'Deployments are listed as classified': Majewski rejects statements he fudged military services support

Ryan King

September 23, 03:34 PM September 23, 03:34 PM

Ohio Republican congressional hopeful J.R. Majewski sent a fiery rebuke of claims he represented his military assistance as the House GOP reportedly pulls ad purchases from his limited contest.

Although declining to supply any details or evidence, Majewski was adamant that he served in Afghanistan regardless of an Connected Push report that navy records do not demonstrate that he ever served in the war-torn area. Majewski argued that his deployments were stated as classified.

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"The orders and the military data that I've been capable to attain from my personalized documents clearly show that all of my deployments are stated as categorized. This was a strategic and strategically put [report] to crush me and defame me," he declared at a press convention Friday.

Despite his statements of service in Afghanistan, the outlet asked for and reviewed a trove of military services documents. Majewski spent six months in Qatar loading planes at an air foundation and also served at Kadena Air Base in Japan, but there was no indication he served in Afghanistan, in accordance to the report.

Accompanying the press meeting, Majewski tweeted out a photo of files he claimed proved that he deployed to Camp Hialeah in South Korea.

"The AP said that I had only been deployed to Qatar. My information demonstrate my deployment spot as labeled. In addition, they forgot my deployment to Camp Hialeah in Korea (which is now shut)," he tweeted.

Majewski had lengthy claimed that he signed up to join the Air Pressure and protect the state in Afghanistan subsequent the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that killed just about 3,000 persons. In addition to the dispute in excess of his statements of military company, Majewski has captivated criticism for trafficking in QAnon conspiracy theories and contacting for secession throughout the 2020 election tumult.

Majewski claims he served at a number of bases in Afghanistan in 2002, but he did not list any illustrations when pressed by reporters.

Majewski remaining open the chance of suing the outlet and accused it of executing a "hatchet task" on him regardless of possessing "served my place proudly." He also took be aware of the timing of the investigation — suggesting the outlet started functioning on the story in July but waited to launch it right up until just just before military ballots start to open up for the race.

"A liberal journalist has an agenda which is place my life, my family's everyday living, and the life of my staff at threat by publishing blatantly untrue tales about me," he proclaimed. "Any one insinuating that I did not provide in Afghanistan is lying."

He has been endorsed by previous President Donald Trump and is vying for Congress in Ohio's 9th Congressional District, which not too long ago shifted in favor of Republicans because of to redistricting, in accordance to FiveThirtyEight.

Even with the clear partisan edge from the contours of the new 9th District, Majewski is working a tight race towards Democrat Marcy Kaptur. Nevertheless, Majewski's controversies have prompted the Countrywide Republican Congressional Committee to scrap $1 million in advertisement reservations, in accordance to Axios.

'Enduring commitment': Biden celebrates thriving prisoner swap with Taliban

Christian Datoc

September 19, 10:20 AM September 19, 10:20 AM

President Joe Biden pointed to Mark Frerichs's release as evidence of his administration's "enduring determination" to releasing Individuals overseas.

Frerichs, a Navy veteran who was kidnapped in Afghanistan in early 2020, was released from Taliban captivity Monday in a prisoner swap for Haji Noorzai, a popular Taliban member serving a 17-calendar year drug sentence in the United States.

BIDEN TELLS GRINER AND WHELAN Families HE IS 'COMMITTED' TO SECURING THEIR Launch

Biden referred to as Monday's advancement "the end result of a long time of tireless do the job by focused public servants throughout our governing administration and other husband or wife governments" and vowed to "make guaranteed Mark receives a healthful and safe and sound return" and assist his "transition back into culture."

"My Administration continues to prioritize the secure return of all Individuals who are held hostage or wrongfully detained overseas, and we will not halt right up until they are reunited with their families," the president wrote in a statement. "We have a great deal a lot more perform to do in many other cases, but Mark’s launch demonstrates our enduring motivation. Like our function to free Individuals held in Burma, Haiti, Russia, Venezuela, and in other places, it is our duty to do all we can to provide our individuals property."

Frerichs's launch arrived just times immediately after Biden fulfilled with the people of WNBA star Brittney Griner and retired Maritime Paul Whelan at the White Household. Equally keep on being in Russian captivity.

Whelan has been jailed for practically four decades considering the fact that getting accused of espionage by the Kremlin, while Griner is serving a drug-related sentence just after currently being detained at the start off of Russia's war in Ukraine. The pair continue being the greatest-profile Us residents now held in international captivity.

"We all admire the bravery of the Whelan and Griner family members in the facial area of these unimaginable situations, and we keep on being dedicated to reuniting them with their loved types," the White Home reported next Biden's Friday assembly with the people.

Pompeo warns US could see 9/11-design and style attack following Afghanistan exit

Jack Birle

August 29, 09:56 AM August 29, 09:56 AM

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned the exit from Afghanistan could go away the United States vulnerable to an attack identical to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Due to Taliban management of the region, the U.S. is vulnerable to assault, and the chance has enhanced considering the fact that previous yr, the previous secretary of point out reported.

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"We are additional most likely to be attacked like New York Town was 20-some yrs in the past. We're far more most likely to be attacked from that area these days than we were being just a person yr in the past," Pompeo claimed although talking with John Catsimatidis on the Cats Roundtable radio exhibit on Sunday.

Pompeo also blasted President Joe Biden's exit tactic from the country in 2021, referencing an assault on U.S. soldiers during the exit that remaining 13 troops dead.

"We are now one yr from what everyone observed with their very own eyes: People in america remaining guiding, 13 Us citizens useless, the Afghan individuals clinging to American plane as we turned tail and ran out of that place," Pompeo said.

Future month marks 21 a long time given that the 9/11 terrorist assaults, which killed almost 3,000 people today in the Entire world Trade Heart in New York Town, in the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and on board the 4 business planes applied to perform the assaults. The assaults were being orchestrated by the terrorist team al Qaeda, which was situated in Afghanistan in 2001, major the U.S. to start out 20 a long time of involvement in the Center Japanese place just before very last year's withdrawal.

Republicans raise Afghanistan anniversary to knock Democrats off balance in midterm elections

David M. Drucker

August 23, 06:30 AM August 23, 06:30 AM

Republicans are relocating to undermine the Democrats’ midterm election prospects by shifting voters’ awareness from a summer time of legislative achievement and foreign policy achievement to the 1-calendar year anniversary of the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Democrats noticed their dire 2022 odds enhance amid President Joe Biden’s announcement that U.S. forces killed a top al Qaeda leader in Kabul and the passage of key laws. Democratic majorities in Congress cleared expenditures to enhance domestic microchip manufacturing, enhance veterans’ healthcare, and invest in social and climate applications. Republicans countered in August with reminders of Biden’s mishandling of the army pullout from Afghanistan immediately after 20 years of war.

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This GOP exertion to put the Democrats back again on their heels is anticipated to intensify this week. Friday marks 12 months to the working day since a fatal terrorist attack at the Kabul airport took the lives of 13 U.S. company associates and approximately 200 civilians as People and U.S. allies tried a hasty exit from Afghanistan when the Taliban tightened their grip on the state.

“No just one has been held accountable for Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. That will transform with a Republican the greater part,” claimed Mike Berg, spokesman for the Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee.

“Democrats still refuse to hold Joe Biden and his administration accountable for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan that expense 13 American services customers their lives and ceded command of Afghanistan to the Taliban,” added Chris Hartline, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “Americans are continue to trapped there, and Senate Democrats do not care.”

The Democratic National Committee did not supply a comment by press time.

The Democrats nevertheless experience sizeable midterm election headwinds with the publish-Labor Day homestretch of the tumble marketing campaign just all-around the corner. Biden’s career approval ranking is still languishing just over 40%, and the generic congressional ballot, gauging which social gathering voters want to be in demand on Capitol Hill, is just about tied at 44%, which, historically, indicates very good points for the Republicans.

Even so, nonpartisan political handicappers have lately downgraded predictions for Republican gains in Congress, coinciding with polls demonstrating Democratic enthusiasm to vote this November has risen and now trails the GOP only narrowly. There are fresh new uncertainties about regardless of whether Republicans will be successful in profitable management of a 50-50 Senate. In the meantime, the GOP is nonetheless very likely to reclaim the Residence, despite the fact that the measurement of its new majority may well be smaller sized than the historic concentrations previously predicted.

Skyrocketing inflation and the deepening of an economic slump continue to sign-up as voters’ prime issues, and which is wherever Republicans are focusing most of their vitality in their strategies towards the Democrats. Without a doubt, the NRCC, NRSC, and tremendous PACs aligned with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are not engaged in any concerted messaging hard work regarding the 1-year anniversary of the U.S. armed forces withdrawal from Afghanistan.

But GOP officials, broadly, perspective the commemoration as critical to reminding voters why electing Republican majorities in Congress is so significant. Without the need of GOP regulate of the Dwelling and Senate flooring and committees, it’s extremely hard to put the brakes on Biden's agenda and conduct severe oversight of his administration. To that close, Home Republicans marked the anniversary of the pullout by criticizing the president's Afghanistan plan and generated a 100-page report crucial of his handling of the withdrawal.

On the political facet, the Republican Nationwide Committee is in the process of a monthlong messaging marketing campaign to highlight Biden's administration of the U.S. exit from Kabul. RNC officials confirmed this exertion, which consists of analysis papers, videos, op-eds, and speedy-reaction press releases, would proceed in the months in advance.

"Just one calendar year just after Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, People in america are nonetheless still left with a lot more issues than answers,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel explained in a statement.

“Americans will usually bear in mind the 13 services users who died, the countless who had been remaining powering, and that Biden is accountable for just one of the most catastrophic international policy choices in U.S. record,” she extra.

Brother of Marine killed in Kabul airport bombing commits suicide year soon after attack

Brady Knox

August 14, 04:46 PM August 14, 04:46 PM

The brother of 1 of the 13 U.S. company associates killed in the Kabul airport bombing fully commited suicide at his memorial, practically one particular 12 months just after the attack.

Law enforcement claimed that Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui's older brother, Dakota Halverson, 28, died on Aug. 9. Their mom, Shana Chappell announced the heartbreaking news the very same day.

"The thirty day period of August has been very tricky so considerably with the a person yr coming up. I seem at my youngsters as robust and like they can manage something. That was my oversight. My son Dakota has been chatting a lot recently about how he just wishes to be with Kareem, how substantially he misses him, etc.... We all really feel that way so I didn't see the signals. This early morning my son Dakota went to be with his brother Kareem," she wrote in a Facebook put up.

City Corridor senior writer Julio Rosas (previously of the Washington Examiner) shared a connection to a GoFundMe web page established up by the mother. Far more than $24,000 was elevated as of press time.

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Law enforcement presented few aspects apart from confirming Dakota's death. The physique was found in Peak Pikes Park at 7:09 in the morning and the time of death was sometime right away, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Section in California. Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) exposed on Saturday that the 28-calendar year-old's demise had taken location at a memorial for his deceased brother.

"The older brother of just one of the 13 KIA in Kabul lately killed himself at his minor brother’s memorial. Make sure you pray for his family. There Should be accountability for this continued carnage," he tweeted.

On Aug. 26, 2021, Nikoui was standing atop a concrete website traffic barrier on the outskirts of Hamid Karzai Intercontinental Airport, furnishing safety for other U.S. service members and Afghan civilians fleeing imminent Taliban rule, when an suicide bomber 30 ft absent detonated a vest loaded with explosives and ball bearings, killing Nikoui together with 12 other servicemen and women of all ages and around 170 Afghans, in accordance to the Washington Submit. It truly is approximated that 45 other U.S. servicemen and ladies were wounded.

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Nikoui's mother has been a vocal critic of President Joe Biden and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley's handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 yrs of war, indicating they unnecessarily place her son in a unsafe problem that obtained him killed. She also has expressed the belief that the Pentagon lined up their mishandling of the evacuation of Afghanistan and airport bombing, with an investigative report contradicting a lot of eyewitness testimonies of the servicemen on the floor who survived the bombing.

Any one who is possessing thoughts of suicide or is familiar with a person who is getting them is recommended to get hold of the National Suicide Avoidance Lifeline at 988.

Taliban leaders realized al Zawahiri was in Afghanistan, Biden administration suggests

Mike Brest

August 01, 07:46 PM August 01, 08:59 PM

Major Taliban leaders understood that al Qaeda main Ayman al Zawahiri, the successor of Osama bin Laden, was hiding in Afghanistan, in accordance to a senior administration official who spoke to reporters shortly following the facts emerged about a strike that took out the terrorist leader.

Two Hellfire missiles had been fired at al Zawahiri's harmless property in Kabul, and there ended up no indications that anybody else died in the strike that transpired on Saturday night time, the official said. The official also accused Taliban leaders of hoping to include up the al Qaeda leader's existence at the compound.

BIDEN TO Handle Country Right after 'SUCCESSFUL COUNTERTERRORISM OPERATION'

Previously this yr, the United States determined the safe residence he was staying in and commenced monitoring him for the next couple of months. Even though his relatives members ended up in the safe house at the time of the strike, the formal stated they had been unharmed.

The Taliban have considering the fact that eliminated the family from the home, which the formal explained as “consistent with a broader exertion to include up” their presence at the harmless household.

"Senior Haqqani Taliban figures were knowledgeable of Zawahiri's presence in Kabul. The moment Zawahiri ... arrived at the site, we are not informed of him at any time leaving the [safe house]," the official claimed. "We recognized Zawahiri on numerous events for sustained periods of time on the balcony where by he was in the long run struck."

Al Zawahiri had formerly served as bin Laden's deputy given that 1998. The two fulfilled in the course of the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s.

This was the U.S.'s to start with strike in Afghanistan since the army still left final August regardless of the administration's insistence that it would be able to assemble plenty of intelligence correctly from afar to manage strikes.

Man’s function: Taliban direct gals to send out male relatives to acquire their work

Cami Mondeaux

July 18, 08:19 AM July 18, 08:19 AM

Several gals in Afghanistan who keep work in the government have been directed by Taliban leaders to mail their male kinfolk to replace them, in accordance to experiences.

Some woman workers who nonetheless hold federal government employment have been explained to to come across male relations to deliver as replacements simply because the “workload in the office environment has greater and they want to hire a male rather of us,” a single woman informed the VFAB.

“I was asked to introduce a male relatives member to change me at the ministry, so I could be dismissed from the occupation,” one particular woman who labored as the head of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Finance reported. “This is a hard and technological position I was experienced for and have decades of expertise in. And even if he could do the exact same work at some point, what would happen to me?”

Guys TO Provide AS PROXIES FOR Women AT AFGHANISTAN UNITY Discussion board

The selection has prompted pushback from quite a few women of all ages, with some mobilizing to protest.

“We do not acknowledge their order and we will try to get them to change it,” one woman employee in the Ministry of Finance explained. “We have designed a team of woman workforce of the ministry. We are negotiating now, and we will exhibit if they never hear us.”

It’s not clear how many authorities departments have been instructed by the Taliban to commence replacing their woman staff members with male family.

The change in coverage will come months following the Taliban taken off females from their jobs and sent them property, besides for people with govt positions that could not be loaded by gentlemen, who remained in their work opportunities at noticeably lower salaries. Now, Taliban leaders are seeking to replace even gals who remained employed soon after that selection.

The limitations on woman work have resulted in widespread economic strains on the region, triggering an financial loss of about $1 billion to the financial state, which is about 5% of the country’s GDP, according to estimates from the United Nations.

“There is pretty much common poverty in the region,” claimed U.N. Girls Executive Director Sima Bahous. “More than 50 % of the inhabitants requires some kind of humanitarian guidance, and an overall technology is threatened by foods insecurity and malnutrition. The newest limitations make makes an attempt at restoration more difficult, if not impossible.”

Right before the Taliban took power in August 2021, just about 3,000 of Kabul's personnel had been women, earning up about one particular-3rd of the city's workforce, according to the Connected Push.

More than 9 million men and women have been displaced considering that the Taliban took handle of Afghanistan, and 20 million now experience serious starvation, according to an Integrated Food Protection Stage Classification investigation posted in May well.

Gentlemen to serve as proxies for ladies at Afghanistan unity forum

Ryan King

June 29, 11:51 AM June 29, 11:51 AM

Taliban leaders will convene a collecting starting off Thursday of tribal elders and religious scholars in Afghanistan to go over countrywide unity and other urgent issues that will notably be devoid of ladies.

Male delegates at the discussion board will characterize women of all ages, acting Deputy Key Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi advised general public broadcaster RTA on Wednesday. Approximately 3,000 men will show up at the assembly, but it is not crystal clear what exactly will be mentioned or whether or not it will take a look at women's legal rights, which have been curtailed considering the fact that the Taliban took energy last August even with promises for reform.

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"The women of all ages are our mothers, sisters. We regard them a whole lot. When their sons are in the accumulating, it signifies they are also concerned, in a way, in the collecting," Hanafi said, Reuters reported.

The accumulating will be the initially of its kind considering the fact that the Taliban toppled the U.S.-backed govt and assumed electric power past 12 months. The planned forum mirrors elements of a "loya jirga," a traditional choice-building approach in Afghanistan in which an assembly of leaders pursue consensus, the outlet reported.

"Unique persons with distinctive views are going to get. ... This will be a constructive stage for balance in Afghanistan and strengthening countrywide unity," Hanafi additional.

Spiritual leaders asked the gathering to assess social and financial subject areas, according to Hanafi. Given that the Taliban arrived roaring again to electricity, the state has confronted dire financial woes, massive humanitarian challenges, and inside ability struggles.

An approximated 24 million persons, or 60% of the nation's inhabitants, are in desperate need of humanitarian aid this sort of as food stuff and medical supplies, the United Nations Business for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned in March.

The Taliban have extended faced criticism for their policies toward females. So significantly, they have declined to reopen universities to women higher than sixth grade, eliciting global uproar and condemnation. In Could, the Taliban issued a decree mandating all females in Afghanistan be protected head to toe in public.

In the meantime, 1,150 miles absent, the nation's Foreign Affairs Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi held talks with U.S. officials in Qatar on Wednesday to negotiate the unfreezing of around $9 billion in Afghan funds. The United States froze the funding in response to the Taliban takeover last calendar year. The prior spherical of talks over the frozen money took location in May.

Air Drive crew cleared of wrongdoing in chaotic C-17 flight from Kabul

Mike Brest

June 14, 07:44 AM June 14, 07:44 AM

Investigators cleared the Air Drive crew of wrongdoing on the infamous C-17 that was surrounded by Afghan civilians as it took off from Kabul following the collapse of the Afghan govt.

As the Taliban overthrew the U.S.-backed Ghani govt in Afghanistan in mid-August, the United States and other Western allies commenced evacuating 3rd-state nationals and at-danger Afghans. On Aug. 16, with the Taliban in management, videos emerged from Hamid Karzai International Airport showing evacuation flights getting off, even as civilians surrounded the runway, some of whom tried to cling on to the airplane, and falling from airborne aircraft.

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A U.S. Air Drive C-17 Globemaster III landed at the airport to supply machines to assist the evacuation efforts, but ahead of the crew could offload the cargo, the plane was surrounded by hundreds of Afghan civilians who had breached the airport perimeter. The crew then determined to consider off from the airfield, struggling with a "deteriorating condition," Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek explained in a statement the upcoming working day. A overall body was identified in the wheel effectively of the plane after it landed at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

"The Staff members Choose Advocate workplaces from both Air Mobility Command and United States Central Command done a evaluate of the inquiry results and rendered concurring views that the aircrew was in compliance with relevant policies of engagement distinct to the occasion and the in general regulation of armed conflict," she instructed advised the Washington Examiner on Monday.

"Upon landing at [Al Udeid], [the Office of Special Investigations] processed and documented the plane and remains and introduced the scene to host nation law enforcement, who declined even further investigation," she additional. "The aircrew's operational management also reviewed the facts of the mission and concluded that the aircrew had acted correctly and exercised sound judgment in their choice to get airborne as quickly as attainable when faced with an unparalleled and quickly deteriorating safety condition. The aircrew's airmanship and swift considering ensured the basic safety of the crew and their aircraft."

The U.S. navy and allies put in their closing two months in Afghanistan evacuating more than 100,000 individuals from the place prior to they left, even though hundreds of U.S. citizens and hundreds of U.S. allies were left guiding.

In Oct the Air Pressure printed a assertion that integrated facts of the busy tarmac predicament.

"Family members and spouses viewed with the relaxation of the entire world, as the legendary online video of a C-17 took off amongst a swarm of determined Afghans who resorted to holding on to the outdoors and wheel chamber of the departing plane," read through the statement, which also observed an attempted hijacking that was afterwards denied. "Not caught on video clip and significantly less than a moment afterwards, each HC-130J Overcome King II took off on a sliver of remaining runway. With seconds to spare, they had been airborne skimming just 10 feet over the group."

"This was a tragic celebration and our hearts go out to the households of the deceased," Stefanek extra.

Days afterwards, 13 U.S. support associates and about 170 civilians were being killed when an ISIS-K operative, of the Afghanistan affiliate of the Islamic Condition, detonated a suicide bomb outside the airport gates. With the menace of additional attacks significant, the U.S. was on superior notify and thwarted 1 assault, but also released a drone strike that qualified a civilian.

Zemari Ahmadi, an support worker, was the focus on of the faulty drone strike that the Pentagon has due to the fact admitted was a slip-up. He was killed, as were being 9 little ones, some of whom had been his very own. The department has claimed it desires to evacuate his remaining family users but that has nonetheless to occur about 10 months later, and it afterwards confirmed that no armed service staff concerned with the strike will be punished.

Thirteen times Biden aides cleaned up after his gaffes

Sarah Westwood

June 06, 05:00 AM June 06, 05:00 AM

President Joe Biden has kept his aides busy by frequently misspeaking in ways that require walk-backs and clarifications — a pattern that came into focus amid reports this week that the president has grown frustrated with the cleanup routine.

Administration officials have deployed a wide variety of excuses for Biden’s many gaffes, including that he was simply being emotional, that he misremembered details, or that he did not mean the words he spoke.

As his approval ratings plummet, Biden has put himself in fewer situations where his misstatements tend to occur, holding press conferences less frequently and shunning sit-down interviews for months.

VACCINE GOALS

Biden raised eyebrows days after taking office when he said he aimed to vaccinate 150 million people within his first 100 days on the job — a lofty goal that surpassed the number he’d initially set.

The White House’s previous vaccination goal was to get 100 million vaccinated in the first 100 days.

Then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki walked back Biden’s projection the next day.

“The president didn’t actually say, 'The new goal is.' The president said, ‘I hope we can do even more than that,’” Psaki said. “And that is certainly, of course, his hope.”

SCHOOL REOPENINGS

Facing pressure to get schools reopened as patience with COVID-19 restrictions waned, Biden said in April 2021 that schools “should probably all be open” by the fall.

Biden cited data that showed in-person learning had not contributed significantly to the transmission of the coronavirus.

But his answer rankled some Democrats who continued to push, at that time, for remote learning.

Senior White House adviser Anita Dunn seemingly walked back Biden’s statement days later, saying during a CNN interview that “we can't look in a crystal ball and say what September looks like” and arguing that Biden didn’t mean to suggest schools should “absolutely” open in the fall.

NO MORE COVID

Speaking at a CNN town hall event in July 2021, Biden said COVID-19 vaccines would prevent people from getting infected with the virus.

“The various shots that people are getting now, cover that,” Biden said, referring to the delta variant of the virus. “You’re OK. You’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.”

The White House quickly faced questions about Biden’s statement, given that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health organizations were warning of evidence that infections could continue to spread among the vaccinated.

At the time, booster shots were not yet part of the White House’s strategy.

“What the science says is that 97% of hospitalizations are people who are unvaccinated. So, yes, there are cases of individuals who are vaccinated, to be absolutely clear, who … have gotten COVID,” Psaki said in response to a question about why the president made his false statement about vaccines. “It is a very small percentage and a small number of people.”

“That was the point he was trying to make last night,” Psaki added.

NO MORE AL QAEDA

Biden’s foreign policy team was forced to correct an inaccurate statement Biden made during the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last summer.

“What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone?” Biden said at a press conference in August 2021. “We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al Qaeda in Afghanistan as well as, as well as getting Osama bin Laden, and we did.”

Al Qaeda had not, however, been eradicated from Afghanistan.

“We know that al Qaeda is a presence, as well as ISIS, in Afghanistan,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby later conceded.

TAIWAN DEFENSE

Biden has had his comments about Taiwan walked back by White House officials on multiple occasions.

In August, he suggested during an unaired portion of an interview with ABC that the United States had a commitment to defend Taiwan militarily that is as binding as Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which compels the U.S. to defend other NATO members under attack.

“We made a sacred commitment to Article Five that if, in fact, anyone were to invade or take action against our NATO allies, we would respond. Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with Taiwan,” Biden said, according to a transcript of the interview.

The comment attracted attention despite not being in the broadcast portion of the interview and prompted a round of questions about whether the administration’s policy toward Taiwan had changed.

But an unnamed White House official later told Reuters that the administration’s position had not changed despite the implication from Biden.

KABUL’S AIRPORT IS FINE

Defending his administration amid consternation over images of a chaotic scene at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Biden suggested no one was struggling to navigate the situation.

“We have no indication that they haven’t been able to get, in Kabul, through the airport,” Biden said at a press conference in August. “We know of no circumstance where American citizens, carrying an American passport, are trying to get through to the airport.”

Biden’s statement sparked outrage given the deluge of footage that showed virtually everyone facing obstacles at the crowded and disorganized airport in Kabul. His claim also fueled the perception that he was out of touch with the situation he had created.

Both Ned Price, a State Department spokesman, and Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, acknowledged shortly afterward that the administration had indeed received what they both described as limited reports of people encountering difficulties at the airport.

TREE OF LIFE VISIT

During a meeting with Jewish leaders in September, Biden attempted to create a moment of empathy by recalling a visit he made to the Tree of Life Synagogue after a 2018 massacre there left 11 people dead.

The only problem: Tree of Life said Biden had never actually visited.

An unnamed White House official later cleared up the confusion by saying Biden had been referring to a phone call he had with the synagogue's rabbi in 2019.

‘MINOR INCURSION’ INTO UKRAINE

Biden created a minor firestorm when he suggested in January that the U.S. might do nothing if Russia invaded Ukraine on a smaller scale.

“It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do,” Biden said of Russia’s then-unknown plans for invading Ukraine.

Psaki later released a statement toughening up Biden’s stance on how the U.S. would respond to a Russian invasion.

“President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that’s a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies,” Psaki said in a statement.

ELECTION DENIAL

Amid fury over election reforms in Republican states, Biden in January cast doubt on whether the midterm elections could proceed fairly without Democratic legislation.

“It all depends,” Biden said when asked whether the 2022 elections could be legitimate given GOP reforms.

Critics accused Biden of engaging in the same kind of partisan election denial that he had accused Republicans of spreading.

Psaki cleaned up Biden’s remarks the next day, tweeting: “Lets [sic] be clear, [Biden] was not casting doubt on the legitimacy of the 2022 election.”

PUTIN MUST GO

“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”

Biden’s words during an appearance in Warsaw, Poland, in March touched off a round of speculation that the Biden administration was moving toward the goal of regime change in Moscow.

An unnamed White House official quickly told news outlets Biden hadn’t actually meant to say that Russian President Vladimir Putin could not stay in power.

"The president's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region,” the official said. “He was not discussing Putin's power in Russia or regime change.”

PUTIN’S WAR CRIMES

Biden lambasted Putin in March for his military actions in Ukraine, which members of his administration had criticized harshly but stopped short of labeling as war crimes.

“I think he is a war criminal,” Biden told reporters off-the-cuff on March 16.

Observers questioned whether this was a significant shift in the administration’s stance toward Putin, given that officials had avoided calling the Russian president a war criminal in previous settings.

Psaki later said Biden was “speaking from the heart” and not signaling any formal designation.

TAIWAN: TAKE TWO

Biden more recently made a pledge that the U.S. would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

Asked directly while in South Korea earlier this month, Biden incorrectly said the U.S. had made a commitment to come to Taiwan’s defense.

“You didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons. Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?” a reporter asked Biden on May 23.

“Yes,” Biden responded.

“You are?” the reporter clarified.

“That’s the commitment we made,” Biden said.

The setting of the exchange, as well as the directness of his response, prompted a fresh round of questions as to whether the administration was adjusting its position on Taiwan.

The White House sprung into cleanup mode once again, with an unnamed official telling reporters there was no change to the U.S. position on Taiwan and that the president likely meant the U.S. would supply weapons, not troops, if China invaded Taiwan.

HANDGUN BAN?

Amid a heated national debate over guns, Biden waded into controversial waters when he suggested the government should ban 9mm handguns.

He referenced that caliber of firearm while recounting for reporters what he was once told by a trauma doctor.

"They said a .22-caliber bullet will lodge in the lung, and we can probably get it out — may be able to get it and save the life. A 9mm bullet blows the lung out of the body," he said this week.

"So, the idea of these high-caliber weapons is — there’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of self-protection, hunting," Biden added.

He was referring to the most popular caliber of handgun, and his comments raised questions about whether he was proposing a ban on handguns similar to the one floated recently in Canada.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later told reporters Biden “does not support a ban on the sale of all handguns.”

5 targets for congressional Republicans if they win in November

Sarah Westwood

June 04, 07:00 AM June 04, 07:00 AM

Property Republicans are previously placing targets for congressional oversight in the celebration they get regulate of the lower chamber in November, an end result that polling indicates is ever more likely.

Presently in the minority by a slender margin, Republicans have so much been denied the investigative applications of Congress: the capacity to get in touch with hearings, situation subpoenas, and demand from customers files.

But with polls forecasting significant gains for Republicans throughout the state in November, congressional Republicans are presently planning how they’ll wield their investigative electric power from Democrats future calendar year.

HUNTER BIDEN

The president’s son is possible to be amid the most prominent of the Household GOP’s investigative targets if the party secures a the vast majority.

Inquiries into Biden are probable to take a number of different paths.

The White Household has to date deflected concerns about how Hunter Biden has collected earnings for his artwork. Ethics industry experts had warned previous year, when Biden commenced exhibiting his get the job done at a ritzy SoHo gallery, that his foray into the art globe could possibly permit interested parties to order access to the Biden family members.

Household Republicans could dig into who has acquired pieces of Hunter Biden’s art over the previous two many years and whether or not any of those people consumers gained favorable treatment from the White Home.

Revelations from information discovered on Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop computer, which the Washington Examiner has independently authenticated, have uncovered factors of his substantial foreign business enterprise dealings that Democrats sought to downplay ahead of the 2020 election.

Individuals incorporate considerable earnings from get the job done with Chinese entities and a high-paying placement on the board of a Ukrainian electrical power business.

Household Republicans have shown curiosity in checking out no matter if any of Biden’s small business interactions created a conflict of curiosity for his father when serving as vice president.

AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL

Home GOP lawmakers are previously gearing up to dig into the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan past summer.

Republicans have claimed they want to look into the guiding-the-scenes deliberations that led to a sequence of conclusions about exactly where to focus U.S. staff and methods in the direct-up to the chaotic evacuation.

The administration decided to hand above management of nearby Bagram Air Base, for instance, months before U.S. citizens and allies bought caught in a violent bottleneck at the Kabul airport.

Biden administration officers at the time shared frequently contradictory interpretations of what intelligence studies proposed about the Taliban’s energy and chance of having over the place.

And the mixed messages from Joe Biden’s team led to community speculation about whether the White Residence was forthcoming about the ways in which its setting up for the withdrawal fell small.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI

The country’s most ubiquitous physician is possible to appear under the microscope in a GOP-managed Congress.

Property and Senate Republicans have both indicated they want to probe Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose prominent purpose in the pandemic reaction of both equally the Trump and Biden administrations has gained him scorn from the Appropriate and adulation from the Still left.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has led a cost to appear into Fauci’s awareness of allegations that the Chinese government covered up an accidental leak of the virus from its virology lab in Wuhan.

Republicans have also demanded responses as to why Fauci, in the earliest times of the pandemic, explained to the general public masks would not prevent the spread of the virus, only to reverse system and aggressively boost mask-carrying for the relaxation of the pandemic.

Fauci’s outsize general public profile has created him the facial area of a pandemic reaction that GOP lawmakers have attacked and are possible to probe extensively, even if all strains of inquiry do not run straight by way of him — from cooperation amongst the Centers for Illness Command and Avoidance and academics unions to the way the CDC has disclosed the facts bordering vaccine performance.

Significant TECH BIAS

Congressional Republicans are reportedly making designs to haul executives from social media platforms before Congress to reply concerns about what they explain as bias in Significant Tech.

A Republican operative who worked with congressional aides recently on their preparations for forthcoming investigations explained to Axios that Large Tech providers could assume “document requests and subpoenas and depositions” subsequent 12 months.

While Home and Senate Democrats in the present-day Congress have investigated Big Tech for various reasons, on the lookout into what they see as the industry’s failure to prevent the proliferation of hate speech and misinformation, Republicans are possible to focus on techniques that limit the arrive at of selected content for partisan good reasons.

Independently, Republicans have also vowed to go after laws that would rein in the electricity of platforms this sort of as Google and Facebook their investigative endeavours are very likely to feed their efforts to force regulatory changes to the marketplace.

BORDER Crisis

Perhaps no other difficulty has united Republicans in their criticism of the Biden administration like the rush of unlawful immigration at the southern border.

Republicans have instructed they want to target Homeland Protection Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas exclusively as effectively as the Office of Homeland Security’s operations additional broadly.

Some congressional Republicans have even floated the notion of impeaching Mayorkas if they protected a large enough vast majority.

Biden’s selection to rescind most of his predecessor’s immigration procedures preceded an pretty much fast uptick in unlawful immigration, which swiftly overcome the administration’s methods at the border.

Republicans are probably to investigate the administration’s deportation strategy as properly. Even though Biden administration officials have regularly claimed they are eliminating several migrants who cross the border illegally, DHS figures have demonstrated the administration is essentially performing comparatively few removals as it fights to close 1 of the only authorities below which it has deported migrants.