Katie Britt claims ‘Senate Democrats and Joe Biden are the putting American people last’ with border policies
Last week, U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Alabama) joined a group of Republican colleagues to reiterate the need for strong policy changes at the U.S. southern border. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) organized the press conference. “Senator Graham, thank you for hosting this, thank you for continuing to bring attention to this,” Sen. Britt said, “And thank you for all of the gentlemen behind me who continue to work diligently to actually secure our border. That’s what the American people deserve, but unfortunately, Joe Biden refuses to give that to them. You know, when we look at this emergency supplemental, when we look at this national security supplemental, when we look at what Joe Biden sent us, he put money for the border in there. But do you know what that was? It was stuff that continues to facilitate the mass migration that we see across our border. It was yet more of a magnet to draw more and more people here.” Britt accused the mainstream media of not covering the story about human rights abuses taking place on the border. “We have both a national security and a humanitarian crisis on our border,” Sen. Britt continued. “The liberal media has decided to turn a blind eye to the fact that women are being raped on our border. That children are being recycled on our border. That we have laws that allow that to happen, and actually, that’s what some of these children are going through.” Britt said that Senate Democrats are doing nothing to address Biden’s border crisis. “Guys, when are you going to actually call it like it is and not like the liberal left wants you to? The reality is these policies are inhumane,” Britt asked. “You look at the national security threat of this. Y’all, we’ve gone through a week where we’ve had 10,000 come over the border, 10,000 come over the border, 12,000 – an all-time high – and to what Senator Thune said, Secretary Jeh Johnson under President Obama said 1,000 a day would be a crisis. We’re hitting 12 (12,000).” Britt urged Congress to address this situation finally. “We must secure our border for the safety and security of the American people,” Britt said. “I don’t want to sit across from another momma who lost their child to fentanyl poisoning. I don’t want to look out and see the travesty that occurs as a result of this. And at the end of the day, when we’re putting policies in place to ensure that we have national security, the first among all of these must be the border.” Conditions have worsened at the border, and now criminals and terrorists can slip in, disguised in the flood of people crossing the border. Britt continued, “Senator Graham asked the questions yesterday. He asked Director (Chris) Wray about this. This is the response. He said, ‘I’ve never seen a time where all the threats or so many of the threats are all elevated all at exactly the same time.’ He followed up with, ‘I see blinking lights everywhere I turn.’ He said a heightened threat environment from foreign terrorist organizations for a whole host of reasons and obviously their ability to exploit any port of entry, including our southwest border.” “Senate Democrats and Joe Biden are putting the American people last,” Britt concluded. “We need to make sure we create deterrents. We need to make sure we create safety, and we must do more for the people here at home. They deserve it, and that is exactly what we are going to continue to fight for.” The press conference was led by Senator Graham and included Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Thune (R-North Dakota), Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina). Katie Britt has made the southern border a point of emphasis since she joined the Senate eleven months ago. Since President Biden took office, there have been more than 8 million illegal crossings at the southern border, including more than 1.7 million known “gotaways.” Known border crossings totaled more than 242,000 last month, another record-setting high for November. Britt is the Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee for the Senate Committee on Appropriations. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Kay Ivey bans the use of TikTok on all state computers
On Monday., Governor Kay Ivey sent a memo to all state agency heads to announce she has banned the use of TikTok on state devices and the state network. The governor’s office said that this was a cyber security action by the governor to protect the state and Alabamians’ sensitive data from Chinese infiltration activities. Ivey shared the memo on Twitter. Ivey wrote, “Protecting Alabamians’ rights is a must, and I surely don’t take a security threat from China lightly. That’s why I have banned the use of the TikTok app on our state devices and network.” “Protecting the state of Alabama and our citizens’ right to privacy is a must, and I surely don’t take a security threat from China lightly,” Ivey said in the announcement. “After we discussed this with our OIT secretary, I came to the no-brainer decision to ban the use of the TikTok app on our state devices and network. Look, I’m no TikTok user, but the evidence speaks for itself, and I want to make sure I’m doing everything we can as a state to stand against this growing security risk.” Ivey explained the decision saying that the computer devices and networks used by our state government house significant amounts of Alabamians’ sensitive data. They also ensure the proper functioning of numerous automated government functions. Gov. Ivey said that national security officials have warned of growing threats posed by the video-sharing app Tik Tok. Since TikTok is owned by a Chinese parent company, they are potentially subject to Chinese laws enabling its data to be shared with the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese intelligence community. Ivey warned that Tik Tok harvests vast amounts of data from its users, much of which has no legitimate connection to the app’s supposed purpose of video sharing. For example, when users run the TikTok app for the first time, they give Tik Tok access to information such as their device brand and model, mobile carrier, browsing history, app and file names, and types, keystroke patterns and rhythms, wireless connections, and geolocation. She added that use of TikTok involving state IT infrastructure thus creates an unacceptable vulnerability to Chinese infiltration operations. FBI Director Chris Wray has been expressing his concerns about TikTok. Wray said the FBI is concerned that the Chinese could control the app’s recommendation algorithm, “which allows them to manipulate content, and if they want to, to use it for influence operations.” “Given these serious security concerns related to the use of TikTok, I have asked the Secretary of Information Technology to update his agency’s policies to prevent Tik Tok from accessing the state IT network and state IT devices even while providing exceptions for law enforcement and other essential governmental uses of the app,” stated Gov. Ivey. “Consistent with these policies, executive branch agencies should immediately take all necessary steps to prevent TikTok from accessing sensitive state data.” To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Donald Trump says William Barr resigning, will leave before Christmas
Attorney General William Barr, one of President Donald Trump’s staunchest allies, is departing amid lingering tension over the president’s baseless claims of election fraud and the investigation into President-elect Joe Biden’s son. Barr went Monday to the White House, where Trump said the attorney general submitted his letter of resignation. “As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” Trump tweeted. Trump has publicly expressed his anger about Barr’s statement to The Associated Press earlier this month that the Justice Department had found no widespread fraud that would change the outcome of the election. Trump has also been angry that the Justice Department did not publicly announce it was investigating Hunter Biden ahead of the election, despite department policy against such a pronouncement. Barr told the AP that U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up specific complaints and information they’ve received, but “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.” Barr’s resignation leaves Trump without a critical ally as he winds down his final weeks in office, and it throws into question open Justice Department investigations, especially the probe into Hunter Biden’s taxes. In his resignation letter, Barr said he updated Trump Monday on the department’s “review of voter fraud allegations in the 2020 election and how these allegations will continue to be pursued.” He added that his last day on the job would be Dec. 23. Trump said Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, whom he labeled “an outstanding person,” will become acting attorney general. As the current second in command at the Justice Department, Rosen’s appointment is not likely to change much in the final weeks before the administration departs. Trump spent much of the day watching the Electoral College tally and calling allies but broke away to meet with Barr. His tweet about the Attorney General’s exit was a sober message from a president who is notoriously cold to his departing staff and quick to name-call and deride them once they say they are leaving. Trump has also previously claimed he fired staffers who resigned to make himself appear more powerful, and others, like former attorney general Jeff Sessions, were mocked by the president for weeks before they left office. But despite Trump’s obvious disdain for those who publicly disagree with him, Barr had generally remained in the president’s good graces and has been one of the president’s most ardent allies. Before the election, he had repeatedly raised the notion that mail-in voting could be especially vulnerable to fraud during the coronavirus pandemic as Americans feared going to polls. But Trump has a low tolerance for criticism, especially public criticism, from his allies and often fires back in kind. The two had been at odds in the past few months and Barr was said to have been frustrated by Trump’s tweeting. Trump said on Fox News over the weekend that he was disappointed that the Hunter Biden investigation had not been disclosed. Hunter Biden himself announced it last week. “Bill Barr should have stepped up,” Trump said. One senior administration official not authorized to speak publicly and speaking to The AP on condition of anonymity said Barr had resigned of his own accord and described the meeting as amicable. Barr, who was serving in his second stint as attorney general, sought to paint himself as an independent leader who would not bow to political pressure. But Democrats have repeatedly accused Barr of acting more like the president’s personal attorney than the attorney general, and Barr had proved to be a largely reliable Trump ally and defender of presidential power. Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican leader of the judiciary committee, told reporters at the Capitol he was surprised by the news. “I think he did an incredibly good job trying to repair damage done to the Department of Justice, trying to be fair and faithful to the law. I think he’s got a lot to be proud of,” Graham said. “He fought for the president where he could, as every attorney general and administration should, but he also didn’t cross lines that he shouldn’t have crossed.” He said he was referring to disclosing the Biden investigation. Before releasing special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report on the Russia investigation last year, Barr framed the results in a manner favorable to Trump even though Mueller pointedly said he couldn’t exonerate the president of obstruction of justice. He also appointed as special counsel the U.S. attorney who is conducting a criminal investigation into the origins of the FBI’s probe of the 2016 election that morphed into Mueller’s investigation of possible Trump-Russia cooperation, following Trump’s repeated calls to “investigate the investigators.” Barr also ordered Justice Department prosecutors to review the handling of the federal investigation into Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn and then sought to dismiss the criminal charges against Flynn, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Trump later pardoned Flynn. Barr’s break from Trump over election fraud wasn’t the first. Earlier this year, Barr told ABC News that the president’s tweets about Justice Department cases “make it impossible for me to do my job,” and tensions flared just a few months ago when the two were increasingly at odds over the pace of the Durham investigation. Trump had been increasingly critical about a lack of arrests and Barr was privately telling people he was frustrated by Trump’s public pronouncements about the case. Trump was also said to blame Barr for comments from FBI Director Chris Wray on election fraud and mail-in voting that didn’t jibe with the president’s alarmist rhetoric. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
FBI director says antifa is an ideology, not an organization
That characterization contradicts the depiction from Trump, who in June singled out antifa.
FBI chief: No evidence of illegal spying on Donald Trump campaign
WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Chris Wray said Tuesday that he does not consider court-approved FBI surveillance to be “spying” and said he has no evidence the FBI illegally monitored President Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election. His comments at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing broke from Attorney General William Barr, who has described as “spying” FBI surveillance during its investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Barr has not said such surveillance was necessarily improper, but Trump nonetheless seized on those comments to suggest his campaign was spied on in an illegal and unprecedented act. Asked by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat-New Hampshire, if he would say that the FBI is “spying” when it investigates suspected terrorists and mobsters while following “investigative policies and procedures,” Wray replied, “Well, that’s not the term I would use.” He added: “I believe that the FBI is engaged in investigative activity, and part of investigative activity includes surveillance activity of different shapes and sizes. And to me, the key question is making sure that it’s done by the book, consistent with our lawful authorities. That’s the key question. Different people use different colloquial phrases.” Wray declined to discuss in detail the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign because of an ongoing Justice Department inspector general probe into the origins of the Russia inquiry. Barr has said he expects the watchdog report to be done in May or June. But asked whether he was aware of evidence that the FBI had illegally spied on the Trump campaign, Wray said, “I don’t think I personally have any evidence of that sort.” Barr is investigating whether there was a proper basis for the FBI to open a counterintelligence investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. The recently concluded investigation from Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not find a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and the Kremlin to tip the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. “The attorney general is seeking to understand better the circumstances at the department and the FBI relating to how this investigation started, and we’re working to help him get that understanding,” Wray said about the Justice Department’s review. “I think that’s part of his job and part of mine.” Barr didn’t specify what he meant when he said he believed there had been spying on the Trump campaign, though he also said that he did not mean the word in a negative way. At a hearing last week, he described “spying” as a “good English word” encompassing “all forms of covert intelligence operations” and said he wouldn’t back away from using it. The FBI obtained a secret surveillance warrant in 2016 to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, whose interactions with Russia had raised law enforcement suspicions even before he joined the campaign. The New York Times reported last week that the FBI used a woman posing as a research assistant to approach ex-Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who was told by a Maltese professor in the spring of 2016 that Russia had “dirt” on Democrat Hillary Clinton in the form of stolen emails. In his book about his entanglement in the Russia probe, “Deep State Target,” Papadopoulos wrote that the woman, who identified herself as Azra Turk, asked him about his work with the Trump campaign. “She wants to know: Are we working with Russia?” he wrote. He described her question as “creepy” and said he told her he had “nothing to do with Russia.” Papadopoulos later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his interactions with the professor, Joseph Mifsud.
