‘Incomplete’ Hunter Biden report, protection of ‘Biden Crime Family’ shredded by Comer, IRS whistleblowers
House Oversight Chairman James Comer ripped Special Counsel David Weiss’ final report on his years-long investigation into Hunter Biden as “incomplete” due to President Biden’s sweeping pardon of his son. “Special Counsel David Weiss just released an incomplete 27-page report because President Joe Biden issued his son an unprecedented pardon. This sweeping pardon prevents the Special Counsel from holding Hunter Biden accountable for the international influence peddling racket only made possible by Joe Biden,” Rep. Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement Monday evening following the release of Weiss’ final report. “Let’s be clear: the Biden DOJ was never going to prosecute the Biden Crime Family. The House Oversight Committee’s investigation of the Bidens’ influence peddling schemes revealed how Joe Biden knew about, participated in, and benefited from his family cashing in on the Biden name,” Comer continued. The Department of Justice released Weiss’ report to Congress on Monday evening, which detailed his roughly six-year investigation into first son Hunter Biden’s taxes and purchase of a firearm in 2018 while he was addicted to controlled substances – namely, crack cocaine. WEISS REPORT: HUNTER’S DRUG USE CAN’T EXPLAIN AWAY NOT PAYING TAXES ON MONEY EARNED BY ‘LAST NAME’ Hunter Biden was convicted in both cases last year, with a jury of his peers finding him guilty of three felony firearm offenses, and entering a surprise guilty plea regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes across a four-year period. DOJ RELEASES SPECIAL COUNSEL DAVID WEISS’ REPORT ON HUNTER BIDEN Amid the legal saga, President Biden repeatedly vowed he would not pardon his son, but reversed course last month when he announced he would grant his son a blanket pardon that applies to any offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024. Comer continued in his blistering response to the report by citing two IRS whistleblowers who sounded the alarm on Hunter Biden’s tax issues and said they were handcuffed from “following evidence that could have led to Joe Biden.” HUNTER BIDEN: A LOOK AT HOW THE SAGA SPANNING OVER SIX YEARS UNFOLDED “Two brave whistleblowers, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, blew the whistle on DOJ’s misconduct and politicization in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation and revealed they were prevented from following evidence that could have led to Joe Biden. Joe Biden will be remembered for using his last few weeks in office to shield his son from the law and protect himself. The president’s legacy is the same as his family’s business dealings: corrupt,” Comer continued. The two whistleblowers, who previously slammed Biden for pardoning his son last month, also took issue with the Weiss report and again blasted Biden for the pardon. BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE “The Weiss report leaves too many questions unanswered, and the American people deserve answers. DOJ, FBI, and IRS leadership should have done the right thing from the beginning. We should not have had to risk our careers to end the preferential treatment being given to the President’s son. Years later, we are still facing whistleblower retaliation,” Shapley and Ziegler wrote in a message shared by Empower Oversight, the legal group representing the whistleblowers. “Why are we the only ones suffering any consequences? It’s time for a serious investigation and it’s time for accountability,” they concluded. BIDEN WON’T PARDON HUNTER, WHITE HOUSE REAFFIRMS, BUT CRITICS AREN’T SO SURE Weiss’ report also took issue with the president’s pardoning of Hunter Biden, specifically with how President Biden characterized prosecutions of Hunter Biden as “selective” and “unfair.” “This statement is gratuitous and wrong,” Weiss wrote in his report. “Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations.” HUNTER BIDEN FOUND GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS IN GUN TRIAL “Politicians who attack the decisions of career prosecutors as politically motivated when they disagree with the outcome of a case undermine the public’s confidence in our criminal justice system,” Weiss wrote in another section of the report. “The President’s statements unfairly impugn the integrity not only of Department of Justice personnel, but all of the public servants making these difficult decisions in good faith.” Weiss’ report also determined that the first son’s previous and well-documented addiction to substances such as crack cocaine could not explain why he failed to pay taxes on millions of dollars of income earned off of his “last name and connections.” “As a well-educated lawyer and businessman, Mr. Biden consciously and willfully chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over a four-year period. From 2016 to 2020, Mr. Biden received more than $7 million in total gross income, including approximately $1.5 million in 2016, $2.3 million in 2017, $2.1 million in 2018, $1 million in 2019 and $188,000 from January through October 15, 2020,” Weiss wrote in his final report, which was released Monday. DOJ RELEASEES FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S REPORT ON INVESTIGATION INTO TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE “Mr. Biden made this money by using his last name and connections to secure lucrative business opportunities, such as a board seat at a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate, Burisma Holdings Limited, and a joint venture with individuals associated with a Chinese energy conglomerate. He negotiated and executed contracts and agreements that paid him millions of dollars for limited work,” Weiss continued. Weiss continued in his report that Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” and that he “willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes.” TRUMP CALLS JACK SMITH ‘DESPERATE’ AFTER SPECIAL COUNSEL REPORT IS RELEASED AFTER MIDNIGHT “These are not ‘inconsequential’ or ‘technical’ tax code violations,” Weiss wrote. “Nor can Mr. Biden’s conduct be explained away by his drug use –
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‘Enough is enough’: New report warns top US companies at risk of hefty fines from possible China sanctions
A nonprofit organization with the goal of “preserving freedom and bringing ideological balance back to public corporations” released a database outlining a list of Fortune 100 companies that are financially dependent on China and could lose large sums of money if sanctions were ever put in place. “In this current political climate, there are discussions of the imposition of severe trade tariffs on Chinese goods,” 1792 Exchange explained in a new report released this week. “In addition to tariffs, American sanctions may be placed on American companies doing business in China. For example, if China invades Taiwan, it may result in sanctions like the ones imposed on Russia after the Ukraine invasion. If imposed, our assessment is that American businesses, and investors, could lose a substantial amount of funds. “This raises a number of serious questions that beg for clear answers. What would the financial impact to these companies be if the U.S. imposes sanctions or tariffs that put both assets and revenue streams at risk? What compromises are being exacted by the CCP in order for these companies to invest in China and do business there? How do those conditions influence their U.S. policies and operations? How do companies reconcile potential moral incongruence when their public policy stance in China is at odds with their U.S.-based behavior?” The report highlights over 80 companies that currently operate in China and estimates the amount of sanctions they could potentially face in the future, which was calculated “based on balance sheet data, trade data, and sanctions calculation.” ONE STATE’S NATURAL RESOURCES CAN FINALLY PUT AN END TO AMERICA’S RELIANCE ON CHINA Dozens of companies are included in the report, including Citigroup, Intel, Boeing, Disney, Nike and John Deere. While many of the companies listed have not fully disclosed the full scope of their China business dealings, some have and in those cases, 1792 Exchange estimated the potential financial liability those companies face from potential sanctions in China during the upcoming Trump administration. OPENAI REVEALS AI POLICY PROPOSALS TO BEST CHINA, PROTECT KIDS: ‘THIS IS A RACE AMERICA CAN AND MUST WIN’ In Boeing’s case, the report states that the company earns just under $5 billion annually from China and could face $1 billion in sanctions over a three-year period on average. Intel, according to the report, earns $18 billion per year from China, which represents 26.54% of its total annual revenue. Sanctions in China could mean $5 billion in penalties for Intel over a three-year period on average, the report concludes. Citigroup is listed in the database as potentially facing $16 billion per year in sanctions on average from its almost $5 billion per year revenue in China. Fox News Digital spoke to Daniel Cameron, former Kentucky Republican attorney general and 1792 Exchange CEO, about the report, and he said he hopes people take away from the data the “staggering amount of money our Fortune 100 companies could lose in the event of sanctions imposed on China.” Cameron told Fox News Digital he is optimistic that the incoming Trump administration will implement policies that drive American independence from China. “My hope is that we’re able to bring a lot of jobs back to this country and more businesses and then make a judgment, a decision to park their operations within the United States,” Cameron said. “That’s good for the American worker and I think particularly through some of the information that we’ve been able to share as it relates to this China risk database, I’m hopeful that again, yes, optimistic that President Trump is going to do right by the United States. He’s going to do right by the American worker and consumer and I’m hopeful that the information that we’ve provided will help the administration, but it will also help CEOs and board leadership and investors be wise about their relationship with China.” Overall, the companies listed in the report generate over $600 billion in revenue from China on average and would face sanctions totaling over $150 billion on average. “Far too many of America’s largest corporations are shielding from the public their involvement with an oppressive communist regime. This failure to provide any corporate transparency is a glaring threat to America’s future,” Cameron said about the data in the report. “Enough is enough. American workers, consumers, and investors should be aware of where these major liabilities lie.”
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‘Waste less, save more’: DOGE caucus member rolls out expansive bill package ahead of Trump inauguration
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., is rolling out several new bills to help forward the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) mission once President-elect Donald Trump enters office. The senator’s six bills would target telework for federal employees, require agency guidances to clarify they are not laws and mandate early notice ahead of new major policy proposals from federal agencies, among other measures. MEET LEADER JOHN THUNE’S ALL-STAR CABINET AS REPUBLICANS TAKE OVER SENATE MAJORITY “The American people gave Washington a mandate in November—waste less, save more. Today I’m introducing a first set of bills to follow through on their mandate by prioritizing streamlined regulations, rule-making, and record keeping. It’s time to put government waste in the doghouse and let DOGE get to work,” Lankford said in a statement to Fox News Digital. DOGE was previously announced by Trump, who tapped billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new advisory board looking to cut government waste. SCHUMER DIRECTS DEMS TO PUT PRESSURE ON TRUMP NOMINEES AHEAD OF CONFIRMATION HEARINGS Several of Lankford’s DOGE bills focus on federal agencies and their perceived shortcomings. The “Improving Federal Financial Management Act” would address agencies’ performances and evaluate how they stack up when weighed against their financial metrics. The “TRUE Accountability Act” would charge agencies with coming up with plans to operate internally if there is ever a crisis. SENATE GOP TEES UP CONFIRMATION HEARING BLITZ IN EFFORT TO MEET AMBITIOUS TRUMP TARGETS Additionally, Lankford is including the “ACCESS Act,” which would prohibit minimum education requirements when it comes to government contractor personnel during certain federal contract discussions. The Oklahoma Republican’s slew of bills are just the latest from senators in the GOP eager to get involved with DOGE. TULSI GABBARD CHANGES TUNE ON CONTROVERSIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOL FOLLOWING GOP LOBBYING The Senate DOGE caucus is being led by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who has been a vocal critic of federal agencies and their telework policies in particular. Republicans have sought to introduce many bills ahead of Trump’s inauguration with the hope of getting the process started, so that certain policies can be put in motion shortly after he takes office.
Biden DHS exempted thousands of immigrants from terror-related entry restrictions in FY 2024
EXCLUSIVE: The Biden administration gave nearly 7,000 exemptions, mostly to refugees, for foreign nationals who otherwise could be ineligible for admission into the U.S. due to terrorism-related entry restrictions — a significantly higher number than in recent years. Fox News Digital reviewed a draft of the agency’s FY 2024 report to Congress on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary’s application of his power to exempt foreign nationals from terrorism-related inadmissibility grounds (TRIG). Foreign nationals who seek entry to the U.S. can be deemed inadmissible from entry and for immigration benefits if they have associated with, supported or worked with terrorist organizations. However, the DHS secretary can exempt certain foreign nationals from that inadmissibility, including if they have provided support under duress, if they have provided medical care, and they meet other standards for exemptions. SENATORS SOUND ALARM ON TERROR-RELATED EXEMPTIONS TO US ENTRY FOR AFGHANS, WARN OF ‘OPEN-ENDED AUTHORITY According to the draft report, there were 6,848 TRIG exemptions in FY 2024. The majority (6,653) were for refugees, but the report does not break down the number by country. The Biden administration has significantly increased the refugee cap to 125,000, up substantially from the 18,000 set in the last year of the Trump administration. The 6,848 number is significantly higher than the 2,085 waivers issued in FY 2023, which in turn was higher than previous years. There were 603 waivers distributed in FY 2022, 191 in FY 2021 and 361 in FY 2020, according to DHS reports. In 2022, DHS announced an exemption for Afghan evacuees who worked as civil servants or individuals who provided “insignificant or certain limited material support” to a designated terror group. DHS said that could apply to many occupations, including teachers, doctors and engineers, and those who used their position to mitigate Taliban repression. That exemption came amid a mass evacuation effort of nationals from Afghanistan as the Taliban took control of the country in 2021. The FY24 report said that 29 waivers were provided for Afghan allies who supported U.S. interests in Afghanistan, and 374 were for civil servants. Meanwhile, 3,134 were for those who provided certain limited support or insignificant material support to a Tier I or Tier II terror organization, under the 2022 exemption announced by DHS. Most of the remaining exemptions (2,946) were given under a 2007 exercise of authority for support given under duress. DHS ANNOUNCES TERROR BAR EXEMPTIONS FOR AFGHAN EVACUAEES WHO WORKED FOR TALIBAN-ERA CIVIL SERVICE Of those who received exemptions who are not refugees, 155 were for asylum applicants, 22 were for green card holders and four were applicants for Temporary Protected Status, The increase in TRIG exemptions comes ahead of a Trump administration that is expected to significantly reduce refugee admissions, while also increasing deportations of illegal immigrants and increasing security at the southern border. Republicans and former Trump administration officials have frequently criticized the Biden administration for its expansion of immigration pathways and release of migrants into the interior, in part over concerns about the potential risk of terrorism. “Joe Biden and his administration have viciously targeted parents at school board meetings, pro-life Americans, Catholics, and Trump supporters—designating some as ‘domestic terrorists’—instead of catching actual terrorists and keeping them out of the country.” Michael Bars, a former Trump DHS deputy assistant secretary and White House senior communications adviser, told Fox News Digital. “In fact they’ve been helping potential threats move in, waiving national security safeguards to admit individuals who’ve provided varying degrees of material support to Islamic terrorist organizations in extraordinary numbers. “Islamic terrorism is not ‘homegrown’—it’s been imported to the U.S. through our broken immigration system and open border. The Biden administration has not only failed its duty to address this rising threat, but precipitated it,” he said. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE DHS did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital, but the report stresses that all applicants are subject to a thorough and “rigorous” security vetting process. “All applicants considered for exemptions were subject to a thorough and rigorous security vetting process,” the report says. “[U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] procedures require that the biographic and biometric data of all applicants be screened against a broad array of law enforcement and intelligence community databases that contain information about individuals known to be security threats, including the terrorist watchlist. In addition to rigorous background vetting, the Secretary’s discretionary authority is applied only on a case-by case basis after careful review of all factors and after all security checks have cleared.” “These exemptions will allow eligible individuals who pose no national security or public safety risk to receive asylum, refugee status, or other legal immigration status, demonstrating the United States’ continued commitment to our Afghan allies and their family members,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in 2022. The Biden administration has also previously noted prior usage of TRIG exemptions, including in 2019, to apply to those involved in the Lebanese civil war between 1975 and 1990. The USCIS website also says that the definition of terrorism-related activity “is relatively broad and may apply to individuals and activities not commonly thought to be associated with terrorism.” The use of TRIG exemptions has proven controversial with Republicans. In August 2022, a coalition of senators sounded the alarm on the 2022 exemptions, saying the exemption of those providing insignificant or limited support could permit was written in a way that isn’t limited to Afghans alone. “Indeed, it is not limited to certain conflicts, terrorist organizations, geographic regions, or time periods at all,” they said.
Most Americans rate Biden as ‘failed’ or ‘fair’ president: new poll
With less than a week left until President Biden’s tenure in the White House sunsets, a new national poll indicates many Americans do not think history will be kind to him. According to a USA Today/Suffolk University survey released on Tuesday, 44% of voters nationwide say history will assess Biden as a failed president, with another 27% saying he will be judged as a fair president. Twenty-one percent of those questioned said history will view Biden as a good president, with only 5% saying he will be seen as a great president. The president’s single term in the White House ends next Monday, Jan. 20, as President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated as Biden’s successor. A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS SAY THIS IS HOW THEY’LL VIEW BIDEN’S PRESIDENCY However, according to the poll, 44% also say that Trump will be seen by history as a failed president. One in five say that Trump, who begins his second term next week, will be viewed as a great president, with 19% saying good and 27% saying he would be judged a fair president. Trump ended his first term in office with approval ratings in negative territory, including 47% approval in Fox News polling from four years ago. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING RESULTS However, opinions about Trump’s first term have risen in polling conducted since his convincing victory in November’s presidential election over Vice President Kamala Harris. The vice president succeeded Biden in July as the Democrats’ 2024 standard-bearer after the president dropped out of the race following a disastrous debate performance against Trump. According to the USA Today/Suffolk poll, 52% of those surveyed say they approve of the job Trump did during his first term in office, with 45% giving him a thumbs down. Suffolk University Political Research Center director David Paleologos noted that the change over the past four years was particularly significant among independent voters. “Donald Trump essentially wiped out his overwhelming negative personal popularity between December 2020 and today among independents,” Paleologos said. “Trump went from a whopping minus 22 (35% favorable ‒ 57% unfavorable) to a negligible minus 5 (42% favorable ‒ 47% unfavorable)” among the group that typically swings elections. WHERE BIDEN STANDS IN THE MOST RECENT FOX NEWS NATIONAL SURVEY Looking ahead, 31% said they were excited Trump was returning to the White House, with 18% saying they were satisfied. However, 12% said they were depressed and 31% are afraid of a second Trump presidency. According to the poll, 43% say they approve of the job Biden’s done as president as he leaves office, with 54% disapproving. Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House. However, the president’s numbers started sagging in August 2021 in the wake of Biden’s much-criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan and following a surge in COVID-19 cases that summer, mainly among unvaccinated people. The plunge in the president’s approval was also fueled by soaring inflation – which started spiking in the summer of 2021 and remains to date a major pocketbook concern with Americans – and the surge of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. along the southern border with Mexico. Biden’s approval ratings slipped underwater in the autumn of 2021 and never reemerged into positive territory. According to the USA Today/Suffolk University poll, nearly a quarter of respondents were undecided when asked to name Biden’s biggest achievement as president. Nineteen percent said investing in infrastructure. Ten percent said fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, which was the top health and economic concern among Americans when Biden took office four years ago. As for his biggest failure as president, just over three in ten pointed to Biden’s handing of immigration, with 20% offering the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021. The poll questioned 1,000 registered voters nationwide by phone. It was conducted Jan. 7-1, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Trump calls Jack Smith ‘desperate’ after special counsel report is released after midnight
President-elect Trump took one more dig at Jack Smith after the Justice Department released the former special counsel’s report early Tuesday. Attorney General Merrick Garland released the first volume, which focuses on the election case against Trump, of Smith’s report on Tuesday at midnight after back-and-forth in the federal court system. The report was released at midnight because that was when the original hold on Volume One expired. Nevertheless, the timing provoked a heated response from Trump. “To show you how desperate Deranged Jack Smith is, he released his Fake findings at 1:00 A.M. in the morning. Did he say that the Unselect Committee illegally destroyed and deleted all of the evidence,” Trump posted on Truth Social. In another post, Trump dismissed Smith’s report, claiming it was based on information gathered by the House Jan. 6 select committee, which was formed in July 2021 to investigate the breach of the U.S. Capitol earlier that year by Trump supporters who rioted ahead of President Biden taking office on Jan. 20. The Jan. 6 committee’s investigation was carried out when Democrats held control of the House and all of its members were appointed by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. DOJ RELEASEES FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S REPORT ON INVESTIGATION INTO TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE Trump also repeated his claim that Smith, who resigned last week, acted on orders from President Biden to prosecute the president’s political opponents. “Jack is a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election, which I won in a landslide,” Trump wrote. In a letter to Garland last week, Smith called it “laughable” that Trump believes the Biden administration, or other political actors, influenced or directed his decisions as a prosecutor, stating that he was guided by the Principles of Federal Prosecution. “Trump’s cases represented ones ‘in which the offense [was] the most flagrant, the public harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain,’” Smith said, referencing the principles. APPEALS COURT WILL NOT BLOCK PARTIAL RELEASE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S TRUMP REPORT In the lengthy report, Smith said his office fully stands behind the decision to bring criminal charges against Trump because he “resorted to a series of criminal efforts to retain power” after he lost the 2020 election. Smith said in his conclusion that the parties were determining whether any material in the “superseding indictment was subject to presidential immunity” when it became clear that Trump had won the 2024 election. The department then determined the case must be dismissed before he takes office because of how it interprets the Constitution. “The Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind,” the report stated. Garland appointed former Justice Department official Jack Smith as special counsel in November 2022. SPECIAL COUNSEL WEISS BLASTS BIDEN IN FINAL HUNTER PROSECUTION REPORT Smith, a former assistant U.S. attorney and chief to the DOJ’s public integrity section, led the investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving the White House and whether the former president obstructed the federal government’s investigation into the matter. Smith was also tasked with overseeing the investigation into whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021. Smith charged Trump in both cases, but Trump pleaded not guilty. The classified records case was dismissed in July 2024 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Smith charged Trump in the U.S. District Court for Washington D.C. in his 2020 election case, but after Trump was elected president, Smith sought to dismiss the case. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted that request.