WATCH: House Minority Leader McCarthy Says Chamber of Commerce are Sellouts

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WATCH: House Minority Leader McCarthy Says Chamber of Commerce are Sellouts

(Headline USA) House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called a business group that traditionally supports Republicans a bunch of sellouts, and said he hoped they’d leave him out of their list of endorsements.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce earlier this week decided to endorse 23 freshmen House Democrats in this fall’s elections, a bipartisan move by an organization that has long leaned strongly toward the GOP.

McCarthy considers that a betrayal, as he explained in an interview with Lou Dobbs on Fox Business Channel on Thursday.

“It is hypocrisy that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would endorse these Democrats that are part of this socialist agenda that is driving this country out and is fighting this president,” he said. “Remember, these are the people who voted for impeachment, when this president has done so much for this nation.”

McCarthy also said, “I don’t want the U.S. Chamber’s endorsement, because they have sold out.”

The country’s largest business group is also endorsing 29 freshmen House Republicans, said a person familiar with the organization’s decision who described the actions. Even so, the decision has prompted internal divisions, with some state chamber officials criticizing the national group’s decision to back freshmen Democrats in their areas. McCarthy highlighted that discord in his interview as well.

“You listen to your local chambers, those small businesses, when I used to own a business. You had Oklahoma, the city of Oklahoma, their endorsement. They wanted to endorse Stephanie Bice, not Kendra Horn that’s sitting and backing Pelosi or the Green New Deal or the others,” he said.

The Democrat House freshmen the chamber is endorsing include several who face tough reelections, such as Reps. Abby Finkenauer and Cindy Axne of Iowa, Andy Kim of New Jersey, Xochitl Torres Small of New Mexico, Anthony Brindisi of New York, Kendra Horn of Oklahoma, Joe Cunningham of South Carolina and Elaine Luria and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia.

The chamber has a long track record of using most of its political might to back Republican candidates, especially with money. But the organization has had to recalibrate its tactics as the once-reliably pro-business GOP has taken a more populist, conservative hue on issues like immigration and trade, reflecting the views of President Donald Trump and fellow protectionists of American jobs whose numbers in Congress have grown.

In earlier indications of the chamber’s more bipartisan approach, it has boosted some campaign contributions to Democrats and changed how it assigns publicly released scores about whether lawmakers help business — i.e., cheap foreign labor for American employers — now factoring in whether they try reaching across party lines.

The moves come as Democrats have a strong chance of continuing to run the House after November’s elections. Any support for Democrats helps the chamber maintain lines of communication with them, especially as growing numbers of progressive Democrats in Congress makes it harder for business groups to find allies in the party.

Democrats in tough reelection fights can cite the chamber’s backing “as a sort of Good Housekeeping seal of approval,” said Liam Donovan, a lobbyist and former GOP political operative.

The chamber is also endorsing freshmen Democratic Reps. Greg Stanton of Arizona; Josh Harder, TJ Cox and Harley Rouda of California; Sharice Davids of Kansas; David Trone of Maryland; Haley Stevens of Michigan; Angie Craig and Dean Phillips of Minnesota; Susie Lee of Nevada; Antonio Delgado of New York; Colin Allred and Lizzie Fletcher of Texas and Ben McAdams of Utah.

The person describing the chamber’s endorsements would only do so on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the moves publicly. The decision by the chamber, which issued no statement about the matter, was first reported by The Hill newspaper.

Earlier this year, the chamber said it spent six figures on digital ads opposing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in a primary that the progressive lawmaker won easily.

Otherwise, all of the chamber’s $2 million so far in the 2020 campaign on outside spending — money spent without coordinating with candidates — went to helping Republicans, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. So did all of the $40 million in outside spending by the chamber during the 2018 and 2016 campaigns.

Yet the chamber’s much smaller, direct contributions to candidates have been more evenhanded, if politically pragmatic.

The $210,000 the chamber’s political action committee has donated directly to 2020 candidates’ campaigns has been split about evenly between Democrats and Republicans, the center’s data shows. In 2018, about 2-in-3 dollars it gave to House candidates went to Republicans.

The chamber has also contributed $168,000 this year to GOP candidates for the Senate and nothing to Democrats. Since it is unclear if Republicans will continue running the Senate, the chamber’s contributions to Senate GOP candidates have more political weight than spending on the House, where control isn’t in serious doubt.

Some state chambers complained to U.S. chamber officials about the expected endorsements, arguing that the Democratic lawmakers did not have sufficiently pro-business records.

Chad Warmington, president of the Oklahoma state chamber, opposed the expected endorsement of Horn, who was narrowly elected in 2018 to a district centered on Oklahoma City. Warmington said he believes Horn hasn’t been supportive enough of the state’s oil and gas industry.

“A U.S. chamber endorsement can be persuasive in convincing voters that she’s pro-business,” Warmington said in an interview last week. “And I don’t believe there is enough evidence to say she is. I was saying to them, ‘Stay out’” and don’t endorse anyone.

Alan Cobb, president of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, said he objected to the U.S. organization’s expected endorsement of Davids, from the Kansas City area. Cobb said he prefers Davids’s GOP opponent, Amanda Adkins, a businesswoman and former member of the state chamber’s board.

Warmington and Cobb both said they’d not been consulted by the national chamber about the endorsements.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

WATCH: Driver Plows Through BLM Protestors in Times Square

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WATCH: Driver Plows Through BLM Protestors in Times Square

Rioters in New York City‘s Times Square rushed to dox a driver who refused to yield to Black Lives Matter protesters blocking traffic on Thursday.

NYPD News reported that the ongoing investigation involved a black Taurus sedan that plowed through the crossing after being swarmed.

Other users had enhanced a photo showing a New York license plate.

The car blared its horn as demonstrators screamed and scrambled out of the way. Some hurled projectiles and appeared to pursue it afterward.

It was not immediately clear that there was any serious damage resulting from the brouhaha.

The Associated Press reported that no one appeared to be seriously injured.

But it was clear that despite the lack of physical damage, the driver had committed untold devastation on the fragile egos and psyches of radical left-wing activists.

Some Twitter users initially speculated that it was an unmarked police car, but NYPD denied it.

“This auto is NOT an NYPD vehicle,” said the department’s Twitter account.

The person who posted the initial video claimed that police were escorting four pro-Trump protesters who were disguised as construction workers.


User @Datalnput offered a thread featuring a series of photos and videos taken at the scene, although it was not immediately clear that any of them supported his claim of a pro-Trump conspiracy.

The episode generated a range of emotions both in support and condemnation of the motorist.

While the car did not appear to be targeting any of the protestors, it was likely to draw comparisons to the 2017 riots in Charlottesville, Va., during which a 20-year-old man drove into a crowd of activists who were swarming his car at a pedestrian-mall intersection, killing one and injuring several others.

Although the escalation of violence shocked the nation at the time, the ever-emboldened rioters have resumed their aggressive tactics over the past several months in what initially appeared to be social-justice demonstrations to protest the death of George Floyd.

Increasingly, the violence—largely relegated to Democrat-run cities amid a push to defund law enforcement—has gotten out of hand, forcing even some on the Left to acknowledge the problems with the rioting.

The Times Square episode occurred as news broke on the other side of the country that an Antifa rioter in Portland was shot and killed by federal authorities who were seeking to arrest him for the murder of a right-wing demonstrator over the weekend.

Black Lives Matter Bullies Shut Down Sen. Kelly Loeffler Event

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Black Lives Matter Bullies Shut Down Sen. Kelly Loeffler Event

(Headline USA) U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler has made opposition to the demands of the Marxist Black Lives Matter movement a centerpiece of her effort to win conservative support in her campaign, and Thursday, supporters of the movement again pushed back.

A former state Senate candidate and one other woman shouted down Loeffler when she made a campaign appearance with U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton in a northern Atlanta suburb. The protesters began to chant “black lives matter!” after one of them shouted questions critical of Loeffler’s description of Black Lives Matter.

Police refused to remove the women from the event, saying it was in a public park building.

The disruption capped an active week in the special election race. Loeffler is contending with an array of candidates seeking the last two years on the Senate term of now-retired U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Loeffler to the seat earlier this year, in a bid for the support of suburban women in an increasingly competitive Georgia.

Loeffler has run hard to the right after Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Collins jumped into the race. She is spending millions from her own fortune and that of her husband Jeffrey Sprecher, who leads the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange.

On the Democratic side, top candidates include the Rev. Raphael Warnock, who pastors the Atlanta church that Martin Luther King Jr. once led, and Matt Lieberman, the son of former senator and vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman. If no one wins a majority in the November special election, a January runoff will be held between the top two finishers, regardless of party.

Loeffler’s tangle with Black Lives Matter had already made headlines last month in connection with her co-ownership of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream. Players from the Atlanta basketball team and three others emerged for games on Aug. 14 dressed in “Vote Warnock” T-shirts, supporting the Democrat after Loeffler publicly spoke out against the league’s social justice plans.

Collins has attacked Loeffler for previous stances taken by the Dream and the WNBA, including what he says are the team’s previous joint efforts with pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood and gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety. Loeffler has denied knowledge of the Planned Parenthood activities.

Loeffler has responded by voicing her opposition to abortion and support for gun rights on the campaign trail and in television ads.

State House Speaker David Ralston on Thursday officially endorsed Collins while Loeffler was in his home county in the north Georgia Mountains, a move arranged by Collins to detract from Loeffler’s message.

The bigger disruption came hours later in Forsyth County, a suburban Republican bastion. The last words of Loeffler’s never-completed speech to about 60 people discussed her brush with Black Lives Matter, with her saying “I had to draw the line.”

“The left’s radical agenda of defunding the police is costing lives. It’s absolutely crazy. I’ve introduced legislation that would defund cities that defund the police,” Loeffler said. “But even more, I’ve stood up against an organization whose No. 1 goal is to defund and dismantle the police.”

That brought Nselaa Ward and Triana Arnold James to their feet to dispute Loeffler. After James loudly questioned her, both women, joined at times by James’s two daughters, began chanting “black lives matter!” James lost a Democratic state Senate primary this year in a district west of Atlanta.

“When we’re talking about Black Lives Matter, we’re not talking about some Marxist organization. Like we said, we’re talking about black lives, like real black Lives. We’re talking about what’s happening to us on a daily basis,” Ward said later.

The meeting dissolved into people milling around, with some Republican activists confronting the women. James said afterward that she thought Loeffler got the message, but Repubicans called them rude and worse.

Eugene Yu, an unsuccessful Republican congressional candidate earlier this year, stood in front of James yelling “all lives matter!” at one point.

Yu said later he had come to the meeting unsure about who he was voting for, but was impressed with Loeffler’s cool demeanor.

“I think I will support her,” Yu said.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

Portland’s Grim Reality: 100 Days of Riots

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Portland’s Grim Reality: 100 Days of Riots

(Headline USA) Once hailed as one of the most livable U.S. cities, Portland, Oregon, is grappling with an uncertain future as it reaches a stunning benchmark: 100 consecutive nights of riots citing “systemic racism” as an excuse, marred by vandalism, chaos — and the killing of a supporter of President Donald Trump.

The violence that started in late May after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis have divided residents and embarrassed the city’s incompetent and beleaguered Democratic mayor.

They have also transformed Oregon’s largest city into a centerpiece of Trump’s “law and order” re-election campaign theme, even as rioters laughably slam the police for aggressive tactics.

The slaying of the Trump supporter — gunned down after he came downtown last weekend with a pro-Trump caravan of vehicles — pushed the crisis further toward a breaking point. The prime suspect in the shooting, self-described “100-percent Antifa” member Michael Forest Reinoehl, was killed Thursday night by law enforcement.

Amid the turbulence, Portland now finds itself as a proxy for the culture wars sweeping the nation.

The exact date of the 100-day milestone depends on how the riots are counted, but everyone agrees the benchmark falls over the Labor Day weekend. Marxist Black Lives Matter plans to mark the occasion over three days and Trump supporters plan another caravan rally.

The events come after officials in suburban counties refused a call from Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, for their deputies to assist Portland police following last weekend’s violence.

“The worst-case scenario is that there’s another incident and it just touches off so much that the city just can’t survive it very well,” said Ron Louie, a former suburban Portland police chief, author of a crisis negotiation book and current Portland State University professor.

Thousands of rioters turned out nightly, with some hurling fireworks, rocks, ball bearings and bottles at law enforcement. They responded with huge plumes of tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.

Antifa anarchists want city officials to slash the police budget and reallocate that money to black residents and businesses. Some demonstrators are also demanding the resignation of Mayor Ted Wheeler, a white limousine liberal and the scion of a timber company fortune.

During the clashes, some have broken windows, set small fires, punctured police car tires with spikes, shined lasers in officers’ eyes and pelted them with rocks and frozen water bottles.

The tension reached a new high last weekend when the pro-Trump caravan motored into downtown, with some shooting paintballs and spraying bear repellent at Black Lives Matter protesters who tried to block the streets.

As night fell, peaceful Trump supporter Aaron “Jay” Danielson, 39, was fatally shot as he walked on a sidewalk. Reinoehl, the suspected shooter, was killed late Thursday by a law enforcement task force sent to arrest him outside Lacey, Washington.

After Danielson’s killing, Brown sent state police back into the city to help local police. Those troopers have been deputized as federal law enforcement officers by the U.S. Marshal’s Service, which means protesters arrested by state troopers far from federal property could now face prosecution by the U.S. government.

The move appears to be a way to get around Portland’s newly elected local prosecutor, who has dismissed hundreds of cases against demonstrators arrested for low-level, non-violent offenses.

Meanwhile, Wheeler is politically sandwiched between Trump and local business owners who want order restored and left-wing groups demanding his resignation for what they call his failure to rein in local police.

Wheeler announced this week he would move out of his upscale condominium complex after protesters broke windows and set fires there, spooking his neighbors.

“These acts of violence distract us. And they must stop,” Wheeler said on Facebook.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

ICE Arrests 2,000 Criminal Illegal Aliens in Los Angeles Sting Operation

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ICE Arrests 2,000 Criminal Illegal Aliens in Los Angeles Sting Operation

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 2,000 illegal aliens, the vast majority of whom are criminals, during a five-week long operation.

All of the illegal aliens are eligible for deportation, ICE reported.

“The aliens targeted during this operation preyed on men, women and children in our communities, committing serious crimes and, at times, repeatedly hurting their victims,” said Senior Official Performing the Duties of the ICE Director Tony H. Pham.

ICE arrested 1,089 illegal aliens with criminal convictions in the operation that ran from July 13 to Aug. 20.

Nearly 85% of those arrested in the sting, which took place from July 13 to Aug. 20, had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, according to the agency.

“By focusing our efforts on perpetrators of crimes against people, we’re able to remove these threats from our communities and prevent future victimization from occurring,” Pham said.

“Through our targeted enforcement efforts, we are eliminating the threat posed by these criminals, many of whom are repeat offenders,” he added.

Some of the charges against those arrested included 770 cases of assault, 500 domestic violence cases, 140 sex offenses, 200 family offenses, and 25 homicides.

There were also 110 sex offenses involving a minor, 75 harassment cases, 35 hit-and-run cases, and 30 robberies.

Most had also entered the country illegally.

Those arrested who did not have violent criminal histories were arrested because they had been deported by an immigration judge but did not leave, or they reentered the U.S. illegally after being deported, according to Henry Lucero, executive associate director of ICE.

As part of the operation, ICE agents made “at-large” arrests, according to CBS News, which took place at places of residence, worksites, and even traffic stops. Most the arrests took place in the Los Angeles area, according to the agency.

ICE had said earlier this year that it would be scaling back its operations due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the agency “never said we were going to stop arresting individuals,” Lucero clarified.

“We said we were going to prioritize and focus on those that are public safety threats,” he continued. “And that’s exactly what we did during this operation.”

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations last year arrested more than 1,900 illegal aliens with convictions or charges for homicide, 1,800 for kidnapping, 12,000 for sexual offense, 5,000 for sexual assault, 45,000 for assault, 67,000 for drug crimes, 10,000 for weapons offenses, and 74,000 for driving under the influence.

Headline USA’s Joshua Paladino contributed to this report.

Antifa Suspect, Accused of Shooting Trump Supporter in Portland, KILLED During Arrest

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Antifa Suspect, Accused of Shooting Trump Supporter in Portland, KILLED During Arrest

(Headline USA) An Antifa member suspected of fatally shooting a supporter of a conservative group in Portland, Oregon, last week after a caravan of Donald Trump backers rode through downtown was killed Thursday as investigators moved in to arrest him, the U.S. Marshals Service said Friday.

The man, Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48, was killed as a federal task force attempted to apprehend him in Lacey, Washington, about 120 miles north of Portland. Reinoehl was the prime suspect in the killing of 39-year-old Aaron “Jay” Danielson, who was shot in the chest Saturday night, a senior Justice Department official told The Associated Press.

Federal agents from the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service had located Reinoehl on Thursday after a warrant was issued for his arrest. During the encounter, Reinoehl was shot by a law enforcement officer who was working on the federal task force, the official said. The official could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The official said Reinoehl had pulled a gun during the encounter. The U.S. Marshals Service said initial reports indicate the suspect produced a firearm.

The U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task forces, comprised of deputy marshals, other federal agents and local law enforcement officers from a variety of agencies, are responsible for apprehending violent felons and other wanted suspects.

Thurston County Sheriff’s Lt. Ray Brady said four members of the fugitive task force fired their weapons, including two Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies, an officer from the Lakewood Police Department and an officer from the Washington State Department of Corrections.

Brady said investigators haven’t yet determined how many rounds were fired.

The suspect was alone at the time of the shooting, Brady said, with no children or other people present.

Brady said he doesn’t think the suspect lived at the address where he was shot, and it’s not clear what brought him to Lacey.

“We don’t know that specifically yet,” Brady said. “I do not believe that was his residence.”

Reinoehl had described himself in a social media post as “100% ANTIFA,” suggested the tactics of counter-protesters amounted to “warfare,” and had been shot at one protest and cited for having a gun at another.

He had been been a regular presence at anti-racism riots in Portland.

Police on July 5 cited Reinoehl on allegations of possessing a loaded gun in a public place, resisting arrest and interfering with police.

On July 26, Reinoehl was shot near his elbow after he got involved in a scuffle between an armed white man and a group of young people of color. The man who was carrying the gun, Aaron Scott Collins, told The Oregonian that he and a friend had just left a bar when they saw the group harassing an older black man. His friend began filming them with a phone, and the group confronted them, calling them Nazis, he said.

Reinoehl later that day spoke to an AP videographer. His arm was wrapped in a bloody bandage; he said he was on his way to meet protest medics so they could change it.

Reinoehl also was wanted on a warrant out of Baker County in Eastern Oregon, where court records show he skipped a hearing related to a June case in which he has been charged with driving under the influence of controlled substances, reckless driving, reckless endangerment and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Police said he drove on an interstate at up to 111 mph, with his daughter in the car, while racing his 17-year-old son, who was in a different vehicle.

Riots have erupted daily in the Pacific Northwest city since the killing of George Floyd.

With unruly demonstrations in Portland nearing the 100-day mark, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and other Democratic leaders on Thursday called for an end to violence even as federal agents were continuing to arrest protesters who allegedly assaulted law enforcement officers.

“The violence must stop,” Brown wrote, without calling out the riotous Antifa that caused all the damage. “There is no place for white supremacy or vigilantism in Oregon. All who perpetrate violent crimes must be held equally accountable.”

As of a week ago, 74 people were facing federal charges for crimes allegedly committed during demonstrations in Portland since at least May 29, U.S. Attorney Billy Williams said.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

US Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.4%; 1.4M Jobs Added in August

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US Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.4%; 1.4M Jobs Added in August

(Headline USA) The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in August to 8.4% from 10.2%.

Employers added 1.4 million jobs, the Labor Department said, down from 1.7 million in July. The U.S. economy has recovered about half the 22 million jobs lost to the pandemic.

Governors — mostly Democrats — are still keeping many sectors of their economies shut down or severely limited, blaming the coronavirus.

From small businesses to hotels, restaurants, airlines and entertainment venues, a wide spectrum of companies are struggling to survive the loss of customers, after an epic collapse in the spring.

Many economists think significant hiring may be hard to sustain because employers are operating under a cloud of uncertainty about the virus.

Friday’s jobs data was the second-to-last employment report — for most voters, the most visible barometer of the economy — before Election Day, Nov. 3. President Donald Trump faces the daunting task of seeking re-election in the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. Yet voters in surveys have generally given him higher marks on the economy than they have on other aspects of his presidency.

The jobs report coincides with growing signs that more companies are making permanent job cuts rather than temporary furloughs, as decisions made by state political leaders have driven many small businesses into bankruptcy. That trend could keep the unemployment rate persistently high.

Casino and hotel operator MGM Resorts, slammed by declines in travel and tourism, said last week that it’s eliminating 18,000 jobs. Coca Cola, which derives half its sales from stadiums, theaters and other venues that have been largely shut down, is offering buyouts to 4,000 employees. Salesforce said it is cutting 1,000 jobs. Bed, Bath & Beyond will shed 2,800.

A Federal Reserve report this week based on anecdotal reports from businesses found “rising instances of furloughed workers being laid off permanently as demand remained soft.”

Roughly 29 million Americans are receiving state unemployment aid, although their total benefits, on average, have shrunk by more than half since the expiration of a $600-a-week federal supplement more than a month ago. The Trump administration has set up a program that will provide some of the unemployed with $300 a week.

The economy appears to be operating on two tracks, resulting in an uneven and unequal recovery. Manufacturers are enjoying a solid rebound in demand for cars, appliances and electronics, with factory orders nearly back to pre-pandemic levels.

Home sales are also booming. So are home prices. Sales of existing homes surged by the most on record in July and are now nearly 9% higher than a year ago.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

INTEL CHIEF: Dems Cherry-Pick Info to Spin More ‘Russia Collusion’ Lies

Ben Sellers
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INTEL CHIEF: Dems Cherry-Pick Info to Spin More ‘Russia Collusion’ Lies

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe accused Democrats of cherry-picking crucial information about national security to mislead the media and the public about threats to the upcoming election.

In a letter responding to Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., Ratcliffe disavowed information leaked to the press that claimed the two top GOP committee chairs had been in communication with a Russian operative about election meddling.

The Democrats appear to have made the accusations against the senators following a classified intelligence briefing—normally reserved only for a select few congressional leaders—which indicated that both China and Russia were actively seeking to interfere in the upcoming election.

Democrats went to the media to claim that only Russia posed a serious threat, also suggesting that Trump allies such as Grassley and Johnson were involved in the plot.

They added to the theatrics by drafting a letter to FBI Director Chris Wray requesting an urgent defensive counterintelligence briefing for all members of Congress.

“We are gravely concerned, in particular, that Congress appears to be the target of a concerted foreign interference campaign, which seeks to launder and amplify disinformation in order to influence congressional activity, public debate, and the presidential election in November,” said the letter signed by Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, both of California; and Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Mark Warner of Virginia.

“Given the seriousness and specificity of these threats, as members of congressional leadership and the congressional intelligence committees we believe it is imperative that the FBI provided a classified defensive briefing to all Members of Congress,” it said.

The letter contained a classified addendum, which was later provided to the entire House—and portions of which ultimately found their way to the media.

Ratcliffe disavowed the leaked document, saying it had never been created by or authorized in coordination with his office.

“I can confirm the IC did not create the classified addendum to the 13 July letter, nor did we authorize its creation,” Ratcliffe said. “The IC was not consulted prior to its creation and subsequent release to the entire membership of the U.S. House of Representatives.”

Moreover, it “only draws selectively from a small number of IC reports and focuses on only one threat actor in the elections security space,” Ratcliff said, and it “by no means reflects the full and complete analysis of the IC.”

In a press release, Grassley, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, denounced the devious tactic as a means to advance a false narrative while hiding behind the classified status of the reports to prevent any clarification of the record.

Democrats “mixed their theories on unclassified open source material with classified intelligence reports to fabricate a veneer of credibility but shield their analysis from public scrutiny,” Grassley’s release said.

The GOP senators also rejected the accusations against them that they had colluded with a Russian operative, saying that was, itself, part of Russia’s disinformation campaign.

“[T]here is no such evidence to support these false Democrat claims,” said the senators.

“It’s clear from [Ratcliffe]’s letter that this addendum was created to advance partisan politics not election security,” they continued. “Congress should take seriously any real threat to our elections, not just the ones Democrats find politically convenient or ones they cook up based on actual disinformation to smear their political rivals.”

The leak of the classified material prompted Ratcliffe to announce recently that he will no longer conduct any in-person intelligence briefings but instead supply material only by writing.

President Donald Trump later weighed in on the leak and its suspected culprit, telling reporters, “Whether it was Shifty Schiff or someone else, you have leakers on the committee who are doing bad things … and he got tired of it.”

Schiff told CNN that he knew nothing about the leaking.

Portland Rioter Allegedly Commits Two Murders after Release

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Portland Rioter Allegedly Commits Two Murders after Release

A man arrested during a Portland protest for violent behavior went on to allegedly commit two murders after being released from jail by city officials, according to KOIN-TV.

Phillip Lawrence Nelson was arrested by police on June 18 after Cassy Leaton, 22, and Najaf “Nate” Hobbs, 39, were stabbed to death on June 16.

Just four days before Leaton and Hobbs were found dead, Nelson was arrested a protest in downtown Portland on a misdemeanor charge of interfering with a peace officer, according to court records.

But that charge was dismissed the next day, and he was released from the Multnomah County Detention Center.

Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt made it clear earlier this summer that his office would not pursue demonstrators accused of interfering with police and disorderly conduct unless the allegations include “deliberate” property damage, theft, or force against another person, according to the Oregonian. So Nelson was able to walk free, and just a few days later he became involved in a dispute with the victims.

Leaton and Hobbs were renting a unit in a fourplex from Nelson, according to Hobbs’ roommate. Nelson began staying in the unit, too, prompting the three roommates to change the locks, according to KOIN-TV.

On the day they were murdered, surveillance video footage captured Hobbs and Leaton going into the basement of the building. At one point, Leaton ran out of the basement, stumbling and shouting for help before falling down. Bystanders tried to help her, but she did not survive.

Both Leaton and Hobbs had been stabbed numerous times, according to the police report. Officers on the scene found a long-bladed knife and a “significant amount of blood” inside the basement. Video camera footage recorded Nelson leaving through the back door of the building after the stabbing while bystanders were trying to save Leaton.

Detectives found blood stains on the inside and outside handles of his door, according to court records.

Illegal Granted DACA Status by Obama Kills Four Police Veterans in DUI Crash

Joshua Paladino
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Illegal Granted DACA Status by Obama Kills Four Police Veterans in DUI Crash

After the Obama administration and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals protected a criminal illegal alien from deportation, he went on to kill four veterans and law enforcement officers.

Nine Republican Senators asked for details about this negligence in a letter to the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Deputy Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

“As is so often the case, this tragedy was completely avoidable had this nation’s immigration laws been enforced as they should have been during the Obama administration,” wrote the senators, led by Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

Mexican national Ivan Robles Navejas, 28, killed four people in the Thin Blue Line Law
Enforcement Motorcycle Club on July 18 in a head-on drunk-driving accident, The Washington Times reported. Among the dead are a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, a retired police detective, a police officer, and retired Army officer.

Navejas was charged with resisting arrest in 2013, driving while intoxicated in 2016, and aggravated assault in 2018.

During the Obama administration, ICE did not consider driving while intoxicated to be an offense serious enough to warrant deportation, so agents did not try to arrest and deport him. They adopted this policy despite the fact that drunk driving kills 10,000 people in America every year.

The Obama administration granted Navejas DACA-approved status in 2013, but the permission to remain illegally in the United States expired in 2015.

Later, Navejas gained conditional permanent resident status, which prevented immigration officials from deporting him following the arrest for “pinning a man with a vehicle in a parking lot, physically assaulting him, and biting off a portion of his ear,” according to the letter.

The senators asked the immigration directors to respond to their questions by Sept. 17.

“Media reports indicate that Mr. Navejas’ conditional permanent resident status expired in January 2019,” they wrote. “Upon the termination of conditional lawful permanent residency, what measures does USCIS exercise in referring criminal aliens to ICE for enforcement action due to a change in status to that of unlawful presence in the United States?”

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