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Ex-Biden spokesman who called mental fitness doubts a ‘conspiracy’ only met with him twice: Comer
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One of former President Joe Biden’s staunchest defenders in the last year of his presidency only met with the ex-commander-in-chief in person twice while working at the White House, a top Republican said.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., has been leading the closed-door transcribed interview of Ian Sams, who served as a top spokesman on matters related to congressional investigations and other probes during the latter two years of the Biden administration.
«That was probably the most informative transcribed interview slash deposition we’ve had thus far. I’ll give Mr. Sam’s credit. He answered our questions,» Comer told reporters.
«I think one of the most shocking things to me is…he communicated with Joe Biden two times. He saw Joe Biden, talked to Joe Biden two times, the entire stint as White House spokesperson, but yet he would – every day – tweet and issue statements from the podium of the White House.»
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Former President Joe Biden, pictured here in May 2021, and his mental acuity are the subject of a House Oversight Committee probe. (AP Newsroom)
Comer told Fox News Digital in a statement following the interview that Sams interacted with Biden on four occasions in total – two in-person meetings, one virtual meeting, and one phone call.
Sams did leave the White House well before concerns about Biden’s mental acuity left but did defend him during some of the tensest political moments of his administration.
The longtime left-wing operative served as senior advisor and spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office from May 2022 through August 2024, where he served as a fierce defender of Biden during both House Republicans’ investigations into his ties to family members’ foreign business endeavors, and Special Counsel Robert Hur’s probe into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
Notably, Sams criticized «wrong» and «inaccurate» findings in Hur’s report on Biden in comments to the press in February 2024. Hur had declined to charge Biden, writing that «at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.»
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Comer told reporters on Thursday, however, «In fact, Robert Hur spent more time with Joe Biden than Ian Sams.»
«Ian Sams is the one that would counter everything Robert Hur or anytime anyone would suggest that Joe Biden wasn’t mentally fit. He would say no, he’s at the top of his game,» Comer said. «He interacted with the president two times, the entire time. The entire time he worked in the White House.»
Days after Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate against President Donald Trump, Sams dismissed House Republicans’ inquiry into Biden’s former White House physician – just one of several instances where he vehemently defended Biden’s mental acuity from scrutiny.
Ian Sams, a former spokesman for both Biden and Harris, appeared before the House Oversight Committee. He’s pictured here on Feb. 1, 2023. (Getty Images)
«Americans question President Biden’s ability to lead the country,» Comer wrote to Dr. Kevin O’Connor in early July 2024. «The Oversight Committee is concerned your medical assessments have been influenced by your private business endeavors with the Biden family»
Sams told Newsweek in response, «Here they go again, pushing their crazy, discredited conspiracy theories in order to score another hit on [Fox News’ Maria] Bartiromo.»
He similarly told MSNBC days after that debate that Biden was «sharp» and asked «tough questions.»
Sams went as far as to send a letter to the White House Correspondents’ Association lecturing outlets like CNN, MSNBC, and the Associated Press for their coverage of Hur’s report.
«When we ask questions, ‘When you said this, did Joe Biden tell you that?’ ‘Well you know, I got it from the president.’ ‘Did Joe Biden tell you this, did Joe Biden send you an email himself?’ ‘Well, no.’ So it raises serious concerns and serious questions about who was calling the shots in the White House,» Comer said.
The House Oversight Committee is investigating whether Biden’s inner circle worked to cover up signs of mental decline in the former president, and if any executive actions were signed via autopen without his full knowledge or approval.
Biden and his allies have publicly dismissed accusations that he was not behind the decisions he made, however.
L-R: Ian Sams, former senior advisor in the White House Counsel’s Office; Andrew Bates, former senior deputy press secretary; former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre; and, Jeff Zients, former White House chief of staff, are expected to sit down with House Oversight Committee investigators behind closed doors. (Fox News)
Specifically regarding the thousands of clemency orders signed via autopen, Biden said he «made every decision» in a recent interview with The New York Times.
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«Rather than drawing conclusions from firsthand experience, Mr. Sams received much of his direction from the White House Counsel and Biden’s inner circle. Mr. Sams repeatedly made broad public claims about the President’s cognitive condition, but he was not in a position to make these claims based on such limited contact,» Comer told Fox News Digital.
«Mr. Sams’s testimony raises serious questions about who is truly calling the shots in the White House. We will continue to press for answers to ensure full transparency for the American people.»
Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for Biden and for House Oversight Committee Democrats for comment.
republicans,congress,joe biden,white house,politics
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Former Democratic vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz criticized the media for reporting on rifts within the Democratic Party amidst what he called a «fascist» takeover of the country by President Donald Trump.
Walz gave a fiery speech on Monday in front of Democrats gathered for the party’s summer strategy meetings in Minneapolis, where Democratic leadership are attempting to unify a party riddled with internal division.
During the speech, Walz, a progressive who served as former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in 2024, opined about his and Harris’ 2024 election loss, saying, «We know [Harris] was the most qualified and would have been a fantastic president.»
«We wouldn’t wake up every day to a bunch of s*** on TV and a bunch of nonsense,» he asserted. «We would wake up to an adult with compassion and dignity and vision and leadership doing the work. Not a man child crying about whatever’s wrong with him.»
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Gov. Tim Walz, then vice presidential nominee, delivers remarks at the AFSCME’s 46th International Convention in Los Angeles on Aug. 13, 2024. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
He doubled down on some of the Democratic Party’s more controversial platforms, saying, «We’re not shying away from diversity as a strength and equity as a goal and inclusion being the air we breathe. That’s what we should be doing.»
Though doubling down on DEI, Walz criticized the media for reporting on Democratic infighting. He urged Democrats, «Don’t take the bait.»
«It boggles my d*** mind that in the midst of a military takeover of our cities and the attempt to go into others, their flaunting of the rule of law, the cruelness and the unconstitutional nature of the way they’re attacking our neighbors, that the press finds the need to talk about, ‘Oh, there’s a division in the Democratic Party,’» he railed, adding, «There’s a division in my d*** house and we’re still married, and things are good. That’s life!»
«We can have our internal decision-making, our internal healthy debates. But – I refuse to believe – we do not have the luxury to fight amongst ourselves while that thing sits in the White House,» said Walz as the crowd broke into cheers.
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Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin addresses party members at the DNC’s summer meeting, on Aug. 25, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News )
He asserted that Democrats «are strong because we’re held accountable,» while he lamented it is easy to be a Republican.
«Think of how easy it would be to be a d*** Republican. Oh, what should I wear today? This stupid fricking red hat? What should I say today? I don’t know, just make sure it’s cruel. Who do we listen to? That guy? Oh, the felon in the White House? Yeah, I listen to him, and that will be fine,» he said.
He went on to accuse Trump of unleashing fascist policies on the U.S., saying, «I always get in trouble for it, I’ll continue to say it, I don’t think we do any favors when we don’t name it, these are fascist policies … That is what they are.»
Commenting on Trump signing an executive order to crack down on the burning of the American flag, he accused the president of being concerned about flags with his face on them.
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Former Vice President Kamala Harris and then Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz walk out on stage together during a campaign event on Aug. 6, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
«Now he’s talking about burning flags. He’s going to have flag burning or whatever, because he knows there’s a hell of a lot of flags with his picture on it that are going to get burned. There’s a whole lot of that kind of crap that people are sick of,» he said.
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Concluding his remarks, Walz urged Democrats to start «running to a better future.»
«A future that includes everyone, a future where our children are valued and lifted up, a future where immigrants are celebrated just like our grandparents and parents were, a future where we ask people to pay their fair share while we make life a little bit easier for others, and we find joy in the things that you find personally joyful and I don’t give a d*** what your neighbor thinks about those things,» he said. «Those are the things that we are here for.»
tim walz,democratic party,2025 2026 elections coverage,donald trump,kamala harris,executive policy
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El cofundador del cartel de Sinaloa se declaró culpable en EE.UU. y podría ir a prisión de por vida
El mexicano Ismael “Mayo” Zambada, cofundador del poderoso cartel de Sinaloa en los años 80, se declaró este lunes culpable de narcotráfico ante un tribunal de Nueva York.
Con esta decisión, evitó ser procesado en un juicio público, pero perdió su derecho a revocar la sentencia que le impondrá el juez encargado Brian Cogan.
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El magistrado advirtió que cada uno de los 17 delitos de los que se declaró culpable conllevan pena de cadena perpetua. La sentencia se conocerá el 13 de enero próximo.
Su antiguo socio, Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán, cumple una pena de cadena perpetua en Estados Unidos. De hecho, Zambada acusó a Joaquín Guzmán López, uno de los hijos del capo narco, de haberle tendido una trampa el 25 de julio de 2024 cuando fue detenido en suelo estadounidense.
La confesión de Ismael “Mayo” Zambada: “Culpable”
Ante el tribunal, Zambada admitió los hechos. “Reconozco el enorme daño que las drogas ilegales le han causado a personas en Estados Unidos y México”, dijo a través de un intérprete. “Me disculpo por todo eso y asumo la responsabilidad de mis actos”, añadió.
Zambada, que dijo tener 75 años y no 77 como se había informado hasta ahora, fue uno de los “más prolíficos y poderosos narcotraficantes del mundo”, según la justicia estadounidense
“Culpable”, dijo en español con voz casi inaudible, de los cargos de empresa criminal continuada entre 1989 y enero de 2024, y conspiración en grupo criminal para lavar de dinero, perpetrar asesinatos, secuestros y tráfico de drogas entre el 1 de enero de 2000 y el 11 de abril de 2012.
Zambada pidió perdón a “quienes han sufrido” por sus acciones y reconoció que “la organización que dirigía promovió la corrupción” en México, “pagando sobornos a policías, comandantes militares y a políticos”. También debe pagar una multa de 15.000 millones de dólares. Una vieja fotografía de Ismael «Mayo» Zambada (Foto: Procuración de México/vía Reuters)
El juez instructor, Brian Cogan, fijó para el 13 de enero de 2026 el anuncio su sentencia, aunque dejó claro desde ya que el primer cargo es pasible de cadena perpetua.
Zambada dijo que es consciente de que con el acuerdo de culpabilidad renuncia a sus derechos constitucionales de ir a juicio y de apelar una posible sentencia desfavorable.
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En su declaración ante la justicia, admitió haber enviado “1500 toneladas” de cocaína a Estados Unidos y dijo que nunca había consumido drogas. Además, reconoció que sus acciones “constituyen graves violaciones de las leyes antidroga de los Estados Unidos” y aceptó “toda la responsabilidad” por el mal que hizo.
La fiscalía había anunciado a principios de agosto que renunciaba a pedir la pena de muerte en su caso, pese a que Zambada no estaba amparado por un acuerdo de extradición con México, que excluye la pena capital. Su abogado, Frank Pérez, aseguró que el pacto con la fiscalía “no es un acuerdo de cooperación”.
“Puedo afirmar categóricamente que no existe ningún acuerdo por el que esté cooperando con el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos ni con ningún otro gobierno”, dijo en una declaración tras la audiencia.
“Mi cliente (…) hace un pedido a la población de Sinaloa para que mantenga la calma, actúe con moderación y evite la violencia”, ante la guerra desatada entre su clan y los herederos del Chapo que causó más de un millar de muertos.
“El derramamiento de sangre no sirve para nada, solo profundiza las heridas y prolonga el sufrimiento. Insta a su comunidad a mirar hacia la paz y la estabilidad para el futuro del estado”, señaló.
El Chapo fue condenado a cadena perpetua en Estados Unidos tras un mediático juicio en 2018.
Pese a que sus jefes históricos están en la cárcel en Estados Unidos, el cartel de Sinaloa, considerado como la mayor organización de narcotráfico del mundo, sigue operando a través de nuevas generaciones y redes logísticas asentadas en ambos lados de la frontera.
(Con información de AFP, EFE y AP)
Narcotráfico, México
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