Biden campaign appears to Kamala Harris to strengthen minority assist ahead of 2024

Julia Johnson

August 01, 02:16 PM August 01, 02:20 PM

President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection marketing campaign is relying on Vice President Kamala Harris to assist converse his system to black and Latino voters, who convey low enthusiasm amid economic struggles.

Harris has been deployed over the final few weeks to make many speeches to best black and Latino groups across the region. Very last thirty day period, she spoke at historically black sorority Delta Sigma Theta’s 56th national convention, to UnidosUS, a distinguished Latino civil rights group, in Chicago, Illinois, and most not long ago to the NAACP's party in Boston, Massachusetts.

KAMALA HARRIS INSISTS SHE HAS 'GREAT Approval RATINGS'

The back again-to-back again gatherings arrive as Biden's team looks to get back help among critical minority groups that ensured his victory in 2020. These usually are not necessarily the only groups that Harris is rallying assist from. The marketing campaign sees the vice president as a particularly productive coalition builder amid younger voters and females as very well, which is only supplemented by her id as a black and Indian female. Additional, though Harris is just not thought of young, she is about 20 years Biden's junior, placing her in much nearer proximity to youth voters.

The transfer is premised on the campaign's purpose of enjoying to the strengths of Biden and Harris. For example, speeches to labor unions and suppliers thus considerably have been helmed by the president.

Biden and Harris's early gatherings with these groups are component of a bigger strategy to coalesce every single component of the Democratic and unbiased electorate about the president early on right before he heads into a basic election with the Republican nominee in 2024.

Harris's purpose, significantly when it arrives to nurturing Biden's aid with minority People, continued Tuesday as she headed to Orlando, Florida, to discuss at the African Methodist Episcopal Church Quadrennial Convention. She was expected to renew criticism versus Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who is presently operating for the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

She recently attacked Florida's new black heritage instructing specifications, expressing "they want to replace heritage with lies, [and] center university students in Florida to be instructed that enslaved persons benefited from slavery." DeSantis pushed back again wholeheartedly in opposition to her claim, accusing the vice president of lying.

Biden's 2024 campaign requires to be certain enthusiasm amid critical minority teams in purchase to win reelection. Nonetheless, his acceptance amid black and Latino Individuals has declined due to the fact he took place of work in 2021, according to FiveThirtyEight. While he noticed a dip in acceptance between black voters, he noticed an even steeper decline with Latinos.

Furthermore, voter turnout was reasonably lessen among black voters in the 2022 midterm elections.

In Ga, which has turn out to be a key battleground point out in latest several years, Biden's battle with black Americans is obvious. According to Bloomberg, black voters in the next-most significant Black population in the state, Atlanta, Georgia, are emotion the sting of inflation.

“Right now, they are not working and jumping that he is the candidate and would favored to have observed a different voice,” said Billy Honor, arranging director at the New Georgia Undertaking.

Voters in the populous, black metropolitan region are sensation especially enable down by the state of the overall economy and even more by the disappointment of Biden's university student personal loan forgiveness plan, which was squashed by the Supreme Court docket.

The campaign, while, is assured that it can rebuild enthusiasm amid this team. In the operates is an aggressive media campaign that Biden's workforce expects to attain minority voters and address their considerations.

A person vivid spot for the marketing campaign arrived in the variety of the New York Moments/Siena Faculty poll unveiled Tuesday. Biden's acceptance among black Us citizens enhanced by 7 percentage details considering that Oct of 2022, achieving 60%. His approval from the Latino community, on the other hand, fell by 7 factors.

What Bidenomics is and why the White House thinks it can be a profitable 2024 information

Christian Datoc

July 31, 06:39 AM July 31, 06:39 AM

The White Household and President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection campaign are betting that a straightforward slogan will assist have the president to a 2nd time period.

"Bidenomics," the new catchphrase for the president's broad-ranging economic priorities, is a distinction with the "Reaganomics" of President Ronald Reagan, which Republicans associate with a sustained economic increase and U.S. victory in the Chilly War but Biden characterizes as "trickle-down economics."

A BURNING Issue: BIDEN AND DEMOCRATS Glance TO Beat Extreme Warmth Across THE US

Reagan, and his supporters, stressed the have to have to harmony the federal price range, slow government paying, and lower taxes. His supporters, and conservatives in standard, argue that those pillars, coupled with slashing governing administration business laws, would spur cost-free sector expansion and reverse the significant inflation that defined the American economy in the late 1970s.

Biden’s plan, nevertheless, extensively rejects the Reagan line. Instead than lessening the federal price range, the president is on the lookout to increase investing, specially for social welfare courses, to support communities the administration suggests have been still left at the rear of from the economic boom of the 1980s and '90s.

Biden says he wishes to build the financial state "from the bottom up and the center out" fairly than from the major down.

Bidenomics is also right tied to the president’s green power drive. Biden has said his wish to fully decarbonize the United States by 2050 and transition at minimum two-thirds of all vehicles on American roads to electric cars in the subsequent 10 years. Hundreds of billions in immediate paying and private incentive systems incorporated in Biden’s significant legislative shelling out deals, like the bipartisan infrastructure legislation, Inflation Reduction Act, and CHIPS and Science Act, are aimed at boosting American production of eco-friendly products and solutions and their parts.

The president would improve taxes on higher-money earners and companies and use that new earnings to fund infrastructure initiatives across the region though incentivizing non-public businesses with beneficial grant systems to reshore production and other tech-targeted careers.

Critics routinely cite inflation and the escalating federal deficits as the primary knocks versus Biden’s program.

Just months into Biden’s initial calendar year in business office, costs across practically all business products skyrocketed. A lot of that was attributed to the lagging consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, but even some Democrats concur that Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which was handed on a strictly partisan vote and poured trillions into an by now overheated overall economy, drove 12 months-about-12 months inflation to stages not witnessed in many years.

The president has stated that balancing the price range is a leading precedence for his administration, but congressional Republicans and other political opponents argue that his insurance policies never match that rhetoric, supplied the way Biden’s legislative spending packages lean into potential versatile regulation of crucial industries.

On the other hand, inflation has slowly and gradually but steadily ticked down all through the earlier calendar year and at this time sits at the lowest degree in two-plus yrs. Shopper sentiment has also shot again up, with 41% far more individuals emotion positive about the financial state than at this time final calendar year, in accordance to the College of Michigan.

And nevertheless the Federal Reserve however raised curiosity rates to 5.5% in July, the highest amount in more than twenty several years, Chairman Jerome Powell has also mentioned that the Fed no lengthier believes the overall economy will slide into a economic downturn as it continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the meantime, Republican lawmakers have began touting public investments allotted as a result of Biden’s expending payments in their home districts, a truth that the president himself and top rated White Residence officials often position to through formal functions.

Moreover, a historically powerful labor market — unemployment has hovered close to 4% for months — and reasonable wage progress have allowed the president to continue touting his financial bona fides, even as prices continue to be higher than their pre-pandemic degrees.

Combined, these things have reduce the tooth out of some of Republicans’ critiques of Bidenomics as just "socialist" handouts. GOP lawmakers have generally instead concentrated on the president’s age and alleged corruption in his family’s earlier company dealings.

"If you discover it really hard to pinpoint what congressional Republicans’ concept is suitable now, you have a large amount of corporation," White Household spokesman Andrew Bates reported in a statement. "As the power of the American economy less than Joe Biden’s management is strengthened with new knowledge each individual 7 days, House Republicans’ argument in favor of trickle-down welfare for the rich disintegrates extra and extra."

The White Property precisely argues that makes an attempt to examine Hunter Biden, the president’s son, have sprung out of the successes of Biden’s economic agenda.

"Apparently, this clown carousel wasn’t unusual enough. Now Home Republicans are channeling their discouraged vitality into a measured and purposeful urge to impeach … an individual … somewhere … for some thing," Bates continued. "The base line is this. The subtitle to every thing that tends to make up congressional Republicans’ disjointed information is this: 'Bidenomics is operating.'"

Democratic senator denies Republican statements that Biden is too previous to be president

Asher Notheis

July 30, 02:16 PM July 30, 02:16 PM

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) has dismissed considerations about the age of President Joe Biden, arguing that the president is "succeeding at an remarkable and historic fee."

Murphy's assertion arrives as lots of have argued that Biden, who is turning 81 this November, is too previous to serve as president. The discussion regarding Biden's age has introduced about discussions on age restrictions for the presidency, with even a few Democrats stating they will not endorse the president in his reelection campaign.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES Examination HOW Considerably THEY CAN GO IN CRITICIZING TRUMP

"I guess age is pertinent if it is an indicator that a applicant is not up to do the most crucial occupation in the environment, but Joe Biden is succeeding, and succeeding at an extraordinary and historic level," Murphy stated on CNN. "The quantity of major laws passed by this president, the initial gun violence monthly bill in 30 several years, the very first big expenditure in clean up energy, the most important infrastructure financial commitment in the historical past of this nation all of that does not transpire without having Joe Biden. He is a learn legislative tactician."

Murphy also touched on Biden's enterprise dealings with regards to his son, Hunter Biden, expressing that he is not involved about Republicans' investigation and called it a "witch hunt." The senator extra that there has "never ever been any evidence" that Joe Biden compromised his business.

The Connecticut senator is not the only Democrat who has dismissed the president's age, as Former Household Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) brushed off issues about Biden's age before this thirty day period.

Not all Democrats are on board with Biden serving a 2nd expression as president having said that, as Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) mentioned previously this 7 days, he would not again Biden's reelection bid in 2024. In its place, Phillips has argued the social gathering should seem to a “new generation of leadership” and elevate more youthful candidates to Congress.

A poll from very last month observed broad problem in excess of the president's age, with seven in 10 responding that he is much too outdated to be president, together with fifty percent of Democrats. The poll located 49% of Democrats stated Biden is way too outdated to be president, while 28% believed he is the correct age, and 23% replied they had been doubtful.

Former President Donald Trump, who is managing for president yet again, is only 4 a long time young than Biden, but many voters think neither is the most effective possibility for president. A poll performed from July 8-11 confirmed 61% of voters feel Biden is not the strongest applicant Democrats could nominate, even though 53% of voters think Trump is not the strongest prospect Republicans could nominate in 2024.

Biden jokes about obtaining impeached over falling inflation

Haisten Willis

July 28, 03:29 PM July 28, 03:29 PM

President Joe Biden took a dig at Property Republicans taking into consideration an impeachment inquiry into the president during a speech in Maine.

Plugging American producing and "Bidenomics" at a local manufacturing unit in Auburn, the president reported falling inflation might get the awareness of Republicans in Congress.

TRUMP ASKS FOR UNION VOTES AS HE AND BIDEN Struggle FOR THE MIDWEST

"Republicans may well have to uncover one thing else to criticize me for now that inflation is coming down," he claimed. "Possibly they're going to come to a decision to impeach me mainly because it is really coming down. I never know."

Inflation has fallen from 9.1% final June to 3% this month, very good news for Biden as he runs for a 2nd time period. The determine was just 1.4% the month he took office environment.

The comment also swipes at Republican converse in Congress of an impeachment inquiry regarding the Biden family's international business dealings during the senior Biden's time as vice president. Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has hinted at a long run inquiry, while the party is break up on the notion.

The White Dwelling denies the president was ever in business with his son Hunter.

Biden spoke at Auburn Production, a female-owned business in Maine, as part of a broader tour to drive his "Made in The usa" agenda. The president is doing the job tough to keep union voters in his column and has pledged that much more products and solutions will be built in the state.

"Alternatively of exporting American work, we are making American work opportunities and exporting American products and solutions again," Biden reported. "That is how we make cash."

That is in contrast to the new earlier, he stated, when cities had been hollowed out across the region as producing careers have been outsourced. Approximately 45,000 producing careers remaining Maine on your own between 1990 and 2010, Biden claimed.

Biden named himself the most pro-labor senator in The us in what appeared to be a gaffe — the president represented Delaware in the upper chamber for a long time — and promised that taxpayer pounds would be put in on products designed domestically by domestic workers.

“Every federal infrastructure challenge will be developed by American personnel employing American items building American careers," he reported to applause.

Republicans stage to elements these as falling serious wages and increasing interest fees to argue that the Biden economic system is practically nothing to brag about, although the president guarantees it will continue on enhancing as he operates towards reelection.

"I’m not in this article to declare victory on the economic climate. We have far more get the job done to do," Biden said. "Bidenomics is just one more way of expressing we’re restoring the American dream."

White House celebrates falling inflation while GOP points to negative real wages

Haisten Willis

May 10, 11:14 AM May 10, 11:14 AM

The White House celebrated falling inflation even as real wages remain in negative territory.

Inflation fell slightly to 4.9% for the month ending in April, a welcome sign that the Federal Reserve's efforts to tame price growth are working. However, the figure is still far above the Fed's 2% target.

TRANSPARENCY RESTORED TO THE WHITE HOUSE?

"With today's report, annual inflation has come down 45% since last summer," a statement from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reads. "The annual inflation rate has now come down 10 months in a row at a time when our economy and job market are strong, with the unemployment rate at its lowest level in more than 50 years."

Inflation had been running at 5% the month before and peaked at 9.1% last June. Prices overall grew by 0.4 percentage points between March and April (as opposed to an annual basis), according to the consumer price index.

The Biden administration also pointed to gas prices, which are down by close to $1.50 a gallon, on average, since last summer, along with slight dips in grocery prices.

The Republican National Committee released its own statement pointing to 25 consecutive months of negative real wages, which means that people, on average, have seen their spending power decline over the last two years.

"Core consumer prices, excluding food and energy, rose 5.5 percent compared to last year as Bidenflation refuses to break," reads the statement from RNC spokesman Tommy Pigott. "Real wages have been negative ever since Biden forced through his $1.9 trillion 'stimulus.' Now, Biden is threatening default in an attempt to double down on his destructive, inflationary agenda that sent prices surging."

Jean-Pierre referenced the debt ceiling battle in her statement as well.

"With all this progress, the single biggest threat to our economy would be if House Republicans fail to prevent default," she said. "As the president said to congressional leaders yesterday, we must take default off the table — and then have a separate conversation about the budget."

Hunter Biden investigation: Comer unveils 'Biden family’s influence peddling' in Romania and China

Jerry Dunleavy

May 10, 08:59 AM May 10, 09:03 AM

A top House Republican investigator released new financial records from his investigation into “the Biden family’s influence peddling and business schemes” by highlighting bank records related to Hunter Biden-linked business deals in Romania and China.

Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, released a 36-page memo on Wednesday, noting his committee had subpoenaed four banks and received thousands of records. The report argues the bank records show that “the Biden family, their business associates, and their companies received over $10 million” from companies belonging to foreign nationals, with Republicans identifying payments to Biden family members from foreign companies while Joe Biden served as vice president under former President Barack Obama and after Joe Biden left public office in early 2017.

ELEVEN HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP LETTER SIGNERS HAVE VISITED BIDEN WHITE HOUSE

“The transactions in Romania and China show related but separate issues identified by the Committee that raise serious questions about financial disclosures and risks to national security,” Comer’s new memo alleged.

Comer said that “the Romanian transactions show evidence of influence peddling and a correlation between Biden family and their business associates’ work and then Vice President Biden’s responsibilities while in office.”

The Kentucky Republican added that his committee “is also providing additional information about the Biden family’s troubling receipt of payments from China, particularly the individual Ye Jianming and his company, CEFC, to show what was from 2015 to 2018 a growing interest by people closely tied to the CCP in cultivating a relationship with the Biden family.”

Comer’s new memo follows a subpoena he sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray seeking information about an alleged bribery scheme tied to then-Vice President Biden and an unnamed foreign national.

The new GOP memo does not detail any foreign payments going directly to Joe Biden. The Washington Examiner reported last year that Hunter Biden spent over $30,000 on escorts, many of whom were linked to ".ru" Russian email addresses and worked with an “exclusive model agency" called UberGFE during a 3 1/2 month period between November 2018 and March 2019. He managed to do so thanks in part to Joe Biden committing to wiring him a total of $100,000 to help pay his bills from December 2018 through January 2019.

Comer had revealed new Biden family financial details in March after he obtained them through a subpoena of Hunter Biden associate Rob Walker's financial records at Bank of America. The House Oversight chairman revealed that “from 2015 through 2017, Biden family members and their companies received over $1.3 million in payments” from accounts tied to Hunter Biden business associate Rob Walker.

Comer said more than $1 million was sent in incremental payments to Hunter Biden, his uncle and Joe’s brother James Biden, and Hallie Biden, the widow of the president’s deceased son, Beau Biden, with whom Hunter was having a romantic relationship in 2017 following his brother’s death, shortly after Walker received a $3 million wire from a Chinese company called State Energy HK.

President Biden denied these details, which Comer considers facts backed by clear evidence.

Hunter Biden’s legal team had indeed seemingly confirmed, and defended, the payments in a March statement.

During an October 2020 debate with then-President Donald Trump, then-candidate Joe Biden also incorrectly claimed that his son never made money from China.

Shortly before the March 2017 Chinese wires from State Energy HK occurred, now-former CEFC leader Ye Jianming met with Hunter Biden on Feb. 14, 2017, in Miami, Florida. It was there that Ye reportedly gifted Hunter Biden with a 3.16-carat diamond allegedly valued at $80,000.

Comer said on Wednesday that State Energy HK “appears to be Ye’s vehicle, at least in part, to launder money and purchase lucrative gifts.” The memo said that “the purported Chinese energy company made over $23 million in purchases from a retail diamond/jewelry business” in 2016 and 2017, including “$2 million in purchases from the Diamond Business” in late 2016 and early 2017. Comer said that “these transactions align with when Ye sent a large diamond to Hunter Biden in Miami.”

Biden White House oversight spokesman Ian Sams said Wednesday that Comer “is loudly and proudly broadcasting a press conference today to continue his long pattern of making absurd claims that President Biden has made governing decisions not in the interest of America, but of the Chinese Communist Party, using baseless claims, personal attacks, and innuendo to try to score political points.”

The new GOP memo also said Wednesday that, prior to the wire from State Energy HK, Hunter Biden associates Rob Walker and James Gilliar, as well as Hunter Biden and Hallie Biden, “received payments from a Romanian source, and many of the payments were made while Joe Biden was Vice President and working directly on the U.S.’s official policy in Romania.”

The House Republican memo argued that actions in Romania taken by the Biden family and its associates “bear clear indicia of a scheme to peddle influence” from 2015 to 2017, arguing that “while Vice President Biden lectured Romania on corruption and ethics, Hunter Biden received — through Biden associate Rob Walker — over a million dollars from a company controlled by a Romanian individual accused of corruption (Gabriel Popoviciu).”

Comer released bank records showing “the Biden family’s receipt of money from a foreign company reportedly controlled by Gabriel Popoviciu, the subject of a criminal probe and prosecution for corruption in Romania.” The payments came around the same timeframe that then-Vice President Biden delivered speeches and met with Romanian leaders in 2014 and 2015 regarding corruption in the country. Comer said his committee “is concerned about the Biden family’s pattern of courting business in regions of the world in which the then Vice President had an outsize role and influenced U.S. policy.”

Vice President Biden gave a May 2014 speech to Romania’s government leaders, where he declared that “corruption is a cancer, a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy.”

“The Committee strongly agrees that corruption poses a national security risk,” Comer wrote. “At the time of Vice President Biden’s speech, one of the most high-profile corruption prosecutions in Romania revolved around Gabriel Popoviciu. Romanian prosecutors charged and convicted Mr. Popoviciu with a bribery related offense, and there has been subsequent litigation in the United Kingdom related to this matter.”

Vice President Biden also welcomed Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the White House in September 2015, where the two discussed anti-corruption efforts.

Comer wrote that, within five weeks of that meeting, Bladon Enterprises, which is “reported to be Gabriel Popoviciu’s Cypriot company” that he used to conduct business in Romania, “began making deposits into Robinson Walker LLC’s bank account.” Comer said Blandon Enterprises paid Robinson Walker LLC “over $3 million” from November 2015 to May 2017, and that “Biden family accounts received approximately $1.038 million from the Robinson Walker LLC account after Bladon Enterprises deposits.”

The new memo said that sixteen of those seventeen payments were made while Joe Biden was still vice president, and that money was then sent to Hunter Biden associate James Gilliar, Hunter Biden, Hallie Biden, Hunter Biden-linked businesses such as Owasco P.C. and RSTP24 II LLC, as well as to “an unknown Biden bank account.”

Hunter Biden reached out to former FBI Director Louis Freeh in 2016 to see if he could help Popoviciu.

“It appears from bank records the Bidens were using Robinson Walker LLC to conceal that the source of these payments was Popoviciu,” Comer wrote. “The Committee is further concerned that while Vice President Biden advocated publicly for anti-corruption policies in Romania, bank records show Biden family members and business associates were simultaneously reaping in significant amounts of money from a Romanian individual at the center of a Romanian corruption scandal.”

Hunter Biden and his associated businesses are also believed to have received at least $5 million in payments from Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC in 2017 and 2018, and Ye Jianming’s deputy Patrick Ho also agreed to pay Hunter Biden a $1 million retainer. Hunter referred to Ho as "the f***ing spy chief of China" in a May 11, 2018, voice recording.

“The Committee is investigating the corrupt conduct of Ye — and others with ties to the CCP — who used CEFC and Chinese companies to entice Biden family members with millions of dollars in exchange for influence and legitimacy in the United States and abroad,” Comer’s new memo said.

Comer wrote that CEFC deputy Gongwen Dong formed CEFC Infrastructure in Delaware in May 2017, and that Hudson West V, a company directed by Dong which received a $24 million wire from Ye and formed a partnership with Hunter Biden, was the sole equity member of CEFC. A week later, the memo said that Hudson West V “assigned 100 percent of its interest” to the Chinese company Shanghai Huaxin Group. Shanghai Huaxin “funded the CEFC Infrastructure bank account with a significant injection of $10 million from China” in June 2017, Comer said, and then CEFC Infrastructure wired $100,000 to Hunter Biden’s Owasco P.C. on Aug. 4, 2017.

“The Biden family and associates’ activities in coordination with Chinese nationals and their corporate entities appear to be an attempt to engage in financial deception,” Comer wrote on Wednesday.

Joe Biden's fundraising trip calls attention to vulnerable New York Republicans amid debt ceiling battle

Ryan King

May 08, 10:44 AM May 08, 10:48 AM

President Joe Biden's New York fundraising trip is bringing attention to vulnerable congressional Republicans this week as the debt ceiling deadline nears.

His visit is slated for Wednesday, the day after his long-awaited meeting with congressional leaders to discuss the debt limit, and it will take place in Rep. Mike Lawler's (R-NY) congressional district. Lawler was one of four key Republican New York pickups in the 2022 midterm elections, and he has backed the GOP's Limit, Save, Grow Act.

GOP RUNS UNITY PLAYBOOK TO WIN DEBT CEILING FIGHT

Lawler fired back at Biden ahead of the visit.

"On Wed @JoeBiden comes to the Hudson Valley to lie about the debt ceiling debate and do nothing to address our migrant crisis, while NYers struggle under record inflation, skyrocketing energy costs, & high taxes — he’ll then hold a fundraiser where tickets run up to $100,000," the congressman tweeted.

The $100,000 figure referenced by Lawler comes from a Puck News report that says tickets could go for that price to lead an event hosted by the Biden Action Fund. The Washington Examiner has reached out to the Biden Action Fund for comment.

Biden's trip will take place in the Hudson Valley region in New York. During the visit, Biden is expected to attend two lucrative fundraiser events, including one hosted by former Blackstone executive Tony James and another by George Logothetis, the executive chairman of Libra Group, CNBC reported.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is expected to accompany Biden on the venture.

Lawler is widely considered to be one of the most vulnerable House Republicans, having won last cycle by less than a percentage point. Last November, he managed to defeat former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), the former chief of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is the House Democrats' campaign arm.

His victory was a major breakthrough for Republicans in a traditionally Democratic stronghold state and came against the backdrop of redistricting upheaval. The Democrats have since been gearing up to reclaim his district and other lost seats via redistricting court battles and various campaigns.

Democrats have backed a court battle to overturn the state's congressional maps, and the DCCC has targeted the state's vulnerable Republicans.

“President Biden can back this legislation or engage in good-faith, bipartisan negotiations to find common ground to avoid a default and bend the unsustainable rate of federal spending. So far, he has done neither. Instead, President Biden plans to leave negotiators behind in Washington and travel to the Hudson Valley to make a political speech," Marc Molinaro (R-NY) said about Biden's visit in a statement.

Like Lawler, New York congressional Republicans have backed the party's debt limit plan, which calls for a suite of spending rollbacks such as a return to fiscal 2022 levels for most discretionary spending measures outside of the military, a cap on most spending increases to about 1% annually, scrapping Biden's student loan forgiveness bill, curtailing several green energy tax credits, and more.

In total, according to the Congressional Budget Office, one version of the legislation was projected to slash the deficit by $4.8 trillion over 10 years. The White House has panned Republicans over the measure, highlighting some of the cuts and accusing the GOP of slashing funding for veterans, something party leadership has adamantly denied.

“House Republicans that brand themselves as moderate lined up with the most extreme MAGA members on this vote, and we are making sure their constituents are aware of the true nature of their priorities,” Ben LaBolt, the White House communications director, said, per NBC.

Biden is poised to meet with all four congressional leaders, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), on Tuesday to discuss the debt ceiling standoff. Both sides remain at an impasse over how to address the crisis, and neither side has shown signs of relenting.

McCarthy has demanded any increase be paired with a reduction in spending, while Biden has insisted on a clean stand-alone bill with no strings attached. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently warned that the government could hit the limit as soon as June 1.

If that were to happen and Congress declined to lift the nation's borrowing authority, the country would run the risk of default. Biden and McCarthy last met in February.

UAW won't endorse Biden until its electric vehicle concerns are met: Report

Haisten Willis

May 04, 12:13 PM May 04, 12:13 PM

President Joe Biden will have to do some work to secure an endorsement from one of his closest allies.

The United Auto Workers labor union said it will not back Biden for a second term unless its concerns over electric vehicle subsidies are addressed.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ENDS VACCINE MANDATES — BUT DOESN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT

“The federal government is pouring billions into the electric vehicle transition, with no strings attached and no commitment to workers,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a message. “The EV transition is at serious risk of becoming a race to the bottom. We want to see national leadership have our back on this before we make any commitments.”

Biden frequently calls himself the most pro-union president in history, but he's also struggling to balance his labor ties with the concerns of foreign leaders. The auto industry is attempting a transition to fully electric vehicles, which includes a heavy dose of government subsidies through legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.

Fain claims he wants a "just transition" for the union's members and says that isn't happening at the moment.

President Joe Biden has worked hard to secure the votes of labor leaders and blue-collar workers in manufacturing-heavy states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, all of which he flipped from then-President Donald Trump in 2020. He frequently visits all three and makes stump speeches about bringing manufacturing back to life.

The union made clear it will not be backing Trump but that it's looking for more support from the incumbent.

The UAW is concerned that the electric vehicle transition could lead to thousands of job losses, according to a letter.

Electric vehicles require less traditional labor and parts than cars with internal combustion engines.

Biden set up to use third veto after Senate deals environmental agenda a blow

Emily Jacobs

May 04, 08:41 AM May 04, 08:41 AM

With Republicans holding a slim majority in the House and a number of Democrats facing tough 2024 reelection fights, President Joe Biden is nearing yet another possible veto fight.

Congressional Republicans have been able to secure enough Democratic support to pass legislation on a number of fronts in recent months, including a measure ending the COVID-19 national emergency and rescinding a Washington, D.C., crime bill, though Biden declined to veto either. Biden has only issued two vetoes thus far in his presidency, both coming in recent months. The two share a common theme, as both bills he blocked would have hindered his administration's environmental agenda.

HOUSE FAILS TO OVERRIDE BIDEN VETO ON GOP REPEAL OF EPA'S CLEAN WATERWAYS RULE

The Constitution requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers to overrule a presidential veto, which Congress lacked in both cases.

The Senate dealt Biden's environmental regulatory agenda a blow on Wednesday when it passed two measures blocking the president's tariff exemptions for solar panels produced with Chinese parts and endangered species protections for lesser prairie chickens. All eyes now turn to the White House to see if Biden will sign either into law.

These are the measures Biden has vetoed:

First veto

Biden issued his first veto in late March of this year when a bipartisan majority passed a resolution through both chambers undoing a Labor Department rule allowing retirement plan managers to consider environmental, social, and governance effects when making investment decisions.

Despite being a rule, the measure allows but does not require fiduciaries to weigh ESG factors when making investment decisions for retirement accounts. Still, anti-ESG sentiment has grown among lawmakers in energy-producing states over fear that the investment strategy could lead to fossil fuel companies being blacklisted.

Second veto

Biden issued his second veto in mid-April after Congress passed a measure revising his administration's definition of the "Waters of the United States" under the Clean Water Act.

Opponents argued the measure, which aims to require permits for construction and mining in bodies of water in the country, was too difficult and would put landowners at risk of being subjected to penalties for performing routine activities if those acts are found to affect the waters.

Third possible veto

The Senate voted to undo Biden's emergency declaration temporarily removing tariffs on solar energy imports from Southeast Asian countries, setting up what could be his third veto.

The bill, which passed the House on Friday, made it through the Senate with a 56-41 bipartisan majority. Using his executive trade law powers, Biden declared an emergency to exempt Asian solar cell and module products from new tariffs for two years while also invoking the Defense Production Act to increase domestic manufacturing of those products, which are central components in the construction of most solar panel designs. Opponents of the move, including Democrats, argued it would hinder American manufacturing.

Biden will now be forced to decide whether to sign or veto the measure undoing the tariff exemptions. Should he decide to veto, it would be the third such act of his presidency.

Zachary Halaschak and Jeremy Beaman contributed to this report.

Could Biden's underwhelming lead against minor primary foes open door to others?

Haisten Willis

May 03, 04:00 AM May 03, 04:00 AM

President Joe Biden may yet face a tougher-than-expected primary campaign before turning attention to his Republican rivals.

Biden has to date drawn two intraparty challengers, self-help guru Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Neither is considered a serious threat, but they're drawing a surprising amount of support in early polling.

HOW BIDEN'S REELECTION CAMPAIGN COULD ALLOW WHITE HOUSE TO DODGE MORE QUESTIONS

"I'm just not tracking that," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told the Washington Examiner's Christian Datoc when asked if Biden was annoyed or frustrated that Williamson had jumped into the race.

She then politely brushed off the campaign.

"If I had a — what is it called? — a little globe here, a crystal ball, then I could tell you. A Magic 8 Ball, whatever, if I could feel her aura," Jean-Pierre continued. "But I just don't have anything to share on that."

Yet polling shows Biden faces a tougher challenge than Jean-Pierre's response indicates. An April 27 Emerson College poll found that Biden had earned 70% support, with Kennedy drawing 21% and Williamson 8%.

By historical standards, those are exceptionally high numbers.

Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton all faced only token primary challengers, none of whom received more than 5.5% of the vote, and each of those presidents got a second term.

The primary challengers to George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter all saw primary challengers drawing double-digit support, and all lost their reelection bids.

Biden should be bolstered by the fact that neither Kennedy nor Williamson has ever held elected office before, and voters may not be familiar with them.

“My guess is with Kennedy, they are reacting to the name, and I doubt they know much about him or his anti-vaccine crusade,” Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said. “They hear Robert. F. Kennedy, and all they can see is Bobby Kennedy. The more they get to know him, I predict the numbers will start to go down.”

On the flip side, if little-known figures can draw 30% support away from Biden, that could signal an opening for a big-name challenger if one is interested.

Biden's approval ratings have been stuck in the low 40s for well over a year, and the same Emerson poll found that just 37% of independents approved of the job he's doing.

The president has alluded to his polling before. He often says in speeches, including at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, "Don't compare me to the Almighty; compare me to the alternative," and for now, there is no serious alternative within the Democratic Party.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) could be the best-positioned Democrat to try and has targeted his red state counterparts on several occasions. Last year, Newsom launched a billboard campaign in red states advertising abortion in California. In a series of tweets at the time, he called out Republican Govs. Kristi Noem (SD), Greg Abbott (TX), Mike DeWine (OH), Eric Holcomb (IN), Tate Reeves (MS), Henry McMaster (SC), and Kevin Stitt (OK) for their "restrictive" abortion laws.

However, Newsom has expressed support for Biden's 2024 campaign repeatedly and offered his support to the incumbent president.

There has been some buzz about former first lady Michelle Obama running, though she so far has not answered those overtures. Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) has also seen his name mentioned and could flex plenty of financial muscle, but he, too, has repeatedly denied interest in running.

“I don’t think there’s anybody that’s serious that’s actually considering running against Joe Biden because he’s done such a good job,” Pritzker said in March.

Polls have consistently shown that most voters don't necessarily see it that way, with a recent NBC News survey finding that only 26% of respondents wanted a second Biden term, compared to 70% who do not. But in a hypothetical 2024 matchup, Biden narrowly leads former President Donald Trump 43% to 41%. The president may thus be content to sit back for now and let Republicans soak up negative headlines.

Biden also appears ready to skip out on primary debates, which is a common tactic for incumbents and something he shares in common with Trump.

Still, some are calling for a bigger challenge to Biden as the Democratic flagship in 2024.

"I think folks should try to wrap their minds around the possibility that the left could benefit from a challenge to Biden even if the challenger doesn't win the primary," former Bernie Sanders spokeswoman Briahna Joy Gray tweeted April 28. "'But they won't win' is not an argument against the value of a challenge."

Hunter Biden investigation: Ex-CIA chief says Blinken ‘triggered’ letter to discredit laptop

Jerry Dunleavy

April 20, 09:13 PM April 20, 09:13 PM

A former top CIA official who helped write and sign the infamous October 2020 Hunter Biden laptop letter baselessly claiming Russian involvement has testified a phone call with now-Secretary of State Antony Blinken “triggered” its creation.

Mike Morell, a former acting CIA director under President Barack Obama, said in a recent transcribed interview with congressional investigators that, prior to his Oct. 17 phone call with Blinken, he had no intention to write the Oct. 19 Hunter Biden laptop letter. He testified “yes” and “absolutely” when asked if the call with Blinken, who was then a top adviser for Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, was what “triggered that intent in you.”

Morell also testified that one of the two reasons he helped put the letter together was to help Biden defeat former President Donald Trump.

These revelations came in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner that was sent to Blinken on Thursday by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

The news comes one day after an IRS agent alleged that the Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden has been infected by “politics” and “preferential treatment.”

The October 2020 laptop letter contributed to the baseless narrative that the Hunter Biden laptop stories were nothing but a product of Russian disinformation. This line was happily seized upon by Biden’s 2020 campaign and spread by some of the laptop letter signers. Hunter Biden himself later tried to falsely claim the intelligence community concluded his laptop was some sort of Kremlin smear campaign.

Jordan and Turner told Blinken that Morell revealed the secretary of state had “played a role in the inception of this statement while serving as a Biden campaign advisor” and that “according to Morell, although your outreach was couched as simply gathering Morell’s reaction to the New York Post story, it set in motion the events that led to the issuance of the public statement.”

The congressmen wrote that, the same day of the Blinken-Morell call, Blinken “also emailed Morell an article” published in USA Today the same day which alleged that the FBI was examining whether the Hunter Biden laptop was part of a “disinformation campaign.” Jordan and Turner told Blinken that “the very bottom of the email you sent to Morell included the signature block of Andrew Bates, then-director of rapid response for the Biden campaign.” Bates is now a deputy press secretary in the Biden White House.

Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign quickly dismissed the laptop story as a Russian disinformation operation. After the New York Post published emails belonging to his son, Joe Biden called the story “garbage” and part of a “Russian plan” during an October 2020 debate with Trump.

Former senior CIA operations officer Marc Polymeropoulos said in 2020 that he and Morell helped put the letter together.

HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATION INFECTED BY "POLITICS": IRS WHISTLEBLOWER

The congressional letter said Morell received a call from then-Biden campaign chairman Steve Ricchetti after the Oct. 22 presidential debate to thank him for writing the statement. Richetti is now a counselor to President Biden. Morell said that “Steve thanked me for putting the statement out.”

The phone call to Morell had come from Jeremy Bash, another Hunter Biden laptop letter signer, who then got Richetti on the line. Bash, a former chief of staff at the CIA and Pentagon, was picked by Biden to be part of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board last year. Bash himself had suggested on TV in October 2020 that the laptop story was “Russian disinformation.”

Biden said during the October 2020 debate with Trump: “There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan. They have said this is, has all the — four, five former heads of the CIA. Both parties say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage.”

He was referring to a Politico report about the letter in an article titled “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.” The title was a bit misleading because the letter never directly called the story Russian “disinformation.”

Although the October 2020 letter hedged a bit at various times, it did repeatedly contend there was Russian involvement with the laptop stories, arguing that “if we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election” and expressing “our view that the Russians are involved in the Hunter Biden email issue.” The letter claimed the laptop saga “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” and that “our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.”

Another key letter signatory was Nick Shapiro, a former deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to Obama CIA Director John Brennan, who also signed the letter. Politico has said Shapiro provided them with the letter, and Shapiro said at the time: “The real power here ... is the number of former, working-level IC officers who want the American people to know that once again the Russians are interfering.”

Jordan and Turner said that “Morell also explained that the Biden campaign helped to strategize about the public release of the statement.” Morell “testified that he sent an email telling Nick Shapiro… that the Biden campaign wanted the statement to go to a particular reporter at the Washington Post first and that he should send the statement to the campaign when he sent the letter to the reporter.”

Jordan originally sent letters to many of the 51 former intelligence officials in April last year, but those requests were largely ignored. He followed up with demands for information from a dozen of the ex-spy officials in February and March of this year.

Jordan and Turner told the signatories this year that the letter “falsely implied the New York Post’s reporting about Hunter Biden was the product of Russian disinformation.”

Morell also testified that there were “two intents” behind writing the laptop letter.

“One intent was to share our concern with the American people that the Russians were playing on this issue,” Morell said. “And, two, it was help Vice President Biden.”

Jordan asked Morell, “You wanted to help the vice president why?” Morell replied, “Because I wanted him to win the election.”

Konstantinos "Gus" Dimitrelos, a cyber forensics expert and former Secret Service agent, conducted an examination of the laptop for the Washington Examiner last year, concluding that “there is a 100% certainty that Robert Hunter Biden was the only person responsible for the activity on this hard drive and all of its stored data” and that “the hard drive is authentic.”

Joe Biden and first lady release 2022 tax returns showing joint income of $579K

Brady Knox

April 18, 09:50 PM April 18, 09:50 PM

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden released their 2022 tax returns, showing a joint income of $579,514.

In a press release accompanying the release, the White House stressed the need for transparency and credited the president for releasing "the most tax returns of any president while in office."

HOUSE FAILS TO OVERRIDE BIDEN VETO ON GOP REPEAL OF EPA'S CLEAN WATERWAYS RULE

"Today, the President and First Lady released their 2022 federal income tax return. With this release, President Biden has shared a total of 25 years of tax returns with the American public. Once again demonstrating his commitment to being transparent with the American people about the finances of the Commander-in-Chief, President Biden has released the most tax returns of any president while in office," the press release read.

The Bidens paid $169,820 in combined federal, Delaware, and Virginia income taxes, with an effective federal income tax rate of 23.8%. The White House also touted the charitable contributions the president and first lady made, with the couple contributing $20,180 to 20 different charities last year.

Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff released their tax returns as well, with a federal adjusted gross income of $456,918. They contributed $20,000 to charity.

Lawmakers return to Washington with no debt ceiling deal in sight

David Sivak

April 17, 05:25 AM April 17, 05:25 AM

It’s been three months since Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), freshly elected as speaker of the House, called on Joe Biden to negotiate spending cuts in exchange for hiking the debt limit.

Yet as Congress returns from a two-week recess on Monday, House Republicans are no closer to resolving what has become a protracted fight with the president.

‘OUR JOB IS OVERSIGHT': CONGRESS TO PROBE DAMAGING LEAK OF CLASSIFIED PENTAGON DOCUMENTS

Lawmakers fly back to Washington on Monday to consider a series of measures being voted on this week, including an effort to roll back police reforms enacted by the D.C. Council and legislation banning transgender athletes from competing in girls sports.

But looming in the background is a more daunting task for House Republicans: coalescing behind an opening offer in debt ceiling negotiations with the White House.

McCarthy's pledge to push for deep spending cuts, made to hard-liners in his conference to win the speaker's gavel, put him on a collision course with Biden, who is adamantly refusing to make concessions. McCarthy is slated to give a major speech on the debt limit at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday morning, a move reminiscent of President Ronald Reagan's own speech there 37 years ago.

The impasse threatens to send the United States into default as it approaches an unknown “X date” to lift the debt limit. The Treasury Department, which is using “extraordinary measures” to pay its federal obligations since hitting the government’s $31.4 trillion cap in January, has estimated it could run out of money as soon as June, though a late summer deadline is more likely.

That means Washington will have to agree to a deal before lawmakers depart for the monthlong recess in August.

Biden and McCarthy met at the White House for an initial meeting in February, even as the president reiterated his demand for a clean debt ceiling hike, and the pair put on a show of bipartisanship at a St. Patrick's Day luncheon six weeks later.

But no progress has been made between the two leaders with just months left to act.

McCarthy pressed for a second meeting shortly before the Easter recess, penning a letter in which he blamed Biden for not scheduling another sit-down. The move prompted the president to return the finger-pointing with a common refrain among Democrats: “Show us your budget.”

Biden argues negotiations won't be productive without McCarthy putting forward a budget that details the cuts Republicans want to make and refuses to sit down with him until then. The president says the ball is in Republicans' court after the White House released its own 2024 budget blueprint in March.

McCarthy outlined some of the possible demands in his March 28 letter, but the president quickly demanded a “full set of proposals.”

The posturing from the White House suggests the president views himself as having the upper hand in the stalemate. Republicans are historically blamed for government shutdown fights, and there’s no reason to expect the debt ceiling standoff is any different.

But more importantly, it’s not clear McCarthy has the votes needed to pass the spending cuts he’s demanding with only a four-seat majority in the lower chamber. He has to bridge the demands of hard-line members of the Freedom Caucus with the reservations of centrist Republicans up for reelection in swing districts.

Democrats are already messaging that Republicans want to slash popular programs and hurt the poor, and centrists may balk at taking a politically tough vote.

The sheer difficulty of getting the fractious Republican conference to agree on a set of demands is the greatest test yet for McCarthy’s speakership, one that has led to simmering tensions within House GOP leadership.

McCarthy has reportedly disparaged his top deputies in private, prompting blowback from lawmakers who say the speaker is trying to find a scapegoat in case their fight backfires.

But there are signs Republicans could rally around a set of demands. The Main Street Caucus, which represents a group of 70 “pragmatic” Republicans, outlined on Thursday a list of concessions it believes could get 218 votes.

The list includes clawing back some $70 billion in COVID-19 relief funds that states have not spent, reversing Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, and capping discretionary nondefense spending at 2022 levels.

The outline, sent to McCarthy in a letter on Thursday, also showed an appetite for energy permitting reform as part of a deal and called for work requirements for food stamps beneficiaries.

The demands are similar, if less expansive, than those put forward by the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus in March. Any deal would need buy-in from its 30-some members, who were able to force the concessions during McCarthy’s speakership election in the first place.

But they show some areas of consensus as House leadership tries to unite the “five families” of the GOP conference.

House Republicans are drafting legislation that includes a set of demands with the widest support, according to Politico, and hope to pass the measure by the end of May.

The legislation would amount to the GOP’s first formal offer in talks with the White House and, if passed, would signal the GOP is serious about forcing cuts.

Thus far, Senate Republicans, who lack a majority in the upper chamber, are letting the House GOP take the lead on negotiations.

Biden tries to break through as GOP primary brawl starts

Naomi Lim

April 17, 04:00 AM April 17, 04:01 AM

President Joe Biden was hoping to underscore his record with the public before announcing a highly anticipated reelection campaign.

But declared and undeclared Republican presidential candidates, including former President Donald Trump, are hogging the political spotlight as the 2024 primary enters the spring, though not always to Biden's disadvantage.

BIDEN TRIES TO CONTAIN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS LEAK FALLOUT: 'STAKES JUST GOT HIGHER'

Biden acting presidential compared to "the dumpster fire engulfing the Republican Party" is a proverbial political split-screen "I’d take any day of the week," according to former White House principal deputy press secretary Eric Schultz.

"President Biden is not going to get as much attention as his [predecessor] does for getting indicted, and that’s OK because this contrast is why Democrats have prevailed in the last three election cycles," Schultz told the Washington Examiner.

But Schultz encouraged reporters assessing a president's success by their media coverage to engage in "some self-reflection" as Biden returns from a five-day trip to Northern Ireland and Ireland.

"The journalists who ask if Biden is going to get drowned out are the same journalists breathlessly covering Donald Trump wall-to-wall," he said.

Democratic strategist Tracy Sefl contended Biden's accomplishments, such as the partisan American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, will be promoted "in a more subtle way" amid "the Trump-GOP food fights."

"What I mean by that is, for example, a voter may be inundated with news about the latest Republican outrage, but they‘ll be listening to the coverage while driving home from a doctor’s appointment in their newly affordable electric vehicle over a local bridge that’s been fully repaired," she said.

But fellow strategist Mark Mellman disputed the assumption Biden is not commanding the public's attention, despite the White House taking advantage of preplanned trips across the country to attract local news coverage while national and international outlets were focused on Trump's indictment.

"[Presidents] always have competition, apathy and disinterest most important, but President Biden will always have the opportunity to talk to the American people," he said. "On any given day, Trump’s grave legal perils may well dominate the news. But President Biden has access to the public every and any day."

At the same time, Biden's trips to Minnesota and North Carolina were overshadowed by Trump speculating about being indicted in New York before Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg advised the former president he was proceeding with charges.

For Duke University Polis Center Director Mac McCorkle, Biden's trip to semiconductor manufacturer Wolfspeed in Durham, North Carolina, to launch his "Investing in America Tour" and discuss his economic agenda was not "buried," but he did recall MSNBC leading with Trump's potential indictment instead.

"If it's Trump in the general [election], it's still going to be a referendum on Trump in many respects, so I just don't know that there's anything that Biden can do about it," he said. "And I'm not sure he has to do anything about that."

But University of Minnesota Center for the Study of Politics and Governance Director Lawrence Jacobs pointed to Biden's 43%-52% approval-disapproval rating after his visit to the Cummins Power Generation Factory, north of Minneapolis, where the president also cited his clean energy achievements.

"Plenty of bad news now: inflation, possible decline of [the] economy, massive intel breach, etc.," he said. "Ducking coverage in 2023 [is] probably better than having headlines on bad news."

The White House has been trying to strike a balance between criticizing the Republican field without amplifying any presidential hopeful's message. But Biden aides do not seem to mind relitigating abortion access, entitlement reform, and gun control, with Democrats attributing their outperformance in last year's midterm elections to their positions on those issues.

As the Republican contenders attack one another on Social Security and Medicare, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was ready with a statement scrutinizing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for signing a bill into law that will further restrict Florida's abortion ban from 15 to six weeks into a pregnancy.

"At every opportunity following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, from the Kansas ballot initiative in August to five abortion ballot initiatives in November to last week’s elections in Wisconsin, the message has been clear: Americans demand the freedom to make their own decisions about their own bodies without government interference," she wrote Friday.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates similarly criticized "MAGA Republicans" for attending this weekend's National Rifle Association's convention in Indianapolis. Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH), former Arkansas GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and multimillionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy addressed the conference in person. DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley recorded video remarks.

"Unlike MAGA House Republicans, President Biden is acting to keep kids safe by providing communities with funding for well-trained school resource officers and appropriate school physical security improvements, among other school safety strategies that communities may choose for their schools," Bates wrote in a statement. "But we can’t stop there. We have to keep weapons of war off our streets and out of our schools, and take other commonsense steps to keep guns out of dangerous hands."

Riley Gaines: Biden isn't willing to protect your daughters

Amy DeLaura

April 15, 07:00 AM April 15, 07:00 AM

EXCLUSIVE — Riley Gaines has accused President Joe Biden of abandoning women for supporting transgender people in women's sports and in the women's locker room.

As the spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Forum, Gaines speaks at college campuses across the country, fighting for the right to privacy in the locker room.

BIDEN TAKES A SIDE IN THE CULTURE WARS WITH TRANSGENDER SPORTS PUSH

Biden recently made his opinion clear on the issue when he met polarizing influencer Dylan Mulvaney to discuss transgender issues in America.

“I feel very strongly [transgender people] should have every single solitary right,” Biden said, “including the use of [their] gender identity bathrooms in public.”

Gaines, a 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer, says it’s absolutely discouraging to know your own president is against your cause.

“Truly, the feeling is betrayal, betrayal from the people who are supposed to protect you from this ever happening who aren't,” Gaines said. “In my case, at the NCAA championship, our coaches, our parents, even the NCAA itself, people with political power, why was no one protecting us?”

RILEY GAINES WANTS SFSU ATTACKERS PROSECUTED

Gaines said Biden will never understand what it feels like to be female in an environment where you're undressing in front of the opposite sex.

“It is discouraging for me as a female to know a male is trying to take away our rights," Gaines said. “President Biden, who's leading the country, is saying he's unwilling to protect your daughters, protect any girl or woman in an area of vulnerability.”

Gaines has expressed the vulnerability she felt before a meet having to get ready in front of biological man Lia Thomas in the locker room.

“You have someone with male genitalia pulling his pants down, watching you as you undress. It throws you off,” said Gaines.

RILEY GAINES EXPLAINS WHY SHE SPOKE OUT AGAINST LIA THOMAS AND TRANS ATHLETES

Thomas, who identifies as a transgender woman, swam for the University of Pennsylvania. Thomas and Gaines swam against each other and tied, but the NCAA told Gaines she could not hold the trophy because they wanted Thomas to hold it for the photo op.

“In that moment, I felt like we, as women, were being mocked. We were being reduced to a photo op to validate the feelings and the identity of a man,” said Gaines.

The protection of transgender women in sports has the full support of the Biden administration. The president is trying to pass a proposal allowing school-aged transgender athletes to play on the sports team of their gender identity by rewriting Title IX.

“In the disguise of progress or being progressive, they're doing the exact opposite,” Gaines said. “Which proves it's not progress. This is regressive. They're now actively working to take away those sex-based rights.”

Gaines, meanwhile, expressed her dismay at companies using transgender TikTok star Mulvaney to promote their female products, calling it a mockery and degrading to women.

“I find it offensive. It's a mockery!” Gaines exclaimed. “If you watch this promo video of Dylan with the Nike apparel, he's doing these jumping jacks and stretching, indicating that's how women look when we work out. That's not what we look like!”

Mulvaney posted a series of pictures on Instagram modeling a Nike sports bra and legging set. Athletes came out against the sportswear company Nike, leading to a bra-burning challenge on TikTok.

The influencer also received an endorsement deal from Tampax, with Mulvaney even admitting the sponsorship was a surprise. Critics lashed out when the feminine product company sent Mulvaney a promotional package while there was a shortage of tampons and pads. After the criticism, Mulvaney made a video about handing out all the tampons.

“It just seems as if they're not understanding their true demographic, the people who they are there to support and provide for,” Gaines said. “Sports bras go to women. Tampons, of course, are provided for women. They are missing their mark big time here, and it's degrading women in the process.”