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Hunter Biden Makes An Unexpected Appearance On Capitol Hill At Oversight Contempt Proceeding

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Hunter Biden made a surprise short appearance at a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday, as House Republicans began placing the president’s son in criminal contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena to attend a closed-door deposition last month.

The House Oversight and Judiciary committees, which subpoenaed the president’s son for testimony as part of the impeachment investigation into President Joe Biden, are holding separate markups of the contempt resolution. Hunter Biden strolled through the corridors of Congress with his lawyers outside the Oversight Committee hearing, causing a commotion both within and outside the committee room while members discussed what to do.

Hunter Biden entered the committee chamber and sat for around 10 minutes before leaving.

“You are the epitome of white privilege,” said Republican Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina. “Coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our faces, and ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed.” What exactly are you terrified of? “You have no balls.”

The charges at the heart of the Republican-led investigation derive from unverified assertions that the president was involved in or profited financially from his son’s international business activities, making the president’s son an important witness.

hunter biden

Hunter Biden Makes An Unexpected Appearance On Capitol Hill At Oversight Contempt Proceeding

Hunter’s demeanour was reminiscent of how he handled the subpoena last month. Hunter Biden staged a news conference outside the Capitol rather than sitting for his deposition and stated that he would only testify in public. House Republicans said they would hold a public hearing with the president’s son, but only if he agreed to a private interview. After the younger Biden failed to appear for his deposition, House Oversight Chair James Comer and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan released a joint statement saying they would initiate contempt proceedings.

Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that they offered to meet with House Republicans on Oversight six times but were instead served with a subpoena for a closed-door deposition.

“Ignoring that invitation and proving again that they cared little for the truth and wanted only to ‘move the needle of political support’ that Chairman Comer confessed was his purpose, the Republican chairs have today commandeered an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions,” Lowell said in a statement. “What are they afraid of?”

Hunter Biden’s attendance is part of a more proactive, forward-thinking strategy taken by his legal team, coordinated by lawyers Lowell and Kevin Morris, to combat his critics. The lawyers are aware that, despite Congress’s contempt vote against him as early as next week, they have few options for enforcing a punishment. According to a person familiar with the negotiations, Biden’s potential to avoid congressional testimony has grown in recent weeks, as he now faces criminal tax and gun accusations.

In the Oversight hearing, Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida responded to Mace’s comments about the president’s son by saying, “If the gentlelady wants to hear from Hunter Biden, we can hear from him right now.”

Mace responded by saying, “I think that Hunter Biden should be arrested right here right now and go straight to jail.”

Hunter Biden and his attorneys exited the room when GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia began speaking.

“I think it’s clear and obvious for everyone watching this hearing today that Hunter Biden is terrified of strong, conservative, Republican women because he can’t even face my words as I was about to speak to him,” Greene told the crowd.

hunter biden

Hunter Biden Makes An Unexpected Appearance On Capitol Hill At Oversight Contempt Proceeding

In response to all of the lawmakers interrupting each other, GOP Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona encouraged his colleagues, “Don’t act like a bunch of nimrods.”

Comer, a Kentucky Republican, began the meeting by justifying his panel’s subpoena for a closed-door deposition with the president’s son, saying, “We will not give Hunter Biden special treatment because of his last name.” All Americans should be treated equally under the law.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the lead Democrat on the subcommittee, emphasized the irony of several Republicans evading congressional subpoenas, including Jordan, while attempting to hold Hunter Biden in contempt. Raskin alleged that Comer had “bizarrely decided to obstruct his own investigation” by refusing to accept Hunter Biden’s offer to participate in a public hearing.

“The chairman refused to accept ‘yes’ as an answer from Hunter Biden,” Raskin added before being interrupted by Republicans.

The two markups on Wednesday represent the beginning of a lengthy process and highlight the difficulty that Republicans will face in obtaining testimony from the president’s son. If the contempt resolution passes out of committee, it will be sent to the entire House for a contempt vote.

Suppose an eventual House floor vote is successful. In that case, the Department of Justice, which is already investigating two criminal cases against the president’s son, will have to decide whether to charge him for defying a congressional subpoena.

Hunter Biden is anticipated to be on the West Coast on Thursday. He appears in federal court in Los Angeles for his criminal tax case, where he faces nine criminal accusations.

Ian Sams, White House spokeswoman for oversight and investigations, stated the committee hearings, condemning “baseless attacks” on the president’s family members and urging Republican senators to focus on their other responsibilities.

“Instead of playing politics, they should do their jobs, fund the government and border security, and focus on solutions that benefit the American people,” he said.

Jordan told CNN ahead of the markup that he expects the contempt resolution to succeed, but he was still determining when it would be brought to the floor or how soon the Justice Department would process the referral.

hunter biden

Hunter Biden Makes An Unexpected Appearance On Capitol Hill At Oversight Contempt Proceeding

“Whenever Speaker Johnson wants to put it on the floor, for a floor vote, then it’s up to Merrick Garland and Mr. Graves,” Jordan was quoted as saying by CNN.

With Congress returning from its winter holiday this week, House Republicans are stepping up their investigations during a busy period on Capitol Hill. The meetings are taking place while the House Homeland Security Committee is proceeding with its impeachment probe of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Sams said that Congress is only days away from a government funding deadline, but House Republicans are instead focusing on their investigations.

“House Republicans are less than ten days from sparking a partial government shutdown that many of their far-right members are rooting for, but instead of working full-time to avoid it, they are wasting time on political stunts,” the statement stated. “These baseless attacks on the President’s Cabinet and family members will do nothing to help improve Americans’ daily lives, strengthen our border security, or improve the economy; all they will do is help extreme House Republicans get booked on Fox and Newsmax to try to distract from their inability to govern.”

With the Biden investigation moving forward and several Republicans remaining hesitant about impeaching the president, senior Republicans believe attacking Mayorkas will be easier as the border crisis becomes a defining campaign issue.

“There are many competing impeachments, so it’s difficult to say who is in the lead,” said Rep. Tony Gonzales, a House Homeland Security Committee member.

“I will say that I believe many of the members up here have lost faith in DHS,” the Texas Republican continued.

Jordan said Republicans will “find out” whether the House can pursue two impeachments simultaneously, but he believes “there is strong, compelling evidence for both.”

SOURCE – (CNN)

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Pam Bondi Is Appointed US Attorney General Following Gaetz’s Resignation.

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Pam Bondi
Photo via Reuters

(VOR News) – President-elect Donald Trump selected Pam Bondi, a former Florida Attorney General and ally, to succeed Matt Gaetz on Thursday after the latter withdrew from consideration.

Gaetz’s drug use and sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl were the subject of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee. He denies any wrongdoing.

During Trump’s first administration, Pam Bondi, 59, served on the Opioids and Drug Abuse Commission. He served as police chief of the third-most populous state from 2011 to 2019.

She was also a member of Trump’s defense team at his first impeachment hearing, where he was charged with use military assistance to get Ukraine to look into the wrongdoing of his opponent, now President Joe Biden. The Senate cleared Trump on all charges.

The right-wing America First Policy Institute, which has collaborated with Trump’s campaign to create government concepts, most recently had Pam Bondi as its leader of the legal branch.

Unlike Pam Bondi, Gaetz lacks the experience necessary to serve as attorney general and is likely to encounter resistance from Senate Democrats and some Republicans.

According to Jones Walker defense attorney David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Florida, “She is unequivocally qualified for the position on paper.” Throughout her life, she battled in court. She stood out from the previous nominee because to her resume.

In a tweet announcing his intention to nominate Bondi, Trump praised her skills as a prosecutor and her firm stance against crime as Florida’s first female attorney general. Trump said that even though Bondi was elected on November 5th, while numerous state and federal criminal investigations were underway, he pledged to keep federal prosecutions from being politicized.

According to Trump, “The biased Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans for an excessive duration.” Not true anymore.

Discussion about Pam Bondi and Trump’s history before 2016.

In 2013, the Trump Foundation may have broken federal law by giving $25,000 to a political action committee that supported Pam Bondi. Bondi thought about looking into the for-profit Trump University.

Pam Bondi disputed that her decision to end her legal actions against Trump University following the 2016 disclosure of Trump’s $25,000 gift had anything to do with her decision to withdraw from those actions. According to her, all pertinent material was made public by her office.

The erroneous money disclosure was attributed by the Trump team to a “series of unfortunate coincidences and errors.” New York state fraud investigations resulted in the dissolution of both Trump University and the Trump Foundation.

After misleading Trump University students, he settled for $25 million and was fined $2 million for misusing charitable funds.

Following Special Counsel Jack Smith’s acquisition of two indictments against him for his interference in the 2020 election and his possession of secret materials after leaving office, Trump has voiced his displeasure with the present leadership of the Justice Department and pledged retaliation.

AFPI’s Pam Bondi remains loyal to Trump.

She and a number of other lawyers claimed that Smith’s appointment was illegal in an amicus brief they prepared in support of Trump in the secret information litigation. The Justice Department filed an appeal after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump nominee, rejected the case.

According to a long-standing rule against charging a sitting president, Smith and other top Justice Department officials are examining how both of the Trump criminal cases were resolved.

During his first administration, Trump was incensed with the Justice Department’s obstructionism. Bill Barr specifically refuted Trump’s baseless claims that he lost the 2020 election due to fraud, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions permitted an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump’s overarching objectives for the Justice Department have been delineated through his public remarks, interviews with former department lawyers, and Mark Paoletta, a conservative lawyer who develops the department’s policy.

Federal prosecutors may give illegal immigration cases priority.

To obtain a portion of the department’s $291 million justice assistance award, cities might have to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

It is probable that the Civil Rights Division will refocus its attention from legal challenges to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the public and commercial sectors to police accountability to religious freedom.

SOURCE: EAT

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PayPal’s Technical Challenges Are Affecting Thousands Of Customers Globally.

Matt Gaetz Withdraws as Trump’s Pick for Attorney General

 

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PayPal’s Technical Challenges Are Affecting Thousands Of Customers Globally.

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PayPal

(VOR News) – PayPal is a software program that enables the sending and receiving of monetary orders and transactions.

According to the corporation, which has taken responsibility for the incident that was mentioned before, PayPal is apparently experiencing problems in every region of the world in which it conducts business. This information was provided by the company.

In addition, PayPal noted on its service status website that it was experiencing “a system issue” which may affect a variety of PayPal Products, such as the ability to withdraw money from an account and the ability to complete an express checkout. This issue may even hurt the ability to complete an express checkout.

This problem may also affect other PayPal products.

In light of the fact that this vulnerability is present, there are further PayPal products that have the potential to be affected by it.

One of the remarks that was made was that “Our technical teams are actively working towards resolving the issue,” which was stated in the email that was distributed. This was one of the comments that individuals made. A number of assertions were made, and this was one of them all.

Several customers from various regions of the world have stated that they are unable to access their accounts or that they are having difficulty when it comes to making payments. These customers have also mentioned that they are encountering difficulties making payments.

These clients have informed us that they are experiencing difficulties obtaining their orders by communicating their concerns. As an additional point of interest, a number of customers have reported that they are currently having trouble processing payments. This is something that should be taken into consideration.

Up to the moment that the clock struck twelve twelve Central European Time (GMT), the platform outage monitor known as Downdetector had already received more than seven thousand alerts from users. When the clock reached twelve o’clock, this was the situation that existed.

As indicated by a dashboard that provides an overview of the current state of the services that are being offered by the organization, the crisis started at roughly 10:53 UTC.

PayPal gathered this information via the dashboard.

Among the services that were impacted by the outage, the business asserts that its bitcoin services and the peer-to-peer payment platform Venmo were among those that were affected. Venmo is a form of cryptocurrency that enables users to send and receive payments from one another.

This information suggests that these services were among those that were impacted by the circumstances. This information has been provided.

There are consumers who have voiced their frustration on social media over the fact that they are unable to access their accounts, and some of these customers have expressed their frustration over this issue. A number of users have stated their frustration about this issue.

The discontentment that users are experiencing has been communicated through posts that have been published on various social media platforms as of late.

Users of X, which was once known as Twitter, have submitted screenshots of a notification that flashed when they attempted to log into the platform.

The notification appeared after logging in.

The message was flashed on the screen whenever they attempted to log in by entering their credentials. For those individuals who were fortunate enough to receive the notification, it was strongly recommended that they “please check your entries and try again.”

Since its beginning in 1998, PayPal has developed into a global financial institution that is associated with a significance level that is significant enough to be considered noteworthy. The occurrence of this evolution took place virtually immediately following the establishment of PayPal.

Investors were informed that the total number of active accounts across all of the company’s companies had increased to $432 million for the month that ended on September 30th.

This information was provided to investors. Following the conclusion of the month, this information was made available to the public.

During the course of the month of October, investors were provided with this information for the purpose of their consideration. For those individuals who were interested in investing, the material in question was made available to them.

SOURCE: BBC

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NVIDIA’s Earnings: The Leader In AI Chips Demonstrates Relentless Growth.

Thousands of Asylum Seekers in Canada Get Free Housing

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Thousands of Asylum Seekers in Canada Get Free Housing

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Asylum Seekers Canada

With a large increase in the number of asylum seekers in Canada, several communities have begun to create free accommodations for new immigrants, while many Canadians remain homeless.

The city of Ottawa is attempting to build a sprung building, which will function as both a temporary shelter and a center for settlement services such as language training and job placement.

These facilities are intended to host refugees in the city for the first few weeks before transitioning to more suitable housing in Ottawa’s settlement infrastructure.

The city has identified two possible sites for these centers, both in the city’s west end. Planning records refer to them as “modular tension fabric buildings.”

The proposed placements for these structures have caused concern in the local areas. The city’s first proposed location was canceled due to strong community opposition. Subsequently, it proposed two alternative options and rallies for and against constructing the structures, which took place last weekend in both locations.

Many people protested that they had not been fully consulted on the location, while others grumbled that nothing was being done to assist Canadian citizens.

Asylum Seekers Canada

Canadian authorities opened a temporary housing center for migrants with 1,050 beds in the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

According to city data, one planned location is a federally owned tract of property near the Nepean Sportsplex, which serves around 1.5 million people annually. The other is near a public transport park-and-ride lot in Kanata’s western suburb.

City Councillor Sean Devine, whose constituency includes the Sportsplex site, stated that citizens have much to say about the problem.

“A lot of it is coming from the fact that it would have been preferable if the city of Ottawa had communicated the information sooner, perhaps in advance of the recommendations,” he told Global News during a telephone interview.

According to Devine, the number of migrants arriving in Ottawa has increased significantly in the last two years. This is consistent with national trends in refugee and asylum seeker rates.

Under Trudeua’s leadership, Canada had approximately 250,000 asylum petitions pending as of September 30, 2024, with more than 33,000 approved between January and the end of September.

International students in Canada filed nearly 14,000 asylum petitions in the first nine months of 2024, a roughly 14% increase over the same period last year. Compared to the present figures, approximately 12,000 asylum applications were lodged by international students in 2023—a tremendous surge from a mere 1,810 claims in 2018.

Devine stated that the city has been using two community center gymnasiums outfitted with bunk beds to temporarily lodge certain claimants before transitioning to other sorts of accommodation.

Asylum seekers get free housing in Quebec and Ontario

Asylum seekers get free housing in Quebec and Ontario.

According to a September release, the Ottawa Mission noticed a considerable increase in refugees filling its shelter beds in the summer of 2023. By October, asylum seekers were using 61% of the beds, a record high under Trudeau’s leadership.

The new structures will be funded under the federal interim housing aid program, which allows municipalities and provinces to reimburse the federal Government for expenditures incurred while temporarily hosting asylum seekers.

Since 2017, well over $1 billion has been distributed, largely in Ontario and Quebec, with the city of Ottawa getting $105 million to date.

Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development, who represents the Ottawa riding of Kanata-Nepean, expressed disappointment with how the plans were presented to people.

Louisa Taylor, executive director of Settlement Service Organization 613 Asylum Seekers, has collaborated with the city to coordinate resources for settlement assistance at future centers.

Taylor explained that many asylum seekers in an Ottawa homeless shelter prompted her and 613 refugees to organize a recent rally supporting the structure.

“For several years, hundreds of refugee claimants have been living and sleeping on bunk beds and cots in community centers and arenas throughout the city.”

Nobody has gone out protesting about it. “What they’re protesting is the concept of having a facility in their community that they don’t know much about,” she explained.

Homeless Canadians

Homelessness is not a problem that most people connect with within Canada, but it is becoming a growing one. The projected number of homeless persons in Canada fluctuates from 150,000 to 300,000, which is increasing.

According to the 2016 State of Homelessness study, Canada had at least 235,000 homeless people. According to the Homeless Hub, the number of homeless people in Canada varies each year, ranging from 150,000 to 300,000.

However, many more people may be without a permanent home in Canada. The actual number is impossible to determine because many homeless people live in concealed places.

They are so named because they temporarily reside in squats or with friends and relatives. An estimated 1.3 million Canadians have experienced insecure housing or homelessness.

Homelessness Statistics for Canadians

  • Between 25,000 and 35,000 people are homeless on any given night in Canada.
  • Toronto has the most homeless people in Canada.
  • 62% of homeless people in Canada are males.
  • 30% of Canadian homeless come from Indigenous communities.
  • 90% of homeless shelters in Canada are in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, and Alberta, and 44% of them are in Ontario alone.
  • 22% of shelters are aimed at young homeless in Canada, while 20% of people experiencing homelessness are 13-24 years old.
  • The annual cost of homelessness is over $7 billion.
  • The Canadian Government has invested $2.2 billion over ten years to expand funding for the homeless.

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