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Exclusive: Pence talks Trump, House GOP and plans for 2024  

Former Vice President Mike Pence hasn’t publicly announced whether he will run for president in 2024, but he is sounding many of the notes of a would-be candidate.  

In an interview with The Hill on Wednesday, Pence addressed last week’s discord among House Republicans during the Speakership election, the role abortion played in November’s disappointing midterms for the GOP and his considerations as he mulls his political future.  

The former vice president has spent the last several months keeping an aggressive travel schedule that includes multiple stops in early primary states, where he has promoted his new book and the policy proposals put forward by his political advocacy group.  

“Over the coming months, we’re going to continue to travel,” Pence said in his Washington, D.C., office. “We’re going to continue to listen very intently, and we’ll make a decision I’m sure that in the months ahead about what role we might play, whether it be as a national candidate or as a voice for our conservative values.”  

Pence’s political future in many ways hinges on how voters view him in connection to former President Trump. Pence served as Trump’s unflinchingly loyal vice president for four years, but the two have drifted apart after Pence refused Trump’s pressure campaign to overturn the 2020 election results.  

In Wednesday’s interview, Pence was careful not to overtly criticize Trump even in areas where the two disagree, though he made clear he believes the GOP will have other, better choices in the 2024 presidential race.  

Trump is the only declared candidate in the 2024 GOP field, but his campaign thus far has been marked by a lack of activity, with the former president rarely traveling outside of Florida or holding public events. Pence on Wednesday said Trump’s decision to jump into the race early will have no bearing on his own 2024 plans.  

“At the end of the day, I think it’s a new day,” Pence said. “I think it calls for new leadership. And I have every confidence that the American people and Republican voters will have better choices come 2024.”  

Pence has increasingly broken with his former boss on certain issues, most notably the events around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The former vice president on Wednesday put daylight between himself and Trump on another issue: the role of abortion in election results.  

Trump last week wrote on Truth Social that it was the “‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters.”  

But Pence, who is staunchly opposed to abortion, disagreed, saying GOP candidates who expressed a clear view on protecting the rights of unborn children outperformed those Republicans who shied away from the topic in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.  

“I think going forward, it’s going to be incumbent on the men and women on our party to stand without apology for the sanctity of human life, to stand on that principle of the unalienable right to life, but also to express compassion for women that are facing crisis pregnancies,” Pence said.  

Pence spoke from his office down the street from the Capitol, where a new Republican House majority was sworn in over the weekend following a chaotic, days-long intraparty fight that culminated in Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) being elected Speaker.   

The former vice president, who served for 12 years in the House and at times challenged party leaders, downplayed any long-term rift between the roughly 20 conservatives who blocked McCarthy’s ascension in the first several rounds of voting and the rest of the House GOP conference in the months to come.  

“I for one am confident that this new energetic conservative majority showed last week that they’re willing to stand for what they believe in, but also able to come together and move forward solutions that will really put our country back on track not just for economic growth, but for the kind of fiscal responsibility that that will put us on a pathway to a balanced federal budget again,” Pence said.  

Many observers have expressed concern about how the fractious House GOP conference will handle contentious issues like raising the debt ceiling, which is required to avoid a government default.  

Pence called it an obligation for the nation to uphold its credit, but argued that House Republicans “would do well to use that opportunity to demand that Democrats in the Senate and the Biden administration step forward with the kind of reforms that will begin us on a process of solving the problems the American people are living in every day.”  

The White House has warned that Republicans will look to cut Medicare and Social Security spending or reduce the defense budget in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. Pence on Wednesday said balancing the budget while maintaining those programs that seniors rely on will require “visionary reforms.”  

The former vice president also expressed support for House Republicans using their investigative powers to hold the Biden administration accountable, including by looking into the president’s son Hunter Biden. Pence said Congress should “deeply examine” how information from Hunter Biden’s laptop was suppressed in the weeks before the 2020 election.  

House Republicans earlier Wednesday officially opened an investigation into the president and his family, requesting information from the Treasury Department and Twitter executives ahead of potential public hearings.  

“The American people deserve that check and balance in our system that a new House Republican majority can provide,” Pence said. “But that being said, I don’t think that’s to the exclusion of producing policies that’ll get the economy back on track, set us back on a strong fiscal footing, secure our border and bring real solutions to the American people.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Putin running out of options in global pressure campaign

As the Russia-Ukraine war nears the end of its first year, Moscow is struggling to find leverage to wear down Western resolve to aid Kyiv.

With its battlefield wins now few and far between, an economy crippled by harsh sanctions, and increasing international isolation, Russian President Vladimir Putin is running out of options to expand its provocations beyond Ukraine to chip away at international support for Ukraine’s resistance, experts say. 

The Kremlin has “basically lost on all fronts in terms of trying to exhaust and create fractures in the coalition between Ukraine and its Western allies,” according to Joseph Dresen, a Russia expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute. “I think Russia is in a bad situation. It’s been bad for a while. It’s only getting worse.” 

When Moscow rolled its forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russia expected the country to quickly surrender, failing to anticipate a mountain of resistance. Among the roadblocks for Moscow was the resolve of the Ukrainian people, the leadership of the then-untested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the ill-prepared Kremlin troops.  

What’s more, the former Soviet nation quickly galvanized Western support, with the U.S. and Europe funneling tens of billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and humanitarian aid to the embattled country. 

“You’ve heard us say over and over again that we’re going to support Ukraine for as long as it takes. And from everything that I can see from our allies and partners, they feel the same way,” Defense Secretary Llyod Austin told reporters Wednesday. “We remain united in our efforts.” 

Moscow has tried to weaken global resolve to aid Kyiv, using cyberattacks, shipping blockades to prevent crucial grain exports, freezing gas supplies for Europe and threatening to halt all energy imports, a move Putin said would cause the continent to “freeze.” 

But a warm winter combined with an international community that has collectively responded to each Russian threat with its own pushback — either through bolstered cyber defenses, energy replacements or economic sanctions — has kept Putin on his back foot.  

Now, after more than 320 days of a conflict the Russian leader initially claimed would last less than a week, Moscow is all but out of ways to wreak havoc outside of Ukraine.

“I just don’t think they have the bandwidth to project power anyplace else right now,” Brian Whitmore, a Russian expert with the Atlantic Council, told The Hill.

“I think their play was effectively freezing out Europe and making them suffer through the winter. That’s clearly not going to work right now,” Whitmore said. “They’re counting on the West’s resolve being diminished, and that’s not happened yet. … I don’t think we’re gonna get there, quite frankly.” 

Further limiting Putin’s options was Russia’s swift loss of economic relations with the West, a forfeiture of decades of painstakingly cultivated ties and an ousting from an information network Moscow can no longer use to its advantage.  

“Their ability to project nonkinetic power was based on the fact that they were integrated into our financial system,” Whitmore said. “They were deep inside of our information space. Sanctions has really changed that, and their capacity to make trouble has been diminished as a result.” 

Case in point: The European Union’s (EU) ban on crude oil imports from Russia and its price cap on the country’s oil are costing Moscow about $172 million per day, a figure that is only expected to rise higher when the EU implements further restrictions next month, according to a new report published by the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. 

“The EU ban on Russian oil was an extraordinary step taken to axe the funds from Europe financing Putin’s war,” the independent research organization said in a statement released Wednesday.  

Russia has move to replace lost ties by growing closer with other mega-powers including China and India. But those relationships are likely to fray over time as the war continues, Whitmore added. 

While China and India continue to import Russian oil — with Moscow’s fossil fuel exports earning the country $688 million per day and helping to offset its loses — small cracks are beginning to appear in the relationships. 

When Putin spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping over video conference in late December, Beijing’s leader pointed to the “complicated and quite controversial international situation.”  

Russia has long been seen as a menacing cyber actor. However, even that threat has diminished, as experts say the West now knows what to look for after multiple attempts out of Moscow.  

“With cyber, once you use it, you sort of tip your hand as to what your tactics are, what your strengths are, and your targets are better prepared to encounter and defend against future attacks,” Dresen said. “I think cyberattacks are less of a weapon for Russia than it otherwise might have been.” 

For now, Russia appears focused on its brutal military campaign in Ukraine heading into 2023, attempting to take back small patches of land in the east following humiliating losses this past fall.  

Fighting in particular is raging in and around Bakhmut, a major battleground since the summer. Should the eastern city fall to Russian forces, it would allow for further advances in the Donetsk region but would be unlikely to turn the tide of the wider war. 

The difficult slog in Ukraine has experts confident that Russia won’t seek to try its military power elsewhere, even as it may continue with nuclear saber-rattling. 

“I’m really not that worried. I think we have to keep our eyes open and be vigilant, but I think it’s highly unlikely that they will try to make trouble or someplace else, whether it be in the former Soviet space or elsewhere,” Whitmore said. 

“People think if Ukraine wins, then [Putin is] going to do something horrible. And he certainly would like us to think that to deter us. But history shows there’s this myth out there that Putin never backs down. And he does when faced with superior force over and over and over.” 

Steven Pifer, an expert with Brookings, told The Hill that the Kremlin is likely being careful to not make sure its saber-rattling doesn’t turn into something they’re not prepared to take on. 

“In terms of bellicose actions on the conventional level, it’s really hard for me to see what the Russians could do,” Pifer said. “They really can’t poke in the Baltics. The last thing the Russian general staff wants now would be to have to take on NATO in a conventional fight. So I just think that their options are pretty limited.” 

All three experts The Hill spoke to predicted Putin would play the waiting game rather than take new, potentially disastrous, risks. 

“I think Putin has now begun to try to prepare the Russian public for a longer war, and he’s prepared to see if he can stick it out and just hope that with time Europeans begin to sort of get tired of this,” Pifer said.

Source: TEST FEED1

FAA outage: What happened and how airlines are responding

The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) blamed a corrupted database file for a system outage on Wednesday morning, but many questions still remain as airlines deal with the fallout from thousands of delayed and cancelled flights.

The FAA ordered airlines to temporarily halt all domestic departures on Wednesday morning, as it worked to address a problem with a system that notifies pilots about real-time flight hazards and cautions.

The agency lifted the ground stop after about an hour and a half, but the impacts continued throughout the day, with more than 9,900 U.S. flights delayed and another 1,300 cancelled by Wednesday night, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.

Here’s what we know so far:

System initially crashed on Tuesday

The FAA’s Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system suffered an outage around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, leading officials to temporarily move to a backup system, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters on Wednesday, per The Washington Post. 

However, ongoing concerns about the accuracy of information coming from the system reportedly led FAA officials to launch a “complete reboot” of the system at around 5 a.m. on Wednesday. 

The FAA ordered the ground stop at 7:21 a.m., as officials remained unsure whether the system was functioning correctly despite the reboot. Domestic flights were allowed to begin taking off again around 9 a.m. once the issue was resolved.

The agency announced on Wednesday night that the outage was likely the result of a “damaged database file.”

“The FAA is working diligently to further pinpoint the causes of this issue and take all needed steps to prevent this kind of disruption from happening again,” the agency said in a statement.

Airlines scramble to catch up

Thousands of U.S. flights were delayed or cancelled in the wake of the ground stop on Wednesday, leaving airlines scrambling to catch up. 

More than half of flights from three major U.S. airlines — Southwest, American Airlines and United — were delayed on Wednesday. Delta, the last of the “Big Four” airlines, saw about 40 percent of its flights delayed.

Another 10 percent of Southwest’s flights were cancelled, as were seven percent of American’s flights. United and Delta were both able to avoid substantial cancellations, cutting 4 percent and 2 percent of flights each.

All four airlines have said they are offering travelers some form of waiver to rebook flights if needed. Those who had their flights cancelled — and in some cases, those who simply no longer wish to travel — can request refunds through the airlines as well.

It was unclear Wednesday night if delays from the outage would continue into Thursday.

Delta said in a statement: “While potential for additional delays and cancels continue, Delta expects minimal residual impact, if any, on Thursday.”

The other major airlines did not respond to questions about continued delays.

Buttigieg on Wednesday afternoon promised to figure out what went wrong and fix the problem.

“With a government system, we’re going to own it, we’re going to find it, and we’re going to fix it,” Buttigieg told reporters.

Source: TEST FEED1

FAA says 'damaged database file' likely to blame for system outage

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said a “damaged database file” was likely to blame for a computer system outage that halted domestic departures on Wednesday morning and led to thousands of delayed and cancelled flights throughout the day.

“The FAA is continuing a thorough review to determine the root cause of the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system outage,” the agency said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “Our preliminary work has traced the outage to a damaged database file.”

The NOTAM system provides pilots with real-time information about flight hazards and cautions. Following technical issues on Tuesday, FAA officials decided to reload the system early Wednesday morning.

However, the reboot took longer than expected, and the agency paused all domestic departures around 7:30 a.m. as it continued working to restore the NOTAM system. The ground stop was lifted just before 9 a.m.

“At this time, there is no evidence of a cyber attack,” the agency added Wednesday evening. “The FAA is working diligently to further pinpoint the causes of this issue and take all needed steps to prevent this kind of disruption from happening again.”

As of Wednesday night, about 9,700 flights had been delayed and another 1,300 had been canceled in the wake of the outage, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.

Source: TEST FEED1

Unease about strategy simmers below House GOP antiabortion votes 

The new House Republican majority is battling to unify on the issue of abortion less than a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Unity was on display Wednesday when Republicans approved two anti-abortion measures with unanimous GOP votes.

But beneath the surface, there is discomfort, as some GOP lawmakers worry the party is in danger of losing suburban women by taking too extreme a position on abortion while not addressing other reproductive issues.

 “We learned nothing from the midterms if this is how we’re going to operate in the first week,” said Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who voted for both measures, told reporters on Tuesday. “Millions of women across the board were angry over overturning Roe v. Wade.”

The votes come as the GOP is still unpacking how it performed below expectations in the midterm elections. 

Polls consistently showed abortion as one of the top issues for voters and a in half-dozen referendum votes related to abortion, the side that favored more protections for the procedure prevailed. Earlier this month, former President Trump blamed the “abortion issue” for GOP losses, and “especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother.”

While proposed Republican legislation and messaging now regularly includes support for those exceptions, Mace argues the GOP should do more to embrace pregnancy prevention and healthcare access.

“We’re doing a huge disservice to women around the country by taking on the bills we voted on today and not tackling something like access to birth control,” Mace told reporters after the vote.

“I’m in a place where I want to find where we can figure out how to balance women’s rights and balance the right to life. And I’m for life, with all the exceptions,” Mace said. “But I also know that this is an issue that people care about, and 90 percent of the country isn’t with the fringes. And that’s not where we need to go. We’ve got to be very middle-of-the-road, find some middle ground on this issue.”

Mace, who has shared her story of surviving rape as a teen, broke with the bulk of her colleagues last year to vote for a Democratic bill to protect access to contraception. She wore a jacket as a statement to the vote: “My state is Banning EXCEPTIONS Protect CONTRACEPTION.”

Mace also brought up concerns about states prohibiting abortions, even in cases of fatal deformities to the fetus or when the mother’s life is in danger, on MSNBC Wednesday.

The House on Wednesday passed the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” a bill to require health care providers to provide life-saving care to infants born alive after attempted abortions.

Democrats argue the “Born Alive” bill is unnecessary because of a 2002 law, the “Born-Alive Infants Protection Act,” that defined a person as anyone born at any stage of development under federal law. Republicans said that federal law does not go far enough to outline standards of care.

It also adopted a resolution that condemns acts of vandalism and violence directed at antiabortion pregnancy centers, groups, and churches, without making mention of attacks directed at abortion clinics.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) has also said that the House will vote on a bill to permanently codify the Hyde Amendment, which bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortion services.

Neither of the bills will make it through the Democratic-controlled Senate, let alone be signed by President Biden. But even though antiabortion legislation is doomed in the current Congress, actions that a GOP House takes now will help set the groundwork for steps they can take if they gain unified control of Washington, and set the tone for the 2024 presidential campaign.

GOP leaders, though, have not yet committed to bring up national abortion restrictions that they previously proposed when they controlled the chamber.

The House passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban abortion after 20 weeks’ gestation, under Republican control in 2013, 2015 and 2017. 

Lead sponsor Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) modified the bill in the last Congress to ban abortion after 15 weeks rather than 20 weeks, and he told The Hill that he plans to reintroduce it in this Congress.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a moderate who joined Mace in voting for the bill to protect access to contraception last year, said that he expects there will not be other anti-abortion bills brought to the floor in this Congress.

“I will tell you this: There’s a group of us that are going to make sure that we’re focusing on things that people care about, and why they elected this majority. And they need to focus on districts, you know, like Nancy Mace’s, for example, who’s been very outspoken about this,” Fitzpatrick said.

But Smith said that he did not think the midterm elections will make it harder to bring up his antiabortion bills over the next two years, saying that the more members speak with “kindness” and “civility” on the issue, the more “people will be persuaded.”

“I welcome the national debate on abortion. We’ve never had it. We’ve always had little narrow views about, ‘Okay, funding this, that,’” Smith said. “We need a national debate on abortion, and for once a recognition and respect for [those] innocent children.”

And lack of commitments from leadership is not stopping the staunchest anti-abortion advocates from pressing forward with proposals for federal restrictions.

On Wednesday, Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), Smith, and Kat Cammack (R-Fla.)  reintroduced the “Heartbeat Protection Act,” a bill to ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually around six weeks into pregnancy. The bill does have exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. It has 62 original cosponsors.

“While lives are being saved thanks to the Dobbs victory, in states like California and New York, countless unborn babies and their mothers still suffer the violence of abortion,” Marilyn Musgrave, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s vice president of government affairs, said in a statement about the bill’s re-introduction. “It is time we had a minimum federal standard, in line with science and compassion.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Pressure mounts on House GOP to punish Santos

House Republican leadership is facing growing pressure to punish Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) after GOP leaders in New York called on the congressman to step down for fabricating large parts of his resume and personal details.  

Nassau County Republican Chairman Joseph Cairo and other officials — including freshman Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) — said Santos should resign during a press conference on Wednesday, arguing that his campaign was one of “deceit, lies, and fabrication.” 

“He has no place in the Nassau County Republican Committee, nor should he serve in public service nor as an elected official. He’s not welcome here at Republican headquarters for meetings or at any of our events,” Cairo said. “As I said, he’s disgraced the House of Representatives and we do not consider him one of our congresspeople.” 

D’Esposito, the first sitting House member to call for Santos’s resignation, said his “many hurtful lies and mistruths surrounding his history have irreparably broken the trust of the residents he is sworn to serve.”  And Rep. Nick Langworthy (N.Y.), chairman of the New York GOP, backed Santos’s resignation and said the congressman “cannot be an effective representative,” arguing that “it would be in the best interest of taxpayers to have new leadership.”  

But Santos is refusing to step down, writing in a statement that he was “elected to serve the people of #NY03 not the party & politicians” — a stance that is putting top House Republicans in a pickle, forcing them to figure out how to handle the freshman congressman while holding on to their narrow majority in the chamber. 

In his most extensive comments on the Santos controversy yet, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters on Wednesday that the New York Republican “will continue to serve,” noting that voters elected him to be their representative. The newly minted leader also said Santos is “innocent until proven guilty” — a notion that was echoed by other GOP lawmakers. 

“I believe in due process, so let’s let the process work itself through,” Rep. Richard Hudson (N.C.), the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told reporters Wednesday. 

Some members of the conference, however, are recognizing the worsening situation. 

“If I were sitting in his situation, I would be worried about going to jail,” a Republican lawmaker told The Hill. 

Santos drew ire from Republicans and Democrats alike after reporting from The New York Times found discrepancies in his biography — including where he had claimed to have graduated from college, where he worked and his religious upbringing. The congressman, who was among several Republicans to flip Democratic-held seats in New York in November, later admitted that he was guilty of “embellishing my resume.” 

The revelations prompted the top prosecutor in Nassau County, who is a Republican, to launch an investigation into Santos. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York is also spearheading a separate probe into Santos’s finances. 

And on Tuesday, two House Democrats from New York filed a formal complaint with the Ethics Committee that accused the congressman of failing to file timely, accurate and complete financial disclosure reports. The lawmakers hand-delivered the document to Santos’s office in the Capitol. 

The panel has not yet said if it will open an investigation into the matter. 

While McCarthy on Wednesday backed Santos’s decision to remain in Congress, he also said he doesn’t think the New York Republican should be seated on any top House committee. He has not, however, ruled out assigning him to other panels. 

McCarthy’s support for Santos highlights the math problem House Republicans are facing in the 118th Congress: with such a slim Republican majority in the chamber, the conference cannot afford to lose a key GOP vote. Even before he was sworn in as a member of Congress, Santos helped McCarthy secure the Speaker’s gavel, voting for the Republican leader on all 15 ballots. 

Some Republicans, however, think leadership should prioritize the GOP’s image over its numbers dilemma. 

“If they don’t take action and make a statement, I think they’re being short-sighted and myopic, that they need to protect the brand long-term,” Republican strategist John Thomas said of top lawmakers in the House GOP conference ahead of McCarthy’s comments. He also said Santos should not be seated on committees. 

“These are leadership tests and an opportunity to stand tall and protect the brand,” Thomas added. 

Tom Doherty, who served as an aide to former New York Gov. George Pataki (R), also said Santos shouldn’t be given any committee assignments. He did, however, acknowledge the difficult position McCarthy is in. 

“At the same point, you got to stand up to somebody and say, ‘Look, this is a man of very low character, he lied, and I really don’t want him around me,’ ” Doherty added. 

The swirling controversy has offered a bit of split screen between Republicans in Washington, D.C. — who are treading more carefully with Santos — and Republicans and others in New York, who have shown they’ve had enough. 

Regardless of whether Santos completes his full two-year term in the House, some Republicans agree that the freshman congressman is unlikely to bounce back from the controversy politically. 

“Look, you can make a mistake, and you could, you know, fudge something on your resume. I mean, you have a United States senator who was in Vietnam who wasn’t, you know, and that was a big deal, right?” Doherty said. 

“But this was a whole litany of stuff. I mean, he made up an entire life, basically. You don’t get away with that. You certainly don’t, and you certainly don’t get away with that in a competitive district. He’s not getting away with this. No, not at all. This isn’t going away anytime soon.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Graham calls for special counsel to probe Biden's handling of classified documents

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Wednesday called for Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate the handling of classified documents by President Biden while he served as vice president.  

Graham said the appointment of a special counsel is necessary to investigate Biden after Garland announced the appointment of career prosecutor Jack Smith to investigate former President Trump’s possession of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. 

“I think if you believe a special counsel is necessary to assure the public about the handling of classified documents by Donald Trump, you should apply a special counsel to the mishandling of classified documents by President Biden when he was vice president,” Graham said during an interview with Martha MacCallum on Fox News. 

Biden’s aides reported finding a second batch of classified documents at a different location than his Washington office, where fewer than a dozen classified records were found. The Washington office is located at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.

Trump turned over 15 boxes of records, including more than 100 classified documents, to the U.S. National Archives a year ago.  

“If there is not a special counsel appointed to find out how this happened with President Biden regarding classified information … it will hurt the country,” Graham warned.  

When informed about the FBI raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence to retrieve classified documents, Biden asked “how could anyone be that irresponsible?” 

“Garland, if you’re listening, if you thought it was necessary to appoint a special counsel regarding President Trump, then you need to do the exact same thing regarding President Biden when it comes to handling classified information,” Graham said.  

Graham warned that many conservatives believe prosecutors and the media are applying a different set of standards for Trump and Biden.  

“Every conservative out there is completely disgusted with the standard that exists in America when it comes to conservatives and everybody else,” he said.  

Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.), another Republican on the Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Garland Wednesday requesting the appointment of a special counsel and complaining of what he called an “astounding” double standard.

“In President Trump’s case, that retention [of documents] triggered an unprecedented raid on the home of a former president, rationalized with a thicket of partisan doublespeak. President Biden has not experienced anything remotely similar,” Hawley wrote.  

Hawley asked Garland to disclose when he learned that Biden’s office possessed classified documents and to provide a full explanation of the Justice Department’s decision not to dispatch FBI agents to search the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.  

He also wants to know what communications Garland has had with the White House and the National Archives about the classified documents in Biden’s possession.  

Biden said Tuesday that he was “surprised to learn” of any classified documents in his possession.

CNN reported that documents at the think tank include intelligence memos and briefing materials related to Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom.  

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden, Buttigieg face pressure to get to the bottom of FAA mishap

President Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are under intense political pressure to get to the bottom of an issue at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that grounded flights Wednesday — and to prevent further snares in Americans’ air travel.

The FAA experienced an outage in the system that warns pilots of hazards during their upcoming flights, halting departures across the nation. While the system came back online a few hours later, the predicament came less than a month after Southwest Airlines canceled thousands of flights amid deadly winter storms, raising the focus on problems in commercial aviation.

Buttigieg said once flights resumed that he “directed an after-action process to determine root causes and recommend next steps.” Biden, meanwhile, told Buttigieg to report directly back to him when they learned the cause of the outage, and the administration has said that there has been no evidence of a cyberattack.

Republicans blasted the administration for the FAA meltdown.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee member Garret Graves (R-La.) said on Twitter that lawmakers will “aggressively pursue accountability.”

And Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said “we need a new nominee” to run the FAA after the systems outage, arguing that the current pick, Phil Washington, has no experience in safety and aviation. Biden had selected Washington, the CEO of Denver International Airport, to run the agency, but there have been no hearings to confirm him. Former FAA head, Steve Dickson, resigned in March.

“The easy thing is going to be for either side to put blame on the administration, but we need to understand what the facts are related to what actually caused the issue,” Robert Mariner, a former Department of Transportation career official under Presidents Obama, George W. Bush, and Trump, told The Hill.

Both the White House and Buttigieg have reiterated that the flight groundings on Wednesday morning were out of an abundance of caution. Buttigieg quickly made the rounds on cable news and said that his primary interest is to ensure that this kind of a disruption doesn’t happen again.

“Certainly, when there’s an issue in the FAA that needs to get looked at, we’re going to own it. Same as we ask airlines to own their companies and their operations. But the bottom line for us is always going to be safety,” he said on CNN.

White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre said that the computer issues began on Tuesday afternoon, was worked on overnight, and Biden was told about the ground stop before it went into effect on Wednesday morning. She added that there will be an “after-action process and we’ll move from there.”

The situation raises questions over if the FAA systems are out of date and need to be updated, which also puts pressure on Buttigieg to prioritize modernizing the infrastructure.

Biden often bills himself as an infrastructure president after he signed into law the bipartisan infrastructure bill, a huge legacy item for him.

The law includes $1 billion for FAA facilities and equipment, $3 billion for airport infrastructure development and $1 billion for a terminal program. The investments are intended to address repair and maintenance backlogs and create modern, resilient, and sustainable port, airport, and freight infrastructure.

Mariner warned, however, that funding takes time to go into effect. Biden signed the infrastructure bill into law in November 2021.

“Just cause money is being thrown on the infrastructure issue, it still takes time to get projects designed and work through the environmental process,” Mariner said.

He added that while updating FAA systems could be an issue that brings in bipartisan support, the situation will likely be politicized.

“I’m hoping it’s an opportunity for there to be some bipartisan support, that’s always the hope, especially when you’re dealing with infrastructure,” Mariner said. “But now, in light of the political realities that we’re dealing with, the unfortunate part is I do anticipate some not-necessary pushback — put blame on the administration.”

The grounding of flights for about two hours on Wednesday had repercussions throughout the day. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 8,000 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were delayed and over 1,000 were canceled.

Buttigieg appeared confident that the same type of issue can be prevented in the future.

“These kinds of disruptions should not happen and my primary interest—now that we’ve gotten through the immediate disruptions of the morning—is understanding exactly how this was possible and exactly what steps are needed to make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” the secretary said on CNN.

Buttigieg allies are also confident that he will be able to get that job done.

“I have full confidence that he is up to the job and up to the task, he’s a smart guy and a good visionary and a good leader. I am more than confident that he will be able to do a good job,” said Brandon Neal, a friend and former political adviser.

Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday that Biden has confidence in Buttigieg as well.

But the systems outage is compounded with an already rocky month for Buttigieg.

All eyes were on the secretary during the massive Southwest cancellations two weeks ago, when the airline canceled more than half of its flights over three days and left thousands of travelers stranded.

Since then, he has been under pressure to help get travelers home, ensure they are reimbursed for unexpected costs, and take steps to prevent that kind of meltdown from happening again.

Congress has already said they will hold hearings in the wake of the Southwest issues. Meanwhile, Buttigieg has been sending updates about refunds for tickets or other expenses for the thousands of Southwest travelers who faced flight issues.

“If Southwest (or any airline) is not providing you with required refunds or reimbursements, let us know by filing a complaint,” he said on Twitter this week, with a link to a government website.

It’s a high-profile task for the secretary, who is a former and potentially future presidential candidate. His performance in the Biden administration is under a microscope in part because he is largely considered to have aspirations beyond this role, and possibly all the way to the Oval Office.

The former mayor of South Bend, Ind., exceeded expectations in 2020, winning the Iowa caucuses before bowing out of the race and endorsing Biden.

How he handles both situations, between the FAA outage and the Southwest cancelations, could be seen as somewhat of a trial run for him before exploring other political goals.

Mariner said that, when talking to former colleagues at the Transportation Department, he has “heard nothing short of stellar words in his favor.”

“I’ve been very pleased with how quickly he’s grasped transportation. As a former mayor of South Bend, Ind., to go from that to overseeing one of the largest transportation systems across multiple modes, literally in the world. He’s done an amazing job,” he said.

Source: TEST FEED1

Second batch of classified Biden docs found at new location: report

A second batch of classified documents belonging to President Biden was reportedly discovered by White House aides, days after the discovery of documents from a former private office of the president’s became public.

The new batch was found in separate location from the first, NBC News first reported, citing a personal familiar with the matter.

The first batch was found in a University of Pennsylvania office in Washington that once belonged to Biden between his time as vice president and his 2020 presidential campaign.

Since then, White House aides have been looking for any additional classified documents in other locations, NBC reported.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the additional documents.

Earlier on Wednesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sparred with reporters over the discovery of the first batch of documents, avoiding answering questions on why the administration didn’t inform the public sooner when attorneys for Biden made the discovery on Nov. 2, just six days ahead of crucial midterm elections.

She said that the situation was under review by the Department of Justice and would not comment on it further.

CBS News was first to break the news of the first discovery.

Biden on Tuesday addressed the matter of the first batch, saying he was unaware of what documents were found and that his lawyers advised him not to seek such information. Biden also said he was surprised such records were kept there.

The revelation immediately drew comparisons to the FBI’s search last year of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property, in which federal investigators seized classified documents as part of a wider federal probe into potential mishandling of the information.

Source: TEST FEED1