Politics

Jared Kushner denies claim he runs ‘shadow task force,’ Trump slams ‘fake sources’

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White House senior advisor Jared Kushner rebuffed a reporter’s question about a claim that he is operating a “shadow task force” on the federal coronavirus response from within the White House.

Kushner, 39, who is married to Ivanka Trump, smiled briefly as the reporter said the term “shadow task force” and responded that Vice President Mike Pence has asked him to join the on-the-level task force that features Drs. Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci.

A reporter, identified by another journalist as NBC News’ Geoff Bennett, asked Kushner whether he is aware of “reports … [citing] unnamed White House officials [that] have described your role as being something of running a shadow task force.”

Bennett then asked what Kushner’s “role” and “qualifications” are for the alleged role — which was the subject of a Washington Post story last month.

TRUMP RIPS INTO SCHUMER: ‘NO WONDER’ AOC MULLING CHALLENGE

Kushner calmly rebuffed his question and implicitly expressed doubt about the veracity of his sources.

“If some people are talking to you, that means they’re probably not informed as to what is going on,” the former New Jersey real estate developer and investor said.

Kushner said he speaks with Pence upwards of 10 times a day, and that he has been involved in various different projects.

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As Kushner departed the lectern, President Trump leaned in toward to microphone to tell the reporter that the claims about Kushner come from “fake sources.”

“Or they don’t exist,” he added. “Most of these sources don’t exist — they’re fake sources. … I’ve read about it for a long time — I’ve been reading about it — fake sources.”

Trump approves New York’s Javits Center to treat coronavirus patients, Cuomo announces

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President Trump on Thursday approved New York City’s Javits Center to begin treating COVID-19 patients to free up space in the city’s crowded hospitals, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.

The Javits Center, located between 34th and 40th streets on the west side of the city, in Hell’s Kitchen, had been reconfigured earlier this week into a temporary hospital with 2,500 beds to treat non-coronavirus patients.

In this Friday, March 27, 2020 photo provided by Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, makeshift hospital rooms stretch out along the floor at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York.
(Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo via AP)

But with cases mounting in New York City — the nation’s hardest-hit state — Cuomo asked President Trump to consider the “urgency of the matter” in allowing coronavirus patients to be treated at the new facility.

“As we all know the growing coronavirus cases are threatening the capacity of our hospital system. The state-owned Javits Center has been turned into a 2,500-bed emergency medical facility being run by the US Army,” Cuomo wrote on Twitter in announcing President Trump’s approval.

As of Thursday, there were nearly 52,000 COVID-19 cases in New York City alone, with 1,397 deaths, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

NEW YORK GOVERNOR ASCENDS AMID CORONAVIRUS CRISIS, BUT CRITICS HIGHLIGHT YEARS OF GOVERNMENT WASTE

The arrangement with the Javits Center was one of many makeshift hospitals set up in the city to deal with the onslaught of coronavirus patients.

A Samaritan’s Purse crew and medical personnel work on preparing to open a 68 bed emergency field hospital specially equipped with a respiratory unit in New York’s Central Park, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in New York.
(AP)

On Wednesday, a 68-bed emergency field hospital for coronavirus patients opened in Central Park’s East Meadow. Meanwhile, state, city and federal officials say they have lined up — and in some cases, opened — dozens of additional spots for temporary hospitals around the metropolitan area.

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Over the next few weeks, spaces — including pro tennis courts, college dorms and a cruise ship terminal — are supposed to start housing patients as New York state races to roughly triple its hospital capacity.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Trump fires back at Schumer over coronavirus criticism: ‘No wonder AOC is thinking about running against you’

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President Trump fired back at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in a scathing letter, responding to criticism of his handling of the coronavirus crisis, telling Schumer: “I never knew how bad of a senator you are.”

“Thank you for your Democrat public relations letter and incorrect sound bites, which are wrong in every way,” Trump said in the letter released by the White House, referring to Schumer’s coronavirus criticism earlier Thursday. “As you are aware, Vice President Pence is in charge of the Task Force. By almost all accounts, he has done a spectacular job.”

Trump’s firery response came after Schumer sent a letter to the president on Thursday expressing concerns about shortages of protective equipment, tests, and medical supplies in New York and other hard-hit areas.

“While companies that volunteer to produce ventilators and personal protective equipment are to be commended and are appreciated, America cannot rely on a patchwork of uncoordinated voluntary efforts to combat the awful magnitude of this pandemic,” Schumer said. “It is long past the time for your administration to designate a senior military officer to fix this urgent problem.”

But in his letter, Trump insisted to Schumer that the Defense Production Act (DPA) “has been consistently used” by him and his team but that companies have been honoring the administration’s requests “without even a formal notice.” He also acknowledged the appointment of Rear Admiral John Polowczyk, who is “in charge of purchasing” and “distributing” of medical supplies, something he alleged Schumer “chose to ignore.”

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER WEARS ‘THAT WOMAN FROM MICHIGAN’ T-SHIRT IN SWIPE AT TRUMP

“We have given New York many things, including hospitals, medical centers, medical supplies, record numbers of ventilators, and more. You should have had New York much better prepared than you did, as Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx said yesterday, New York was very late in its fight against the virus,” Trump said. “As you are aware, the Federal Government is merely a back-up for state governments. Unfortunately, your state needed far more of a back-up than most others.”

He continued, “If you spent less time on your ridiculous impeachment hoax, which went haplessly on forever and ended up going nowhere (except increasing my poll numbers), and instead focused on helping the people of New York, then New York would not have been so completely unprepared for the ‘invisible enemy.’ No wonder AOC and others are thinking about running against you in the primary. If they did, they would likely win.”

CALIFORNIA GOV NEWSOM TELLS CNN TRUMP HAS BEEN ‘RESPONSIVE’ TO STATE’S NEEDS: ‘I’D BE LYING’ TO SAY OTHERWISE

That was in reference to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who some have speculated will seek a Senate primary challenge against Schumer or Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

The president went on to commend New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for “getting the job done,” accusing the New York senator of being “missing in action.. except when it comes to the ‘press.'”

“I’ve known you for many years, but I never knew how bad of a senator you are for the state of New York, until I became president,” Trump added for signing the letter with his black Sharpie.

Schumer’s office responded to the letter, explaining how the Senate Minority Leader has been in frequent contact with the president but expressed his concerns over the appointed “czar” in charge of supply distribution.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

“Sen. Schumer explained how he had spoken with the person supposedly in charge of production but felt that person was not up to the job,” Schumer’s office stated. “Sen. Schumer also told the president that he was concerned about another person nominally responsible for distribution, who had told the media a few days ago he was ‘blind to where all the product is.’ Sen. Schumer then recommended the president appoint one senior military officer to oversee both production and distribution.”

His office said, “After Sen. Schumer further made clear what he was requesting, the president said he was already in the process of sending a ‘very nasty letter’ to Sen. Schumer, but he would try to stop it from going out and would apologize to Sen. Schumer if he didn’t stop it in time.”

Democracy 2020 Digest: Judge won’t postpone Wisconsin primary over coronavirus concerns

Wisconsin’s primary, which includes in-person voting at polling stations across the state, will take place on Tuesday amid the coronavirus pandemic — after a federal judge declined to postpone the election.

But U.S. District Judge William Conley did rule on Thursday that absentee ballots in the primary will counted if they arrive by April 13 — six days after the election. And he extended until Friday the deadline for voters to request absentee ballots.

THE LATEST FROM FOX NEWS ON THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Conley’s ruling came as former Vice President Joe Biden declined to weigh in on whether the primary should be held as scheduled or delayed, telling reporters on Thursday, “That’s for the Wisconsin courts and folks to decide.” Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont joined a rising chorus of calls by Democrats in urging that the contest be postponed.

Wisconsin’s under a stay-at-home order implemented by Gov. Tony Evers. But the Democratic governor had refused to delay the state’s primary.

“If I could have changed the election on my own I would have, but I can’t without violating state law,” Evers said in a statement Wednesday. “I’ve asked the legislature to do its part to ensure a fair and safe election and I hope we can get some clarity as soon as possible.”

A week ago, Evers unsuccessfully called on the GOP-dominated legislature to send absentee ballots to all registered voters in the state. Even if they had agreed, the logistics may have been overwhelming for county clerks and elections officials.

Wisconsin residents have been urged for weeks to vote by absentee ballot, which already has led to a tidal wave of demand for vote-by-mail ballots.

While in-person voting will take place, there’s been a huge drop in the number of poll workers willing to show up next week, which will likely lead to longer lines and less social distancing as voters show up to cast ballots, threatening a further spread of the COVID-19 disease caused by the virus.

The governor had argued that election should not be moved because the pandemic may be worse later in the spring and early summer. And there’s a lot more at stake on Tuesday’s ballot for Wisconsin voters than just the Democratic presidential primary contest between Biden and Sanders. There’s an important battle for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat that could influence general election voting rules in the crucial presidential battleground state, as well as numerous mayoral contests.

On Wednesday, the state Democratic Party broke ranks with the governor, urging the primary be delayed.

Sanders also called for postponing the contest.

“People should not be forced to put their lives on the line to vote, which is why 15 states are now following the advice of public health experts and delaying their elections. We urge Wisconsin to join them,” the senator said in a statement on Wednesday.

Asked on Thursday – before word of the judge’s ruling – whether he thought the primary should take place, the former vice president said: “I think you could hold the election as well dealing with mail-in ballots and same day registration.”

“I think it’s possible to do both, to have both more mail-in ballots” he added. “I think it could be done .. but that’s for them to decide.”

Biden spoke with reporters hours after Democratic Party leaders postponed by a month the Democratic National Convention, which was scheduled to take place July 13-16 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Biden noted that “a convention having tens of thousands of people in one arena is very different than having people walk into a polling booth with accurate spacing 6 to 10 feet apart, one at a time going in and having the machine scrubbed down.”

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION POSTPONED UNTIL AUGUST DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

Wisconsin’s primary will be the first to hold in-person voting at polling stations since Florida, Illinois, and Arizona held primaries on March 17. Since then 15 states and Puerto Rico – which were scheduled to hold their primaries and caucuses in late March, April or May – delayed their contests or switched them to entirely by mail or absentee ballot.

Biden convincingly swept all three March 17 primaries, boosting to over 300 his lead over Sanders in the all-important race for convention delegates and cementing his status as the all-but-certain Democratic nominee.

A Marquette Law School poll of likely Democratic primary voters in Wisconsin that was released Wednesday indicated Biden crushing Sanders in the contest by a nearly two-to-one margin. The same survey also indicated that a majority of voters in the state said the primary should be delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

If Biden, Trump speak

Biden – who’s repeatedly argued that Trump for weeks downplayed the severity of the coronavirus and was slow to respond to the global crisis – told reporters “I’m happy to hear” that the president will take his call to discuss strategy to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman was first to report on Wednesday that the former vice president had offered to have a phone call with Trump soon after counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway challenged Biden to stop criticizing the Trump administration’s coronavirus response and instead “call the White House today and offer some support.”

TRUMP SAYS HE WOULD ‘ABSOLUTELY’ SPEAK WITH BIDEN

On Wednesday evening, the president said he would “absolutely” speak on the phone with Biden.

Biden said that he’s “just taking Kellyanne Conway at her word” that the president would be open to his advice.

Biden noted that his past conversations with Trump had “been respectful, they’ve been straight forward.”

And he said, “I’m not doing this to criticize. I’m doing this to say, ‘This is what I think you should do.’”

“There’s a number of specific suggestions that I know from the past work and some I think would work. I’m prepared to offer them to the president,” Biden emphasized. “I understand if he doesn’t want to take my advice, but it won’t be ‘I told you so Mr. President.’ It won’t be if he decided to do what I suggested, I go back and say ‘well, I told the president to do that.’ This is beyond politics right now.”

Biden also urged the Trump administration to change course and allow for another open-enrollment period for Obamacare to allow those without insurance who are battling the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus to sign up for health care coverage.

“Democrats and Republicans are calling for President Trump and his administration to do the right thing and open up a new enrollment period for ObamaCare, so that people who need insurance now can get it. Now’s not the time for petty politics. This is a national emergency,” Biden stressed.

And he took aim at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over the Kentucky Republican’s resistance to any quick congressional action on another coronavirus stimulus package.

“I predict to you that no matter Mitch says, he’s going to be back handling another package. The idea that this is the end of it, I will be dumbfounded if that occurs. And disappointed,” Biden emphasized.

Biden presses Trump on Iranian sanctions

Biden is calling on the Trump administration to take “immediate steps” to ease U.S. sanctions on Iran, one of the nations hardest hit by the global coronavirus pandemic.

But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has disputed whether sanctions are hampering humanitarian efforts in Iran.

Biden said in a statement on Thursday that “in times of global crisis, America should lead. We should be the first to offer help to people who are hurting or in danger. That’s who we are. That’s who we’ve always been.”

Biden noted that Iran, an adversary of the United States for four decades, “has failed to respond effectively to this crisis, including lying and concealing the truth from its own people, and it continues to act provocatively in the region.”

But he also stressed that “Iran is struggling to contain one of the deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks in the world” and that the “Iranian people are hurting desperately.”

Read the full story

Convention postponed!

As we reported above, the Democratic National Convention will be postponed until August due to coronavirus concerns. The announcement Thursday by Democratic Party officials is a historic and stunning change to the presidential election calendar.

The convention committee said the event will be held the week of Aug. 17, in Milwaukee, Wis. It was originally slated for July 13-16.

The Democratic convention will now be held the week before the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to take place Aug. 24-27 in Charlotte, N.C.

Moving the Democratic convention to August — which was under consideration for weeks by top Democratic National Party (DNC) officials — became easier to do after the International Olympic Committee last week postponed the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. The games originally were scheduled for July 24-Aug. 9.

Biden’s campaign on Thursday said it welcomed the decision.

“Our campaign will continue to work closely with State Parties and the DNC on any changes to the delegate selection process and the format of the convention to ensure that health and safety will remain the top priority as we confront this COVID-19 crisis as a nation,” the Biden campaign said in a statement.

Read the full story here.

Fox News’ Allie Raffa and Madeleine Rivera contributed to this report.

Texas AG claims Planned Parenthood requesting special treatment during coronavirus pandemic

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has claimed that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, is attempting to obtain “special” protections for their own medical services so that they can make money during the coronavirus pandemic.

Paxton made the comments during an exclusive interview with Fox News Wednesday after a federal appeals panel allowed Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott’s ban on elective procedures to remain in place.

Planned Parenthood, which brought the initial suit, maintains that abortions are “essential,” while the state has argued that elective procedures could take needed resources away from combatting the coronavirus epidemic — specifically by using up personal protective equipment (PPE) like face masks and gloves.

APPEALS COURT REINSTATES TEXAS ABORTION RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

“The problem is that we just don’t know what the resource drain is going to be,” Paxton told Fox News. “In some states, it’s growing … the numbers are growing. So, it’s impossible to know exactly when the right time to implement this policy is and when to stop it. All you can do is your best, and that’s what the governor, I think, is trying to do.”

“He’s trying to save lives and Planned Parenthood is trying to make some money,” Paxton added. “So, there’s competing interests here — dollars versus lives — and I’m working with the governor to help save lives. Planned Parenthood is looking to make some money for doctors.”

Paxton didn’t cite any particular evidence for that claim but he echoed many pro-life advocates who have claimed the group prioritizes revenue over health care.

Planned Parenthood has consistently maintained that it is acting out of its patients’ interests.

In a statement to Fox News Thursday, Planned Parenthood Federation of America spokesperson Bonyen Lee-Gilmore said: “Governor Abbott and Attorney General Paxton’s misguided priorities will cost Texans their lives. They’re spending their time targeting abortion, while allowing gun shops to remain essential and refusing to issue a statewide shelter in place order.”

The American Medical Association (AMA) and The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have both released statements defending abortion access during the pandemic. “At this critical moment and every moment, physicians – not politicians – should be the ones deciding which procedures are urgent-emergent and need to be performed, and which ones can wait, in partnership with our patients,” the AMA said.

CORONAVIRUS FUELS ABORTION DEBATE AS STATES RESTRICT ACCESS TO PROCEDURE

After the recent appeals court decision, Planned Parenthood Acting President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson argued that Texas was treating abortion differently than other procedures. “No other form of health care is being targeted this way — only abortion,” she said. “Don’t be fooled: Gov. Abbott’s use of his executive order to ban abortion has nothing to do with health or safety. If Gov. Abbott cared about the lives of Texans, he’d be addressing the public health crisis at hand. Planned Parenthood is here with our patients. We will not cower before politicians who insist on exploiting a global pandemic to score political points.”

Paxton argued, however, that the group was mixing burdens by focusing on “essential” services and pointed out that the courts have been ruling on Gov. Abbott’s original executive order, issued on March 22. The order contained exceptions for procedures necessary to protect the life of the patient. On Tuesday, Abbott implemented another executive order that outlined a series of “essential” activities such as trips to the grocery store or gas station.

“The message that they’re sending us — it’s ‘Hey look, we’re as important as people that are critically ill and may die and we have to sacrifice some of those resources to do elective abortions,’ which they’ve always said is a choice,” the attorney general said. “‘We want to do our elective procedures and unfortunately, that may mean we don’t have resources for people that are critically ill and some of those people may end up with worse outcomes or die,'” he stated as a characterization of Planned Parenthood’s position.

Pro-choice advocates have complained that the state was allowing religious services, despite its concerns about social distancing. Worship services, while not PPE-intensive, present the danger of easier transmission as parishoners generally crowd into limited spaces.

On Wednesday, Paxton’s office released a statement emphasizing the need to protect First Amendment rights. It attached a guidance document which urged houses of worship to either conduct services remotely or follow the Trump administration’s guidelines for preventing spread of the virus. Those included cancelling large gatherings where communities are experiencing a substantial spread of the virus.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Abby Johnson, who previously directed a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas, previously told Fox News that abortions weren’t essential services. “Abortion is never an essential service and especially at this moment, when all our resources need to be focused on beating COVID-19, having a non-essential business diverting needed resources and PPE is detrimental and harmful to public health,” she said.

During an interview with Fox News, she also highlighted how the numbr of coronavirus cases in Texas could grow, creating untold demands on health supplies. Johnson defended the state’s decision to restrict medicinal abortions, arguing that those treatments could lead to complications and use of additional PPE.

Trump campaign provokes Twitter with edited Biden clip to challenge its ‘manipulated media’ policy

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The Trump campaign challenged Twitter on Thursday over its update policies by sharing a manipulated video of former Vice President Joe Biden calling the coronavirus a “hoax.”

For weeks, the Trump campaign has blasted the Biden campaign after it released an attack ad accusing President Trump of calling the growing outbreak a “hoax” during a campaign rally when he was actually comparing the outrage fueled by his political opponents over the Russia investigation and the Ukraine scandal, which he referred to as “hoaxes.”

Supporters of the president have accused Twitter of setting a double standard after the platform labeled a clip posted by White House social media director Dan Scavino “manipulated” that showed Biden saying “we can only reelect Donald Trump” out of context but left the Biden ad of Trump alone.

CALIFORNIA GOV NEWSOM TELLS CNN TRUMP HAS BEEN ‘RESPONSIVE’ TO STATE’S NEEDS: ‘I’D BE LYING’ TO SAY OTHERWISE

That prompted the Trump campaign to share an edited audio clip of Biden saying “the coronavirus is a hoax.”

“The media is giving a pass to a pro-Biden TV ad that doctors and deceptively edits audio of President Trump, even though every independent fact checker said President Trump DID NOT call the coronavirus a hoax. Joe Biden, on the other hand? This sounds authentic…” the “Trump War Room” tweeted.

The Biden campaign quickly condemned the video, calling it “wildly irresponsible.”

“Disinformation and deceptively manipulated media have no place in our public discourse, and must not be tolerated in this campaign. The Trump campaign should take this video down, and if they won’t, Twitter should remove it immediately,” Biden national press secretary TJ Ducklo said.

Following an inquiry, Twitter informed the Trump campaign that the clip “will not be labeled under our synthetic and manipulated media policy.”

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

“It’s clearer than ever that Twitter is not equipped to police political videos. If it is going to attempt to, it must begin to enforce the rules transparently, fairly, and equally. Regardless of Twitter’s arbitrary and ineffective rules, splicing video or audio together to make it appear as though someone said something that they never actually said should be out of bounds,” Trump campaign spokesperson Matt Wolking told Fox News.

He said, “In that spirit, we will voluntarily take down our video of Joe Biden saying, ‘The coronavirus is a hoax’ once the Biden campaign, its super PAC Unite the Country, and supporting groups Fellow Americans and Priorities USA take down their deceptively edited and doctored videos of President Trump. Until then, turnabout is fair play.”

FISA reauthorizations in doubt after findings that FBI surveillance was riddled with major errors

New findings by the Justice Department inspector general that the FBI has repeatedly violated surveillance rules could impact Congress’ pending reauthorization of key powers related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), with top Republican lawmakers already saying the DOJ report will have major consequences for surveillance law.

Several surveillance provisions under the 2015 USA Freedom Act have lapsed in recent weeks, at least temporarily, because the House has not yet passed the Senate’s 77-day temporary extension. The House had amended portions of the law in its own proposed three-year reauthorization, but the Senate couldn’t reach an agreement on the matter and decided to try to punt the matter so that lawmakers could focus on the coronavirus pandemic.

The three lapsed provisions include the “roving wiretap” power, which enables authorities to obtain a warrant from the FISC without identifying the target, and while following a target from one device to another. Also included is the “lone wolf” power, which allows authorities to obtain a FISA court warrant without demonstrating that the target is working for a foreign entity. A records provision that allows authorities to seize telephone metadata and banking records, among other documents, is also suspended.

The DOJ has called on Congress to renew the surveillance provisions, even as it acknowledged they were not perfect.

“No one was more appalled than the attorney general at the way the FISA process was abused. This abuse resulted in one of the greatest political travesties in American history and should never happen again,” Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement. “However, FISA remains a critical tool to ensuring the safety and security of the American people, particularly when it comes to fighting terrorism.”

But lawmakers were skeptical, pointing out that the DOJ watchdog had found that FISA problems were systemic at the bureau and extended beyond the FBI’s probe into former Trump adviser Carter Page. In four of the 29 cases the DOJ inspector general reviewed, the FBI did not have any so-called “Woods files” at all, referring to mandatory documentation demonstrating that it had independently corroborated key factual assertions in its surveillance warrant applications. In three of those applications, the FBI couldn’t confirm that Woods documentation ever existed.

The other 25 applications the DOJ reviewed contained an average of 20 assertions not properly supported with Woods materials; one application contained 65 unsupported claims. The review encompassed the work of eight field offices over the past five years in several cases.

“Unbelievable,” wrote Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga. “Inspector General Horowitz found 4 of the 29 Woods Files were missing… and in 3 instances, it’s possible they never existed. This is exactly why we need to reform our #FISA system. We can’t let what happened to @realDonaldTrump in 2016 ever happen again!”

FBI SYSTEMATICALLY IGNORED KEY FISA RULES, BOMBSHELL DOJ REPORT FINDS — CONTRADICTING MEDIA, DEMS

Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., issued a joint statement saying the DOJ report would impact the surveillance reauthorizations.

“This report also comes at a critical time. In the coming months the Senate will consider extending important surveillance tools authorized in the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015,” they wrote. “The FISA process needs real reforms, not window-dressing.”

Congress is out of session until mid-April. Senate leaders struck a deal with pro-privacy lawmakers, including Lee, Leahy and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that will allow them to propose amendments to the House’s FISA plan when the Senate is back in session.

“The FISA process needs real reforms, not window-dressing.”

— Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Lee and Leahy said they would be sure to “address the issues identified by the inspector general” in their amendments.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, in March urged an amendment that would prohibit the warrantless collection of web browsing and Internet search history, as well as an amendment establishing independent oversight of the FISA process.

“Under this agreement, the Senate will have an opportunity to debate whether the government can conduct digital tracking of Americans without a warrant,” Wyden said. “Everyone who was concerned about the government collecting their library records, or seeing who you called, should be terrified that the government can grab your Internet browsing history without a warrant. That’s wrong, and my amendment prohibits that practice. And I strongly support my colleagues’ amendment to add independent oversight of FISA, which has had bipartisan support for many years and will finally be considered.”

Reps. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., urged the Senate to reject the bill.

A former Trump campaign advisor, Page was the subject of electronic surveillance by the FBI because a judge found probable cause that he was acting as an agent of the Russian government. The DOJ has since determined that no such probable cause existed, and that the FBI made numerous errors — and at least one deliberate lie — to convince the court that there was reason to monitor Page. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President Trump, who has repeatedly noted that Page was extensively monitored under FISA based on information that has since been proven legally inadequate and in some cases fraudulent, has floated the possibility of vetoing a FISA reauthorization should it come to his desk.

Page was surveilled largely because of a discredited dossier funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). An FBI lawyer in that case even falsified a CIA email submitted to the FISA court in order to make Page’s communications with Russians appear nefarious, the DOJ inspector general found; and the DOJ has concluded that the Page warrant was legally improper.

FORMER FBI LAWYER LISA PAGE SUES FBI AND DOJ, SAYS SHE NEEDS ‘COST OF THERAPY’ REIMBURSED AFTER TRUMP MOCKED HER BIAS

The report from the DOJ inspector general last week stood in stark contrast to the years of assurances from top Democrats and media commentators that bureau scrupulously handled FISA warrants.

“It Ain’t Easy Getting a FISA Warrant: I Was an FBI Agent and Should Know,” read a 2017 article from former FBI special agent and CNN analyst Asha Rangappa, who spent most of her career as a university admissions administrator. It is unclear whether Rangappa has ever handled a FISA application.

In the piece, Rangappa credulously asserted that FISA applications, after a preliminary exhaustive review, travel “to the Justice Department where attorneys from the National Security Division comb through the application to verify all the assertions made in it. Known as ‘Woods procedures’ after Michael J. Woods, the FBI Special Agent attorney who developed this layer of approval, DOJ verifies the accuracy of every fact stated in the application.”

Rangappa, who repeated the same message on-air multiple times, was not alone in the media in propping up the FISA process. A comprehensive review by The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple underscored how Politico national security reporter Natasha Bertrand launched her career in part through ultimately debunked reporting on the Steele dossier.

Wemple’s Washington Post itself ended up in the Page FISA application as a key source alongside the dossier. A 2016 opinion piece by the Post’s Josh Rogin entitled, “Trump campaign guts GOP’s anti-Russia stance on Ukraine,” had overstated developments at the Republican National Convention in 2016. A single delegate had proposed a sweeping amendment to change the GOP platform to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine, in a major shift from the Obama administration’s policy; parts of that amendment were rejected.

But, the Post’s opinion piece framed the development as nefarious, and a possible smoking gun. In a Page FISA application, the FBI went on to cite Rogin’s article word-for-word – without quotation marks, but with a footnoted citation – as evidence that the Trump campaign could be working with the Russians in an illicit manner. The FBI apparently did not obtain independent verification of the article’s claims.

FISA COURT ORDERS REFORMS — BUT LEAVES OUT KEY MYSTERY PLAYER

Nevertheless, for several years, Democrats and other analysts at The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN have repeatedly claimed that key claims in the Clinton-funded anti-Trump dossier had been corroborated and that the document was not critical to the FBI’s warrant to surveil Page. Horowitz repudiated that claim, with the FBI’s legal counsel even describing the warrant to surveil Page as “essentially a single source FISA” wholly dependent on the dossier.

Among the unsubstantiated claims in the dossier: that ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen traveled to Prague to conspire with Russian hackers; that the Trump campaign was paying hackers working out of a nonexistent Russian consulate in Miami; that a lurid blackmail tape of Trump existed and might be in Russian possession; and that Page was bribed with a 19 percent share in a Russian company.

Conservative activist Candace Owens ‘considering’ running for office

Conservative activist and commentator Candace Owens said Thursday she has decided to seek public office, though she’s mum on when she’ll be running and against who.

Owens, the former communications director at Turning Point USA, told Fox News that while she has been approached numerous times in the past to launch a political campaign, she made the decision on Wednesday evening after a conversation with her husband.

“We’ve come to a junction where it’s not enough just to comment on politics but to get involved in it,” Owens said.

She also tweeted Thursday: “Never had any desire to [run for office] previously, but something changed in me last night.”

YOUNG BLACK CONSERVATIVES UNITE AROUND PRESIDENT TRUMP

She said that, at the moment, she is “keeping things under wraps” as to what she will running for and in what election cycle, but noted that she is eyeing either a seat in the U.S. Senate or a governor’s mansion. Owens added that she will only run against an incumbent Democrat, not any Republicans.

“They’re all vulnerable,” she said of Democrats. “And right now is a perfect storm to see how people are leading.”

While she did not mention anyone by name, Owens was critical of governors’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic currently ensnaring the nation – calling Democratic state leaders “crooked” politicians who are using the crisis to benefit them politically.

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“They’re using this crisis to get themselves out of their own crises,” she said. “I’m sick of this sort of corruption.”

Owens is a prominent conservative commentator and activist best known for her work in the #BLEXIT movement – a push to get African-Americans to leave the Democratic Party. Her career has been embroiled in controversy – from her 2018 comments that “Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well” to her comments on mass shootings.

Most recently, Owens has downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus and argued the country is enmeshed in a “doomsday cult” of liberal paranoia.

Biden, Trump campaigns clash over unemployment claims amid coronavirus shutdown

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President Trump‘s and Joe Biden‘s campaigns sparred Thursday over the record number of unemployment claims in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, with Biden accusing the president of “failing to prepare our nation” while Trump’s campaign fired back that Biden’s record shows he would be incapable of handling the current crisis.

The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits surged to more than 6.6 million, breaking a record high for the second week in a row, according to the weekly jobless claims report from the Labor Department published on Thursday.

In a statement released to the press about those unemployment claims, Biden blamed Trump and his administration for not reacting to the outbreak swiftly or sufficiently enough to protect the American people.

Biden accused Trump of failing to heed warnings about the virus, and for being too slow to impose necessary measures to counter the effects of the pandemic.

“Donald Trump is not responsible for the coronavirus, but he is responsible for failing to prepare our nation: for the months during which he continually neglected dire warnings from experts and downplayed the threat to us, and for the erratic and unacceptably slow federal response that has tragically lagged behind other countries,” Biden said.

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Biden implied that the Trump administration’s response is why the U.S. has “more coronavirus cases than anywhere in the world,” a statistic that does not take into account population sizes, and also relies on information from the Chinese government, which has been accused of falsely downplaying the toll COVID-19 has had on its population.

PELOSI CREATES NEW HOUSE COMMITTEE WITH SUBPOENA FOR CORONAVIRUS OVERSIGHT

The Trump campaign fired back in a statement.

“Americans are facing a public health emergency and are worried about their jobs and the economy, but Joe Biden’s record and proposals prove that he is ill-suited for a role in this fight,” Trump campaign communication director Tim Murtaugh said.

Murtaugh went on to say that during the Obama administration, Biden “oversaw the most sluggish economic recovery this country has seen since World War II,” and supported “job-killing trade deals like NAFTA and TPP.”

The Trump campaign’s statement also pointed to Biden’s support for the Green New Deal and opposition to Trump’s tax cuts, while Trump’s policies “drove the American economy to the greatest heights in half a century.”

Biden currently leads Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in the Democratic primary race. Sanders recently called for Wisconsin to delay their upcoming primary, which was originally scheduled for April 7. The Democratic National Convention has now been postponed from July 13-16 to the week of August 17.

Fox Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.

Lindsey Graham asks China to close ‘all operating wet markets’ after coronavirus outbreak

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Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., sent a letter to the Chinese ambassador to the United States on Thursday urging him to pressure his government against reopening the country’s so-called wet markets.

Graham notes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the current coronavirus pandemic has its origins in the wildlife sold in a wet market in the city of Wuhan and that other global public health crises have been tied to these markets.

“It is well documented that wet markets in China have been the source of a number of worldwide health problems and their operation should cease immediately,” Graham said in his letter.

CORONAVIRUS IN THE US: STATE-BY-STATE BREAKDOWN

“Wet markets,” as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, are places “for the sale of fresh meat, fish and produce.” They also sell an array of exotic animals.

While rumors have swirled that the virus originated in bats and then infected another animal that passed it onto people at a market in the southeastern Chinese city of Wuhan, scientists have not yet determined exactly how the new coronavirus infected people. But these kinds of markets are not known to operate in the most sanitary conditions.

“You’ve got live animals, so there’s feces everywhere. There’s blood because of people chopping them up,” Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, which works to protect wildlife and public health from emerging diseases, told the Associated Press last month.

The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, before its closure, advertised dozens of species such as giant salamanders, baby crocodiles and raccoon dogs that were often referred to as wildlife, even when they were farmed. The Chinese government has reportedly allowed some wet markets in the country to reopen as the threat of the contagion lessens, although the one in Wuhan remains shuttered.

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Like many other “wet markets” in Asia and elsewhere, the animals at the Wuhan market lived in close proximity as they were tied up or stacked in cages.

Animals in “wet markets” are often killed on-site to ensure freshness – yet the messy mix raises the odds that a new virus will jump to people handling the animals and start to spread, experts say.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert with the White House coronavirus task force, has criticized China’s decision to reopen the markets, calling the move misguided, according to a tweet by Graham after a phone call with Fauci.

Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.

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