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Comer OKs delay for Ghislaine Maxwell’s congressional testimony, denies immunity request
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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is delaying Ghislaine Maxwell’s planned deposition until after the Supreme Court weighs her request to overturn her conviction, according to a letter obtained by Fox News Digital.
Committee investigators were set to travel to a Tallahassee prison for an Aug. 11 sit-down with Maxwell after lawmakers voted to subpoena her over her close ties to late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
In a letter sent to Comer earlier this week, Maxwell’s lawyer claimed she «did not receive a fair trial» and petitioned to delay the deposition date until after her case before the Supreme Court was resolved.
«On July 30, the U.S. Supreme Court noticed that your petition for writ of certiorari will be considered at its conference on September 29. In light of this notice, the Committee is willing to delay your deposition until a date following the Court’s certiorari determination,» Comer wrote on Friday.
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Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were both indicted on federal sex trafficking charges stemming from Epstein’s years of abuse of underage girls. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
According to the Kentucky Republican’s letter, Maxwell’s lawyer warned she would invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering any questions unless certain conditions were met.
«These conditions include: (1) a grant of immunity, (2) the deposition occurring outside of FCI Tallahassee, (3) access to the Committee’s questions in advance, and (4) the conclusion of your recent appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and potential future habeas petition,» Comer wrote.
He denied her requests for congressional immunity and to get the questions in advance, but wrote the committee would continue to «engage in good faith negotiations.»
Comer also vowed the committee would honor its «long-standing practice of engaging in forthright and detailed discussions about scoping.»
The subpoena was issued to Maxwell after a unanimous vote by both Republicans and Democrats on the committee in late July.
The motion to subpoena Maxwell was offered by Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.
House Oversight and Accountability Committee chairman James Comer responded to Maxwell’s request for a delay. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
«Your testimony is vital to the Committee’s efforts regarding Mr. Jeffrey Epstein, including the 2007 non-prosecution agreement and the circumstances surrounding Mr. Epstein’s death,» Comer wrote. «These investigative efforts may be used to inform potential legislation to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations.»
The letter comes hours after Fox News learned Maxwell had been transferred from Florida to a federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas.
GOP LAWMAKERS CLASH OVER STRATEGY TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CRISIS
Congressional investigators are looking to speak with Maxwell over her longstanding close ties to Epstein, who was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges when he died by suicide at a jail in New York City in 2019.
Maxwell herself was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022 «for her role in a scheme to sexual exploit and abuse multiple minor girls with Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade,» according to a press release by the Southern District of New York.
In the delay request, Maxwell’s attorney argued that «Any testimony she provides now could compromise her constitutional rights, prejudice her legal claims, and potentially taint a future jury pool.»
Maxwell had already met with federal investigators last week when Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche sat down with her in Tallahassee at the direction of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
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Bondi said in a statement announcing the meeting, «President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislaine Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say.»
Maxwell’s lawyers told Fox News in response to Comer’s letter, «We acknowledge Chairman Comer’s letter and appreciate the Committee’s willingness to delay Ms. Maxwell’s deposition while her case is pending before the Supreme Court. We will continue to engage with Congress in good faith to find a way for Ms. Maxwell to share her information without compromising her constitutional right.»
house of representatives politics,jeffrey epstein,politics,sex crimes,crime world
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Trump fires labor official over weak jobs number, orders criminal probes of past opponents
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Donald Trump didn’t like the slight gain in jobs that the government reported for July. So he fired the commissioner for labor statistics, who nobody had heard of until 10 minutes ago.
Problem solved?
Well, not exactly.
Erika McEntarfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, didn’t unilaterally make the decision that the economy added just 73,000 jobs in July. That figure was produced by hundreds of Labor Department analysts, following established rules, before it reached her level.
TRUMP ECONOMIC ADVISER FIRES BACK AT NBC HOST OVER ‘SHOOTING THE MESSENGER’ CLAIM ABOUT BLS FIRING
For the president to claim, without proof, that this was «rigged»—to make him, and Republicans look bad–doesn’t change the underlying reality. The number was disappointing. That hasn’t changed.
The same goes for the downward revision of 258,000 jobs in the previous two months.
That is incredibly common. It happened during the Biden administration, in one case a downward revision of an earlier jobs estimate. It’s a standard adjustment made once more information has become available.
But the economy is what it is. Dumping the Biden appointee doesn’t change that.
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on August 1, 2025 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Maybe there’s a problem with the constant revisions, but that’s been going on for years. McEntarfer should have put out a more detailed statement.
There has been an avalanche of media criticism for the president undermining confidence in the reliability of the numbers we all depend on.
Kevin O’Leary, the «Shark Tank» investor, told CNN: «I did not agree on whacking the commissioner. I don’t like that. Whacking statisticians makes no sense whatsoever. You don’t shoot the messenger.»
Trump’s BLS chief in the first term, Bill Beach, said «the commissioner doesn’t do anything to collect the numbers. The commissioner doesn’t see the numbers until Wednesday before they’re published. By the time the commissioner sees the numbers, they’re all prepared…
«When I was commissioner, we had a 500,000 job revision during President Trump’s first term,» he told CNN. «And why do we do that? Because firms are created or firms go out of business, and we don’t really know that during the course of the year, until we reconcile against a real full count of all the businesses.»
TRUMP VOWS TO REPLACE LABOR STATISTICS CHIEF WITH SOMEONE ‘COMPETENT AND QUALIFIED’
Democrats, of course, are going haywire. Janet Yellen, Biden’s Treasury secretary and Fed chief, said it reeked of a «banana republic.»
So once the president names his own person, will the markets and the public have confidence that future jobs numbers are real? Or will that appointee cook the books in his favor?
Trump’s case: «Last weeks [sic] Job’s Report was RIGGED, just like the numbers prior to the Presidential Election were Rigged. That’s why, in both cases, there was massive, record setting revisions, in favor of the Radical Left Democrats. Those big adjustments were made to cover up, and level out, the FAKE political numbers that were CONCOCTED in order to make a great Republican Success look less stellar!!! I will pick an exceptional replacement.»
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen talks to reporters during a news conference at the Treasury Department on Oct. 22, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Millions of business decisions are made based on the jobs number being a fair and reasonable estimate, based on Labor’s survey of participating companies.
But let’s pull back and look at some other recent Trump actions.
The Office of Special Counsel is now investigating Jack Smith, who brought two criminal cases against Trump, for violating the Hatch Act. That’s the law that bars government officials from making blatantly partisan comments. But it’s usually ignored: When Kellyanne Conway was accused of violating the act and recommended for dismissal, Trump just blew it off.
Ex-CIA director John Brennan and fired FBI chief James Comey are under criminal investigation for allegedly politicizing intelligence in 2016.
DOJ CRIMINALLY INVESTIGATING FORMER OBAMA OFFICIALS FOR HANDLING OF RUSSIA PROBE
Trump has also ordered a criminal probe of Barack Obama for his actions in 2016 and declared him guilty of «treason.»
I’d just offer a reminder that Trump’s special counsel in the first term, John Durham, investigated all this and brought no charges against these men.
I know that his files have recently been declassified, but Durham wrote:
«The office’s best assessment is that the July 25 and July 27 emails that purport to be from Benardo,» a man funded by George Soros, «were ultimately a composite of several emails that were obtained through Russian intelligence hacking of the U.S.-based thinktanks.» Durham indicted only three minor officials.
Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to members of the media at the US Department of Justice building in Washington, DC, on August 1, 2023. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump is extremely aggressive, of course, whether it’s suing the media (winning $16-million settlements from ABC and CBS); targeting Ivy League universities (Columbia agreeing to pay a $200-million penalty); ordering an investigation of first-term cybersecurity official Miles Taylor (better known as Anonymous); ordering federal agencies to cut ties with WilmerHale (and saying it was because Robert Mueller worked there), along with defunding NPR and PBS.
Oh, and did I mention that the current president has also ordered an investigation of pardons and other actions by Joe Biden, aimed at showing he was too mentally impaired to do the job? The former president, who is being treated for prostate cancer, dismissed the idea as «ridiculous.»
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All this projects an image of strength, enabling Trump to drive the news agenda. But it also reveals a president preoccupied by past grievances and determined to settle scores with opponents he believes unfairly targeted him.
And that’s why Erika McEntarfer is suddenly out of a job.
fox news media,politics,donald trump,jobs,economy,us
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Taiwán mantendrá su gasto militar en torno al 3 % del PIB en 2026 para reforzar su defensa ante las amenazas de China
El presidente de Taiwán, William Lai, anunció este martes que el presupuesto de Defensa del país se mantendrá en torno al 3 % del Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) en 2026, un nivel similar al de este año. La decisión fue confirmada durante la apertura del Foro Ketagalan en Taipei, un evento centrado en seguridad regional que contó con la participación del ex primer ministro británico Boris Johnson y otras figuras internacionales.
“En el presupuesto de Defensa del año que viene, alcanzaremos nuestro objetivo de casi el 3 % del PIB para mejorar las capacidades defensivas de Taiwán”, declaró Lai, al tiempo que reafirmó que su Gobierno continuará comprometido con el mantenimiento del statu quo en el Estrecho.
El anuncio llega en un contexto de tensión con el régimen de China, que considera a Taiwán una “parte inalienable” de su territorio y no ha descartado el uso de la fuerza para lograr su reunificación. Desde la llegada al poder de Xi Jinping en 2012, Beijing ha intensificado sus ejercicios militares en las cercanías de la isla y ha incrementado la presión diplomática para aislarla internacionalmente.
En su discurso, pronunciado en inglés, Lai calificó las maniobras chinas en el Estrecho de Taiwán y en los mares Meridional y Oriental como un “desafío sin precedentes al orden internacional basado en normas”. Afirmó que la expansión del autoritarismo requiere una respuesta conjunta de las democracias del mundo y pidió mayor unidad frente a lo que describió como una amenaza a la estabilidad global.
“Taiwán permanecerá junto a las democracias del mundo para hacer frente a los desafíos, apoyar el orden internacional basado en reglas, defender la paz a través de la fuerza y proteger el modo de vida libre y democrático que tanto nos ha costado conseguir”, afirmó el mandatario.
Lai subrayó la importancia estratégica de Taiwán en la región del Indo-Pacífico, al estar ubicada en la llamada “primera cadena de islas”, una línea de defensa geopolítica que va desde Japón hasta Filipinas y que ha sido identificada por analistas como clave en la contención del poder naval chino.
“Estamos en una posición clave en la primera cadena de islas. Esto convierte a Taiwán en un pilar fundamental para la paz y la estabilidad en el Indo-Pacífico”, aseguró el presidente. Añadió que su administración trabajará para profundizar las alianzas con otras democracias con el objetivo de “promover la prosperidad y el desarrollo globales”.
El mandatario isleño también reiteró que su Gobierno mantiene el compromiso de no alterar unilateralmente el statu quo en el Estrecho, una postura que ha sido respaldada por Estados Unidos y varios socios regionales, pero que contrasta con la creciente agresividad del discurso y las acciones de Beijing.
En los últimos años, China ha incrementado la frecuencia de sus ejercicios militares alrededor de la isla, incluyendo el uso de aviones de combate que cruzan la línea media del Estrecho —una frontera no oficial que había sido respetada durante décadas— y maniobras navales en aguas cercanas. Además, ha impulsado una ofensiva diplomática para reducir el número de países que reconocen a Taipéi como gobierno legítimo.
El Partido Democrático Progresista (PDP), en el poder desde 2016 y liderado por Lai desde 2024, sostiene que Taiwán ya es un país soberano bajo el nombre de República de China, con su propio sistema político, Ejército y Constitución. El Gobierno taiwanés defiende que su futuro solo puede ser decidido por sus 23 millones de habitantes.
Mientras tanto, la presión militar de China continúa en aumento. Según el Ministerio de Defensa taiwanés, solo en 2023 se registraron más de 1.700 incursiones aéreas por parte de aviones militares chinos en su zona de identificación de defensa aérea (ADIZ), una cifra que duplica los niveles de años anteriores.
En este contexto, el mantenimiento del gasto militar cercano al 3 % del PIB refleja la estrategia del Gobierno de fortalecer la capacidad de disuasión sin provocar una escalada directa. Para Taipei, la defensa de su sistema democrático y su soberanía se ha convertido en una prioridad frente a una amenaza regional que, en palabras de William Lai, “no es solo un asunto de Taiwán, sino una responsabilidad compartida para la seguridad en todo el mundo”.
(Con información de EFE)
Politics,Asia
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House Dem declares she is a ‘proud Guatemalan’ before American at Progressive International conference
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Several House Democrats, including members of the «Squad,» criticized the United States over the weekend at a conference in Mexico City that questioned U.S. influence and policies, with one lawmaker saying she was prouder to be Guatemalan than American.
The second annual Panamerican Congress brought leftist officials from all over North and South America. Those in attendance included Democratic lawmakers: Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ayanna Presley of Massachusetts, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Jesús Gilberto García and Delia Ramirez of Illinois.
All are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
ESTABLISHMENT-BACKED DEMOCRAT WINS HIGH-PROFILE CONGRESSIONAL PRIMARY IN ARIZONA
Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., speaks during a news conference with immigration experts, DACA recipients, and Dreamers. Over the weekend, she attended a conference in Mexico City where she said she was a proud Guatemalan before an American. (Getty Images)
During her remarks at the opening of the event, Ramirez spoke about the Trump administration’s illegal immigration crackdown and her own ancestry.
«I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American,» she declared in Spanish. The congresswoman also accused the U.S. of prioritizing «imperialism, militarization, conquest, control, competition in its attempt at domination.»
On her website, Ramirez, the child of immigrant parents, said her husband is in the country illegally and that she is the only congressional lawmaker «in a mixed-status marriage, and fights for the rights of DREAMers like her husband, Boris, and for comprehensive immigration reform.»
The White House condemned the remarks made by Ramirez, as well as her fellow Democrats.
«These Democrats’ comments are despicable and underscore their commitment to putting Americans last,» White House spokesperson Liz Huston told Fox News Digital. «In stark contrast, President Trump is working tirelessly to secure peace deals, deport illegal alien criminals, and advance America’s interests at home and abroad.»
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Members of the far-left «squad» including Tlaib hold a press conference. (Getty Images)
Fox News Digital has reached out to Ramirez’s office, as well as several lawmakers who attended the summit.
In addition to immigration, speakers also voiced their views on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir, Colombia’s deputy minister of multilateral affairs, praised Tlaib during his speech, calling her a «symbol of resistance,» which prompted a standing ovation once he finished speaking.
The summit was organized by the leader of Progressive International, a radical left-wing group that describes capitalism as a «virus» that must be «eradicated» — in partnership with Morena, Mexico’s ruling left-wing party, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.
WATCH: AOC OPENS UP ABOUT MEETING ZOHRAN MAMDANI, ICE ACTIVITY IN NYC
Gerardo Fernández Noroña, president of the Mexican Senate and member of Morena, called out the «persecution» of migrants in the U.S. under the Trump administration.
He called it «unjust, infamous, incorrect persecution where just for being a migrant and just for your skin color or your nationality, you are persecuted.»
«They are not only imprisoned, but sent to a prison that has been banned since World War II, such as Alligator Alcatraz,» he said. «The United States government is grieving over drug use, but I haven’t seen a single raid like the one they carry out against migrants against people who sell drugs in the United States.»
In a TV interview before the event, David Adler, the general coordinator for Progressive International and one of the summit’s main coordinators, said the intention of the summit was to confront authoritarian and fascist threats and shift authority from Washington, D.C. to developing countries, the DCNF reported, in the Global South, a term used to describe a loose division of nations across different continents that are generally poorer, have high levels of inequity and harsher living conditions.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. The EPA said the letter was not representative of the Trump administration’s objectives. (Rick Scuteri)
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On its website, Progressive Internation described the U.S. as the «lynchpin of that imperial violence — a position it has carefully built over two centuries.»
The group cited U.S. military installations overseas and the massive Pentagon budget.
«US militarism sustains profound political tensions around the world. Its interventions have destroyed nation after nation, leaving a trail of violence and sorrow in their wake,» the website states. «Ending US militarism means saving lives.»
democratic party,location mexico,us,latin america
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