FIRST ON FOX: Top Republican senators are pushing the Biden administration for answers on its ‘voter mobilization’ efforts after the lawmakers say they’ve been stonewalled for over six months. 

In a letter sent Tuesday by Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and co-signed by top leadership, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the group of 23 senators admonished President Biden for his administration’s ‘failure to respond’ to their inquires about Executive Order 14019 on ‘Promoting Access to Voting.’

‘This policy directive merits congressional oversight both as a general matter and under the Antideficiency Act,’ the lawmakers wrote, and accordingly reiterated their request for how federal agencies plan to implement the executive order, including a request for copies of their plans submitted to the White House. 

‘The Order outlines various activities in which agencies are to engage, including promoting mail-in voting and partnering with third-party organizations to register voters,’ the letter says. 

The lawmakers argue that ‘[f]ederal agencies should be focused on their defined missions in a nonpartisan manner, not using taxpayer funds for voter mobilization efforts with potentially partisan impacts.’

‘ In other words, it’s not the job of the federal government to drive voter turnout. Reviewing these agency plans is crucial to determining whether this order has or may lead to the improper use of federal resources,’ they said. 

Executive Order 14019 directs more than 600 federal agencies to engage in voter-related activities without congressional approval, ‘and it is doubtful that Congress approved the use of appropriated agency funds for voter mobilization,’ Hagerty and his colleagues write. 

The order issued on March 7, 2021, claims that ‘many Americans, especially people of color, confront significant obstacles to exercising’ the fundamental right to vote. 

‘These obstacles include difficulties with voter registration, lack of election information, and barriers to access at polling places. For generations, Black voters and other voters of color have faced discriminatory policies and other obstacles that disproportionally affect their communities,’ the order says.  

Biden claims that those voters are more likely to face long lines at the polls and are ‘disproportionately burdened by voter identification laws and limited opportunities to vote by mail.’  

The lawmakers argue in the letter that using appropriated funds for a purpose Congress did not expressly authorize would constitute a violation of the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits agencies from expending or obligating funds in a manner not authorized by law. 

‘Violating this statute carries administrative and potential criminal penalties, highlighting the need for transparency,’ the senators write. 

 ‘Unfortunately, the White House has kept these plans hidden despite numerous requests from Congress,’ they said. 

The senators asked for a number of communications, including all procedures that were established by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Biden’s order said the attorney general would work directly with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Probation and Pretrial Services Office and the U.S. Marshals Service to ‘establish procedures, consistent with applicable law, to provide educational materials related to voter registration and voting and, to the extent practicable, to facilitate voter registration, for all eligible individuals.’

The senators also requested full copies of all federal agency ‘strategic plans’ and a list of which agencies have not yet submitted a strategic plan.

They also asked for a full accounting of all federal funding used to date to implement the executive order, including the accounts from which the funding was used.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is expected to meet with Senate GOP leaders at their Capitol Hill lunch on Wednesday, Johnson’s office confirmed to Fox News Digital. 

The meeting arrives at a crucial juncture as the two chambers need to reconcile their differences to finalize the Biden administration’s approximately $106 billion national security supplemental aid package. 

Deliberations have revolved around border security, Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan for several weeks. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced a vote on the package would occur as early as next week. 

Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., want to keep Ukraine and Israel aid tied together. Meanwhile, the House passed a $14.3 billion Israel-only aid package earlier this month that also included steep cuts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

But that package likely won’t pass the Democrat-controlled Senate, nor get the White House’s approval without funding to help Ukraine. 

‘Let me be clear: The Senate will not take up the House GOP’s deeply flawed proposal,’ Schumer posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Nov. 2. ‘Instead we will work on our own bipartisan emergency aid package that includes funding for aid to Israel, Ukraine, humanitarian aid including for Gaza, and competition with the Chinese Government.’

The White House’s supplemental request, which was sent to Congress in October, includes $61.4 billion for Ukraine, $14.3 billion for Israel (with $10.6 billion allocated for military aid), $13.6 billion for some border measures such as speeding up asylum processing, and significant investments in Indo-Pacific security assistance, totaling around $7.4 billion. Additionally, there’s $9 billion earmarked for humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza.

But a mounting impediment for the Democrats will be the influx of migrants at the border, which has thrown a wrench in plans for a smooth bipartisan passage. Republicans in the Senate say tighter border security provisions must be in the supplemental and argue its current form does not address the slowing of illegal entries.

‘I called the president last week to make sure he understood that there wouldn’t be a bill without a credible effort to get on top of our disastrous southern border situation,’ McConnell told reporters Tuesday after the GOP’s weekly luncheon resumed following the Thanksgiving recess.

‘I hope that made the point, because I think on our side, I’ve been the most enthusiastic supporter of the underlying bill, but this has to be part of it,’ he said.

But Johnson may be apt to throw more funding to Ukraine if it’s tied with the GOP’s vision of border security provisions. 

On Monday, Johnson said during a press conference in Florida, ‘Ukraine is another priority. Of course, we can’t allow Vladimir Putin to march through Europe.’ 

‘And we understand the necessity of assisting there. What we’ve said is that if there is to be additional assistance to Ukraine, which most members of Congress believe is important – we have to also work on changing our own border policy,’ he said. ‘And so there’s been a lot of thoughtful negotiation ongoing with that. I think most of our Senate colleagues recognize that those two things need to move together because we owe that to the American people.’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing pressure from within his government to end the cease-fire with Hamas and resume the military campaign in Gaza.

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir issued an ultimatum to Netanyahu on social media on Wednesday, saying the current coalition government would dissolve if the war against Hamas is halted. Officials from the U.S., Israel and Qatar are in negotiations regarding a second extension of the cease-fire with Hamas.

Israel and Hamas have paused their fighting for six days, exchanging Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Netanyahu is facing mounting pressure from international organizations and even the U.S. to accept a long-term cease-fire agreement.

Such an agreement would put an end to hopes of dismantling Hamas and ending the terrorist organization’s leadership in Gaza, something Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to do.

The more aggressive elements of Netanyahu’s government recognize the conflict is at a key juncture.

‘Stopping the war = dissolution of the government,’ Ben-Gvir wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Netanyahu was very clear in his intent to utterly destroy Hamas earlier this month prior to agreeing to a cease-fire.

‘If you want peace, destroy Hamas. If you want security, destroy Hamas. If you want a future for Israel, the Palestinians, the Middle East, destroy Hamas,’ Netanyahu told ‘Meet the Press’ host Kristen Welker on Nov. 12. ‘We’re absolutely intent on achieving it. And what I can tell you… is given the extraordinary performance of the Israeli army in the last few days, the last few weeks, we’re going to achieve it. We’ll do it with as few civilian casualties as we can and with maximum casualties on the Hamas terrorists, which we are achieving day by day, hour by hour, will complete the task.’

If Israel nevertheless agrees to another cease-fire extension or a more long-term truce agreement, Netanyahu’s government could collapse, and he would face an election – a contest current polls suggest he would likely lose.

GOP lawmakers in Congress held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to urge the House and Senate to pass appropriations bills and a national security aid package that secure ‘fiscal sanity’ and tougher border security measures, such as higher asylum standards. 

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., led the press conference alongside members of the House Freedom Caucus and Sens. Mike Braun, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson and Roger Marshall. The lawmakers criticized the Biden administration’s $106 billion supplemental request and demanded that several items — Ukraine, Israel and the southern border — be voted on as individual items. 

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., urged the separation of Israel, Ukraine and border security from one package to be voted on individually. 

‘It doesn’t matter what we pass here, in the way of legislation, even if it gets a signature, if we don’t have a president and administration willing to enforce the law, and that’s what we have right now,’ Perry told reporters. ‘So we need to see definable, verifiable certifiable believable metrics that show it’s actually secure.’

He added: ‘Otherwise, it’s all just more failure theater up here. It’s more failure theater, and we’re done with the failure theater.’

Tensions are high as both chambers are expected to vote on an emergency supplemental bill as early as next week that the Biden administration requested in October. That package requested $61.4 billion for Ukraine, $14.3 billion for Israel (with $10.6 billion allocated for military aid), $13.6 billion for some border provisions like speeding up asylum processing, and significant investments in Indo-Pacific security assistance, totaling around $7.4 billion. Additionally, there’s $9 billion earmarked for humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza.

In January and February, Congress will also have to finalize an annual budget for the government. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., suggested creating two separate deadlines for funding different parts of the government in an effort to prevent Congress from lumping all 12 spending bills into a massive ‘omnibus’ package.

Bills concerning military construction and Veterans Affairs; Agriculture; Energy and Water; Transportation and Housing and Urban Development must be worked out by Jan. 19 while the remaining eight appropriations bills must be decided upon by Feb. 2.

During Wednesday’s press conference, House members indicated they’d be willing to accept a $1.59 trillion topline budget with no-add ons, up from the $1.47 trillion figure they previously asked for.

‘$1.59 is too expensive for many of us, but we realize $1.47 is not going to happen,’ Perry said. 

‘For years, too many in Congress – and I’m talking about both parties and Republican leadership – have just accepted the status quo with CR’s [Continuing Resolutions] or stood idly by as Democrats shoved through massive spending package after massive spending package with no consideration of the consequences. We can’t squander it,’ Scott’s office told Fox News Digital prior to the press conference.

‘I’ve had enough. Families have had enough. When I talk to Florida families, and hear how Biden’s inflation crisis is affecting them, they need us to fix this ASAP. So now Republicans in the Senate need to stand with our colleagues in the House as they force the return of fiscal sanity in Washington by passing spending bills that get us on the path to a balanced budget, so we can get our country back on track.’

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

Several conservatives told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that they don’t expect any votes on the House’s remaining appropriations bills until the new year — a move they’re concerned will cost Republicans valuable time in negotiations.

‘I guess we’ll take it up in January. We punted. I hate that we did it the way we did it,’ Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a member of the hardline-right House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital. ‘This body is good — Republicans and Democrats are good at spending taxpayers’ money, and they’re not good at cutting anything.’

Lawmakers returned on Tuesday from a Thanksgiving break and will recess again until January on Dec. 15. 

Just before leaving, Congress passed a temporary extension of last year’s government funding levels, but with two separate deadlines: passing appropriations bills concerning military construction and Veterans Affairs; Agriculture; Energy and Water; Transportation; and Housing and Urban Development by Jan. 19, while the remaining eight appropriations bills must be worked out by Feb. 2.  

While the measure, known as a continuing resolution (CR), allowed Congress to avoid a government shutdown over the holidays, Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital he believed it also dampened the urgency for Congress to make a deal. 

‘All we’ve done with these two CRs is kick the can down the road. We still have a tough road ahead of us. We’ve got to get on with our business,’ Self said. ‘We took the pressure off with the CRs. This town needs a deadline. When you moved the deadline out, it takes pressure off. This town responds to pressure. Otherwise, we’re happy to just let things go.’

He said the House should be ‘pushing hard’ on its remaining spending bills or ‘sitting down with the Senate daily’ to discuss a deal.

The House has passed seven of 12 individual appropriations bills it has pledged to fund the government in the next fiscal year. Before that, the Senate passed its own three spending bills in a joint ‘minibus’ and is potentially weighing a similar effort with the other nine.

‘We need to start discussing this stuff. You know, we’re following that same old trap where we get down, and then leadership comes from on high and tells us what we’re going to do,’ Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital. ‘I would hope they start listening to us on some of these spending measures.’

But the government funding fight has been fraught with intra-GOP divisions for months. Before the CR passed, House leaders were forced to pull spending bills from the vote schedule multiple times over objections from both moderates and conservatives.

One senior GOP aide said those disagreements were the reason for the apparent slowdown.

‘I think people are worn out. I think they have to discuss behind the scenes if we can un-jam any of the ones that we have that are jammed up,’ the aide told Fox News Digital. ‘We threw everything at the wall trying to get these appropriations bills passed. We couldn’t. So I just don’t think there’s going to be a breakthrough at the moment.’

A GOP lawmaker who spoke with Fox News Digital said conversations between the top appropriators in the House and Senate were ‘ongoing’ and downplayed the public delay.

‘I don’t know that there’s a clear benefit to moving them at this point. I mean, the rules of the House indicate that our official negotiating position can be set when something’s passed out of appropriations or passed out of the rules… We’ve got our marching orders for all 12 bills, we’re in a position to be able to negotiate with the Senate, we should go negotiate with Senate,’ the lawmaker said.

Hamas has released two Israeli-Russian hostages, who are now with Israeli special forces, the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli Security Agency said in a joint announcement Wednesday.

The hostages have been identified as Irena Tatti, 73, and her daughter Elena Trufanova, 50.

This was the sixth release of hostages under a temporary cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas. The terrorist organization had previously released 60 Israeli women and children and 21 people of other nationalities since Friday, while Israel had released over 150 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

Other releases had included a greater number of hostages, who were taken as part of the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, in which at least 1,200 Israelis were murdered. More hostages are expected to be released later in the day.

Wednesday’s exchange comes as officials from Israel, the U.S. and Qatar negotiate a potential second extension of the current cease-fire. Israel and Hamas originally agreed to a four-day cease-fire on Friday before extending it another two days on Monday. 

If no agreement is made, Israel may resume its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing some internal pressure to end the cease-fire. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has warned that ending the war against Hamas would mean dissolving Netanyahu’s government.

Nevertheless, many international organizations, and even the U.S., are urging Israel to accept a longer-term cease-fire or truce.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken is set to travel to Israel and the West Bank later this week to encourage an extended cease-fire.

Netanyahu has previously vowed to ‘destroy’ Hamas entirely, an objective that becomes less and less possible the longer a cease-fire lasts.

Ahead of Thursday’s highly-anticipated debate between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody will hold a press conference earlier in the afternoon to hear from California ‘refugees’ who fled the Golden State for Florida. 

Among those featured will be a Vietnam veteran named Jay Berman, who lived in Southern California for 40 years before moving to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, because of high crime and vagrancy. 

Berman is now, according to DeSantis’ office, enjoying Florida’s low cost of living and can now afford to semi-retire without worrying about finding new clients.

Another featured speaker will be Julie Gebhards, who home schools her children in Lithia, Florida. She is said to have left California after becoming disillusioned with the state’s education curriculum, particularly ‘pornographic material’ in schools. 

Former New York police officer Steve Grossi will also speak at the press conference. Grossi moved to California to start over, but instead was met with homelessness and worried about his kids’ safety. He returned east and resides in Tallahassee, Florida. 

The press conference will also feature Noah and Kelsey Howard, who moved to Milton, Florida, because of DeSantis’ law enforcement recruitment program. The couple, who recently welcomed a newborn, left California because of the state’s high cost of living.  

Another couple, Ross and Jean Coulombe, moved to Bagdad, Florida, from California after the Ross’ business was shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic and Newsom’s Draconian measures that followed. 

DeSantis, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, and Newsom — who Republican critics charge is running a shadow campaign for the White House, even though he repeatedly stomps on such speculation as ‘ridiculous’ — will face off Thursday in a debate moderated by Fox News’ primetime opinion host Sean Hannity.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: A bank investigator responsible for detecting and combating money laundering warned in 2018 of ‘unusual’ and ‘erratic’ activity related to more than a dozen wire transfers of large sums of money to accounts belonging to Hunter Biden.

In an email released by the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, a Bank Secrecy Act manager raised concerns that the payments did not appear to correspond to ‘any services rendered,’ as well as Chinese efforts to target children of politicians. The investigator suggested the bank re-evaluate its relationship with the client.

The payments from China ultimately funded a $40,000 check to Joe Biden from his brother that had been labeled loan repayment, according to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. Comer is co-leading the impeachment inquiry against President Biden and has been investigating the Biden family’s business dealings for months.

The email is from a Bank Secrecy Act manager to an assistant vice president and branch manager of a financial institution. The names of the investigator, the vice president and the bank have been redacted in the email, dated June 26, 2018.

‘We have been monitoring the subject customer due to the PEP designation and observations on the account activity as well as recent negative news indicate this entity to be high risk,’ the investigator writes in the email. 

A ‘PEP designation’ is short for a ‘Politically Exposed Person,’ meaning the individual, through their prominent position or relationships, could be more susceptible to being involved in bribery or corruption, according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions. 

‘Since the initial funding of $5,000,000.00 from Northern International Capital Holdings (HK) Limited on 08/08/17 as a business loan, it was noted that there was no loan agreement document submitted,’ the investigator wrote in the email.

The investigator noted that the funds in the account had ‘primarily funded 16 wires ranging from $157,393.19 to $400,000.00,’ totaling more than $2.9 million to a redacted name and to ‘Owasco PC—Law Firm in D.C.’ Owasco was an entity controlled by Hunter Biden.

‘These payments were indicated as management fees and reimbursements,’ the investigator notes.

‘We find it unusual that approximately 58% of the funds were transferred to the law firm in a few months and the frequency of payments appear erratic,’ the investigator notes. ‘It was also previously indicated that HUDSON WEST III LLC does not currently have any investment projects at this time, which raises further concerns as millions in fees are being paid but does not appear to have any services rendered by Owasco PC.’

‘Furthermore, there has been negative news regarding the beneficial owner of Owasco PC, Robert Hunter Biden (son of former U.S. Vice President- Joe Biden) regarding allegations by his ex-wife that there were financial concerns about his extravagant spending on his own interests (drugs, strip clubs, prostitutes, etc.) which may put his family in a deep financial hole,’ the investigator wrote.

The investigator also pointed to more ‘recent negative news indicate China targeting children of politicians and purchase of political influence through ‘sweetheart deals.’’

‘Specifically, Hunter Biden’s $1.5 billion dollar deal with the Chinese-State to establish a private-equity firm in which they manage the funds over time and make huge fees,’ the investigator wrote. ‘The management company’s purpose is to invest in companies that benefit Chinese government.’

The investigator added: ‘Thus, the activity on the account appears unusual with no current business purpose and along with the recent negative news…may require re-evaluation of [the bank’s] relationship with the customer.’

Last month, the Oversight Committee obtained bank records revealing that on Aug. 8, 2017, $5 million in funds were sent to Hudson West III, a joint-venture established by Hunter Biden and an associate of Chinese Communist Party-linked CEFC, Gongwen Dong.

The records revealed that on the same day, Aug. 8, 2017, Hudson West III sent $400,000 to Owasco, P.C. — as mentioned by the bank investigator in the new email.

On Aug. 14, 2017, Hunter Biden wired $150,000 to Lion Hall Group, a company owned by James Biden and his wife Sara Biden. By Aug. 28, 2017, Comer said Sara Biden withdrew $50,000 in cash from Lion Hall Group and later deposited it into her and James Biden’s personal checking account.

Days later, Sara Biden wrote a check to Joe Biden for $40,000. The memo line of the check stated ‘loan repayment.’

The White House, upon discovery of the check, said the committee found that as a private citizen, the president loaned his brother James his own money when his brother needed it, and only discovered a record that he was repaid.

Comer, reacting to the new email Wednesday, said the money laundering expert’s concerns were raised ‘long before’ his committee’s investigation.

‘Long before our investigation into President Biden’s corruption, a bank money laundering investigator raised the exact concerns that we raised publicly about the Biden family business: ‘payments appear erratic,’ ‘does not appear to have any services rendered,’ ‘no current business purpose,’ and ‘China target[s] children of politicians and purchase of political influence through ‘sweetheart deals.’ Those are the words of a bank investigator who was just doing his job,’ Comer said. ‘The bank investigator was so concerned about Hunter Biden’s financial transactions with the Chinese company, he wanted to re-evaluate the bank’s relationship with the customer.’

Comer said that ‘even worse, we know that the sitting President of the United States knew about, participated in, and benefited from his family’s shady China dealings.’

‘Joe Biden showed up to his son’s CEFC meetings and benefited from the money wired from China,’ Comer said.

Comer went on to blast ‘the White House and their Corporate Media allies’ efforts to excuse and cover up this blatant corruption,’ calling the denials ‘appalling to the American people.’