DOJ Rejects Menendez’s Attempt to Delay Trial Past 2024 Primary

Luis Cornelio
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DOJ Rejects Menendez’s Attempt to Delay Trial Past 2024 Primary

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Federal prosecutors in Manhattan urged a judge on Tuesday to shut down Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.,’s request to delay his trial past his June 4 primary, the New York Post reported. 

In a scathing federal filing addressed to U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams defended the scheduled trial on May 6, 2024, calling it “expedited, but reasonable”  

Williams declared, “Nothing in the defendant’s request for an adjournment, made more than two months after the schedule was set, justifies a material deviation from this considered schedule.” 

The federal government’s response was prompted by a Menendez plea to postpone the trial to July. In contrast, the defense claimed that the trial should be postponed due to the “volume and timing” of the investigation’s disclosures. 

“Contrary to the government’s overheated statements to the press, this is far from an open-and-shut case,” Menendez’s attorneys countered, according to the NY Post. 

However, federal prosecutors swiftly countered Menendez’s claims on Tuesday. “If there were a right to have multiple months to digest discovery prior to filing motions, as the defendants appear to suggest, practice in this district would look quite different,” Williams responded. 

The battle between federal prosecutors and Menendez began after the DOJ leveled damning criminal charges against the New Jersey senator for an alleged bribery scheme.  

According to the indictment, Menendez allegedly illegally used his power as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to shill for the Egyptian government through generous policies.

In return, Menendez allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Menendez received included cash, gold and a Mercedes Benz as part of the scheme, federal prosecutors said. 

Following the indictment, Menendez stepped down as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman to focus on the criminal charges and his 2024 re-election campaign. 

In September 2023, the DOJ hit Menendez with one criminal count of conspiracy to commit bribery, one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. A month later, the DOJ charged Menendez with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent for Egypt.

Menendez’s wife and three New Jersey businessmen also face charges connected to the alleged scheme.

Biden OKs Biggest Federal Pay Raise in Four Decades

Molly Bruns
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Biden OKs Biggest Federal Pay Raise in Four Decades

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) President Joe Biden issued an executive order implementing a 5.2% average pay raise for all federal workers in January 2024.

An initial proposal came out in March, endorsing a 4.7% raise across the board with a 0.5% increase in locality pay.

The March proposal included nearly $5.5 trillion in new taxes, which Biden claimed would reduce the U.S. budget deficit by $3 trillion in the next 10 years.

With several branches of the U.S. military facing serious recruitment struggles, service personnel are also expected to receive a 5.2% pay raise this year, according to the website Government Executive.

The raise marked the largest authorized raise since 1980, when President Jimmy Carter arranged for a 9.1% average pay raise.

Tens of thousands of federal employees will see a larger increase than predicted.

Recent changes to the locality pay system resulted in delays and larger payments for federal employees at all levels.

In 2022, the President’s Pay Agent—a federal group made up of management and budget directors—approved the creation of four new locality pay areas.

The group also decided to update the map of locality pay areas using data from the Office of Management and Budget, adding a hefty amount of information on several new locales and pay areas.

The massive wage hike still fell short of union expectations.

The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association said the pay raise was necessary to keep government employees from shifting to the private sector for increased pay.

“Keeping up with private sector pay growth is essential to maintaining the federal government’s ability to recruit and retain a highly qualified and effective workforce,” NARFE National President William Schackelford said.

“While pay rates for public servants will still trail private-sector rates, a proposed average raise of 5.2% would ensure they will not fall further behind,” he added.

Government employment accounted for the second highest number of added jobs in November, after hospital and ambulatory care workers in the health sector.

The raise goes into effect for the first pay period of 2024, which for many is on Jan. 14.

Bloomberg Blames Janet Yellen for Major Flaws in Economic Forecasting

Jacob Bruns
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Bloomberg Blames Janet Yellen for Major Flaws in Economic Forecasting

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Using the research and theories of current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen many economists appeared to have wrongly predicted a 2023 recession, Bloomberg News reported.

The news came as the Biden administration tries desperately to redefine “Bidenomics,” with the president’s popular support cratering based largely on his failed economic policies.

While the consumer-price index has continued to tick up for basic necessities such as food and energy, the Federal Reserve recently signaled that inflation—or the rate at which the dollar gets devalued—has returned to what it considers to be an acceptable range following a year of jacking up interest rates to deter borrowing and spending.

Many feared that the Fed’s remedy to address Bidenflation would result in an equal and opposite countershock—and indeed it has taken a severe toll on sectors like the housing market.

But in terms of the employment rate, the effect has been the opposite. With some lower-income Americans forced to work extra jobs to make ends meet, the jobs market has continued to rise, surpassing its pre-pandemic level.

The vast majority of new jobs in November (83%) came in just three sectors: health care, government employment, and food service, Axios reported.

Many of the health care jobs being added are still part of the pandemic recovery, which shrank by 1.5 million jobs in March 2020 and April 2020 alone.

Other hospital and ambulatory care jobs may be rising to meet the increased needs of illegal immigrants, who are bringing once dormant communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, back into the country. Officials estimate that more than 10 million migrants have entered the country illegally on Biden’s watch.

Moreover, ahead of the 2022 midterms, the Biden administration, in partnership with Wikipedia and other establishment sources, worked tirelessly to redefine the word “recession” so that America’s economic downturn did not fit the definition.

While debate remains over whether the nation entered into a short-lived recession following two consecutive periods of negative growth in the gross domestic product, most concur that the country, thus far, has succeeded in avoiding the type of “hard landing” that, in the past, has led to large-scale layoffs.

According to Yellen herself, economists made a mistake because they believed that high inflation had to be countered by decreased demand and, ultimately, higher unemployment.

“So many economists were saying there’s no way for inflation to get back to normal without it entailing a period of high unemployment, [or] a recession,” Yellen claimed at a recent Wall Street Journal event.

“And a year ago, I think many economists were saying a recession was inevitable,” she continued. “I’ve never felt there was a solid intellectual basis for making such a prediction.”

But Yellen did not mention that most of those predictions were based upon her own politicized economic modeling, which the former University of California, Berkeley professor “had been teaching for decades.”

Yellen herself also received harsh criticism for her failure to recognize that the inflationary spike early in the Biden presidency was not, as she long claimed, “transitory.”

And some have continued to wonder if the overly rosy economic data being pushed by officials isn’t selectively cherrypicked—or worse, artificially manipulated—to downplay a much bleaker forecast heading into the coming election year.

According to Bloomberg’s Tyler Cowen, the most troubling sign that he has seen in the science of economics is the politicization of the field, which no longer seeks to explain things rationally, but to justify political candidates.

“Most of all, it’s important to acknowledge how politicized macroeconomics has become,” he wrote.

“There are a bunch of economists going around right now saying they were right about how the U.S. would avoid a recession this year,” he added. “A deeper look, however, reveals a much longer and less favorable story.”

Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Claims Dealing w/ Rural Americas Is ‘Like Fighting Terrorism’

Luis Cornelio
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MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Claims Dealing w/ Rural Americas Is ‘Like Fighting Terrorism’

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Former MNSBC host Chris Matthews launched a scathing attack against rural Americans, claiming that dealing with them is similar to fighting terrorism.

During a guest appearance on Morning Joe on Tuesday, Matthews spoke about the challenges Biden faces ahead of the 2024 presidential election, particularly as rural Americans grow discontent with the direction of the country under the Biden administration.

“This is rural rage. They are so angry at the liberal establishment, the coastal elite, they look at people on television … ‘They don’t have to worry about us,’” Matthews claimed in the show, as reported by the Daily Caller.

He added, “And the regular guy in the country goes, ‘there they are snarling and making fun of us again’ and every time we make fun of Trump, we’re making fun of them … It’s a weird thing, but in a way it’s like fighting terrorism.”

In the same segment, Matthews drew parallels between engaging with rural Americans and dealing with Afghans and Iraqis upset by U.S. military interventions in their countries. 

“We think we just put the army in, or Israel just puts the IDF in, and they’re going to solve the problem,” he continued. “It never solves the problem because you enrage people. And we did it with Afghanistan and we did it with Iraq. We enraged the enemy to the point where they’re more fiery than ever and they hate us more than ever. Armies don’t make peace.”

Matthews’ claims came after the Biden-led Federal Communications Commission rescinded a $900 million subsidy to SpaceX and Twitter owner Elon Musk aimed at providing broadband internet access to over 640,000 rural homes and businesses, as reported by Daily Caller.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, slammed the decision, saying that the decision delivered a blow to rural Americans.

“The real loser is gonna be rural America,” Carr stated in an interview with Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo. “Elon Musk is gonna be fine — the $900 million isn’t that big of a deal to him — but we had millions of Americans that were guaranteed to get high-speed service that now the FCC has taken that commitment, vaporized it and replaced it with nothing.”

Biden Admin Sanctions Other Countries that Booted Candidates from Ballot

Jacob Bruns
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Biden Admin Sanctions Other Countries that Booted Candidates from Ballot

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Despite the Left’s attempts in various states—like Michigan and Colorado—to throw former President Donald Trump off the primary ballot, President Joe Biden and his administration have worked tirelessly abroad to punish other countries that engage in that same practice, the Daily Caller reported.

Among those nations is Venezuela, where current President Nicolás Maduro has enjoyed a 10-year run courtesy of fraudulent election practices that include keeping the dictator’s political opponents off the ballot.

The Biden administration offered to lift some of the sanctions first imposed by the Trump administration but kept many others intact for the country, which has been a major source of asylum-seeking illegal immigrants to the U.S.

Nonetheless, Venezuela struck Maduro’s top political opponent from the ballot at the next possible election, leading Biden’s administration to once more threaten sanctions.

“Failure to abide by the terms of the agreement will lead the United States to reconsider steps we have taken, including the easing of sanctions,” Biden’s State Department said in November.

A similar event unfolded in Nicaragua, which the Biden administration hit with harsh sanctions in 2021 after the nation engaged in what U.S. officials called a “sham election.”

According to reports, longtime President Daniel Ortega’s seven most threatening opponents were removed from the ballot in that instance, leaving only five nonentities.

Andrea M. Gacki, director of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, told the press that it is America’s duty to secure free elections throughout the world.

“The Ortega regime is using laws and institutions to detain members of the political opposition and deprive Nicaraguans from the right to vote,” she said in 2021. “We stand with the Nicaraguan people in their calls for reform and a return to democracy.”

Also in 2021, the Biden administration castigated the Belarus government for its “continued attacks on democracy and the ceaseless repression of independent voices in Belarus” after the nation arbitrarily barred a number of candidates from appearing on the ballot.

“Today’s actions, taken on both sides of the Atlantic, hold accountable those who continue to suppress the democratic aspirations of the Belarusian people,” Gacki said of the Eastern European nation.

Boston Segregationist Dem. Mayor Swatted on Christmas

Luis Cornelio
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Boston Segregationist Dem. Mayor Swatted on Christmas

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s home was swatted on Christmas, just two weeks after facing criticism for hosting a segregated holiday party for “Electeds of Color,” local radio station WBUR reported on Tuesday.

At around 5:30 p.m. on Christmas, a false police call was made by a man who falsely claimed he had shot his wife. The man also said the woman and a separate man were tied up inside a home, according to WBUR.

First responders and law enforcement rushed to the home in response to the urgent call. It was then that they realized the home belonged to the mayor and that it was a fake call.

The mayor expressed shock at the flashing lights of police but said her family wasn’t too disrupted. “For better or worse my family are a bit used to it by now, and we have a good system with the department,” she declared, according to WBUR.

Wu claimed her home has been the target of swatting incidents in the past. “When there are true emergencies that happen and there are resources being deployed in this way, it is concerning,” she added.

The swatting call comes on the heels of a major racist scandal involving Wu and a people of color-only holiday party. The infamous “Electeds of Color Holiday Party” came to light after an aide mistakenly emailed the invites to all city councilors rather than people of color only.

“I did send that to everyone by accident, and I apologize if my email may have offended or came across as so,” said Wu staffer Denise DosSantos in an email. “Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.”

As reported by the New York Post, the party was intended for the six minority members of the City Council—the seven white members were excluded from the celebration.

Amid the scandal, Wu defended the exclusive party and claimed that the minority-only group had existed for nearly a decade.

“I’ve been a part of a group that gathers, representing elected officials of color across all different levels of government in Massachusetts,” Wu claimed, according to WCVB. “A group that has been in place for more than a decade, and the opportunity to create a space for people to celebrate and rotate who hosts.”

The Georgia home of Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., was similarly swatted on Christmas. She said that the swatting marked “the 8th time” it had happened.

Michigan Rejects Activists’ Lawfare Effort to Disfranchise Trump Supporters

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Michigan Rejects Activists’ Lawfare Effort to Disfranchise Trump Supporters

(Headline USA) Michigan’s Supreme Court rejected a leftist lawfare attempt to block former President Donald Trump on the state’s primary election ballot.

The court said Wednesday it will not hear an appeal of a lower court’s ruling from activist groups trying to rewrite the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment in order to accommodate their Trump Derangement Syndrome.

It said in an order that the application by parties to appeal a Dec. 14 Michigan appellate court judgment was considered but denied “because we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court.”

The ruling contrasts with Dec. 19 decision by a divided Colorado Supreme Court, which found Trump ineligible to be president based off the arbitrary definition of “insurrection” that four far-left justices applied. That ruling was the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.

The Michigan and Colorado cases are among dozens pushed by the George Soros-funded Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Free Speech for People hoping to keep Trump’s name off state ballots. Until the Colorado ruling, all had failed.

The Colorado ruling is likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has never ruled on the rarely used Civil War-era provision.

Trump, the current GOP frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race, was the sitting commander-in-chief at the time of the alleged 2021 insurrection, has never been criminally indicted or convicted of any such crime, and was acquitted by the U.S. Senate in a partisan attempt to impeach him over it.

Despite the clear problems with the legal application of the law against Trump, four of the Colorado court’s seven justices—all of whom were appointed by Democrat governors—determined that the former president was guilty based on their own subjective standard.

The Michigan court’s decision to reject similar reasoning triggered leftists in the media, who were outraged that Trump would be allowed back on the ballot.

The plaintiffs in Michigan can technically try again to disqualify Trump under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment in the general election, though it’s likely there will be a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the issue by then.

The state’s high court on Wednesday upheld an appeals court ruling that the Republican Party could place anyone it wants on the primary ballot. But the court was silent on whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment would disqualify Trump in November if he becomes the GOP nominee.

“We are disappointed by the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision,” said Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech for People, which is also involved in efforts to keep Trump’s name off the primary ballot in Minnesota and Oregon.

“The ruling conflicts with longstanding US Supreme Court precedent that makes clear that when political parties use the election machinery of the state to select, via the primary process, their candidates for the general election, they must comply with all constitutional requirements in that process,” Fein claimed.

Colorado Republicans have said they may move from a state-run primary to a party-run caucus in reaction to the court’s decision.

Trump hailed the order, calling the effort to keep him off the ballot in multiple states a “pathetic gambit.”

Only one of the court’s seven justices dissented. Justice Elizabeth M. Welch, a Democrat, wrote that she would have kept Trump on the primary ballot but the court should rule on the merits of the Section 3 challenge. The court has a 4-3 Democratic majority.

Attorneys for Free Speech for People had asked Michigan’s Supreme Court to render its decision by Christmas Day.

The group insisted that time was “of the essence” due to “the pressing need to finalize and print the ballots for the presidential primary election.”

Earlier this month, Michigan’s high court refused to immediately hear an appeal, saying the case should remain before the appeals court.

Free Speech for People had sued to force Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to bar Trump from Michigan’s ballot.

Benson, like her Colorado counterpart, Jena Griswold, is an extreme-left idealogue who herself has been heavily involved in her state’s election-meddling efforts to deliver an advantage to fellow Democrats in the crucial battleground state.

A Michigan Court of Claims judge rejected the group’s arguments, saying in November that it was the proper role of Congress to decide the question.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Argentina’s Trump-esque President Purges Thousands of Deep State Bureaucrats

Luis Cornelio
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Argentina’s Trump-esque President Purges Thousands of Deep State Bureaucrats

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Newly sworn-in Argentina President Javier Milei purged over 5,000 government bureaucrats, fulfilling a campaign pledge to reduce the size of the inflation-burdened federal government. 

According to the Spanish-language newspaper El Pais, Milei signed an executive order to halt the contracts of federal workers hired in 2023, likely targeting individuals hired by his former leftist predecessor.

The order came after the capitalist president vowed to rescue Argentina from widespread corruption, inflation and wasteful government spending. 

El Pais reported that some disabled and indispensable employees will be exempt from the layoffs. However, the Argentine government announced a comprehensive audit within the next 90 days, hinting at potential future layoffs. 

Milei also downsized his federal cabinet to nine members, half the count of his far-left predecessor, Alberto Fernández. According to government figures cited by El Pais, a total of 3.5 million individuals hold taxpayer-funded employment in Argentina. 

Milei’s rise to power has drawn comparisons to that of former President Donald Trump. In several Truth Social posts, Trump celebrated Milei’s election victory last month.

Trump, currently running for president in 2024, doubled down on his pledge to his commitment to “demolish the Deep State.”  

As part of his second-term agenda, Trump vowed to reinstate a 2020-era executive order directing federal agencies to reclassify civil service employees from “competitive” to “excepted” service, making it easier for the president to dismiss government bureaucrats. Biden revoked the executive order on his second day in office. 

In a video posted on his website, Trump said: “For 200 years under our system of government, it was undisputed that the President had the Constitutional power to stop unnecessary spending through what is known as Impoundment.” 

He added, “I will use the president’s long-recognized Impoundment Power to squeeze the bloated federal bureaucracy for massive savings. This will be in the form of tax reductions for you. This will help quickly to stop inflation and slash the deficit.”

Biden Breaks Records w/ Largest Caravan and Highest Border Encounters in 2023

Luis Cornelio
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Biden Breaks Records w/ Largest Caravan and Highest Border Encounters in 2023

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) As President Joe Biden prepares for a New Year’s Eve escapade in St. Croix, he concludes the year achieving two illegal immigration milestones: the largest caravan of U.S.-bound foreigners and the highest number of border encounters in December. 

In December, the Biden administration is on track to break the record for the most encounters with illegal aliens in a single month. As of Dec. 26, CBP reported encountering over 250,000 individuals crossing the border illegally, likely surpassing September’s record of 269,735.

Citing CBP sources, NewsNation border reporter Ali Bradley shared the stunning border encounter feat on Twitter. Bradley revealed that the majority of illegal aliens, 66,000 of them, entered through the Lukeville Port of Entry in Texas, while another 60,000 entered via the Eagle Pass Port of Entry in Texas. 

Notably, both Arizona (led by a Democrat) and Texas (led by a Republican) have implemented strict immigration policies and have slammed the Biden administration’s lack of decisive immigration actions.

On Dec. 15, Gov. Katie Hobbs, D-Ariz., deployed the state’s National Guard in response to the surge in illegal entries. Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, signed legislation empowering state law enforcement to arrest individuals crossing the border unlawfully 

Adding to Biden’s feast, a Christmas Eve caravan of 10,000 individuals heading to the U.S. is expected to grow to a whopping 15,000, making it the largest group of illegal aliens in 2023. The caravan started with 5,000 individuals on Dec. 23.

The leader of this caravan, Luis Rey Garcia Villagran, told the Daily Caller in 2022 that he has assisted around 40,000 illegal aliens in flooding the U.S. through multiple caravans. He invoked his Christian faith as his main driver behind leading the caravans.

“We are Evangelical Christians,” he claimed at the time. “We try to help people least protected, especially women and child migrants. Simply, we apply what is in the law.

Notably, Villagran reportedly received a 40-year sentence in a Mexican prison for kidnapping and conspiracy in 1997. However, he countered with claims that the case was marred by “falsified evidence” and “falsified signatures of public ministries.” 

While some among the so-called refugee seekers obtained work permits in Mexico, their ultimate goal remains the U.S., echoing a similar caravan that gained headlines in June 2022. 

The immigration reports come less than two days after the White House announced that Biden is heading to the U.S. Virgin Islands for a tropical getaway to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

Graham Criticized for Urging Military Alert and More FBI Funding: ‘RINO Fraud’

Luis Cornelio
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Graham Criticized for Urging Military Alert and More FBI Funding: ‘RINO Fraud’

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., came under fire after issuing a stark warning of an alleged imminent terrorist threat in the U.S. and urging the military to “up” its game.

In an interview on ABC News’s This Week on Sunday, Graham echoed the DOJ’s concerns regarding alleged terrorist threats associated with U.S. support for Israel in the conflict against Hamas. “I’ve never been more concerned about a terrorist attack on our homeland,” Graham told ABC guest host Pierre Thomas.

Graham’s remarks were prompted by an earlier ABC News interview with Biden’s Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, during which she suggested that the Israeli-Hamas conflict “is contributing to a heightened threat environment” within the U.S. 

“I appreciate what Lisa said,” Graham told ABC, before drawing attention to FBI Director Christopher Wray’s similarly alarmist warnings about potential terror attacks in the U.S.

Graham continued, “We’re helping Israel deal with the destruction of Hamas, defending themselves after October the 7th. Jihadist groups all over the world are calling on their members to attack America as payback for us helping Israel. So the threat levels are an all-time high.”

Later in the interview, Graham decried what he described as funding cuts to the U.S. military funding.

“It’s insane for America not to rebuild its defenses in light of the threats we face,” Graham continued. “The FBI’s budget is under inflation. One of the things I hope to accomplish is when we do a bill to fund the government, give the FBI more resources.”

He emphasized that foreign terrorist threats purportedly reached an “all-time high” and called for increased funding for the FBI. 

“Jihadist threats are at an all-time high. They want to punish us for helping Israel. Now is not the time to go cheap on the FBI or Department of Defense,” he concluded. 

Graham’s claims drew criticism from some critics on Twitter who condemned his alarmist stance and support for the FBI, especially considering the allegation of politicization, notably after the raid on former President Donald Trump.

Rogan O’Handley, also known as DC Draino, reacted to the interview on Twitter. “Hey Lindsey – maybe *YOU* are the problem here,” he said. “Resign you warmongering, election fraud certifying RINO fraud.” 

Twitter personality Paul Szypula echoed Draino, questioning, “Why does Lindsey Graham and the rest of the GOP in Congress continue to fund the Biden regime when they refuse to defend the US southern border?”

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