Johnson Sets Up Ukraine Showdown Vote

Mike Johnson

The U.S. House is expected to vote on funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan this weekend, a controversial climax to months of battling in both chambers.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has arranged the vote for this weekend, likely on Saturday, despite calls from many in his own party to abandon funding for Ukraine, which is set to receive about $60 billion in foreign aid in its war against Russia’s invasion if the measure passes this weekend.

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Rep. Gosar Joins Two Other House Republicans in Supporting GOP Speaker Johnson’s Ouster

House GOP members against Speaker

Rep. Paul Gosar on Friday joined two other House Republicans in supporting GOP Speaker Mike Johnson’s ouster.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion last month to vacate the speaker’s chair, and so far two other GOP lawmakers have joined the effort.

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U.S. Wheat Farmers Stare Down Huge Losses as Foreign Goods Flood Market

Wheat combine

Many American wheat farmers may face losses in 2024 due to a glut of foreign supply coupled with soaring equipment and labor costs amid high inflation, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Wheat prices are near their lowest point in nearly four years as supply from the Black Sea and Europe has unexpectedly flooded the market after three years of droughts draining reserves, hitting winter wheat farmers in the Great Plains particularly hard, according to Reuters. Costs for transporting and producing American wheat have soared compared to foreign wheat suppliers, with high inflation increasing costs for farm equipment, repairs and labor for farmers.

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Julie Kelly Commentary: Ties Between Judge Merchan’s ‘Child’ and Adam Schiff Represent Major Conflict in Hush Money Trial

At the end of 2019, Representative Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was leading the first impeachment effort against President Donald Trump.

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Johnson Proposes Ukraine Aid ‘Innovations’ Including Loans, Using Seized Russian Oligarch Money

House Speaker Mike Johnson

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he expects the House to move forward with an aid package that would provide support for Ukraine with “some important innovations,” which may include loans for the war-torn Eastern European nation and using seized assets from Russian oligarchs.

On Fox News’ “Sunday Night In America” Johnson appeared receptive to a plan that would offer Ukraine a loan rather than aid, as Congress has already approved $113 billion in response to Russia’s invasion since February 2022, per the Government Accountability Office.

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Impeachment Probe Dramatically Pivots to Questions of CIA, DOJ Coverup in Hunter Biden Case

After a bombastic hearing with Hunter Biden’s business partners, House impeachment investigators are dramatically pivoting to allegations of a possible coverup in the first son’s criminal tax case as the inquiry transitions to a new phase.

On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee sued the Justice Department seeking to force two attorneys there to comply with subpoenas and testify about whether there was any political interference in Hunter Biden’s tax prosecution.

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Commentary: America Leaving NATO Would Be Good for Itself and Europe

NATO

Donald Trump resumed his role as the “wise fool” in recent, off-the-cuff remarks about NATO. He suggested that free-riding NATO members who do not pay their fair share might have to fight Russia on their own. National security hawks and Trump’s media enemies responded with lots of pious talk about our sacred NATO obligations. Joe Biden even said Trump was “un-American.”

Trump is not the first to suggest NATO partners should pay their fair share. But unlike his predecessors, he is willing to employ some leverage to make it happen. The real dirty secret here, as evidenced by how long this situation has gone on, is that enabling the Europeans to neglect their own defense is a feature and not a bug of America’s dominance over the NATO organization.

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Road to Hunter Biden’s Burisma Riches was Paved in Moscow with Effort to Court Russian Oligarchs

Hunter Biden Moscow Money

The effort to revive Russian collusion claims in Joe Biden’s impeachment probe is running into an inconvenient truth for Democrats: Hunter Biden and his business partners waged a concerted campaign to squeeze oligarchs in Vladimir Putin’s country for investments, an effort that ultimately paved the way for the first son to score a big payday from Burisma Holdings in neighboring Ukraine.

Hunter Biden and his partners’ pursuit of Russian riches began as early as 2010 with payments from a Moscow-based machinery firm and its “patriarch,” and they intensified a few years later at a time when Joe Biden’s son was actually still serving as a U.S. Navy officer. That timeline is confirmed by bank records, contemporaneous emails and congressional testimony that chronicle a far larger effort by Biden, Inc. to target Moscow than has previously been acknowledged.

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