The acting director of the U.S. Secret Service and a Texas congressman got into a screaming match Thursday during a hearing on the agency’s failures leading to two assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump.

Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe shouted at Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, after the GOP lawmaker lambasted the service for security lapses that made Trump a target of two failed shooting attempts. 

The outburst happened after Fallon showed a picture of Presidents Biden and Trump at a 9/11 commemoration ceremony this year and suggested that as the Special Agent in Charge of that detail, Rowe should have been close enough to Biden to be in the picture. Rowe was not pictured.

“Who is usually at an event like this closest to the President of the United States?” Fallon asked, pointing at the photo. “Were you the special agent in charge of the detail that day?”

Rowe said the security detail was present but out of view of the camera. As he spoke, he became enraged and accused Fallon of using 9/11 for political purposes.

“That is the day where we remember more than 3,000 people that have died on 9/11. I actually responded to Ground Zero,” Rowe said. “I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center.” 

“I’m not asking that, I’m asking you, if you were… were you the special agent in charge!?” Fallon interrupted, shouting at Rowe.

Rowe raised his voice in response. “I was there to show respect for a Secret Service member that died on 9/11!” he yelled back.

“Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes!” Rowe screamed at the lawmaker. 

“I’m not,” Fallon fired back, as the committee chairman demanded order and banged his gavel. 

“You are, sir. You are out of line, congressman!” Rowe fumed. “Way out of line.”

Fallon then accused Rowe of “playing politics” by refusing to answer his question. 

“I am a public servant who has served this nation,” Rowe retorted, saying he served on the nation’s “darkest day.” 

“You will not politicize it!” Rowe thundered. 

Outside the hearing room, Fallon told Fox News’ Chad Pergram that he had legitimate questions about why Rowe was there that day, suggesting that Rowe was auditioning for the job of full-time director by getting close to Biden and Trump that day.

“There’s no reason for him to be there. There isn’t. Try to find a place at a time in history where the Secret Service director was that close to the president at a function or event. I don’t think you could find it. So, yeah, I think he was auditioning for the job, a job that I don’t believe he’s going to get come Jan. 20. I have not talked to the president about that, but I suspect that they’re going to find much better people because we need to change the culture as well.”

Fox News’ Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

Republican lawmakers in Arizona are calling for Pima County recorder Gabriella Cazares-Kelly to be investigated for her handling of the 2024 General Election, accusing her of closing an early ballot request portal before the legal deadline for early ballot requests, among two other claims of potential misconduct.

Arizona State Representatives Teresa Martinez and Rachel Jones penned a letter to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes last week requesting a probe following reports of “significant and highly concerning issues” involving Cazares-Kelly’s actions leading up to and during the election, the lawmakers said in a joint statement Monday. Cazares-Kelly, a progressive Democrat, has been in office since 2021. 

Martinez and Jones claim the Pima County Recorder’s Office disabled its online ballot request system six days before the legal deadline, impacting nearly 4,000 voters. They say the decision has raised concerns about compliance with Arizona election laws and potential voter disenfranchisement in the county, located in southern Arizona. The county has a population of just over 1 million people, per the 2020 census, making it Arizona’s second-most populous county, behind Maricopa County. 

The pair have also raised concerns that inadequate safeguards in the recorder’s voter registration program for prison inmates may have allowed ineligible individuals to vote. They say previous inquiries into this matter, including a letter sent by Jones and State Representative Cory McGarr on June 5, went unanswered. 

Thirdly, Martinez and Rachel Jones say that the method of how undeliverable ballots were processed, stored and tracked under Cazares-Kelly’s leadership, has also been raised.

A follow-up letter sent by Jones and McGarr on Oct. 24 to clarify compliance with Arizona law likewise received no response, according to the letter.

“Election integrity is the foundation of our democracy, and voters deserve to know their elections are being administered fairly, lawfully, and transparently,” Martinez said in a statement. “The numerous irregularities and lack of accountability from the Pima County Recorder’s Office demand a full investigation.” 

Jones added that: “When nearly 4,000 voters face barriers to requesting a ballot, and when questions about unlawful voting and ballot processing are met with silence, it’s clear that immediate action is needed to restore public trust.”

Cazares-Kelly’s office provided Fox News Digital with a Nov. 19 press release which she addressed concerns regarding the early ballot request portal.

It reads that Pima County discovered a district boundary error weeks before election which led to an “unavoidable delay” in the vendor’s printing and assembly of ballots resulting in many voters flood the online form to request ballots. Some voters did so despite already being on the Active Early Voting List (AEVL), which duplicated their ballot requests.

“The processing of online ballot requests is still a very manual process in our office, requiring us to look up each voter record and review many pieces of information,” Cazares-Kelly said, per the release.

“Follow-up communication is often necessary.  After monitoring the progress of the ballot requests during the week leading up to the October 25 deadline, it became clear that our office could not manually process all the online requests in a timely manner. Only 39% of the more than 20,000 ballot requests manually processed before October 19 were valid.”

She said that her data team filtered out about 4,000 duplicate requests and emailed the remaining 3,900 voters with unique online early ballot requests, urging them to call the office so it could process the requests more quickly with one phone call versus back-and-forth correspondence.  

“I am confident that most of the voters who requested a ballot using our online form either received their already queued ballots, voted early in person, updated their addresses online or successfully requested a mail ballot,” Cazares-Kelly said.

A spokesperson for Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office says it has received the letter but is declining to comment further, telling Fox News Digital that the attorney general’s office does not comment on potential investigations. 

Cazares-Kelly is the first Native American woman elected to a seat in Pima County, according to her campaign website. She is the President of the Progressive Democrats of Southern Arizona and Vice President of the Arizona Democratic Party’s Native American Caucus.

In Martinez’s and Jones’ letter, the pair made reference to Mayes’ comments last month that her office was investigating whether President-elect Trump’s remarks about former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney qualifies as a death threat under Arizona’s law.

On the campaign trail, Trump called Cheney a war hawk and postulated how she might feel standing in a war zone with “nine barrels shooting at her.”

“Arizonans deserve free, fair, and transparent elections,” the letter reads. “In light of your recent decision to immediately investigate President-elect Donald Trump over his speech (although you later determined his remarks were protected by the First Amendment), we hope you will agree that Recorder Cazares-Kelly’s alarming conduct administering the 2024 General Election warrants a thorough investigation.”

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee grilled Ur Jaddou, head of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), on Wednesday, slamming her leadership and the Biden administration for waving in mass illegal immigration and running a humanitarian parole program “rife with fraud.”

USCIS is a federal agency meant to oversee lawful immigration into the U.S.

“You totally blew it,” Texas Rep. Troy Nehls told Jaddou.

“The American people are sick and tired, and you should all be fired. Well you will be shortly because the American people said, ‘We ain’t going to tolerate this anymore,’” he added.  

Rep. Tom McClintock, head of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, also drilled into Jaddou, saying: “If anyone wonders why real wages for working families have declined under this administration, look no further than the agency before us today.”

“Our subcommittee,” he continued, “has noted that in millions of cases, credible fear interviews are not even conducted before migrants who have illegally entered the country are then released into the country. How do you explain that?”

Jaddou attempted to explain by saying that USCIS, which primarily receives its funding from applicant fees, is underfunded.

McClintock shot back that “until we opened our borders those fees were more than adequate to conduct those interviews and under your administration, they’re not.”

The chairman took particular issue with the Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans parole program – known as CHNV – which, according to a November report by the subcommittee, was used to allow more than 530,000 migrants from those countries into the U.S.

The CHNV program was started by the Biden administration in January 2023 and allows up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the U.S. each month. It was temporarily paused by the administration in July due to fraud concerns but then reinstated just weeks later.  

“They took a parole authority that required case-by-case review of individual exigent circumstances to provide temporary entry to the United States and transformed it into a fraud-ridden, mass admission of more than half a million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans up to 1,000 every day,” said McClintock.  

McClintock also criticized USCIS for not properly vetting CHNV sponsors and allowing migrants to sponsor each other.

“Literally one parolee can immediately arrive in this country, receive indefinite status, and then sign up as a sponsor for the next. This is illegal chain migration on steroids all made possible by an agency willing to contort and ignore the law,” he said.

Pressed further by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Jaddou admitted that the program allows migrants to sponsor other migrants. She said 86% of CHNV parole sponsors are U.S. citizens and lawful residents, leaving questions about the other 14%.   

Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs dug further, questioning Jaddou on the widespread abuses of the CHNV program by migrants, citing hundreds and thousands of instances of the same Social Security number, email, zip code and responses being used on multiple sponsor applications.

“This program is rife with fraud,” Biggs said, adding that “the fraud was so rampant you closed down the program, but you didn’t fix it. It’s still ongoing.”

“Do you know how you reduce illegal immigration, according to the left? It’s really simple. You make illegal immigration legal,” said Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt. 

“Biden was upset the American people were complaining about the increase in illegal immigration numbers at the border,” he said. “So, what did Biden do? He legalized illegal immigration by expanding the intended use of parole to fit his needs.”

Throughout the hearing, Jaddou maintained that her agency was effectively managing its duties, including the CHNV program, which she said is “just one piece” of “an entire border management strategy.” 

“It cannot work alone,” she said. “Neither can enforcement measures work alone if we want it to be long-lasting, and that’s why this process is important.” 

EXCLUSIVE: Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens says he is “excited” by the prospect of incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan leading the charge of deportations and border security – as he pointed to violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as one of the top threats facing the country.

Owens, who took the position of chief last year, spoke to Fox News’ Griff Jenkins in San Antonio, Texas, in his first interview since the election. He was asked what he thought of the appointment of Homan, a former Border Patrol agent and former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“I’m excited because Tom Homan is a brother Border Patrol agent. He served time in this uniform. And so I’m excited to see any of our green family make good,” he said. “And I’m excited to see what he’s going to do.”

“I can tell you that the interior enforcement and the deportations, what they represent is a consequence. They represent a consequence of not following our laws and coming into our country the right way,” he said.

There have been tensions between the Biden administration and Border Patrol agents over the handling of the crisis at the southern border. The Border Patrol union has been deeply critical of the administration and backed the Trump campaign during the presidential election.

Owens came into the role as chief in a year that saw record encounters at the southern border. He said “it’s been exhausting” for agents to deal with the last four years at the border. Numbers have dropped sharply recently due in part to a proclamation limiting asylum signed by President Biden in June, but it is unclear if those numbers will remain low for long.

Owens warned that cartels are adjusting their tactics to get around the new challenges, including increased technology, and he pointed to fentanyl and the violent Venezuelan migrant gang Tren de Aragua as two of the top threats on the agency’s radar.

“It’s a very serious threat for us,” he said of Tren de Aragua (TdA). “It is one of our top priorities, just like fentanyl. Tomorrow it may be something else, but today it’s TdA and fentanyl that they represent some of the biggest threats to our people in this country.”

The gang has been linked with a number of high-profile crimes across the U.S. and has expanded its presence and criminal activities into multiple states, including Colorado, where it has reportedly taken over a number of apartment buildings.

Owens also points to the unknowns facing agents, including 250,000 gotaways at the border.

“We need to make them come to the front door. It’s that unknown, and what the intent is that scares me the most and probably any other law enforcement and border security professional that you’re going to ask out there. It’s why are they coming in, and why aren’t they using the front door? And what are they planning on doing that could potentially harm our country and our people?” he said.

He noted that it’s harder to vet migrants from countries where there are no diplomatic relations, meaning it’s much harder to know who is coming into the U.S. He says that what keeps him up at night is the possibility of failure in apprehending threats coming into the U.S.

“What keeps me up at night is not being successful, knowing that for every person that we miss, for every drug load that we miss, people’s lives are forever impacted. And in some cases, people can die. That’s something that none of us wants to see,” he said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can continue using a Seattle airport for chartered deportation flights in a win for incoming President-elect Trump’s administration, a federal appeals court ruled.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling rejected a 2019 local executive order that sought to counter then-President Trump’s immigration policies, saying that King County, Washington violated its contract by prohibiting deportations at King County International Airport, which is also known as Boeing Field.

The court ruled that the order was unlawful because it discriminated against ICE and targeted federal operations. In 2019, Trump used Boeing Fields to deport illegal migrants from the U.S. and the local county sought to block the president’s removal operations.

The order prompted ICE to begin using an airport in Yakima, Washington — a much longer drive from ICE’s Northwest detention center— for the deportation flights.

“The relocation increased operational costs due to the greater distance from ICE detention facilities to the airport. It also led to increased security concerns,” the ruling noted.

In response, a legal battle with King County ensued. The U.S. in 2020 sued the county, alleging that it violated the terms of a World War II-era contract that guarantees the federal government’s right to use the airport along with discriminating against ICE.

In a ruling on Friday, Nov. 30, 9th Circuit Judge Daniel A. Bress upheld the court’s decision. In the ruling, obtained by Fox News Digital, he wrote that, “this is not a situation in which King County officials are being conscripted into carrying out federal immigration laws on the federal government’s behalf.”

“Instead, the United States is asking King County, in its capacity as the owner of a public airport facility, to lift a discriminatory prohibition on private parties’ ability to engage in business with the federal government that supports federal immigration efforts,” the ruling states.

The new order also calls for transparency around any deportation flights. 

The airport now offers a conference room where the public can observe deportation flights on a video feed, and the county posts a log of deportation flights from the airport on its website.

The ruling is a win for the incoming Trump administration. The president-elect has vowed to initiate deportation efforts on his first day back in office.

His promise was cemented by his pick of “border czar,” Tom Homan. 

“If you don’t want to work with us, then get the hell out all the way. We’re going to do it,’ Homan recently said.

Trump’s election has prompted blue city officials to voice their opposition against Trump’s deportation efforts. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said that he is prepared to go to jail in opposition to Trump’s plans.

The governors of Illinois, Arizona and Massachusetts have said that they also won’t assist the administration in the operation. 

In Illinois, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker promised to uphold sanctuary status, boldly declaring, “If you come for my people, you come through me.”

Arizona’s Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said her state will not be helping in what she called a “misguided” plan. 

“What I will unequivocally say is that, as governor, I will not tolerate efforts that are part of misguided policies that harm our communities, that threaten our communities, that terrorize our communities, and Arizona will not take part in those,” Hobbs said.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey insisted that Massachusetts state police would “absolutely not” help the Trump administration’s planned deportations. 

President Biden pledged $1 billion in humanitarian support to Africans displaced by historic droughts and food insecurity on Tuesday, as North Carolina residents continue to rebuild after the devastation left by Hurricane Helene.

“The United States continues to be the world’s largest provider of humanitarian aid and development assistance. That’s going to increase, you know, that’s the right thing for the wealthiest nation in the world to do,” Biden said while speaking in Angola. “Today I’m announcing over $1 billion in new humanitarian support for Africans displaced from homes by historic droughts and food insecurity. We know African leaders and citizens are seeking more than just aid. You seek investment.

“So, the United States is expanding our relationship all across Africa from assistance to aid, investment to trade, moving from patrons to partners to help bridge the infrastructure gap,” he added.

Biden’s visit to Angola this week marks the first time the president has stepped foot on African soil during his presidency, and it comes as people in North Carolina continue to face challenges after Hurricane Helene caused destruction and devastation in late September.

Last month, the White House requested $98 billion in additional disaster relief funding to help efforts in Helene-ravished areas.

Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle have pledged to act swiftly once they get a formal request from the Biden administration.

On top of that, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters last month that her agency “will need additional funding of approximately $40 billion beyond its 2025 budget request to support the ongoing recovery efforts to these storms and meet our overall mission requirements through the end of the fiscal year.” 

Still, until these funds are in place, some continue to slam Biden’s legacy of putting foreign countries before his own, which was seen Tuesday as a video of Biden making the $1 billion announcement in Africa made the rounds on social media.

“BREAKING: Joe Biden just announced a $1B aid package for AFRICAN nations that are rebuilding from natural disasters. What about North Carolina? This is DISGUSTING,” one user on X wrote.

“This is by far the WORST President of all time,” another said on X.

Still, one more user asked, “Can anyone please explain why Joe Biden hates America so much?”

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.

Helene ravaged part of the U.S. Southeast in late September, killing more than 100 people in North Carolina alone.

It’s estimated to have caused billions of dollars worth of damage as well.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., previously told Fox News Digital that he believed it could be one of the most expensive storms in U.S. history. 

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump have officially requested to “immediately” dismiss charges against him in New York v. Trump, declaring the “failed lawfare” case “should never have been brought.” 

“President Donald J. Trump respectfully submits this motion to dismiss the Indictment and vacate the jury’s verdicts…,” they wrote in their official motion to dismiss submitted to the court on Monday. “The Presidential immunity doctrine, the Presidential Transition Act, and the Supremacy Clause all require that result, and they require it immediately.” 

Trump attorneys, in the beginning of their argument for dismissal, invoked President Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden.

“Yesterday, in issuing a 10-year pardon to Hunter Biden that covers any and all crimes whether charged or uncharged, President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently,’” they wrote. “President Biden argued that ‘raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.’” 

Trump attorneys said Biden’s “comments amounted to an extraordinary condemnation of President Biden’s own DOJ.” 

“This is the same DOJ that coordinated and oversaw the politically-motivated, election-interference witch hunts targeting President Trump by disgraced Special Counsel Jack Smith, the other biased prosecutors in Smith’s Special Counsel’s Office (“SCO”), and others. This is the same DOJ that sent Matthew Colangelo to DA Bragg to help unfairly target President Trump in this empty and lawless case,” they wrote. “Since DA Bragg took office, he has engaged in ‘precisely the type of political theater’ that President Biden condemned.” 

Trump spokesman and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung said after the filing, “President Trump and his legal team have filed a powerhouse motion to dismiss once and for all the unconstitutional and politically motivated Manhattan DA Hoax. This lawless case should have never been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed, as President Trump must be allowed to continue the Presidential Transition process, and execute the vital duties of the presidency, unobstructed by the remains of this, or any other, Witch Hunt.”

“Today’s motion provides every possible chance for Judge Merchan do the right thing and end what remains of this charade immediately, rightfully allowing our country to unite behind President Trump for the betterment of all Americans.”

Trump attorneys said New York v. Trump is “based on a contrived, defective, and unprecedented legal theory relating to 2017 entries in documents that were maintained hundreds of miles away from the White House where President Trump was running the country.” 

“There are no ‘aggravating factors’ here, other than those arising from DANY’s misconduct,” they wrote. “Thus, this case should never have been brought, particularly during a period when DA Bragg’s failure to protect this City from pervasive violent crime frightens, threatens, and harms New Yorkers on a daily basis.” 

Trump attorneys also said that the case “would never have been brought were it not for President Trump’s political views, the transformative national movement established under his leadership, and the political threat that he poses to entrenched, corrupt politicians in Washington, D.C. and beyond.” 

Trump lawyers said that “wrongly continuing proceedings in this failed lawfare case disrupts President Trump’s transition efforts and his preparations to wield the full Article II executive power authorized by the Constitution pursuant to the overwhelming national mandate granted to him by the American people on November 5, 2024.” 

Trump attorneys, citing the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision which ruled that presidents have immunity from official acts, said the case threatens the functioning of the federal government. 

“Local elected officials such as DA Bragg have no valid basis to cause such disruptions, which also violate the Supremacy Clause,” they wrote. “Consequently, the federal Constitution is an absolute “legal impediment” to further proceedings…and the case must be immediately dismissed.”

Trump attorneys said that Bragg’s “wrongful prosecution threatens ‘enduring consequences upon the balanced power structure of our Republic’ and the type of ‘factional strife’ that President Biden decried in yesterday’s blanket pardon announcement.” 

They said the Special Counsel’s Office “has been forced to concede.” 

Last month, a federal judge, upon Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request, dismissed charges against Trump in his 2020 election interference case. Smith also rescinded his appeal in his classified records case against Trump — a case that was tossed in July by a federal judge in Florida who ruled Smith was appointed unlawfully as special counsel. 

Bragg, last month, requested to Judge Juan Merchan that the case be stayed until the end of Trump’s second term, but Trump attorneys noted that the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department concluded that “the categorical prohibition on the federal indictment of a sitting president…even if the case were held in abeyance…applies to this situation.” 

They wrote that Bragg’s “ridiculous suggestion that they could simply resume proceedings after President Trump leaves Office, more than a decade after they commenced their investigation in 2018, is not an option.”

Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree stemming from the yearslong investigation related to alleged hush money payments run by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance initiated the investigation, and Bragg prosecuted Trump. 

After an unprecedented six-week trial in New York City, a jury found the president guilty on all counts. 

Democrat Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s hometown newspaper scolded him for “amping up violent rhetoric” with his vow to resist President-elect Trump’s deportation of illegal immigrants.

The editorial board at the Denver Post on Monday published an editorial with the headline, “Denver’s mayor was wrong to threaten armed conflict to protect immigrants,” referring to Johnston’s recent suggestion of using the Denver police to resist federal immigration officials attempting to carry out their job.

“We are not surprised Johnston recklessly elevated the rhetoric around protecting Coloradans without legal immigration status. But that doesn’t make it OK,” the editorial said.

The newspaper said the mayor “must choose his words carefully” rather than joining “Trump’s arms race of amping up violent rhetoric around illegal immigration.”

“Johnston should keep his remarks far away from violent conflict and focus on peaceful resistance,” the editorial said.

Johnston said during a recent interview with Denverite that he was prepared to protest against anything he believes is “illegal or immoral or un-American” in the city, predicting the use of city police against federal officers and a “Tiananmen Square moment.”

The mayor was then asked if he was prepared to go to jail for standing in the way of policies enacted by the administration.

“Yeah, I’m not afraid of that, and I’m also not seeking that,” Johnston said. “I think the goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people [on] how to solve hard problems.”

Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar” designate, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity last week that he would jail Johnston if he broke the law in shielding illegal migrants. 

“All he has to do is look at Arizona v. U.S., and he would see he’s breaking the law. But look, me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing: He’s willing to go to jail, I’m willing to put him in jail.”

California’s unemployment insurance (UI) financing system is facing big deficits, requiring a full “redesign,” according to a new report from the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO).

The system, meant to be self-sufficient, has fallen short of covering annual benefit costs, resulting in a projected $2 billion annual deficit over the next five years and an outstanding $20 billion federal loan balance.

“This outlook is unprecedented: although the state has, in the past, failed to build robust reserves during periods of economic growth, it has never before run persistent deficits during one of these periods,” the LAO report, titled “Fixing Unemployment Insurance” and published Tuesday, stated. 

Independent analysts project that annual shortfalls will increase California’s federal loan, costing taxpayers around $1 billion in interest each year. The system, which is funded by employer payments to the UI Trust Fund, hasn’t been updated since 1984 and “cannot keep up with inflation or provide the intended wage replacement of half of workers’ wages,” according to the report.

The current employer tax structure discourages eligible unemployed workers from claiming benefits, while the state’s low taxable wage base hampers hiring of lower-wage workers, analysts found.

One suggestion researchers wrote to fix the gap is to increase the amount of wages taxed for unemployment benefits, raising it from $7,000 per worker to $46,800. Supporters of this change say it would bring in more money to fund the program. The report also recommends reworking how businesses are taxed for unemployment benefits to make the system simpler and encourage more hiring.

To deal with the massive federal loan, the report suggests splitting the cost between employers and the state government, so that businesses aren’t stuck with all the debt.

“These are significant problems in isolation, let alone in combination,” analysts wrote. “The significant changes proposed in this report are an honest reflection of these problems. However, whether or not the Legislature takes action, employers will soon pay more in UI taxes than they do today due to escalating charges under federal law.”

Gareth Lacy, a spokesperson for the California Employment Development Department, which administers the state’s unemployment insurance program, called it “a thoughtful report” and noted officials “are reviewing it carefully.”

“We agree the issue stretches back for decades and the pandemic compounded it,” Lacy told Fox News Digital in a statement.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s UI system was hit hard with an overwhelming number of unemployment claims, resulting in the state borrowing roughly $20 billion from the federal government to cover insurance benefits, which the state still owes. 

“Not only will the state’s tax system fall short of repaying that loan, the balance is set to grow due to the ongoing gap between contributions and benefits,” the report noted. “This will become a near-permanent feature of the state’s UI program and a major ongoing cost for state taxpayers.”

There is no other way to put it: Joe Biden lied. Over and over.

After repeatedly promising, pledging, vowing not to pardon his son Hunter, the President of the United States did exactly that.

The move amounted to a devastating vote of no confidence in his own Justice Department, matching Donald Trump’s own denunciations of that very department.

Trump, who also pardoned several political allies during his first term, was quick to react on Truth Social:

“Does the pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”

And prominent Republicans are calling Biden a liar, with ample justification.

I think most people assumed that a father wouldn’t let his son go to jail. And if the president had explained it in those terms, he might have garnered some public sympathy. But he did not.

You know how the president often talks about “my word as a Biden”? I mistakenly assumed that he wouldn’t promise again and again not to pardon his son or commute his sentence if he had thought there was any possibility he would get Hunter off the legal hook.

But what is anyone going to do? He leaves office next month, his political career is over and the story will quickly fade.

Biden sounded very much like Trump as he accused the DOJ, which he had long defended, of treating his son unfairly – swinging the political door wide open for the president-elect to retaliate against Justice, in part by naming longtime confidant Kash Patel to run the FBI.

Biden said his son had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” and he blamed  political pressure on the special counsel named in the case.

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been 5-1/2 years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”

But that bolsters the Trump argument that he too was singled out for selective prosecution by the DOJ – and will be in a position to do something about it.

Hunter put out his own statement after the Sunday pardon: “I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction — mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport.”

The feeble attempts by some in the media and in Democratic politics to defend Biden are just sad, because they only tell half the story.

Let’s say Hunter Biden was in fact singled out for prosecution, that the case would have been routinely disposed of if his last name was Jones. (Hunter had already been convicted in one case and pleaded guilty in another to tax and gun-related charges.)

But as Hunter admitted in one email, it was his last name, when his father was vice president, that enabled him to land all those buckraking contracts from around the world. It’s why the Ukrainian energy giant Burisma hired him, why he was able to get money from China.

Hunter had no expertise in any of these areas. What he had was a connection to a powerful father.

The pardon is so sweeping that it covers everything Hunter may have done from Jan. 1, 2004 through Sunday – which could be a way of his father protecting himself as well.

Karine Jean-Pierre also told reporters on several occasions that Biden would not pardon Hunter.

Hunter Biden on Sunday night released a statement noting his recovery from addiction and his sobriety:

“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction — mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport.”

Mark Halperin argues that Biden put his son in jeopardy by running for president, knowing the full range of Hunter’s addiction problems – and lied about Hunter not getting money from China and not helping his business clients (even if he just made small talk at a couple of group meetings).

Meanwhile, Trump’s choice of Kash Patel for the FBI (who would replace his own appointee, Chris Wray, who replaced the fired Jim Comey) has sparked a media backlash.

One thing no one can argue is that Patel lacks experience. He has been chief of staff at the Pentagon and a deputy assistant to the president. In fact, he was a national security prosecutor in the Obama Justice Department, before Trump got into politics.

But on Steve Bannon’s podcast last year, Patel said: “Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly.”

Patel has also said that on day one he’d shut down the FBI headquarters in Washington – ironically named for J. Edgar Hoover – and turn it into a museum on the “deep state.” Its 7,000 employees would be dispersed around the country.

One thing Biden never did was put any family members on the government payroll, as Trump did in naming Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, to top White House positions in the first term.

Now Trump is continuing that tradition by naming Charles Kushner, Jared’s father, as ambassador to France.

The elder Kushner had already served a couple of years in prison for a scheme that involved hiring a prostitute and sending the tape to his sister. But at least he had paid his dues when Trump later pardoned him, sparking Jared’s interest in prison reform.

Trump also picked Massad Boulos – the father of Tiffany Trump’s husband – as White House adviser on Arab and Middle East affairs. All in the family.

One thing the press does is refer to Trump nominees as “loyalists,” as if that’s a dirty word. Sunday’s Washington Post had a headline describing “loyalist Kash Patel.”

But while Biden named an inner circle of aides who had been with him as long as four decades, they were not dismissed as loyalists. That’s because the media agree that these were the good guys. And who can forget former AG Eric Holder describing himself as Barack Obama’s “wingman.”

The Hunter pardon has set in motion a potential cycle of both presidents using the DOJ and FBI for purely partisan ends, and Joe Biden bears full responsibility for that.

China’s foreign ministry lashed out at the U.S. and Taiwan on Sunday after the U.S. State Department approved a $385 million arms sale to the island.

Chinese officials also criticized the U.S. for approving Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te to visit Hawaii and Guam, a U.S. territory. China considers Taiwan to be its sovereign territory and routinely objects to any validation of the island’s democratically-elected government.

The arms deal approved late last week sees Taiwan purchasing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of spare parts for F-16 fighter jets as well as components for radars.

Chinese officials said the deal sent the “wrong signal” about relations in the Indo-Pacific. A separate statement said China “strongly condemns” Lai’s travel to the U.S.

The U.S. has repeatedly signaled its support for Taiwan through military deals, operations and diplomatic interactions with Taiwanese officials.

Recent years have found a cadence of U.S. officials, such as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meeting with Taiwanese officials only for Beijing to react with saber-rattling.

Pelosi made a rare trip to the island in 2021, and China reacted by holding live-fire military drills surrounding Taiwan. Those drills occurred again in 2023 when then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with former Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

President-elect Trump has signaled that his administration will continue America’s strong relationship with Taiwan. Trump’s nominees to serve as United Nations ambassador, national security adviser, and most importantly, secretary of state are regarded by many as “China Hawks.”

Trump nominated Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to be secretary of state last month. Rubio has been a leading voice in the Senate for cracking down on China and imposing sanctions.

Rubio has said he will work with Trump to “continue to support Taiwan.” He is also allied with Trump on insisting Taiwan increase defense spending, a view shared by security experts, but not necessarily the majority of Taiwanese people. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

A Canadian town is facing a fine of $10,000 for refusing to participate in Pride Month and fly the “LGBTQ2 rainbow flag” outside its municipal building.

The town of Emo, Ontario, which has a population of about 1,300 and is situated near the border with Minnesota, was found to have violated the Ontario Human Rights Code by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario for refusing to proclaim June as Pride Month, according to a report from the National Post.

The town was also issued a citation for its failure to fly “an LGBTQ2 rainbow flag,” the report notes, despite Emo not having an official flag pole.

In addition to the $10,000 fine, officials from the town were ordered to complete mandatory “human rights” training.

According to the report, the decision to cite Emo began with a 2020 incident in which the town was approached by a group called Borderland Pride, which issued a written request asking that Emo declare June Pride Month.

The group’s request also included a draft proclamation, containing clauses such as “pride is necessary to show community support and belonging for LGBTQ2 individuals” and “the diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression represents a positive contribution to society.”

Borderland Pride also asked the city to fly an “LGBTQ2 rainbow flag for a week of your choosing.”

The request was defeated by a 3-2 vote at a later Emo township council meeting, where Mayor Harold McQuaker argued there was “no flag being flown for the other side of the coin… there’s no flags being flown for the straight people.”

The line was seen as particularly offensive to Human Rights Tribunal vice-chair Karen Dawson, who said she found the remark “demeaning and disparaging of the LGBTQ2 community of which Borderland Pride is a member and therefore constituted discrimination under the Code.”

Dawson further argued that the remark was made in “close proximity” to  McQuaker’s no vote on the Borderland Pride request, meaning it “constituted discrimination under the Code.”

Borderland Pride sought a $15,000 fine for the Township as well as a $10,000 fine for each of the three council members who voted no on the group’s request, according to the report, though the tribunal eventually settled on the $10,000 fine for the township and a $5,000 for McQuaker.

McQuaker and Emo’s chief administrative officer were also ordered to complete an online course offered by the Ontario Human Rights Commission called “Human Rights 101” and “provide proof of completion… to Borderland Pride within 30 days.”