Politics
Trump Administration Casts Host of Policies Under Biden as Anti-Christian
The Justice Department on Thursday accused the Biden administration of pushing policies that were unfair to Christians, releasing a report that amounted to the latest rhetorical broadside by the Trump administration over what it calls the “weaponization” of government.
The 197-page document, released by a task force led by the department, sought to portray what President Trump’s advisers contend was anti-Christian bias among those who worked for President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who is Roman Catholic. The report, which refers to decision-making at more than a dozen agencies, comes weeks after Mr. Trump publicly attacked the pope.
“The Biden administration’s policies regularly clashed with a Christian worldview and burdened traditional religious practices,” the report said. “These conflicts frequently arose over abortion, gender ideology, and sexual orientation.”
The document is the Justice Department’s latest effort to argue that it is removing purported political bias from the work of prosecutors. But critics say that the department under Mr. Trump has abandoned its tradition of operating independently from the White House, including by pursuing the president’s rivals, like James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, who was indicted this week for posting a photograph last year of seashells on a beach arranged to say “86 47.” The administration argues that the image was a coded threat to kill the president.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department issued a report accusing Biden-era prosecutors of unfairly pursuing anti-abortion activists through the use of a law that makes it a crime to obstruct or intimidate a person seeking abortion services or participating in a religious service at a house of worship. The Trump administration, in turn, has charged dozens of protesters, as well as the former CNN anchor Don Lemon, with violating the same law during a demonstration inside a church in St. Paul, Minn.
In a statement accompanying the release of Thursday’s report, Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, vowed that the department would “continue to expose bad actors who targeted Christians, and work tirelessly to restore religious liberty for all Americans of faith.”
The report sharply criticized a leaked internal memo from 2023 by the F.B.I.’s field office in Richmond, Va., that said far-right extremists could be attracted to Catholic churches or groups.
For decades, the F.B.I. has worked to develop sources at churches, universities and mosques, but the Richmond memo quickly became a talking point on the right. Republicans argued that it showed the bureau was targeting Catholics.
F.B.I. officials quickly withdrew the memo after it was leaked, and an internal investigation found no evidence of “malicious intent.” But the new report argues otherwise. The memo, the report asserts, stemmed from a “misplaced reliance on baseless allegations from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the religious affiliation of a single law enforcement target who happened to identify himself as a ‘radical traditional Catholic.’”
Earlier this month, the Justice Department charged the S.P.L.C. with fraud, accusing the group of paying informants inside hate groups not to fight racism and extremism, but to promote them. The group has denied the charges and called it a politically motivated prosecution.
The new report also criticized a memo issued in 2021 by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in response to concerns raised by the National School Boards Association about purported threats to local education officials, as parents and teachers grappled with restrictions enacted during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr. Garland’s memo ordered the creation of a task force of Justice Department prosecutors and F.B.I. investigators to use their “authority and resources to discourage these threats.”
That directive, however, raised significant internal concerns at the F.B.I. and Justice Department. One senior prosecutor warned that “the vast, vast majority of the behavior cited” by the National School Boards Association did not violate federal law.
“Almost all of the language being used is protected by the First Amendment,” the Justice Department lawyer warned shortly before the Garland memo was issued.
While the Trump administration report cites the Garland memo as an example of anti-Christian bias, the document leaves unclear how school board fights over masks, remote learning and safety in public schools constitute a religious issue.
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Colorado Democrats formally censured Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday after he commuted the prison sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, a prominent election denier convicted in a voting system breach case.
The Colorado Democratic Party State Central Committee voted Wednesday to censure Polis, a fellow Democrat, after he issued a controversial commutation for Peters, who was convicted in connection with a 2021 voting equipment breach case.
“Reducing her sentence now, under pressure from Donald Trump, is not justice,” the party said in a statement. “It sends a message to future bad actors that election tampering has consequences, unless you’re friends with the president.”
“That’s a dangerous and disappointing precedent to set,” the statement added.
COLORADO GOVERNOR COMMUTES TINA PETERS’ SENTENCE AS TRUMP POSTS ‘FREE TINA!’
Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters speaks at a rally on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver, Colorado, on April 5, 2022. (Hyoung Chang/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
The party accused Polis of having “materially harmed” the state party’s credibility and barred him from participating in official Democratic Party-sponsored events moving forward.
It also said the clemency decision “does not reflect the values, institutional positions, or democratic commitments of the Colorado Democratic Party.”
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Polis defended the governor’s decision in a statement to Fox News Digital.
TRUMP CONTINUES TO PUSH FOR RELEASE OF TINA PETERS AS COLORADO GOVERNOR WEIGHS CLEMENCY
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis speaks to members of the media in the spin room following the first vice presidential debate at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York on Oct. 1, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The Governor made this decision based on the facts of the case and what he believed was the right thing to do,” the spokesperson said. “Sometimes the right thing isn’t the popular thing with everybody. Democracy is strongest when disagreement is met with debate and dialogue, not censorship.”
The reprimand came after Polis announced clemency for 44 individuals last Friday, including 35 pardons and nine commutations.
Peters was among those granted a commutation, reducing her prison sentence and making her eligible for parole beginning June 1, 2026.
APPEALS JUDGE SEEMS SKEPTICAL OF SENTENCE FOR PRO-TRUMP COLORADO CLERK TINA PETERS
Attorneys for former Colorado election official Tina Peters filed a motion seeking her release from prison and urged the appellate court to recognize a pardon issued by President Donald Trump. The motion argues that Trump’s pardon applies to Peters’ state convictions, a claim disputed by Colorado officials as the court considers its jurisdiction. (Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)
Peters became a nationally known figure among 2020 election skeptics following the Mesa County voting equipment breach controversy and subsequent criminal prosecution.
President Donald Trump quickly weighed in on the commutation, posting on Truth Social: “FREE TINA!”
According to the executive order signed Friday, Peters’ sentence was reduced from eight years and three months to four years and four-and-a-half months.
The order also stated the clemency action “shall not in any way affect the underlying criminal conviction.”
Peters was convicted in 2024 of three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, along with conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, official misconduct, violation of duty and failure to comply with secretary of state requirements.
In a statement announcing the clemencies, Polis said, “the Clemency power is a serious responsibility, and not one that I take lightly.”
“This power has the ability to change lives — help grant a second chance for someone who has made grave mistakes — and it comes with great consideration, and sometimes even controversy,” he added.
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The move was immediately condemned by Democrats, including Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who accused Polis of legitimizing “the election denial movement.”
Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
SACRAMENTO — Human rights advocates on Tuesday rallied outside the state Capitol to push back on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget plan to reduce state-sponsored healthcare coverage for undocumented immigrants.
“We are here to demand a budget that protects California’s values,” said Kiran Savage-Sangwan, executive director of California Pan-Ethnic Health Network. “We are fighting for a budget that rejects Medi-Cal cuts, seeks new revenues and strengthens our safety net reserve to keep families whole.”
Newsom last week unveiled his revised budget proposal, which would further move away from his previous policy to provide free healthcare coverage to all low-income undocumented immigrants.
His proposal would require monthly premiums for undocumented immigrants receiving coverage from Medi-Cal, the state’s version of the federal Medicaid program. It would also continue to block new adult applications, a cutback imposed last year.
The governor has explained that his original policy was more costly than expected and that difficult decisions must be made as the state could soon face an economic downturn.
Speakers at Tuesday’s rally argued this was unacceptable.
The cuts would force many immigrants to choose between putting food on the table or visiting a doctor, said Savage-Sangwan. She said certain groups, including refugees, older adults and those with disabilities, would be left especially vulnerable.
“These are the kinds of actions we would expect from a federal government that scapegoats immigrants and sends violent ICE forces to terrorize our community,” she said. “Instead, these proposals were made by our own governor in a state that claims to value immigrant communities. We know California is better than this.”
The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the rally.
The event drew about 100 attendees, including Anahi Araiza, a policy researcher with Imperial Valley Equity and Justice. She told The Times that many immigrants in their community struggle to afford medical care and subsequently put off doctor visits.
“They wait until it’s an absolute emergency,” she said. “We’ve heard stories where people delay care and then get diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.”
The event was supported by several organizations, including California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, Survivors of Torture International, Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action, Health4All Coalition, and Organizing Rooted in Abolition, Liberation and Empowerment.
One man carried a large sign with an image of the Virgin Mary that read “Safety Net For All.” Other marchers donned flowing monarch butterfly wings. The orange-and-black insect became a symbol for the pro-migrant movement years ago because it travels long distances between Mexico and the United States.
Meanwhile, another group gathered outside the Capitol for a news conference to raise awareness about the instability caused by federal healthcare cuts.
Assemblymembers Patrick Ahrens (D-Sunnyvale), Robert Garcia (D-Rancho Cucamonga) and Tina S. McKinnor (D-Hawthorne) joined several doctors and nurses to call for a $500-million state investment into public hospitals.
“Public hospitals are the backbone of our healthcare system,” Ahrens said. “It is estimated that federal cuts will strip over $3 billion a year from the California public hospital system — we cannot balance our budget on the backs of the most vulnerable Californians.”
The Republican-backed “Big Beautiful Bill” signed by President Trump last year shifted federal funding away from safety-net programs and toward tax cuts and immigration enforcement. During a legislative hearing this year, healthcare professionals warned state lawmakers the cuts would harm all patients, including those with private insurance.
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