Trump's debate mic appeared to cut off during health care answer

President Trump appeared to have his microphone cut off for a brief moment while he was explaining his health care plan during the final presidential debate in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday night.

"We have done an incredible job on health care and we're gonna do even better ... " Trump said before his mouth continued to move but his voice was no longer heard.

NBC News correspondent Kristen Welker, the debate moderator, then directed the next question to Democratic nominee Joe Biden, following a short pause.

After the first Trump-Biden debate in Cleveland on Sept. 29 was plagued by interruptions and insults -- the majority by the president -- the Commission on Presidential Debates announced a change to the scheduled format.

Each candidate was afforded two uninterrupted minutes to speak at the beginning of each 15-minute topic, with the microphone cut for the candidate who is not speaking during that time.

"President Trump is committed to debating Joe Biden regardless of last-minute rule changes from the biased commission in their latest attempt to provide advantage to their favored candidate," the president's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said prior to the debate.

Meanwhile, Biden reportedly supported the rule changes, calling them a "good idea."

His mic had yet to be cut roughly an hour into the debate, according to the Washington Examiner.

In the final showdown between the two candidates, they both largely found themselves avoiding talking over each other, which was a relief for most people watching.

"I would have liked to have been able to moderate that debate and get a real exchange of views instead of hundreds of interruptions," said "Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace, who moderated the first debate. 

Fox News' Sam Dorman and Vandana Rambaran contributed to this report

 

Hunter's ex-partner recounts meeting Joe Biden, claims family 'paranoid' about hiding former VP's involvement

Hunter Biden's ex-business partner Tony Bobulinski confirmed on Thursday that he met with former Vice President Joe Biden regarding his son's business dealings and alleged that someone involved with the controversy had warned him about coming forward.

"I was told this past Sunday by somebody who was also involved in this matter that if I went public, this information -- it would 'bury all of us, man,'" Bobulinski alleged. 

Bobulinski went on to accuse the former vice president of lying about his involvement with his son's business dealings, and indicated that his family sought to conceal his activities.

Specifically, Bobulinski alleges he met with the former vice president on May 2, 2017, introduced by his son, Hunter and brother, Jim.

"At my approximately hour-long meeting with Joe that night we discussed the Bidens' history, the Bidens' family business plans with the Chinese, with which he was plainly familiar, at least at a high level," Bobulinski said.

Fox News previously obtained text messages from Bobulinski, a retired lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, and the former CEO of SinoHawk Holdings, which he said was the partnership between the CEFC/ Chairman Ye and the two Biden family members.

His latest comments came just before the final presidential debate, which President Trump invited him to attend. Fox News previously reported an email thread, initially released by the New York Post, which purportedly showed an equity split that would benefit "the big guy," who sources said was Joe Biden. 

The email includes a note that “Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.” A proposed equity split references “20” for “H” and “10 held by H for the big guy?” with no further details.

"In that email, there is no question that 'H' stands for Hunter, 'big guy' for his father, Joe Biden, and Jim for Jim Biden," Bobulinski said.

"In fact, Hunter often referred to his father as the big guy or "my chairman." On numerous occasions, it was made clear to me that Joe Biden's involvement was not to be mentioned in writing but only face-to-face. In fact, I was advised by [James] Gillier and [Rob] Walker that Hunter and Jim Biden were paranoid about keeping Joe Biden's involvement secret."

Declining to take questions, Bobulinski presented three phones he said contained corroborating evidence. He added that he would be meeting with a Senate committee the following day.

The Biden campaign has said that it released the former vice president’s tax documents and returns, which do not reflect any involvement with Chinese investments.

Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates told Fox News: “Joe Biden has never even considered being involved in business with his family, nor in any overseas business whatsoever. He has never held stock in any such business arrangements nor has any family member or any other person ever held stock for him.”

The text message chain was obtained after the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate Finance Committee requested documents related to Bobulinski’s business affairs with the Biden family. He has provided the committees with the documents. Fox News has also, separately, obtained those documents.

The meeting on May 2, 2017, would have taken place just 11 days before the May 13, 2017, email obtained by Fox News last week, which included a discussion of “remuneration packages” for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Hunter Biden as “Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC,” in an apparent reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.

Joe Biden has repeatedly denied that he has ever discussed Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings. Fox Business reporter Hillary Vaughn asked Joe Biden if he was willing to reiterate that stance in October 2019 after a photo surfaced of Biden on the golf course with Hunter and his another former business associate, Devon Archer.

“Yes, I stand by that statement,” Biden said at the time.

Fox News' Brooke Singman, Thomas Barrabi, and John Roberts contributed to this report.

 

Trump, Biden clash over Hunter Biden business questions at final presidential debate

President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden clashed over alleged foreign financial entanglements in the final presidential debate on Thursday night.

At one point, Trump told Biden, "You owe an explanation to the American people" about son Hunter Biden's past business dealings as the former vice president emphatically denied anything "unethical" took place.

The two candidates also clashed over a number of issues, from race relations to minimum wage to climate change and the coronavirus pandemic, all while moderator Kristen Welker proceeded over a largely orderly affair between the bitter rivals.

The Hunter Biden debate exchange followed the recent news reports of past communications between Joe Biden's son, Hunter, and his business partners that have raised questions about what Joe Biden knew about these foreign business dealings. Biden's campaign has denied involvement or making money off these dealings, but the president pressed his rival over the reports during the debate. 

"All of the emails ... the horrible emails of the kind of money that you were raking in, you and your family. And Joe, you were vice president when some of this was happening. And it should've never happened," Trump said. "I think you owe an explanation to the American people."

Biden responded: "I have not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life." Turning to attack Trump, Biden added: "We learned this president paid 50 times the tax in China, has a secret bank account with China. Does business in China."

"I have released all of my tax returns ... 22 years of my tax returns," Biden said. "You have not released a single solitary year of your tax returns ... what are you hiding?"

Trump said that he would release his tax returns "as soon as I can" -- a claim the president has been making without follow-up for years. He further claimed to have "pre-paid" his taxes. 

About an hour before the debate, Tony Bobulinski, an old business partner of Hunter Biden delivered an in-person statement claiming he'd worked with the elder Biden. Biden repeatedly in the past denied being involved in the younger Biden's business dealings and continued Thursday to deny it through a statement by campaign spokesman Andrew Bates. 

Trump invited Bobulinski to be his special guest at the Thursday debate.

"As Chris Wallace said on the air about this very smear, 'Vice President Biden has actually released his tax returns - unlike President Trump - and there is no indication he ever got any money from anybody in these business deals,'" Bates said. "Joe Biden has never even considered being involved in business with his family, nor in any overseas business whatsoever. He has never held stock in any such business arrangements nor has any family member or any other person ever held stock for him."

The candidates returned to what was the biggest story of the day later in the debate, with Biden calling the accusations against him "a bunch of garbage" and Trump replying, "You mean the laptop is now another Russia, Russia, Russia hoax?"

Also during the debate, the candidates clashed over coronavirus as candidates ridiculed the other's approaches to the pandemic. 

"Anybody responsible for that many deaths should not remain president of the United States of America," Biden said. 

"We can’t lock ourselves in a basement like he does.. he has this thing about living in a basement," Trump said.

Trump claimed that the U.S. is "rounding the corner" and that the virus is "going away."

Trump also claimed that there will be a vaccine "going to be announced within weeks" thanks to Operation Warp Speed, which is a public-private partnership to manufacture coronavirus vaccines then distribute them once they are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Trump specifically mentioned Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer as companies whose vaccines have shown promise. 

Biden, however, mentioned that more than 200,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus pandemic and predicted "we'll have another 200,000 Americans dead between now and the end of the year."

"We're about to go into a dark winter, a dark winter," Biden said. 

Biden added that under his administration he would "make sure we have everyone encouraged to wear a mask all the time... national standards... to open up schools, open up businesses."

He also ridiculed Trump for his push to quickly open up the country. 

"'All you teachers out there, not that many of you are going to die, so don't worry about it,'" Biden said, portraying that as Trump's attitude on the pandemic. "Come on."

The debate involved far fewer interruptions compared to the first debate -- potentially the result of a new rule requiring candidates' mics to be muted during their opponent's two-minute uninterrupted answer and the harsh criticism Trump received for his many interruptions in the first debate.

But things got more contentious later on, especially in exchanges over immigration and minimum wage. 

"Parents ... kids were ripped from their arms and they were separated ... those kids are alone, nowhere to go," Biden said of the family separation policy that was highly controversial under Trump. "It's criminal."

Trump replied by pointing out that the infrastructure for many of the controversies on the border in the past four years was carried over from the Obama-Biden administration. "Who built the cages, Joe?" Trump said. 

Later, Trump criticized Biden for the "catch and release" policy of letting illegal immigrants walk free ahead of their court dates for illegally entering the country. Biden said that those immigrants largely showed up for their court dates, whic Trump disputed.

"Those with the lowest IQ, they might come back," Trump said. 

"You have 525 kids not knowing where in God's name they're going to be and lost their parents," Biden replied, bringing up the family separation policy again. "Go ahead," Trump quickly said to Welker as she moved on to another topic. 

On minimum wage, Welker asked Biden about whether raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour would add hardship to small businesses, many of which have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Biden appeared to not understand the question and advocated federal money for small businesses. 

"We're going to have to bail them out too," Biden said. "We should be bailing them out now, these small businesses, We've got 1 in 6 of them going under. They're not going to be able to make it back."

Trump replied: "He said we have to help our small businesses, by raising the minimum wage? That's not helping. I think it should be a state option. Alabama is different from New York. New York is different from Vermont. Every state is different... How are you helping small businesses when you're forcing wages ... What's going to happen is proven to happen is when you do that these small businesses fire many of their employees."

"No one should work two jobs, one job, be below poverty," Biden said. "They deserve a minimum wage of $15. Anything below that puts you below the poverty level. And there is no evidence that when you raise the minimum when you raise the minimum wage businesses go out of business."

Overall, Trump's closing message reflected his 2016 closing message -- that he is an anti-politician and Biden has spent too long in Washington, D.C. and has not accomplished his policy goals. Biden, meanwhile pitched unity, claiming he would be a uniter. 

"I'm running as a proud Democrat but I'm going to be an American president I don't see red states and blue states. What I see is American United States," Biden said during an exchange about funding state governments. 

The final presidential debate came as controversy swirls around both candidates and the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) itself, and during one of the busiest times in politics in at least recent American history.

The Senate is in the middle of a Supreme Court confirmation. Congress and the White House are negotiating a coronavirus stimulus bill that is looking increasingly unlikely to come before the presidential election. Racial tensions, after a summer of protests and sometimes riots, are simmering just below the surface (this was a planned topic at the debate).

Mail-in voting may delay the result of the presidential election and has spurred on a flood of lawsuits. Trump, citing concerns about mail-in voting, has hemmed and hawed on whether or not he would accept the result of the election, leading to speculation about a peaceful transfer of power. Russia and Iran are trying to interfere with the election, according to Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, and have obtained some of Americans' voter registration information. 

And the presidential election -- which Biden has framed the presidential election as "a battle for the soul of this nation," while Trump has said is a choice between “the American Dream” and a “socialist hellhole" -- is just 12 days away.

Fox News' Brooke Singman and Sam Dorman contributed to this report. 

 

Slow Joe Biden Cartoons

 

Presidential candidate Joe Biden suffers numerous breakdowns in memory, speech on campaign trail

 

 

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 10:54 AM PT – Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Presidential candidate Joe Biden continues experiencing numerous breakdowns in his memory and speech on the campaign trail.

One America’s Pearson Sharp has more on Biden’s repeated blunders, raising doubts about his mental stability.

Ocasio-Cortez teams up on Twitch with controversial left-wing commentator

Two members of "The Squad" joined forces with an ex-Young Turk to encourage gamers to vote in next month's election.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and former Young Turks contributor Hasan Piker joined a group of gamers to play “Among Us,” a popular new game on streaming platform Twitch. The idea was to tap the vast Twitch audience and get their message out, and given the trio's political orientation, that message was "Vote Democrat."

Piker last year went on a tirade belittling Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and saying America “deserved” 9/11, before walking back that statement.

Piker, a Twitch vlogger, who used to contribute to the left-leaning news and commentary outlet the Young Turks, blasted Crenshaw during a Twitch stream last year for his opposition in the House to halting arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

“America deserved 9/11, dude. F— it, I'm saying it," Piker said in the stream. 

Twitch suspended Piker for his comments last year. Piker said that he “obviously” did not mean it that America deserved 9/11, and that his comments were taken out of context. 

Piker said "maybe you can chalk it up to English being my second language” but conceded that he "should have used more precise and better use of the language there."

"It's messed up that I would even give the opportunity to the right to try to morally grandstand on an issue like this when they are 100 percent responsible for all the bloodshed that has been caused," Piker said.

He later added, "Obviously, 9/11 was a horrific tragedy. 3,000 Americans died, OK? Seven thousand troops have died since then in endless wars. And if you're spending all of your energy getting upset at me because I think that is abhorrent and awful, maybe you should spend your energy elsewhere and realize that those who justify the endless bloodshed don't actually have the best interest of those young men and women at heart."

Omar sparked her own 9/11-related controversy in 2019, when she referred to the deadly attacks as "some people did something."

Twitch, the free Amazon-owned service, where users mostly live stream themselves playing video games and other users watch, logged more than 9 billion hours watched in 2019.

Among Us is one of the most popular games on the live streaming gaming platform with more viewers watching it than any other game. It is a multiplayer game where users are dropped onto an alien spaceship and each player is designated either “crewmate” or “impostor.” Impostors attempt to sabotage a team of crewmates who are working to figure out who the impostors are.  

Other lawmakers have already launched Twitch channels, including President Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Trump uses the platform to stream rallies and other events.

Trump has also been suspended from the platform for “hateful conduct” that was aired on a stream, which was a rebroadcast of his infamous kickoff rally. 

In June 2015, then a presidential candidate, Trump said, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best."

He added: "They're sending people that have a lot of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

 

Biden faces backlash for saying 'America was an idea' that 'we've never lived up to'

Joe Biden was facing intense backlash Wednesday night for referring to America as an "idea" that "we've never lived up to."

The Democratic nominee shared a clip from his interview on the podcast "Unlocking Us with Brené Brown," which was released earlier in the day. 

"America was an idea, an idea," Biden said. "'We hold these truths to be self evident.' We've never lived up to it, but we've never walked away from it before. And I just think we have to be more honest. Let our kids know, as we raise them, what actually did happen. Acknowledge our mistakes so we don't repeat them." 

BIDEN REPEATS GAFFE THAT HE'S RUNNING 'FOR THE SENATE,' APPEARS NOT TO REMEMBER MITT ROMNEY'S NAME

Biden summarized the remark by tweeting, "America was an idea. We've never lived up to it but we've never walked away from it before."

Biden was slammed by critics, including members of the Trump 2020 Campaign.

"Joe Biden’s closing argument is that America has always been a disappointment," Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh reacted. 

"@JoeBiden Where have you been for 47 years? America is the greatest nation in the world. We stand for freedom and opportunity for all. Our nation is filled with strong, innovative and hard-working individuals who love this nation & don’t want to fundamentally transform it," Trump campaign senior adviser Mercedes Schlapp wrote. 

"47 years, 0 accomplishments. Americans deserve better than your apology tour," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., tweeted.

BIDEN SUGGESTS PEOPLE WERE ABLE TO QUARANTINE BECAUSE 'SOME BLACK WOMAN WAS ABLE TO STACK THE GROCERY SHELF' IN VIRAL CLIP

"When my father lay wounded on a beach in the Pacific defending his country in World War II, America more than lived up to her promise. When Americans walked on the moon, we were the brightest star in the firmament. If you weren’t owned by China, you might love this country, too," actor James Woods scolded the former VP.

"'We’ve never lived up to it'? Speak for yourself, man!"  Center for American Liberty founder and trial lawyer Harmeet Dhillon exclaimed. "This immigrant is so grateful to be an American — and I never diss her or take her for granted."

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment. 

 

Laptop connected to Hunter Biden linked to FBI money laundering probe

The FBI’s subpoena of a laptop and hard drive purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden came in connection with a money laundering investigation in late 2019, according to documents obtained by Fox News and verified by multiple federal law enforcement officials who reviewed them.

It is unclear, at this point, whether the investigation is ongoing or if it was directly related to Hunter Biden.

Multiple federal law enforcement officials, as well as two separate government officials, confirmed the authenticity of these documents, which were signed by FBI Special Agent Joshua Wilson. Wilson did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment. 

One of the documents, obtained by Fox News, was designated as an FBI “Receipt for Property” form, which details the bureau’s interactions with John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of “The Mac Shop” who reported the laptop’s contents to authorities. 

The document has a “Case ID” section, which is filled in with a hand-written number: 272D-BA-3065729. 

According to multiple officials, and the FBI’s website, “272” is the bureau’s classification for money laundering, while “272D” refers to “Money Laundering, Unknown SUA [Specified Unlawful Activity]—White Collar Crime Program,” according to FBI documents. One government official described “272D” as “transnational or blanket.” 

“BA” indicates the case was opened in the FBI’s Baltimore field office, sources said.

The documents state that the subpoena was carried out in Wilmington, Del., which falls under the jurisdiction of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office. 

“The FBI cannot open a case without predication, so they believed there was predication for criminal activity,” a government official told Fox News. “This means there was sufficient evidence to believe that there was criminal conduct.” 

Another document, obtained by Fox News, was a subpoena sent to Isaac to testify before U.S. District Court in Delaware on Dec. 9, 2019. One page of the subpoena shows what appears to be serial numbers for a laptop and hard drive taken into possession.

Based on the date of the subpoena, an official told Fox News that the case would have been opened prior to Isaac's subpoena. 

“If a criminal case was opened and subpoenas were issued, that means there is a high likelihood that both the laptop and hard drive contain fruits of criminal activity,” the official said. 

Fox News first reported on Tuesday evening that the FBI is in possession of the laptop in question. 

The FBI has declined to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation into the laptop or the emails, as is standard practice.

The Biden campaign on Wednesday pushed back on the claims leveled against Hunter Biden, particularly those first reported by The New York Post last week. The New York Post revealed that Rudy Giuliani provided them with emails allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden. 

"The Attorney General of Delaware's office indicated that the FBI has 'ongoing investigations regarding the veracity of this entire story.' And it would be unsurprising for an investigation of a disinformation action involving Rudy Giuliani and those assisting him to involve questions about money laundering, especially since there are other documented inquiries into his dealings," Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement to Fox News. "In fact, Donald Trump's own national security adviser warned the president that material furnished by Giuliani should be considered tainted by Russian interference."

Giuliani, this week, reportedly turned over a copy of the hard drive to New Castle County Police Department in Delaware. 

Richard Sauber, an attorney connected to the Biden campaign, said, in a statement to Fox News: “Criminal investigations of Russian disinformation campaigns that include the witting participation of American citizens like Rudy Giuliani often involve investigation by the FBI of whether the American has received payment for these activities that would implicate the Federal Money Laundering statutes."

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, however, confirmed this week that the laptop, purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden, and the emails on it “is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign," despite claims from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

The FBI, in a letter to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who is investigating Hunter Biden's business dealings as well as the laptop in question, said that the bureau has "nothing to add at this time to the October 19th public statement by the Director of National Intelligence about the available actionable intelligence.”

“If actionable intelligence is developed, the FBI in consultation with the Intelligence Community will evaluate the need to provide defensive briefings to you and the Committee pursuant to the established notification framework,” the letter stated.

The FBI, in its letter to Johnson, wrote that "consistent with longstanding Department of Justice (Department) policy and practice, the FBI can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any ongoing investigation or persons or entities under investigation, including to Members of Congress." 

"As the Inspector General firmly reminded the Department and the FBI in recent years, this policy is designed to preserve the integrity of all Justice Department investigations and the Department’s ability to effectively administer justice without political or other undue outside influences," Tyson wrote.  "Therefore, the FBI cannot provide any additional information in response to the enumerated questions in your letter." 

The emails in question were first obtained by the New York Post and, in part, revealed that Hunter Biden allegedly introduced his father, the then-vice president, to a top executive at Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings less than a year before he pressured government officials in Ukraine to fire prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating the company’s founder. 

The New York Post report revealed that Biden, at Hunter’s request, allegedly met with the executive, Vadym Pozharskyi, in April 2015 in Washington, D.C.

The meeting was mentioned in an email of appreciation, according to the Post, that Pozharskyi sent to Hunter Biden on April 17, 2015 — a year after Hunter took on his position on the board of Burisma.

The Biden campaign told Fox News Sunday that the former vice president “never had a meeting” with Pozharskyi.

Biden, prior to the emails surfacing, repeatedly has claimed he’s “never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.”

Hunter Biden’s business dealings, and his role on the board of Burisma, emerged during the Trump impeachment inquiry in 2019.

Another email, dated May 13, 2017, and obtained by Fox News, includes a discussion of “renumeration packages” for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Hunter Biden as “Chair/Vice Chair depending on an agreement with CEFC,” in an apparent reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.

The email includes a note that “Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.” A proposed equity split references “20” for “H” and “10 held by H for the big guy?” with no further details.

Fox News spoke to one of the people who was copied on the email, who confirmed its authenticity.

Sources also told Fox News that “the big guy” was a reference to the former vice president. The New York Post initially published the emails, and others, that Fox News has also obtained.

While Biden has not commented on that email, or his alleged involvement in any deals with the Chinese Energy firm, his campaign said it released the former vice president’s tax documents and returns, which do not reflect any involvement with Chinese investments.

Fox News also obtained an email last week that revealed an adviser of Burisma Holdings, Vadym Pozharskyi, wrote an email to Hunter Biden on May 12, 2014, requesting “advice” on how he could use his “influence to convey a message” to “stop” what the company considers to be “politically motivated actions.”

“We urgently need your advice on how you could use your influence to convey a message / signal, etc .to stop what we consider to be politically motivated actions,” Pozharskyi wrote.

The email, part of a longer email chain obtained by Fox News, appeared to be referencing the firm’s founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, being under investigation.

Fox News' Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.