The State Department on Tuesday withdrew the nomination of an Ivy League professor who called then-candidate Joe Biden a ‘senile gaffe machine’ and criticized other officials for their pro-Israel views.

Prof. James Cavallaro was nominated last week to serve on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the Organization of American States. But the State Department’s link to that announcement no longer works, and spokesman Ned Price told reporters Tuesday that the nomination was withdrawn after his  Cavallaro’s past controversial tweets were discovered.

‘His statements clearly do not reflect U.S. policy,’ Price said. ‘They are not a reflection of what we believe, and they are inappropriate, to say the least. We have decided to withdraw our nomination of this individual.’

‘We were not aware of these statements and writings that he produced,’ Price acknowledged.

Cavallaro’s past remarks were first reported by The Algemeiner, a non-profit news organization that covers the Middle East, Israel and ‘matters of Jewish interest around the world.’ That outlet found the 2020 tweet that criticized then-candidate Biden and several others – all of which Cavallaro has since taken down.

Another one of his tweets criticized House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., as being ‘Bought. Purchased. Controlled’ by pro-Israel groups. In another instance, Cavallaro described Israel as an ‘apartheid state.’

Cavallaro put up a new Twitter threat on Tuesday that said State had informed him that it was this last tweet that disqualified him from serving on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

‘Today, the State Dept informed me that they were withdrawing my candidacy because of my view that the conditions in Israel/Palestine meet the definition of apartheid under international human rights law,’ he tweeted.

He also said he had removed ‘many’ of his previous tweets because he was ‘proactively & in good faith addressing concerns the @StateDept had raised during the vetting process.’

Cavallaro also argued that his nomination would not have affected U.S. policy on Israel, and he said that his removal from the process would deprive the Commission of a ‘committed, experienced, advocate for human rights in the Americas.’

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, broke down some of the specifics of what Congress was told regarding the unidentified objects that the U.S. continues to shoot out of the sky.

Members of Congress were briefed Tuesday on three unidentified flying objects that were shot down over North America in recent days.

Following the briefing for Congress, Crenshaw turned to Twitter and provided what he could to the American people while pushing for ‘transparency.’

‘Everyone wants answers on the objects flying over the United States. Today Members of Congress finally got more info from senior military officials,’ he said. ‘We still don’t know what these other 3 objects were. We’re calling them unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs.)’

Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL and combat veteran who served multiple overseas tours, said the U.S. knew what the Chinese spy balloon was and that steps were taken to prevent data from going back to China.

As for the UAPs, he said, they were in FAA commercial zones and were not outfitted with signals or navigational lights.

‘The first two UAPs were smaller, the size of an ATV, and harder to detect,’ Crenshaw tweeted. ‘The third resembled a balloon, and was easier for the radar to pick up. All moved with wind currents.’

As for why these objects are being found now, the congressional member said there has been more surveillance, which results in more objects being tracked. After the objects moved over Department of Defense facilities and posed a threat to commercial aircraft, they were shot down.

Crenshaw said the Chinese balloon was above 60,000 feet and posed no threat to commercial aircraft.

‘Newer technology has allowed for more detection in recent years,’ he said. ‘UAPs weren’t detected before because our radars were not adjusted for slow-moving objects.

‘There’s obviously still a lot we don’t know,’ Crenshaw added. ‘I’m going to continue pushing for transparency so Americans know what’s going on in the skies above their country.’

The West Virginia Senate on Tuesday passed a bill aimed at enhancing the education of students in kindergarten through third grades.

The bill passed the Senate unanimously and now heads to the House of Delegates. It would establish a support system for students to learn to read, write and work with numbers. It would establish benchmarks in English and math and require a reading improvement plan for certain students.

Certain underperforming students in English language arts at the end of third grade would be held back, with exceptions. The bill also would allow for testing and screening of students for dyslexia.

Each class with more than 12 students in grades one through three would be required under the bill to have an assistant teacher, an aide or a part-time interventionist.

Separately, the Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow two or more county boards of education to explore consolidating their districts or share services. A similar bill last year passed the Senate but was not addressed in House committees.

A Vermont legislative committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill that would make the state the second in the country to allow nonresidents to seek medically assisted suicide.

The House Human Services Committee approved the measure that would remove the residency requirement. A similar bill is in committee in the Senate.

The measure would have to be approved by both legislative chambers.

Vermont would join Oregon, which no longer requires people to be residents of the state to use its law allowing terminally ill people to receive lethal medication.

In a settlement filed in federal court last year, the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Medical Board agreed to stop enforcing the residency requirement and to ask the Legislature to remove it from the law.

At the time, advocates said they would use the settlement to press eight other states and Washington, D.C., which have medically assisted suicide laws, to drop their residency requirements as well.

In addition to Vermont, other states that approved similar laws include California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico and Washington.

White House press Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday exalted President Biden’s communication skills, calling him ‘the best’ in the White House.

The comments came during an exchange with a reporter who questioned whether Biden was ‘equally adept’ in all communication settings, be it ‘set pieces, impromptu remarks, teleprompter, no teleprompter, etc.’ 

‘[O]r are there … somewhere he probably isn’t as strong, etc.?’ the reporter asked. 

‘I would tell you this, the president is the best communicator that we have in the White House,’ Jean-Pierre shot back.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White to elaborate on Jean-Pierre’s comments. 

Despite Jean-Pierre’s assertion of Biden’s communication skills, the president averaged just under a half a gaffe per workday in January.

That month saw Biden attempting to shift attention away from his classified document scandal as he focused on issues such as border security, Ukraine, the January 6 riot, and infrastructure. 

Biden has struggled with gaffes throughout his political career and presidency, with a long history of questionable comments and verbal tangles. Last week, the president opened his State of the Union address by incorrectly calling Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer the ‘minority’ leader.’ Schumer has held the title of majority leader since Biden took office. 

Biden has also, on more than one occasion, mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as ‘president.’ 

The private law firm retained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for potential impeachment proceedings against secretary Alejandro Mayorkas employs individuals that heavily favor Democrats through political contributions, has aided the Democratic Party in their impeachment trial against President Trump, and has worked on several issues alongside left-wing groups, including immigration matters.

DHS tapped the New York-based Debevoise & Plimpton law firm to ‘help ensure the department’s vital mission is not interrupted by the unprecedented, unjustified and partisan impeachment efforts by some members of Congress, who have already taken steps to initiate proceedings,’ a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

‘DHS will continue prioritizing its work to protect our country from terrorism, respond to natural disasters, and secure our borders while responding appropriately to the over 90 Congressional committees and subcommittees that have oversight of DHS,’ the spokesperson continued.

According to government records, DHS entered into a potential $1.5 million contract with Debevoise & Plimpton on Jan. 26 that will disburse cash based on their work. The records show that the award runs until early January 2025 and could reach up to $3 million. 

The Biden administration contract will potentially push cash to a firm whose employees give overwhelmingly to Democratic causes, including Biden’s past candidacy. During the 2022 election cycle, individuals at the firm donated $289,000 of their nearly $310,000 in political contributions – or 95 percent – to liberal campaigns and committees, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets. 

These figures followed even higher 2020 figures where Debevoise & Plimpton employees showered liberal committees with 97 percent of their contributions. During that cycle, the firm’s individuals combined to provide Democratic committees with slightly more than $1 million in donations. The largest recipient that cycle was Biden, who received nearly $245,000 from the firm’s employees.

David O’Neil, a Debevoise & Plimpton partner, will lead Secretary Mayorkas’ defense team if needed, Law.com reported. O’Neil is no stranger to impeachment efforts, as he aided House Democrats in their impeachment efforts against former President Trump.

Attorneys Anna Moody and Carter Burwell, former counsel to Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, will join O’Neil if impeachment efforts progress. 

Debevoise & Plimpton has joined several left-wing groups on past matters, including working on asylum issues with Democracy Forward, which counts Democratic mega-lawyer Marc Elias as its board chair. The firm also touts its pro bono work with LGBTQ+ immigrants.

A DHS official told Fox News Digital that outside counsel is needed because the department’s in-house lawyers don’t have impeachment expertise. The official also pinned the blame on any potential outside counsel spending on what they described as reckless actions of some House Members.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., is introducing a new impeachment article against Mayorkas, accusing him of violating his oath of office and failing to enforce U.S. immigration law.

Biggs, who repeatedly has called for Mayorkas’ removal, first introduced the articles in 2021 and accused him of having’ engaged in a pattern of conduct incompatible with his duties as an Officer of the United States.’

Mayorkas, a Cuba native who grew up in Beverly Hills, California, after his family fled the Castros, has been under fire for his handling of the southern border crisis. Republicans claim he has failed to adjudicate standing federal immigration laws and instead has overseen a deluge of illegal immigrants.

Mayorkas has said he will not resign over his handling of the border crisis and insisted he will be ready for future investigations by House Republicans while continuing to fulfill his daily responsibilities. 

Debevoise & Plimpton did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment. 

Fox News’ Patrick Ward, Timothy H.J. Nerozzi, and Adam Shaw contributed reporting.

The unidentified flying objects shot down over the past week are most likely not from outer space, officials assured America. It had to be said.

‘I don’t think the American people need to worry about aliens with respect to these craft. Period,’ National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declared at the White House podium Monday.

‘There is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns,’ said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. ‘We wanted to make sure that the American people knew that. All of you knew it. And it was important for us to say that from here because we’ve been hearing a lot about it.’

Why wouldn’t there be conjecture — some serious and some completely out of the ‘X-Files’ — after a series of air incursions and shootdowns by the U.S. and Canadian military over the past two weeks? That’s to say nothing of the mysteriously circumspect approach taken by President Biden and other officials.

‘I don’t see the justification for that secrecy,’ complained Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the top GOPer on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

However, the military opened the hatch to the possibility that flights might not be from the Russians or Chinese, but something intergalactic.

‘It’s amazing what the human mind can imagine when confronted with the unknown,’ said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex. ‘I think people were conjuring up all sorts of imaginary and horrifying scenarios that a little transparency would dispel.’

A reporter pulled no punches when asking Northern Command Gen. Glen VanHerck about the spate of aerial objects recently picked up in U.S. airspace.

‘Have you ruled out aliens or extraterrestrials?’ the reporter inquired.

‘I haven’t ruled out anything at this point,’ replied VanHerck.

And we were off to the (space) races.

After all, what the military detected was unidentified. It was flying. And they were objects.

Modern society was raised on episodes of ‘The Twilight Zone,’ which speculated about space visitors, alien invasions and Martians. ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Star Wars’ sharpened those pop culture views. We’ve already discussed the paranoia of ‘The X-Files.’ And then came movies like ‘Independence Day’ and ‘Mars Attacks.’

It’s no wonder people might begin wondering if these vessels emanate from the great unknown.

‘It’s not new,’ said Rubio. ‘The fact that it’s now coming to light is the only difference.’

But something else changed.

‘For 65 years, NORAD never shot anything. And, all of a sudden, in an eight-day period, it’s shot down four things,’ observed Rubio.

That’s why people ask if there’s now a risk from something from outer space.

Are they probes? What are they observing? What information and transmissions are they soaking up?

‘If you’re confused, you understand the situation perfectly,’ Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said after a classified briefing on the objects.

‘The Empire Strikes Back’ influenced current thinking. In that film, the Empire dispatches a battery of Viper probe droids across the galaxy, searching for the rebels. One crashes into the snow-covered surface of the ice planet Hoth. The rebels detect a garbled sinister-sounding signal from the probe.

‘It isn’t friendly whatever it is,’ says Han Solo.

He and Chewbacca head out in the snow to determine what just landed. 
 

Solo shoots the droid. It immediately blows up. 

‘I didn’t hit it that hard. It must have had a self-destruct,’ says Solo. 

And here we are as the U.S. and Canada try to yank objects out of the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Huron. The Canadians are after the device in the Yukon.

‘The remnants are in very difficult terrain. Low temperature. Lots of inclement weather,’ said Kennedy.

‘My understanding is the weather is basically 55 degrees below zero,’ said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va.

That does sound like Hoth in Star Wars. 

This is why the White House confronted the flying saucer theories.

While the administration isn’t convinced the objects are from a galaxy far, far away, Congress now takes UFO’s seriously. 

For the first time in five decades, the House Intelligence Committee held its first hearing on UFO’s last year. Only now, they’re called ‘UAP’s.

‘What are UAP’s? Put simply, UAP’s are airborne objects that, when encountered, cannot be immediately identified,’ Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie testified.

UAP stands for ‘unidentified aerial phenomena.’

The issue was taboo in the military for years.

‘For too long, the stigma associated with UAP’s has gotten in the way of good intelligence analysis,’ said Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind. ‘Pilots avoided reporting or were laughed at when they did. (Department of Defense) officials relegated the issue to the back room or swept it under the rug entirely, fearful of a skeptical national security community.’

‘I think there was a feeling of, ‘Oh, God, if I report this thing, you know, what am I going to get myself tangled up in?’’ said CIA Officer Ron Marks.

But, in legislation, Congress mandated the Pentagon track and document the unexplained.

‘It’s worth working with the Pentagon and pushing them to go back and look at what other odd signatures that may have kind of fallen on the cutting room floor, so to speak,’ said Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla.

The intelligence community documented more than 500 incidents in last year’s report. But there’s still a dearth of information about what hovers above.

‘The second report did not include the many technical details or did not reveal what all of the objects might be. We only learned that perhaps a significant fraction of them might be related to espionage,’ said Harvard University astrophysicist Avi Loeb. 

So while we don’t know exactly what they’re shooting down, most lawmakers find suggestions of voyages from strange new worlds highly illogical.

‘I’m not ready to go ‘X-Files’ on this kind of thing. I’m much more concerned about the Chinese than the Martians at this point,’ Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., said on Fox. 

Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov made the following observation when speaking about UFO’s.

‘The wilder and more ridiculous something is, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be,’ said Asimov.

We don’t have great evidence right now that these ‘UAPs’ could come from the stars. But we do know that China and Russia shoot stuff across the skies on a periodic basis.

In science fiction, invaders from space often threaten to conquer or destroy Earth. However, lawmakers contend that the bigger threat is closer to home. And it’s posed by the same adversaries the U.S. had all along.

Promoting what he called ‘pathways of opportunity,’ New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu proposed a two-year $14.9 billion budget Tuesday that includes hefty pay raises for state employees, more money for schools and a streamlined professional licensing system designed to attract new workers.

The total, which includes federal funds, would be a 12% increase over the current biennial budget. It assumes current revenues will hold steady, includes no new taxes or fees and would boost the state’s ‘rainy day’ fund by $180 million.

‘Government is not here to guarantee a solution to your problems, but it is here to give a pathway to opportunity,’ he told lawmakers. ‘Pathways for economic growth, pathways for educational opportunity, pathways for lower taxes and pathways for more personal freedoms.’

Sununu, who was elected to a fourth two-year term in November, also is considering a run for president in 2024 and has been bolstering his name recognition with travel and media appearances. He claims other governors frequently ask him for the secret to New Hampshire’s success, which he said comes down to managing money smartly with a budget that prioritizes people over programs.

‘We can not let this budget serve as a vehicle for partisan maneuvering,’ Sununu said. ‘It must be about the individual, our employees, our children and our taxpayers.’

During the last budget cycle, abortion opponents added to the budget a provision banning the procedure after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Sununu signed it, saying the alternative would have been a veto that would have shut down state government during the coronavirus pandemic.

His new proposal includes several items aimed at boosting the state’s workforce, including the largest pay increase for state employees in nearly 50 years. There are roughly 10,000 state workers, all of whom would get 10% increases in the first year of the biennium and an additional 2% the second year. That proposal, which was negotiated with labor unions, is meant to address a state workforce vacancy rate of 20%, but Sununu’s budget also includes more targeted investments in specific industries.

He proposed increasing the reimbursement rate for Medicaid health care providers by 3%, providing student debt relief for those who pursue careers in mental health treatment and streamlining the state’s professional licensing system. Sununu wants to allow someone licensed to do a specific job in another state to perform the same work in New Hampshire without getting re-licensed. He also wants to eliminate 34 outdated licenses and 14 underutilized regulatory boards.

‘Let’s remember who we are, let’s remember it’s about individual freedom,’ he said. ‘Less red tape and more common sense, that’s how we grow our economy.’

With an eye to the workforce of the future, Sununu proposed spending $5 million to certify hundreds of new computer science teachers and bring robotics instruction to every middle and high school classroom. The biggest education-related proposal amounts to spending $200 million over the next two years by changing the formula used to send money to public schools.

Both the base per pupil amount and the amount sent to schools with a high percentage of students receiving low-cost or free lunches would be increased. A third funding stream, known as stabilization grants, would be phased out over five years and would be replaced by new grants targeting the neediest communities.

Education freedom accounts, which allow low-income families to use state aid to pay private school tuition, also would get a boost. Sununu wants to double funding for the program and expand income eligibility for certain children, including those in foster care, those who have been bullied and those with disabilities.

House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm, D-Manchester, pointed to that funding as proof that Sununu’s budget is ‘filled with partisan policy priorities.’ But he also saw opportunities for collaboration in areas such as workforce development and affordable housing.

‘Today was an important first step in the process,’ he said in a statement. ‘House Democrats look forward to working with the Governor and our colleagues to craft a budget that gives all Granite Staters an opportunity to succeed.’

Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, said the governor has worked hard to make New Hampshire more competitive, lower taxes and encourage economic growth.

‘This budget is no different,’ he said. ‘I think it’s great that we’re going to try to address education funding, that will be property tax relief across the board. And I think his effort to streamline the office of the professional licensure is going to make a huge difference in terms of trying to attract professionals, especially health care professionals, to come to New Hampshire.’

A state judge on Tuesday upheld a Maine law that eliminated the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, allowing survivors to pursue lawsuits for sex crimes that happened decades ago.

An attorney for more than a dozen plaintiffs who have brought civil lawsuits since the law went into effect praised the decision.

‘Survivors have suffered a lifetime of pain that has affected their relationships at home, at work, and in the world. Now survivors are empowered to face those who allowed such heinous abuse and hold them accountable,’ attorney Michael Bigos said in a statement.

The judge ruled in a motion in the first of the new civil lawsuits, but the decision is expected to be appealed.

A lawyer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland contended that the 2021 law was unconstitutional because it made retroactive changes that violated both vested rights and due process rights.

But Justice Thomas McKeon sided with the plaintiff in the case, saying vested rights generally apply to property rights, not statutes of limitations, and that the law can apply to institutions as well as individuals accused of abuse.

But the judge also wrote that it was a ‘close case’ and that attorneys for the diocese had raised ‘serious’ constitutional concerns.

McKeon halted proceedings in the lawsuit until attorneys for the church have an opportunity to appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. An attorney for the Diocese of Portland didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

Maine removed its statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse cases in 2000, but that change wasn’t retroactive, so victims couldn’t sue for older crimes. Changes to state law in 2021 made it possible for people to seek legal action for older claims that previously expired.

The diocese unsuccessfully fought against the law. The legislative sponsor said the goal was to give survivors a voice — not big settlements.

An attorney for the diocese contended survivors already had ample time to sue and that new litigation could lead to requests for damages in the ‘tens of millions of dollars.’