Friday, February 7, 2020

Tucker Carlson: Criminals would be protected from deportation under bill AOC and other House Democrats back


At this moment there is a bill pending in Congress called the New Way Forward Act. It’s received almost no publicity, which is unfortunate as well as revealing.
The legislation is sponsored by 44 House Democrats, including Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. At roughly 4,400 words, it’s almost exactly as long as the U.S. Constitution.
Like the Constitution, this legislation is designed to create a whole new country. The bill would entirely remake our immigration system, with the explicit purpose of ensuring that criminals are able to move here, and settle here permanently, with impunity.
TUCKER CARLSON: TRUMP'S ACQUITTAL WAS AS PREDICTABLE AS 'TITANIC' - MAYBE NOW WE CAN HAVE OUR COUNTRY BACK
You may think we’re exaggerating for effect. We’re not – not even a little.
The New Way Forward act is the most radical single piece of legislation we’ve seen proposed in this country. It makes the Green New Deal look like the status quo.
A document produced by Democrats to promote the bill says: “Convictions … should not lead to deportation.”
Keep in mind, we’re not talking about convictions for double parking. The bill targets felony convictions – serious crimes that send you to prison for years. A press release from Rep., Jesus Garcia, D-Ill., is explicit about this.
Garcia brags that the bill will break the “prison to deportation pipeline.” How does the bill do that? Under current U.S. law, legal U.S. immigrants can be deported if they commit an “aggravated felony” or a “crime of moral turpitude” – that is, a vile, depraved act, like molesting a child. Under the New Way Forward Act, “crimes of moral turpitude” are eliminated entirely as a justification for deportation. And the category of “aggravated felony” gets circumscribed too.
What does that mean?
Consider this: Under current law, immigrants who commit serious crimes – such as robbery, fraud, or child sexual abuse – must be deported, regardless of the sentence they receive. Other crimes – less severe ones like racketeering – require deportation as long as the perpetrator receives at least a one-year sentence.
But if this bill passes the House and Senate and is signed into law by the president, there will no longer be any crimes that automatically require deportation. None.
And one crime – falsifying a passport – will be made immune from deportation, no matter what. Because apparently 9/11 never happened, and we no longer care about fake government documents.

More from Opinion

If you just renewed your driver’s license to comply with the Real ID Act, you must feel like an idiot. Under the proposed legislation, the minimum prison sentence for crimes that still require deportation would rise from one year to five.We checked the Bureau of Justice Statistics. According to federal data, crimes like car theft, fraud, and weapons offenses all carry average prison sentences of fewer than five years. And that’s just looking at averages. There are people who commit rape, child abuse and even manslaughter and receive sentences of fewer than five years. Lots of them.
If the New Way Forward Act becomes law, immigrants who commit those crimes and receive those sentences would remain in the country. They’ll all be eligible for citizenship one day, too.
But even that is understating the law’s effect. Even a five-year prison sentence won’t necessarily be enough to secure deportation. The bill would grant sweeping new powers to immigration judges, allowing them to nullify a deportation order.
The only requirement is that “the immigration judge finds such an exercise of discretion appropriate in pursuit of humanitarian purposes, to assure family unity, or when it is otherwise in the public interest.” In other words, anti-American immigration judges – and many of them are exactly that – would have a blank check to open the borders. No vote required.                                                                                                     
Sound shocking to you? We’re just getting started. Current U.S. law makes drug addiction grounds for deportation, because why wouldn’t it? This bill would eliminate that statute.
Current law also states that those who have committed drug crimes abroad, or any “crimes involving moral turpitude,” are ineligible to immigrate here. The New Way Forward Act abolishes that statute.
A Mexican drug cartel leader could be released from prison, then freely come to America immediately. And if he wants, he could come here illegally, and it wouldn’t be a crime – because, and you were waiting for this, the bill also decriminalizes illegal entry into America, even by those previously deported.
According to a document promoting the bill, criminalizing illegal entry into America is “white supremacist.”
By this point, you’re beginning to wonder if we’re making this up. We’re not. In fact, we’re barely halfway through the bill.
The legislation doesn’t just make it harder to deport legal immigrants who commit crimes. It doesn’t just make it easier for criminals to legally move here. The bill would also effectively abolish all existing enforcement against illegal immigration.
To detain illegal immigrants, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would have to prove in court that the illegal immigrants are dangerous or a flight risk. But of course, ICE wouldn’t be allowed to use a detainee’s prior criminal behavior as proof he or she is dangerous. That's banned.
ICE would have to overcome even more hurdles if the detainee claims to be gay or transgender, under 21, or can’t speak English and an interpreter isn’t immediately available.
In other words, it would be much harder to arrest an illegal alien than it is to arrest you. They’re the protected class here. You’re just some loser who’s paying for it all.
But believe it or not, we saved the nuttiest part for last. What could be more destructive than changing U.S. law, specifically to allow rapists, child molesters, and drug dealers to stay in America? How about this: Using taxpayer money to bring deported criminals back into America.
That’s right. This bill would not only abolish your right to control who lives in your own country, but it invents a new right in return: the “right to come home.”
The bill orders the government to create a “pathway for those previously deported to apply to return to their homes and families in the United States,” as long as they would have been eligible to stay under the new law.
The Department of Homeland Security must spend taxpayer dollars transporting convicted criminal illegal aliens into the United States. Who will be eligible for these free flights? Tens of thousands of people kicked out of this country for all kinds of crimes. Sexual abuse. Robbery. Assault. Drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, human trafficking.
From 2002 to 2018, 480,000 people were deported for illegal entry or reentry into America. And under this bill, you’d have to buy them all a plane ticket to come back. The tickets alone would cost about a billion dollars, and that’s before Democrats make you start paying for these criminals’ free health care, too. Which they plan to.
 CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR OPINION NEWSLETTER
The New Way Forward Act fundamentally inverts every assumption you have about America. Under this legislation, the criminals are the victims. Law enforcement is illegitimate. It’s racist, just like the country you live in, and the only solution is to get rid of both. America would be better off as a borderless rest area for the world’s worst predators and parasites.
This is a big deal. It’s hard to believe any American would put these ideas on paper, much less pass them into law. Yet, remarkably, the press has ignored it. Scores of Democrats have backed it, but the bill hasn’t been mentioned in The New York Times, or on CNN, or even in self-described conservative outlets like National Review.
If a lone Republican state legislator from Minot, N.D., had proposed a bill this extreme, that would remake America this completely, the president himself would be expected to answer for it.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
CNN would demand the president “disavow,” even if he knew nothing about it. But when one-fifth of the Democratic caucus backs a bill demanding that you pay to import illegal alien felons, it’s a non-event in American media. They don’t think you should know about it. That’s dangerous.
Whether the press cares or not, these are the stakes of the 2020 election. A growing wing of the Democratic Party views America as essentially illegitimate – a rogue state, in which everything must be destroyed and remade: our laws, our institutions, our freedoms, our history and our values. That’s the point of all this, of course. An entirely new country, in which resistance is crushed, and they’re in charge forever.
Adapted from Tucker Carlson’s monologue on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Feb. 6, 2020.

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Nancy Ripper Pelosi Cartoons





Philippine official defends US pact after Duterte threat


MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine foreign secretary warned Thursday that abrogating a security accord with Washington would undermine his country’s security and foster aggression in the disputed South China Sea.
The warning came after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened last month to give notice to the U.S. to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement, which allows American forces to train in the Philippines, if the reported cancellation of the visa of his political ally, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, was not corrected within a month.
“I’m warning you ... if you won’t do the correction on this, I will terminate the ... Visiting Forces Agreement. I’ll end that son of a bitch,” the brash-speaking Duterte said in a Jan. 23 speech.
Dela Rosa served as Duterte’s first national police chief and enforcer of the president’s deadly anti-drugs crackdown in 2016. Thousands of mostly poor suspects have been killed under the campaign, alarming the U.S. and other Western governments and human rights watchdogs.
Dela Rosa and later Duterte have said Dela Rosa’s visa was canceled, but U.S. officials have not addressed the matter.
Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. used a televised Senate hearing to enumerate what he described as crucial security, trade and economic benefits the accord provides. The U.S. is a longtime treaty ally, a major trading partner and the largest development aid provider to the Philippines.
“While the Philippines has the prerogative to terminate the VFA anytime, the continuance of the agreement is deemed to be more beneficial to the Philippines compared to any predicates were it to be terminated,” Locsin said.
The accord, known by its acronym VFA, took effect in 1999 to provide legal cover for the entry of American forces to the Philippines for joint training with Filipino troops.
A separate defense pact subsequently signed by the allies in 2014, the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, allowed the extended stay of U.S. forces and authorized them to build and maintain barracks and warehouses and store defense equipment and weapons inside five designated Philippine military camps.
Terminating the VFA would affect more than 300 joint trainings and other activities this year with U.S. forces “which the Philippine military and law enforcement agencies need to enhance their capabilities in countering threats to national security,” Locsin said.
The U.S. provided more than $550 million in security assistance to the Philippines from 2016 to 2019, Locsin said, adding that there may be a “chilling effect on our economic relations” if the Philippines draws down its security alliance with Washington.
American forces have provided intelligence, training and aid that allowed the Philippines to deal with human trafficking, cyberattacks, illegal narcotics and terrorism, Locsin said, citing how U.S. military assistance helped Filipino forces quell a disastrous siege by Islamic State group-aligned militants in southern Marawi city in 2017.
U.S. military presence has also served as a deterrent to aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea, Locsin said.
China, the Philippines, Vietnam and three other governments have rival claims to the strategic waterway.
Duterte first threatened to abrogate the VFA in late 2016 after a U.S. aid agency put on hold funds for anti-poverty projects in the Philippines. The 74-year-old leader, who has been harshly critical of U.S. policies while often praising China and Russia, has walked back on his public threats before.
Aside from threatening to take down the VFA, Duterte has said would ban some U.S. senators from entering the Philippines. He apparently was referring to American senators who sought to ban unspecified Philippine officials from entering the U.S. for their role in the continued detention of Phillippines opposition Sen. Leila de Lima, a vocal critic of Duterte’s deadly campaign against illegal drugs.
Duterte has publicly accused de Lima of receiving money from drug traffickers and called for her detention. De Lima has dismissed the allegations as fabricated charges designed to muzzle dissent under Duterte.
Duterte has also barred his Cabinet officials from traveling to the U.S. and turned down an invitation by President Donald Trump to join a special meeting the U.S. leader will host for leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in March in Las Vegas, according to presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo.

DHS suspends Global Entry, Trusted Traveler Programs for New York residents in response to sanctuary law


Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf exclusively told Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Wednesday that DHS was immediately suspending enrollment in Global Entry and several other Trusted Traveler Programs (TTP) for all New York state residents -- a dramatic move in response to the liberal state's recently enacted sanctuary "Green Light Law."
The sweeping order came a day after President Trump, in his State of the Union address, condemned left-wing states and local governments that "release dangerous criminal aliens to prey upon the public," and called on Congress to pass a law establishing civil liability for sanctuary cities.
In a letter to top New York state officials obtained exclusively by Fox News, Wolf noted that the New York law prohibited state DMVs from sharing criminal records with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
READ THE DHS LETTER SUSPENDING GLOBAL ENTRY, OTHER TTPs FOR NEW YORK 
"In New York alone, last year ICE arrested 149 child predators, identified or rescued 105 victims of exploitation and human trafficking, arrested 230 gang members, and seized 6,487 pounds of illegal narcotics, including fentanyl and opioids," Wolf wrote. "In the vast majority of these cases, ICE relied on New York DMV records to fulfill its mission."
Illegal immigrants rushed to New York DMVs in large numbers after the law, which allowed them to obtain driver's licenses or learner's permits regardless of their immigration status, took effect last December. The law also permitted applicants to use foreign documents, including passports, to be submitted in order to obtain licenses.
The law, Wolf went on, "compromises CBP's ability to confirm whether an individual applying for TTP membership meets program eligibility requirements."
TRUMP, IN STATE OF THE UNION, TOUTS ICE AND SLAMS SANCTUARY CITIES
Because TTPs rely on states to verify individuals' identities, New York residents "will no longer be eligible to enroll or re-enroll" in select TTPs -- including Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, and FAST.
Wolf noted that TTP "permits expedited processing into the U.S. from international destinations (under Global Entry); Canada only (under NEXUS); and Canada and Mexico only (under SENTRI)." Additionally, TTP allows quicker processing for commercial truck drivers entering or leaving the U.S. (under FAST).
TSA PreCheck was not among the TTPs affected by the order, a DHS official confirmed to Fox News.
Wolf further warned that because the New York law "hinders DHS from validating documents used to establish vehicle ownership, the exporting of used vehicles titled and registered in New York will be significantly delayed and could also be costlier."
He said DHS' assessment was ongoing and future enforcement action remained possible.
Responding to the news late Wednesday, Rich Azzopardi, a senior aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, told CNN: "This is obviously political retaliation by the federal government and we're going to review our legal options."
During his State of the Union address, Trump explicitly called out New York's sanctuary policies.
"Just 29 days ago, a criminal alien freed by the Sanctuary City of New York was charged with the brutal rape and murder of a 92-year-old woman," Trump said. "The killer had been previously arrested for assault, but under New York's sanctuary policies, he was set free. If the city had honored ICE's detainer request, his victim would be alive today."
Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" investigative producer Alex Pfeiffer contributed to this report.

Warren says male candidates 'wrong' if they think they have a better chance of beating Trump


Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Wednesday that the men running for president would be mistaken to think they have better chances of beating President Trump based on their gender.
“I believe that they think so, but they’d be wrong," she laughed in answer to a female voter who asked the question during a CNN town hall. Warren went on to say the world changed after Trump’s election because women took to the streets in the Women’s March.
"Understand this," Warren added, "Democrats took back the House of Representatives in 2018...because of women candidates and women and friends of women who were energized by those candidates."
She also claimed data shows that women outperform men in competitive elections.
WARREN SAYS SANDERS 'DISAGREED' WITH HER BELIEF A WOMAN COULD WIN THE WHITE HOUSE RACE
When voters pick a candidate, Warren said, it has to be someone they trust, not just a candidate “who looks like what presidents looked like in the past.”
She pointed to the barriers broken by JFK’s election as the first Catholic president in 1960 and former President Obama's win in 2008.
“In 2020 we can and should have a woman for president," she said to cheers.
Warren clashed with Sen. Bernie Sanders at the last Democratic presidential debate in Des Moines, Iowa, when she claimed he told her in 2018 that he didn't think a woman could win the presidency. Sanders called her accusation was "ludicrous."
With Iowa’s results nearly in, Warren appears to have placed in third behind South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sanders and slightly ahead of former Vice President Joe Biden.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became the first female major-party nominee in 2016 before falling short to Trump in the election.

Senate acquits Trump on abuse of power, obstruction of Congress charges


The Senate overwhelmingly acquitted President Trump on both articles of impeachment against him Wednesday afternoon following a brief trial, in a historic rejection of Democrats' claims that the president's Ukraine dealings and handling of congressional subpoenas merited his immediate removal from office.
Several Congressional Democrats, speaking to Fox News, were dejected on Capitol Hill late Wednesday, even as they said they hoped to weaponize the acquittal votes by several moderate Republicans in swing states.
"We all knew how this was going,” one senior House Democratic source told Fox News. “But everyone’s depressed. Especially because of Iowa," where the first-in-the-nation caucuses have been plagued by mismanagement.
Another Democratic source also said that impeachment “went as well as it could go.” There was significant consternation among House Democrats about heading down the impeachment road at all over the summer, Fox News is told, but Democratic leaders felt they had to get in front of the impeachment movement and embrace it – or they may have been steamrolled by the progressive wing of the party.
GALLUP POLL SHOWS TRUMP, GOP APPROVAL AT HIGHEST RECORDED LEVELS AMID IMPEACHMENT
In the final vote, all Democratic senators supported convicting the president of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, including swing-vote moderate Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Doug Jones, D-Ala.
The only party defection was on the abuse of power charge from Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who declared hours before the final vote that Trump had engaged in as "destructive an attack on the oath of office and our Constitution as I can imagine." Romney voted not guilty on the obstruction charge.
By a final vote of 52-48 against conviction on the abuse of power charge and 53-47 against conviction on the obstruction charge, the Senate fell far short of the two-thirds, 67-vote supermajority needed to convict and remove the president. Swing-vote Republican senators -- including Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee -- voted to acquit on both counts.
The separate obstruction of Congress charge concerned the White House's assertion of executive privilege and refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas. Romney explained he would acquit on the obstruction count, saying House Democrats had chosen not to respond to the White House's legal arguments against the subpoenas.
After Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts formally declared Trump acquitted, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., presented him with the "Golden Gavel" award as a thank-you for his service. Former Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist received the same award, which is usually presented to freshmen senators after long hours presiding over the body, for his handling of President Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial.
FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: ROMNEY EXPLAINS HIS VOTE
"I look forward to seeing you all again under happier circumstances," Roberts said as he concluded his remarks and prepared to depart the chamber.
Speaking to reporters after the vote, McConnell noted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had resisted calls for impeachment from the party's progressive wing before finally caving -- and said she should have trusted her "instincts."
"I'm pretty sure she didn't want to do this," McConnell said, referring to Pelosi's lengthy reluctance to initiate impeachment proceedings. Trump, speaking to Fox News ahead of the Super Bowl, made a similar argument, saying the "radical" wing of the Democratic Party had pushed her into making a grave mistake and realizing her "worst nightmare."
"This has been a colossal political mistake."
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
McConnell also said he was "perplexed" by Democrats' arguments that the evidence against Trump was overwhelming and obvious, but at the same time, more witnesses and evidence were desperately needed.
TRUMP IMPEACHMENT VERDICT: HOW THE SENATORS VOTED
He called the proceedings a "thoroughly political exercise," and added that ironically, Pelosi was right "in the beginning" when she didn't want to go down this path.
"This was a political loser for them," McConnell said. "At least in the short-term, this has been a colossal political mistake."
A Gallup poll released this week showed record-high approval numbers for Trump and the Republican Party in general, suggesting the impeachment proceedings may have backfired politically for Democrats. The Republican Party's approval numbers were at their highest since 2005, and Trump's were the highest of his presidency.
Reaction from other Republicans was ebullient. Trump, on Twitter, reposted a mock Time magazine cover implying he would never leave office.
Trump added: "I will be making a public statement tomorrow at 12:00pm from the @WhiteHouse to discuss our Country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax!"
After his acquittal by the Senate in 1999, Clinton came out of the White House alone and apologized for his conduct which led to his impeachment -- a scene not expected this time around.
Later in the evening, Trump wrote, "Had failed presidential candidate @MittRomney devoted the same energy and anger to defeating a faltering Barack Obama as he sanctimoniously does to me, he could have won the election. Read the Transcripts!"
The White House asserted that the "sham impeachment attempt concocted by Democrats ended in the full vindication and exoneration of President Donald J. Trump," and slammed Romney as "one failed Republican presidential candidate."
"In what has now become a consistent tradition for Democrats, this was yet another witch-hunt that deprived the President of his due process rights and was based on a series of lies," the White House said. "Rep. Adam Schiff lied to Congress and the American people with a totally made up statement about the President’s phone call.  Will there be no retribution?"
The White House continued:  "Speaker Nancy Pelosi also lied to the American people about the need to swiftly pass impeachment articles they dreamt up, only to sit on them for a month before sending over to the Senate.  In the Senate, the Democrats continued to make their political motivations clear – Rep. Schiff proclaimed the issues 'cannot be decided at the ballot box' – proving once again they think they know better than the voters of this country.  This entire effort by the Democrats was aimed at overturning the results of the 2016 election and interfering with the 2020 election."
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close Trump ally, celebrated the end of the "partisan-driven impeachment" that has "done injury to the office of the presidency and was an injustice to President Trump."
“As I said after the Clinton impeachment trial, the Senate has spoken and the cloud over the presidency has been removed.  I meant it then and mean it now," Graham said in a statement. “Unfortunately, I doubt my Democratic colleagues, who are being driven by unlimited hatred of President Trump, have the ability to move on. The president was acquitted today by the Senate and will be exonerated by the American people in November when he is reelected to a second term."
And, National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Tom Emmer quickly issued his own statement saying he was "pleased" by the result.
“This should finally slam the door on the sick obsession these socialist Democrats have with harassing President Trump and his family," Emmer said. “Nancy Pelosi needs to learn some self-control by suppressing her hatred of President Trump so she can finally start getting things done for the American people.”
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, meanwhile, told Fox News he was “disappointed” in Romney's vote against the president. Lott, served in the Senate during Clinton's impeachment trial, said he had “showed up in case they needed a reserve vote.”
"Was this jealousy? " Lott asked, concerning Romney's vote. "He tried to lead the party. Now he can’t even be a part of the party."
TRUMP TAKES ON 'RADICAL' DEMS IN DRAMATIC STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS; FURIOUS PELOSI RIPS UP SPEECH
Murkowski, however, said she respected Romney's decision and that he belonged in the GOP. “I think each of us had to come to our own place and I respect his decision," she said. "I respect the difficulties that I know he went through as he processed it, but I absolutely respect where he ended up.”
Sen. Chris Murphy , D-Conn., told Fox News that "Romney’s speech will go down as one of the most important in the Senate. There’s still honor in this place."
While the final result had been expected for months, the process brought a series of surprises and heightened animosity to Washington -- exemplified dramatically during Tuesday night's State of the Union address, in which Pelosi furiously ripped up the president's speech upon its conclusion.
Ahead of the vote, Republican and Democratic leaders referenced those tensions as they addressed the Senate. McConnell warned of "truly dangerous" Democratic partisans, saying they insist on taking down institutions that do not produce the outcomes they desire.
"This partisan impeachment will end today," McConnell said. "But, I fear the threat to our institutions may not. Normally, when a party loses an election, it accepts defeat. ... But not this time."
Instead, McConnell went on, top Democrats -- including Hillary Clinton and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. -- have already preemptively challenged the validity of the 2020 presidential election, and blamed their loss on unsubstantiated claims that the president's campaign colluded with Russians.
Perhaps, McConnell mused, Pelosi would "tear up" the Senate acquittal like she tore up the State of the Union address the night before.
Minutes earlier, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed the Senate trial as a "kangaroo court" and a "sham."
Pelosi formally announced the beginning of impeachment proceedings last September, although freshmen and high-ranking Democrats, commentators, and even the Ukraine whistleblower's attorney had urgently called for the president's removal for far longer.
The House of Representatives then voted to impeach the president by majority vote last December, with no Republicans supporting impeachment and several Democrats opposing it. After a weekslong delay, the House transmitted the articles of impeachment to the GOP-controlled Senate.
There have been 20 impeachments in U.S. history, mostly involving federal judges, and eight removals. No president has ever been convicted and removed by the Senate.
As the dust settled on Capitol Hill, the Senate quickly returned to normal business -- approving several of the president's judicial nominees, and undertaking new oversight.
Minutes after the vote, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., announced in a letter they are seeking "records of Hunter Biden’s travel while he was under U.S. Secret Service protection as they continue to investigate potential conflicts of interest to boost his business ventures in Ukraine and China."
The request underscored the continuing importance of a matter at the heart of the impeachment proceedings -- whether Hunter Biden, who obtained a lucrative role on the board of a Ukrainian company with no relevant experience while his father oversaw Ukraine policy as vice president, deserved the scrutiny Trump suggested in his fateful July 25 call with Ukraine's new president.
Fox News' Chad Pergram, Marisa Schultz, and Jason Donner contributed to this report.

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Senate acquits Trump on abuse of power, obstruction of Congress charges



The Senate overwhelmingly acquitted President Trump on both articles of impeachment against him Wednesday afternoon following a brief trial, in a historic rejection of Democrats' claims that the president's Ukraine dealings and handling of congressional subpoenas merited his immediate removal from office.
All Democratic senators supported convicting the president of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, including swing-vote moderate Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Doug Jones, D-Ala.
The only party defection was on the abuse of power charge from Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who declared hours before the final vote that Trump had engaged in as "destructive an attack on the oath of office and our Constitution as I can imagine." Romney voted not guilty on the obstruction charge.
By a final vote of 52-48 against conviction on the abuse of power charge and 53-47 on the obstruction charge, the Senate fell far short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict and remove the president. Swing-vote Republican senators -- including Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee -- voted to acquit on both counts.
TRUMP IMPEACHMENT VERDICT: HOW THE SENATORS VOTED
The separate obstruction of Congress charge concerned the White House's assertion of executive privilege and refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas. Romney explained he would acquit on the obstruction count, saying House Democrats had chosen not to respond to the White House's legal arguments against the subpoenas.
After Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts formally declared Trump acquitted, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., presented him with the "Golden Gavel" award as a thank-you for his service. Former Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist received the same award, which is usually presented to freshmen senators after long hours presiding over the body, for his handling of President Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial.
"I look forward to seeing you all again under happier circumstances," Roberts said as he concluded his remarks and prepared to depart the chamber.
FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: ROMNEY EXPLAINS HIS VOTE
Speaking to reporters after the vote, McConnell noted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had resisted calls for impeachment from the party's progressive wing before finally caving -- and said she should have trusted her "instincts."
"This has been a colossal political mistake."
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
"I'm pretty sure she didn't want to do this," McConnell said, referring to Pelosi's lengthy reluctance to initiate impeachment proceedings. Trump, speaking to Fox News ahead of the Super Bowl, made a similar argument, saying the "radical" wing of the Democratic Party had pushed her into making a grave mistake and realizing her "worst nightmare."
TRUMP TAKES ON 'RADICAL' DEMS IN DRAMATIC STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS; FURIOUS PELOSI RIPS UP SPEECH
McConnell also said he was "perplexed" by Democrats' arguments that the evidence against Trump was overwhelming and obvious, but at the same time, more witnesses and evidence were desperately needed.
He called the proceedings a "thoroughly political exercise," and added that ironically, Pelosi was right "in the beginning" when she didn't want to go down this path.
"This was a political loser for them," McConnell said. "At least in the short-term, this has been a colossal political mistake."
A Gallup poll released this week showed record-high approval numbers for Trump and the Republican Party in general, suggesting the impeachment proceedings may have backfired politically for Democrats.
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, meanwhile, told Fox News he was “disappointed” in Romney's vote against the president. Lott, served in the Senate during Clinton's impeachment trial, said he had “showed up in case they needed a reserve vote.”
"Was this jealousy? " Lott asked, concerning Romney's vote. "He tried to lead the party. Now he can’t even be a part of the party."
GALLUP POLL SHOWS TRUMP, GOP SUPPORT AT HIGHEST RECORDED LEVELS
Murkowski, however, said she respected Romney's decision and that he belonged in the GOP. “I think each of us had to come to our own place and I respect his decision," she said. "I respect the difficulties that I know he went through as he processed it, but I absolutely respect where he ended up.”
Reaction from other Republicans was ebullient. Trump, on Twitter, reposted a mock Time Magazine cover implying he would never leave office.
Trump added: "I will be making a public statement tomorrow at 12:00pm from the @WhiteHouse to discuss our Country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax!"
After his acquittal by the Senate in 1999, Clinton came out of the White House alone and apologized for his conduct which led to his impeachment -- a scene not expected this time around.
National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Tom Emmer quickly issued a statement saying he was "pleased" by the result.
“This should finally slam the door on the sick obsession these socialist Democrats have with harassing President Trump and his family," Emmer said. “Nancy Pelosi needs to learn some self-control by suppressing her hatred of President Trump so she can finally start getting things done for the American people.”
While the result has been expected for months, the process brought a series of surprises and heightened animosity to Washington -- exemplified dramatically during Tuesday night's State of the Union address, in which Pelosi furiously ripped up the president's speech upon its conclusion.
Also ahead of the vote, Republican and Democratic leaders addressed the Senate. McConnell warned of "truly dangerous" Democratic partisans, saying they insist on taking down institutions that do not produce the outcomes they desire.
"This partisan impeachment will end today," McConnell said. "But, I fear the threat to our institutions may not. Normally, when a party loses an election, it accepts defeat. ... But not this time."
Instead, McConnell went on, top Democrats -- including Hillary Clinton and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. -- have already preemptively challenged the validity of the 2020 presidential election, and blamed their loss on unsubstantiated claims that the president's campaign colluded with Russians.
Perhaps, McConnell mused, Pelosi would "tear up" the Senate acquittal like she tore up the State of the Union address the night before.
Minutes earlier, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed the Senate trial as a "kangaroo court" and a "sham."
Pelosi formally announced the beginning of impeachment proceedings last September, although freshmen and high-ranking Democrats, commentators, and even the Ukraine whistleblower's attorney had urgently called for the president's removal for far longer.
The House of Representatives then voted to impeach the president by majority vote last December, with no Republicans supporting impeachment and several Democrats opposing it. After a weekslong delay, the House transmitted the articles of impeachment to the GOP-controlled Senate.
Fox News' Chad Pergram and Jason Donner contributed to this report.

Angry Nancy Pelosi Cartoons





CartoonDems