Politics
Congress gets up close view of ‘horrific’ Russia-Ukraine war: Makes you want ‘to break down in tears’
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A bipartisan group of lawmakers recounted harrowing scenes from the Ukraine border after witnessing the humanitarian disaster of refugees fleeing the conflict into Poland.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the chair of the Home Overseas Affairs Committee organized the journey final weekend to see firsthand the aftermath of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s all-out conflict on Ukraine and its civilians.
“It is simply horrific,” Meeks instructed Fox Information Digital of the scenes on the Poland-Ukraine border. “It made me and quite a lot of others virtually wish to break down in tears.”
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR LIVE UPDATES
The members of Congress noticed scores of chilly girls and youngsters crossing to Poland, having to abruptly depart their peaceable lives and their belongings to flee for security in a neighboring nation. They witnessed “heartbreaking” goodbyes on the border the place males aged 18-60 needed to return to Ukraine to combat for freedom, whereas their households sought refuge in Poland.
Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., recalled seeing a tearful mom of 4 who mentioned goodbye to her husband who needed to return to the combat in Ukraine. She did not have gloves as she crossed into Poland and her son was blowing on her fingers to maintain her heat. Wagner mentioned she gave the Ukrainian girl her gloves.
“I have been in Congress for 10 years and this was most likely an important and consequential journey that I’ve ever made overseas,” Wagner instructed Fox Information Digital. “We weren’t there as Republicans and Democrats. We have been there as Individuals to point out … assist and to let our allies know … that now we have their backs and let the Ukrainian folks know that we right here in America will likely be there for them.”
As chair of the Home Overseas Affairs Committee, Meeks travels the world. He mentioned he was final in Ukraine lower than a month in the past – simply earlier than Russia’s invasion. Seeing the peaceable, sovereign nation instantly below assault by Putin’s forces moved Meeks to prepare the journey together with the highest Republican on the committee, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.
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“I could not sleep at evening,” Meeks mentioned of photos of destruction he noticed from the information studies of conflict. “I made a decision that I had a accountability because the chair of this committee to go, and I went to Mr. McCaul and he felt the identical means.”
They did not go into Ukraine, however the governor of Lviv, Ukraine, Maksym Kozytskyy, left his metropolis to go to the members of Congress on the Polish border, in one other highly effective second.
“He got here throughout and he was simply speaking about how they may combat and they’ll by no means hand over and they will win,” Meeks mentioned of Kozytskyy. “They wished to get the ammunition that was wanted. However he was simply saying ‘we aren’t ever going to surrender.’ When he was completed, he moved me a lot. I needed to hug him. I did not know what else to do.”
Different members on the journey to the Ukraine border have been Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind.; David Cicilline, D-R.I.; Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; Raul Ruiz, D-Calif.; Susan Wild, D-Pa.; and Gerry Connolly, D-Va.
The lawmakers met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, nationwide and native officers and acquired briefings from the U.S. Military 82nd Airborne Division.
Because the U.S. beefs up its troop presence in Europe, the army mission is to “guarantee and deter,” Wagner defined – guarantee NATO allies in addition to deter Putin from escalating the conflict past Ukraine.
The members mentioned they got here away from the journey moved by the struggling and fully united of their drive to make sure Ukraine has the weapons and humanitarian help it wants.
In consequence, the Home simply handed $13.6 billion in Ukraine aid– greater than the $10 billion the Biden administration requested.
“Putin is a brutal, evil individual,” Meeks mentioned. “… It’s a betrayal of mankind for him to do what he is doing. …There’s just one person who’s accountable for the tragedy that is happening proper now … and his title is Vladimir Putin. And he will get his ultimately.”
Politics
Appeals court rules Texas has right to build razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration: 'Huge win'
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Texas has the right to build a razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration into the Lone Star State.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the ruling on X, saying President Biden was “wrong to cut our razor wire.”
“We continue adding more razor wire border barrier,” the Republican leader wrote.
Wednesday’s 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clears the way for Texas to pursue a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of trespassing without having to remove the fencing.
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It also reversed a federal judge’s November 2023 refusal to grant a preliminary injunction to Texas as the state resisted federal efforts to remove fencing along the Rio Grande in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee during the president-elect’s first term, wrote for Wednesday’s majority that Texas was trying only to safeguard its own property, not “regulate” U.S. Border Patrol, and was likely to succeed in its trespass claims.
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Duncan said the federal government waived its sovereign immunity and rejected its concerns that a ruling by Texas would impede the enforcement of immigration law and undermine the government’s relationship with Mexico.
He said the public interest “supports clear protections for property rights from government intrusion and control” and ensuring that federal immigration law enforcement does not “unnecessarily intrude into the rights of countless property owners.”
Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling a “huge win for Texas.”
“The Biden Administration has been enjoined from damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s border fencing,” Paxton wrote in a post on X. “We sued immediately when the federal government was observed destroying fences to let illegal aliens enter, and we’ve fought every step of the way for Texas sovereignty and security.”
The White House has been locked in legal battles with Texas and other states that have tried to deter illegal immigration.
In May, the full 5th Circuit heard arguments in a separate case between Texas and the White House over whether the state can keep a 1,000-foot floating barrier on the Rio Grande.
The appeals court is also reviewing a judge’s order blocking a Texas law that would allow state officials to arrest, prosecute and order the removal of people in the country illegally.
Politics
Rep. Katie Porter obtains temporary restraining order against ex-boyfriend on harassment allegations
U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) secured a temporary restraining order Tuesday against a former boyfriend, saying in dozens of pages of court filings that he had bombarded her, as well as her family and colleagues, with hundreds of messages that she described as “persistent abuse and harassment.”
Porter, 50, alleged in a filing with Orange County Superior Court that her ex-boyfriend Julian Willis, 55, was contacting her and her family with such frequency that she had a “significant fear” for her “personal safety and emotional well-being.”
Judge Stephen T. Hicklin signed a restraining order Tuesday barring Willis from communicating with Porter and her children until a mid-December court hearing. He also barred Willis from communicating about Porter with her current and former colleagues.
In the court filing, Porter said that Willis had been hospitalized twice since late 2022 on involuntary psychiatric holds and had a history of abusing prescription painkillers and other drugs.
She said in a statement to The Times that Willis’ mental health and struggles with addiction seemed to have gotten worse since she asked him in August to move out of her Irvine home. She said she sought the court order after his threats to her family and colleagues “escalated in both their frequency and intensity.”
“I sincerely hope he gets the help he needs,” Porter said.
Willis declined to comment. He will have an opportunity to file a legal response to the temporary restraining order and challenge Porter’s allegations.
Porter is leaving the House of Representatives in January after losing in California’s U.S. Senate primary in March. She has been discussed as a front-runner in the 2026 governor’s race in California after Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out, but has not said whether she will launch a campaign.
The 53-page court filing, first reported by Politico, included 22 pages of emails, text messages and other communications among Porter, family members and colleagues who had received messages from Willis, as well as messages that Willis sent to Porter’s attorney and to her political mentor Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
The filing also included messages between herself and Willis’ siblings as they discussed trying to help him during his psychiatric holds and while he was staying in a sober-living facility.
Porter said that since she ordered Willis to move out, he had sent her more than 1,000 text messages and emails, including texting her 82 times in one 24-hour period in September, and 55 times on Nov. 12 before she blocked his number.
Porter said in the filing that her ex-boyfriend had “already contacted at least three reporters to disseminate false and damaging information” about her and her children, which she said “poses a serious risk to [her] career and personal reputation.”
The filing includes an email that Porter said Willis sent to her attorney late Monday, in which Willis said he had visited Porter’s son at college in Iowa and told him that he would “bring the hammer down on Katie and smash her and her life into a million pieces.”
Another screenshot shows Willis telling Porter’s attorney that he would file a complaint about Porter, who has children ages 12 and 16, with child protective services.
One of Porter’s congressional staff members received a text message from Willis saying he would “punish the f—” out of him if he did not agree to “cooperate” with a New York Times reporter and Willis’ attorneys, according to a screenshot included in the court document.
Willis previously made the news in 2021, when he was arrested after a fight that broke out at a Porter town hall at a park in Irvine.
Times staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.
Politics
Homan taking death threats against him ‘more seriously’ after Trump officials targeted with violent threats
Incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan reacted to news of death threats against Trump nominees on Wednesday and said he now takes the death threats he has previously received seriously.
“I have not taken this serious up to this point,” Homan told Fox News anchor Gillian Turner on “The Story” on Wednesday, referring to previous death threats made against him and his family.
“Now that I know what’s happened in the last 24 hours. I will take it a little more serious. But look, I’ve been dealing with this. When I was the ICE director in the first administration, I had numerous death threats. I had a security detail with me all the time. Even after I retired, death threats continued and even after I retired as the ICE Director. I had U.S. Marshals protection for a long time to protect me and my family.”
Homan explained that what “doesn’t help” the situation is the “negative press” around Trump.
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“I’m not in the cabinet, but, you know, I’ve read numerous hit pieces. I mean, you know, I’m a racist and, you know, I’m the father of family separation, all this other stuff. So the hate media doesn’t help at all because there are some nuts out there. They’ll take advantage. So that doesn’t help.”
Homan’s comments come shortly after Fox News Digital first reported that nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” prompting a “swift” law enforcement response.
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The “attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’” according to Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” she told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “In response, law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”
Sources told Fox News Digital that John Ratcliffe, the nominee to be CIA director, Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, the nominee for UN ambassador, were among those targeted. Brooke Rollins, who Trump has tapped to be secretary of agriculture, and Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee to be EPA administrator, separately revealed they were also targeted.
Threats were also made against Trump’s Labor Secretary nominee, GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and former Trump attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz’s family.
Homan told Fox News that he is “not going to be intimidated by these people” and “I’m not going to let them silence me.”
“What I’ve learned today I’ll start taking a little more serious.”
Homan added that he believes “we need to have a strong response once we find out is behind all this.”
“It’s illegal to threaten someone’s life. And we need to follow through with that.”
The threats on Tuesday night came mere months after Trump survived two assassination attempts.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report
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