This week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki falsely claimed that Democrat President Joe Biden had “consistently through the course of his career” advocated for increasing funding to police departments. Psaki’s comments came in response to a reporter asking about the United
MoreThis week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki falsely claimed that Democrat President Joe Biden had “consistently through the course of his career” advocated for increasing funding to police departments.
Psaki’s comments came in response to a reporter asking about the United States’ surging violent crime rate.
“Gun violence is a huge reason for the surge in crime,” Psaki said. “Underfunding of some police departments and their need for additional resources — something the President has advocated for consistently through the course of his career — that’s something we know we need to take action on.”
“And it is absolutely true that he will not be satisfied or complacent when officers are being gunned down or when Americans have to worry about whether they can safely ride the subway or bus,” she added. “That should not be a political issue. He’s somebody who has had a long career of — many decades — of fighting for funding for police departments, for local communities in order to reduce crime.”
However, during his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden called for defunding the police. Vice President Kamala Harris likewise has praised Democrat politicians who defunded their police departments.
The Democrats push to defund the police resulted in a historic surge in violent crime across the country. For example, in Austin, Texas, murder reportedly increased by 300% in one year.
“Austin doesn’t feel as safe recently. Because it isn’t,” the advocacy group Save Austin Now states on their website. “We’ve seen a series of city policy decisions over the last 2 years that have led to a surge in both violent crime and property crime against Austinites. A 300% increase in murders this year. A double-digit increase in property crimes such as burglaries and carjackings. And a massive increase in reports of “soft crimes” that make us uncomfortable, especially us women. This isn’t the Austin we know and love, and it doesn’t have to be.”
As Democrat President Joe Biden’s border crisis continues, Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz (R), who emigrated from Ukraine, discussed the various crises that the United States has faced under Biden, saying that the most threatening crisis is at the border which “poses a risk to our sovereignty as nation.”
“I know that we have talk a lot about different crises. And we do have a lot of crises,” Spartz stated. “We have economic crisis; we have inflation crisis; we have energy cost crisis; we have supply chain crisis; we have education crisis; we have crime crisis; we have Covid response crisis; we have health care crisis; we have foreign relations and security crisis; we have freedom of speech crisis, we have centralized government and infringement on our rights crisis.”
“But I think there is one crisis that is very disturbing and concerning to me as a naturalized American who immigrated to this great country,” she continued. “I went to the border three times. And what I saw it’s lawlessness, it’s issue of national security, it’s anarchy and it is a crisis that poses a risk to our sovereignty as nation. And we can see what’s happening in the country. Drug cartels are controlling the border. They control drug trafficking and making billions on that. We have the highest deaths from overdoses in our country that ever existed. Our kids are dying and they are making a lot of money. The border is open. No one can control it. It poses risk to our national security.”
“I hope we all, as Americans who care about our country, and our president, at least are dealing with one of the crises, because it’s a serious issue and we cannot disregard it: the national security of this greatest country that ever existed on earth and put our people at risk,” she added. “It is our responsibility as representatives in this republic to stand up, regardless of political affiliation, and raise this issue as our duty to the American people.”
Spartz’s comments come shortly after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released the December numbers for illegal border crossings which surged to the highest total for December on record.
“The number of unique individuals encountered in December 2021 was 135,040, a 5 percent increase in the number of unique individuals encountered the prior month,” CBP said in a statement. “In total, there were 178,840 encounters along the Southwest land border in December, a 2 percent increase compared to November.”
The 178,840 illegal border crossings that occurred in December 2021 were thousands higher than the December totals from 2020, 2019, and 2018 combined.
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CBP FINALLY released December 2021 numbers for illegal crossings along the southern border: 178,840.
That's more than Decembers 2018, 2019, & 2020 COMBINED. pic.twitter.com/NVRH2rZoqr
— Mark Bednar (@MarkBednar) January 24, 2022
During an appearance on ABC’s “The View” on Friday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told those who were upset about the Senate failing to pass the Democrats’ election overhaul bills to use alcohol to suppress those feelings over the weekend.
Co-host and ABC News anchor Linsey Davis asked Psaki about the election overhaul bills, saying, “Of course as you know all too well, the Senate once again failed to pass voting rights protections with Manchin and Sinema joining all Republicans in not changing the filibuster rules. The president said he was disappointed but not deterred. Where do you see a path forward at this point?”
“The path forward is we have to keep fighting. Look, this week has been frustrating, devastating, angering, all of those things, everyone who’s fighting for this, so many activists across this country who have been so central to getting to this point. I mean, just a year ago there were more people who were opposed to filibuster changes in the Senate. So we’ve made some progress on that front, but we’ve got to stay at it,” Psaki replied.
“My advice to everyone out there who’s frustrated, sad, angry, pissed off, feel those emotions, go to a kickboxing class, have a margarita, do whatever you need to do this weekend, and then wake up on Monday morning, we gotta keep fighting.” Psaki added. “What that means, Linsey, is we have to keep talking to members about federal legislation, that’s essential, that’s something that can be permanent, that can make sure people’s rights are protected. But we also need to make sure people are educated in states across the country about what their rights are, how they can vote, when they can vote, how to request an absentee ballot. There’s a lot we need to do on that front that will rely on the energy and the anger of that activism as well.”
Psaki on voting rights bills failing: "My advice to everyone out there who's frustrated, sad, angry, pissed off, feel those emotions, go to a kickboxing class, have a margarita, do whatever you need to do this weekend, and then wake up on Monday morning, we gotta keep fighting." pic.twitter.com/WkW4dJz0PB
— The Recount (@therecount) January 21, 2022
This week, Democrat President Joe Biden’s election overhaul legislation failed to pass in the Senate after a bipartisan majority opposed the radical push from Democrats to change the rules of the filibuster.
“Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sinema, D-Ariz., joined all Senate Republicans in opposing the attempt to alter the Senate filibuster on party lines, resulting in a 48-52 final tally,” Fox News reported. “That vote followed a failed attempt by Democrats to advance the election bills over the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold. All Republicans opposed it.”
On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki attempted to walk back Democrat President Joe Biden’s claims that upcoming election could potentially be illegitimate.
“[Let’s] be clear: [President Biden] was not casting doubt on the legitimacy of the 2022 election. He was making the opposite point: In 2020, a record number of voters turned out in the face of a pandemic, and election officials made sure they could vote and have those votes counted,” Psaki tweeted. “He was explaining that the results would be illegitimate if states do what the former president asked them to do after the 2020 election: toss out ballots and overturn results after the fact. The Big Lie is putting our democracy at risk. We’re fighting to protect it.”
Psaki made similar comments during an appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”
“I’ve talked to the president a lot about this, and he absolutely is not predicting that the 2022 elections would be illegitimate,” Psaki said. “The point he was raising was both that in 2020, even amongst challenging circumstances, efforts to suppress the votes in the midst of a pandemic there was record turnout. Democrats and Republicans, record turnout to go to the polls.”
“And the point he was making is that the former president asked a number of states, seven or more in fact, to overturn the outcome of the election,” Psaki continued. “Now obviously, if there’s an effort to do that, we’ve got to fight against that. That’s what our commitment is to doing. But he was not making a prediction. He has confidence in the American people, and we’re going to do everything we can to protect people’s rights.”
However, during Wednesday’s press conference, Biden repeatedly suggested that the 2022 midterms could be illegitimate if states pass legislation increasing their election security.
“Speaking of voting rights legislation, if this isn’t passed, do you still believe the upcoming election will be fairly conducted and its results will be legitimate?” a reporter asked Biden.
“Well, it all depends on whether or not we’re able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election. And it’s one thing — look, maybe I’m just being too much of an optimist. Remember how we thought not that many people were going to show up to vote in the middle of a pandemic? We had the highest voter turnout in the history of the United States of America,” Biden responded. “Well, I think if, in fact — no matter how hard they make it for minorities to vote, I think you’re going to see them willing to stand in line and — and defy the attempt to keep them from being able to vote. I think you’re going to see the people who they’re trying to keep from being able to show up, showing up and making the sacrifice that needs to make in order to change the law back to what it should be.”
Later, another reporter asked, “A moment ago, you were asked whether or not you believed that we would have free and fair elections in 2022 if some of these state legislatures reformed their voting protocols. You said that it depends. Do you — do you think that they would in any way be illegitimate?”
“Oh, yeah, I think it easily could be — be illegitimate,” Biden responded.
On Sunday, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview with CNN that the hostage situation that began on Saturday at a synagogue in Texas has turned into an international investigation and that there was “something more” to what had happened.
“First of all, this is a disturbing case that demonstrates that anti-Semitism is unfortunately alive and well,” McCaul said. “I think they chose this synagogue because she, Siddiqui, the Lady al Qaeda, they call her, is being detained in a Fort Worth prison facility. To answer your question, I know the FBI has now fanned their investigation out to London and Tel Aviv. So this has now turned into an international investigation. So there’s something more here. And the fact he’s calling for Lady al Qaeda’s release from prison has been, as you said, in the jihadist world kind of a cause celebration.”
“And so I think we’re going to find out a lot more in the next 24, 48 hours. He is British. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s Pakistani, just like Siddiqui. And we need to get to the bottom of this,” he continued. “We haven’t seen one of these radicalized attacks in a few years now, and it is disturbing to see it raise its ugly head again.”
On Saturday night, four hostage were freed by authorities after a man took hostages at a Texas synagogue. The suspect is now dead, and his motives are still reportedly under investigation.
“Malik Faisal Akram, 44, was identified by the F.B.I. on Sunday as the man who took four people, including a rabbi, hostage on Saturday morning at a service at Congregation Beth Israel. The Reform synagogue is in Colleyville, a city of about 26,000 residents that is about 15 miles northeast of Fort Worth, Texas,” The New York Times reported. “The service had been livestreamed, and on the stream, Mr. Akram could be heard shouting about dying and demanding to get a woman he said was his sister on the phone. The immediate area was evacuated, and residents were instructed to remain home and avoid approaching the synagogue.”
“Over the course of the day, about 200 local, state and federal law enforcement officers converged on the synagogue, including a team of F.B.I. agents and hostage negotiators who flew from Quantico, Va., the authorities said. One male hostage was released at about 5 p.m., the police said. He was unharmed,” the outlet added. “By around 9:30 p.m., the F.B.I.’s elite hostage rescue team freed the remaining hostages from the synagogue safely. They were unharmed and did not need medical attention, the authorities said.”
