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Hunter Biden legal saga is ‘real war’ that ‘preoccupied’ outgoing president, new Woodward book claims

President Joe Biden’s decision to exit the presidential race in July was motivated in no small part by the high-profile struggles that plagued his son, Hunter Biden, in the final years of his first term — leaving him with a “crushing” sense of guilt that those close to the outgoing president say plagued him more than the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. In his new book, “War,” famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward offers readers an intimate look inside both the Trump and Biden presidencies at some of their most vulnerable moments; offering a rare, split-screen view into the thinking of two very different leaders as they stared down some of the biggest foreign policy challenges and security risks in modern memory. Fox News obtained an early copy of the book ahead of its release next week. Woodward’s book captures the more intimate moments of both presidencies, as well. For Biden, this includes the aftermath of his disastrous performance at the first presidential debate in June — watched by an estimated 51 million people — and the torrent of pressure it unleashed within the Democratic Party for Biden to exit the race. Among party leaders and donors, it crystallized long-held fears that Biden, 81, was no longer fit to hold his own in a second match-up against Donald Trump. Their panic was matched only by their sense of urgency and the ticking clock they had to select a suitable nominee. BIDEN WON’T PARDON HUNTER, WHITE HOUSE REAFFIRMS, BUT CRITICS AREN’T SO SURE As Woodward reports, Biden struggled mightily to accept that consensus — first, by attempting to brush off his catastrophic performance as a bad night and an event he could recover from in the months ahead. The tsunami of pressure on him to drop out only got stronger. In fact, according to Woodward, Biden was leaning in the direction of staying in the race on July 4, when he met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a private lunch. Blinken, who had shown up to the lunch prepared for a difficult conversation, told Woodward that Biden still believed he could win a second term as president — a title he had chased all his life and finally achieved. In his telling, among the factors ultimately driving his decision to bow out was the scrutiny and legal troubles surrounding his son Hunter. The toll his son’s troubles had taken was apparent when the two met, Woodward reports. Blinken, in his telling, spoke frankly to Biden about dropping out. “I don’t want to see your legacy jeopardized,” he said. ’60 MINUTES’ DEFENDS HANDLING OF HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP COVERAGE AS IT HITS TRUMP FOR SKIPPING INTERVIEW Sensing little headway, Blinken then tried a different approach. “Do you really want to be doing this for the next four years?” he asked. Biden’s first term included overseeing the U.S. recovery from a global pandemic, the first war on European soil since World War II, and the start of Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon. Each day was charged with turmoil and lasting consequence. And yet, those close to Biden say it was his younger son, Hunter Biden, whose struggles seemed to weigh most heavily on the president. Hunter’s troubles are described in the book as Biden’s “real war”: a constant source of preoccupation for the president, who was constantly fighting against his fatherly instincts to protect his son, his “beautiful boy,” as he called him — and to reconcile the deep sense of guilt he felt, in knowing his presidency had been a driving factor behind much of the scrutiny surrounding his son. POLITICAL STORM: ON TRUMP ‘ONSLAUGHT OF LIES,’ BIDEN URGES FORMER PRESIDENT TO ‘GET A LIFE, MAN’ For Biden, this knowledge left him “heartbroken” and affected him more than the major crises playing out abroad in Europe and the Middle East, sources told Woodward. These things took the president “off an even keel,” preoccupied him and taken “a lot out of him” in recent years. In describing the president’s inner turmoil to Woodward, Blinken himself teared up, thinking of his own relationships with two young children. Biden, Blinken explained, “desperately” wanted to pull Hunter “out of the abyss” — to reel him in, to protect him — but his attempts and best efforts had failed. The book does not detail the extent to which Hunter’s legal woes and investigations were directly involved in the president’s decision to step down, which was likely the result of myriad factors, internal party pressures, and deeply personal considerations. The White House did not respond to Fox News’s request for comment on the matter. The book offers an unflinching look at one of the president’s most emotionally difficult struggles, one which staying in the race would have ultimately exacerbated. “War” will be out on bookstore shelves October 15. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Noida Police announce traffic diversions for Dussehra celebrations: Check key routes to avoid

Noida Traffic Police have implemented diversions around Noida Stadium during Dussehra to manage increased traffic flow for Ramlila, Ravan Dahan, and idol immersion events.

Lead counsel hits new Dem effort to ‘delegitimize’ Supreme Court amid senator’s report on Kavanaugh probe

A new report led by Judiciary committee member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is “nonsense” and “the continuation of the Democrats’ lawfare against Justice Brett Kavanaugh,” according to the chief counsel on nominations for Republicans at the time. “We followed the normal procedures for a Supreme Court nominee to do his background investigation,” said Mike Davis, the former chief counsel for nominations to former Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. “And the Senate does its own investigation.” Davis is also founder and president of the Article III Project. ‘OUT OF MONEY’: WHISTLEBLOWERS ALLEGE LACK OF SECRET SERVICE FUNDS, DELAYED PAYMENTS, TOP SENATOR REVEALS Whitehouse is among a number of other Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, including Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who have made significant efforts to investigate the personal relationships of Supreme Court justices, namely Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, as well as call on them to recuse from high-profile cases. Critics have claimed the inquiries and demands made by the senators are in an effort to undermine the conservative justices and the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. Whitehouse released a 32-page report on Tuesday, revealing their conclusions from a six-year investigation into the FBI’s probe of Kavanaugh when he was a Supreme Court justice nominee. According to the report, Judiciary Committee Democrat members Whitehouse, now-Chairman Durbin, and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and then-Sens. Patrick Leahy and Kamala Harris sought information on the FBI investigation following Kavanaugh’s ultimate confirmation. In a statement, Whitehouse said, “In 2018, I pledged to Christine Blasey Ford that I’d keep digging, for however long it took, and not give up or move on from Senate Republicans and the Trump White House’s shameful confirmation process for Justice Kavanaugh. A full, proper investigation is the bare minimum that victims who come forward – like Dr. Ford and Deborah Ramirez – deserve. This report shows that the supplemental background investigation was a sham, controlled by the Trump White House, to give political cover to Senate Republicans and put Justice Kavanaugh back on the political track to confirmation.” FOR WISCONSIN DEMS, A 2024 WIN IN THE BATTLEGROUND STATE IS YEARS IN THE MAKING “The lack of FBI investigative standards helped the Trump White House thwart meaningful investigation of the allegations against Kavanaugh, denying Senators information needed to fulfill their constitutional duties. The FBI must create real protocols so Senators and the American people get real answers – not manufactured misdirection – the next time serious questions about a nominee emerge late in the confirmation process.” The report alleged that the FBI’s routine screening of the nominee on behalf of then-President Donald Trump was “flawed and incomplete,” the White House prevented “the FBI from interviewing relevant witnesses and following up on tips,” and that the administration “refused to authorize basic investigatory steps that might have uncovered information corroborating the allegations.” The Democrats noted in the document that Trump had told reporters at the time that the FBI was “all over” the probe of Kavanaugh, adding, “They have been all over it already. They have free rein to do whatever they have to do.” Davis told Fox News Digital in an interview, “It’s just a silly premise that these senators think that the FBI was going to solve crimes in this particular nomination. That’s not their role here.” He also noted that the provision of the report to the Senate for their review was a courtesy that began with President Clinton. “The Senate is not supposed to just rely on the FBI. The FBI does not work for the Senate. The FBI works for the president,” he said. “They’re trying to figure out whether the nominee has the character and fitness to serve,” he emphasized. Davis also recalled that the investigation into Kavanaugh was re-opened on the request of a few Republican senators and additional witnesses were interviewed. Those Republicans were apparently satisfied with the additional interviews and voted to confirm. SEE IT: WISCONSIN DAIRY FARMER SAYS ‘NO QUESTION’ TRUMP ADMIN WAS ‘MUCH BETTER’ THAN BIDEN-HARRIS Davis claimed that Democrats in the Senate “refused to cooperate” during Kavanaugh’s confirmation procedure. “We had witnesses come in for live testimony, including Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh,” he pointed out. “They came in for live testimony. And the Senate Democrats are saying that the FBI didn’t investigate all the tips that came in.” “There were thousands and thousands and thousands of tips that came in. Those tips were printed. Every one of those tips was printed, and it was delivered to the Senate for every senator to review,” he explained. Not only could every senator access all the tips, Davis claimed, but they could have also asked for an investigation or “done the investigation themselves with their own staff.” Additionally, he remarked that “almost every one of those tips were utter garbage.” “An alien crash-landed in my house and said that Brett Kavanaugh sexually abused me,” he joked about the described nonsensical tips. The report is “a pathetic attempt by Sheldon Whitehouse to try to intimidate and cowl the Supreme Court justices before they may have to decide on crucial election cases, with the election coming up,” Davis said. “Maybe Senator Sheldon Whitehouse had one too many Mai Tais at his all-White beach club when he concocted this latest conspiracy theory,” he added. A spokesperson for Grassley, who was Judiciary chairman at the time, said in a statement, “This report doesn’t offer any legitimate, substantive new ground. It’s important to remember, it comes from the same office that strongly pressed claims by a man who alleged he saw Justice Kavanaugh attack a woman on a boat. When committee investigators looked into the matter, the man admitted he lied and was subsequently subject to criminal referral for false statements and obstruction of Congress.” “It’s also important to note the FBI’s confidential investigation not only failed to corroborate any of the allegations against Justice Kavanaugh, including Ms. Ford’s, it undermined them. Senator Whitehouse might recall saying he, himself, was ‘satisfied’ with the FBI’s investigation – all these

Trump, Harris locked in dead heat in 7 battleground states, poll finds: ‘Could not be closer’

A new Wall Street Journal poll has found little separation between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in seven battleground states, prompting a Democratic pollster to say that the 2024 election “really could not be closer.” The survey of 600 registered voters in each of the states, which was conducted from Sept. 28 to Oct. 8 with a margin of error of +/- four percentage points, found that in a head-to-head contest, Trump and Harris are tied in North Carolina and Wisconsin. Harris leads Trump 48-46% in Arizona and Georgia, and 49-47% in Michigan, according to the poll. In Nevada, Trump has his biggest swing state lead of 49-43%, while he leads Harris in Pennsylvania 47-46%, the poll also found. “It really could not be closer,” Democrat Michael Bocian, one of the pollsters who worked on the survey, told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s an even-steven, tight, tight race.” DEMOCRAT STRATEGISTS FRET HARRIS ‘SUGAR HIGH’ IS OVER Overall, Trump leads Harris 46-45%, with 93% of Democrats and Republicans across the seven states indicating their support for their parties’ respective candidates. As for independent voters, 40% said they would vote for Harris, compared to 39% for Trump. On the issues, voters say they trusted Trump more to handle the economy, inflation and immigration and border security. They preferred Harris when it comes to housing affordability, abortion, healthcare and having someone in the Oval Office who cares about you. The poll found that 47% of voters believe Trump will stand up better for the American worker, compared to 45% for Harris, and that nearly two-thirds believe the national economy is poor or not so good. POLL SHOWS HARRIS TAKING A SLIM LEAD OVER TRUMP THANKS TO SUPPORT FROM A SURPRISING GROUP “This thing is a dead heat and is going to come down to the wire. These last three weeks matter,” Republican pollster David Lee told The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper cited Lee as saying that around this time in 2020, Biden had polling average leads of more than 5 points over Trump in each of the industrial northern swing states, compared to the narrower margins Harris is facing right now. However, Bocian says that Trump had a “clear advantage” over Biden in March – the last time The Wall Street Journal polled the swing states – during a period where third-party candidates were having a “massive impact” on the numbers. “Now the third-party support has evaporated almost completely, and the race is tied in all the states,” he said.

Harris makes pitch to Latino voters at Univision town hall: Top 5 moments

Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday took questions from Latino voters at a town hall in Nevada, where she was pressed for specifics on her proposals on immigration, the economy and more. Harris faced about a dozen questions during the roughly hour-long event hosted by Univision, where she sought to win over this key demographic group with just 26 days to go before Election Day. The Democratic nominee pointed to her record as vice president and swung ferociously at her opponent, Republican former President Donald Trump, but she was light on specifics on her plans for the country. Here are the highlights: VOTERS IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES GIVE TRUMP AN EDGE OVER HARRIS ON THIS TOP TIER ISSUE: POLL In the first question of the night, a voter from Tampa asked Harris about rumors that the Biden-Harris administration did not do enough to respond to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Former President Trump, the Republican nominee, has fanned those rumors, claiming at a recent rally that President Biden’s response to the storms was “the worst hurricane response since Katrina,” invoking the heavily criticized federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Harris defended the Biden administration, accusing critics of “playing political games” and insisting claims the response was inadequate are “just not accurate.” She said she has been working with people on the ground in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and other southeastern states to get Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) resources to people in need. “Another piece of work that I’ve been doing, it’s based on my years of being an attorney general in California, is telling those corporations and those companies that during crisis and emergencies jack up prices,” Harris said. “I’ve seen it happen before, that we’re watching them and at a moment of desperation for these individuals and families, whether it be to be able to get temporary shelter at a hotel for gas prices, for even airline tickets, that we’ll be watching if they’re jacking up prices to make sure they’ll be serious consequence. And that’s the kind of work I will do going forward.” TRUMP CHARGES HURRICANE RESPONSE ‘WORST SINCE KATRINA’ AS BIDEN ARGUES TRUMP ‘ONSLAUGHT OF LIES’ MUST ‘STOP’ Voters pressed Harris for specifics on her plans for immigration and how her policies would differ from President Biden’s. In her answer, Harris pointed to her recent trip to visit the border in Arizona and her law enforcement career as a prosecutor and California attorney general to show she’s serious about border security. “I will put my record up against anyone in terms of the work I’ve always done, and it will always be to ensure we have a secure border,” she said. Harris also criticized Trump for leading Republican opposition to a bipartisan border security deal that was endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council in February. She claimed the bill would have sent 1,500 additional Border Patrol agents to the border and provide law enforcement resources to combat fentanyl trafficking. Republicans say the border bill provided too many benefits to illegal immigrants, like work permits and taxpayer-funded attorneys, and would have funded sanctuary city jurisdictions that do not cooperate with immigration enforcement. Harris said there is a “false choice” between a secure border and humane immigration policy. But she did not explain how her policies would be different from Biden, who also supported the border bill. DEM STRATEGISTS FRET HARRIS ‘SUGAR HIGH’ IS OVER: ‘IF YOU’RE NOT NERVOUS, YOU’RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION’ An emotional moment came when a Las Vegas woman, Ivett Castillo, told Harris that she recently lost her mother before she could get her immigration status legalized. “She was never able to get the type of care and service that she needed or deserved,” Castillo said, holding back tears. She asked how Harris would help illegal immigrants who “have to live and die in the shadows.” Another voter, Francisco Medina of San Diego, California, told the vice president that despite his insurance coverage through the Defense Department, he had to cross the border into Mexico to receive treatment. He asked how she would improve the medical system. “I firmly and deeply believe that healthcare is a right, and should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it or have access to it easily,” Harris said. She pointed to the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and cap prescription drug prices as a starting point for what she’d do as president. “The work we have done has been about capping the cost of prescription medication for seniors at $2,000,” she said. “My intention as president of the United States is to make that available for not just seniors, but for everyone.” At one point during the town hall, a self-described independent voter said he was leaning towards voting for Trump because Harris did not win the Democratic nomination through the normal primary process. “I’m a little confused,” said Mario Sigbaum, of Santa Monica, California. “Being a candidate without going through the normal process – that is primary elections or through a caucus – that really caught my attention.” He demanded an explanation for how Biden was “completely destituted.” Harris thanked him for being “candid.” She called Biden’s decision to withdraw from the election amid mounting pressure from the Democratic Party “one of the most courageous a president could make” and said he “put country above his personal interest.” “He made that decision, he… within that same period of time supported my candidacy and urged me to run,” Harris said. “He and I have been partners for the last four years as his vice president to him as the president. And I am honored to have earned the Democratic nomination.” She went on to say there is a “huge contrast” in this election and asserted Trump would be a “dictator on day one,” calling the situation “unprecedented” with “support for democracy” on the ballot. In the closing moments of the town hall, one voter asked

Noida news: New plan to make DND and Film City Road jam-free, more than 1.5 lakh vehicles to get relief

To ease traffic, Noida Authority’s traffic cell General Manager SP Singh stated that during peak evening hours, traffic jams on the DND can stretch up to 2-3 kilometers due to the narrow loop towards Greater Noida.

‘Inviolability must be respected by all’: India voices concern after Israeli strike on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs also said New Delhi continues to monitor the situation closely. “We are concerned at the deteriorating security situation along the Blue Line. We continue to monitor the situation closely,” the MEA said.

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