A new Democratic talking point dismissing a Wednesday House Oversight Committee memo about the Biden family’s foreign business dealings has led to the resurfacing of past texts sent by Hunter Biden suggesting he had to fork over half his salary to his dad, President Biden.

Following the memo’s release, which produced bank records purporting to show that Hunter and his business associates received millions in payments from Russian and Kazakhstani oligarchs when his father was vice president, Democrats pushing back on the investigation have clung to the fact that the records showed no direct payments to Biden.

One former Biden White House official, Kate Berner, took to social media to tout a statement from Politico in its analysis of the memo, which noted that ‘the memo … doesn’t show a direct payment to Joe Biden.’

‘Now might be a good time to remember Hunter Biden has complained about Joe Biden forcing Hunter to give him half his salary,’ Abigail Marone, communications director for Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tweeted in response to Berner.

Marone included a screenshot of texts Hunter sent to his daughter, Naomi, in 2019 that were recovered from his infamous laptop. 

‘I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family Fro (sic) 30 years. It’s really hard. But don’t worry unlike Pop I won’t make you give me half your salary,’ Hunter wrote. According to The New York Post, who reported on the texts last year, ‘Pop’ is Biden.

The committee’s 19-page memo, which provides screenshots of redacted bank records, says millions in payments came from Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, as well as Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina and Kazakhstani oligarch Kenes Rakishev, and that then-Vice President Biden attended dinners with Baturina, Rakishev and a representative from Burisma.

‘Then-Vice President Biden met — in person, for significant periods of time — with those individuals or their representatives,’ the memo states. ‘Then-Vice President Biden joined approximately 20 phone calls on speakerphone with Hunter Biden’s foreign business associates and attended dinners with foreign oligarchs who paid huge sums of money to Hunter Biden. Joe Biden, ‘the brand,’ was the only product the Bidens sold.’

The ‘Third Bank Records Memorandum’ follows two previous memos from the Republican-led committee tying Biden family members to payments linked to entities in China and Romania. The committee says the foreign payments to the Biden family now add up to over $20 million.

The third bank memo, the result of subpoenas of several banks not belonging to members of the Biden family, specifically discusses three of the many firms founded by Hunter Biden: Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC; Rosemont Seneca Thornton, LLC; and Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC.

The committee provided screenshots of bank records they say demonstrate that Baturina, the widow of former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, wired $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton on Feb. 14, 2014. Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner Devon Archer confirmed the payment during his interview last week. 

Then, a total of $2,752,711 was transferred to Rosemont Seneca Bohai, which Hunter co-owned with Archer.

Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it has sanctioned three Sinaloa Cartel members involved in the trafficking of illicit fentanyl into the United States — including one gangster dubbed ‘the Anthrax Monkey.’

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced the sanctioning of three men, who are alleged to be involved in the trafficking of fentanyl — which is primarily created in Mexico and smuggled across the U.S. border. It is tied to over 70,000 overdose deaths a year in the U.S.

In a release, the Treasury said that two of the men worked as ‘plaza bosses’ to manage operations in Tijuana, Mexico, and the surrounding areas and were involved in smuggling large quantities of drugs into the U.S. — as well as being involved in kidnappings and executions.

Also designated was Rafael Guadalupe Felix Nunez, who started as a hitman for the cartel and was part of an armed wing known as ‘Los Antrax.’ Felix Nunez would become known as ‘El Changuito Antrax’ or ‘The Anthrax Monkey.’ He escaped from a Mexican prison in 2017 and remains at large and authorities say he has become a powerful and violent carel leader in Manzanillo.

All three men have their property and interests in the U.S. blocked, and U.S. citizens are barred from having any transactions with them.

The White House noted that the latest actions mean that there have been more than 170 sanctions imposed on drug traffickers as part of a broad agenda to tackle the opioid crisis in the U.S.

‘As part of President Biden’s Unity Agenda, we have now sanctioned more than 170 drug traffickers,’ White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Dr. Rahul Gupta said in a statement. ‘A key driver of the overdose epidemic is drug traffickers and their profits. President Biden has made clear: we will crack down on the illicit drug supply chain at every choke point and make drug trafficking more costly at every step of the way.’

‘These sanctions are coordinated closely with the Government of Mexico and will help strengthen our critical efforts to disrupt global drug trafficking, a key part of our strategy to beat the overdose epidemic and save lives. We will continue to work across all of government to hold drug traffickers accountable for killing Americans,’ he said.

‘Today’s action targets key individuals responsible for facilitating the illicit trafficking of deadly drugs, including fentanyl, into the United States, where it wreaks havoc on our communities,’ Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement. ‘Treasury remains committed to leveraging our tools in support of our whole-of-government effort to aggressively target all aspects of the supply chain and starve these criminal groups of the funding they need to operate.

The majority of the sanctions — 76% — are against two cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation, who are the primary suppliers of the drug into the U.S. Sanctions have increased by 119% over last year’s total, the White House said, and have been made possible through an executive order signed by President Biden that expanded the Treasury’s powers to sanction those involved in the drug trade.

The administration has launched a global coalition to address the threat of fentanyl, including cooperation with countries like Mexico to crack down on smugglers and regulate precursor chemicals. At home, it has been expanding access to drugs to counter overdoses, and seeking additional funding from Congress to support expansion of prevention, treatment and recovery for those addicted — while also expanding the use of technology at the southern land border to detect quantities of the incoming drug.

MANCHESTER, N.H. – EXCLUSIVE: Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took some shots at former President Donald Trump on Wednesday after the latter joked about his weight at a New Hampshire campaign stop.

Speaking with Fox News Digital, Christie dismissed Trump as ‘a child,’ and claimed Trump orchestrated his supposed defense of Christie from an audience member calling the former governor a ‘fat pig.’

‘I know from people who were in the room that they guy never said anything. There was no guy in the audience who yelled out the other name that he called me. He made it up like he always does,’ Christie said. 

‘Look, I’ll make it real easy for Donald Trump. You’re such a big guy, such a tough guy, so full of it. You want me? I’ll be on the stage in Milwaukee two weeks from tonight. I’ll be there waiting for you. You be there, I’ll be there,’ he said, referencing the first Republican presidential debate scheduled for Aug. 23 and hosted by Fox News.

Before allegedly defending Christie against the audience member, Trump mocked his weight during a campaign stump speech in New Hampshire on Tuesday. ‘Christie — he’s eating right now. He can’t be bothered,’ he said as the crowd laughed.

Trump then appeared to jokingly admonish a member of the audience who, according to the former president, called Christie a ‘fat pig.’

‘Sir, please do not call him a fat pig. That’s very disrespectful. Don’t call him — see, I’m trying to be nice,’ Trump said. ‘Don’t call him a fat pig. You can’t do it. You can’t do that. So now, because you’re not allowed to do that, and, therefore, we’re not going to do it, OK? We want to be very civil, right?’

New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday admitted during a press conference that the city’s accommodation of migrants ‘is just not sustainable.’ 

The Democratic mayor noted that, under New York City’s current mandate, anyone can arrive ‘from anywhere on the globe’ and ‘we are supposed to feed, cloth [and] house you as long as you want.’ 

‘That is just not sustainable. It’s not realistic. And so because of that, you are finding people coming from all over the globe,’ Adams said, echoing the complaints of border state governors and local officials who have contended with massive numbers of illegal border crossings during Biden’s presidency. ‘That’s not fair to New York City residents.’ 

Many on social media pointed out that his comments seemed to be at odds with past statements he has made, concerning the plight of migrants. 

In October 2021, Mayor Adams said New York City would ‘remain a sanctuary city’ under his administration. 

A year later, Mayor Adams tweeted: ‘There is a reason that Lady Liberty sits outside of NYC’s harbor.’

‘This is a place where we ensure we live up to the expectations of what it is to be an American, an American citizen, or a country that welcomes those fleeing prosecution and persecution,’ he said. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment. 

Mayor Adams has appealed to the Biden administration for help as thousands of migrants from the southern border continue to arrive in New York City seeking temporary care and shelter. The influx of people has pushed the city towards a budgetary crisis, with expenses projected at more than $12 billion by the end of next year. 

‘Our compassion may be limitless, but our resources are not. This is the budgetary reality we are facing if we don’t get the additional support we need,’ Adams said during his address. ‘New Yorkers did not create an international humanitarian crisis. But our city’s residents have been left to deal with this crisis almost entirely on our own.’ 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently dispatched a small team to New York City to help determine how the federal government should respond.

The federal government has so far promised the city $160 million to help — although the city’s budget director, Jacques Jiha, told reporters that the city has yet to receive a ‘single dollar’ of that money. A city spokesperson later clarified that requests for that money have been made, but the delay could be because of routine bureaucratic reasons.

Since the spring of 2022, nearly 100,000 migrants have arrived in New York City seeking shelter. The US-Mexico border has frequently seen record-breaking numbers of illegal crossings since Biden’s inauguration. 

With the city’s shelters near capacity and more migrants arriving, the crisis is unlikely to abate anytime soon. As of Sunday, the city said it was housing more than 82,000 people, including nearly 30,000 children.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul does not dispute the city needs more money, saying ‘it is far more expensive than anyone had imagined.’

She said she expects to ask lawmakers in Albany to provide another $1 billion to help the city, on top of the $1 billion already allocated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The mayor of Surfside, Florida, apologized during a commission meeting Tuesday, nearly a week after making controversial comments toward one of the commissioners.

Mayor Shlomo Danzinger opened Tuesday’s meeting with remarks about last week’s special commission, saying he found himself grappling with a challenging situation involving one of the commissioners, who was not following the established rules and directions.

‘Maintaining order in our discussion became an arduous task, and in my frustration, I admit, I made a comment which came off as offensive to some people,’ Danzinger said. ‘I deeply regret losing my composure and not choosing my words more carefully.’

During the meeting on Aug. 2, 2023, the commission was discussing changes to the charter, specifically about term limits.

As the discussion took place, Town Commissioner Nelly Velasquez continued to chime in while people were speaking, causing the mayor to snap.

‘Commissioner, please stop interrupting,’ Danzinger told Velasquez, before pausing briefly. ‘OK, does anybody know how to speak Spanish to tell her this? Because I said it like four times.’

The attendees let out an audible gasp as soon as the mayor made his remark. He then picked up the gavel and began banging it.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, I need you to please not interrupt the process here,’ Danzinger said.

Later in the meeting, another item in the charter was discussed, this time about residency.

The mayor sought to enforce the residency requirement of the charter because one of the commissioners was living outside the township.

Velasquez told the mayor the resolution was directed toward her because she sold her house ‘for a very nice amount of money,’ and lived in an apartment.

After selling her house, she said, she entered a lease, so she could finish her term as a commissioner, which expires in 2024.

Velasquez said putting her status as a commissioner up for a vote was ‘discrimination,’ calling the mayor’s actions disgraceful and distasteful.

After going on a rant, Danzinger asked Velasquez to stick to the item on the agenda.

‘Please don’t interrupt me,’ she said.

‘It’s actually my job to maintain…to ensure the discussion up here stays focused,’ the mayor responded. ‘Commissioner, you’ve been talking for six minutes straight. Please get to the point.’

As far as Tuesday’s apology, Danzinger said he never meant for his words to hurt anyone.

‘It is crucial for everyone to understand that my words were never intended to hurt or target any individuals, nationalities or groups,’ he said. ‘Our beloved Florida is a melting pot of cultures and backgrounds, and it’s what makes us truly unique and special.’

Velasquez had a chance to address the mayor’s comments Tuesday, as well.

‘The mayor hasn’t really apologized directly toward me,’ she said, explaining the comment was made to everyone, not her specifically. ‘Thank you for recognizing you made a mistake. I did feel very upset and hurt by his comments, as I am Hispanic and speak perfectly good Spanish and English.’

She said the comments were hurtful and demeaning, adding that she hopes it never happens again.

‘There should be a level of decorum, especially coming from the mayor himself,’ Velasquez said. ‘We need to be able to think before we speak and not have those kinds of outbursts.’

She later walked on a resolution to censure the mayor because of his comments, which was shot down, 3-2.