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Reporter’s Notebook: The hitchhiker’s guide to recess appointments

So you want to know about “recess appointments”? Well, recess is over and class is in session.  Let’s start with four main sections in the Constitution:  “[The President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States” – Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR: HOUSE REPUBLICANS’ SMALL MAJORITY COULD MAKE ATTENDANCE A PRIORITY  “The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.” – Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution “Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.” – Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution And then there is this particularly thermonuclear passage: “[The President} may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper.” – Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution Let’s work through the mechanics of each one. It’s tradition for a president to nominate various persons for his Cabinet, other administration positions and the judiciary. However, the Senate must confirm those figures through a roll call vote on the floor. The confirmation process usually entails formal visits with senators, background checks on nominees by the FBI or the committees of jurisdiction, hearings with the nominee and other witnesses who either support or oppose the nominee, a committee vote to discharge the nomination to the floor, debate on the floor and a final confirmation vote. This is the Senate’s “Advice and Consent” exercise. It’s a responsibility most senators take very seriously. Many passionately guard those prerogatives. ‘IT’S A SETBACK’: DEMOCRATS CRITICIZE BIDEN OVER HUNTER PARDON For instance, incoming President Trump nominated former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., for attorney general. Gaetz met with several Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. But Gaetz’s selection never got to the vetting phase or even a hearing. It was clear to Gaetz – and most senators – that the nominee wasn’t confirmable by the Senate. Confirmation of Gaetz would have represented the “consent” provision of the Constitution. However, the abrupt withdrawal of the nominee – after all of the Senate’s closed-door muttering – certainly reflected “advice.” After Gaetz, expect lots of consternation in the coming weeks about the viability of Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard, Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy and FBI Director pick Kash Patel. This is where the concept of “recess appointments” could come in. If the Senate fails to confirm some of Trump’s nominees, there are suggestions that Trump might try to circumvent the Senate and temporarily install these persons in those roles on an “acting” basis. This is the application of Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution. It allows the president to “fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate.” A “recess appointment” may only serve in the role until the end of a given, two-year Congress. The Founders crafted the concept of a recess appointment so the government could have a stand-in for a period if a given office suddenly became vacant due to death or resignation. Congress was often out of session for months at a time in the early days of the republic. Transportation was tough. It was a challenge to quickly confirm replacements if the Senate wasn’t meeting. So the Founders created the fail-safe of “recess appointments.” That way, the government wasn’t hamstrung waiting on the Senate to eventually reconvene and confirm someone to an important government post. But how would a recess appointment work in the current environment? And could a president just bypass the Senate and install someone if Congress wasn’t meeting? In theory, yes. And it’s possible that a president could do so if a nomination is stalled or someone is unconfirmed. THOMAS MASSIE, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR VOCALLY OPPOSE TRUMP’S DEA NOMINEE However, the brutal truth is that recess appointments are becoming rare. Both Trump and President Biden had precisely zero recess appointments. President Obama had 32. The last recess appointment was Richard Griffin Jr. to the National Labor Relations Board on Jan. 4, 2012. He was part of four recess appointments by Obama on that day. Griffin and two others were placed at the NLRB. Obama also slotted Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  By contrast, President George W. Bush had 171 recess appointments. President Bill Clinton scored 139.  The lynchpin to the entire enterprise is whether there is in fact an appropriate “recess” of the Congress. Only under such a recess would the Senate reside in the proper parliamentary posture to allow for the potential of a recess appointment. It’s been years now since both the House and Senate have technically abandoned Washington for more than three days. That’s to guard against the chance of a recess appointment. The House and Senate used to frequently approve what’s called an “adjournment resolution.” That granted both the House and Senate leave from Capitol Hill for extended periods – such as over the holidays, Thanksgiving, Easter and Passover, Independence Day and the “August recess.” But those are infrequent.  This fall, both the House and Senate were “out” for part of September, all of October and a chunk of November. However, both bodies convened abbreviated sessions every three days. Each one lasted just a few seconds. That’s de rigueur in Washington because the House and Senate can’t approve an adjournment resolution. The House and Senate just don’t snap their fingers and they’re out. Like everything on Capitol Hill, both bodies must

Trump promises ‘hell to pay’ in Middle East if hostages are not released before he takes office

President-elect Trump promised there would be “all hell to pay” if the hostages being held captive by Hamas are not released prior to when he takes office on Jan. 20.  In a Truth Social post, Trump said nothing was being done to free those being held by the Iran-backed terror group since Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas attacked Israel and killed at least 1,200 people and kidnapped at least 250 others.  At least seven of the hostages are Americans.  ISRAEL DESTROYS HEZBOLLAH’S ‘LARGEST PRECISION-GUIDED MISSILES MANUFACTURING SITE’  “Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East – But it’s all talk, and no action!” Trump wrote.  “Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity,” Trump added.  On Saturday, Hamas released a video of an Israeli-American hostage pleading for his release.  The footage shows Edan Alexander, 20, covering his face and crying. He was abducted by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023.  ‘WAR FOLLOWED US’: A SYRIAN FAMILY FLED BEIRUT AFTER ISRAELI BOMBARDMENT TO FACE REPRESSION, BOMBING AT HOME  Alexander explained that he had been a prisoner for over 420 days and delivered forced messages to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump. Netanyahu spoke with Alexander’s family and is determined “to take every action to bring them back home,” his office said Monday.  Trump said those responsible for taking the hostages “will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.” More than a year after the attacks, a permanent cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas remains elusive. Israeli forces continue to conduct military operations in Gaza.  A cease-fire deal between Israel and Lebanon was reached in November following a year of attacks targeting Israel’s north by Hezbollah. On Monday, Israel said Hezbollah broke the cease-fire by launching two projectiles. No one was harmed.  “We are determined to continue to enforce the cease-fire, and to respond to any violation by Hezbollah – minor or serious,” Netanyahu said. 

Special counsel, IRS whistleblowers say don’t buy Biden ‘spin’ about Hunter Biden legal saga

President Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, late Sunday evening, sparing him from being sentenced in a pair of separate court cases in which he was found guilty of illegally purchasing a gun and failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes — convictions the president claimed were politically motivated and a “miscarriage of justice.” A review of Hunter Biden’s yearslong legal saga, however, shows another story, and those involved in the prosecutions are making sure that side of the story is told in the aftermath of the president’s decision.  “There was none and never has been any evidence of vindictive or selective prosecution in this case,” special prosecutor David Weiss said in a court filing following the pardoning.  Two IRS whistleblowers who sounded the alarm on Hunter Biden’s tax issues also slammed the decision to pardon Hunter Biden, saying, “No amount of lies or spin can hide the simple truth that the Justice Department nearly let the President’s son off the hook for multiple felonies.” “President Biden has the power to put his thumb on the scales of justice for his son, but at least he had to do it with a pardon explicitly for all the world to see rather than his political appointees doing it secretly behind the scenes. Either way it is a sad day for law abiding taxpayers to witness this special privilege for the powerful,” IRS whistleblowers Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Special Agent Joe Ziegler said in a statement Sunday evening.  2 TIMES BIDEN SAID HE WOULD NOT PARDON SON HUNTER BIDEN  “No amount of lies or spin can hide the simple truth that the Justice Department nearly let the President’s son off the hook for multiple felonies. We did our duty, told the truth, and followed the law. Anyone reading the President’s excuses now should remember that Hunter Biden admitted to his tax crimes in federal court, that Hunter Biden’s attorneys have targeted us for our lawful whistleblower disclosures, and that we are suing one of those attorneys for smearing us with false accusations,” they continued, referring to their $20 million defamation lawsuit against Hunter Biden’s high-profile attorney Abbe Lowell in September for claiming the IRS investigators illegally leaked Hunter Biden’s private tax information. The guilty plea, guilty verdict and the president’s pardoning caps off a yearslong legal saga for the first son and his family, with the cases stretching back to 2018 and notably featured the IRS whistleblowers who sounded the alarm on Hunter Biden’s tax issues.  Hunter Biden was found guilty in the gun case in June, with a jury of his peers determining he made a false statement in the purchase of a gun, made a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.  He has a well-documented history of drug abuse, which was most notably documented in his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” which walked readers through his previous need to smoke crack cocaine every 20 minutes, how his addiction was so prolific that he referred to himself as a “crack daddy” to drug dealers, and anecdotes revolving around drug deals, such as a Washington, D.C., crack dealer Biden nicknamed “Bicycles.” In the tax case, Hunter faced another trial regarding three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court in September, Hunter entered a surprise guilty plea.  TRUMP PREVIOUSLY PREDICTED BIDEN WOULD PARDON SON HUNTER BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE The tax case investigation originally kicked off in 2018, when the U.S. attorney in Delaware opened a probe into Hunter Biden’s finances. The first son initially notified the public that he was under investigation one month after his dad won the presidential election over President-elect Donald Trump in 2020.  ​​”I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs,” Hunter Biden said in a statement released in December of 2020. “I take this matter very seriously, but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisers.” After President Biden took control of the Oval Office, his administration retained David Weiss, a Trump-appointed Republican charged with overseeing the investigation into Hunter Biden in his capacity as U.S. attorney for Delaware. The Biden administration had gutted all Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys under the Trump administration, except for two individuals: Weiss, and Special Counsel John Durham, who investigated the origins of the Russia probe surrounding the 2016 election.  KJP SAYS PRESIDENT BIDEN STILL HAS NO PLANS TO PARDON HUNTER BIDEN FOR TAX FRAUD, GUN CHARGES Last year, Hunter Biden was in the midst of hashing out a plea agreement to two misdemeanor tax counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax, as well as a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate felony charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. The plea agreement unraveled in Delaware court, however, and heightened his legal woes.  Weeks later, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel, broadening the scope of the investigation into Hunter Biden. With the plea deal officially at an impasse, Weiss subsequently charged Hunter Biden in September of last year for the gun charges, and brought forth the nine tax-related charges against Hunter Biden in December of 2023 in California court.  “The appointment of Mr. Weiss reinforces for the American people the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters,” Garland said in the announcement of Weiss as special prosecutor. “I am confident that Mr. Weiss will carry out his responsibility in an evenhanded and urgent manner and in accordance with

Democrats in Disarray: More candidates jump into wide-open race for DNC chair

The field of contenders bidding to steer the Democratic National Committee in the wake of the party’s very disappointing results in last month’s elections keeps growing. Three more candidates over the weekend announced their intentions to run in a wide-open DNC chair race that appears to have a frontrunner. Ben Wikler, who’s chaired the state Democratic Party in battleground Wisconsin for five years, launched his campaign Sunday in a video. “Today, the country we love needs the Democratic Party to be stronger. To unite. To fight. And to win,” Wikler emphasized. WHO ELSE IS MULLING A BID TO STEER THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY Also Sunday, former Senate candidate from Maryland Robert Houton announced his bid, saying in a letter to DNC members that he aimed to “lead and grow our Democratic party to champion electoral and transformative, legacy victories in 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, and beyond.” A day earlier, New York state Sen. James Skoufis took to social media to announce his long-shot, outsider bid for DNC chair, in the race to succeed Jaime Harrison, who is not seeking a second four-year term early next year in the wake of major setbacks for the Democrats up and down the 2024 ballot. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING AND OPINION ON THE DEMOCRATS “Voters have spoken, and we need to listen, not lecture. We need to be strong fighters again,” he said. “I may be an outsider, but I know how to win.” And Skoufis vowed to “throw out the DNC’s stale, Beltway-centered playbook so that we rebuild, stop ceding ground to Republicans and start winning again – everywhere.” Martin O’Malley, the former two-term Maryland governor and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate who served as commissioner of the Social Security Administration the past year, and Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chair Ken Martin, a DNC vice chair who also leads the association of state Democratic Party chairs, jumped into the race last week. “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 a social media post announcing his run. 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.” 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.” The field of five DNC chair candidates is expected to grow, 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. As Fox News and other news organizations reported last month, Rahm Emanuel, the ambassador to Japan, has been quietly reaching out to DNC committee members as he contemplates a bid. Emanuel is a former two-term Chicago mayor who earlier served as White House chief of staff in President Obama’s administration and as a member of Congress,  Also eyeing the chair are former New York State assembly member Michael Blake, Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, and Chuck Rocha, a Democratic strategist who describes himself as “non-college-educated Mexican redneck.” The next chair will be chosen by the roughly 450 voting members of the national party committee when they meet at the beginning of February at National Harbor in Maryland for the DNC’s winter meeting. Martin appears to be the early frontrunner. A DNC insider who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely said Martin has over 150 endorsements from voting members. But Wikler, who is also well-known by the DNC membership, is also considered a frontrunner. “The DNC insiders/establishment have significant influence over this membership, so the race will be very close,” the party insider argued. “I’m open to talking to whomever is interested in this, to listen to their vision and plan, and listen to people’s different takes on what we need to do,” said a DNC voting member granted anonymity to speak more freely.  The member said, “I think the race is wide open.” “We have to go back to 50-state strategy,” the member said. “We definitely have to figure out how to speak to a broader swath of working-class voters, and when I say working-class voters, I don’t just mean White working-class, I mean Latino, African American, voters of colors… we have to figure out how to talk to all of those.” And the member added that in order to compete with the Republicans, the DNC also has “to drastically expand and not just go a mile wide but a mile deep on the different platforms of communication.”

‘Of course I support the pardon of my son,’ Jill Biden tells reporter

First lady Jill Biden backed President Biden’s decision to pardon Hunter Biden from criminal charges during a holiday press conference with National Guard members and their families at the White House on Monday.  “Of course I support the pardon of my son,” Jill responded to a reporter’s shouted question following her remarks. BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE Hunter is the stepson of Jill Biden.  The White House unveiled its Christmas decorations to the media ahead of the holiday season, with this year’s theme, “A Season of Peace and Light,” announced by Jill Biden in a statement Monday. “As we celebrate our final holiday season here in the White House, we are guided by the values we hold sacred: faith, family, service to our country, kindness towards our neighbors, and the power of community and connection,” the Bidens wrote in a commemorative holiday guidebook that will be provided to visitors.  The announcement to pardon Hunter’s two felony cases was made by the White House on Sunday night. The pardon applies to offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 1, 2024.  “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” Biden wrote in a statement. “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.” The president went on to claim that his son was “treated differently” by prosecutors. President Biden pardoning his son is a departure from his previous remarks to the media over the summer, declaring he would not pardon the first son. HUNTER BIDEN PLEADS GUILTY TO ALL NINE FEDERAL TAX CHARGES BROUGHT BY SPECIAL COUNSEL DAVID WEISS “Yes,” President Biden told ABC News when asked if he would rule out pardoning Hunter ahead of his guilty verdict in the gun case.  Days later, following a jury of Hunter’s peers finding him guilty of three felony firearm offenses, the president again said he would not pardon his son.  Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.  Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton, Andrea Margolis and Alexandra Rego contributed to this report. 

COVID ‘most likely’ leaked from Wuhan lab, social distancing ‘not based on science,’ select committee finds

A congressional subcommittee concluded its two-year investigation on the coronavirus pandemic on Monday, finding that COVID-19 likely originated from a lab in Wuhan, China, and that social distancing and masking were not backed with scientific data. The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released its final 520-page report that stated “COVID-19 most likely emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.”  In support of the “lab leak” theory, the report said the subcommittee learned that the virus had a biological characteristic that is not found in nature and that data showed all COVID-19 cases stemming from a single introduction to humans. “By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced,” the report says. FAUCI RIPPED OVER NEW PAPER CRITICIZING TRUMP ON CORONAVIRUS, PROMOTING NATURAL ORIGIN THEORY: ‘EMBARRASSMENT’ The report also noted that China’s foremost SARS research lab is in Wuhan, “which has a history of conducting gain-of-function research at inadequate biosafety levels,” and that researchers at the lab “were sick with a COVID-like virus in the fall of 2019, months before COVID-19 was discovered at the wet market.” Initial rumors swirled at the beginning of the pandemic that China’s wet markets, which are known for selling meat, fish, produce and exotic animals in unsanitary conditions, were the origin of the virus. MANCHIN SLAMS ‘17 EDUCATED IDIOTS’ THAT WERE ADVISING BIDEN DURING COVID The report also found that social distancing “was not based on science.” “During closed door testimony, Dr. [Anthony] Fauci testified that the guidance, ‘sort of just appeared,’” the report states. Fauci was the public face of the federal government’s coronavirus pandemic response. He has faced intense criticism for his handling of the pandemic. The subcommittee also found “no conclusive evidence” that wearing masks protected Americans from COVID-19.  The measures led to long-term impacts on American adults and children. The report found that unemployment skyrocketed and children “lost decades worth of academic progress.”

Biden blocks new mining in region that produces about 40% of nation’s coal: ‘It’s a disaster’

The Biden administration announced a big decision to block new mining in a key region producing nearly half of the nation’s coal over climate change concerns, but it could be short-lived as President-elect Trump prepares to make U.S. energy dominance a key focus of his incoming administration. Biden’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently approved an amendment to the Resource Management Plan (RMP) to ban new federal coal leases and make “48.12 billion short tons of coal unavailable for leasing consideration in order to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a proxy for climate change,” according to Todd D. Yeager, BLM Buffalo field manager. The decision will block any new federal mining leases in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, the country’s largest coal producing region, by 2041. This region produces about 40% of the nation’s coal. BLM, however, will allow for existing coal leases to still be developed. In a statement to Fox News Digital regarding the decision, Trump’s transition team reinforced the idea of the president-elect’s campaign promise to bolster American-made energy. FEDERAL JUDGE SIDES WITH SPACEX AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP TIED TO STOP ROCKET LAUNCHES “Families have suffered under the past four years’ war on American energy, which prompted the worst inflation crisis in a generation. Voters re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail, including lowering energy costs for consumers,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump-Vance Transition spokeswoman, said in a statement.  FEDERAL COURT UPENDS DECADES OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS Leavitt added that when Trump takes office, he “will make America energy dominant again, protect our energy jobs, and bring down the cost of living for working families.” The Powder River Basin lease ban, which covers parts of southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, includes making more than 1.7 million acres unavailable for coal leasing within the Miles City Field Office planning area. The BLM memo claimed that the “U.S. energy market is moving away from coal to lower priced natural gas and renewable energy sources.” But the affected state representatives say the region is a vital natural energy resource. The decision was widely criticized by Montana and Wyoming elected officials, including Sen. Steve Daines, R–Mont., who said he would be introducing legislation in an attempt to reverse the decision. “At every turn, the Biden administration has launched attack after attack on made-in-Montana energy, and the people of Montana and the rest of the country rebuked the administration for it at the ballot box,” Daines said in a statement following the decision. “… Eastern Montana is rich in coal and mining operations and the jobs and coal produced in the Powder River Basin help support our national security, bolster our energy grid and create high-paying jobs.” “Once again, the Biden-Harris administration is ignoring states and crippling our energy supply,” Gov. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., said in a statement. “While Montana supports an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy, the White House is picking winners and losers on the president’s way out the door. Simply put, this rule will destroy coal jobs and defund public education in Montana. It’s a disaster.” “After the American people issued a stunning rebuke to President Biden, he continues to punish Wyoming communities,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said in a statement. “I will work with President Trump and his team to reverse this and other midnight regulations.” The BLM memo said the administration is blocking coal leasing to support Biden’s target of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, suggesting that “the U.S. energy market is moving away from coal to lower priced natural gas and renewable energy sources.” Earth Justice, an environmental justice group, also claimed the mining bans stemmed from an evolving approach to energy production. “Coal has powered our nation for many decades, but technology, economics and markets are changing radically. BLM’s announcement recognizes that coal’s era is ending, and it’s time to focus on supporting our communities through the transition away from coal, investing in workers, and moving to heal our lands, waters and climate as we enter a bright clean energy future,” Paula Antoine, Western Organization of Resource Councils board chair, said in an Earth Justice press release after Biden announced his initial plans in May.

Single House race stands between Republicans and 1-seat majority

House Republicans could begin the new year grappling with a one-seat majority, a perilously slim margin for the 119th Congress as President-elect Donald Trump guns for an active first 100 days. Last-minute GOP losses and exits in favor of the new administration mean Republicans could begin that period with precious little room for dissent, and one congressional race could decide the difference between a likely one- or two-seat majority.  JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS ‘DISHONEST’ In California’s 13th Congressional District, Rep. John Duarte, R-Calif., is fighting for his political life against Democrat Adam Gray.  As of Monday afternoon, Gray leads Duarte by a few hundred votes – a margin of roughly 0.1%. California state law mandates that counties certify their election results by Dec. 5. If Democrats flip the seat, the House would have 220 Republicans and 215 Democrats heading into the New Year. However, three Republican lawmakers’ departures are expected to whittle that down further. Now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., resigned from the 118th and 119th Congresses amid consideration to be Trump’s attorney general. MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., was tapped to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., was named national security adviser.  All three lawmakers represent deep-red districts, so there is little concern their seats will fall into Democrats’ hands.  However, with special elections to replace Gaetz and Waltz set for April 1, and Stefanik’s not yet scheduled, the GOP may spend nearly all of their first 100 days controlling Washington’s power centers with a one-seat majority in the House. House GOP Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., brushed off concerns about the prospects of holding a one- or two-seat edge in a recent television interview on FOX Business. REPUBLICANS PROJECTED TO KEEP CONTROL OF HOUSE AS TRUMP PREPARES TO IMPLEMENT AGENDA “That’s essentially what we’ve had over the last year, for better parts of the last year,” Emmer told “The Bottom Line.”  “I’ve got to tell you, I don’t give a darn whether it’s 222, 225, 218. As long as we have a majority, we can deliver with Donald J. Trump for the American people” Ultimately, there is little daylight between a one- or two-seat majority, but if the 118th Congress is any indication, the numbers set up House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., with a tricky political situation. House Republicans’ slim margins over the last two years enabled different factions of the GOP to paralyze the chamber floor at times over disagreements on government funding and other critical legislative fights. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. 

Biden still believes ‘no one is above the law,’ White House says in wake of Hunter pardon

The White House today defended President Biden’s declaration in May that “no one is above the law” amid criticism of his sweeping pardon Sunday evening for son Hunter Biden following a yearslong legal saga revolving around two criminal cases.  “Yes,” a White House official told Fox News Digital on Monday when asked if Biden still believes “no one is above the law” after pardoning his son. “As he said in his statement, he has deep respect for our justice system. And as a wide range of legal experts have pointed out, this pardon is indisputably within his authority and warranted by the facts of the case.” Biden posted a message to X back on May 31, one day after President-elect Donald Trump was found guilty in the Manhattan criminal trial in May, that “No one is above the law.”  BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE Following his pardon of Hunter Biden from a gun case and a tax case, conservatives and others resurrected the post on social media, with Reps. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Eli Crane, R-Ariz., for example, quipping that the rule of law applies to all Americans, “Unless your last name is Biden.” REPUBLICANS HAMMER BIDEN’S ‘NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW’ CLAIM FOLLOWING HUNTER PARDON: ‘AGED LIKE FINE MILK’ “You’ve been lied to every step of the way by this Administration and the corrupt Biden family. This is just the latest in their long coverup scheme. They never play by the same rules they force on everyone else. Disgraceful,” Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., declared in response to the old Biden post. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, posted, “This aged like fine milk.” Biden’s May message that “no one is above the law” came as his son was preparing for his first criminal trial in Delaware, where he was accused of illegally purchasing a firearm. He was also facing another trial regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes.  LAWMAKERS HARSHLY CRITICIZE BIDEN’S DECISION TO PARDON HUNTER: ‘LIAR’ Biden was found guilty on June 11 of lying about his drug use when purchasing a firearm in 2018. He was found guilty on three charges: making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. Hunter Biden had an extensive and well-documented history with addiction, which was best captured in his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things,” which walked readers through his spirals with crack cocaine use.  Hunter faced another trial regarding three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes in a California court in September. As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court, Hunter entered a surprise guilty plea.  Earlier this year, President Biden had publicly pledged at least twice that he would not pardon his son over the charges.  “Yes,” President Biden told ABC News when asked if he would rule out pardoning Hunter ahead of his guilty verdict in the gun case.  TRUMP ASKS ABOUT ‘J-6 HOSTAGES’ IN RESPONSE TO BIDEN’S PARDON OF HUNTER: ‘SUCH AN ABUSE’ Days later, following a jury finding Hunter guilty in the firearm case, the president again said he would not pardon his son.  “I am not going to do anything,” Biden said after Hunter was convicted. “I will abide by the jury’s decision.” While conservatives lambasted Biden for pardoning his son after vowing he would not take that step, some attorneys came to Biden’s defense over the pardon, including Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder.  Biden wrote in his statement announcing the pardon that the prosecution of his son was politically motivated. “It is clear that Hunter was treated differently,” Biden wrote in his statement.  “The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.” “For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” the president added.  Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report. 

US Capitol Police arrest House Democrat staff member after finding ammunition in bag

The U.S. Capitol Police arrested a member of a House Democrat’s staff Thursday morning after he allegedly tried to bring ammunition into the Cannon House Office Building. The office of Rep. Joe Morelle – who represents New York’s 25th Congressional District – told WROC that it is “fully committed to cooperating with the investigation.” “At approximately 8:45 a.m., a House staffer entered the Cannon House Office Building and put his bag through screening. USCP officers noticed what appeared to be ammunition on the x-ray screen,” Capitol Police told Fox News in a statement.  “After a hand search of the bag, officers found four ammunition magazines and eleven rounds of ammunition. The staffer told the officers that he forgot the ammunition was in the bag,” the statement continued. FORMER LAWMAKER CALLS FOR COMPLETE ‘REBRAND’ OF ‘TOXIC’ DEMOCRATIC PARTY  Capitol Police say Michael Hopkins, 38, is now facing charges for unlawful possession of ammunition, including one charge for possession of a high-capacity magazine. Morelle’s office said Monday morning that it was gathering more information about the arrest. DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER CALLS ON PROGRESSIVES TO STOP LEAVING X  “As Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration, Congressman Morelle is devoted to ensuring a safe and secure workplace for all,” their statement added. Morelle’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital. Morelle’s district includes the city of Rochester.