Biden Co-Chair Downplays Riley Death: ‘The Issue Is Not That Migrants Commit Crimes’
Biden Campaign Co-Chair Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) reacted to the death of Georgia student Laken Riley by placing blame on Donald Trump for releasing “a million migrants” into the country when he was president and suggesting illegal aliens receive mass amnesty in the U.S.
In an interview on Friday’s broadcast of “CNN Newsroom,” Escobar claimed it was “impossible” to deport all the illegal aliens, so instead Congress should focus on introducing pathways to citizenship for them.
“[I]t is impossible to deport every undocumented person in this country. There simply are not the resources, nor is it advantageous to us. I’m sure you’ve seen the reports, Jim, that it has been immigrant labor, the immigrant workforce that has actually propped up our economy,” she told host Jim Acosta.
“The challenge we face is that Congress has not created legal pathways for them. We can have both a manageable immigration system and a well-managed border, but it takes congressional action.”
Acosta to his credit pushed back, asking if Joe Biden should still respond to the instances of “horrific crimes” by illegal aliens, to which Escobar responded that although criminals should be “prosecuted”, it’s important to remember that plenty of illegal aliens entered the U.S. under Trump.
“Look, every human being, from the president, to members of Congress, to every American, mourns the loss of anyone, and we need to see justice prevail, criminals prosecuted,” she replied. “But, as you mentioned, the fact of the matter is, immigrants commit crimes at less significant rates than native-born Americans. And in communities where migrants have been bused, crime has gone down. Anyone who commits such a horrific crime absolutely needs to be prosecuted within the full extent of the law.”
“But also, the fact of the matter is, when Donald Trump was in office, over a million migrants were released. I’m sure that there was a fraction of those migrants who also committed crimes,” she continued.
“The issue is not that migrants commit crimes. The issue is, we have not reformed a system that is badly broken, and it’s been Republicans standing in the way of that every year that we’ve tried this for decades. We can still do this, but we need Republicans to have the spine to come to the table and take a vote.”
Democrats have been in full damage control mode in the wake of 22-year-old Riley’s death allegedly at the hands of a Venezuelan illegal alien.
A recent New York Post article suggested Riley was killed because her attacker “panicked” after she fought back against his assault.
Athens Democrat Mayor Kelly Girtz faced heated backlash last week after downplaying Riley’s death at the hands of an illegal alien, claiming her death was not related to the massive influx of illegal aliens entering the U.S.
Thousands of people gathered for a vigil at the University of Georgia on Monday to remember Riley, which was summarily ignored by the mainstream media.
James Biden’s Testimony to US House Panel Conflicts With Other Witnesses — Reports
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Testimony provided to the US House Oversight Committee by President Joe Biden’s brother, James Biden, is inconsistent with the testimony of other witnesses, Fox News reported, citing a House oversight panel aide.
On Friday, a transcript of James Biden’s testimony to lawmakers was released, which was a part of an impeachment inquiry led by the House Oversight and Judiciary committees. The inquiry is rooted in allegations of foreign influence peddling and bribery by the Biden family.
James Biden’s testimony conflicts with testimony provided to lawmakers by Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and his business associate, Tony Bobulinski, the aide reportedly said.
Hunter Biden and Bobulinski testified that Joe Biden met with the pair, as well as James Biden, at a California hotel, the report said. However, James Biden testified that such a meeting never occurred, the report said.
On Wednesday, House lawmakers held a closed-door deposition with Hunter Biden, for which they also released a transcript. Hunter Biden will appear for a public hearing in the future, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said.
Hunter Biden denies that his father either profited from or engaged in his business activities.
Germany Launches Investigation into Leaked Crimean Bridge Attack Talk
Berlin’s first reaction to Friday’s revelations that several German generals discussed helping Ukraine plot an attack on Russia was to launch an investigation into how the recording got out.
RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan first published a transcript of the conversation between senior Luftwaffe officers discussing the matter, followed by a 38-minute audio recording.
“We are checking whether communications within the Air Force were intercepted,” a spokesperson for the German Ministry of Defense told the outlet Bild. “We cannot say anything about the content of the communications that were apparently intercepted.”
The Federal Office for Military Counterintelligence (BAMAD) has “initiated all necessary measures,” the ministry said in response to an inquiry from the state news agency DPA.
Meanwhile, the Bundeswehr has also resorted to censorship. Multiple accounts on X (formerly Twitter) that distributed the recording were blocked in Germany as of Friday evening.
Bild claimed that “it seems obvious” Russian spies “or one of their partners” were behind the recording.
The 38-minute audio was dated February 19 and features four officers of the German air force (Luftwaffe), including its head General Ingo Gerhartz and deputy chief of staff for operations, Brigadier-General Frank Graefe.
The officers assumed that Germany would send up to 50 Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine, and discussed the ways in which the Luftwaffe could provide the Ukrainians with targeting information without appearing to be directly involved in the conflict with Russia.
They also noted the Ukrainians’ obsession with targeting the Kerch Strait bridge, noting its significance was primarily political rather than military. At one point, Gerhartz admitted that the missiles “won’t change the course of the war,” while another officer expressed doubt that even 20 Taurus hits could actually destroy the bridge.
The Russian Foreign Ministry and parliament have both said they will demand an explanation from Berlin. The government of Chancellor Olaf Sholz has not officially commented on the intercepted call.
Biden Aides Trying to Shield Him From Protesters at Campaign Events – Reports
US President Joe Biden’s aides have adopted several tricks to protect their boss from protesters who are increasingly dissatisfied with the White House’s policies in the Middle East and unlimited support for Israel, NBC reported on Friday.
Biden’s aides’ tactics include avoiding protesters at events by making them smaller, keeping precise locations secret from the media and the public until the last moment, avoiding college campuses, and hiring a private company to filter attendees, the report said.
Even though the tactics have already shown their success and over the past five weeks there has not been a single incident of an attempt to interfere with Biden’s speech at an event, it also has drawbacks, including the president’s appearance in front of a smaller number of potential voters, according to the report.
“But the downside is that means he doesn’t reach as many voters,” an aide was quoted as saying. “The point is to reach as many voters as you can, and those small events don’t.”
White House aides are planning to use the tactics at an upcoming fundraiser event this month with Biden and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. More specifically, event organizers are going to hire a private company that will vet attendees to exclude those who can disrupt it, the report added.
In January, Biden’s campaign rally in Virginia was disrupted eight times by protesters demanding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Protests have taken place many times across the United States, including large marches in Washington with hundreds of thousands of people attending, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza in light of the thousands of civilians killed and wounded amid Israel’s military operations there.
Top Democrat Spokespersons Announce Plan to Steal 2024 Election, Declare Martial Law, and Arrest All Republicans
Details of ‘Sabotaged’ Russia-Ukraine Peace Deal in First Months of War Revealed
The Wall Street says it has gotten its hands on a secretive document revealing the details of a failed Ukraine-Russia peace deal that was on the table within the opening months of the war. Since then there have been several reports, including from Foreign Affairs which said the UK at the time sought to sabotage the deal.
The draft peace treaty was drawn up by negotiators from both sides in April 2022, and reveals the thinking and objectives of Moscow at the time. The 17-page document has never been made public, with the WSJ for the first time on Friday divulging key sections and points.
Dated April 15, 2022, the document is said to lay out an agreement that turns Ukraine into a “permanently neutral state that doesn’t participate in military blocs”. It further stipulated that Ukraine must not build up its military using Western support and that Crimea must remain under Russian control.
The WSJ analysis admits that there were some deep concessions on the table from the Ukraine side, and further underscores many of these things would likely remain in place in any future deal where Ukraine would no doubt be inflicted with even more compromises given its forces are currently being rolled back by superior Russian military might.
“The draft treaty states that Ukraine, while being allowed to pursue European Union membership, wouldn’t be allowed to join military alliances such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” according to the report. “No foreign weapons would be allowed on Ukrainian soil.”
And importantly, “Ukraine’s military would be pared down to a specific size.” The proposed deal even sought to impose permanent limitations on the Ukraine armed forces’ troop numbers: “Russia sought to limit everything from the number of troops and tanks to the maximum firing range of Ukrainian missiles.”
Another key point dealt with the role of the Russian language in Ukrainian society. Some two-thirds of the country at least knows Russian, while much of the eastern portion that includes the Donbas speaks Russian as their first language. The document reportedly sought to ensure the Russian language had an equal status in Ukrainian government ministries and in courts. The Zelensky government has since the war’s start sought to aggressively limit and even stamp out Russian in the public sphere.
According to more context of the draft deal from the WSJ:
The future of the area of eastern Ukraine covertly invaded and occupied by Russia in 2014, wasn’t included in the draft, leaving it up to Putin and Zelensky to complete in face-to-face talks. That meeting never took place.
The treaty was to be guaranteed by foreign powers, which are listed on the document as including the U.S., U.K, China, France and Russia. Those countries would be given the responsibility to defend Ukraine’s neutrality if the treaty were violated. But while the treaty held, guarantors would be required to “terminate international treaties and agreements incompatible with the permanent neutrality of Ukraine” including any promises of bilateral military aid. The international security guarantees wouldn’t apply to Crimea and Sevastopol.
Negotiations stopped completely by June of that year, and there were widespread reports months after indicating that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson encouraged Zelensky not to make a deal with Moscow.
Meanwhile, entering the third year of this horrific and tragic conflict which has taken countless lives:
“Ukraine will join NATO. It is not a question of if, but when,” Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of NATO, said. pic.twitter.com/WLbyNS8TL3
— DW News (@dwnews) February 24, 2024
Hundreds of billions in arms and funding have since been poured into Kiev and its war effort, and tragically likely hundreds of thousands have died. So much death and destruction could have been averted if an early deal had been reached and held, and backed by external powers.
The WSJ gives specifics on troop limitations from the 17-page document in the following:
The draft treaty with Ukraine included banning foreign weapons, “including missile weapons of any type, armed forces and formations.” Moscow wanted Ukraine’s armed forces capped at 85,000 troops, 342 tanks and 519 artillery pieces. Ukrainian negotiators wanted 250,000 troops, 800 tanks and 1,900 artillery pieces, according to the document. Russia wanted to have the range of Ukrainian missiles capped at 40 kilometers (about 25 miles).
But Ukraine is now likely in for more severe restrictions on any future Ukrainian state and military, should there ever be a negotiation for the end of the war reached (assuming Moscow and NATO don’t stumble into direct war by then).
Bloomberg on Thursday issued a report predicting total collapse of the Ukrainian front lines by summer, as the headline suggests (Ukraine Sees Risk of Russia Breaking Through Defenses by Summer): “Ukrainian officials are concerned that Russian advances could gain significant momentum by the summer unless their allies can increase the supply of ammunition, according to a person familiar with their analysis,” the report said. Will peace settlement talks begin at that point, or will the West intervene even more forcefully?
Top Democrat Spokespersons Announce Plan to Steal 2024 Election, Declare Martial Law, and Arrest All Republicans
Biden Confuses Ukraine With Gaza in Aid Announcement
US President Joe Biden made a major verbal gaffe while announcing Washington’s plans to carry out a first military airdrop of vital supplies into Gaza on Friday – confusing the Palestinian enclave with Ukraine.
The US leader’s remarks came a day after Gaza health authorities accused Israeli forces of killing more than 100 people who tried to reach a relief convoy.
“In the coming days, we are going to join with our friends in Jordan and others in providing airdrops of additional food and supplies into Ukraine and seek to continue to open up other avenues into Ukraine, including the possibility of a marine corridor to deliver large amounts of humanitarian assistance,” Biden said.
Later in his prepared remarks, Biden noted that “aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now,” and White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also clarified that Biden “was referring to Gaza” when he said Ukraine.
he really means it to him as a young man…Biden announced that the United States is “providing airdrops of food and other supplies into Ukraine.”
The White House immediately corrected Biden’s announcement: “He meant Gaza.” pic.twitter.com/7WULVtOyCu— Peacemaker (@peacemaket71) March 1, 2024
The 81-year-old’s latest mental stumble comes just days after he underwent his annual physical exam, with doctors saying he was healthy enough and fully “fit for duty,” even though the medical examination did not include any cognitive tests.
Critics have long blasted the US administration for an alleged lack of transparency on Biden’s health, claiming that the president is not mentally fit to hold office – especially after a recent prosecutor’s report suggested that he was too elderly and befuddled to stand trial.
Earlier this week, Biden referred to Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as the “head of Russia” and seemingly failed to remember the name of his former boss, Barack Obama. On Monday evening, Biden also took his campaign message to a TV audience, but mistakenly dated his 2024 agenda to four years ago.
“The president doesn’t need a cognitive test,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted on Wednesday.
Top Democrat Spokespersons Announce Plan to Steal 2024 Election, Declare Martial Law, and Arrest All Republicans