FIRST ON FOX: A longtime Democratic operative and activist says he will be investigating the families of Republican lawmakers in response to the move by the GOP to investigate President Biden and son Hunter’s overseas business dealings, sparking backlash from a pair of House Republicans.

‘Gloves are off, families are on,’ David Brock, Democratic activist and president of Facts First USA, recently told Puck News. ‘We’ve been looking into how the children of those same members may have benefited from their parents’ position. We’re not shy about going after the members.’

Brock, a longtime Clinton ally who founded Media Matters for America and American Bridge 21st Century, announced in November he was leaving the left-wing groups after nearly two decades to launch Facts First USA to help President Biden fight Republicans in the new Congress.

‘This work has been ongoing, and we will soon have more to share publicly about a key member of Republican leadership whose family has gotten multiple jobs from their Congressional donors,’ a spokesperson for Facts First USA told Fox News Digital. 

‘If people want to investigate the Biden family, then what’s good for the goose is good for gander. But no one should feel intimidated if they aren’t doing anything improper.’

Brock, who got his start as a conservative freelance reporter before switching to the Democratic Party in the mid-1990s, was once described by former Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden, who is currently a top Biden aide, of being ‘bats— crazy.’ 

He’s been a prominent face in Democratic circles for nearly two decades. The New York Times reported in November that Brock’s progressive groups ‘play important roles in the Democratic Party’s ecosystem.’

GOP Congressman Darrell Issa, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital the move from Brock reeks of desperation. 

‘Nothing says desperation like threatening to sic a smear merchant on innocent families,’ Issa said. ‘This is all you need to know about how worried Democrats and the White House are about having to answer for Joe Biden’s culture of corruption.’ 

Rep. Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference, told Fox News Digital that Republicans will not be intimidated by ‘radical outside groups.’

‘The far left and their radical outside allies are desperately trying to cover up and distract from Joe Biden’s illegal corruption,’ Stefanik said. 

‘They know they cannot pressure House Republicans into stopping our investigation into President Biden, so they are now attempting to intimidate Republicans into stopping our investigations by targeting our families with opposition research attacks from dark money groups. House Republicans will not be intimidated by these radical outside groups.’

That alleged culture of corruption led to an announcement this week that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is directing House committees to launch an official impeachment inquiry against Biden looking at ties between the president and son Hunter’s overseas business dealings.

‘Over the past several months, House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct — a culture of corruption,’ McCarthy posted on social media Tuesday.

Democrats have insisted that the impeachment inquiry is politically motivated, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday Republicans have ‘no evidence, none, that [Biden] did anything wrong.’

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital’s Cameron Cawthorne contributed to this report

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was so offended by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling him a ‘moron’ that he met with her successor, Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., to make a mutual vow that they would play nice.

Pelosi was dismissive of McCarthy’s leadership during his time at the head of the Republican minority, but his relationship with Jeffries has been notably more respectful. The pair are up front with their disagreements, but have not yet resorted to name-calling.

‘We’ll continue to agree to disagree without being disagreeable with each other and find common ground when possible, therefore continuing to work together,’ Jeffries told Punchbowl News on Wednesday. ‘It remains a positive, forward-looking, communicative relationship.’

‘I have a great deal of respect for him,’ McCarthy said of his counterpart. ‘We’re going to disagree on different issues. I believe based on the information that we have now, the Congress just needs to get more answers. That’s what we’re going about doing,’ he added, referring to a presidential impeachment inquiry.

‘I have worked hard to make sure we have respect for one another. Even when we have, like any relationship, a difference of opinion, I’m going to explain my position to him. He has been very honest and direct with me when he has disagreed, which has been many times. I respect his position. I know what happens today, tomorrow it can be something else,’ he told Punchbowl.

Pelosi, who has just announced plans for re-election, hasn’t let off the gas on McCarthy, however. She described McCarthy as having an ‘incredibly shrinking speakership’ during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Sunday.

Pelosi first got on McCarthy’s bad side in 2021, in an incident that came when McCarthy slammed a House mask mandate as not following the science.

‘Make no mistake – The threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state,’ McCarthy said at the time.

Asked to react to McCarthy’s comment at a filmed public event, Pelosi responded: ‘He’s such a moron.’

McCarthy and Jeffries’ respectful relationship is likely to be tested in the coming months as Republicans get underway with their impeachment inquiry against President Biden. Jeffries has already called the effort ‘illegitimate.’

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

South Carolina GOP Sen. Tim Scott, a contender in the Republican race for the White House, took aim at American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on Wednesday after she likened school choice and parental rights advocates to segregationists who opposed the integration of schools.

‘There might not be anyone that’s done more damage recently than Randi Weingarten to the kids living in distressed communities, especially like the ones where I grew up,’ Scott told Fox News Digital. ‘It’s so frustrating to hear these liberal lies, hearkening back to a day that no longer exists.’

The comments from Weingarten – who serves as president of the second-largest teachers union in the United States, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) – came during an interview released Tuesday that she took part in with the Burnes Center for Social Change.

During the interview, Weingarten likened school choice and parental rights advocates to segregationists in the 1950s who had taken issue with the Supreme Court’s ruling on Brown v. Board of Education, which found it unconstitutional to separate children in public schools on the basis of race.

‘Those same words that you heard in terms of wanting segregation post-Brown v. Board of Education, those same words you hear today,’ Weingarten told Seth Harris, a Burnes Center senior fellow. ‘I was kind of gobsmacked when I was talking with [the] Southern Poverty Law Center, and they showed me the same words – choice, parental rights.’

Words like those, according to Weingarten, are used as an ‘attempt to divide parents versus teachers.’

Scott, who has represented South Carolina in the Senate since 2013, told Fox he took issue with that claim.

‘I’m so sick and tired of liberals – too many of them happen to be White – crying racism every single time they’re losing an argument,’ Scott said. ‘I can’t think of anything more actually racist than trapping poor Black kids in the failing schools in these big blue cities dominated by a super-majority of radical progressives who are running the cities and destroying the schools.’

‘They’re the ones, with their teachers unions, standing in the doorway of the schoolhouse, trapping poor kids in as if the house is on fire, but they won’t let a single soul out,’ he went on. ‘It’s really frustrating, and it’s one of the reasons why I think we have no choice but to break the backs of these teachers’ unions. They’re the problem. They’re literally destroying the future of millions of kids.’

If elected, Scott said he would work to break the influence on schools from teachers’ unions and provide ‘choice in education’ because he believes parents in America ‘deserve the choices that they need so that their kids have a chance to succeed.’

Scott reflected on the progress that’s been made in the last century to bridge racial gaps in America and said Weingarten and others who have similar beliefs within the teachers’ unions represent the ‘height of hypocrisy.’

Weingarten’s comments, however, did not mark the first time she’s claimed that certain school choice advocates of today are behaving like segregationists from days gone by.

In 2017, according to National Review, Weingarten declared during a union convention that ‘the real pioneers of private school choice were the White politicians who resisted school integration.’ During the same event, she also reportedly referred to school-choice programs as being the ‘only slightly more polite cousins of segregation.’

In 2021, Weingarten was mocked for inadvertently making the case for school choice after she shared an article and praised a Michigan parent who chose to drive their child to school districts that had mask mandates during the pandemic.

‘This parent chooses to drive her students to a school district that has a mask mandate. Masks save lives and limit the spread of #COVID,’ Weingarten wrote on Twitter, now known as X.

School choice advocates joked they were pleasantly surprised Weingarten was suddenly taking up their cause, zeroing in on the word ‘chooses.’

Weingarten has also been repeatedly criticized for her efforts involving school closures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Weingarten testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in April to address her union’s role in influencing public policy on school lockdowns. In her testimony, she alleged that President Biden’s transition team was the first to contact her union for guidance on school closures during the pandemic.

Fox News Digital has reached out to a union spokesperson for comment.

Fox News’ Hanna Panreck and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre went off Wednesday when asked repeatedly about the impeachment inquiry into President Biden, even snapping at a reporter who tried to push back against her claim that the president ‘didn’t do anything wrong.’

The exchange occurred during the daily White House press briefing after Jean-Pierre was asked how confident she was that there would be no evidence incriminating Biden in his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings, his alleged involvement in which has been the centerpiece of House Republicans’ investigation into the family’s finances.

‘Any specifics to the inquiry, certainly — I want to say this at the top … I’m going to refer you to my colleagues at the counsel’s office,’ Jean-Pierre responded, something she noted throughout the briefing when asked questions related to the inquiry.

She attempted to deflect, referencing Biden’s upcoming speech on ‘Bidenomics’ and arguing it was part of the ‘real issues’ the American people truly wanted to hear about, rather than Republicans’ investigations.

‘They have spent all year investigating the president. That’s what they’ve spent all year doing and have turned up with no evidence, none, that he did anything wrong. I mean, that is what we’ve heard over and over again from their almost year-long investigation. And that’s because the president didn’t do anything wrong,’ she said.

New York Post reporter Steve Nelson attempted to push back against Jean-Pierre’s claim, prompting her to snap at him.

‘Even House Republicans have said the evidence does not exist. House Republicans have said that to my friend in the back who just yelled at, which is incredibly inappropriate,’ she said, appearing frustrated. 

‘But House Republicans have said that there doesn’t — there doesn’t — it doesn’t exist. Their own investigations have actually debunked their ridiculous attacks. And the only reason Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy is doing this — is doing this political stunt — and we have seen it, you all have reported, is because Marjorie Taylor Greene has said — she threatened to shut down the government,’ she said. 

Jean-Pierre went on, listing the Republicans she said were threatening House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s speakership, and calling the impeachment inquiry ‘baseless.’

McCarthy announced the formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday, stating at a press conference that House Republicans had ‘uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct.’

He listed allegations of ‘abuse of power, obstruction and corruption’ made against Biden by several GOP-led committees who have been investigating the president and his family’s foreign business dealings.

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

The Biden administration is facing criticism from Democratic lawmakers over its latest effort to clamp down on critical mineral production needed for green energy technologies.

Democratic Nevada senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen criticized the administration after a federal interagency working group (IWG) published a long-awaited final report outlining steps and policy recommendations it said would help modernize mining regulations. 

Cortez Masto and Rosen echoed a top mining industry group, arguing the policies listed would restrict vital mineral production.

‘Unfortunately, these recommendations to impose new taxes and change the mining claims process would make it harder to create new mining projects in the United States at a time when too many companies are sourcing these minerals from communist China,’ Cortez Masto said. 

‘We need lithium and other critical minerals to drive our clean energy industry, and I will continue to make sure any changes to mining policy work for the tens of thousands of Nevadans powering this industry.’

Cortez Masto said strengthening domestic mineral supply chains is key to ensuring clean energy jobs and lower costs for tens of millions of Americans. Nevada is home to substantial reserves of lithium, a mineral that is a key component of electric vehicle batteries but which is largely produced in foreign nations.

Rosen added that some of the policy recommendations in the report were reasonable, but others would harm mining efforts.

‘While this report offers needed recommendations to reform federal mining regulations, some of the proposals will hurt the mining industry and fail to bolster our nation’s domestic mineral supply chain,’ Rosen said in a statement. 

‘We must focus on strengthening our domestic energy supply chains and moving away from our reliance on foreign adversaries for critical minerals. I’ll keep fighting for regulations that support Nevada’s mining industry and the good-paying jobs it creates in an environmentally-sustainable way.’

Overall, the report Tuesday listed 65 recommendations to inform efforts to update the General Mining Act of 1872. Environmental advocacy organizations have for years called for mining reform, saying more stringent environmental protections are needed.

Among the policies, the IWG report recommends a federal leasing program for critical mineral deposits, replacing the current system in which mining companies are able to freely stake claims. 

The report also recommends companies pay royalties on land they are approved to mine for resource development. IWG Chair and Deputy Interior Secretary Tommy Beaudreau explained Tuesday that the current structure lacking royalties is why there is little funding for addressing abandoned mines he said create ‘safety hazards and pollution for land and water across our country.’

And the report further recommends a controversial 7-cent per ton fee on material displaced by hard rock mining, a ‘dirt tax’ proposal that would also increase prices for the mining industry.

‘Unfortunately, if the Biden-Harris administration’s stated objective is to secure our nation’s domestic mineral supply chains while supporting responsible mining, the recommendations contained in this report don’t do anything to advance the ball,’ Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, said in a statement to Fox News Digital Tuesday.

‘In fact, some of the recommendations — including the consideration of a leasing system, imposition of a punitive dirt tax or application of the higher end of suggested proposed royalties — will throw additional obstacles in the way of responsible domestic projects and would-be investment, forcing the U.S. to double down on our already outsized import reliance from countries with questionable labor, safety and environmental practices.’

The Department of the Interior declined to comment.

FIRST ON FOX: Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio introduced legislation Wednesday that would ban government agencies and federally funded hospitals from forcing employees to partake in programs that ‘promote radical gender ideology.’

‘It is deeply disturbing to see the progressive left infiltrate the American healthcare system and compromise the quality of patient care in the process. I am introducing the Protecting Conscience in Healthcare Act to stop this harmful, radical gender ideology in American hospitals and healthcare facilities,’ Rubio said in comment on the legislation, which was exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital. 

The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and J.D. Vance (R-OH).

Rubio pointed to a recent article from the Washington Free Beacon in his press release on the legislation, which uncovered ‘coordination between more than 2,200 health systems in the U.S. and the Human Rights Campaign,’ the nation’s largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has a ranking system for hospitals called the Healthcare Equality Index, which assess health care providers’ ‘policies and practices related to the equity and inclusion of their LGBTQ+ patients, visitors and employees,” according to the HRC’s website.

The Free Beacon reported in May that the 2022 index was funded by Pfizer and a trade group that represents pharmaceutical companies called PhRMA. The index ranks hospital systems on criteria such as conducting HRC-approved LGBTQ-focused training for staff, if the hospitals display symbols supporting the gay, lesbian and trans community, or the use of patient’s preferred pronouns. 

Dozens of children’s hospitals also use the index, with the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., receiving 2022’s highest score.

‘To earn a high score on the HRC’s index, hospitals must conduct training that advocates radical gender ideology, display pro-LGBTQ symbols, force employees to use patients’ preferred pronouns, and use the same treatments for gender dysphoria that they use for other medical conditions, such as precocious puberty,’ Rubio’s office said in the press release.

‘Furthermore, the index penalizes hospitals for allowing religious and medical conscience exemptions, calling these ‘discriminatory treatment.”

Under Rubio’s legislation, employees of hospitals would not be required to attend an event celebrating or affirming a person’s ‘identity that is incongruent with an individual’s sex,’ require an employee to use a patient’s preferred pronoun or require an employee to share their preferred pronoun with colleagues and patients.

‘No Federal or State government or agency, or covered entity shall require an employee to participate in a seminar, workshop, training, or other educational or professional activity, or in using a curriculum, that advocates for the idea that an individual can have an identity that is incongruent with their sex,’ the legislation reads.

Religious freedom is at the heart of Rubio’s legislation, which states that the bill would ‘protect health care workers and other government employees from various forms of compelled speech.’

The legislation would prohibit a hospital from firing an employee ‘based on their religious or moral beliefs’ or if ‘the employee refuses to support, condone, or acknowledge someone’s professed identity that is incongruent with sex.’

The Florida senator has previously called out woke rhetoric within health care, including in May when he wrote a letter to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for ‘prioritizing’ woke initiatives such as promoting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as well as gender surgeries.

Rubio charged in the letter that the ‘NIH has completely catered to the administration’s woke rhetoric instead of the science of so called ‘gender-affirming care.’’ He also said the NIH is championing gender surgeries and puberty blockers as ‘safe’ while rolling out projects that are ‘harming patients, and then considering the study a success.’

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is touting new border wall construction at the state’s border with Mexico – as his administration battles the Biden administration over barrier construction and a reported policy to keep migrants in the state.

‘Texas is adding more border wall today,’ he said on X, formerly known as Twitter. ‘This is in the Del Rio sector.’

The short video shows a crane placing border wall bollards along the Texas border.

Abbott announced in 2021 funding for a state project to continue construction of a wall after the Biden administration abruptly ended the Trump-era construction project that saw over 450 miles built.

The Biden administration has said the wall was ineffective and expensive, but conservatives have charged that borders are a key facet of a strong border security strategy to stop illegal immigration and have renewed calls for construction to be restarted amid the ongoing border crisis.

The border wall project by Texas is part of Operation Lone Star, which has seen resources and law enforcement surged to the border in order to respond to the crisis.

Earlier this year, Abbott announced a separate barrier in the Rio Grande River itself, consisting of floating buoys near Eagle Pass, Texas. But that effort has faced a lawsuit from the Department of Justice, which says it is a safety risk and against federal law.

‘The State of Texas’s actions violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government’s ability to carry out its official duties,’ the DOJ said in a letter to Abbott before the suit was filed.

A federal judge ordered the state to move the buoys, but that was stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals as the case makes it way through the courts.

Meanwhile, Abbott has rejected a reported plan by the Biden administration to force migrants to remain in Texas while their asylum cases are considered. Abbott warned that his administration would sue over the policy, which reportedly would see migrant families remain in Texas and monitored on an ankle bracelet. He also said his practice of sending buses of migrants to ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions would increase.

‘Biden considers forcing migrant families to remain in Texas. This scam was tried years ago & was shot down by a judge,’ Abbott said on X, formerly known as Twitter. ‘We will send Biden the same swift justice.’

‘And, we will add even more buses of migrants to Washington D.C.,’ he said.