Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, criticized President Joe Biden’s climate czar John Kerry for his trip to China to revive climate ‘cooperation’ amid controversy over his private jet use. 

‘Once again, Joe Biden’s climate czar jets off across the world burning the same fossil fuels he rages against, wasting taxpayer dollars, and undermining U.S. strength on the world stage,’ Ernst told Fox News Digital Tuesday. ‘While his head is stuck in the clouds, John Kerry needs a reminder that fossil fuels are not the enemy, China is.

‘The CCP is seeking to undermine the U.S. at every turn, but the Biden administration continues to bow to Beijing, the world’s largest polluter, and give lip service to the greenies,’ she said.

Kerry, who arrived in China Sunday for ‘in-depth’ talks on climate change with the country’s communist government, came under scrutiny last week by House Republicans for his and his family’s private jet use that allegedly has a 325-metric-ton carbon footprint. 

Kerry defended himself, arguing his use of a private jet is ‘one of the most outrageously persistent lies that I hear’ and that he never ‘personally’ owned a jet. A spokesperson for Kerry said Monday he had returned to China using a ‘commercial’ flight but didn’t elaborate on details.

Ernst spoke to Fox News Digital ahead of her remarks at a conference by grassroots group Christians United for Israel in Washington, D.C., where she discussed bipartisan efforts to strengthen U.S.-Israel ties.

This week, the Senate will take up the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Ernst, the Maritime Act. That measure would build on the Abraham Accords by requiring the Department of Defense to develop a strategy with U.S. partners and allies in the Middle East to counter maritime threats posed by Iran, violent extremist organizations and criminal networks.

Ernst argued that an integrated maritime security architecture would expand U.S. intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance (ISR) capabilities, as well as operational coordination in the region to defend against shared threats.

‘We’ve already acted on air supports making sure that we have an integrated air and missile defense system,’ Ernst said. ‘We want to do the same with the water domain as well, and making sure that all of our allies and partners with the Abraham Accords can come together and share information that will protect us not just from the air, but now from the water as well.’

Ernst, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, also criticized the Biden administration’s ‘weak leadership’ for not enforcing sanctions on Iran despite the country’s seizure of oil tankers.

‘We have such a weak leadership with President Biden right now that we have seen an increase in Iranian oil tanker seizures, 20 attempts during this administration,’ Ernst said. ‘And it’s inexcusable. We need to see action from the Biden administration to counter those seizures. And yet, President Biden won’t even stand up and follow his own oil sanctions against Iran.’

 BIPARTISAN GROUP OF LAWMAKERS DEMANDS BIDEN SEIZE IRANIAN OIL AND GAS SHIPMENTS, ENFORCE TRUMP-ERA PROGRAM

In April, Ernst and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sent a letter to Biden arguing that Iran’s oil sales remain a key revenue source for the regime to promote a destabilizing agenda and bolster terrorist groups. Despite available funding from the Treasury Department, the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) seizure program has not been able to conduct a seizure for two of the past three years the program has existed.

‘When HSI seizes and processes Iranian oil, 75% of seizure revenues are allocated to the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund. It is unacceptable that a U.S. government program, which makes the United States and its allies safer, provides funds to remediate the victims of terrorism, and generates income for the United States in a cost-effective manner has been allowed to languish,’ the senators wrote.

The United States is reportedly planning to send Ukraine another $1.3 billion in military aid as it continues a counteroffensive against Russia.

The weapons package includes air defenses, counter-drone systems, exploding drones and ammunition, Reuters reported, citing two unnamed U.S. officials. 

Weapons manufacturers will provide the arms purchased by the United States to Kyiv through President Biden’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) program, so U.S. weapons stocks will not be depleted.  

Among the systems and ammunition the U.S. plans to buy for Kyiv are counter-air defenses made by L3Harris Technologies called the Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment or VAMPIRE, Reuters reported.

Also included are two different types of loitering munitions, the Phoenix Ghost drone made by Aevex Aerospace, a private company in California, and the Switchblade, made by AeroVironment Inc.

Another person briefed on the matter told Reuters that Ukraine will get a significant number of counter-drone systems manufactured by Australia’s DroneShield Ltd., along with radars, sensors and analysis systems. 

Reached for comment, a Defense Department official declined to confirm the report.

‘We’ve seen those reports, but we don’t have any security assistance announcements to make at this time,’ said Marine Corps Lt. Col. Garron J. Garn.

Reuters reports that an announcement about additional security assistance is imminent. Coinciding with the report Tuesday is a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contract Group, a gathering of allies providing assistance to Kyiv as Ukraine presses its counteroffensive against Russia.

The Pentagon has sent more than $10.8 billion in security assistance for Ukraine under Biden’s USAI program in seven separate installments. This reported package would be the eighth, bringing the total to $12.1 billion.

Garn told Fox News Digital that as of June 22, there is an additional $1.7 billion in the fiscal 2023 Presidential Drawdown Authority that has not yet been committed to Ukraine, in addition to USAI and the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing funding.

There is currently $1.9 billion remaining in fiscal year 2023 USAI funds, according to the Defense Department.

In total, the United States has committed more than $42 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Biden took office, including more than $41.3 billion since Russia began its invasion last year. That assistance includes more than 2,000 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, more than 10,000 Javelin anti-armor systems, more than 70,000 other anti-armor systems and munitions, 198 155 mm howitzers with more than 2 million 155 mm artillery rounds, as well as rockets, tactical support vehicles, mortar systems and medical supplies.

Reuters contributed to this report.

SALEM, N.H. – The super PAC supporting Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination says it shell out $40 million to reserve TV and digital ad time that will run through January, when the first votes in the GOP primaries and caucuses are cast.

TIM PAC highlights that the spots in the ad blitz will start running on Sept. 7 in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — which hold the first three contests in the Republican nominating calendar. The super PAC shared its announcement first on Tuesday with Fox News and a handful of other news organizations.

Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate and a rising star in the GOP, has been spotlighting an uplifting conservative message as he seeks his party’s presidential nomination. Scott formally announced his candidacy for the White House on May 22, and has been making multiple campaign stops Iowa and New Hampshire as well as in his home state. 

TIM PAC’s announcement came as Scott spent a jam-packed day on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, culminating with a town hall in Salem. The senator arrived in the state as a new poll indicated he was in third place in New Hampshire’s GOP presidential primary, with 8% support. Scott trailed former President Donald Trump (37%) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (23%) in the survey.

Scott is also in the single digits in the latest polls in Iowa. Scott, who cruised to re-election last November to what he has said will be his final six-year term in the Senate, is courting evangelical Christian voters, who play an outsized role in GOP politics in Iowa and his home state.

Asked about his edging up in the poll, Scott said in Fox Digital interview ahead of his New Hampshire town hall that ‘people want to hear common sense and common-sense conservatism is the path to another American century. We’re excited that the enthusiasm that we’re feeling on the ground is being reflected in the latest polls.’

And he stressed that he and his campaign are going to ‘keep doing what we’re doing. It’s working. So we have to continue to show up. Continue to have the resources to put on TV.’

The senator, who’s also known for his fundraising prowess, entered July with a very healthy $21 million in his campaign coffers, according to his fundraising filing with the Federal Election Commission.

TIM PAC noted that their new ad spending comes on the heels of an announced $7.25 million TV and digital ad blitz that launched in May and is scheduled to run through August. And they touted that they’re the first outside group to make a major ad reservation for the months leading up to the primary and caucus calendar.

‘Tim Scott is going to be the Republican nominee because his love of America, conservative vision and life story resonate with voters. Our supporters know that Tim is the biggest threat to Joe Biden and the far left because Tim’s life story and accomplishments undermine decades of Democrat lies about America,’ super PAC co-chair Rob Collins argued.

Collins emphasized that ‘this initial ad reservation allows us to lock-in the best inventory, times and locations at the lowest cost for any outside group in the 2024 race.  As prices sky-rocket in the coming weeks, we will have a stable plan that will allow us to efficiently communicate our message, conduct a well-rounded campaign and better manage our cash.’

The group also spotlighted their grassroots outreach programs in all three early states, including a multi-touch field program conducting door-to-door canvassing, direct mail, and text messaging. The super PAC says it has nearly a dozen paid staffers and nearly 100 canvassers knocking doors in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin filed a brief with the Supreme Court Tuesday asking the high court to reinstate the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a 303-mile natural gas pipeline under construction.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act, a bill that suspended the limit on federal debt through early 2025 and was signed by President Biden in early June, included a provision automatically approving any outstanding federal environmental permits for the MVP, which runs from West Virginia to Virginia. However, last week, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay blocking the pipeline’s construction from proceeding.

‘I was proud to help ensure that the Mountain Valley Pipeline would finally be completed through ratification and approval of the project’s permits without further judicial review in the Fiscal Responsibility Act,’ Manchin said in a statement. 

‘But, yet again, this vital energy infrastructure project has been put on hold by the Fourth Circuit despite the new law clearly stating that the Fourth Circuit no longer has this authority.

‘We cannot let this continue any longer,’ he added. ‘It’s a shame when members of Congress have to ask the Supreme Court to intervene to maintain the credibility of the laws that we have passed and the President has signed, but I am confident that the Court will uphold our laws and allow construction of MVP to resume.’

In addition to guaranteeing permits for the MVP project, the Fiscal Responsibility Act included language transferring the jurisdiction for judicial review from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The language was included as a result of the appeals panel’s history of striking down key permits for the project.

The legislation specifically states the D.C. Circuit Court ‘shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction over any claim alleging the invalidity’ of the provision approving MVP. 

On Friday, the pipeline’s developer asked the Supreme Court to vacate the stay issued by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court then set a deadline of early next week for plaintiffs, a coalition of environmental groups, to respond.

In his brief, Manchin highlighted that Section 324 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act greenlighted the project and changed its jurisdiction.

‘Section 324 changes the law governing completion of the pipeline,’ he stated in the brief. ‘It supersedes the statutes pursuant to which the agency authorizations being contested in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals were issued, and it replaces them with a new law mandating federal agencies to issue and maintain the authorizations necessary to complete the pipeline.

‘Enactment of section 324 moots the cases pending in the Fourth Circuit and deprives it of jurisdiction to grant the stays the Applicant is asking this Court to vacate,’ Manchin added. ‘Section 324 is a valid Act of Congress and should be given legal effect.’

According to Equitrans Midstream, the pipeline’s developer, MVP will transport about 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from West Virginia to consumers in the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic. The pipeline is projected to generate $40 million in new tax revenue for West Virginia, $10 million in new tax revenue for Virginia and up to $250 million in royalties for West Virginia landowners.

Louisiana’s Republican-majority House voted Tuesday to override the Democrat governor’s veto on a bill that bans sex reassignment surgeries and treatments for minors.

The state House of Representatives voted, 75-23, to override Gov. John Bel Edwards’ veto and reinstate House Bill 648, or the Stop Harming Our Kids Act, which would prohibit doctors in Louisiana from performing gender-reassignment surgeries and prescribing or administering hormones and puberty blockers to minors.

The override needs at least 26 votes in the state Senate to pass.

Republican state Rep. Gabe Firment, who sponsored the bill, previously described the bill to Fox News Digital as ‘veto-proof’ due to GOP majorities in both chambers.

‘Thanks to the bi-partisan support of the Louisiana State Senate, we are one step closer to protecting children in Louisiana from experimental chemical and surgical sex change procedures. HB648 has passed both chambers of the state legislature with veto-proof majorities, and the people of Louisiana have made it clear that our children are worth fighting for,’ Firment said in a statement.

Edwards vetoed the bill on June 29, writing in his veto message that the bill tramples on ‘parental rights’ and ‘denies healthcare to a very small, unique, and vulnerable group of children.’

Edwards said sex-change surgeries on minors are not occurring in his state and that the bill is being fueled not by evidence of a growing problem but by ‘propaganda and misinformation generated by national interest groups.’

The governor also handed down vetoes on HB 81, which would require educators to use students’ pronouns associated with their sex at birth, and HB 466, which would ban discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in K-12 classrooms.

The House failed on a 67-29 vote to override Edwards’ veto of HB 81 Tuesday, The Advocate newspaper reported.

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis staunchly defended former President Donald Trump ahead of what could be a possible third indictment of the latter by the Department of Justice.

DeSantis pushed back on the notion Trump should be ‘held accountable’ if there is evidence he committed a crime by attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, telling CNN during a Tuesday interview that it’s ‘wrong’ for the country to go ‘down the road of criminalizing political differences.’

‘Alvin Bragg stretched a statute in Manhattan to be able to try to target Donald Trump. Most people, even people on the left, acknowledge if that wasn’t Trump, that case would not have likely been brought against a normal civilian,’ DeSantis said. 

‘And so you have a situation where the Department of Justice, FBI have been weaponized against people they don’t like. And the number one example of that happened to be against Donald Trump with the Russia collusion. That was not a legitimate investigation that was being done to try to drive Trump out of office,’ he said. 

DeSantis declared if he were to be elected president, he would ‘restore a single standard of justice to end weaponization’ of the DOJ and FBI, and that he would find a new FBI director ‘on day one.’

He added there would also be ‘big changes’ at the DOJ so Americans, no matter which political party they belonged, would have confidence decisions were being made based on the rule of law. 

‘This country needs to have a debate about the country’s future. If I’m the nominee, we’ll be able to focus on President Biden’s failures, and I’ll be able to articulate a positive vision for the future. I don’t think it serves us good to have a presidential election focused on what happened four years ago in January,’ DeSantis said. 

‘I want to focus on looking forward. I don’t want to look back. I do not want to see him – I hope he doesn’t get charged. I don’t think it’ll be good for the country. But at the same time, I’ve got to focus on looking forward. And that’s what we’re going to do,’ he added.

Host Jake Tapper pressed DeSantis on possible charges against Trump, asking if he meant that the former president shouldn’t be charged regardless of whether he committed any crimes.

‘What I’m saying is, when you’re going after somebody on the other side of the political spectrum, if you’re stretching statutes to try to criminalize maybe political disagreements, that is wrong,’ DeSantis responded. 

He argued if one side didn’t like someone on the other over political differences, they should defeat them in an election rather than try using the justice system.

‘We don’t know what’s going to happen, but I can tell you with the Bragg one, that was stretching criminal law. The evidence of criminality was very weak. And even if that existed, other people would not have been charged under those circumstances. That’s the problem,’ DeSantis said.

Trump confirmed in a Tuesday social media post that he has been informed he’s a target of a probe into the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

A government source with direct knowledge of the federal investigation into Trump told Fox News that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office sent Trump a target letter, which Trump confirmed in his post.

The development indicates that another indictment of Trump could be looming in the near future.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

A grand jury indicted Ohio state Rep. Bob Young on misdemeanor domestic violence and assault charges Tuesday — but he has no plans to resign.

Following a fundraising party earlier this month, the Republican lawmaker struck his wife in the face and threw her cellphone into a pool to keep her from calling 911, according to a Summit County sheriff’s report. Their young daughter witnessed the incident.

Young’s wife then sought ‘safe haven’ in Young’s brother’s home after the alleged assault, according to the report. Young followed her and attempted to enter his brother’s home without permission. As the brother tried to keep him from coming in, Young charged him, and during a struggle, fell through a glass door, the report stated.

Neither Young nor his lawyer returned messages seeking comment. He is subject to several protection orders, meaning he cannot be near or make contact with his wife or her brother, according to court documents.

In an emailed statement, Young asserted that he loves his family but that his ‘life has been very stressful lately.’

‘My behavior, while not criminal, was inappropriate and out of character. I apologize to everyone involved.’ Young said in the statement following the misdemeanor charges.

The lawmaker also said he will continue his position as lawmaker, despite calls from his party’s leader, House Speaker Jason Stephens, to resign.

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Billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who helped rehab convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s image and visited his island, has assisted California Democrat Will Rollins’ candidacy, who is again trying to grab a congressional seat after a narrow loss during the 2022 elections. 

‘I think we built a really great foundation for flipping the seat in ’24, and I’m not masochistic enough to do it twice without knowing I can win,’ Rollins said while announcing his candidacy in May.

Hoffman will likely be an integral benefactor for his renewed attempts to oust Republican Rep. Ken Calvert in the Golden State’s 41st congressional district, which is shaping up to be a highly competitive race.

Hoffman has already thrown cash toward the former federal prosecutor’s candidacy this time around. According to new Federal Election Commission records, he sent the maximum $6,600 donation to Rollins’ campaign on June 14. The cash followed a $2,900 contribution he passed to his committee during the last election cycle, according to filings.

But the entrepreneur appears to have significantly boosted the California Democrat’s prior efforts by funneling money to an outside group called the Welcome PAC, which then spent large sums backing Rollins – a move Hoffman could replicate during the 2024 election.

Hoffman handed the Welcome PAC nearly $1.2 million throughout the 2022 election, or more than half the $2 million in total receipts, federal filings show. The Welcome PAC, in turn, poured $597,408 into independent expenditures backing Rollins’ candidacy. 

The Welcome PAC’s cash funneled into Rollins’ race accounted for roughly 76 percent of its independent expenditures throughout the 2022 elections.

Rollins lost the election by four percentage points, but national Democrats were ‘hearted’ by his overperformance in the district and believe he can pull off the upset, Politico reported. The publication noted Trump narrowly won the district in 2020, and Democrats are confident Biden will take it in 2024.

Hoffman, who has become a Democrat mega-donor in recent years and could again significantly boost Rollins, previously helped to repair Epstein’s image. It was also recently reported that he had gone to Epstein’s island years ago.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Hoffman visited Epstein’s private island, Little St. James, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands, on at least one occasion in 2014.

Hoffman and Epstein were planning to return to the island in November 2014 and then travel to Boston, according to the report. It’s unclear what the intent was for those planned trips, but the report also revealed Hoffman was planning to stay at Epstein’s luxury Manhattan townhouse in December 2014 after a late arrival in New York City.

Hoffman earned headlines last month after Biden attended a fundraiser he hosted on behalf of the super PAC at the private residence of Shannon Hunt-Scott and Kevin Scott in Los Gatos, California.

In May, Hoffman told The Journal it ‘gnaws at’ him that his association with Epstein ‘helped his reputation, and thus delayed justice for his survivors.’

‘My last interaction with Epstein was in 2015. Still, by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice,’ Hoffman said in 2019. ‘For this, I am deeply regretful.’

In the 2015 interaction, he invited Epstein to a Silicon Valley dinner with tech industry leaders.

In September of that year, Hoffman attended a state dinner hosted by then-Vice President Biden at the White House in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Fox News Digital has previously reported that Hoffman’s money also goes into nontraditional groups that aren’t mandated to report their funding and often operate in the shadows. He was forced to issue an apology in 2018 for funding a group that falsely tried to give the impression that the Russian government was supporting Alabama Republican Roy Moore in a 2017 special Senate election.

He also bankrolled the rape lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll against former President Donald Trump earlier this year.

‘While Trump’s legal team has characterized my support of Carroll’s lawsuit as ‘secret,’ I want to be clear that I’ve never taken any steps to hide the financial support that I have provided to this lawsuit after it started,’ Hoffman wrote in an online post. ‘Secondly, and more importantly, while media attention is focused on this specific story, let’s not forget the overall point: the rule of law and the ideal that our courts are a mechanism of justice for all citizens, not just those with enough money and power to rig the game in their favor.’

The Rollins campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Aaron Kliegman contributed reporting.

Members of the progressive House ‘Squad’ on Tuesday voted against a resolution affirming that Israel is not a racist or apartheid state, just days after a fellow left-wing lawmaker landed in hot water for labeling Israel that way over the weekend.

Nine Democrats voted against the measure, which ultimately passed 412-9 and saw one other Democrat, Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., vote ‘present.’

Democrats voting against the measure were Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Cori Bush of Missouri, Andre Carson of Indiana, and Delia Ramirez of Illinois.

The vote came just before Israeli President Isaac Herzog was set to address a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday.

Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, tore into the resolution on the House floor ahead of the final vote.

‘We’re here again reaffirming Congress’ support for apartheid,’ Tlaib said. ‘It’s an attempt to deny the reality and to normalize violence of apartheid.’

‘This week, we’re going to hear consistently that, you know, people talking about like, ‘Oh, this is bipartisan support here.’ But don’t forget – this body, this Congress, supported the South African apartheid regime, and it was bipartisan as well.’

The resolution was introduced by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, just as Tlaib’s fellow progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., is facing blowback from both sides of the aisle for labeling Israel a ‘racist state’ over the weekend.

Pfluger equated some Democrats’ lack of support for his resolution with backing antisemitism.

‘Israel is our most important partner in the Middle East. It is critical for the U.S. Congress to send a unified message that we stand with Israel and unequivocally support our Jewish communities. I am extremely disappointed that Democrat Members refused to vote against antisemitism and affirm that Israel is not a racist state,’ Pfluger told Fox News Digital.

Jayapal, who voted for the resolution today, has since walked back her comments, though they were condemned by dozens of her fellow Democrats including House leadership and she continued to insist that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration is racist.

Herzog’s coming address has reopened fractures within the Democratic Party while also uniting Republicans in condemning left-wing hardliners’ criticism of Israel.

Both Omar and Ocasio-Cortez are expected to boycott Herzog’s speech, which would commemorate U.S.-Israeli ties on the Middle Eastern state’s 75th anniversary.