Politics

GOP chair Ronna McDaniel slams ‘anti-Semitic’ Ilhan Omar

Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is calling on Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to be removed from the House of Representatives after her inflammatory comments implying a comparison between the U.S., Israel, and Hamas.

“Ilhan Omar comparing Israel to terrorist organizations is anti-Semitic and unacceptable,” McDaniel tweeted Saturday. “She should not be in Congress, much less on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.”

Omar had initially said: “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked @SecBlinken where people are supposed to go for justice.”

McDaniel’s statement comes after Omar encountered bipartisan backlash for her comments. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democratic leaders issued a critical statement but appeared satisfied with a “clarification” she made.

ILHAN OMAR’S LONG HISTORY OF CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENTS

Omar had said: “To be clear: the conversation was about accountability for specific incidents regarding those ICC (International Criminal Court) cases, not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the U.S. and Israel.”

“I was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems.”

At a news conference, Pelosi dismissed a question about further disciplining Omar, who has a long history of controversial comments.

“I think that she clarified her remarks and we accept that, and she has a point that she wanted to make and she has a right to make that point,” Pelosi said. “There’s some unease about how it was interpreted.”

“She made her clarification,” Pelosi added before moving onto the next question.

Meanwhile, several House Republicans have called on Pelosi to remove Omar from her committee assignments.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

In a letter to the speaker, exclusively obtained by Fox News, the GOP members reminded Pelosi that she said “it is the responsibility of the party’s leadership in the House of Representatives to hold accountable egregious words and actions made by Members of the Party.”

“Now is the time for you to rise to the challenge you have set for yourself,” said GOP Reps. Carlos Gimenez of Florida, Young Kim of California, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan, Chris Jacobs and Nicole Malliotakis of New York and Mario Díaz-Balart and Maria Salazar of Florida.

Fox News’ Houston Keene and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Migrant crossings hit 10 year high this fiscal year amid border crisis, with four months to go

The number of migrants who have been encountered illegally crossing the U.S. border so far this fiscal year has hit a 10 year high, with more than four months still to go — as the Biden administration struggles to contain a continuing crisis at the southern border.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced this week that the number of migrants encountered at the border in May was more than 180,000, a massive spike over the 23,000 encountered during the same month in 2020 — and nearly 40,000 over the highest month of the 2019 border crisis.

TEXAS, ARIZONA GOVS CALLING FOR STATES TO SEND POLICE TO THE BORDER TO HELP DEAL WITH BORDER CRISIS

It means that 898,949 migrants have been encountered by Border Patrol so far this fiscal year, which began in October, with four months left to go. That is the highest since FY 2006, where there were more than one million encounters at the southern border overall. It is likely that 2021 will exceed that number eventually.

It is also higher than the approximately 859,000 encountered in FY 2019, and the 405,000 encountered in FY 2020. The stat was first reported by Axios before CBP officially released its May numbers.

The Biden administration has come under heavy criticism for its handling of the crisis at the southern border — with critics accusing it of encouraging illegal immigration with rollbacks of Trump-era enforcement and border policies.

HARRIS SAYS SHE WILL VISIT THE SOUTHERN BORDER BUT DOES NOT INDICATE WHEN

The Biden administration, meanwhile, has sought to blame “root causes” of migration in Central America like poverty, violence and climate change. Vice President Kamala Harris, who has not visited the border, was in Guatemala and Mexico recently for talks with leaders about solving root causes.

She touted a number of measures designed to help those countries stem the root causes, but said issues like Mexico’s refusal to take back migrant families turned back from the U.S. by Title 42 public health protections was not discussed.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

She did, however, have a stark message for potential migrants in Guatemala.

“Do not come,” she said. “Do not come.”

Biden to designate Pulse nightclub as national memorial, renews gun control calls on mass shooting anniversary

President Joe Biden announced Saturday that he would designate Pulse nightclub, where 49 people were gunned down five years ago, a national memorial, as he again called on Congress to pass gun control legislation.

In Orlando, Florida, a gunman opened fire, killing 49 and leaving 53 wounded at the LGBTQ nightclub in 2016.

Biden pushed for the Senate to take up House-passed legislation to close loopholes to background checks, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, establish “red flag” laws and eliminate gun manufacturers’ liability immunity.

He also said the nation must acknowledge the impact of gun violence on the LGBTQ community.

“We must drive out hate and inequities that contribute to the epidemic of violence and murder against transgender women – especially transgender women of color,” the president said.

CALIFORNIA FILES APPEAL AFTER JUDGE OVERTURNS DECADES-OLD ASSAULT WEAPON BAN

Biden also called on the Senate to pass the Equality Act, which bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Biden said he’d kept in touch with the families that lost loved ones in the nightclub tragedy. He said they “remind us that we must do more than remember victims of gun violence and all of the survivors, family members, and friends left behind; we must act.”

On Friday, domestic policy advisor Susan Rice and senior advisor Cedric Richmond hosted a virtual roundtable with LGBTQ+ leaders, gun violence survivors and gun control advocates.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

On Saturday Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff dropped in to the Capital Pride walk.

“We need to make sure that our transgender community and our youth are all protected. We need, still, protections around employment and housing,” Harris said. “There is so much more work to do, and I know we are committed.”

Nikki Haley visits Israel as part of ‘solidarity mission’ as Dem infighting continues in US

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is visiting Israel as part of a “solidarity mission” to the U.S. ally — just as Democrats are fighting among themselves over their positions on the conflict between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas.

“No matter the challenges, the people of Israel always celebrate life and thank God for their blessings,” Haley tweeted with an image of her praying at the Western Wall. “It’s humbling to join them again in prayer at such a holy place.”

MODERATE DEMS ‘FRUSTRATED’ BY OMAR’S ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ ISRAEL COMMENTS, WANT TO MOVE ON

Haley and her husband Michael were in Jerusalem as part of a mission by the group Christians United for Israel that it described as a “solidarity mission” to Israel.

“We remain committed to unequivocally standing with our nation’s closest ally and will forever pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” the group tweeted.

Haley is one of a number of Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to visit the country in recent weeks after Israel responded to rocket attacks launched by Hamas with airstrikes of its own.

While Republicans have backed Israel almost universally, Democrats have been split on the issue. The White House carefully expressed support for the ally, while pushing for a cease-fire. But some of the more left-wing members of the House caucus was critical of Israel and the administration’s support for what it saw as an excessive response.

BIDEN AND THE SQUAD’S TLAIB STAGE HEATED CONFRONTATION ON TARMAC IN DETROIT

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who has caused controversy with past anti-Israel remarks, sparked fresh outrage this week when she issued a tweet Monday about “unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.”

But, after criticism from fellow Democrats, she partially walked back the statement Thursday, saying there is “not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the U.S. and Israel. “

Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Elaine Luria, D-Va., and Brad Schneider, D-Ill., all signed onto a statement by a group of House Democrats saying the initial comments, “equating the United States and Israel to Hamas… at best discredits one’s intended argument and at worst reflects deep-seated prejudice.” They expressed varying degrees of forgiveness for Omar Thursday and Friday after she met their demand to revisit her statement.

DEM INFIGHTING INTENSIFIES AS BIDEN MEETS BRITS AT SWANKY UK RETREAT

“There’s a long history of comments here that I have found unacceptable and deeply concerning and this just adds to the record. So am I satisfied? I’m just really frustrated by the continued series of comments targeted at the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Gottheimer told Fox News when asked if he was “satisfied” with Omar’s clarification.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who also criticized Omar, on Friday said she has no interest in taking disciplinary action against Omar despite calls from some Republicans to remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“I think that she clarified her remarks and that was, we accepted that and she, she, she has a point that she wanted to make and she has a right to make that point. There was some unease about how it was interpreted,” Pelosi said.

Previously, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., had slammed Biden for his pro-Israel stance at the beginning of the renewal of hostilities.

“Blanket statements like these [with] little context or acknowledgement of what precipitated this cycle of violence – namely, the expulsions of Palestinians and attacks on Al Aqsa – dehumanize Palestinians [and] imply the U.S. will look the other way at human rights violations. It’s wrong.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“By only stepping in to name Hamas’ actions – which are condemnable – [and] refusing to acknowledge the rights of Palestinians, Biden reinforces the false idea that Palestinians instigated this cycle of violence,” Ocasio-Cortez added. “This is not neutral language. It takes a side – the side of occupation.”

Haley, meanwhile, had challenged Ocasio-Cortez’s claims that Israel was targeting schools and civilians.

“You are either mistaken or intentionally lying,” Haley tweeted at the progressive congresswoman.

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

Hamas condemns Ilhan Omar for comparing them to US, Israel

Rep. Ilhan Omar drew condemnation from all sides for comparing “atrocities” committed by Hamas, Israel and the U.S., among others.

Hamas issued a statement praising Omar for “defending justice,” but criticizing the Minnesota Democrat for comparing the Palestinian militant group to the U.S. and Israel.

The terrorist organization said Omar had equated the “victim” to the “oppressor.”

“She equated the resistance of the Palestinian people on the one hand, and the crimes of the Israeli occupation in Palestine and the American aggression in Afghanistan on the other,” wrote Dr. Basem Naim from Hamas’ international relations office.

“We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] where people are supposed to go for justice,” Omar tweeted Monday.

“We appreciate Mrs. Ilhan Omar’s stances in defending justice and the rights of the oppressed around the world, foremost of which are the just rights of our Palestinian people, but we deplore this unfair combination,” Naim wrote.

OMAR BACKPEDALS COMMENTS ABOUT US, ISRAEL AFTER DEMOCRATIC COLLEAGUES CONDEMN HER REMARKS

Meanwhile, 12 Jewish Democratic House members blasted her comparison as “offensive” and “misguided” in a letter. They urged her to clarify her words.

Omar then called criticism of her words “Islamophobic” and “offensive.”

But days later, as criticism piled on from all the way up to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Omar issued a clarification.

“On Monday, I asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken about an ongoing International Criminal Court investigations,” Omar said in the statement. “To be clear: the conversation was about accountability for specific incidents regarding those ICC cases, not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the U.S. and Israel.”

PELOSI SIGNALS NO FURTHER ACTION AGAINST OMAR

The “Squad” member added that she was “in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems.”

Eight House Republicans, led by Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida, demanded in a letter to Pelosi that she remove Omar from her committee assignments – just as Democrats earlier this year pushed to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., from her committee assignments after making controversial comments.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

After Omar’s clarification, Pelosi said the matter was settled.

Iran hardliner linked to mass executions likely to become next president, as regime excludes opponents

Iran’s theocratic regime is paving the way for a hardliner, who is linked to mass executions and human rights abuses, to become the country’s next president — as dissidents cry foul over what they see as a rigged election, and are calling for mass boycotts.

Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s judiciary chief who lost the 2017 contest against now-outgoing President Hassan Rouhani, is seen as the favorite to win the June 19 vote.

SATELLITE IMAGES OF IRAN NUCLEAR SITE RAISE ALARMS AS IAEA MEETS IN VIENNA

June 8, 201: In this picture made available by Young Journalists Club, YJC, presidential candidates, from left to right, Mohsen Rezaei, Alireza Zakani, Mohsen Mehralizadeh, Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Saeed Jalili, Ebrahim Raisi, , and Abdolnasser Hemmati attend their second TV debate in a state-run TV studio, in Tehran, Iran. (Morteza Fakhri Nezhad/ Young Journalists Club, YJC via AP).

Raisi was one of a number of officials sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2019 over human rights abuses. The Treasury Department cited U.S. reports that, under Raisi, the judiciary had sanctioned the execution of child offenders and arrested lawyers for defending political prisoners and human rights defenders.

Raisi previously served as prosecutor general of Tehran between 1989 and 1994 as well as the first deputy head of the judiciary between 2004 and 2014. The U.S. government has noted his involvement in what it described as a “brutal” crackdown on Iran’s Green Movement protesters following the 2009 election.

Dissidents have zeroed in on his role in a “death commission” that ordered the executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988. Iranian political prisoners were asked to identify themselves and those who responded “mujahedeen” were sent to their deaths, while others were questioned about their willingness to “clear minefields for the army of the Islamic Republic,” according to a 1990 Amnesty International report. Estimates for how many were killed range from 5,000 to 30,000.

When Raisi was appointed head of the judiciary in 2019, then-deputy State Department spokesman Robert Palladino called the move a “disgrace.”

“Ebrahim Raeesi, involved in mass executions of political prisoners, was chosen to lead #Iran’s judiciary. What a disgrace!” he tweeted. “The regime makes a mockery of the legal process by allowing unfair trials and inhumane prison conditions. Iranians deserve better!”

The National Council of Resistance of Iran’s (NCRI) President-elect Maryam Rajavi, described Raisi in a statement as “the henchman of the 1988 massacre” and “one of the worst criminals against humanity in the last 50 years.”

IRANIAN SHIPS ROUND CAPE OF GOOD HOPE FOR FIRST TIME, POSSIBLY TOWARD VENEZUELA: REPORTS

As with most elections in Iran, the contest has been dogged by accusations that it is being rigged to benefit the Ayatollah’s favored candidates — in this case, it is Raisi. Khamenei’s Guardian Council has disqualified a number of candidates who could compete with Raisi, including a number of moderate and reform candidates. The NCRI has called for Iranians to boycott the election in protest.

The State Department, in response to a request for comment from Fox News, on Saturday said that Iranians “should be allowed to exercise their right to choose their own leaders in free and fair elections.”

“As senior Iranian officials themselves have noted, the disqualifications of qualified candidates by the Guardian Council are a threat to political competition and voter participation,” a spokesperson said.

Rajavi described it as a sign that the regime in its final stages, as it faces pressure from the resistance in the country and international pressure from outside.

“Khamenei took steps to consolidate the regime and maximize repression by purging presidential candidates who had participated in all of the regime’s crimes over the past 40 years. This is a clear sign of the regime’s crisis of overthrow and the final phase of the religious, terrorist dictatorship,” she said in a statement.

NETANYAHU SLAMS IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL POSSIBILITY, WILLING TO RISK ‘FRICTION’ WITH US

Raisi has centered his campaign on a strong anti-corruption campaign, promising that corruption will be “dried up” if he is elected.

Raisi also benefits by public discontent with Rouhani who, as a relative moderate by the regime’s standards at least, has been plagued by protests over human rights abuses, a botched handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a “maximum pressure” campaign from the Trump administration that has weakened the Iranian economy is only now set to expire with the Biden administration.

An election of Raisi to the presidency could make U.S. and European negotiations with Iran more difficult. The Biden administration has sought to end the “maximum pressure” campaign and re-enter the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Negotiations are ongoing in Vienna to bring both the U.S. and Iran back into the deal. But NCRI activists have warned that Raisi will continue the policies of repression at home, as well as using proxies to wield its influence in the region — and warned nations not to engage with a Raisi-led regime.’

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Any interaction and cooperation with the clerical regime will be in service of the repression and slaughter of the Iranian people, and its nuclear weapons ambitions, and fueling wars in the region,” Rajavi said.

The State Department told Fox News that its Iran policy is designed to advance U.S. interests, regardless of Iranian political timelines or who is in power.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Judge halts Biden’s race-based aid for farmers, says challenge is ‘likely to succeed’

A Wisconsin federal judge ordered a temporary halt to a $4 billion race-based federal relief program for farmers on Thursday.

A group of White farmers had filed a lawsuit arguing the policy discriminates against them.

Milwaukee District Judge William Griesbach issued a temporary restraining order, noting the White farmers “are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim” that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) “use of race-based criteria in the administration of the program violates their right to equal protection under the law,” according to NBC News.

“The obvious response to a government agency that claims it continues to discriminate against farmers because of their race or national origin is to direct it to stop: it is not to direct it to intentionally discriminate against others on the basis of their race and national origin,” Griesbach continued.

The USDA said it disagreed with the restraining order.

“We respectfully disagree with this temporary order and USDA will continue to forcefully defend our ability to carry out this act of Congress and deliver debt relief to socially disadvantaged borrowers,” a USDA spokesperson told Fox News. “When the temporary order is lifted, USDA will be prepared to provide the debt relief authorized by Congress.”

FARMERS REACT TO BILLIONS IN COVID RELIEF BILL FOR MINORITY FARMERS

The $4 billion provision was part of President Biden’s American Rescue package, and the funds were to be used to pay up to 120% of “socially disadvantaged,” or Black, Hispanic, Asian or Native American farmers’ outstanding debt. Twelve White farmers from nine states filed suit arguing that excluding them from the aid on account of race violated their constitutional rights.

“I think you have to take you back 20, 30 years when we know for a fact that socially disadvantaged producers were discriminated against by the United States Department of Agriculture. We know this. We have reimbursed people in the past for those acts of discrimination, but we’ve never absolutely dealt with the cumulative effect,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in May, defending the aid.

The USDA settled multi-billion-dollar discrimination lawsuits with minority farmers in 1999 and 2010.

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY DEFENDS RACE-BASED COVID AID, CITING HISTORICAL DISCRIMINATION

“Secondly, when you look at the COVID relief packages that had been passed and distributed by USDA prior to the American Rescue Plan, and you take a look at who disproportionately received the benefits of those COVID payments, it’s pretty clear that White farmers did pretty well under that program because of the way it was structured and structured on size and structured on production. So I think there is a very legitimate reason for doing what we are doing,” the secretary continued.

Black farmers accounted for approximately one-sixth of farmers in 1920, but less than 2% of farms were run by Black producers by 2017, according to USDA data.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Minority farmers have maintained for decades that they have been unfairly denied government loans and other forms of assistance. Many of them complained that under Vilsack’s previous tenure – as agriculture secretary during the Obama years – he did little to settle a backlog of 14,000 discrimination complaints from the Bush administration. The Bush administration had found discrimination in only one of those cases.

Farmers spoke out against the relief program in March.

“Just because you’re a certain color you don’t have to pay back money? I don’t care if you’re purple, black, yellow, white, gray, if you borrow money you have to pay it back,” Kelly Griggs, who runs her 1,800-acre farm with her husband in Humboldt, Tennessee, told Fox News in an interview.

“My reaction is, Where did common sense go?” Griggs said. “We can’t strike. We can’t stop. That’s the part that really sucks. These people in Washington who make decisions for us and our livelihood have probably never stepped foot on a real farm.”

Another farmer, Benji Anderson of Georgia, expressed concern about the program.

“I think it should be distributed to everyone,” Anderson told Fox News. “Because one thing we all have in common, it doesn’t matter about color or race or whatever, we’re all farmers, all working together to feed the United States.”

Fox News’ Evie Fordham contributed to this report.

Texas, Arizona govs calling for states to send police to the border to help deal with border crisis

The governors of Texas and Arizona are calling on their counterparts in other states to send law enforcement to the border to help stem the crisis at the southern border that has overwhelmed officials and border states.

“On behalf of Texas and Arizona, we respectfully but urgently request that you send all available law-enforcement resources to the border in defense of our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona wrote in a letter to their fellow governors this week.

MIGRANT CHILDREN’S FLIGHTS PROMPT IOWA, TENNESSEE GOVERNORS TO DEMAND ANSWERS FROM BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

Both the federal government and border states have been dealing with a surge in migration to the border, with more than 180,000 migrants encountered in May alone — including more than 10,000 unaccompanied children.

Texas and Arizona have seen a number of facilities built, opened or refashioned to house the migrants coming across the border — including the use of hotels by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Officials have complained that migrants are often let loose into communities and able to travel to wherever they want.

Both states have sued over the Biden administration’s policies, arguing that border states are hurt the most by the relaxing of Trump-era border and enforcement measures.

But the governors warned other states that it will have a knock-on effect to their states too.

FBI DIRECTOR CONFIRMS MEXICO CARTEL ACTIVITY ‘SPILLING OVER’ INTO US AMID BORDER CRISIS

“This failure to enforcement federal immigration laws causes banns that spill over into every State. The cartels will see to it that their deadly fentanyl and human-trafficking victims reach far and wide,” the letter says. “The convicted criminals they smuggle into the homeland will bring recidivism with them to far too many of your communities.”

While the governors noted the billions they had spent in border and public safety in recent years, as well as disaster declarations, they argue that “additional manpower is needed from any State that can spare it.”

DHS ANNOUNCES PLAN TO USE BORDER WALL MONEY TO ADDRESS SAFETY, ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

“Texas and Arizona have stepped up to secure the border in the federal government’s absence, and now the Emergency Management Assistance Compact gives your state a chance to stand strong with us,” the governors say.

The letter is the latest warning that the migration crisis, which has shown no signs of dissipating any time soon, is affecting non-border states.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

This week, the governors of Iowa and Tennessee have again raised concerns about unaccompanied migrant children being flown into their states — and have called for hearings into what they describe as a lack of transparency from the Biden administration on the matter.

Biden will hold solo press conference after Putin meeting

President Biden will hold a solo press conference in Switzerland after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week, the White House said Saturday morning.

“While we are still finalizing the format for the meeting with President Putin and his delegation, we can confirm a few details, including the plan for both a working session and a smaller session, as well as a solo press conference by President Biden following the meeting,” a White House official said.

Biden’s meeting with Putin will happen Wednesday and be the culmination of his Europe trip. Biden before then is participating in summits with the United Kingdom, the G7, NATO and the European Union.

Biden did a bilateral press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday morning and did the same with United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson Thursday.

U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive on Air Force One at Cornwall Airport Newquay, near Newquay, England, ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall, early Thursday, June 10, 2021. (Phil Noble/Pool Photo via AP)
(AP)

PUTIN CALLS TRUMP AN ‘EXTRAORDINARY INDIVIDUAL,’ BIDEN A ‘CAREER MAN’

Joint press conferences are often used to show unity between foreign leaders. Biden said “We’re on the same page” in his conference with Macron Saturday. But the White House alluded to the simmering tensions between the U.S. and its geopolitical rival Russia in its statement on the solo press conference Saturday.

“We expect this meeting to be candid and straightforward and a solo press conference is the appropriate format to clearly communicate with the free press the topics that were raised in the meeting—both in terms of areas where we may agree and in areas where we have significant concerns,” the White House official said.

“We’re under no illusions that this is going to be an easy relationship,” a senior administration official said in a background call with reporters Saturday, regarding the U.S.-Russia relationship.

“The President has been very clear in two phone calls now with President Putin that, perhaps unlike some of his predecessors, he is not going to simply elide or gloss over the differences that we have; he’s going to take them on with candor and directly,” the senior administration official said.

Biden’s meeting with Putin comes at an extraordinarily tense time for the relationship between the two countries. Among the points of contention are arms control; Russia’s ambitions in Eastern Europe; cyber-security and Russian criminals allegedly behind recent ransomware attacks on American companies and infrastructure; sanctions; the health of imprisoned Russian dissent leader Alexei Navalny; and more.

In this file photo taken on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and the new U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan shake hands during a ceremony to receive credentials from newly appointed foreign ambassadors to Russia in Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia. Sullivan said he was heading home for consultations and would return to Moscow in the nearest weeks. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)

WHITE HOUSE SAYS BIDEN-PUTIN MEETING NOT A ‘REWARD’ FOR RUSSIA

Putin in an interview with NBC News Friday called Biden a “career man” in politics who is likely to provide stable decision-making, but also said U.S.-Russian relations have deteriorated to their “lowest point in recent years.”

“That’s a different kind of person, and it is my great hope that yes, there are some advantages, some disadvantages, but there will not be any impulse-based movements, on behalf of the sitting U.S. president,” Putin told NBC.

The Russian president also snapped at anchor Lester Holt when asked about the litany of his political opponents who have died through various means in what most consider politically motivated assassinations ordered by Putin. He said of Holt’s question on the topic: “This looks like some kind of indigestion except that it’s verbal indigestion. You’ve mentioned many individuals who indeed suffered and perished at different points in time for various reasons, at the hands of different individuals.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Biden, notably, has publicly called Putin a “killer.”

Fox News’ Patrick Ward and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

Cheney challenger says he’s surpassed $500K fundraising in bid to unseat ousted GOP conference chair

Wyoming state Sen. Anthony Bouchard, a Republican who’s challenging Rep. Liz Cheney for her House seat after she voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, told Fox News that he’s raised more than $500,00 so far in his campaign.

“My campaign has topped half a million and we are gunning for the million dollar mark by the end of the year,” Bouchard said in a statement to Fox News.

Bouchard had raised over $330,000 by the April 15 reporting deadline and hit $400,000 before early May. That means contributions have continued to flow in at a steady clip even after the initial rush when he announced his campaign in January.

That’s a significant haul for Bouchard, who has been the biggest fundraiser among the challengers to Cheney, R-Wyo., and one of the most successful fundraisers among the group of primary challengers to House Republicans who voted to impeach the former president. The only one who’s raised more money is former Trump aide Max Miller, who Trump endorsed for his campaign against Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio.

Wyoming state Sen. Anthony Bouchard who is challenging Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in the primary race, speaks to supporters after a rally against Cheney on January 28, 2021 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

LIZ CHENEY OUSTED FROM ROLE AS HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE CHAIR

But Bouchard’s fundraising numbers pale in comparison to Cheney’s. The incumbent raked in $1.54 million from January to March. That was five times the amount she raised during the same time period two years ago, reflecting that high-profile support for or opposition to Trump can help spur donations to a campaign.

Even after Trump’s impeachment trial Cheney continued to emphasize that she does not believe he should play a role in the future of the Republican Party. And she regularly disputed his false claims that the presidential election was stolen.

Those comments were sowing discord in the House GOP caucus, where Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was seeking to mend fences with Trump ahead of the 2022 midterms and where many rank-and-file members still consider themselves staunch Trump supporters.

Cheney survived an attempt to oust her from her leadership position in February before eventually being canned as the House GOP conference chair over her opposition to Trump last month.

Trump has called Cheney “bad for our Country and bad for herself” and said he will make an endorsement of one of her primary challengers, but has not yet done so.

LIZ CHENEY PRIMARY CHALLENGER ANTHONY BOUCHARD SAYS HE IMPREGNATED 14-YEAR-OLD GIRL WHEN HE WAS 18

Cheney, for her part, is now casting herself as one of the leaders of the anti-Trump movement in the Republican Party after her ouster from House Republican leadership.

U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center February 27, 2020 in National Harbor, Maryland. Cheney was ousted from her role as the House Republican conference chair in 2021 due to her opposition to former President Donald Trump. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

“Bring it on,” she said on NBC when asked about the desire of Trump and his allies to back a primary challenger to remove her from her House seat. “As I said, if they think that they are going to come into Wyoming and make the argument that the people of Wyoming should vote for someone who is loyal to Donald Trump over somebody who is loyal to the Constitution, I welcome that debate.”

“I think that it’s very important for us to be a party based on truth. I think it’s important for us to understand the threat that the claims that the former president is making, the threat is ongoing,” she added in an interview on “Special Report” on Fox News.

Among the other challengers to Cheney in the Wyoming Republican primary are Wyoming state Rep. Chuck Gray and lawyer Darin Smith.

Bouchard’s campaign hit a bump late last month when he disclosed that when he was 18-years-old he got a 14-year-old girl pregnant. He said that people had been investigating the matter in relation to his campaign. Cheney Spokesman Jeremy Adler told Fox News that Cheney’s team had “absolutely no involvement” in looking into this chapter of Bouchard’s past.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Bouchard said he and the woman, whom he did not name, were under “a lot of pressure, pressure to abort a baby. I got to tell you, I wasn’t gonna do it. And neither was she.” On choosing not to abort the child and to get married, Bouchard said, “I did the right thing.”

“This is really a message about how dirty politics is. They’ll stop at nothing, man,” he also said. “They’re willing to go back almost 40 years to something that happened in my youth.”

Wyoming is considered a safe seat for whichever Republican wins the primary race.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Politics

Footer

Public File Info