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Manchin says he wanted GOP to win Senate to stop Democrats’ quest for ‘raw political power’
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Former Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., wanted Republicans to win the Senate last year in order to prevent Democrats’ pursuit of «raw political power.»
In his new book, «Dead Center: In Defense of Common Sense,» set to be released on Tuesday and obtained by Fox News Digital, the former West Virginia Democrat-turned-Independent ripped into his ex-political party, tore into former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden and blasted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., while lauding the relationship that he had with President Donald Trump.
Manchin made waves when he and former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who also left the Democratic Party to become an Independent, bucked Schumer and voted against the move to nuke the Senate filibuster in 2022.
SCHUMER SILENT AS VAN HOLLEN BLASTS ‘SPINELESS’ NY DEMOCRATS OVER MAMDANI SNUB
Former Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.V., wanted Republicans to win the Senate in 2024 to halt Democrats from getting rid of the Senate filibuster. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
He recalled that vote in his book and the pressure he felt from Schumer and Senate Democrats to fall in line on that and other key votes during Biden’s presidency.
Manchin accused Schumer of wanting a vote he «could broadcast to the radical left to prove his loyalty» and said the then-Senate majority leader didn’t actually believe that getting rid of the filibuster was the right thing to do, but rather to fulfill his «only priority» of maintaining control of the Senate.
«Because of what I knew — and what I had seen firsthand — I wanted Republicans to win the Senate majority in 2024,» Manchin wrote. «I believed it was the only hope for preserving the Senate as an institution. I truly believed that, if in power, Republicans would uphold the filibuster, the last guardrail preventing total partisan rule.»
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Former Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.V., ripped Senate Minority Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in his memoir. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
«Schumer and the Democrats had already shown their hand — eliminating the filibuster would have been their first order of business,» he continued. «They had no interest in protecting the Senate’s role as the deliberative body. They only cared about raw political power.»
The quest to end the filibuster is also why Manchin wouldn’t endorse former Vice President Kamala Harris in her run against Trump.
«She knew this was the Holy Grail and the only hope we have to preserve any bipartisanship and maintain our democracy,» Manchin said.
He also outlined an early fight he had with Biden where, when Democrats were trying to ram through the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in the early months of his presidency in an evenly-divided Senate, Manchin rejected it.
Biden ripped into Manchin for standing in the way of an early victory.
EX-NBC NEWS HOST CHUCK TODD LAMENTS DEMOCRATIC PARTY A ‘COLLECTION OF PEOPLE THAT DON’T LIKE TRUMP’
Former President Joe Biden speaks to the National Action Network Convention on April 12, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
«As the drama began, I got a call from the president, and was he hot,» Manchin wrote. «‘If you kill this f— bill, I will never speak to you again,’ he promised. Anyone who knows Joe Biden — and I have known him for a very long time —knows he’s got a very bad temper. He calls it his ‘Irish.’ I call it unfortunate. But if he was going there, so was I.»
«‘Your actions are reckless,’ I spat back. ‘You’re sending a f— check to everyone. And if you missed anyone, it was only by mistake.’»
The legislation ultimately passed after a compromise was reached, but Manchin noted that he later regretted «capitulating on the American Rescue Plan.»
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He also described having a far better relationship with Trump, who he considered a fellow «outsider,» than Obama, and noted that Obama reached out to him twice during his entire presidency: once after he won re-election to the Senate in 2012 and again in 2015 to persuade him from voting against his nuclear deal with Iran.
«From the start, President Trump had an open line of communication with me. I spoke to him more in the first two years of his presidency than I did to President Obama during all eight years of his time in office,» Manchin said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Schumer, Obama and Biden for comment but did not immediately hear back.
senate,barack obama,joe biden,chuck schumer,donald trump,politics
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Rusia y Ucrania concluyeron su primera jornada de diálogo en Ginebra sin avances tras horas de “negociaciones muy tensas”
Negociadores ucranianos y rusos concluyeron este martes el primero de dos días de conversaciones de paz mediadas por Estados Unidos en Ginebra, aunque ninguna de las partes dio señales de estar más cerca de poner fin al conflicto más mortífero en Europa desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Las negociaciones se reanudarán el miércoles.
Estados Unidos ha estado presionando para que se ponga fin a la guerra de casi cuatro años, pero no ha logrado mediar un compromiso entre Moscú y Kiev sobre el tema clave del territorio.
Dos rondas previas de negociación entre ambas partes en Abu Dabi no lograron producir un avance significativo.
Las últimas conversaciones “fueron muy tensas”, dijo una fuente cercana a la delegación rusa.
REUTERS/Nina Liashonok
“Duraron seis horas. Ya han concluido”, añadió la fuente, hablando bajo condición de anonimato.
El presidente ucraniano, Volodimir Zelensky, dijo en su discurso vespertino que estaba listo “para avanzar rápidamente hacia un acuerdo digno que ponga fin a la guerra”, pero cuestionó si Rusia hablaba en serio sobre la paz.
“¿Qué es lo que quieren?”, añadió, acusándolos de priorizar los ataques con misiles sobre la “diplomacia real”.
Rusia lanzó su invasión a gran escala de Ucrania en febrero de 2022.
El conflicto resultante ha provocado una ola de destrucción que ha dejado ciudades enteras en ruinas, decenas de miles de soldados y civiles muertos y ha obligado a millones de personas a huir de sus hogares.
Consejo de Seguridad y Defensa de Ucrania / REUTERS
Zelensky ha dicho repetidamente que a su país se le está pidiendo que haga concesiones desproporcionadas en comparación con Rusia.
El presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, presionó el lunes a Ucrania para que llegue a un acuerdo, diciendo que “más vale que vengan a la mesa, rápido”.
Rusia ocupa alrededor de una quinta parte de Ucrania —incluida la península de Crimea que se anexionó en 2014— y áreas que los separatistas respaldados por Moscú habían tomado antes de la invasión de 2022.
Está presionando por el control total de la región de Donetsk, al este de Ucrania, como parte de cualquier acuerdo, y ha amenazado con tomarla por la fuerza si las conversaciones fracasan.
Pero Kiev ha rechazado esta demanda profundamente impopular, que sería política y militarmente arriesgada, y ha señalado que no firmará un acuerdo sin garantías de seguridad que disuadan a Rusia de invadir de nuevo.
Ministerio de Defensa ruso/Folleto vía REUTERS
Rusia ha estado capturando territorio lentamente a lo largo de la extensa línea de frente durante meses.
Sin embargo, sus preocupaciones económicas en tiempos de guerra están aumentando, con un crecimiento estancado y un déficit presupuestario cada vez mayor a medida que los ingresos petroleros —asfixiados por las sanciones— caen a un mínimo de cinco años.
Las fuerzas ucranianas lograron recientemente sus avances más rápidos en dos años y medio, recuperando 201 kilómetros cuadrados la semana pasada, según un análisis de la AFP de los datos del Instituto para el Estudio de la Guerra (ISW).
Ese total incluye áreas que Kiev y los analistas militares dicen que están controladas por Rusia (72 kilómetros cuadrados), así como aquellas reclamadas por el ejército de Moscú (129 kilómetros cuadrados).
Los contraataques probablemente aprovecharon la interrupción del acceso de las fuerzas rusas a Starlink, dijo el ISW, después de que el jefe de la firma de internet satelital, Elon Musk, anunciara “medidas” para poner fin al uso de la tecnología por parte de Rusia.
REUTERS/Nina Liashonok
Para las conversaciones en Ginebra, el Kremlin reinstaló al halcón nacionalista y ex ministro de Cultura, Vladimir Medinsky, como su negociador principal.
El secretario de seguridad nacional ucraniano, Rustem Umerov, lideraba el bando de Kyiv.
Las esperanzas de un avance son bajas.
Incluso antes de que las conversaciones estuvieran en marcha, Ucrania acusó a Rusia de socavar los esfuerzos de paz al lanzar 29 misiles y 396 drones en una serie de ataques nocturnos que, según las autoridades, mataron al menos a cuatro personas, hirieron a otras y cortaron la electricidad a decenas de miles en el sur de Ucrania.
“La medida en que Rusia ignora los esfuerzos de paz: un ataque masivo con misiles y drones contra Ucrania justo antes de la próxima ronda de conversaciones en Ginebra”, escribió el ministro de Relaciones Exteriores ucraniano, Andriy Sybiga, en las redes sociales.
Un ataque de drones rusos mató a tres empleados de una planta de energía en la ciudad de Sloviansk, en el frente de batalla en el este de Ucrania, según el ministro de Energía, Denys Shmygal.
Otra persona murió en la región de Sumy, en el noreste, dijeron funcionarios locales.
Mientras tanto, Rusia acusó a Ucrania de lanzar más de 150 drones durante la noche, principalmente sobre las regiones del sur y la península de Crimea —ocupada por el Kremlin en 2014.
Un depósito de petróleo en el sur de Rusia se incendió, según los funcionarios.
El portavoz del Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, dijo a los periodistas que no esperaran grandes noticias del primer día de conversaciones.
Middle East
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Judge orders migrant deported in ‘error’ free from ICE custody with criminal case looming
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A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from re-arresting Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia into federal immigration custody — an update that comes just days before he is slated to appear in Nashville for a key court date in a separate criminal case.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis agreed to convert her previous emergency order blocking ICE from immediately re-detaining Abrego Garcia into a longer-term form of injunctive relief sought by his lawyers.
She said Tuesday that the Trump administration failed to provide the court with any «good reason to believe» that they plan to remove him to a third country in the «reasonably foreseeable future.» Instead, she said, they «made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success.»
The order clears the way for Abrego Garcia to participate in a key hearing in Nashville next week on whether a separate federal judge should dismiss his criminal case on the grounds of «vindictive» and selective prosecution.
ABREGO GARCIA REMAINS IN US FOR NOW AS JUDGE TAKES CASE UNDER ADVISEMENT
President Donald Trump and a protester holding a sign urging the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (Getty Images )
Xinis also said the government has «done nothing» to show the court that Abrego Garcia’s continued detention in ICE custody is «consistent with due process.»
«Respondents have done nothing to show that Abrego Garcia’s continued detention in ICE custody is consistent with due process,» Xinis said Tuesday.
She ticked through a list of the Trump administration’s efforts to remove Abrego Garcia to a list of four African nations it had identified as so-called «third countries» of removal in the months between August, when Abrego was re-detained by ICE, and December, when Xinis ultimately ordered his release.
The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Xinis said Tuesday that the administration «refused to procure Abrego Garcia’s immediate removal to Costa Rica,» the location he had identified as his preferred third country of removal, in favor of what she said was attempted «phantom removals» by the government to send Abrego to «three (maybe four) African countries.»
«Indeed, since Abrego Garcia secured his release from criminal custody in August 2025, respondents have made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success,» Xinis said.
ABREGO GARCIA LAWYERS ASK US JUDGE TO ORDER RETURN TO MARYLAND AMID ONGOING CRIMINAL CASE
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, right, and his brother Cesar Abrego Garcia, center, arrive at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The Trump administration previously tried and failed to remove Abrego Garcia to the African countries of Liberia, Eswatini, Uganda and briefly, Ghana.
Xinis noted in late November that the government could not take any of those steps without the final notice of removal order, which she reiterated Tuesday in the memo order that the government had not obtained.
«Thus, he must remain on the stringent release conditions already imposed by ICE and in the Tennessee Criminal Matter,» Xinis said.
US JUDGE VOWS TO RULE ‘SOON’ ON ABREGO GARCIA’S FATE AFTER MARATHON HEARING
Abrego Garcia’s status has been at the center of a legal and political maelstrom since March, when he was deported to his home country of El Salvador, in violation of a 2019 court order and in what Trump officials acknowledge was an «administrative error.» Xinis ordered then that Abrego Garcia be «immediately» returned to the U.S.
He was eventually returned to the U.S. in June, where he was taken into federal custody in Nashville and detained on human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop.
The Justice Department later told Xinis it had opened the criminal investigation and presented it to a grand jury at the same time that Abrego Garcia was detained in a Salvadoran prison, and at the same time as government lawyers were telling the court that the U.S. was powerless to order his return.
A woman holds a photo of Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia in front of the U.S. District Court in Nashville. A judge ordered Trump officials to testify in court in January to weigh Abrego’s motion to dismiss on the grounds of «vindictive» prosecution. (Getty Images )
Next week’s hearing in Nashville will be centered on a motion to dismiss Abrego Garcia’s criminal case for «vindictive» and selective prosecution.
The judge overseeing that case, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, had ruled in October that Abrego Garcia had established a «reasonable likelihood» that the criminal case against him was the result of vindictive prosecution by the Justice Department.
Crenshaw had ordered the Trump administration to produce for the court internal documents and government witnesses to testify about its decision to bring the case.
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Senior DHS and Justice Department officials previously suggested they would appeal Xinis’ orders. Trump officials have been sharply critical of Xinis and other federal judges presiding over deportation cages, whom they have repeatedly accused of overstepping their authority as a district judge.
«This order lacks any valid legal basis, and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,» DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in response to the court’s earlier emergency order.
donald trump,politics,immigration,supreme court,federal courts,crime world,foreign policy,national security
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Russia sentences American to 4 years for allegedly trying to take Kalashnikov rifle stocks: report
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An American was sentenced Tuesday to four years in jail in Russia for allegedly trying to fly out of an airport in Moscow with the stocks of Kalashnikov assault rifles in his suitcase, a report said.
The unnamed U.S. citizen, who collects Kalashnikov weapons, did not make a customs declaration after purchasing two stocks and checking a suitcase containing the items at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, Reuters reported, citing the RIA Novosti state news agency.
He later was found guilty under an article of Russian criminal code relating to the smuggling of weapons, it added.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department for comment.
RUSSIA UPS JAIL SENTENCE OF US CITIZEN TO 10 YEARS FOR BEATING PRISON STAFF
AK-47 rifles are seen during a training session at a shooting range outside of Kyiv, Ukraine, on the left, in July 2023. On the right are passenger jets at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. An American reportedly was jailed after trying to transport Kalashnikov rifle stocks in a suitcase at the airport. (STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images; Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Russian state media is also claiming the American partially admitted guilt, according to Reuters.
The State Department warns Americans not to travel to Russia «for any reason due to terrorism, unrest, wrongful detention and other risks.»
CHINA PLEDGES AID TO UKRAINE AS US OFFICIALS WARN BEIJING IS QUIETLY FUELING RUSSIA’S WAR
A Kalashnikov of a Ukrainian soldier participating in shooting training is seen in Donetsk region of Ukraine on July 31, 2024. (Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has limited ability to assist in the case of a detention of a U.S. citizen. There is no guarantee that the Russian government will grant the U.S. Embassy consular access to detained U.S. citizens,» the State Department said. «U.S. citizens may serve their entire prison sentence without release. The risk of wrongful detention of U.S. citizens remains high. Even if a case is determined wrongful, there is no guarantee of release.»
A terminal at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, in August 2023. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
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«Russian officials often question and threaten U.S. citizens without reason. Russian security services have arrested U.S. citizens on false charges,» it added. They have denied them fair treatment and convicted them without credible evidence. Russian authorities have opened questionable investigations against U.S. citizens for their religious activities.»
russia,crime,state department,world
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