FIRST ON FOX: The House Judiciary Committee’s select subcommittee on government weaponization says the IRS rolled back unannounced visits to U.S. taxpayers after pressure from the panel.

‘The Committee’s and Select Subcommittee’s oversight revealed, and led to the swift end of, the IRS’s weaponization of unannounced field visits to harass, intimidate, and target taxpayers,’ the Republican-led report said.

‘Taxpayers can now rest assured the IRS will not come knocking without providing prior notice—something that should have been the IRS’s practice all along.’

The 22-page document focuses on two instances in which the IRS is accused of abusing its policy, including one in which a tax agent is accused of entering someone’s home under false pretenses. 

An IRS agent purportedly introduced himself as ‘Bill Haus’ to a woman only identified as a ‘Marion County, Ohio taxpayer’ when coming to her home in April this year. After allowing him inside, he allegedly told her that she owed a substantial amount of money on an estate she owned.

‘Prior to the visit, however, the taxpayer had not received any notice from the IRS of an outstanding balance on the estate,’ the report said.

After the taxpayer showed documents disputing that she owed any money, the report said, ‘Agent ‘Haus’ conceded that the true purpose of his visit was not due to any issue with the decedent’s estate, rather Agent ‘Haus’ was at the taxpayer’s home because the decedent allegedly had several delinquent tax return filings.’

A footnote on the report stated that the agent’s supervisor confirmed the taxpayer had nothing due and just one delinquent filing from 2016.

The woman called her lawyer after being asked to fill out sensitive tax documents, upon which her attorney ‘immediately and repeatedly told Agent ‘Haus’ to leave the taxpayer’s home since the taxpayer had not received any prior notice from the IRS of any issue with the decedent’s estate or delinquent tax returns.’

‘Agent ‘Haus’ responded aggressively, insisting, ‘I am an IRS agent, I can be at and go into anyone’s house at any time I want to be.’ At the end of his unannounced visit, Agent ‘Haus’ told the taxpayer he would mail her paperwork for her to execute and threatened that she would have exactly one week to satisfy the remaining balance or he would freeze all her assets and put a lien on her house,’ the report said.

The woman contacted police after the visit, who later found that the agent did work for the IRS — but that ‘Bill Haus’ was not his real name. His supervisor apologized to her the following May, the report said.

The other incident mentioned is involves journalist Matt Taibbi, whose home received a surprise IRS visit while he was in Washington, D.C. testifying about social media censorship uncovered by the ‘Twitter Files.’ 

‘The IRS’s dossier on Mr. Taibbi included information such as Mr. Taibbi’s voter registration records, whether he possessed a hunting or fishing license, and whether he had a concealed weapons permit. The revenue officer also examined and saved Mr. Taibbi’s Wikipedia page, which contained extensive details about Mr. Taibbi’s work on the Twitter Files,’ the report said.

‘Instead of reinitiating contact with Mr. Taibbi by less intrusive means after several years had passed since he filed his 2018 return, the revenue officer scheduled its field visit for March 9, 2023-the day Mr. Taibbi was to testify before Congress.’

The IRS announced in late July that it ‘will end most unannounced visits…to reduce public confusion and enhance overall safety measures for taxpayers and employees.’

But the GOP report heaped doubt on that explanation for reducing the practice. 

‘The IRS’s attempt to justify its decision as being in the best interest of the safety of its revenue officers lacks concrete evidence. To the extent this data does exist, the IRS has not made it publicly available or supplied it to the Committee or Select Subcommittee,’ it said.

Vice President Kamala Harris lauded gun control laws in Australia where citizens do not have a legal right to gun ownership and where a mass gun confiscation took place in the 1990s, during a speech Thursday.

Harris said Australian gun laws proved that mass shootings do not have to be a regular occurrence, during her remarks delivered at a State Department luncheon earlier in the day with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Her comments came after a shooting in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday left at least 18 dead and more than a dozen injured.

‘As we gather details, we must continue to speak truth about the moment we are in,’ Harris said. ‘In our country today, the leading cause of death of American children is gun violence. Gun violence has terrorized and traumatized so many of our communities in the United States.’

‘And let us be clear, it does not have to be this way — as our friends in Australia have demonstrated,’ she continued to applause. 

According to a brief on the Australian Parliament’s official website, there is no legal right to gun ownership in Australia ‘in contrast to the position in the United States.’ 

In addition, Australian law requires individuals to prove they have a genuine reason for owning a firearm. Self-protection is not considered to be a genuine reason under that statute.

Further, the nation’s laws further mandate that individuals who purchase firearms must have a license and each firearm they own must each be individually registered. Such a requirement, according to the Australian Parliament brief, contrasts with New Zealand and Canada which require firearm purchasers to obtain a license, but allows them to freely purchase firearms after obtaining said license.

Australia’s crackdown on firearm ownership came in 1996 following a spate of widely-publicized mass shootings. The so-called 1996 National Firearms Agreement banned automatic and semi-automatic firearms, introduced firearm registration, established stricter storage requirements for all firearms, and tightly restricted non-military style semi-automatic rifles and shotguns purchases.

The Australian government also initiated a mandatory gun buyback program that resulted in it collecting nearly 700,000 privately-owned firearms.

‘In the end, we won the battle to change gun laws because there was majority support across Australia for banning certain weapons,’ former Australian Prime Minister John Howard wrote in a Newe York Times op-ed in 2013. ‘And today, there is a wide consensus that our 1996 reforms not only reduced the gun-related homicide rate, but also the suicide rate.’

On Wednesday evening, suspect Robert Card opened fire in a Lewiston bowling alley before leaving and opening fire in a nearby restaurant, killing more than a dozen. 

Card — a trained firearms instructor and petroleum supply specialist in the Army Reserve who has a history of mental health issues — remains at large as more than 350 law enforcement personnel from federal, state and local agencies continue to search for him.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was in China meeting with CCP President Xi Jinping earlier this week leading many to wonder, including a congressman from his own state, whether he is running a ‘shadow’ campaign for president in case Democrats ultimately look for an alternative to President Biden as crises pile up on his watch at home and abroad.

The California Democrat met with Xi and other Chinese officials as part of a week-long trip he said was aimed at discussing the threat of climate change and ‘renewing our friendship and reengaging (on) foundational and fundamental issues that will determine our collective faith in the future.’

Newsom faced criticism as a result of his trip from people who said that homelessness, crime, and fentanyl are more pressing problems in the Golden State and one GOP congressman spoke both to Fox News Digital and through a social media post to suggest Newsom has the presidency on his mind via a ‘shadow campaign.’

‘The track record is not good for him to be gallivanting around the world doing basically a shadow campaign for president, just waiting for the moment when they finally decide to throw Biden under the bus,’ Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., said, referring to Newsom as the ‘backup quarterback’ and Biden as the ‘starter.’

LaMalfa told Fox News Digital that his constituents in California are more concerned with wildfires, water storage, businesses fleeing the state, high taxes, and deteriorating freeways than they are with climate change.

‘I remind folks that carbon dioxide is only 0.04% of our atmosphere and that the contribution by the US is a tiny percentage of that,’ LaMalfa said. ‘And the transportation sector and others is a tiny percentage of that. So chasing this carbon thing is just a means with which the government can further take over our economy and our choices.’

LaMalfa went on to say he recently spoke to a moderate California Democrat colleague who seemed ‘not very excited’ about Newsom, pointing out that Newsom is ‘slick’ with many ‘rehearsed talking points’ that could easily ‘dupe’ voters.

‘This trip here, he’s trying to build a base,’ LaMalfa said. ‘He’s running the back channels until Biden takes himself out and the party says man we’re going to get killed on this.’

‘With Trump looking more and more like a likely nominee pulling ahead in most places from what I’ve seen then the Dems are, I think I saw in our notes here, that they would need to break the glass and reach in for the Newsom fire extinguisher.’

LaMalfa was one of several California Republicans who blasted Newsom showing off a $160K Chinese electric vehicle earlier this week. 

Newsom’s trip to China was the second trip in recent weeks that reignited theories that he is positioning himself for higher office. Last week, Newsom traveled to Israel and met with leaders and victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.

In addition to the statesmanlike trip to China and Israel, Newsom has kept a high profile over the last few months including a role as a Biden surrogate at the most recent GOP presidential debate in California and a much talked about challenge to debate Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis on Fox News at the end of November, which DeSantis accepted.

Newsom has also been active when it comes to policy in recent months.

He recently called on the Supreme Court to review a ruling preventing states from removing homeless encampments. He vetoed a bill that would have decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms earlier this month and also vetoed a bill that would have forced employers to provide earlier notices of mass layoffs.

He has also recently signed legislation promoting LGBT inclusion, requiring companies to provide emission information, and a law to ‘overhaul’ the state’s mental health system.

Newsom’s recent trips abroad and focus on policy over the last couple months comes as Biden continues to see crises piling up on his watch, including the border crisis, inflation, skyrocketing crime in major cities, and major foreign policy failures, including the botched Afghanistan withdrawal. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced this past weekend that migrant numbers at the southern border for the month of September had reached new levels with the highest monthly encounters on record as well as the highest fiscal year total on record, in a significant blow to the administration’s border strategy.

A recent poll found that nearly two-thirds of New Yorkers blame President Biden for the migrant crisis, raising national security, financial and other concerns in the Empire State. Other polls over the last few months have shown that voters are concerned about Biden’s age and his physical fitness. 

A Monmouth University poll released earlier this month showed that 76% of voters agreed Biden, 80, was ‘too old’ to serve another term, compared to just 48% who said the same about Trump, 77. 

LaMalfa wasn’t alone in his speculation that Newsom is positioning himself for higher office evidenced by a flurry of social media speculation in recent days.

‘Newsom is currently in China, running a shadow campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, just in case President Biden succumbs to the realities of his age and waning mental capacity,’ columnist Derek Hunter wrote in an opinion piece for The Hill this week. 

‘It is yet another GIANT indicator that Gavin Newsom will indeed run for president next year,’ Fox News Contributor Tomi Lahren posted on X.

‘Why is the Governor of California going to China to meet with their dictator?’ Conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted on X. ‘Why is the Governor of California going to Israel during wartime? Democrats want to replace Joe Biden.’

Fox News’ ‘Outnumbered’ co-host Kayleigh McEnany appeared on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime’ earlier this week to weigh in on the Newsom China trip, telling Watters the trip is part of a ‘shadow presidential campaign.’ The former White House press secretary went on to say Newsom ‘is not an idiot’ and that Biden has had multiple foreign policy failures, adding, ‘Who trusts him to manage our way out of this crisis in the Middle East?’

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who is running for president, speculated during a recent Ruthless Podcast episode that  the Democrats are ‘grooming someone’ to be a ‘back-up plan’ to Biden and suggested Newsom might be their choice based on recent interviews.

Vivek Ramaswamy, another Republican presidential candidate, said Newsom’s trip to China was political, telling Iowans that he believed Newsom was campaigning for president ‘in disguise.’

‘Gavin Newsom wants to run for president in 2024, that much is clear,’ Democrat pollster Doug Schoen wrote this summer. ‘The California governor would not be campaigning for President Joe Biden in red states with 16 months until the presidential election if he wasn’t trying to prove his own political bona fides and build a future base of national support for himself.’

Democratic strategist James Carville sounded the alarm during a recent interview with The Washington Post, saying it was ‘ludicrous’ to avoid debating Biden’s viability next year.

‘The idea that this should not be aired out and should be discussed in hushed tones is ludicrous,’ Carville said of Biden. ‘This needs to be discussed.’

Newsom has denied he’s running for president when asked and told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo in September that he’s ‘not worthy of that conversation’ and that Biden ‘deserves it.’

Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, pushed back against speculation about Newsom by telling NBC News that ‘Republicans peddling blatantly false conspiracy theories is nothing new’ and that these ‘lies don’t change the fact that Joe Biden will again beat MAGA Republicans and their twice-rejected agenda in 2024 as his party’s nominee for president.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, the Biden campaign, and a representative for Newsom, but they did not respond to requests for comment.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw, Danielle Wallace, and Brandon Gillespie contributed reporting.

President Biden’s Department of State was torched online over its statement on ‘Intersex Awareness Day’ amid the war in Israel and a manhunt for a deadly shooting suspect in Maine.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller released a statement Thursday, saying the department was affirming ‘the United States’ commitment to promoting and protecting the human rights of Intersex persons globally.’

‘As President Biden stated in his 2021 Memorandum on Advancing the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons Around the World, it is the policy of the United States to pursue an end to violence and discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression and sex characteristics,’ Miller said.

‘Intersex persons often face stigma and discrimination in accessing education, healthcare, and legal recognition, and are subjected to medically unnecessary surgeries,’ he continued. ‘These harmful practices, which can cause lifelong negative physical and emotional consequences, are a medical form of so-called conversion therapy practices in that they seek to physically ‘convert’ Intersex children into non-Intersex children.

‘We applaud all activists, organizations and governments working to raise visibility and protect Intersex persons’ rights to bodily integrity and to ensure equal protection and recognition before the law.’

The statement drew wide rebuke from conservatives online, with Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican, posting on X, ‘Team Biden far more focused on gender politics than advancing America’s security.’

‘Would it be too much to ask for our government to go back to focusing on killing terrorists and freeing American hostages?’ Steve Guest, former spokesman for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, posted.

‘Americans are being held hostage by Hamas terrorists,’ Guest wrote in a second post. ‘Meanwhile, the Biden State Department is devoting the time and resources to mark Intersex Awareness Day.’

Abigail Jackson, spokeswoman for Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., quipped she is ‘sure the Americans being held hostage by terrorists will appreciate this important statement.’

Other conservatives blasted the State Department over the ‘Intersex Awareness Day’ statement.

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital the ‘United States proudly advances efforts around the globe to protect LGBTQI+ populations from violence and abuse, criminalization, discrimination and stigma and to empower local LGBTQI+ movements and persons.

‘The United States firmly opposes abuses against LGBTQI+ persons and urges governments to repeal laws that criminalize individuals on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity,’ the spokesperson continued. ‘The struggle to end violence, discrimination, criminalization and stigma against LGBTQI+ persons is a global challenge and one that remains central to our commitment to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms for all individuals.’

The ‘Intersex Awareness Day’ statement comes as Israel fights against Hamas terrorists who launched a surprise attack against the Middle Eastern democracy and took Israelis and Americans hostage.

Additionally, a manhunt is underway in Maine for Robert Card after his alleged shooting spree Wednesday night.

Maine State Police Col. William Ross said Thursday an arrest warrant for Card has been issued on at least eight counts of murder, and other victims are still being identified from a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine.

Ross said eight people were killed at Schemengees Bar and Grille, seven were killed at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and another three died after being transported to hospitals.

A massive manhunt is underway to find 40-year-old Card, and the U.S. Coast Guard has gotten involved. 

Maine Gov. Janet Mills said there were 18 dead in the shootings and 13 injured.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman and Adam Sabes contributed reporting.

A U.S.-based pro-Muslim group blasted President Biden after he expressed ‘no confidence’ in the Palestinian death toll figures reported by Hamas. 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned what they called ‘shocking and dehumanizing’ remarks made by Biden during a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday. 

At the White House, Biden rejected a question posed by PBS correspondent Laura Barrón-López about the Palestinian death count provided by the terrorist group Hamas, saying he has ‘no confidence’ such numbers are truthful.

‘We are deeply disturbed and shocked by the dehumanizing comments that President Biden made about the almost 7,000 Palestinians slaughtered by the Israeli government over the past two weeks,’ CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement. 

‘The Israeli government has openly admitted that it is targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. Journalists have confirmed the high number of casualties, and countless videos coming out of Gaza every day show mangled bodies of Palestinian women and children — and entire city blocks leveled to the ground. President Biden should watch some of these videos and ask himself if the crushed children being dragged out of the ruins of their family homes are a fabrication or an acceptable price of war. They are neither,’ Awad continued. 

He demanded an apology from Biden and called on the president to ‘condemn the Israeli government for deliberately targeting civilians, and demand a ceasefire before more innocent people die.’ 

Reached for comment, the White House noted that the president, in his answer and in his opening remarks, reiterated the importance of avoiding any Palestinian civilian casualties. Biden has repeatedly said the loss of innocent Palestinian life is a tragedy. 

During a joint press conference Wednesday alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Barrón-López attempted to press Biden on whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was keeping his word of limiting civilian casualties in Israel’s response to the horrific Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. 

‘In the 18 days since Hamas killed 1,400 Israelis, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli forces have killed over 6,000 Palestinians, including 2,700 children,’ Barrón-López said. ‘You’ve previously asked Netanyahu to minimize civilian casualties. Do these numbers say to you that he’s ignoring that message?’

‘What they say to me is I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed,’ Biden responded.

Biden continued, ‘I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war. I think we should be incredibly careful… Israel should be incredibly careful to be sure that they’re focusing on going after the folks that are the propagating this war against Israel. And it’s against their interest when that doesn’t happen. But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.’

Last week, several news organizations rushed to report claims made by the Gaza Health Ministry that Israel bombed al-Ahli Baptist Hospital through an airstrike resulting in over 500 civilian casualties. 

Subsequent reporting and intelligence found it was an explosion in the hospital’s parking lot stemming from a misfired rocket fired by Hamas ally Islamic Jihad, resulting in a death toll a fraction of what Hamas had first alleged.

CAIR, the largest Muslim advocacy group in the nation, has faced controversy for its alleged ties to Islamic extremist groups. 

In 2009, the FBI severed its once-close ties to CAIR amid mounting evidence that the group had links to a support network for Hamas.

Local chapters of CAIR were shunned in the wake of a 15-year FBI investigation that culminated in the conviction of Hamas fundraisers at a trial in which CAIR itself was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator.

The United Arab Emirates named CAIR a terrorist organization in 2014. 

In a statement on its website in May 2013, CAIR rejected suggestions it had links to terrorism.

‘CAIR is not is [sic] ‘the Wahhabi lobby,’ a ‘front group for Hamas,’ a ‘fundraising arm for Hezbollah,’ ‘…part of a wider conspiracy overseen by the Muslim Brotherhood…’ or any of the other false and misleading associations our detractors seek to smear us with,’ the organization said. ‘That we stand accused of being both a ‘fundraising arm of Hezbollah’ and the ‘Wahhabi lobby’ is a significant point in demonstrating that our detractors are hurling slander, not fact. Hezbollah and the Salafi (Wahhabi) movement represent diametrically opposed ideologies.’

Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Gregg Re contributed to this report.

Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced her House resolution to censure ‘Squad’ member Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., accusing her of ‘antisemitic activity’ and ‘sympathizing with terrorist organizations.’

Greene dropped her resolution to force a House vote to censure Tlaib on Thursday, the day after the House elected its new speaker, Louisiana Republican Rep. Mike Johnson.

‘I just introduced my resolution to censure Rashida Tlaib as privileged to force a House vote in two legislative days,’ Greene wrote online.

‘Tlaib led a pro-Hamas insurrection into the Capitol complex, has repeatedly displayed her anti-Semitic beliefs, and shown her hatred for Israel,’ she continued.

‘She must be held accountable and censured,’ Greene added.

Greene read her resolution on the House floor on Thursday while introducing the legislation.

Tlaib published a press release on Thursday attacking Greene’s censure resolution as ‘unhinged’ and ‘deeply Islamophobic.’

‘Marjorie Taylor Greene’s unhinged resolution is deeply Islamophobic and attacks peaceful Jewish anti-war advocates,’ Tlaib said. ‘I am proud to stand in solidarity with Jewish peace advocates calling for a ceasefire and an end to the violence.’

‘I will not be bullied, I will not be dehumanized, and I will not be silenced,’ the ‘Squad’ Democrat continued. ‘I will continue to call for ceasefire, for the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid, for the release of hostages and those arbitrarily detained, and for every American to be brought home.’

‘I will continue to work for a just and lasting peace that upholds the human rights and dignity of all people, and ensures that no person, no child has to suffer or live in fear of violence,’ she added.

Greene previously told Fox News Digital that the Democratic Party ‘has done nothing to hold [Tlaib] accountable’ and have ‘done nothing to rein her in, and no one else here has done it.’

‘And so I thought it was right to list examples of – this isn’t just new,’ Greene said. ‘This isn’t a one-off thing. This is exactly who she is.’

Greene accused Tlaib of leading a pro-Palestinian protest on Capitol Hill last week. Hundreds of demonstrators called for a ceasefire after the terror group Hamas staged an unprecedented, bloody incursion from the Palestinian exclave of Gaza into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing hundreds of civilians and prompting an ongoing response from the Israeli military.

Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, spoke at the protest, during which activists took over much of the ground floor at the Cannon House Office Building. 

In those comments, she blamed Israel for bombing a hospital in Gaza – remarks she did not retract after multiple intelligence agencies said that existing proof indicated the blast came from a misfired Hamas rocket.

Greene called the protest ‘an insurrection’ in her resolution.

In the resolution, Greene also referenced Tlaib’s endorsement of a slogan used by Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization. She also recalled Tlaib’s past comments in which she called Israel ‘an apartheid government.’

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed reporting.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, sent a letter to the Department of Education Thursday urging stronger protections for Jewish students on college campuses across the country.

‘Antisemitism has no place on our college campuses, or anywhere. Iran wants chaos, and protests are fueling that at home and abroad,’ Ernst told Fox News Digital in a statement.

Ernst questioned what the department is doing to enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law in the United States that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance.

Her letter comes as a wave of pro-Palestinian ‘resistance’ protests in support of Hamas have sprung up in college campuses across the country after Hamas launched a surprise terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7 killing 1,400 people and wounding thousands others.

‘In the aftermath of this brutal terrorist attack, university faculty and student organizations supporting Palestinians held ‘National Day of Resistance’ events on many American college campuses,’ Ernst wrote. ‘These events attempted to justify the recent mass murder of Jews — the most in a single day since the Holocaust.’

In May 2023, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon clarified that Title VI safeguards students from discrimination, including harassment, based on factors like shared ancestry, ethnic characteristics, citizenship in a country with a dominant religion, or distinct religious identity.

‘Therefore, during a flood of antisemitic attacks on college campuses — above and beyond the already-rising antisemitism facing Jewish students — we are incredibly disappointed in the Department’s lack of response, despite legal obligations under Title VI,’ she said.

Ernst pointed out several instances of incidents involving Jewish students, including a student’s dorm room door set on fire.

‘At Stanford University, a professor encouraged Jewish students to stand in a corner alone in a purported ‘academic’ exercise to show how Israel treats Palestinians. A professor and faculty advisor at the University of California Davis wrote a social media post appearing to call for Zionist journalists and their children to be murdered,’ she wrote.

Ernst requested a briefing by Nov. 9, 2023, to address the department’s strategy for advancing the Antisemitism Awareness Campaign in light of escalating antisemitism in educational institutions nationwide, as well as the provision of data on antisemitic-related complaints to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR).

Additionally, clarification is sought on whether OCR has initiated any compliance reviews in response to complaints of antisemitic harassment, and if any directed investigations have been launched based on news reports of such incidents, the letter states.

HUNDREDS OF HARVARD FACULTY SIGN LETTER REBUKING UNIVERSITY LEADERS’ TEPID RESPONSE TO HAMAS ‘WAR CRIMES’

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., one of the co-sponsors of the letter, said in a statement: ‘The threats and violence against Jewish and Israeli students on college campuses is despicable. The Biden Department of Education needs to fulfill their legal responsibility to ensure federally funded colleges are providing a safe learning environment free of antisemitism and violence.’

The letter is signed by Sens. Jim Risch, R-Ohio, Ted Cruz, R-Tx., Tim Scott, R-S.C., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., Roger Wicker, R-MI., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Ted Budd, R-N.C., John Cornyn, R-Tx., Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska. 

Last week, Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen blocked a resolution brought forth by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to condemn antisemitism across college campuses. Earlier this month, Hawley also tapped the Department of Justice to investigate whether pro-Palestinian student groups involved in protests have any financial ties to Hamas. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Education for comment. 

The White House on Thursday defended the government’s decision to allow Iran’s foreign minister to enter the country.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the that U.S. was obligated to permit Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian to attend a United Nations meeting for foreign ministers at the U.N. headquarters in New York City.

‘The secretary-general called a meeting at the foreign ministerial level. He’s the foreign minister of Iran. We are the host of the U.N. We take that responsibility seriously. Do we particularly like the fact that he’s on U.S. soil? No. But unlike a lot of other countries around the world, we take those responsibilities, those rules seriously. And so we allowed him to come in to attend these meetings,’ Kirby told reporters at the White House.

Fox News Digital learned that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was coming to New York as early as Monday for a U.N. Security Council meeting and asked the State Department why he was being allowed in. While he did not attend that meeting, he arrived Wednesday night. Iran’s state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency broadcast video of the minister at the Millennium Hilton hotel across from the United Nations. 

Amirabdollahian spoke at the U.N. headquarters Thursday morning. His presence on U.S. soil drew outcry from Biden administration critics who have condemned Iran’s support for terrorist groups like Hamas, which is currently at war with Israel.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Amirabdollahian had taken part in at least two planning meetings in Lebanon with the terrorist groups Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad ahead of the October 7 attack on Israel, in which more than 1,400 Israelis had been savagely tortured, raped and killed. 

While the Biden administration has said Iran was not directly involved in the planning of the Hamas terror attacks into Israel, it has continued to stress that it does hold Iran responsible for funding Hamas and enabling the group. Iran reportedly maintains nearly two dozen proxy groups around the Middle East, including the Houthis in Yemen, who recently tried to launch an attack on Israel that the U.S. Navy stymied. 

Kirby said that the Biden administration hopes that foreign officials will use Amirabdollahian’s visit to the U.N. as an opportunity to confront him on Iran’s support for terrorism around the globe. 

‘We hope, quite frankly we’re certainly going to take advantage of the opportunity. We hope others at the U.N. take advantage the opportunity to ask tough questions of him and what his country is doing to support these militia groups and what his country is doing to support Hamas and Hezbollah,’ said Kirby. 

‘This is an opportunity for world leaders up there in New York to make their perspectives and their concerns known directly to the Iranian foreign minister,’ he added.

Fox News’ Peter Aitken contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is demanding the White House provide documentation ‘clarifying the nature’ of a $200,000 payment from James Biden to Joe Biden in 2018, Fox News Digital has learned.

Comer, R-Ky., last week, said his panel had uncovered evidence that Joe Biden, in 2018, received a ‘$200,000 direct payment’ in the form of a ‘personal check’ from his brother James Biden and sister-in-law Sara Biden. The check was labeled ‘loan repayment.’ 

The White House last week said the committee found that as a private citizen, the president loaned his brother his own money when his brother needed it, and after reviewing bank records, there is a record that he was repaid. 

But on Thursday, Comer penned a letter to White House Counsel Edward Siskel requesting documentation on the payment.

‘The White House has claimed Joe Biden loaned James Biden $200,000, and this check was repayment,’ Comer wrote. ‘Records obtained by the committee do show numerous large incoming transactions into the personal accounts of James and Sara Biden from various entities.’ 

Comer, in September, had subpoenaed the personal and business financial records belonging to both James Biden and Hunter Biden.

‘Some of these transaction records may have obscured the identity of the true payer, but no records in the committee’s possession state that Joe Biden made a large loan payment to his brother,’ Comer wrote.

‘If Joe Biden did personally loan James Biden an amount that was later repaid by the $200,000 check, please provide the loan documents, including the loan payment, loan agreement, and any other supporting loan documentation,’ Comer wrote.

Comer flagged that the Internal Revenue Code has ‘specific requirements for delineating and reporting ‘below-market [rate] loans’ from gifts.’

‘While there are some exceptions, for example loans of $10,000 or less, the payment in question would not appear exempt from such requirements if it is a loan,’ Comer said. ‘Indeed, there appears to have been no interest paid on the ‘loan’ based upon the White House’s own representations.’

Comer said the ‘current lack of documentation’ leaves ‘reason to doubt claims that this transaction was repayment for a legal loan.’

Comer requested documentation ‘clarifying the nature of this payment and whether all applicable documentation and IRS filings were properly made.’

‘Whether it was a loan or not, James Biden’s March 1, 2018, check to Joe Biden aptly demonstrates one way he personally benefited from his family’s shady influence peddling of his name and their access to him,’ he said. ‘Even if the transaction in question was part of a loan agreement, we are troubled that Joe Biden’s ability to recoup funds depend on his brother’s cashing-in on the Biden brand.’

Comer has been leading an investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings since January and whether President Biden was involved in those ventures or ‘personally benefited’ from them.

Comer first made public the revelation of the $200,000 ‘loan repayment’ from James Biden to Joe Biden last week in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

In the video, Comer explains that in 2018, James Biden ‘received $600,000 in loans from Americore — a financially distressed and failing rural hospital operator.’ 

‘According to bankruptcy court documents, James Biden received these loans based upon representations that his last name Biden, could open doors; and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East based on his political connections,’ Comer said.

‘On March 1, 2018, Americore wired a $200,000 loan into James and Sara Biden’s personal bank account — not their business bank account,’ he continued. ‘And then, on the very same day, James Biden wrote a $200,000 check from this same personal bank account to Joe Biden.’

Comer said James Biden ‘wrote this check to Joe Biden as a ‘loan repayment.’’

‘Americore — a distressed company — loaned money to James Biden, who then sent it to Joe Biden,’ Comer said.

Comer also demanded Biden answer whether he knew that the same day he received the $200,000 check, ‘James Biden had just received a loan for the exact same amount from business dealings with a company that was in financial distress and failing.’

The White House last week blasted the investigation altogether, calling it a ‘self-debunking wild goose chase that’s only turning up evidence that President Biden did nothing wrong.’ 

‘After rummaging through thousands of pages of a private citizen’s bank records, they have again turned up zero evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden — and that’s because there is none,’ White House spokesperson Ian Sams said. ‘President Biden didn’t do anything wrong.’ 

Comer’s claims come amid his monthslong investigation. Comer, alongside House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., is leading the House impeachment inquiry against Biden. 

So far, during his committee’s investigation, Comer said he has found that Biden family members, their business associates and their ‘related companies’ received ‘significant payments from individuals and companies in China, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Romania.’

Comer said the House Oversight Committee has learned throughout its investigation that the Biden family and their business associates brought in more than $24 million between 2014 and 2019 by ‘selling Joe Biden as ‘the brand’ around the world.’