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The United Nations this week gave a scathing criticism of the Biden administration’s latest border security measures, particularly its expansion of Title 42 and asylum eligibility limits — marking the latest shot taken at the plan from activist groups and some Democrats.

The Biden administration announced last week, ahead of President Biden’s visit to the southern border, that it was expanding a humanitarian parole program to include Haitians, Nicaraguans and Cubans. The program will allow 30,000 of those nationalities to enter the U.S. each month if they have not crossed illegally and if they have a sponsor in the country already.

However, while that was largely welcomed by immigration activists, what accompanied it was not. President Biden announced that Mexico had also agreed to take back up to 30,000 migrants a month. Additionally, the administration announced an increased use of an alternative removal authority — expedited removal — to remove those who do not claim asylum and who cannot be expelled under Title 42.  

Separately, the Department of Homeland Security announced a rule that would make illegal immigrants ineligible for asylum if they ‘circumvent available, established pathways to lawful migration’ and do not claim asylum in a country through which they traveled to get to the U.S.

It was those policy changes that immediately saw pushback from groups that are typically on the side of the Biden administration on the question of immigration. The U.N. head of human rights accused the Biden administration of putting a right to claim asylum in the U.S. at risk.

 ‘The right to seek asylum is a human right, no matter a person’s origin, immigration status, nor how they arrived at an international border,’ UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.

Turk said that the measures ‘appear to be at variance with the prohibition of collective expulsion and the principle of non-refoulment.’

‘While I welcome measures to create and expand safe and regular pathways, such initiatives should not come at the expense of fundamental human rights, including the right to seek asylum and the right to an individual assessment of protection needs,’ he said. ‘Limited access to humanitarian parole for some cannot be a replacement for upholding the rights of all to seek protection of their human rights.’

Turk’s criticism was the latest such barb at the plans, particularly from activists upset at the expansion of expulsions under the Title 42 public health order. That order, which the Biden administration had sought to end, is currently being considered by the Supreme Court and allows for the rapid return of migrants due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘While humanitarian parole programs are certainly helpful and needed, they do not replace the system of asylum which continues to be eroded by expanded use of Title 42,’ Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) said in a statement. ‘CLINIC has been firm: Any expansion of Title 42 is misguided and dangerous. Continued use of a harmful, outdated health policy to usurp our legal obligations under international and asylum law is wrong.’

CLINIC was one of a number of immigration groups that, while happy at the expanded asylum pathways, were not prepared to accept the stick that came along with that carrot.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also attacked the administration’s expansion of Title 42 and compared its limit on migrants who had crossed through safe countries to policies implemented during the Trump administration.

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The activist group said Biden’s plan further ties his administration to the poisonous anti-immigrant policies of the Trump era instead of restoring fair access to asylum protections.’  

Democrats in Congress were similarly incensed by the restrictions.

‘While we understand the challenges the nation is facing at the Southern border exacerbated by Republican obstruction to modernizing our immigration system, we are deeply disappointed by the Biden administration’s decision to expand the use of Title 42,’ Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., said in a joint statement.  

‘We are pleased to see an increase in the access to parole for Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, and Haitians, but this narrow benefit will exclude thousands of migrants fleeing violence and persecution who do not have the ability or economic means to qualify for the new parole process,’ they said.

The Biden administration has stressed that it sees the answer to the migrant crisis — which has seen millions of migrant encounters since Biden took office — as including expanded legal pathways.

But the left-wing pushback exemplifies how the Biden administration is likely to face stern opposition from fellow Democrats as well as activist groups if it infringes in any way on the ability for those crossing the border from making an asylum claim and being released into the U.S. — even if they have passed through multiple countries or crossed illegally.

The Biden administration has sought to counter the criticism coming from its left flank, noting in particular that in addition to the expanded parole program, the administration is also using a CBP One App that helps migrants make an asylum claim at a port of entry — rather than by crossing the border illegally. 

‘If they do not use that application, then they will need to have applied for humanitarian relief in one of the countries through which they have traveled,’ DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said this week. ‘And if they were denied, then — then they are not subject to — not a ban, but a rebuttable presumption of ineligibility.  And there’s a marked difference between the two.’

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Gov. Tim Walz signed his first bill of the 2023 session Thursday, legislation to simplify tax filing and save money for hundreds of thousands of Minnesota residents and businesses, including people with student loans and companies that received pandemic aid.

The bill brings Minnesota’s tax code into conformity with federal tax rules. It’s one of several that legislative leaders have fast-tracked since convening last week with Democrats now controlling both chambers of the Legislature. Bills on issues from abortion rights to unemployment benefits for laid-off miners are also expected to hit the governor’s desk soon.

The tax conformity bill sailed through both the House and Senate with unanimous bipartisan support. Officials said it needed to be signed into law by Friday so that tax forms and software could be updated in time for the filing season, which opens Jan. 23.

‘This is the way the Legislature’s supposed to work,’ Walz said at a signing ceremony.

It amounts to over a $100 million tax cut, and it’s retroactive, so individuals and businesses who qualify can file amended returns for previous years to claim refunds. Over 600,000 individuals and businesses will benefit, said Senate Taxes Committee Chair Ann Rest, of New Hope. The Department of Revenue has posted information on its website detailing who the changes affect.

The bill ensures that federal coronavirus, economic stimulus and other aid passed in recent years that’s exempt from federal taxation won’t be subject to state taxes. That means a retroactive state tax break for numerous businesses that got grants to keep them afloat while they were shut down during the height of the pandemic.

‘For the first time in almost three years, Minnesota’s small businesses, venues, movie theaters, restaurants — those of us that were the first to close and the last to reopen — can breathe a tiny sigh of relief,’ said Dayna Frank, president and CEO of First Avenue Productions, which owns the iconic First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis.

It also ensures that forgiven student loans won’t be taxable by the state if President Joe Biden’s relief program survives a challenge that will reach the U.S. Supreme Court next month.

The Legislature had hoped to pass a similar package last year, but it got caught up in partisan stalemates that resulted in most of a $9.25 billion budget surplus going unspent. That projected surplus has since swelled to $17.6 billion, so there was plenty of money available for conformity.

Also moving quickly through both chambers is a bill to codify abortion rights, which passed its final House committee Thursday and could get a floor vote as soon as next week. It’s a top priority for Democrats, who hope Walz can sign it by the end of the month.

Abortion rights remained broadly protected in Minnesota even after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. That’s due to a 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court decision. But the bill would write those protections into state statutes to prevent future courts from reversing them.

Similarly, a bill to remove several abortion restrictions from Minnesota statutes, which a state judge struck down as unconstitutional last summer, passed its first committee Thursday in the House.

One of the newest members of the Legislature, Democratic Sen. Grant Hauschild, of Hermantown, is the lead author of what could be one of the next bills to reach the governor. Hauschild narrowly carried his northeastern Minnesota district in November in one of a handful of races that tipped control of the Senate to the Democrats.

His bill, which passed the Senate 56-10 Thursday, would extend unemployment benefits for more than 400 laid-off workers at Northshore Mining. The operation has been idle since May 1. The main reason is a royalty dispute between its owner, Cleveland-Cliffs, and a trust that controls the mineral rights for the mine pit near Babbitt that supplies iron ore for Northshore’s processing plant in Silver Bay. Jobless benefits typically run out after six months in Minnesota, so the bill would extend them for another six months, retroactively, at a cost of $10.3 million.

That bill now goes to the House, where a first hearing is set for Wednesday. Democratic House Majority Leader Jamie Long, of Minneapolis, said he expects a floor vote ‘soon.’

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President Biden’s longtime Wilmington, Delaware, residence has become a focal point of recent revelations that the classified documents were stored in the president’s garage, where numerous individuals have visited over the years.

The Wilmington files are the latest batch of Obama-era classified documents found among Biden’s personal possessions. The revelations came just three days after the White House confirmed the existence of similar classified material in the president’s office at the Penn Biden center in Washington, D.C.

On Thursday, Biden sparred with Fox News’ Peter Doocy when pressed on the whereabouts of the Wilmington files, confirming that classified documents, along with his Corvette, were stored in a locked garage.

‘And by the way my Corvette is in a locked garage. It’s not like it’s sitting out in the street,’ Biden added.

As speculation swirls over the Wilmington classified files, here is who might have had access to the garage in question.

Hunter Biden

Though it is still unclear when the Obama-era classified files were placed in the president’s garage, Hunter Biden appeared to reside at his parent’s Wilmington home during 2018 and 2019 — two years after the Obama administration left the White House. 

A scan of Hunter Biden’s laptop files shows the president’s son was issued a Delaware license in May 2018, listing his father’s Wilmington home as his primary residence, the Washington Free Beacon first reported.  

The scandal-embroiled Hunter Biden also appeared to change his banking address to the Wilmington home in December 2018, as well as listing the address in the billing information for several purchases throughout 2019, Fox News reported.

Hunter Biden may have accessed his father’s garage while Biden was serving out his second term as vice president. 

In October 2016, Biden appeared on the premiere of ‘Jay Leno’s Garage,’ a YouTube series where television personality Jay Leno teams up with celebrities to chat cars. Then-Vice President Biden suggested that his two sons accessed the garage at least once when upgrading the engine of his prized 1967 Chevrolet Corvette. 

‘My two sons, Beau, who passed away, and my son Hunter decided as a Christmas gift to have the engine rebuilt for me,’ Biden told Leno.

Biden’s presidential and campaign staff

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden converted the basement of his Wilmington residence into a de facto campaign headquarters in March 2020. 

Biden frequently hosted virtual events from his residence long after then-President Trump resumed in-person rallies and fundraisers on the 2020 campaign trail. 

As president, Biden has continued to spend considerable time in his home state, staying in Delaware approximately 194 days so far in his first term, either at his Wilmington or Rehoboth Beach residences, according to an Associated Press tally. 

On these weekend visits, the president is typically accompanied by a full security detail and his top aides. 

Though Biden confirmed his garage is locked, it is unclear whether this area of the residence is off limits for use by his staff or if staff could have accessed the garage from inside the house. 

Many questions remain unanswered on the exact whereabouts of the classified files, when they were placed in the garage and who might have had access outside of Biden’s family and staff.

Though Republicans continue to press the White House to release a visitor log of Biden’s Wilmington residence, it is unclear whether a log even exists, adding further obscurity to the situation. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also dodged questions on whether a visitor log would be made public.  

‘I’m going to get the chance to speak on all of this, God willing it’ll be soon,’ Biden said Thursday.

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Republican Texas Rep. Lance Gooden is demanding the release of all visitors logs for President Biden’s residence in Delaware after the White House revealed a batch of classified documents was discovered in the president’s garage.

Gooden sent letters to the president and the Secret Service Thursday, requesting information on who had access to Biden’s garage and writing that ‘the American people deserve to know who is influencing this administration.’ 

The letters call Biden’s decision to store classified documents at his Delaware residence a ‘national security risk.’ He asks the president whether any non-U.S. citizens or foreign nationals have visited his Delaware property, and if so, whether they had access to locations where the documents were kept.

He also inquires whether Biden will extend the Workers and Visitors Entry System and Access Control Records, which form the basis for visitor disclosures, to other locations that Biden regularly visits, including his Delaware home. 

‘The public deserves assurance that your Administration is listening to the concerns of the American people and not acting in the best interest of lobbyists, friends, or donors. The discovery of classified documents at your private residence violates your commitment to ‘restore integrity, transparency, and trust in government,’’ Gooden wrote. 

The Biden administration has released visitor logs to the White House but has kept secret the identities of those who have visited Biden in Delaware, where the president has traveled over 50 times since taking office. 

Fox News Digital previously sought those records in October 2021, but the White House deflected questions and noted that former President Trump broke precedent by withholding White House visitor logs from the public. The Secret Service has said that visitor records for Biden’s private home do not exist. 

‘President Biden is proud to lead the most transparent administration in American history, and to have restored the practice of releasing visitors logs after it was discontinued by his predecessor,’ White House spokesman Andrew Bates said at the time. ‘We also respect that it’s always the role of evenhanded news outlets to advocate for more transparency.’

Pressed again to release visitor logs for Biden’s Wilmington house on Thursday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged the question.

‘Let’s not forget what we did here in this White House. We instituted that the last administration got rid of, which is making sure that there was a White House log, extensive White House log. So the American people got to see again and again … I am telling you, we did something that the last administration got rid of, which is instituting the White House logs,’ she said. 

Gooden said the administration’s failure to maintain visitor records of Biden’s Delaware home ‘is another attempt to mislead the American people and potentially conceal meetings with special interest groups or foreign nationals.

‘Continual denial of existing visitor logs represents a foreign conflict of interest between you and the individuals you are hosting at your private residence,’ he wrote to Biden. 

When asked if he raised similar concerns about visitors to the Trump White House, or Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, Gooden accused Biden of hypocrisy. 

‘President Trump never claimed the moral high ground and boasted about releasing the White House visitor logs, and he was consistently more transparent than President Biden who hasn’t held a non-scripted press conference since he took office,’ Gooden told Fox News Digital. ‘My letter points out the Left’s hypocrisy and underlines the need for mandated transparency from this president going forward, especially considering the amount of time Joe Biden spends at his Delaware residence and his family’s questionable business dealings.’

Biden is mired in controversy after a stash of Obama-era classified documents was found at the Washington offices of the Penn Biden Center, a think tank of the University of Pennsylvania named for the president. White House lawyers revealed Thursday that a second stash of documents with classified markings was uncovered in storage in Biden’s garage in Wilmington, Delaware, and said all the documents were immediately turned over to the Justice Department. 

Republicans quickly compared the discovery to revelations last year that Trump had kept nearly 300 classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, which were seized in an FBI raid, and cried foul that Biden had not been treated the same. 

On Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney, as special counsel to investigate Biden’s handling of classified materials. 

House Republicans are launching their own inquiry into the matter. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., sent letters to the National Archives and the White House Counsel’s Office Tuesday requesting copies of the documents retrieved from Biden’s think tank office; a list of people who had access to that office; and communications between the White House, Justice Department, National Archives, and Biden’s attorneys related to the classified materials. 

‘President Biden and Democrat hypocrisy is on full display this week following the discovery of classified documents not only at President Biden’s personal office but also unsecured in the garage of his private residence. Biden’s Justice Department was weaponized to go after President Trump for his alleged mishandling of classified materials, yet President Biden himself has exposed our nation’s secrets to unknown visitors and his son with known ties to adversarial nations,’ Gooden said in a statement. 

‘No one, not even Democrats, is above the law,’ he added.

Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.

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EXCLUSIVE: Jim Jordan’s first investigation as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee will examine President Biden’s ‘mishandling’ of classified documents and the Justice Department’s investigation.

The investigation led by Jordan, R-Ohio, comes one day after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to examine the matter, former U.S. attorney Robert Hur. The Justice Department escalated it to a special counsel investigation from a mere review Thursday after a second stash of classified documents was found inside the garage of Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home. The first documents were found inside the Washington, D.C., offices of the Penn Biden Center think tank.

‘We are conducting oversight of the Justice Department’s actions with respect to former Vice President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, including the apparently unauthorized possession of classified material at a Washington, D.C., private office and in the garage of his Wilmington, Delaware, residence,’ Jordan and Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in a letter sent Friday to Garland.

‘On January 12, 2023, you appointed Robert Hur as Special Counsel to investigate these matters,’ they wrote. ‘The circumstances of this appointment raise fundamental oversight questions that the Committee routinely examines. We expect your complete cooperation with our inquiry.’

Jordan is questioning the alleged concealment of information by the DOJ, as the White House admitted that the first batch of documents at the Penn Biden Center were discovered days before the 2022 midterm elections, but were not disclosed publicly until January.

‘It is unclear when the Department first came to learn about the existence of these documents, and whether it actively concealed this information from the public on the eve of the 2022 elections,’ Jordan wrote. ‘It is also unclear what interactions, if any, the Department had with President Biden or his representatives about his mishandling of classified material. The Department’s actions here appear to depart from how it acted in similar circumstances.’

The lawmakers referenced the FBI’s unprecedented raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home last summer, and seized classified documents as an example of how the DOJ has proceeded differently in the past than it has proceeded with Biden. At the time, Biden slammed Trump for being ‘irresponsible’ for keeping classified documents.

‘In fact, on August 8, 2022, despite the publicly available evidence of President Trump’s voluntary cooperation, you personally approved the decision to seek a warrant for excessive and unprecedented access to his private residence. On August 15, 2022, Committee Republicans wrote to you and FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting documents and information related to the FBI’s raid of President Trump’s residence,’ the letter said.

‘The Department and FBI have failed to sufficiently comply with this request,’ it added. ‘Our requests remain outstanding.’

Jordan is demanding all documents and communications regarding the appointment of Hur and between the DOJ and the FBI related to the classified materials.

Fox News Digital’s request to the DOJ for comment was not immediately returned.

Garland said Thursday that his appointment of Hur as special counsel is critical for an ‘even-handed’ review of the matter.

‘I am confident that Mr. Hur will carry out his responsibility in an even-handed and urgent manner and in accordance with the highest traditions of this department,’ Garland stated.

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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has invited President Biden to deliver his State of the Union address on Feb. 7.

‘It is my solemn obligation to invite the president to speak before a Joint Session of Congress on February 7th so that he may fulfill his duty under the Constitution to report on the state of the union,’ McCarthy stated in a tweet on Friday.

In a Friday letter to the president, McCarthy said,’the American people sent us to Washington to deliver a new direction for the country, to find common ground, and to debate their priorities.’

‘In that spirit, it is my solemn obligation to invite you to speak before a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, February 7, 2023 so that you may fulfill your duty under the Constitution to report on the state of the union. Your remarks will inform our efforts to address the priorities of the American people,’ McCarthy wrote.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., is flaming the Biden administration for considering a ban on gas stoves, launching a new line of gas oven-themed aprons with pro-freedom messages.

‘When we say, ‘Don’t tread on Florida’ or ‘Let us alone,’ we mean that including on your gas stoves,’ DeSantis said during a speech Thursday. ‘You’re not taking our gas stoves away from us, that is your choice, and I know many people who cook a lot do not want to part with their gas stoves, and so we’re gonna stand up for that.’

In less than 24 hours, the aprons sold out at the Team DeSantis merch store, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

The outrage started when a commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) told Bloomberg they were considering a ban on the appliances in the wake of alleged ‘hazardous’ air-quality concerns, despite not providing any definitive research to back the claim.

‘This is a hidden hazard,’ CPSC’s Richard Trumka Jr. said during an interview. ‘Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.’

‘I’m glad we’ll be standing for what’s right and standing for people’s freedoms to make their own decisions,’ DeSantis stated.

To establish his disapproval of the appliance ban, Team DeSantis launched a line of cooking aprons that read ‘Don’t Tread on Florida.’

‘Show the Left that they’re not taking those away from us anytime soon,’ Team DeSantis tweeted alongside the new set of merchandise.

‘I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceedings to do so,’ CPSC Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric said in a statement on Wednesday to set the record straight, after the commission was blasted for suggesting a potential ban.

Despite Hoehn-Saric telling Fox News Digital that ‘research indicates that emissions from gas stoves can be hazardous, and the CPSC is looking for ways to reduce related indoor air quality hazards,’ CPSC spokesperson Patty Davis admitted that the agency would not cite a specific study to identify potential hazards, because it had not begun a regulatory process, also mentioning there was broad research done on the topic.

Trumka since attempted to walk back on his statement after sending the American public into a frenzy. ‘To be clear, CPSC isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves. Regulations apply to new products,’ Trumka said in a tweet Monday.

Still, DeSantis suggested the Biden administration would move to eliminate gas stoves if it were politically acceptable. ‘California and New York are already banning gas stoves. And make no mistake… the Biden Administration would do the same if they thought they could get away with it,’ DeSantis tweeted Friday.

DeSantis is currently a top contender for the GOP nomination in the 2024 presidential election, but he has not yet announced an official campaign to run.

Fox News’ Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.

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President Biden’s son, Hunter, was spotted in sunny Malibu, California, Thursday amid speculations over his involvement in the president’s classified document scandal. 

Hunter Biden, his wife Melissa Cohen, and their son Beau Jr. were spotted eating lunch together in Malibu Park at Cross Creek the same day a special counsel was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland after it was revealed the president had classified documents from his time as vice president at his Wilmington, Delaware house and at the Penn Biden Center. 

Hunter claimed to own the Wilmington property in leaked emails verified by Fox News Digital. The documents were reportedly found in the president’s Wilmington garage, where he keeps his Corvette. 

Another set of classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., in November, which the White House confirmed Monday. 

Emails verified by Fox News Digital showed Hunter discussed the launch of the center for when Biden left office as vice president. Part of this plan included ‘wealth creation,’ with no further explanation. It was also inferred the center would have opportunities for Hunter.

Craig Gering, an agent at the Creative Artists Agency, emailed Hunter a rough plan for the Penn Biden Center in April 2016.

‘The Biden Institute of Foreign Relations at the University of Pennsylvania,’ Gering’s email read. ‘Focus on foreign policy. In addition to the institute at U of Penn, the school has an existing office in DC that will be expanded to house a DC office for VP Biden (and Mike, Hunter and Steve?). Operates like The Clinton Global Initiative without the money raise.’

‘Yes,’ Hunter replied, ‘in theory that’s the way I would like to see it shake out— BUT please keep this very confidential between us because nothing has been set in stone and there’s still a lot of sensitivity around all of this both internally and externally. He hasn’t made any decisions and this could all be changed overnight.’

Hunter is currently under federal investigation for tax fraud. The new Republican majority in the House has declared it will investigate potential corruption in Hunter’s business deals that may have involved his father. 

Other emails from Hunter’s ‘laptop from hell’ include several exchanges with Kathy Chung, President Biden’s executive assistant when he was vice president. She now works as the deputy director of protocol for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Chung is among several former Biden aides to be interviewed by law enforcement in regard to the classified documents, NBC News reported Thursday. 

Hunter helped recruit Chung to be his father’s assistant in 2012, writing that the job would have her ‘involved in everything that goes on outside of policy.’

‘Thanks for calling and thinking of me,’ Chung wrote to Hunter Biden on May 14, 2012. ‘After the initial shock of taking in what you said…how could I pass up an opportunity to work for the Vice President of the United State!!!! I do have a few questions. What is Michelle’s primary job? I think I know what the job would entail, minus the scheduling part, which is a huge part of what I do now. But what would be my top 3 – 5 responsibilities be in the office? Do you know the salary? Again, thanks for thinking of me.’

‘Call if/when you want me to tell Dad you are interested and I’m sure Michele would also want to talk to you at some point,’ Hunter later replied. ‘I don’t know who else they were considering but I thought you would be great.’

‘I cannot thank you enough for thinking about me and walking me thru this,’ Chung later emailed Hunter after she got the job. ‘What an incredible opportunity! Thanks, Hunter!!’

Dozens of additional emails show how the two continued to coordinate. Chung sent Hunter an invitation to attend a State Department luncheon hosted by his father honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015. The two coordinated a meeting for the elder Biden to conduct business with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim later that year.

Hunter recruited Chung to be his business partner after his father left office under the Obama administration.

‘Actually work ‘for’ me and ‘with’ Eric…Actually do actual ‘work’ with Eric and Joan and so that I can make everyone money…actually just make all of you and Kathleen money and none for me,’ he wrote to Chung, referring to his ex-wife Kathleen Buhle. ‘Sounds fun right!’

The two coordinated several meetings with University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann, who President Biden later selected to be the U.S. ambassador to Germany. Gutmann, participated in the grand opening ceremony of the Penn Biden Center in 2018.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel Thursday to investigate the president’s handling of classified documents.

The president claims he does not know what the classified documents regard, as he was advised by his lawyers not to ask.

Fox News’ Thomas Catenacci, Cameron Cawthorne, Jessica Chasmar, Bradford Betz and Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report.

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Four members of the House Freedom Caucus, who opposed Kevin McCarthy’s speakership bid until he met their demands, have been seated on some of the most important committees in the House.

Florida Rep. Byron Donalds and freshman Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles were both were appointed to the House Financial Services Committee. That committee is chaired by Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., who helped McCarthy negotiate his successful campaign to become House speaker.

‘As a career financial services professional with more than two decades in this industry, I am honored to have the privilege of serving on the House Financial Services Committee this Congress,’ Donalds said in a statement Wednesday.

‘As a member of this committee, I will work tirelessly with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to champion common-sense policies that enhance and empower America’s monetary policy, our economy, international finance, insurance, and housing, and bring critical accountability of the agencies that fall under the committee’s jurisdiction,’ Donalds added.

‘I look forward to working on the top issues facing the economy and our financial institutions on behalf of the American people,’ Ogles stated Thursday.

Reps. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., and Michael Cloud, R-Texas, both received spots on the House Appropriations Committee, a committee that Republicans hope to use to put limits on federal spending in the new Congress.

‘In the face of our ballooning national debt, weak economy, and looming recession, House Republicans must usher in much-needed oversight and accountability to ensure American taxpayer dollars are spent in a responsible manner,’ Clyde said in a statement.

A fifth member of the House Freedom Caucus, South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman, was already on the House Financial Services Committee and will remain on the committee in the new Congress.

The House GOP Steering Committee is still shaking out appointments for the remaining committees for the 118th Congress, but conservative interest groups invested in the speaker battle are already praising the appointments. One group said the decisions made so far are a sign of victory against ‘Washington status quo.’

‘The conservative wing of the Republican Party has leverage in this Congress,’ Vice President of Policy for Freedomworks Cesar Ybarra said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

‘This is a major victory against the Washington status quo with conservative members operating as a check and balance to key pieces of legislation formed in prominent committees,’ Ybarra said.

‘Non-establishment members on powerful committees ensures that every voice will be heard, and the American people will begin to benefit from the decisions that are made in Washington,’ he added.

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Wisconsin and North Carolina on Thursday became the latest states to ban the use of TikTok on state phones and other devices, a move that comes after nearly half of the states nationwide have blocked the popular social media app owned by a Chinese company.

Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers ordered the ban, which also includes WeChat, after he said he consulted with the FBI and emergency management officials. He cited potential risks to privacy, safety and security. Evers’ order applies to most state agencies, with some exceptions like criminal investigators who may be using the app to track certain people.

‘Defending our state’s technology and cybersecurity infrastructure and protecting digital privacy will continue to be a top priority,’ Evers tweeted when he announced the ban.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who like Evers was under pressure from Republicans to enact a ban, cited similar concerns.

‘It’s important for us to protect state information technology from foreign countries that have actively participated in cyberattacks against the United States,’ Cooper said. ‘Protecting North Carolina from cyber threats is vital to ensuring the safety, security, privacy, and success of our state and its people.’

The University of Wisconsin System, which employs 40,000 faculty and staff, is also exempt. But UW System spokesperson Mark Pitsch said despite the exemption, the university was conducting a review and moving toward placing restrictions on the app being used on devices in order to protect against serious cybersecurity risks.

UW has numerous official TikTok accounts like one for the women’s volleyball team, which has more than 41,000 followers. Universities often use TikTok accounts as a recruiting tool to connect with high school students.

The ban will be enforced by the state’s technology division, which already restricts what apps state employees can access on their government phones.

Only about 12 state phones have TikTok on them, according to Evers.

Evers himself does not have a personal or official TikTok account, but he did maintain an account supporting his reelection campaign earlier this year. His office has said that account was not used on any state-issued devices.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020. It has been targeted by critics who say the Chinese government could access user data, such as browsing history and location. U.S. armed forces also have prohibited the app on military devices.

TikTok is consumed by two-thirds of American teens and has become the second-most popular domain in the world. But there has long been bipartisan concern in Washington that Beijing would use legal and regulatory power to seize American user data or try to push pro-China narratives or misinformation.

Fears were stoked by news reports last year that a China-based team improperly accessed data of U.S. TikTok users, including two journalists, as part of a covert surveillance program to ferret out the source of leaks to the press.

There are also concerns that the company is sending masses of user data to China, in breach of stringent European privacy rules.

‘We’re disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok,’ Jamal Brown, a spokesperson for TikTok, said in an emailed statement.

TikTok is developing security and data privacy plans as part of an ongoing national security review by President Joe Biden’s administration.

At least 22 other states, including, Ohio, New Jersey, Mississippi, Louisiana and South Dakota, have instituted bans on the use of TikTok on government devices. Congress last month banned TikTok from most U.S. government-issued devices over bipartisan concerns about security.

U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, of Wisconsin, and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, of Florida, introduced a bipartisan bill in December to ban TikTok from operating in the United States. Gallagher this week became chairman of a new House committee created with broad bipartisan support to investigate ‘strategic competition’ between the U.S. and China.

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