House Republicans on the House Oversight and Homeland Security Committees are investigating whistleblower claims that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may have retaliated against a top Border Patrol official after testifying to the two committees — a claim that the agency called ‘categorically false.’

‘We write with deep concern that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials may have retaliated against a witness in a Congressional investigation,’ Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., said in a letter to acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller.

The lawmakers say they have received an allegation regarding El Centro Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino. The whistleblower claims that after Bovino concluded a transcribed interview with the committees July 12, he was ‘relieved of his command over the El Centro Sector and reassigned to a vague, indefinite, and temporary headquarters assignment.’

‘The whistleblower indicates that this pattern is consistent with a common CBP practice to get rid of employees perceived as problematic by high-level officials by forcing those employees, out of frustration, to relocate, retire, or resign,’ Comer and Green said in the letter. ‘Given the suspicious timing of the reassignment coinciding with Chief Bovino’s cooperation with a Congressional inquiry, we demand CBP account for the current status of Chief Bovino’s employment and assignment within the U.S. Border Patrol, provide documents and communications relevant to any reassignment and the reasons for any related employment action, and brief the Committee on this matter.’ 

According to the whistleblower, it was not the first time Bovino upset officials. In January, Comer invited Bovino to testify, but he was not permitted. The letter says that the whistleblower claims he produced testimony that was ‘dissatisfactory’ to CBP officials, and for which he was verbally reprimanded by leadership.

After the July 12 interview, lawmakers said Bovino was immediately informed by a senior Border Patrol official ‘that he was relieved of command of the El Centro Sector effective immediately and would thereafter report to CBP headquarters in Washington, D.C. for a temporary duty assignment of indefinite nature and time.’

‘The whistleblower describes that temporary assignment as one of no certain mission, no articulable purpose, and without any timeline of completion,’ Comer and Green wrote.

In their letter to Miller, Comer and Green warned that they would not tolerate any retaliation against congressional witnesses.

‘Any retaliation against witnesses who cooperate with Congressional inquiries will not be tolerated, especially when that retaliation may have been committed by government officials. Additionally, obstruction of Congressional investigations is a crime and will not be tolerated,’ Comer and Green warned.

However, CBP denied the claims of retaliation being made by the whistleblower.

‘This accusation is categorically false,’ a CBP spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘This temporary personnel assignment is entirely unrelated to any Congressional testimony or appearance, and was in process prior to the Chief’s transcribed interview.’

CBP says it is constantly evaluating requirements and resources, including personnel, to position the agency to conduct its mission. Additionally, other sector chiefs have also been temporarily assigned to headquarters in Washington, and that is a reflection of ongoing operational needs. 

Bovino’s reassignment also came amid a major change in leadership across the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as the agencies have been tackling an ongoing crisis at the southern border — and have implemented sweeping changes to coincide with the end of the Title 42 public health order on May 11.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz retired at the end of June and was replaced by Del Rio Sector Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens. The agency also announced that acting Deputy Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Benjamine ‘Carry’ Huffman would retire and be replaced by Executive Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Field Operations Pete Flores. Meanwhile, Yuma and San Diego Sectors have also seen new chief patrol agents. The agency has also highlighted that Bovino was previously detailed to CBP headquarters in 2021.

Beyond CBP, Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tae Johnson retired and was replaced by Patrick Lechleitner. At DHS itself, Deputy Secretary John Tien was replaced by acting Deputy Secretary Kristie Canegallo.

Comer and Green, in their letter to Miller, are requesting all documents and communications related to Bovino’s employment and those related to his appearance as a witness. They also want a briefing before July 28.

The Biden administration unveiled a regulatory proposal late Friday targeting water heaters, the latest in a string of energy efficiency actions cracking down on home appliances.

The Department of Energy (DOE) said its proposal would ultimately ‘accelerate deployment’ of electric heat pump water heaters, save Americans billions of dollars and vastly reduce carbon emissions. If finalized, the proposed standards would force less energy efficient, but cheaper, water heaters off the market.

‘Today’s actions — together with our industry partners and stakeholders — improve outdated efficiency standards for common household appliances, which is essential to slashing utility bills for American families and cutting harmful carbon emissions,’ Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

‘This proposal reinforces the trajectory of consumer savings that forms the key pillar of Bidenomics and builds on the unprecedented actions already taken by this Administration to lower energy costs for working families across the nation,’ she continued.

Overall, the DOE projected the regulations, which are slated to go into effect in 2029, would save Americans about $198 billion while curbing emissions by 501 million metric tons over the next three decades. That’s roughly the same carbon footprint as 63 million homes or half of all homes nationwide.

Under the rule, the federal government would require higher efficiency for heaters using heat pump technology or, in the case of gas-fired water heaters, to achieve efficiency gains through condensing technology. Non-condensing gas-fired water heaters, though, are far cheaper and smaller, meaning they come with lower installation costs.

According to the DOE, water heating accounts for 13% of annual residential energy use and consumer utility costs. 

In addition to water heaters, over the last several months, the DOE has unveiled new standards for a wide variety of other appliances including gas stoves, clothes washers, refrigerators and air conditioners. The agency’s comment period on a separate dishwasher regulatory proposal concluded Tuesday.

According to the current federal Unified Agenda, a government-wide, semiannual list that highlights regulations agencies plan to propose or finalize within the next 12 months, the Biden administration is additionally moving forward with rules impacting dozens more appliances, including consumer furnaces, pool pumps, battery chargers, ceiling fans and dehumidifiers.

The Biden administration boasted in December that it had taken 110 actions on energy efficiency rules in 2022 alone as part of its climate agenda.

The DOE said Friday that, altogether, its appliance regulations will save Americans $570 billion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2.4 billion metric tons over the next 30 years.

However, consumer groups and experts have criticized the administration over its aggressive energy efficiency campaign. They have argued the new regulations will reduce consumer choice and increase costs for Americans.

‘It’s just spreading to more and more appliances. It seems that almost everything that plugs in or fires up around the house is either subject to a pending regulation or soon will be,’ Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, previously told Fox News Digital.

‘Consumers aren’t going to like any of it,’ he added. ‘These rules are almost always bad for consumers for the simple reason that they restrict consumer choice.’ 

An Alabama Department of Education employee who formerly chaired a pro-life group in the state has been fired after he was arrested and charged with sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12.

Marty Decole Wagner, 32, was indicted by a Montgomery grand jury on June 30 and arrested Wednesday, according to court documents and local media reports. His arrest came after he allegedly subjected a child under the age of 12 to ‘sexual contact.’

‘The allegations against Mr. Wagner are serious, tragic and shocking,’ the Alabama State Department of Education said in a statement Thursday. ‘While he was employed by our department for only a few months, Mr. Wagner has been terminated effective immediately. No further information is available at this time as the investigation is ongoing.’

Wagner, according to Alabama Political Reporter, had been employed by the state department of education in government relations up until his arrest.

In 2018, the outlet reported that Wagner had been selected to chair the anti-abortion committee Alliance for a Pro-Life Alabama, working ‘with a variety of Republican lawmakers and rightwing organizations to raise money and garner sponsorship.’

‘The Alliance for a Pro-Life Alabama is tasked with educating voters about the constitutional amendment and providing them with accurate and truthful information while, at the same time, refuting falsehoods and misinformation that may be disseminated by pro-abortion forces within the state,’ Wagner said at the time, according to the outlet.

Following his arrest, Wagner was released on a $60,000 bond.

In Alabama, sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12 is classified as a Class B felony and carries a potential prison sentence of two to twenty years. The charge also carries a potential fine of up to $30,000.

President Biden made a bold prediction in the early 1990s that he would be ‘dead and gone’ by 2020 — the year he actually ran against then-President Donald Trump in the presidential election.

The remarks from Biden came in 1991 during a speech at the Detroit College of Law amid his tenure as a U.S. senator from Delaware — a post he held for more than 35 years.

Speaking to law students at the time about the importance of selecting Supreme Court justices, Biden, who was around 50 at the time, said, ‘The decision will affect what happens in this country long after Senator Biden is gone, long after President Bush is gone, long after President Reagan’s administrations are forgotten.’

‘If they live — if Justice [David] Souter, God willing, lives as long as the average age of the court now, he’ll be making landmark decisions in the year 2020. I’ll be dead and gone in all probability,’ added then-Sen. Biden, who will turn 81 this November.

Biden’s comments in the footage, which was resurfaced by the New York Post, revealed that he was wrong on both counts. Souter — after nearly 20 years of service to the high court — retired in 2009, and Biden is still alive today.

Should Biden win re-election next year, he will be 86 by the end of his second term in office. With his age being on the minds of Americans, Biden has faced concerns over his ability to lead the nation — some from his own party even — as he grows older.

Last year, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, a Democrat, suggested it is time for Biden to gracefully retire.

‘I think he’s done a wonderful job of being the bridge that he promised to be,’ Phillips told the Wall Street Journal. ‘The issue is that it is just time for a new generation of leaders to participate.’

‘You can see the differences between how he used to be and how he is now,’ Liano Sharon, a Democratic National Committee delegate told the outlet, adding that Biden has ‘lost a step.’

Biden, amid numerous gaffes and mishaps, admitted last October that questions about his age are ‘totally legitimate.’

‘I think it’s a legitimate thing to be concerned about anyone’s age, including mine. That’s totally legitimate. But I think the best way to make the judgment is to, you know, watch me. Am I slowing up? Am I – don’t have the same pace?’ Biden said in an interview with MSNBC.

Earlier this month, during a trip to Lithuania to shore up support for Ukraine amid its war with Russia, Biden committed multiple speaking gaffes, including confusing the two nations and their leaders.

Biden referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as ‘Vladmir,’ seemingly confusing Zelenskyy with Russian President Vladmir Putin.

Appearing not to realize his mistake, Biden went on to say he ‘shouldn’t be so familiar,’ and referred to Zelenskyy as ‘Mr. Zelenskyy.’

At a later speaking event following the summit, Biden confused the two nations, referring to Ukraine as Russia.

‘Russia could end this war tomorrow by withdrawing its forces from Ukraine and recognizing its international borders and ceasing its attacks – its inhumane attacks — on Russia — I mean by Russia on Ukraine,’ Biden said, correcting himself.

In a different interview with the outlet in May, Biden attempted to ease concerns about his age by framing his 80 years of life experience as a positive rather than a negative.

‘Because I have acquired a hell of a lot of wisdom,’ Biden told MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle when he was asked ‘why an 82-year-old Biden’ would be the ‘right person for the most important job in the world’ in 2024.

‘I know more than the vast majority of people. I’m more experienced than anybody who has ever run for the office and I think I’ve proven myself to be honorable as well as also effective,’ he said at the time.

Biden is the oldest person ever to hold the office of president, and he will be nearly 82 on Election Day in 2024.

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom, Andrew Mark Miller, and Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.

A month before he died in April 1994, former President Richard Nixon wrote a letter to then-President Bill Clinton offering what Clinton later called ‘wise counsel, especially with regard to Russia.’ The contents of that letter have now been declassified by the Clinton presidential library and appear prophetic.

In the seven-page letter, dated March 21, 1994, and discussed by history professor Luke Nichter in the Wall Street Journal, Nixon gave a blunt assessment of the political situation in Russia, predicting accurately that relations between Moscow and Kyiv would deteriorate and that someone like Putin could come to power. Nixon, 81 at the time, wrote the letter after he returned from a two-week trip to Russia and Ukraine. 

While the former president is infamous for departing the White House amid scandal in 1974, his legacy includes being the architect of détente with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In 1972, Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit Moscow, where he signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. Nixon spent the years following his presidency taking foreign trips on behalf of the United States and offering counsel based on decades of experience to guide U.S. policy in the post-Cold War era. 

Nixon considered the survival of political and economic freedom in Russia ‘the most important foreign policy issue the nation will face for the balance of this century.’ With that understanding, he told Clinton that based on what he saw in Russia, a fledgling democracy under former Russian President Boris Yeltsin was in danger. 

‘As one of Yeltsin’s first supporters in this country and as one who continues to admire him for his leadership in the past, I have reluctantly concluded that his situation has rapidly deteriorated since the elections in December, and that the days of his unquestioned leadership of Russia are numbered,’ Nixon wrote. ‘His drinking bouts are longer and his periods of depression are more frequent. Most troublesome, he can no longer deliver on his commitments to you and other Western leaders in an increasingly anti-American environment in the Duma and in the country.’

Nixon foresaw that relations between Russia and Ukraine would dissolve. He called the situation in Ukraine ‘highly explosive.’ 

‘If it is allowed to get out of control,’ Nixon told Clinton, ‘it will make Bosnia look like a PTA garden party.’ 

The former president advised Clinton to strengthen American diplomatic representation in Kyiv, recounting conversations with American businessmen who complained that the embassy was ‘understaffed and inadequately led.’ 

Nixon also urged Clinton to develop relationships with Yeltsin’s potential successors. ‘Bush made a mistake in sticking too long to Gorbachev because of his close personal relationship. You must avoid making that same mistake in your very good personal relationship with Yeltsin,’ he wrote. 

He was unsure who would rise to power next. ‘There is still no one who is in Yeltsin’s class as a potential leader in Russia,’ Nixon wrote. He informed Clinton that a nationalist and populist tide in Russia could produce a ‘credible candidate for president’ — a mere five years before Putin’s Russian nationalist regime took hold. 

‘The Russians are serious people. One of the reasons Khrushchev was put on the shelf back in 1964 is that the proud Russians became ashamed of his crude antics at the U.N. and in other international forums,’ Nixon wrote.

The letter also reveals some of Nixon’s dislike for career diplomats. ‘I learned during my years in the White House that the best decisions I made, such as the one to go to China in 1972, were made over the objections of or without the approval of most foreign service officers,’ he wrote. Nixon advised Clinton to chart his own course and not to be held back by his staff. ‘Remember that foreign service officers get to the top by not getting into trouble. They are therefore more interested in covering their asses than in protecting yours.’

Clinton in later years would remember Nixon’s advice fondly. ‘After he died, I found myself wishing I could pick up the phone and ask President Nixon what he thought about this issue or that problem, particularly if it involved Russia,’ he said in 2013. 

A previous senior adviser to former President Barack Obama is warning Democrats about a potential threat to President Biden’s re-election campaign from third-party candidates like Cornel West, a 2024 Green Party presidential candidate.

David Axelrod, who served as a top adviser to Obama for two years in the White House before becoming the senior strategist for Obama’s successful 2012 re-election campaign, is questioning ‘why alarm bells aren’t going off’ for Democrats amid mounting concern over West’s candidacy in the race.

Ever since he announced last month he would make a run for the White House as a third-party candidate, West, a progressive activist and philosopher, has largely been dismissed by Democrats as a serious candidate as they work to shore up support for Biden ahead of the 2024 election.

Axelrod, however, insists Democrats should be taking challenges like West’s to the incumbent president seriously.

‘This is going to sneak up on people,’ Axelrod, a CNN political commentator, said this week. ‘I don’t know why alarm bells aren’t going off now, and they should be at a steady drumbeat from now until the election.’

Similar to Axelrod, Pennsylvania Democratic Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said his party ‘should be concerned’ about the implications of West’s candidacy.

‘We should be concerned. I don’t think time’s necessarily on our side. The longer these things hang out there, the worse it tends to get,’ said Davis, according to CNN. ‘We should try to deal with it rather quickly if we can.’

Davis also noted that conversations about West, thus far, have been among insiders rather than voters, the outlet reported.

The mounting concerns from within the party come amid West’s targeting of Biden on numerous issues in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, West told Fox News his third-party bid is as ‘serious as a heart attack’ and doubled down on comments he made drawing into question Biden’s compassion for the Black community.

Criticizing Biden’s past relationships with segregationist Democratic senators, West mentioned Biden’s praise for former Mississippi Sen. John Stennis, namesake of the NASA Space Center near Kiln, Mississippi. In 2008, Biden reportedly called his fellow Democrat ‘a hell of a guy.’

More recently, Biden regaled supporters at a 2019 fundraiser of his time working with Stennis’ fellow Mississippian James Eastland and then-Sen. Herman Talmadge, D-Ga., who supported segregation.

‘I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland. He never called me ‘boy.’ He always called me ‘son’,’ Biden quipped of the senator who once warned against ‘mongrelization.’ 

Biden was rebuked at the time by fellow Democrat Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who said in a statement obtained by the Daily Mail, ‘You don’t joke about calling Black men ‘boys.”

On ‘Hannity,’ West confirmed he is accusing Biden of ‘crimes against humanity’ against African Americans, as reported by the New York Post.

When Hannity asked West about minority voters continuing to largely support the Democratic Party, which West said is as broken as the GOP, the professor responded that both former President Donald Trump and Biden are flawed on racial issues and both parties are tied to ‘big money’ and corruption.

‘This is true for Republicans, is true for Democrats. [I’m] talking about Brother Trump himself. And Biden’s connection to Stennis. Biden’s connection to [ex-South Carolina Democrat-turned-Republican Sen.] Strom Thurmond. We know Brother Trump’s own father’s been tied to the Klan and of Trump’s language about Black people,’ said West.

During the same interview, West criticized the handling of the White House cocaine incident, which Hannity noted was closed quickly. West agreed that a West administration would not see the same purported deferential treatment in the form of such an accelerated conclusion if drugs were found there.

‘For my White House — and I’ve told my people, I’m not even going to the White House until every American citizen has a house — I want to abolish poverty, abolish homelessness. I want jobs with a living wage,’ he said at the time.

Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump on Friday vowed to pursue the death penalty for human traffickers and to revive a now-defunct immigration measure to combat child trafficking, if he’s re-elected to the White House.

‘I will use Title 42 to end the child trafficking crisis by returning all trafficked children to their families in their home countries, without delay,’ Trump said in a new campaign video posted on social media. ‘And I will urge Congress to ensure that anyone caught trafficking children across our border receives the death penalty immediately.’

The Title 42 public health order was implemented by the Trump administration, allowing border officials to expel migrants without granting them an asylum hearing in order to limit the spread of COVID-19. Biden rescinded the policy earlier this year.

Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, touted his record as president for improving the security of the southern border and lambasted the Biden administration for overseeing a surge of illegal immigration into the U.S.

‘When I’m back in the White House, I will immediately end the Biden border nightmare that traffickers are using to exploit vulnerable women and children,’ said Trump. ‘We will fully secure the border. I will wage war on the cartels just as I destroyed the ISIS caliphate, 100% gone, 100% destroyed.’

Trump’s comments came after he hosted a screening of the hit film ‘Sound of Freedom’ at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, this week. He promoted and encouraged others to see the movie, which chronicles former Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard’s efforts to rescue trafficked children. Ballard, his wife, producer Eduardo Verastegui, and lead actor Jim Caviezel all attended the screening.

While the film has enjoyed success at the box office, some liberal media outlets derided the project as associated with QAnon, a right-wing community that has been accused of buying into fringe conspiracy theories. The movie has sparked discussions about the prevalence of human trafficking in the U.S. and other countries and what can be done to combat it.

‘Under my leadership we did more than any other administration in history to combat human trafficking and to end modern-day slavery,’ said Trump, who cited relevant executive orders and legislation he signed, such as the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Re-authorization Act and the Abolish Human Trafficking Act. ‘Together we will end the scourge of human trafficking, and we will defend the dignity of human life.’

Trump’s latest campaign proposal for human traffickers came about a month after he advocated for imposing the death penalty on convicted drug dealers, during an interview with Fox News.

Republican lawmakers in Alabama chose Friday to increase the percentage of Black voters — from 31% to 40% — in the state’s second district rather than creating a Black majority following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The court recently upheld a lower court ruling from a three-judge panel that said the state must create a second majority-Black district or ‘something quite close to it’ so that Black voters ‘have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.’

Alabama only has one majority-Black district out of seven, while Black people make up 27% of the state. 

Republicans argued that the new district map complies with the order because it increases Black influence. 

ALABAMA REPUBLICANS’ REDISTRICTING PROPOSAL IS AN INSULT XTO THE SUPREME COURT, BLACK LAWMAKERS SAY 

‘We also took into consideration not racially gerrymandering our maps,’ Republican House Speaker Pro Tempore Chris Pringle said.

But critics said it invoked the history of Jim Crow laws meant to suppress the Black vote. 

‘There’s no opportunity there for anybody other than a White Republican to win that district,’ Democratic state Sen. Rodger Smitherman, said. ‘It will never, ever elect a Democrat. They won’t elect a Black. They won’t elect a minority.’ 

Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bill late Friday.

Last year, the panel ruled that the state’s legislative map likely violated the Voting Rights Act, which the Supreme Court upheld. 

‘Let’s be clear: The Alabama Legislature believes it is above the law,’ the plaintiffs who won the Supreme Court case — and who have vowed to continue to fight if the map is passed — said. ‘What we are dealing with is a group of lawmakers who are blatantly disregarding not just the Voting Rights Act, but a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court and a court order from the three-judge district court.’

SUPREME COURT LIFTS PAUSE ON LOUISIANA REDISTRICTING CASE THAT COULD BOOST BLACK VOTING POWER 

Smitherman said he believes state Republicans are hoping the Supreme Court will vote in favor of the state in the next round. The court narrowly voted 5-4 against the state. 

‘I have people in my district saying their vote doesn’t count, and I understand why they say that,’ state Democratic Rep. Thomas Jackson said during debate Friday. ‘The person they want to elect can never get elected because they are in the minority all the time.’

A leading GOP lawmaker said the Senate proposal places heavier emphasis on a district’s shape and keeping communities together than on racial composition.

‘How do we keep those communities together, how do they wind up being recognized as communities of interest? That’s a big decision,’ Republican Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Reed. 

The debate in Alabama is being closely watched across the nation, and could be mirrored in fights in Louisiana, Georgia, Texas and other states.

–>

There are weeks on Capitol Hill where one story dominates.

Last week it was the defense bill.

But when the former President of the United States appears headed toward another indictment, you know what prevails.

IN THE SENATE, TIME IS PARAMOUNT

This is just not former President Trump duking it out with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Nor is this Mr. Trump facing prosecution over his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

This is a likely indictment connected to the riot at the Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

And even though former President Trump hasn’t been in office in two-and-a-half-years, he still manages to command nearly every cubic centimeter of news oxygen and political conversations on Capitol Hill.

Word of additional legal action followed a familiar script on Capitol Hill. Many of Mr. Trump’s fiercest loyalists rushing to defend him. Then there were a few Republicans spinning or slightly distancing themselves from former President Trump. Democrats – per usual – went all in, excoriating the former President.

‘It’s absolute bull—-,’ proclaimed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., one of Mr. Trump’s closest allies. ‘This is the only way the Democrats have to beat President Trump is to arrest him. Smear him. Charge him with ridic, useless charges. All they want is a coverup of Joe Biden’s crimes. Hunter Biden’s crimes.’

Greene said that the American justice system was ‘worse than some of the most corrupt, third world countries.’ She then proclaimed that Mr. Trump ‘is proven innocent time and time and time again and he’ll be proven innocent again.’

And now for a diametrically-opposed view from the Democrats.

‘There will be criminal accountability for everybody who committed crimes against the government,’ said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. ‘We’re talking about a violent insurrection, surrounding an insider, political coup. This is a matter of the utmost pressing urgency to the American people to make sure we never relive something like that.’

‘The President was a central figure in an effort to overturn an election. An effort to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in our history,’ said Mr. Trump’s nemesis, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Schiff served on the House’s panel investigating the 2021 riot at the Capitol. However, the California Democrat wondered why it may have taken so long to target the former President.

‘They moved quickly when it came to those who broke into this building behind us and assaulted police officers. But it seemed like almost a year, if not more, before they started looking at those who did the organizing. Did the inciting. Those who conspired to defraud the American people.’

Schiff then suggested that the 1/6 committee ‘unearthed evidence that the Justice Department could not ignore.’

HOUSE REPUBLICANS NARROWLY PASS CONTROVERSIAL DEFENSE BILL

That said, there was consternation at one point by prosecutors that the 1/6 committee wasn’t helpful in providing information to the DoJ for potential criminal probes.

In fact, much of the week in Congress was about 2024 – even though it didn’t appear to be about 2024.

The House Oversight Committee heard from two senior IRS whistleblowers who claim that Hunter Biden should have faced felony charges over his tax returns rather than a misdemeanor as part of his plea deal.

‘They were recommending for approval, felony and misdemeanor charges for the 2017, ‘18 and ‘19 tax years. That did not happen here. And I am not sure why,’ testified IRS agent Joseph Ziegler.

Democrats said the IRS whistleblowers weren’t responsible for deciding who is prosecuted and what charges they may face. Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss said he had the ultimate authority to bring charges. But the whistleblowers – and many Republicans – believe pressure from above handcuffed prosecutors.

‘We’ve got the two best agents in the place on the case,’ said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. ‘And then, ‘Shazam!’ Something changes.’

At one point in the hearing, Greene warned everyone that ‘viewer discretion was advised.’ She then displayed lewd poster boards of Hunter Biden in compromising positions.

‘It’s very serious that Hunter Biden was paying this woman through his law firm and then writing it off as business tax exemptions,’ said Greene.

Republicans claim that Hunter Biden’s tax issues and overseas business dealings are connected to President Biden and demonstrate rampant corruption. But before the hearing, Raskin predicted that no matter what the GOP did, they wouldn’t demonstrate wrongdoing by the President.

This is why the hearing oozed with 2024 presidential politics. Democrats contend the GOP only held the hearing to target the President.

‘I think (House Oversight Committee) Chairman (James) Comer, R-Ky., might have to fill out a FEC form as an in-kind contribution to the Trump campaign based on what’s going on in this hearing,’ proclaimed Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.

But amid the looming indictment for former President Trump, Republicans said the hearing only underscored two standards of justice in the U.S. One for the Bidens. Another for Mr. Trump.

‘The DoJ, the FBI and the IRS have worked to not only protect the criminal actions of the Biden family, but to continue persecuting President Trump,’ said Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C.

The intensity of that rhetoric will only grow once the feds formally indict the President. The extent of the indicment and what it alleges about Mr. Trump’s actions related to the election and the riot will amplify the invective the GOP hurls at prosecutors and the Biden Administration. And what Democrats say about the former President and Republicans.

This is why some Republicans now want to expunge the two impeachments of former President Trump. However, it’s far from clear that the House would ever consider such a resolution – let alone have the votes to approve such an expungement.

That said, Republicans presented a big platform this week to Mr. Biden’s top 2024 challenger, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy testified at a hearing about censorship and the weaponization of government.

‘This committee has come to embody weaponization itself,’ said Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., characterized RFK Jr. as ‘a living, breathing, false flag operation’ for his views on the pandemic.

Kennedy drew criticism for declaring that COVID-19 was ‘engineered’ in a way to grant immunity to persons of Chinese and European Jewish descent.

However, there’s a House Oversight Committee hearing scheduled next Wednesday on UFO’s. Perhaps that’s the only subject which could upstage the prospective indictment of the former President.