NEW YORK / BEIJING / WASHINGTON – The U.S. government has launched a national security review of TikTok owner Beijing ByteDance Technology Co.’s $1 billion acquisition of U.S. social media app Musical.ly, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Read the full story
The Trump administration is moving forward with a plan to collect DNA samples from asylum seekers, a policy intended to crack down on immigration-related crime and fraud at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Read the full story
Have you noticed an uptick in the appearance of a specific talking point from the political and military elite about President Trump’s recent drawdown in northern Syria? It goes something like this: Yes, the president was in a tight spot in Syria – caught between Turkey, a NATO ally, and the Kurds, who we were allied with against ISIS. But the president was wrong to pull U.S. forces out of northern Syria the way he did. Very often, these detractors say the president ordered the precipitous drawdown of U.S. forces in Syria without “consulting the Pentagon.”
Read the full story
Ben Shapiro has become famous for the line: “Facts don’t care about your feelings!” Neither does strategy. And the last week should serve as a lesson in how to do strategy properly, and how to serve the national interest: clinically and without emotion.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump said he would rather focus efforts on the U.S. southern border than the northern Syria border in a Monday tweet.
Read the full story
On The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy was in Washington, D.C. last week talking to Derek Maltz who is the former Director of the Special Ops Division with 28 yrs in federal law enforcement. Maltz went into detail of what really threatens our national security by dissecting the terrorism and criminal activity that lie within the transnational crime rings. He believes that it’s the transnational crime that is the true threat to America. During the second segment, Maltz who thinks the new FBI director is a smart and very nice guy expressed his discontent for the choice stating that he believes the role needs real leadership which could only come from someone that has been in the trenches like an ex-law enforcement person. “In my personal opinion, you have to put people in charge of law enforcement agencies that have the requisite skills, experience, and leadership,” said Maltz. Leahy: And our special guest is Derek Maltz, a former special agent with the DEA. He’s going to tell us a little bit about the difficulties of putting these task forces together. Welcome,…
Read the full story
“I am not worried about the deficit,” Ronald Reagan famously said. “It is big enough to take care of itself.”
If you pay attention to the libertarian purists, President Reagan earns mixed reviews on his economic policies. After all, in 1983, the federal budget deficit exceeded 6 percent of GDP. But Reagan was untroubled by federal budget deficits for at least two reasons, and in both cases he has been vindicated by history.
Read the full story
by Kevin Daley Environmental groups and House Democrats urged the Supreme Court not to disturb a lower court order blocking the reallocation of military funds for border wall projects. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to put that ruling on hold while litigation continues July 12. Granting that request — called a stay — would give the government an irreversible victory, a coalition of environmentalists led by the Sierra Club warned. “If a stay is granted and wall construction begins, there will be no turning back,” the green groups told the justices in court papers. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam barred the administration from using $2.5 billion in military funds for border wall construction. The trial court’s injunctions stalled border barrier construction projects in Arizona and New Mexico. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration’s request to stay Gilliam’s ruling while litigation continued by a 2-1 vote July 3. The government filed a stay application with the Supreme Court on July 12. Environmentalists fear ‘irrevocable victory’ Stays are supposed to preserve the status quo among litigants while a lawsuit proceeds through court. If the justices grant the administration’s request, the government can begin construction on several border wall projects the courts…
Read the full story
by Jason Hopkins Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton had a response of his own after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused the president of threatening to “tear families apart” with his upcoming illegal immigration raids. “When things aren’t going well, [President Donald Trump] plays to his base. Instead of putting forth solutions to fix our broken immigration system, instead of pursuing criminals, he threatens to tear families apart,” Schumer tweeted Friday. “This isn’t leadership. This is inhumane & unwise.” When things aren’t going well, @realDonaldTrump plays to his base Instead of putting forth solutions to fix our broken immigration system, instead of pursuing criminals, he threatens to tear families apart This isn’t leadershipThis is inhumane & unwisehttps://t.co/WZgtUsF6Ub — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 22, 2019 The New York Democrat’s tweet linked to an article about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) plan to apprehend over 2,000 illegal aliens across the country Sunday, the first day of the Trump administration’s directive to execute mass deportations of foreign national living in the country illegally. Cotton responded to Schumer, pointing out a detail the minority leader left out about the upcoming raids. “[Schumer] conveniently omits that these illegal aliens’ cases have been heard & rejected, hence they’re under valid…
Read the full story
by Jason Hopkins Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders dodged questions Sunday when explicitly asked if he would call the situation at the U.S.-Mexico a “crisis.” CNN host Dana Bash asked Sanders on CNN’s “State of the Union” about a tweet he sent Wednesday in which he called the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border a “fake border ‘crisis.’” Bash, however, noted that U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered over 144,000 illegal migrants in May, the highest number in 13 years. “Border facilities are dangerously overcrowded. Migrants are actually standing on toilets to get space to breathe. How is that not a crisis?” Bash asked the Vermont senator. In response, Sanders accused President Donald Trump of wielding a political strategy that involves demonizing illegal immigrants and Muslims in order to divide the country. He then called for changes to asylum laws that bring in “a whole lot more legal staff and judges.” Bash interjected, asking again if he would call the situation a crisis. “It is a serious problem, but it is not the kind of crisis that requires demonization of desperate people who in some cases have walked a thousand miles with chair children,” Sanders said. “It is an issue we have to deal with.…
Read the full story
by Rachel Bovard President Trump on Thursday rolled out his administration’s first, substantive take on immigration reform, and the reactions have been what you’d expect. Democrats and some Republicans immediately panned the proposal because it doesn’t provide amnesty to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (otherwise known as President Obama’s illegal executive amnesty), or to anyone else. Republicans, in general, were more circumspect. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gave a noncommittal response, with a nod toward the dispute he is currently embroiled in with Democrats, who continue to block the administration’s request for more humanitarian funding at the border. (Yes, the same party who lambasts the president for his supposed lack of humanitarian care for migrants also refuses to give him funding to do exactly that.) But a review of the plan itself, which deals largely with the legal immigration system, suggests that it fills a critical role for Republicans. For years, the GOP has run on “border security first,” and then a “merit-based” immigration with very little agreement on the specifics of what those terms mean. Past Republican proposals, rather, have come in the form of massive, multifaceted plans which die horrible public deaths due to their frontward concessions on amnesty. (Recall the doomed…
Read the full story
by Andrew Kerr Tens of thousands of apprehended migrants from the Central American countries driving the border crisis exploit loopholes in the immigration system by making false asylum claims, according to data, experts and surveys. The loopholes allow “people with suspect asylum claims … to make their way into the interior of the United States and disappear,” one expert told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Data shows only about half of the migrants from those countries who claim asylum actually file a formal application after being let into the U.S. Asylum is a status reserved for individuals who face persecution in their homeland, but less than 4% of migrants from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras exclusively said they were fleeing violence, while 72% cited economic conditions as their sole reason for leaving, according to a 2017 survey of deported migrants by the Migration in the Southern Border of Mexico (EMIF). Just 10% cited both violence and economic conditions as motivating factors. “The vast majority of current Central American asylum seekers — by their own admission — are economic migrants who do not qualify for asylum, because they are not subject to persecution on the basis of…
Read the full story
The U.S. government plans to replace barriers through 100 miles of the southern border in California and Arizona, including through a national monument and a wildlife refuge, according to documents and environmental advocates. The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday again waived environmental and dozens of other laws to build more barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. Funding will come from the Defense Department following the emergency declaration that President Donald Trump signed this year after Congress refused to approve the amount of border wall funding he requested. Barriers will go up at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a vast park named after the unique cactus breed that decorates it, and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, which is largely a designed wilderness home to 275 wildlife species. The government will also build new roads and lighting in those areas in Arizona. Environmental advocates who have sued to stop the construction of The Wall say this latest plan will be detrimental to the wildlife and habitat in those areas. “The Trump administration just ignored bedrock environmental and public health laws to plow a disastrous border wall through protected, spectacular wildlands,” said Laiken Jordahl, who works on border issues at the Center…
Read the full story
by Jason Hopkins Fifty people have been arrested and 98 have been indicted after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) busted an enormous marriage fraud operation allegedly taking place in Vietnam and Houston. A months-long Homeland Security Investigations probe uncovered a criminal operation that enabled numerous foreign nationals to fraudulently obtain legal immigration status in the U.S., according to a Monday ICE press release. Under the alleged terms of conspiracy, immigrant beneficiaries would pay around $50,000 to $70,000 to get married and score permanent resident status. However, according to the indictment, the marriages were complete shams. The spouses typically met only briefly before they obtained their marriages licenses and did not live together after becoming a “married” couple. The criminal operation behind the marriages would go so far as to produce fake wedding albums and falsified tax, utility and employment information — all in an effort to convince U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to approve the forms. “These arrests mark the culmination of a comprehensive yearlong multi-agency investigation into one of the largest alleged marriage fraud conspiracies ever documented in the Houston area,” Special HSI Agent in Charge Mark Dawson, said in a Monday statement. “By working together with our partners…
Read the full story
by Rachael Bovard The evidence that Democrats are now an unapologetically open borders party is piling up, and Republicans need to start calling them on it. From opposing expanded detention facilities, actively blocking legislation to fix family separation policies, and even voting against legislation that would prohibit illegal immigrants from voting, it’s becoming abundantly clear what Democrats want out of U.S. immigration policy: open borders, new voters, and a system that never actually gets fixed, so they can use it as a cudgel against Republicans. Consider that just days after the family separation policy erupted, Republicans brought bills to the floor to fix the 1997 Flores settlement—the governing legal agreement which doesn’t allow children to be detained longer than 20 days. In practice, this means that individuals or families who show up with a minor are either separated from that minor and detained for processing, or the entire family unit is simply released into the interior of the country while awaiting a court date. Republicans brought legislation to the floor of the Senate which would vitiate the Flores settlement and allow family units here illegally to be detained and processed together. But Democrats, after howling about the cruelty of…
Read the full story
by Dr. Carol M. Swain Congressional Democrats often claim their open-borders immigration policy is “compassionate” — but their so-called compassion doesn’t extend to American citizens or legal permanent residents. In fact, the Democrats’ compassion is calculated and strategic — anything but sincere. The immigration situation gets worse every year. It has become a crisis that is undeniable. Senator Lindsey Graham recently announced that border officials are now predicting the arrival of more than one million illegal aliens to the U.S. this year, based on the surge of apprehensions in March. “Just met with Acting [ICE] Director Ron Vitiello,” Graham tweeted. “If March numbers hold, we are on track for 1.2 million illegal immigrants coming into the country in 2019.” The immigration crisis is reminiscent of a 1960s ploy concocted by Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. Their underhanded aim was to change the welfare system in America by overwhelming “the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.” A similar tactic is underway now. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan says, “The surge numbers are just overwhelming the entire system.” Likewise, Jeh Johnson, Homeland Security Secretary under former…
Read the full story
by CHQ Staff We have said on a number of occasions that the Constitution is not a suicide pact and that a dysfunctional or politically gridlocked Congress should not be able to use specious separation of powers arguments to put the sovereignty of the United States and the lives and property of its citizens in jeopardy. That is why we believe that the President Trump’s Article II duty to enforce the laws of the United States and defend its Constitution trumps the appropriations clause of Article I and empowers the President to reprograms funds to secure the border in the absence of congressional action to stop the ongoing invasion of our country. But stopping the invasion is not a one solution problem – there are many actions the President can and should take to prevent millions more illegal aliens from entering the United States. One of the simplest and most effective actions he could take is to close the border with Mexico, and it seems like President Trump is inching toward the decision to do so. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday that President Donald Trump is serious about possibly closing the U.S.-Mexico border this week. “It certainly…
Read the full story
by Henry Rogers Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said he will vote against a resolution in an attempt to terminate President Donald Trump’s national emergency for border wall funding. Paul will join a group of three Republicans who have expressed their concerns with Trump’s declaration for a national emergency, saying they do not believe the president should be allowed to override Congress to such a degree. “I can’t vote to give extraconstitutional powers to the President,” Paul said, to the Bowling Green Daily News Saturday. “I can’t vote to give the President the power to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress,” he continued. “We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn’t authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it’s a dangerous thing.” He was speaking to the Warren County Republican Party. In the group are Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine. “As a U.S. senator, I cannot justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress,” Tillis wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post. “As a conservative, I cannot endorse a precedent that I know future left-wing presidents will exploit to advance radical policies that will…
Read the full story
by Jason Hopkins U.S. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost broke down in testimony to Congress why the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border qualifies as a national security crisis. “There is an ongoing debate as to whether this constitutes a border security crisis or a humanitarian crisis. Let me be clear, it is both,” Provost, President Donald Trump’s top border official, said Tuesday during a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee. Provost’s comments run counter to claims made by Democrats and other Trump critics who argue that, because border apprehensions are down considerably from 20 years ago, there is no actual crisis. While the 361,000 people the Border Patrol caught in fiscal year 2018 is less than half of the 1 million who were caught in the 1990s and 2000s, Provost says there is more to the numbers than meets the eye. “I’ve been asked many times how the current situation can be a crisis compared to years when we surpassed 1 million apprehensions,” the Border Patrol chief said to lawmakers. “To understand the numbers, you have to look at what’s happening on the ground.” In years past, the majority of those apprehended at the border were Mexican nationals who,…
Read the full story
by Nick Givas Two wives of border patrol agents who rebuked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared on “Fox & Friends” Monday to explain the letter they wrote to her. “I just felt that it was really important that our leaders come here and see what’s happening firsthand. It’s important for them to meet with the people that are here on a daily basis,” Jill Demanski said. “What they witnessing and the effects that it has on our country. And we want them to come here and make an informed decision and to see what’s really going on.” The letter invited Pelosi to McAllen, Texas, to get a firsthand look at the border and asked the speaker to “stop pretending” that she cares about federal workers. “If you did [care], you would care for their safety, not just their paychecks,” the letter read. Renea Perez said her husband feels overwhelmed at the border because they lack the adequate backup and technology to do a sufficient job. “It can be overwhelming. I mean, they do a fabulous job of protecting us. We feel safe in the valley because of them. But they definitely need a wall or a barrier in the high traffic areas,” Perez…
Read the full story
A Florida veteran and triple amputee launched a GoFundMe Sunday to fund President Donald Trump’s border wall, and he’s already raised more than $200,000 and counting. The fundraiser has been public for just over two days and donations are already pouring in. According to Brian Kolfage, an Iraq war veteran and public figure, if the 63 million people who voted for Trump each donate $80, then there would be enough money to pay for the wall. “Democrats are going to stall this project by every means possible and play political games to ensure President Trump doesn’t get his victory. They’d rather see President Trump fail than see America succeed,” Kolfage says on the fundraiser’s page. “However, if we can fund a large portion of this wall, it will jumpstart things and will be less money Trump has to secure from our politicians.” Kolfage provided extensive information about himself to assure supporters that the fundraiser is not a scam, and notes that his team has already “contacted the Trump administration to secure a point of contact where all funds will go upon completion.” “We are working with a law firm on a legal document that will bind the government to using…
Read the full story
By Lt. Col Tony Shaffer (Ret.) The terrorist attack on a French Christmas market should serve as a wakeup call to America. The stakes are too high for Congress to keep playing political games with border security. We need to build the wall. Americans awoke Wednesday to yet another awful reminder that we still live in a world beset with radical Islamic terrorism. In the night, the crack of gunfire and the all-too-familiar cry of “Allahu Akbar” rang out in a French Christmas market. At least four people who came out to enjoy Strasbourg’s famous Advent traditions are dead. As President Trump so astutely noted in the aftermath of the attack, it is impossible to separate national security and resistance to Islamic terrorism from immigration policy and border security. If we hope to avoid the kind of terror that has become part of daily life for the people of France, we must avoid Europe’s mistakes and get our border under control as soon as possible. For that, we need Congress to approve funding for President Trump’s border wall. Sadly, incidents like the Strasbourg shooting have become practically routine in France, and this crisis was imported through decades of terrible…
Read the full story
by Nick Givas A U.S. immigrant from Nicaragua explained how she legally came to the United States, on “Fox & Friends” Monday, and said those who are coming in illegally are a “threat to national security.” Amapola Hansberger referred to the caravan of migrants headed for the U.S. southern border as an “invasion and act of war” against America and said they constitute an “immediate threat.” Host Brian Kilmeade asked how Hansberger she was able to come to America legally and she said she simply followed the process. “I went to the embassy, filled out forms. [I] submitted myself to the vetting procession and waited patiently for the embassy to approve my coming,” she said. “That’s how people should do it.” Hansberger claimed there’s no way to keep track of those who come over the border illegally and said some of them could be radicalized terrorists who plan to harm American citizens. “They are a threat to our national security because today — war is not only countries that go to war, it is groups such as ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban,” she added. “And they have declared war openly against the United States. So with the open borders policies we’ve had, how…
Read the full story
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would pull the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty because Russia had violated the agreement, but he provided no details of the violations. The 1987 pact, which helps protect the security of the U.S. and its allies in Europe and the Far East, prohibits the United States and Russia from possessing, producing ortest-flying a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles. “Russia has violated the agreement.They have been violating it for many years,”Trump said after a rally in Elko, Nevada. “And we’re not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons and we’re not allowed to.” The agreement has constrained theU.S. from developing new weapons, but America will begin developing them unless Russia and China agree not to possess or develop the weapons, Trump said. China is not currently party to the pact. “We’ll have to develop those weapons, unless Russia comes to us and China comes to us and they all come to usand say let’s really get smart and let’s none of us develop those weapons, but if Russia’s doing it and if China’s doing it, and we’re adhering…
Read the full story
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions welcomed 44 new immigration judges, the largest class of immigration judges in U.S. history according to the Justice Department. The event took place as the Trump administration struggles to reunite families separated at the border after its “zero tolerance policy” resulted in unprecedented numbers of immigration cases waiting to be heard. The decision to detain children separately as their parents await trial has left about 400 children still separated from their families, according to a court filing — 45 days after a court-mandated deadline for the government to reunite them. There are more than 700,000 immigration cases in the backlog, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data gathering research organization at Syracuse University. During a welcoming ceremony Monday in Virginia, Sessions said, “Counting you, along with our existing judges, we currently have the most active immigration judges in history.” “But we will not stop there,” he continued. “We will add even more by the end of this calendar year, with a goal of seeing a 50 percent increase in the number of judges since the beginning of the Trump administration.” Though Sessions lauded the large number of incoming immigration judges, he warned them…
Read the full story
by Will Racke Arizona rancher John Chilton’s 50,000-acre spread along the U.S.-Mexico border is allegedly ground zero for human smugglers, drug cartel members and illegal immigrants, and he has videos showing trespassers sneaking through his property. A fifth-generation cattleman, the 79-year-old Chilton has long warned the government about the dangers of leaving lengthy stretches of the southwest border secured by nothing more than a barbed wire fence. To prove his point, he set up surveillance cameras throughout his property to document the comings and goings of trespassers from south of the border. Chilton shared hours of video footage with Daily Caller News Foundation reporters, who are in Arizona to document life and crime in the southwest borderlands. Tim Foley, the founder of Arizona Border Recon, also shared his group’s surveillance footage with TheDCNF. The surveillance videos, which are mostly from 2018 but also date back to 2016, show an unrelenting stream of alleged cartel scouts, drug mules and human smugglers — known as coyotes — using secret trails to work their way into the interior of the state. Many of the trespassers tote long guns and sport military-style camouflage, posing a threat Chilton knows from firsthand experience. A U.S.…
Read the full story
by Nick Givas GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said Republicans must fund and build a southern border wall if they hope to maintain their congressional majority this November. “We should do what we said. What was probably the single biggest promise Republicans made to the voters in 2016? It was the border security wall,” Jordan said on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday. “So let’s get that done here before the end of the fiscal year. Let’s do what we said and let’s head into the election and let’s keep the majority,” he said. Jordan said the midterms are expected to have many close races, but claimed Republicans could increase their chances if they kept their promise to reform the immigration system. “Everyone’s talking about how tight this election is going to be. I think that’s accurate. I think we can keep the majority but I think we increase our chances of keeping the majority if we do a simple thing,” he said. “Do what we promised the voters we were going to do.” “Again, this was probably the central thing that the people elected Republicans to do is secure our border. Build the border security wall,” Jordan concluded. “So let’s get it done on the…
Read the full story
by CHQ Staff President Donald Trump has fulfilled another campaign promise and effectively killed the never “free” North American Free Trade Agreement by concluding a separate preliminary United States–Mexico Trade Agreement that modernizes and rebalances the trade relationship between the two countries. According to a White House news release this is the first time that a modern United States trade agreement has been renegotiated. In a live telephone conversation with President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico, President Trump said, “…they used to call it NAFTA. We’re going to call it the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, and we’ll get rid of the name NAFTA. It has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA for many years. And now it’s a really good deal for both countries, and we look very much forward to it.” Defying the critics who said that Trump was alienating Mexico, President Peña Nieto said through an interpreter, “And I’m really grateful, Mr. President. I want to say that you — I greatly recognize and acknowledge your political will and your participation in this.” President Peña Nieto also noted, “I think this is something very positive for the United States and Mexico. …
Read the full story
By Robert Romano The 2018 fiscal year will end on Sept. 30 but Congress is no closer to achieving key Trump administration priorities including fully funding the southern border wall, something President Donald Trump has been demanding since 2017 and campaigned on extensively in 2016. So far, both the House and the Senate have passed appropriations bills for Defense, Energy & Water, Interior, Agriculture, Financial Services, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, Legislative Branch and Military/Veterans. But so far, no wall. Of those, Energy & Water, Legislative Branch and Military/Veterans have been consolidated into a single bill, H.R. 5895, which is now in conference between the House and Senate. And Interior, Agriculture, Financial Services and Transportation and Housing and Urban Development have been consolidated into H.R. 6147. Everything else, including Commerce/Justice/Science, Homeland Security (which includes the wall), Labor/HHS/Education and State/Foreign Operations that have not already passed both chambers are likely to be wrapped up in a continuing resolution at the end of this month. On one hand, that can be a good thing — or at least a not bad thing —insofar as it gives Congress a little bit more of an opportunity to get those things right. For example, the Labor-HHS…
Read the full story
by Steve Herman President Donald Trump is referring to opposition lawmakers, as well as local and state officials who oppose his immigration control agenda, as “a coalition of open borders extremists.” Trump at the White House on Monday afternoon accused opponents of waging “an unprecedented assault on American law enforcement — our greatest people,” saying they are threatening Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) “for doing their duties.” According to the president, “They have no courage. They have no guts. They just have big, loud mouths.” The remarks came during an East Room event honoring law enforcement officials for bravery in combating smugglers, drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations. “You’re saving lives. You’re saving a lot of Americans,” Trump told the audience. “We don’t play games,” he said, lauding law enforcement’s performance in strictly enforcing immigration laws. He said that CBP prevents “10 known or suspected terrorists” from entering the United States every day. During remarks, the president repeatedly attacked political opponents against his immigration and border control policies. The president specifically targeted those who have called for ICE to be abolished for alleged human rights abuses. “We will not stand for the…
Read the full story
President Trump said Friday he plans to revoke the security clearance of Bruce Ohr, a Justice Department official whose wife was employed at the company that was involved in producing the dossier on Trump’s links to Russia. Trump called Ohr a “disgrace” outside the White House and said, “I suspect I will be taking it away very quickly.” Ohr is under intense Republican scrutiny for his contacts with Glenn Simpson, who co-founded the opposition research firm Fusion GPS. The president also suggested he may revoke Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s security clearance, and said, “Mr. Mueller has a lot of conflicts also, directly himself.” Trump said, nevertheless, that Mueller should be allowed to finish a report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Trumps remarks came after he revoked the security clearance earlier this week of former CIA Director John Brennan. Twelve former senior intelligence officials have issued a statement on what they call “the ill-considered and unprecedented remarks and actions by the White House regarding the removal of John Brennan’s security clearances.” “The president’s action regarding John Brennan and the threats of similar action against other former officials has nothing to do with who should and should not…
Read the full story
by Chuck Ross Former National Security Agency contractor Reality Winner’s 63-month prison sentence will be the “longest” ever served by a federal employee in a case involving leaks to the media, prosecutors said Tuesday. Winner, who worked for an NSA contractor based in Augusta, Georgia, pleaded guilty in June to transmitting secret government documents to the media in 2017. She faces sentencing August 23. Prosecutors said in a court filing Tuesday that Winner’s sentence is the “longest” imposed in a media leak case. “The government advises the Court that despite the agreed-upon sentence being below the applicable guidelines range, it would be the longest sentence served by a federal defendant for an unauthorized disclosure to the media,” prosecutors said in the filing, according to The Associated Press. Winner, 26, acknowledged stealing and leaking NSA documents to The Intercept, a news website, about Russian cyber attacks against election officials throughout the U.S. Winner was arrested June 3, 2017. The Intercept published the stolen documents two days later. Winner was caught after a reporter at The Intercept contacted the NSA to verify the documents, which were visibly creased because Winner snuck them out of her office in her pantyhose. Winner, whose social media…
Read the full story
by Carla Babb Chinese military vessels are now operating in the Northern Atlantic, and Russian submarines are prowling those same waters at a pace not seen since the end of the Cold War, the Navy’s top admiral told VOA in an exclusive interview. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said China’s military movements from the North Atlantic into the Mediterranean Sea is a “new dynamic.” “Even five years ago, we wouldn’t have seen anything like this,” Richardson said. According to Richardson, the Chinese navy is a global one that is both “ready and capable” of operating wherever Beijing wants. “They’re certainly a pacing competition for us in terms of the naval threat,” he told VOA. However, Chinese operations near the United States’ eastern shore are not as threatening as Russian vessels lurking below the ocean’s surface. NATO allies from North America to Europe are increasingly concerned about the uptick of Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic. “We’re talking about more (activity) than we’ve seen in 25 years,” Richardson said. U.S. officials worry that Moscow may try to use its submarines to cut or tap into undersea cables that connect the two continents. 2nd Fleet Due to these…
Read the full story
by Printus LeBlanc China has a strategy unlike any the U.S. has faced. In the Cold War with the Soviet Union, it was military force versus military force. China learned a lesson from the USSR and is taking an asymmetrical approach in dealing with the U.S. Yes, China is challenging the U.S. in the military sphere, but it is also attacking the U.S. on multiple unexpected fronts. China is attacking the U.S. in ways Russia was never capable of, and has proven to be far more dangerous. When the U.S. thinks of warfare, it typically thinks of kinetic warfare, physical destruction of a target by military means. China, however, has adopted a total warfare strategy. A 2014 White Paper from U.S. Army Special Operations Command on Unconventional Warfare discusses different methods of warfare being used by various adversaries. With regards to China, it stated, “China will use a host of methods, many of which lie out of the realm of conventional warfare. These methods include trade warfare, financial warfare, ecological warfare, psychological warfare, smuggling warfare, media warfare, drug warfare, network warfare, technological warfare, fabrication warfare, resources warfare, economic aid warfare, cultural warfare, and international law warfare.” An example of China using…
Read the full story
by Ryan Pickrell A senior CIA official warned of the dangers of China’s rise Friday, stressing that Beijing is determined to see China replace the U.S. as the world superpower. Arguing that China is fundamentally waging a “cold war” against the U.S., Deputy Assistant Director for the CIA’s East Asia Mission Center Michael Collins indirectly described China as a “country that exploits all avenues of power — licit and illicit, public and private, economic and military — to undermine the standing of [its] rival relative to [its] own standing without resorting to conflict.” “At the end of the day, they want every country around the world, when it’s deciding its interests on policy issues, to first and foremost side with China and not the United States, because the Chinese are increasingly defining a conflict with the United States and what we stand behind as a systems conflict,” he argued at the Aspen Security Forum. Emphasizing that China represents the greatest challenge to American interests, he stressed that Chinese ambitions set “up a competition with us and what we stand behind far more significantly by any extreme than what the Russians could put forward.” His statements echo those of FBI Director Christopher Wray, who spoke at…
Read the full story
by Steve Herman U.S. President Donald Trump, amid the uproar over his initial summit this week with Russia’s president, is indicating there could be a second such meeting with Vladimir Putin. Trump, writing on Twitter, called Monday’s summit in Helsinki “a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media.” The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media. I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear…….. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2018 In another Thursday morning tweet, the U.S. president accused mainstream media in the country of desiring “so badly to see a major confrontation with Russia, even a confrontation that could lead to war.” The Fake News Media wants so badly to see a major confrontation with Russia, even a confrontation that could lead to war. They are pushing so recklessly hard and hate the fact that I’ll probably have a good relationship with Putin. We are doing MUCH better than any other country! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19,…
Read the full story
by Daniel Marulanda and James D. Agresti The border between the United States and Mexico stretches for 1,960 miles, parting two major regions of the world with vastly different governments, standards of living, and levels of crime. Consequently, many millions of people have risked their lives to illegally cross the border into the United States. During 2013 to 2015 alone, the U.S. Border Patrol recorded an average of 700,000 illegal entries per year along the U.S.-Mexico border. Additionally, roughly one million people per year legally immigrate to the U.S., 100 million per year legally visit the U.S., and more than 300,000 per year illegally overstay their visits, often never leaving. People who illegally enter the U.S. avoid criminal background checks, and as a result, they have much higher serious crime rates than legal immigrants and the general U.S. population. Highlighting the impact of this, a U.S. Government Accountability Office study of 249,000 non-citizens in U.S. prisons and jails during 2003 to 2009 found that they had been arrested for 2.9 million offenses committed within the U.S.—including 69,929 sex offenses and 25,064 homicides. Like most government data, this study did not isolate legal non-citizens from illegal ones, but given that legal immigrants have to undergo background checks, the vast bulk of these criminals were probably in the U.S. illegally. Mexico is…
Read the full story
By Robert Romano President Donald Trump will be meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland on July 16. There the two will discuss nuclear weapons and U.S.-Russian relations. This is not only the right time to cool tensions between the two foremost nuclear powers — who have clashed over Syria, Ukraine and other potential hotspots — but also the right time politically for Trump to take to the international stage. Coming off a successful summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, achieving an agreement in principle to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, President Trump’s popularity is soaring. He has the political capital to meet with Putin. Trump’s surge, simultaneously stunning and perplexing to D.C. elites — but not to his supporters — comes as he does not appear to be hampered even in the slightest by the ongoing Russia investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Probably because there was no collusion. But not only does Trump have the political capital to meet with Putin from a position of strength, it is politically smart for him to do it. Peace is popular. Not only is this what Trump ran on in 2016 — achieving a better relationship with American adversaries…
Read the full story
by Julia Cohen New York Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a “terrorist organization” in a Thursday night tweet. “ICE is a terrorist organization, and its egomaniacal leader is Donald Trump,” the tweet says. ICE is a terrorist organization, and its egomaniacal leader is Donald Trump. Sign our petition to #AbolishICE: https://t.co/sZ3VF6lRhE https://t.co/qsB6XiJUJc — Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) June 22, 2018 The tweet also includes a link to a petition by Nixon’s campaign to abolish ICE. “There are so many steps between where we are now and a fair immigration system. But this is the first step,” the petition says. This isn’t the first time Nixon has advocated for the abolition of ICE. “Drivers licenses must be made available to all qualified New Yorkers, including undocumented immigrants … We must … #AbolishICE,” Nixon tweeted earlier on Thursday. Nixon advocated for making New York a sanctuary state, meaning that the state would not cooperate with ICE to deport illegal immigrants. – – – Julia Cohen is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Julia on Facebook and Twitter. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that…
Read the full story
by Ted Bromund, James Jay Carafano, and Brett Schaefer President Donald Trump recently proclaimed June 2018 to be National Ocean Month and stated his support for better utilizing the vast resources contained in America’s Exclusive Economic Zone, the 200-nautical mile zone off U.S. coasts over which the U.S. has jurisdiction.j There are now sure to be renewed calls for the United States to accede to the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea—also known as the Law of the Sea Treaty—as a useful step in this process. Finalized in 1982, the convention codifies long-standing rules of navigation, provides a dispute-settlement mechanism, and regularizes territorial boundaries at sea. More controversially, the convention also establishes an International Seabed Authority, mandates royalties on deep-seabed resources, and transfers of revenues to landlocked and developing nations. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Advocates argue that joining the convention would enhance America’s ability to commercially utilize mineral, oil, and gas resources in the deep seabed and strengthen our ability to protect U.S. interests in the Arctic. In reality, however, U.S. accession would provide no benefits not already available to the U.S., while creating unnecessary…
Read the full story
by Ryan Rickrell The U.S. military has a talent for “taking down small islands,” a top general reportedly replied Thursday to questions about America’s ability to “blow apart” China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea. “I would just say that the United States military’s had a lot of experience in the Western Pacific taking down small islands,” Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff, told reporters, according to Voice of America. “It’s just a fact.” “We have a lot of experience in the second World War taking down small islands that are isolated. So, that’s a core competency of the US military,” he added, noting that people “shouldn’t read anything more into that than a simple statement of historical fact.” "I would just say that the #UnitedStates military's had a lot of experience in the Western Pacific taking down small islands," per LtGen McKenzie when asked if US could "blow apart" #China's man-made islands — Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) May 31, 2018 Tensions between the U.S. and China have been building in the South China Sea in recent weeks. In response to Chinese militarization of the disputed region, which has included the deployment of anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air…
Read the full story
Less than a handful of hours after welcoming three newly-released Americans home from their captivity in North Korea early Thursday, President Trump announced via Twitter the details of his meeting with Kim Jong Un. “The highly anticipated meeting between Kim Jong Un and myself will take place in Singapore on June 12th,” the president tweeted, adding, “We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!” The highly anticipated meeting between Kim Jong Un and myself will take place in Singapore on June 12th. We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2018 During a brief appearance on the tarmac, President Trump hailed the release of Tony Kim, Kim Dong Chul, and Kim Hak-song as a “gesture of goodwill” and told the press that now, the United States and North Korea are “starting off on a new footing.” “I think this will be a very big success,” Mr. Trump said. “It’s never been taken this far, there’s never been a relationship like this. Some great things can happen, and that’s what we hope.” Watch President Trump and First Lady Melania, along with Vice President and Mrs. Pence…
Read the full story
Ahead of the May 12th deadline and against the many requests from European allies, President Trump announced Tuesday afternoon the United States will withdraw from the Obama-era “Iran Deal.” The president announced his decision in a speech at the White House in the Diplomatic Room as Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Vice President Mike Pence looked on, Breitbart reported. In his remarks, Mr. Trump revisited the many atrocities against the West and the United States by the theocratic regime. “Over the years, Iran and its proxies have bombed American embassies and military installations, murdered hundreds of American service members, and kidnapped, imprisoned, and tortured American citizens,” he said. After a summarizing the short history of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – commonly known as the “Iran Deal” he President Trump noted: Since the Agreement, Iran’s bloody ambitions have grown only more brazen. In light of these glaring flaws, I announced last October that the Iran Deal must wither be renegotiated or terminated. Three months later on January 12th, I repeated these conditions. I made clear that if the Deal cannot be fixed, the United States would no longer be a party to the…
Read the full story
by Fred Lucas President Donald Trump, without saying he would pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, said Monday that he is open to signing a better agreement with the Islamist regime. Commenting after Israel accused Iran of cheating on the deal, Trump also rejected the premise that by pulling out the U.S. would jeopardize a separate nuclear deal with North Korea. “No. I think it sends the right message,” Trump said of his possible move during a joint press conference with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in the Rose Garden of the White House. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] The month of May could prove to be monumental for the Trump administration and global politics. The United States has until May 12 to decide whether it will remain in the 2015 multilateral deal, led by the Obama administration, to temporarily delay Iran’s development of nuclear weapons. The president said he will meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in late May or early June. “I’m not telling you what I’m doing, but a lot of people think they know,” Trump said…
Read the full story
John Bolton’s start as national security adviser kicks off Monday – and that means the members of the mainstream media are prepping for the rash of stories on why the world is about to blow. Already, the press has pounced on the announced departure of National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton as a sign of the continuing chaos of this President Donald Trump administration.
Read the full story
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un must realize that Donald Trump is a “very different” U.S. president with a different policy than that of the previous administration, an influential U.S. lawmaker has said. “Kim Jong Un is dealing with a very different person in President Trump,” Republican Senator James Risch of Idaho told VOA’s Korean Service “He’s not dealing with President (Barack) Obama anymore.”
Read the full story
Iranian police arrested around 100 money changers on Wednesday as it scrambled to contain the decline of the rial, which has lost a quarter of its value in six months. A video by state broadcaster IRINN showed dozens of currency hawkers, who normally ply their trade across the road from the British embassy in central Tehran, being rounded up by police.
Read the full story
Like a hypersonic bullet hitting another hypersonic bullet. A Hit! On February 5, during the Chinese midcourse ABM test, the interceptor hit the target missile in space. Pictured here: the exhaust plumes from the DN-3 rocket motor, suspended in the stratosphere for a spectacular show in the morning light.
Read the full story
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the United States is losing its competitive military advantage over China and Russia, marking the central challenge to America’s armed forces. “Great-power competition, not terrorism, is now the primary focus of U.S. national security,” Mattis said Friday as he rolled out the unclassified portion of the Trump administration’s National Defense Strategy (NDS) in Washington.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump will unveil his National Security Strategy on Monday, a policy that will stress a friendly but firm rivalry with Russia and China, and one that will seek to end terrorism and promote “America First” policies. In a pre-speech news release from the White House, the president outlined his strategies for national security. A…
Read the full story