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Politics

Crenshaw blasts Biden admin, claims they don’t like ‘anything the American working class might actually want’

President Biden‘s executive orders about the economy prove that his administration is “going to keep talking about unity but they don’t want to unify behind anything the American working class might actually want,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, told “Fox News Primetime” Friday.

Crenshaw told host Brian Kilmeade that he was disappointed to see Biden sign several job-killing executive orders on his first day in office, including one canceling the Keystone XL pipeline in the name of preventing climate change.

“This is really about the culture war to them, and for them fossil fuels are just evil. They don’t know why, they don’t have to tell you why, you’re stupid if you ask why,” he said. “But they just want to tell you they’re evil.

“The truth is,” Crenshaw added, “when you build pipelines … you’re building a much cleaner and safer way than, say, transporting it by truck or by train. You’re also helping North American energy independence, which is what our Canadian friends are alluding to, because if we’re not producing it and if we’re not exporting cleaner-produced oil and cleaner-produced natural gas to the rest of the world, you know who is? Russia, Venezuela, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and they all do it dirtier than we do.”

ALBERTA PREMIER: BIDEN DISRESPECTED AMERICA’S CLOSEST FRIEND BY CANCELING KEYSTONE PIPELINE

Crenshaw added that the jobs destroyed by the pipeline cancelation, as well as Biden’s ambition to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, will reappear in China or another economic rival to the U.S.

“They need to confront the fact that when you drastically raise the minimum wage all of a sudden to $15 an hour, you’re gonna cut out millions of jobs across America,” the Republican said of the administration. “That’s not according to me, that’s according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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“I’ve got small businesses in my district begging me to do something about this,” Crenshaw added. “‘You can’t let them do this,’ they say. ‘We will immediately lose our business. We’re already hanging by a thread.’ Here’s what it’s going to come down to: If you’re going to claim you’re the party of the working class, you actually have to support working, and they just won’t do that.”

California coronavirus vaccine rollout lagging behind most states

The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in California – the most populous state in the U.S. – is proceeding at a slower pace than most, if not all, other states.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that California has received 4.7 million doses of the vaccine – but it has only administered 1.8 million doses.

The data show it is doling out doses at a rate of roughly 4,565 per 100,000 people, which is slower than Texas, New York, Florida, Connecticut, Michigan, Georgia, and many others.

Data from Bloomberg ranks California dead-last among all 50 U.S. states in terms of the percentage of shots utilized (37.3%).

The CDC data suggests a slightly higher percent utilization rate of 38.2%.

CALIFORNIA HEALTH EXPERTS QUESTION WHETHER STATE’S OUTDOOR DINING BAN CONTRIBUTED TO CORONAVIRUS SURGE 

About 3.4% of the state’s roughly 40 million residents have received a dose, according to The Los Angeles Times, ranking it 51 out of 59 states and U.S. territories. The publication’s data shows California behind just Missouri, Nevada and Alabama in terms of the number of first doses distributed.

A spokesperson for Newsom’s office did not return Fox News’ request for comment on the pace of the rollout.

As previously reported by Fox News, Newsom recently applauded the state over its vaccine program, saying it had administered more than 40% of its vaccine doses to frontline workers and the state’s most vulnerable residents.

But Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., characterized Newsom’s handling of the vaccine distribution as “inept” during an interview with Fox News last weekend.

“We are so far behind in dispensing the vaccine, [Newsom] hasn’t been forward-leading,” Issa said. “The vaccines are not being distributed nearly fast enough in California, there are freezers full of vaccines that are not being put into people’s arms.”

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It should be noted, however, that California is currently dealing with one of the most severe virus outbreaks in the U.S. It has more than 3 million confirmed cases to date.

In response, the state has kept strict lockdown guidance in place – a controversial choice that has opened Newsom’s administration up further to criticism.

Many states throughout the U.S. have experienced challenges when administering the vaccine.

In the U.S. overall, more than 39.8 million doses have been distributed – and 19.1 million administered, according to data from the CDC. Only about 2.7 million people have received the required two doses necessary to maximize immunity.

President Biden has pledged to accelerate the process – promising to distribute 100 million doses of the vaccine in 100 days.

Squad member Pressley: ‘Past time to end the Jim Crow Filibuster’

After the White House declined to weigh in on the filibuster debate Friday, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, didn’t mince words on where she stood. 

“It’s long past time to end the Jim Crow Filibuster,” the Massachusetts “Squad” member wrote on Twitter. 

With the Senate split 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris offering a tie-breaking vote, Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been fighting to get Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to rule out nuking the 60-vote hurdle to end debate on most legislation. 

Barack Obama related the filibuster to Jim Crow in a memorial service for the iconic late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. 

SANDERS ON DEMS GETTING LEGISLATION THROUGH WITH FILIBUSTER: ‘DAMN RIGHT WE WILL’

“You want to honor John? Let’s honor him by revitalizing the law that he was willing to die for,” Obama said referring to the Voting Rights Act. “And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster – another Jim Crow relic – in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that’s what we should do.”

But the filibuster is not tied to the Jim Crow era. In 1805, Vice President Aaron Burr, presiding over the senate, removed what he believed to be redundant language from the Senate rule book and cut the  “previous question motion” which would have allowed a majority of lawmakers to end debate and force a vote on a bill. Senators over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries tried to reinstate the previous question motion, but their opponents would kill it by filibuster. 

PSAKI WON’T SAY WHERE BIDEN STANDS ON FILIBUSTER 

It took until 1917 for the Senate to enact a “cloture” rule, taking away the power from a single senator or group of senators from thwarting debate on their own. From then on, a new rule allowed two-thirds of senators to agree to cut off debate and bring a bill to the floor. That fraction was changed to three-fifths in 1975.

Some historians say that the filibuster has been used to obstruct civil rights legislation in the past, but more recently the more daring members of both parties have called to eliminate it. 

President Trump repeatedly browbeat McConnell over the current filibuster rule for legislation, when Republicans only held a 51-49 advantage in the Senate.

Nixing the filibuster can be done by a mere 50-plus-one majority if Senate Democrats decide to do so. That is what Democrats did, using a “nuclear option” for lower-court nominations during former President Obama’s time in office, and what Republicans did for Supreme Court nominations during President Trump’s term. 

As McConnell and Schumer spar over power-sharing in their split Senate, the plan remains at an impasse over the filibuster issue. 

“I’ve been heartened to hear my colleague say he wants the same rules from the 2000s to apply today. Because certainly 20 years ago there was no talk of tearing down long-standing minority rights on legislation,” McConnell said in floor remarks Thursday. “The legislative filibuster is a crucial part of the Senate. Leading Democrats like President Biden himself have long defended it.”

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McConnell then accused Democrats of “liberally” using the filibuster to block GOP legislation during the past six years that Republicans controlled the Senate. Democrats did this on notable occasions in 2020 when Republicans brought up police reform legislation and coronavirus relief bills that Democrats did not think were ambitious enough.

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report. 

‘We’ll do something’: Trump offers first remarks since leaving office

Former President Donald Trump was mysterious about his future plans in his first public remarks since leaving the White House earlier this week, but he suggested action is in the works, according to a report.

The former president was asked to comment on his next step as he sat down for dinner at the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump gave a short response before one of his aides told the Washington Examiner reporter to leave.

“We’ll do something, but not just yet,” Trump said.

Trump arrived at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Wednesday morning shortly before President Biden was inaugurated and was spotted golfing at his club the following day. So far, Trump has given little indication about what he plans to do following his term in office.

Democratic lawmakers have moved forward impeachment proceedings over Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, announced the preliminary schedule for Trump’s trial on Friday evening, days after House lawmakers voted to impeach the former president on a single count of incitement of insurrection.

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Trial participants will be sworn in on Jan. 26. At that point, legal teams for both sides will begin preparing briefs and arguments for the case. Trial proceedings will begin the week of Feb. 8.

If the Senate votes to convict Trump on the impeachment charge, he could then be barred from running for office again in the future, dashing hopes from his supporters for a 2024 presidential bid.

Trump impeachment trial delayed until week of Feb. 8, Schumer says

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on Friday lawmakers will wait to carry out President Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings for several weeks, following a brief standoff on Capitol Hill over timing.

Earlier on Friday, Schumer said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., intended to deliver the article on Monday – thereby triggering the impeachment process.

Under the revised process, the article will still be delivered on Monday at 7 p.m. ET, and senators will be sworn in on Tuesday. But each side will now have two weeks to prepare, delaying the onset of the trial until the week of Feb. 8.

During the interim, lawmakers will move forward with other items on President Biden’s agenda.

BIDEN SUGGESTS DELAYED IMPEACHMENT TIMELINE MAY BE ‘BETTER’

As previously reported by Fox News, Biden said on Friday that a delayed timeline might be “better” for him to get his administration up and running more quickly.

“The more time we have to get up and running to meet these crises, the better,” Biden said during a press event with reporters.

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McConnell laid out a pre-trial procedure on Thursday that would have effectively delayed the proceedings a couple of weeks – with the intent of having the article read on Jan. 28 and the trial start the week of Feb. 15. The idea gained support among Republicans.

Schumer’s announcement appears to be a compromise.

Democrats have maintained that the Senate is capable of multitasking – juggling the critical tasks of confirming Biden’s Cabinet nominees, passing COVID-19 relief measures and undertaking the impeachment trial simultaneously.

On the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, questions remain in Planned Parenthood controversies

As the nation marks the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and President Trump’s term has come to an end, questions remain about how the former administration had addressed congressional concerns surrounding Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s (PPFA) fetal-tissue practices and its lack of action that ultimately prompted criticism from conservatives.

Roughly a week before Trump left office, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed a rule that would purportedly strengthen requirements for informed consent from mothers, as well as prevent fetal-tissue trafficking in federally funded studies — issues raised after HHS terminated in 2018 its contract with a tissue procurer that worked with PPFA.

But while HHS has taken on those and other measures, the federal government hasn’t followed up on key issues flagged in 2016 by a House select panel that started in response to David Daleiden’s explosive undercover videos released in 2015. News of a DOJ inquiry surfaced in 2017 and the former administration remained mum on the controversial allegations up through President Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday. 

Daleiden’s videos and depositions from his civil trial with the abortion provider prompted accusations that PPFA had violated federal law by altering abortions in order to sell fetal tissue — something it vehemently denies. Congressional investigators also sent referrals to HHS for potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), but it’s unclear how the department proceeded.

“Under the Trump administration, the Department of Justice was right to start an investigation into Planned Parenthood selling body parts from aborted babies,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told Fox News in December. “This practice is abhorrent, and the Department of Justice should finish what it started back in 2017.” 

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BLOCKS FUNDING FOR CALIFORNIA, BRINGS DOJ LAWSUIT OVER ABORTION ISSUES

A national leader in the pro-life movement told Fox News: “Planned Parenthood was caught red-handed, on film, illegally trafficking in baby body parts. A select House committee investigation referred to DOJ specific evidence years ago and yet not one federal prosecutor had the guts to bring a case. Disgusting!” DOJ did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment, and it’s unclear whether they considered the publicly available information in any investigation.

Daleiden also issued multiple statements criticizing the administration as a medical study caught attention at the end of last year for grafting fetal scalps onto rodents. The scalps, which the research paper described as containing “full-thickness human skin,” came from the Health Sciences Tissue Bank at the University of Pittsburgh. That entity, now known as the Pitt Biospecimen Core, obtains tissue from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), which has received federal funding and worked with Planned Parenthood. Both UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh have denied wrongdoing.

Daleiden said it was “outrageous that the same week we learn more about the depraved experiments at the University of Pittsburgh, the best DOJ leadership can do at an event with the vice president is to announce a conscience lawsuit in Vermont.”

As he noted, former Vice President Pence gave a “Life is Winning” speech last month that was attended by prominent leaders in the movement. Under him and President Trump, the administration has pursued a series of controversial decisions that led some conservatives to label Trump the “most pro-life president” in U.S. history.

TESTIMONY FROM PLANNED PARENTHOOD, TISSUE PROCURER SHEDS LIGHT ON BABIES BORN ALIVE, WITH BEATING HEARTS

Pro-life leaders have praised Trump for, among other things, defunding PPFA through Title X, becoming the first president to speak at the March for Life, moving to grant conscience exemptions for medical workers who don’t want to perform the procedure, moving to restrict fetal tissue research, and pushing a 20-week ban that was ultimately rejected by the Senate.

But now Vice President Kamala Harris, who prosecuted Daleiden in an unprecedented criminal case as California’s attorney general, has taken office. Her replacement in California was Xavier Becerra, who also participated in Daleiden’s prosecution and has opposed pro-life efforts pushed by the department (HHS) he’s been tapped to lead under President Biden.

Pence’s office and the Justice Department did not respond to Fox News’ requests for comment. When contacted, the Trump White House didn’t comment either.

In the midst of the dispute over fetal-tissue research, Planned Parenthood brought a civil lawsuit against Daleiden and other parties alleging that workers at PPFA clinics had been secretly recorded in violation of federal and state laws. In 2019, a federal jury ordered Daleiden and other defendants to pay nearly $2.3 million in damages. Recently, a federal judge ordered Daleiden and his associates to pay $13.6 million in legal fees to the plaintiff. While that case has already been decided, Justice Department findings could theoretically impact other legal proceedings surrounding Daleiden’s challenges to PPFA. 

Questions remain years after the release of controversial undercover videos of Planned Parenthood officials

Five years after the release of Daleiden’s videos, their impact continues to ripple through the legal system and fuel debate about how aborted baby body parts are used in research. But despite the centrality of their role in conservatives’ criticism, advocates note the Trump administration’s lack of follow up on major allegations.

“We are incredibly grateful for their work,” former PPFA director and current pro-life advocate Abby Johnson said last month, referring to the Trump administration. “There are several loose ends. … We urge President Trump and his administration to swiftly act to protect those most vulnerable among us and deliver justice to the oppressed.”

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., told Fox News: “There isn’t any gray here: trafficking baby body parts is abhorrent and Planned Parenthood should have faced legal consequences.”

ANTI-ABORTION GROUP WARNING XAVIER BECERRA WOULD STRIKE ‘COMMON SENSE’ RESTRICTIONS ON ABORTION PILLS

PPFA has defended itself by citing the lack of public evidence, in addition to findings from multiple state-level investigations, while arguing that Daleiden’s videos were heavily edited — criticism that a federal judge disputed last year. Since then, Daleiden has released testimony and invoices that purportedly corroborate some of the most troubling claims in his videos; namely, that PPFA officials altered abortions in order to obtain intact or “usable” fetal tissue.

Invoices unsealed from his civil trial showed a California affiliate charging tissue procurer StemExpress $55 per “POC,” or products of conception — another term for fetal remains — and $10 per sample of blood. Three invoices — dated Aug. 2, Sept. 5, and Sept. 28 of 2012 — show the abortion provider charging a total of $24,940, along with more than 200 POCs.

PPFA has contended that its charges related to transportation and time spent by staff, apparently claiming the type of reimbursements that are allowed under federal anti-trafficking law. The invoices don’t mention either of those, however, nor do they contain the word “reimbursement.” Holly O’Donnell, a former Stem Express employee, previously told Daleiden her employer handled transportation for PPFA while a Republican-led congressional panel has similarly accused the abortion provider of double-counting costs. 

The dollar amounts assigned to fetal organs have been as high as $1,600 for a liver, thymus pair — an offer that a company, Biomax, set up by Daleiden made and was entertained by at least one affiliate of PPFA. Although the abortion provider ended in 2015 its practice of receiving reimbursements as part of tissue transfers, questions remain as to how it used those funds prior to that.

SWORN DEPOSITIONS RAISE ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS IN PLANNED PARENTHOOD FETAL TISSUE CONTROVERSY

O’Donnell previously told Daleiden that Stem Express employees coordinated closely with PPFA to fill what she likened to a “grocery list” of fetal body parts. Management, she said, heavily pressured employees and incentivized them to obtain fetal organs, which internal emails showed with dollar amounts assigned to them. Both Stem Express and Planned Parenthood have denied similar allegations O’Donnell leveled in Daleiden’s initial video with her.

PPFA has also pointed out that one of their doctors said on camera that she isn’t interested in profiting off tissue and that another also said, “We’re not in it for the money.”

Erica Sackin, senior director of communications and culture at PPFA, previously told Fox News: “The truth is that the Center for Medical Progress broke the law to try and prevent Planned Parenthood from serving the patients who depend on us, and to shut down a provider of critical sexual and reproductive health care, including cancer screenings, STI testing, birth control and abortion care. They still face criminal charges, and were ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages as a result.”

Fierce criticism has also come from StemExpress founder Cate Dyer, who lambasted Republicans’ investigation as a “witch hunt” and praised fetal tissue research for its role in producing vaccines for diseases like polio. In a July 7, 2016, statement, she added that fetal-tissue research was “essential” for developing a vaccine against the Zika virus, which was making news headlines around that time.

Since that statement, the issue has gained renewed attention with coronavirus vaccines emerging from studies utilizing fetal cell lines. And it could grow with research like the one involving fetal scalps grafted onto rodents, as well as a recently published study on tracking the development of cells extracted from 15 fetal organs. Released in November, the paper on that study said it involved “121 human fetal samples ranging from 72 to 129 days in postconceptual age.” It claims “aspects” of the project were funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a joint project between Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.

The co-author of Dyer’s statement was California-based doctor Eugene Gu, who has acquired Twitter fame while issuing morally indignant posts about President Trump. CBS News previously reported on the ethical debate that emerged from Gu’s company Ganogen, which has received StemExpress tissue, attempting to grow fetal kidneys in rats that could later be implanted in adults. Ganogen also experimented with placing fetal hearts in lab rats and posted a video of a fetal heart beating inside of a rodent. That video has since been removed, but traces of it remain on an Internet archive. Daleiden claims he alerted DOJ to these instances, and Gu did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment. The House select panel, which subpoenaed Ganogen, reported that Gu’s company paid thousands of dollars to StemExpress between 2013 and 2014.

TRUMP’S CONSERVATIVE AGENDA AT HHS STALLED BY DEPARTMENT’S OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL: SOURCES

University of Pittsburgh faces renewed attention with fetal scalp study

Both Daleiden’s and Johnson’s work has suggested some kind of organized system for transferring fetal body parts on a mass scale.

In a PureFlix interview with Johnson last year, former university employee Lori Kelly alleged a federally funded project with researchers seeking to collect bladders and kidneys from babies as late as 24 weeks into pregnancy. Kelly added that as project manager, she worked to develop “a pull-down menu of baby body parts for researchers to choose from to submit to the tissue bank, so that we could send the body parts to them.”

“And these researchers were all across the United States,” she said, “from Florida to California.” When asked, the University of Pittsburgh did not respond to Kelly’s allegations, and Kelly declined an interview request through a representative of Johnson’s organization. 

Regardless, publicly available evidence does not prove that the university violated anti-trafficking law. A 2015 review by the state’s Democratic administration also found no evidence that PPFA was involved in fetal-tissue donation in the state, and its health secretary there was “no evidence that any Planned Parenthood site in this Commonwealth is involved in the buying or selling of fetal tissue.”

But pro-life advocates argue the issue is far from over given Planned Parenthood’s relationships with the university and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). For example, the university hosted a residency program in which participants improved abortion techniques and engaged in other activities while working in UPMC facilities and a Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania (PPWP) clinic.

The 2019 annual report for the university’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences lists Dr. Beatrice Chen, who has been listed as PPWP’s medical director, under “outreach/contracted care,” along with three other doctors for that affiliate. It also identified the UMPC Magee-Women’s hospital as its “main clinical location” and lists activities of university professors practicing medicine there.

Beyond any relation to the abortion provider, the recently surfaced study on fetal scalps will likely refocus attention as Pennsylvania state legislators, like Rep. Paul Schemmel, a Republican who chairs the Pennsylvania House’s subcommittee on health care, return to work this month. “I suspect there will be investigations through multiple committees,” said Schemmel, who added he was “horrified” by the study. 

In an email obtained by Fox News, the University of Pittsburgh told lawmakers in December that it meets legal requirements for research and was unaware of any FBI investigation into its fetal-tissue practices. 

“The University of Pittsburgh complies with rigorous regulatory and ethical oversight of fetal tissue research,” Paul Supowitz, the university’s vice chancellor, told lawmakers. “The researchers in this matter followed all applicable federal and state guidelines and regulations (with Pennsylvania having one of the most restrictive set of requirements in the nation), as well as strict protocols approved by the University. The University’s Institutional Review Board approved the acquisition of stem cells.”

The FBI’s Pittsburgh office told Fox News it wouldn’t confirm or deny the existence of investigations.

UPMC also denied it was under FBI investigation and PPWP did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The university further clarified to Fox News that it and UPMC were separate entities and said that PPFA did not supply the fetal scalps used in the controversial study highlighted by Daleiden and others.

CBS ‘ABORTION ACCESS’ REPORTER SLAMS ‘TONE DEAF’ PENCE FOR HOLDING PRO-LIFE EVENT DURING PANDEMIC

“There is no procurement relationship for tissue with Planned Parenthood,” read a statement from the university.

However, one of Daleiden’s videos purported to show a 2014 exchange with Dr. Audrey Lance, who said university patients were offered the opportunity to donate to the tissue bank. Based on photos from Linkedin and other sources, Daleiden appeared to be correct in identifying the doctor as Lance, who, like Chen, was also listed as PPWP “outreach/contracted care.” Daleiden also provided Fox News a photo of a business card he said he received from Lance. It contains Lance’s name, email address with a “magee” email, and the UPMC logo. UPMC did not immediately respond when asked about this.

UPMC denied procuring tissue from Planned Parenthood and denied the organization’s doctors were involved in abortions that resulted in fetal tissue being transferred to the university’s tissue bank. 

In a statement to Fox News on Tuesday, UPMC said that Lance was part of another entity known as the University of Pittsburgh Physicians.

“University of Pittsburgh Physicians (UPP), an affiliate and subsidiary of UPMC, has numerous professional agreements with a variety of organizations across western Pennsylvania and beyond to provide specialty and subspecialty services,” a statement read. “UPP serves as an independent contractor in these agreements and does not have management responsibility over these organizations. Dr. Audrey Lance left UPP in 2018.”

Beating hearts, intact fetuses and questionable techniques

Although federal law allows fetal-tissue research, the NIH restricts how medical personnel can obtain that tissue.

Questions surrounding organ extraction intensified when video testimony surfaced with PPFA officials discussing fetal viability after abortions — raising questions about potential violations of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which guarantees abortion survivors the same rights as others. At the time, then Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., led a group of senators in requesting an update from DOJ.

“Following new videos of Planned Parenthood officials admitting to sickening criminal behavior including infanticide and fetal-tissue trafficking, I requested an update on action the Department of Justice has taken to stop this appalling behavior,” Loeffler told Fox News. She added that while she was “disappointed” she hadn’t heard back on her August inquiry, she hoped the DOJ “investigation leads to real action against Planned Parenthood.” 

PPFA did not respond to Fox News’ for comment, but it has vehemently denied selling fetal tissue and has offered various answers on whether it let infants die in its care. In a statement from 2013, the organization appeared to clarify that it offered “appropriate care” to infants and their mothers.

And in 2018, its Kentucky affiliate flatly denied that physicians committed infanticide. The national office also condemned a bill that year that would impose criminal penalties on doctors who didn’t provide abortion survivors with lifesaving care. “Medical guidelines and ethics already compel physicians facing life-threatening circumstances to respond,” the group said.

At least one Planned Parenthood official, Jon Dunn, has acknowledged that their affiliate saw an infant born alive after an abortion. “I know they kept it warm and comfortable for the very brief period that it was alive,” he stated as part of a sworn deposition in Daleiden’s civil trial.

TULSI GABBARD GETTING SLAMMED FROM THE LEFT OVER BILL PROTECTING ABORTION SURVIVORS

Dr. Deborah Nucatola, a medical director for Planned Parenthood, told Daleiden’s attorney she was “sure” she’d seen nonviable fetuses exit the uterus. By nonviable, she meant “not capable of survival.” Nucatola added she didn’t recall seeing various signs of life in these cases (movement, indication of breathing and a beating heart).

Both Nucatola and Dr. Mary Gatter — two of the PPFA officials in Daleiden’s videos — have denied altering their abortion “procedure,” instead claiming only the “technique” was altered while obtaining fetal tissue. Critics have argued, however, that is a distinction without a difference when analyzing whether they might have violated federal law in obtaining fetal tissue.

A tissue procurement manager for Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR), which worked with PPFA, similarly acknowledged in deposition testimony that she knew of fetuses leaving the mother, sometimes “intact” or with closed abdomens. 

Perrin Larton, the ABR manager, maintained that the fetuses weren’t alive and that those types of incidents generally occurred “once every couple of months.” In those cases, she said, ABR would perform a dissection to obtain the desired tissue. Although ABR has worked with PPFA for years, Larton claimed she’d never heard of deliveries like that happening at the abortion provider.

In 2018, HHS terminated ABR’s contract with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and initiated a “comprehensive review of all research involving fetal tissue to ensure consistency with statutes and regulations governing such research.” While it’s unclear what exactly HHS found in its audit, it appeared to prompt — two years later — Monday’s proposed rule on informed consent.

In announcing ABR’s termination, HHS said in 2018 that it was “not sufficiently assured that the contract included the appropriate protections applicable to fetal tissue research or met all other procurement requirements.” 

O’Donnell, a former StemExpress employee, previously alleged that PPFA and her employer breached patients’ privacy and attempted to collect fetal tissue without their consent. Despite receiving HIPAA referrals years ago, HHS hasn’t publicly disclosed any investigation into the issue. 

StemExpress previously told the Fresno Bee: “Ensuring that patients have provided consent for blood or tissue donation to support medical research, education, or treatments is a threshold issue that is non-negotiable for StemExpress.”

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Questions remain as to why the HIPAA referral and certain aspects of Trump’s agenda seemed to lag within the HHS Office of Civil Rights. 

Former administration officials previously alleged to Fox News that the department’s Office of General Counsel had generally stalled OCR’s efforts on abortion and religious liberty through attorneys with liberal backgrounds. With President Biden entering office, it appeared even less likely the department would fulfill conservatives’ vision on those issues.

An estimated 62 million abortions have occurred since Roe v. Wade decision in 1973

Friday marks the 48th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which has resulted in an estimated 62 million abortions, according to one analysis.

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLTC), the nation’s oldest pro-life organization, says it reached an estimate of 62,502,904 by tracking data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute, which previously served as a research arm of the nation’s preeminent abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.

Since Guttmacher’s latest data was from 2017, NRLTC used the number from that year — 862,320 — to project figures for 2018-2020. While CDC has provided counts up to 2018, its numbers are limited due to the exclusion of California, New Hampshire, and Maryland.

Much of the debate surrounding abortion has tended towards discussions about rights and when life begins. Among varying ideas advanced by the left, former Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards has argued that “there’s no specific moment when life begins” and that hers began when her children were born.

WHITE HOUSE SAYS BIDEN IS A ‘DEVOUT CATHOLIC’ WHEN ASKED ABOUT ABORTION POLICIES

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, an unborn baby’s toes can be seen and its lungs, ears, eyes, arms, and legs start to form before the end of the first trimester. Between nine and 12 weeks after conception, a baby’s face becomes well-formed, genitals appear, and nails appear on the fingers and toes.

FAUCI SAYS BIDEN REVERSING TRUMP RULE BARRING TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO OVERSEAS ABORTION PROVIDERS

CDC data has recently shown declines in abortion rates. According to Guttmacher, between 1975 and 2012, the nation saw more than one million abortions each year. Since 1973, the reported numbers have ranged from 744,610 the first year and 1,608,600 in 1990.

Friday’s anniversary prompted a fiery debate over one of the nation’s most hot-button issues.

Left-leaning organizations like NARAL told others to “reimagine Roe” in an apparent call for a Supreme Court decision that would ensure taxpayer-funded abortions for all women.

HEAD OF US BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE WARNS BIDEN WOULD ‘ADVANCE MORAL EVILS AND THREATEN HUMAN LIFE’

“Legal abortion isn’t enough. It’s never been enough. What we need is abortion justice,” NARAL said in a tweet. It linked to another organization calling for “abortion justice” on racial and economic lines. This advocacy came as the Biden administration committed to codifying Roe v. Wade, which conservatives say guarantee abortions up to the moment of birth, and repealing a decades-old measure blocking taxpayer funding for most abortions.

“We are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care – including reproductive health care – regardless of income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status,” read a statement from President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Pro-life advocates responded critically. “Today, for the first time in four years, it looks like a declaration that #RoevWade is a gift to women and a pledge to enshrine the slaughter of little children, at any stage of their development in the womb, as a ‘right,'” tweeted Live Action President Lila Rose.

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March for Life President Jeanne Mancini responded to the White House’s statement in part by arguing abortion wasn’t health care.

“Abortion isn’t healthcare,” she tweeted. “It is heartbreaking but not surprising that on the day we commemorate the loss of 60+ million Americans to abortion the new administration is already aggressively leaning into abortion extremism.”

Biden giving Putin ‘exactly what he wanted’ on nuclear arms treaty: Cotton

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., ripped the Biden administration Friday for its proposed extension of the sole remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia, telling “The Story” it places national security at risk.

The White House announced Thursday that Biden has proposed a five-year extension of the New START treaty to Russia, which the Kremlin welcomes.

“This is a very bad decision,” Cotton told host Martha MacCallum. “It puts America’s national security at risk. The new START treaty is a one-sided treaty that favors Russia.”

RUSSIA WELCOMES BIDEN’S PROPOSAL TO EXTEND NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL TREATY

The Trump administration had waited until last year to begin talks on prolonging the pact, and included a list of demands Russia would not meet.

“After four years of the Democrats beating their chests about Russia and continuing on and on about the Russia collusion hoax, they’ve now gone back to their old, weak, dovish ways of appeasing Russia,” Cotton said. “We are at the risk of facing nuclear overmatch by the combined nuclear forces of Russia and China, and it was a terrible decision of the Biden administration to fold their cards and give Vladimir Putin exactly what he wanted on their very first day in office.”

The treaty, signed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, and envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance. It expires on Feb. 5, according to the Associated Press.

The treaty does not cover small nuclear warheads and tactical nuclear weapons, Cotton contended, as well as some newer, “more sophisticated” systems that Putin has boasted about.

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“It ties one hand behind America’s back, but it leaves Russia free to continue to develop all these other nuclear technologies,” he said.

In a statement, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said failure to renew the treaty would “weaken America’s understanding of Russia’s long-range nuclear forces.”

“Just as we engage Russia in ways that advance American interests, we in the Department will remain clear-eyed about the challenges Russia poses and committed to defending the nation against their reckless and adversarial actions,” he said.

Biden says ‘nothing we can do’ to change pandemic ‘trajectory’ in coming months

President Biden provided a grim outlook about the country’s ability to combat the coronavirus pandemic Friday while calling on Congress to move forward with additional stimulus relief measures.

Biden addressed his administration’s response efforts during a press briefing on two executive orders meant to provide food assistance to low-income families and protect workers’ rights during the pandemic. Days after the US surpassed 400,000 deaths related to COVID-19, the president warned the country had little ability in the near term to prevent spiking case totals.

“If we fail to act, there will be a wave of evictions and foreclosures in the coming months as this pandemic rages on because there’s nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months,” Biden said.

Biden had pledged efforts to jumpstart the US economy and provide aid to struggling Americans would be his top priority upon entering the Oval Office. The two executive orders Friday followed 10 other actions related to the pandemic he signed the previous day, including a mandate requiring masks to be worn on federal land.

The president faced some pushback over his remarks on the pandemic’s trajectory. Critics, including former Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, pointed out that coronavirus-related restrictions imposed in several states were meant to “flatten the curve.”

“Haven’t we been told for months that restrictions and mandates were necessary to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months?” Amash wrote on Twitter.

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Biden said the country’s death toll was “expected to reach well over 600,000.” The president reiterated his call for Congress on his “American Rescue Plan,” a $1.9 trillion aid package that includes $1,400 direct payments to Americans, enhanced unemployment benefits, and federal aid for state and local governments.

“The American Rescue Plan asks Congress to provide rental assistance for millions of hard-hit families and tenants,” Biden said. “This will also be a bridge to economic recovery for countless mom-and-pop landlords who can’t afford not to have the rent.”

GOP Rep. Biggs introduces ‘Abortion is Not Health Care Act’

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., introduced several pieces of pro-life legislation on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, including one that challenges a prominent argument among Democrats.

The “Abortion is Not Health Care Act” would prevent the Internal Revenue Service from treating out-of-pocket abortion costs as medical expenses, according to Biggs’ office.

“This week, we remember and honor all of the lives ended by the heinous practice of abortion,” Biggs said in a statement.

“We reflect on these innocent human beings and their God-given potentials extinguished by cruel instruments or medication. We mourn with the families who have experienced great regret over their abortions. We pray for healing for all of the mothers who have chosen the path of abortion for their little ones.”

WHITE HOUSE SAYS BIDEN IS A ‘DEVOUT CATHOLIC’ WHEN ASKED ABOUT ABORTION POLICIES

He also introduced a bill that would require abortion providers to have admitting privileges in local hospitals. It seemed unlikely that either bill would pass with a Democratic House of Representatives. In recent years, the Supreme Court has also struck down legislation similar to the one on admitting privileges.

In a resolution introduced by Biggs, he declared: “Women of all ages should have access to comprehensive, convenient, compassionate, life-affirming, high-quality medical services.”

Biggs’ actions came against the backdrop of a fiery debate over abortion that seemed to intensify on the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. On Friday, some defended abortion access as a human right and form of basic health care.

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Others, like March for Life President Jeanne Mancini, disagreed. Live Action President Lila Rose has argued that “abortion is not health care because pregnancy is not a disease, and killing is not healing.”

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