran with 50.4% of the vote as of Wednesday. Roughly 87% of the votes have been counted, and Steel’s lead has shrunk to 2,272 votes. 47th Congressional District Republican Scott Baugh, a former state assembly member, conceded the race to Democratic state Sen. Dave Min in the race to succeed outgoing Democratic Rep. Katie Porter in California’s 47th Congressional District. Min holds a one-point lead, with nearly 86% of the vote counted. The race was rated Lean Democrat by the Fox News Power Rankings. With Min’s lead at nearly 6,000 votes, The Associated Press has yet to call the result. 1st Congressional District Republican incumbent Rep. Mariannet Miller-Meeks holds a razor-thin lead over challenger Christina Bohannan with 99% of the vote counted. Miller-Meeks’ lead sits at 731 votes. GOP REP. MIKE WALTZ TAPPED TO BE TRUMP’S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER 2nd Congressional District Democratic incumbent Jared Golden holds a razor-thin lead over Republican challenger Austin Theriault as of Wednesday. With 98% of the votes counted, Golden’s lead sits at 726 votes. The state is conducting ranked-choice tabulation this week. 9th Congressional District Democratic incumbent Marcy Kaptur leads her Republican challenger, Derek Merrin, by less than one point with 99% of the votes counted. Kaptur’s lead sits at just under 1,200 votes as of Wednesday. 5th Congressional District Republican incumbent Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer is trailing her Democratic challenger, Janelle Bynum, by nearly three points with 91% of the votes counted Wednesday. Bynum’s lead sits at just over 10,000 votes. Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

Special Counsel Jack Smith plans to resign, file report before Trump can fire him: report

Special Counsel Jack Smith plans to resign, file report before Trump can fire him: report

Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith is expected to resign before President-elect Trump is inaugurated in January, the New York Times reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.  Smith is aiming to bring to an end his cases against Trump and step down before the new president takes office as a way to get ahead of the Republican’s promise to fire him “within two seconds.”  Trump has pointed to a Supreme Court immunity ruling from this summer that broadened the criteria for official presidential conduct ineligible for prosecution even after a president is no longer in office. Smith has been evaluating how to wind down both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case before Trump takes office, Fox News reported last week.  Longstanding Justice Department policy says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted while in office. SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH MOVES TO DROP TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE Smith on Friday filed a motion to vacate all deadlines in the 2020 election interference case against Trump in Washington, D.C., a widely expected move, but one that stops short of dropping the case against him completely. He said Friday that his team plans to give an updated report on the official status of the case against Trump on Dec. 2.  Smith is required under DOJ regulations to submit a report of his findings and an explanation of the charges the prosecutor considered and ultimately filed – even though neither case made it to trial.  Under a crunched timeline, it is unclear if Attorney General Merrick Garland would make that report public before the end of President Biden’s term or defer to the incoming Trump administration, according to the Times.  Sources close to the matter told the Times that Smith has no intention of dragging his feet, and has informed career prosecutors and FBI agents on his team not directly involved in preparing the report that they can plan their exits in the coming weeks.  JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LOOKING TO WIND DOWN TRUMP CRIMINAL CASES AHEAD OF INAUGURATION In Friday’s filing, Smith said he needed a month “to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.” The House Judiciary Committee is concerned that Smith and prosecutors involved in the investigations will “purge” records to skirt oversight and is demanding they produce to Congress all documents related to the probes before the end of the month, Fox News Digital previously reported.  Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch, Brooke Singman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Democratic committee chair pours cold water on replacing Sotomayor before Trump takes office

Democratic committee chair pours cold water on replacing Sotomayor before Trump takes office

Talk of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor retiring and having her seat filled before President-elect Donald Trump takes office is “idle speculation” and not “realistic,” a top Democrat says.  Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., made the comments to Politico following reports that Democrats are discussing whether to call on the 70-year-old to vacate her seat to avoid potentially giving Trump the opportunity to replace her if she retires following his return to the White House in January.  “Whoever makes those calls [for a retirement] can’t count,” Durbin told Politico. “Take a look at the calendar and tell me how in the world you could achieve that without setting aside the budget and the defense authorization act and all the other things that need to be done? I don’t think it’s a realistic idea.”  Last week, a Democratic senator also said to Politico: “She can sort of resign conditionally on someone being appointed to replace her. But she can’t resign conditioned on a specific person. What happens if she resigns and the nominee to replace her isn’t confirmed, and the next president fills the vacancy?”  SOTOMAYOR SHOULD BE REPLACED BY KAMALA HARRIS, CNN COMMENTATOR ARGUES  Sotomayor is one of the three justices on the Supreme Court appointed by a Democratic president.  Democrats lost their Senate majority to Republicans in the 2024 election and only have about two months left of control in the chamber.  JUSTICE ALITO PLANS TO REMAIN ON SUPREME COURT, RESISTING PRESSURE TO STEP ASIDE: REPORT  People close to Sotomayor recently told The Wall Street Journal that she has no plans to step aside from her position.   “This is no time to lose her important voice on the court. She just turned 70 and takes better care of herself than anyone I know,” one source told the newspaper.  Fox News’ Aubrie Spady contributed to this report. 

Canada orders binding arbitration to end port lockout

Canada orders binding arbitration to end port lockout

With the lockouts, $930m of goods are being affected daily, affecting supply chains and local economy, the government says. Canada’s labour minister is intervening to end the lockouts of workers at the country’s two biggest ports. Minister of Labour Steven Mackinnon said on Tuesday that the negotiations had reached an impasse and he was directing the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order the resumption of all operations at the ports of Vancouver and Montreal and move the talks to binding arbitration. Port of Montreal’s workers were locked out on Sunday and workers in Vancouver on the Pacific Coast have been locked out since November 4. “There is a limit to the economic self-destruction that Canadians are prepared to accept,” MacKinnon said. “In the face of economic self-destruction, there is an obligation to intervene. As minister of labour, that responsibility falls to me.” MacKinnon said 1.3 billion Canadian dollars ($930m) of goods is affected every day. He said it was affecting supply chains, the economy and Canada’s reputation as a reliable trading partner. Business groups have been calling for government intervention to get the flow of goods moving again. MacKinnon says he hopes operations can be restored in a matter of days. The Maritime Employers Association locked out 1,200 longshore workers at the Port of Montreal on Sunday after workers voted to reject what employers called a final contract offer. The workers were seeking increases of 20 percent over four years. The job action came after port workers in British Columbia were locked out amid a labour dispute involving more than 700 longshore supervisors, resulting in a paralysis of container cargo traffic at terminals on the West Coast. International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514, which represents supervisory longshore workers at the heart of the British Columbia dispute, said it will file a legal challenge to the minister’s orders. “We will fight this order in the courts,” said Frank Morena, ILWU Local 514 president, in a statement. “And we will not forget how these employers and this federal Liberal government have attacked not only the ILWU but all of labour.” Forced to intervene It was the second time in a few months that the Liberal government has stepped in to halt a dispute. In August, it ordered an end to work stoppages at the country’s two largest railway companies. The left-leaning government has previously stated its preference for resolving labour disputes through collective bargaining. MacKinnon said he had been forced to intervene after federal mediators reported that the talks at Montreal and Vancouver were at an impasse. The left-of-centre opposition New Democrats, a pro-union party which is propping up the minority Liberal government, accused Ottawa of caving in to employers. “Back-to-work orders suppress wages for all Canadians, so billionaires get richer and the rest of Canadians fall further behind,” leader Jagmeet Singh said in a statement but made no mention of withdrawing support from the Liberals. The Teamsters union, which represents employees at the two main rail companies that were embroiled in a labour dispute in August, has filed court challenges against rulings by the labour board that forced them back to work. Meanwhile, the Canadian Labour Congress said in a statement, “The government is sending a dangerous message: Employers can bypass meaningful negotiations, lock out their workers, and wait for political intervention to secure a more favourable deal,” Adblock test (Why?)

Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years in prison

Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years in prison

Prosecutors sought 17 years imprisonment for ‘significant’ violations of the Espionage Act. Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts National Guard, has been jailed for 15 years for leaking classified documents about the war in Ukraine and other military secrets. A federal judge in Boston, United States, on Tuesday sentenced the 22-year-old after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of wilful retention and transmission of national defence information under the Espionage Act. Prosecutors had argued for a 17-year sentence for Teixeira, saying he “perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history”. “The defendant took an oath to defend the United States and to protect its secrets – secrets that are vital to US national security and the physical safety of Americans serving overseas,” prosecutors wrote. “Teixeira violated his oath, almost every day, for over a year.” Breach raised questions about US ability to protect secrets Teixeira, from North Dighton, Massachusetts, was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base, located on Cape Cod. He worked as a cyber-transport systems specialist – essentially an information technology specialist responsible for military communications networks. Authorities said he shared the classified documents on the messaging app Discord. Teixeira began by typing out copies that he then published online. Later, he photographed the files, some of which bore “SECRET” and “TOP SECRET” markings. The documents included information about allies and adversaries including troop movements in Ukraine and top secret information about Israel’s Mossad spy agency. Teixeira also admitted posting information about a US adversary’s plans to harm US forces serving overseas. The breach raised questions about the US’s ability to protect its secrets and embarrassed the administration of President Joe Biden, which scrambled to contain the diplomatic and military fallout. Teixeira’s lawyers asked for a lighter sentence of 11 years, arguing their client had no political goal and was not working as a spy for a foreign government. In their sentencing document, they acknowledged their client had “made a terrible decision which he repeated over 14 months”. “Instead, his intent was to educate his friends about world events to make certain they were not misled by misinformation,” the lawyers wrote. “To Jack, the Ukraine war was his generation’s World War II or Iraq, and he needed someone to share the experience with.” They noted that Teixeira had never been convicted of a crime before. But prosecutors countered that Teixeira did not suffer from any intellectual disability that would prevent him from knowing right from wrong, adding that his post-arrest diagnosis of “mild, high-functioning” autism was of “questionable relevance” to the case. ‘I wanted to say, ‘I am sorry” Teixeira apologised to the court for his actions before he was sentenced by the US District Judge Indira Talwani. “I wanted to say, ‘I’m sorry for all the harm that I brought and caused’,” Texeira said referring to the “maelstrom” he caused family and friends. “I understand all the responsibility and consequences fall upon my shoulders alone and accept whatever that will bring,” he said. Teixeira hugged one of his lawyers and looked towards his family and smiled before being led out of court. He cannot be charged with any further Espionage Act violations under the terms of his guilty plea. Adblock test (Why?)