Red State’s Capital City Considers Measure to Limit Tourists on Saturdays

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Red State’s Capital City Considers Measure to Limit Tourists on Saturdays

(Headline USA) Each year, a crush of tourists arrives in Alaska’s capital city on cruise ships to see wonders like the fast-diminishing Mendenhall Glacier. Now, long-simmering tensions over Juneau’s tourism boom are coming to a head over a new voter initiative aimed at giving residents a respite from the influx.

A measure that would ban cruise ships with 250 or more passengers from docking in Juneau on Saturdays qualified for the Oct. 1 municipal ballot, setting the stage for a debate about how much tourism is too much. The measure would also ban ships on July 4, a day when locals flock to a downtown parade.

The “ship-free Saturdays” initiative that qualified this week will go to voters unless the local Assembly enacts a similar measure by Aug. 15, which is seen as unlikely.

Juneau, accessible only by water or air, is home to the Mendenhall Glacier, a major draw for the cruise passengers who arrive on multi-story ships towering over parts of the modest downtown skyline. Many residents of this city of about 32,000 have concerns about increased traffic, congested trails and the frequent buzz of sight-seeing helicopters transporting visitors to the Mendenhall and other glaciers.

Deborah Craig, who has lived in Juneau for decades, supports ship-free Saturdays. Craig, who lives across the channel from where the ships dock, often hears their early-morning fog horns and broadcast announcements made to passengers that are audible across the water.

The current “overwhelming” number of visitors diminishes what residents love so much about Juneau, she said.

“It’s about preserving the lifestyle that keeps us in Juneau, which is about clean air, clean water, pristine environment and easy access to trails, easy access to water sports and nature,” she said of the initiative.

“There’s this perception that some people are not welcoming of tourists, and that’s not the case at all,” Craig said. “It’s about volume. It’s about too much — too many in a short period of time overwhelming a small community.”

The current cruise season runs from early April to late October.

Opponents of the initiative say limiting dockings will hurt local businesses that rely heavily on tourism and could invite lawsuits. A voter-approved limit on cruise passenger numbers in Bar Harbor, Maine, another community with a significant tourism economy, was challenged in federal court.

Laura McDonnell, a business leader who owns Caribou Crossings, a gift shop in Juneau’s downtown tourist core, said she makes 98% of her annual revenue during the summer season.

Tourism is about all the “local businesses that rely on cruise passengers and our place in the community,” said McDonnell, who is involved in Protect Juneau’s Future, which opposes the initiative.

Some schools recently closed due to factors including declining enrollment, while the regional economy faces challenges, she said.

“I think that as a community, we really need to look at what’s at stake for our economy,” she said. “We are not in a position to be shrinking our economy.”

The cruise industry accounted for $375 million in direct spending in Juneau in 2023, most of that attributable to spending by passengers, according to a report prepared for the city by McKinley Research Group LLC.

After a two-year pandemic lull, cruise passenger numbers rose sharply in Juneau, hitting a record of more than 1.6 million in 2023. Under this year’s schedule, Sept. 21 will be the first day since early May with no large ships in town.

The tourism debate is polarizing, and the city has been trying to find a middle ground, said Alexandra Pierce, Juneau’s visitor industry director. But she noted there also needs to be a regional solution.

If the Juneau initiative passes, it will impact other, smaller communities in southeast Alaska because the ships, generally on trips originating in Seattle or Vancouver, Canada, will have to go somewhere if they can’t dock in Juneau on Saturdays, she said.

Some residents in Sitka, south of Juneau, are in the early stages of trying to limit cruise visitation to that small, island community, which is near a volcano.

Juneau and major cruise lines, including Carnival Corp., Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Group, agreed to a limit of five large ships a day, which took effect this year. They more recently signed a pact, set to take effect in 2026, seeking a daily limit of 16,000 cruise passengers Sundays through Fridays and 12,000 on Saturdays.

Pierce said the overall goal is to keep total cruise passenger visitation around 1.6 million, and to even out daily numbers of visitors that can spike to about 18,000 on the busiest days. Peak days in the past have felt “a bit suffocating,” she said. Juneau traditionally has been the most popular cruise port in the state.

A number of projects around Juneau are expected to help make existing cruise numbers feel less impactful. Those include plans for a gondola at the city-owned ski area and increased visitor capacity at the Mendenhall Glacier recreation area, she said.

Renée Limoge Reeve, vice president of government and community relations for the trade group Cruise Lines International Association Alaska, said the agreements signed with the city were the first of their kind in Alaska.

The best strategy is “ongoing, direct dialogue with local communities” and working together in a way that also provides a predictable source of income for local businesses, she said.

Karla Hart, a sponsor of the initiative and frequent critic of the cruise industry, said the threat of litigation has kept communities from taking steps to limit cruise numbers in the past. She was heartened by legal wins this year in the ongoing fight over the measure passed in Bar Harbor, a popular destination near Maine’s Acadia National Park.

She believes the Juneau initiative will pass.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Sen. Sanders: I’ve Done Enough to Save Biden’s Campaign

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Sen. Sanders: I’ve Done Enough to Save Biden’s Campaign

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the twice-failed Democratic presidential candidate and leftist darling, declared Sunday that he has done enough to save President Joe Biden’s sinking re-election bid. 

Sanders’s assertion came in response to CBS News anchor Robert Costa’s question on whether Biden can count on the senator to campaign during the summer.  

On Face the Nation, Costa asked, “Can [Biden] count on your support?” referring to widespread calls for Biden to quit the 2024 race over health and poor polls. 

In response, Sanders recounted, “I’ve already done six events in Wisconsin. We’ve been to New York. I’ve been to Ohio.” 

He then conceded that Biden is “old” but argued that the media should focus on policy issues instead of Biden’s age. 

“What we are talking about now is not a Grammy award contest for best singer,” the Vermont senator said, “Biden is old. He’s not as articulate as he once was. I wish he could jump up the steps on Air Force One. He can’t. What we have got to focus on is policy.”

Sanders’s remarks come as Biden faces mounting pressure to pass the Democratic nomination to a younger candidate who they claim could better compete against former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. 

Sanders himself has emerged as a potential replacement. However, this scenario would force Democrats to address the optics of bypassing Vice President Kamala Harris, a Black woman whom they have long paraded as a symbol of diversity. 

Sanders has criticized Biden’s performance, stating that the president was not focused and did not effectively defend his governing record. 

For his part, Biden has refused to step down, stating that only the “Lord Almighty” could push him out of the race.

Hawaii Governor Says Biden Retirement Decision Approaching

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Hawaii Governor Says Biden Retirement Decision Approaching

(Headline USA) Joe Biden could make a decision within days whether to remain a candidate for reelection, said Hawaii’s governor who participated in a recent meeting with Biden and other Democratic governors and whose family has known the president for years.

And if Biden decides not to run, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told The Associated Press on Saturday that he believes the president will designate Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him on the ticket.

“I think the president stays in this race unless he feels that it is not winnable, or he feels that he has to hear other voices in his inner circle that he shouldn’t run,” Green said.

“We’ll probably know in the next couple of days how the president feels about all this,” he said.

Biden has repeatedly insisted that he will remain in the race against his likely Republican opponent, President Donald Trump. But questions about Biden’s mental acuity have swirled since his disastrous debate performance last month.

As some of his fellow Democrats have encouraged Biden to exit the campaign, the president has pointed to support from other elected officials in the party, particularly governors.

Green said the timeline of a few days for a decision anticipates pressure that might be placed on Biden after members of Congress return this week to Capitol Hill.

“I really, honestly think that he has to make the decision,” Green said.

If Biden were to leave the campaign, Green said the president should be allowed to say who he thinks should replace him on the ticket.

“I think it’s very clear that the Democratic Party would be ecstatic overall to have the president designate his vice president if it came to that.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Reports: Mayorkas’ Parole Programs Enable Violent Crimes to be Committed Against Americans

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Reports: Mayorkas’ Parole Programs Enable Violent Crimes to be Committed Against Americans

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) – A wave of violent crime has befallen Americans nationwide connected to parole programs created by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to several reports.

A pattern has emerged of single men illegally entering the U.S. who are considered inadmissible under federal law. Instead of being processed for removal, Border Patrol agents released them with a “notice to appear” before an immigration judge several years into the future.

DHS Inspector General reports found the agents weren’t vetting everyone they apprehended and released and ICE agents weren’t detaining them, The Center Square reported. Months later, many of the released men were arrested for allegedly committing violent crimes, including thousands of miles away from the border.

Recent examples include Venezuelans who allegedly strangled to death a 12-year-old girl in Houston, a Salvadoran who allegedly raped and murdered a mother of five in Maryland, and an Ecuadorian who allegedly sexually assaulted a 13-year-old in New York City.

“These tragedies could have been avoided if the Biden administration would simply enforce the laws they swore to uphold,” U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., said. “It’s truly that simple. Americans no longer feel safe in their own communities and neighborhoods. It does not have to be this way. Our Committee will continue to do everything possible to ensure justice for these victims, and accountability for the public officials ultimately responsible for these tragedies.”

After the alleged perpetrators are arrested, local law enforcement officials discovered they were released by Border Patrol agents, weren’t properly vetted, and or came in through new parole programs Mayorkas created. House Republicans identified them as illegal and used them as evidence to impeach Mayorkas in February. Republican attorneys general have sued trying to stop them, arguing they are illegal.

Within months of being released, the alleged perpetrators were arrested and charged with having committed violent crimes, The Center Square, law enforcement officials and news organizations have reported. Their entries have been traced back to the Central American Minors Parole Program (implemented in April 2022) and parole programs created specifically for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV, implemented between October 2022 and January 2023), and for Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Columbians through a so-called family unification process (implemented in July 2023).

DHS used more than 50 airports worldwide “to help process into the country more than 400,000 inadmissible aliens through the administration’s unlawful … CHNV mass-parole program,” the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security said. In April 2024, the committee reported that since mid-October 2023, “there were 1.6 million inadmissible aliens awaiting travel authorizations through the CHNV program.”

DHS documents the committee obtained state that none admitted through CHNV have a legal basis to enter the country: “All individuals paroled into the United States are, by definition, inadmissible, including those paroled under the CHNV Processes.”

Green said the mass parole programs “continue to make a mockery of our laws. The simple fact is that [President Joe] Biden and Mayorkas want to import more inadmissible aliens into the United States because they see political benefit in doing so, not to protect those legitimately persecuted in their home countries.”

Former President Donald Trump first warned that criminals would be released from prisons in other countries, illegally enter the U.S. and harm Americans.

At a border event in Texas three years ago, Trump said he made deals with the leaders of Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to take back their own citizens who were violent criminals that the U.S. processed for removal. This agreement ended under the Biden administration. Trump warned these countries would open their prisons “and prisoners, murderers, human traffickers … drug dealers” would illegally enter the U.S.

Among them are members of a violent Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua, who have embedded themselves in Houston, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McGraw told a state legislative committee.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, called on the Biden administration to designate the cartel as a Transnational Criminal Organization. Members are known for committing murder, orchestrating bribery and money laundering schemes, drug and arms trafficking, and kidnappings for ransom money.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been arresting Tren de Aragua gang members nationwide, including recently in New York City and Chicago, The Center Square reported. From fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2023, ICE agents also arrested a record 387,000 criminal noncitizens; the majority were citizens of Mexico, Nicaragua, Columbia and Venezuela, The Center Square reported.

Despite House Republicans demanding answers nearly two years ago from Mayorkas “about Venezuela releasing violent prisoners early and pushing them to join caravans heading towards our southern border,” The Center Square reported, how many are illegally in the U.S. are unknown.

Ukraine Weaponizes Draft to Target Journalists Exposing Corruption

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Ukraine Weaponizes Draft to Target Journalists Exposing Corruption

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Ukraine faces another scandal amid mounting reports exposing rampant government corruption.  

According to Politico EU, Ukrainian officials are resorting to using the draft to suppress journalists who uncover these issues. Investigative journalist Yevhenii Shulhat became a focal point in April.  

Just before publishing an exposé on alleged corruption within the Security Service of Ukraine, Shulhat was accosted at a shopping mall by officers attempting to force him to accept a draft notice. 

“I regard this as intimidation and obstruction of my journalistic activity,” he said, according to Politico. The draft notice incident occurred shortly after Shulhat reached out to the military agency for comment on his upcoming story. 

House Republicans, in coordination with Senate Democrats, recently passed a multi-billion-dollar aid package for Ukraine amid its ongoing conflict with Russia.  

Staunch opposition from figures like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., highlighted concerns over corruption as a reason for her dissent. 

Politico’s report highlighted that Shulhat’s experience is part of a broader pattern where journalists and watchdog groups are sounding alarms about the draft being weaponized. 

Olexandr Salizhenko, editor-in-chief of the anti-government corruption watchdog Chesno, faced vicious pressure to explain his refusal to comply with the draft despite battling stage-four cancer. 

Investigative journalist Yuri Nikolov detailed how the government deploys “different intimidation tactics to try to deter reporters and then, of course, they can always threaten to ship you off to the front lines.” 

Accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of potential complicity, Nikolov pointed out, “These channels are very close to the office of the president.” 

Responding to the accusations, Zelenskyy’s deputy Oleg Tatarov condemned the “use of criminal justice tools to put pressure on any person, including public activists.” 

Yet, Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Ukraine, implicated Tatarov himself in the draft’s weaponization. Shabunin is currently under investigation for refusing military service. 

“Why is the president’s office after me?” he asked on a Facebook post, “Maybe it is because I talk about how Tatarov manages the law enforcement system of Ukraine? Or it is because the Anti-Corruption Action Center systematically destroys the anti-democratic initiatives of the authorities.” 

First Senior White House Official Urges Biden to Call it Quits

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First Senior White House Official Urges Biden to Call it Quits

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A senior White House official, speaking anonymously to the New York Times, has advocated for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, citing concerns over his declining health.  

The official, who has worked closely with Biden since his vice presidency, expressed doubts about Biden’s ability to defeat former President Donald Trump.

The newspaper, far from a right-wing outlet, wrote that after “watching Mr. Biden in private, in public and while traveling with him, the official said they no longer believed the president had what it took to campaign in a vigorous way and defeat Donald J. Trump.” 

The outlet added, “The official, who insisted on anonymity in order to continue serving, said Mr. Biden had steadily showed more signs of his age in recent months, including speaking more slowly, haltingly and quietly, as well as appearing more fatigued in private.”

This marks the first instance of a White House insider, albeit anonymously, calling for Biden’s withdrawal from the race amid growing public scrutiny of his cognitive decline, as showcased in a CNN debate.

Journalist Yashar Ali underscored the significance of the official’s statement, noting that the attribution to a “Senior White House official” suggests close proximity to Biden. 

These remarks come on the heels of six Democratic lawmakers publicly urging Biden to step down, including Reps. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, Scott Peters, D-Calif.; Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz.; Seth Moulton, D-Mass.; Mike Quigley, D-Ill.; Angie Craig, D-Minn. 

“Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw,” Doggett said. 

Echoing this sentiment, Quigley emphasized, “The only thing that [Biden] can do now to cement that for all time and prevent utter catastrophe is to step down and let someone else do this.” 

Shocker: Biden Had Advance Notice of Post Debate Questions

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Shocker: Biden Had Advance Notice of Post Debate Questions

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The White House intervened in President Joe Biden’s first interview following the disastrous debate by providing the interviewer with pre-approved questions. 

Radio host Andrea Lawful-Sanders disclosed to CNN that the White House had sent the questions before the interview. 

“I approved them,” she stated on Saturday. When pressed to confirm, Lawful-Sanders reiterated, “I got several questions, eight of them, and the four that were chosen were the ones that I approved.” 

Her comments came in response to CNN’s query about the perceived soft-ball nature of the questions, which offered little challenge to the president. 

Another radio host told ABC News that the White House had given a list of questions before his interview. 

“Yes, I was given some questions for Biden,” CivicMedia host Earl Ingram said. He had interviewed Biden days after the presidential debate. 

Ingram specifically mentioned receiving five questions from the White House, leaving him little room to ask additional inquiries. 

In response, the Biden campaign did not refute the allegation of providing questions to radio stations. 

“We do not condition interviews on acceptance of these questions, and hosts are always free to ask the questions they think will best inform their listeners,” the campaign claimed. 

These revelations emerged amid conservative concerns that CNN may have leaked debate questions to Biden ahead of the June 27 event. 

The pre-submission of questions could be considered unnecessary, given that a Media Research Center’s study found most of them were skewed towards the left, thus favoring Biden. 

Out of 21 questions posed during the debate, 11 leaned left, seven were centrist and only three came from a right-leaning perspective. 

“While it was obvious to all that President Biden’s debate performance Thursday night was an unmitigated disaster that had Democrats scrambling behind the scenes for a new candidate, it wasn’t for CNN’s lack of skewing the debate questions in Biden’s favor,” the Media Research Center wrote on June 28, a day after the debate.

Dems Up in Arms After Kamala Dubbed First ‘DEI President’

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Dems Up in Arms After Kamala Dubbed First ‘DEI President’

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Democrats and leftists alike were clutching their pearls in shock after New York Post columnist Charles Gasparino referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as the next “DEI president.”

The DEI acronym, standing for “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” represents left-wing principles aimed at enforcing the integration of minorities in the workforce, education and nearly all aspects of society. 

Echoing long-standing criticisms that Harris is a so-called diversity hire, Gasparino wrote in a July 6 piece, “America may soon be subjected to the country’s first DEI president: Kamala Harris.” 

He argued that despite the widespread backlash against DEI, Harris, often criticized as a product of “DEI,” has positioned herself as a potential heir to the Democratic nomination as President Joe Biden faces growing calls to step down over health concerns.

“Harris is already being hailed as the president-in-waiting as her boss Sleepy Joe — despite his defiant TV vow to George Stephanopoulos Friday night to stay in the race — increasingly faces reality that his chances of besting Trump are slim,” Gasparino added.

He further asserted that even if Biden stays, “Harris becomes the nation’s first DEI president by default.”

The left was outraged by Gasparino’s assertions, cynically labeling him a “racist.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential replacement for Biden, condemned the article as “straight-up racist.” 

Similarly, Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., claimed that the “right-wing transformation of ‘DEI’ into an epithet that denigrates people of color is deeply offensive.”

He added, “The insinuation that she did not earn the position, simply because she’s a Black woman, is not only factually wrong—it is profoundly racist.” 

Despite these assertions, Harris herself has faced questions about whether race played a role in Biden choosing her as his running mate in 2020. Biden had previously boasted about considering “four Black women” for the position.

In November 2023, the New York Times, far from a right-wing outlet, challenged Harris with a question regarding her selection being based on race.

“How should it matter, does it matter that that narrative has existed, that Biden needed to choose someone who was a black person, and should it matter?” New York Times reporter Astead Herndon asked Harris. 

In a nervous and chuckling response, Harris said, “It happened. I don’t think, I honestly don’t understand your question. Has it lingered? … He chose a Black woman, that woman is me, so I don’t know that anything lingers about what he should choose. He has chosen, he asked me to join him on the ticket.”

As Biden faces increasing calls to step down as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Democrats grapple with the dilemma of Harris’s unpopularity and the optics of bypassing her to choose a white man, such as Newsom, or a white woman, like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, as their nominee.

Biden Destroys His 2024 Election Chances During ABC Interview

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Biden Destroys His 2024 Election Chances During ABC Interview

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) ABC News and George Stephanopoulos allowed Joe Biden to completely destroy his chances of being fairly reelected at the end of this year by allowing him to talk, just like Donald Trump did during the last debate. 

During the July 5, 2024, interview, Biden tried to present himself as a strong leader when it comes to foreign policy by saying that he was working with Israel and “shut [Vladimir] Putin down,” even though the war between Russia and Ukraine did not end.

“I’m the guy that put NATO together, the future, no one thought I could expand it. I’m the guy that shot Putin down, no one thought it could happen,” he said.

Stephanopoulos then directly asked Biden whether or not he would physically and mentally be able to stay in the White House for another four years.

“It was a bad episode,” Biden said, referring to the infamous debate.

He also said that he was ill at the time and “feeling terrible” before the debate started.

Biden then blamed Trump for his horrible debate performance, saying that he was constantly “distracted” by Trump’s speaking when his microphone was off.

Stephanopoulos asked Biden if he would be willing to take an independent medical exam and Biden refused, saying that he doesn’t need to do it.

“I have a cognitive test every single day… Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world,” Biden said.

He then complained that Trump wants to “undo every single thing I’ve done,” even though Biden himself reversed dozens of Trump’s executive orders as soon as he got inside the Oval Office.

After that, Stephanopolous asked what Biden would do if he lost to Trump.

“I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest job I know I can do, that’s what this is about,” Biden said.

Biden’s Health Status Unclear After Reported Emergency During Flight

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Biden’s Health Status Unclear After Reported Emergency During Flight

(Headline USA) Social media posts reported a medical emergency during Biden’s flight on Friday, but the Mainstream Media and White House officials say these claims are false.

We know that Air Force One landed in New Castle, Delaware, at 7:22 p.m. about the same time posts started spreading about Biden’s alleged medical emergency, but those facts remain most of what is certain about Biden’s flight on Friday.

Twitter users report that Biden experienced a medical emergency during the flight.

“I just received a tip from an anonymous source,” reads one Twitter post. “My source says that Joe Biden is currently experiencing a medical emergency on Air Force One as I type this. No further details are known.”

Another Twitter post states: “Joe Biden is reportedly having a medical emergency on Air Force One right now. Press access has been removed.” It had received approximately 15,000 likes and 10,900 shares as of Saturday morning.

Yet another Twitter post produced more details.

“Today, Joe Biden had what’s being described as a panic attack with tachycardia (HR was ~160) and he experienced a brief episode of AFib,” the post reads. “He was given Metoprolol, plus a blood thinner by IV and oxygen by nasal cannula.”

Other posts claimed that the press did not see Biden when the presidential motorcade arrived at his home Friday night.

A press pool was in Biden’s motorcade when he was dropped off at his Wilmington home, according to the AP reporter who was traveling with the president. The reporter said journalists did not see him enter the house.

But, the media and the Biden Administration are telling another story.

An AP Reporter says that there were no signs of an emergency aboard Air Force One and the press was not denied access to the plane at any point. The reporter added that press was able to move about the plane as usual and that a door separating press from Biden’s top staff was open for most of the flight.

Likewise, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates called the claim “100% false” in a Twitter post on Friday night.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

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