President Donald Trump (L) and President-elect Joe Biden in file photographs. (AP Photo; Getty Images) Election Integrity

By Jack Phillips March 18, 2021 Updated: March 19, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

A report from the U.S. intelligence community suggests that a minority of intelligence officials believed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did, in fact, attempt to hinder former President Donald Trump’s chances in the 2020 election, while reporting that the CCP did not “deploy interference efforts.”

A report from the National Intelligence Council (pdf) released March 10 stated that Russia sought to denigrate President Joe Biden and boost Trump during the 2020 election, and that China “did not deploy interference efforts and considered but did not deploy influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the U.S. presidential election,” adding: “We have high confidence in this judgment.”

The report further asserted that the CCP “sought stability in its relationship with the United States and did not view either election outcome as being advantageous enough for China to risk blowback if caught,” while intelligence officials suspected that “Beijing probably believed that its traditional influence tools, primarily targeted economic measures and lobbying key individuals and interest groups, would be sufficient to achieve its goal of shaping U.S. policy regardless of who won the election. We did not identify China attempting to interfere with election infrastructure or providing funding to any candidates or parties.”

But the report also indicated that some U.S. intelligence officials believe the CCP tried to undermine Trump.

“The National Intelligence Officer for Cyber assesses that China took at least some steps to undermine former President Trump’s reelection chances, primarily through social media and official public statements and media,” says the report in its minority view section. “The NIO agrees with the IC’s view that Beijing was primarily focused on countering anti-China policies, but assesses that some of Beijing’s influence efforts were intended to at least indirectly affect U.S. candidates, political processes, and voter preferences, meeting the definition for election influence used in this report. The NIO agrees that we have no information suggesting China tried to interfere with election processes. The NIO has moderate confidence in these judgments.”

The short paragraph is referring to the National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for Cyber Issues on the National Intelligence Council, which leads the U.S. intelligence community in its cyber analysis and analyzes challenges to elections.

And the assessment termed election influence as activities “intended to directly or indirectly affect an election” and deemed interference as “attempts to target the technical aspects of elections,” as noted by the Washington Examiner.

“We assess that Beijing’s risk calculus against influencing the election was informed by China’s preference for stability in the bilateral relationship, their probable judgment that attempting to influence the election could do lasting damage to U.S.-China ties, and belief that the election of either candidate would present opportunities and challenges for China,” the majority view stated.

Last year, then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said that China meddled in the 2020 federal elections, and further alleged that intelligence about China’s election interference was suppressed by management at the CIA, which pressured analysts to withdraw their support for the view.

Also this week, the Department of Justice, including the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security and its cybersecurity agency said in a joint report that they “have no evidence that any foreign government-affiliated actor” such as Russia, China, or Iran “prevented voting, changed votes, or disrupted the ability to tally votes or to transmit election results in a timely manner, altered any technical aspect of the voting process, or otherwise compromised the integrity of voter registration information of any ballots cast during 2020 federal elections.”

Ratcliffe, meanwhile, said at the time that he supports “the stated minority view—based on all available sources of intelligence, with definitions consistently applied, and reached independent of political considerations or undue pressure—that the People’s Republic of China sought to influence the 2020 U.S. federal elections.”Help us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.

The New York Times building is seen in New York City on April 15, 2020. (Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times) US News

By Zachary Stieber March 20, 2021 Updated: March 20, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

Writers for the New York Times may have spread deceptive claims about the nonprofit journalism group Project Veritas, a judge ruled this week.

In stories from 2020 about Project Veritas videos, writers Maggie Astor and Tiffany Hsu inserted sentences that were opinions despite the articles being billed as news, New York Supreme Court Justice Charles Wood said.

“If a writer interjects an opinion in a news article (and will seek to claim legal protections as opinion) it stands to reason that the writer should have an obligation to alert the reader, including a court that may need to determine whether it is fact or opinion, that it is opinion,” Wood wrote in a 16-page decision denying the paper’s request to dismiss a lawsuit from Project Veritas.

“The Articles that are the subject of this action called the Video ‘deceptive,’ but the dictionary definitions of ‘disinformation’ and ‘deceptive’ provided by defendants’ counsel certainly apply to Astor’s and Hsu’s failure to note that they injected their opinions in news articles, as they now claim,” he added.

At issue are five articles that Project Veritas alleges contained false and defamatory information. All five were about a 2020 video report from the journalism group on alleged illegal voting practices in Minnesota.

In one of Astor’s articles, she wrote: “Mr. O’Keefe and Project Veritas have a long history of releasing manipulated or selectively edited footage purporting to show illegal conduct by Democrats and liberal groups.” The source of the statement, and whether it is fact or opinion, is not clear, according to the judge.

Hsu, meanwhile, wrote in part that conservative publications “magnified the reach of a deceptive video released last month by Project Veritas, a group run by the conservative activist James O’Keefe,” adding: “The video claimed without named sources or verifiable evidence that the campaign for Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, was collecting ballots illegally.”

“Stating that the video is ‘deceptive’ and stating ‘without verifiable evidence’ in a factual way in a news article certainly presents the statement as fact, not opinion,” Wood wrote in his decision. “Further, the Astor and Hsu Articles could be viewed as exposing Veritas to ridicule and harm to its reputation as a media source because the reader may read these news Articles, expecting facts, not opinion, and conclude that Veritas is a partisan zealot group, deceptively editing video, and presenting it as news.”

The judge said he reviewed the total context and tone of the stories and concluded a reader could believe the statements were conveying facts about Project Veritas.

The New York Times had argued that statements describing the video as “deceptive” and “false” were opinions incapable of being judged true or false.

Lawyers for the paper also argued that even if the term “deceptive” could be given objective meaning as a factual statement, writers demonstrated that the video was deceptive, citing other news outlets and so-called fact-checkers, such as Fox News and The Washington Post.

“While this is a lengthy media list, polling does not decide truth nor speak to evidence, and Defendants have not met their burden to prove that the reporting by Veritas in the Video is deceptive,” the judge said. Additionally, Veritas demonstrated in its complaint that Astor did not likely in 63 minutes digest a report from a group that alleged the video was disinformation, review news reports on Minnesota ballot issues, view the video online, obtain a comment from Alex Stamos from the Stanford Internet Observatory, write her own article, submit the article to her editors, and have it posted online.

“The facts submitted by Veritas could indicate more than standard, garden variety media bias and support a plausible inference of actual malice,” the judge wrote.

A lawyer representing the New York Times referred The Epoch Times to the paper. A spokesperson for the paper didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Project Veritas said in a statement: “This ruling means Project Veritas will now be able to put New York Times reporter Maggie Astor and New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet under oath where they will be forced to answer our questions. Project Veritas will record these depositions and expose them for the world to see.”

Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified one of the writers. The Epoch Times regrets the error. Follow Zachary on Twitter: @zackstieberFollow Zachary on Parler: @zackstieberHelp us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.

A woman votes in Durham, N.C., on Nov. 8, 2016. (Sara D. Davis/Getty Images) US News

By Zachary Stieber March 20, 2021 Updated: March 20, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

Federal prosecutors in North Carolina said Friday that 24 additional people have been charged in an ongoing probe into voter fraud, including two who are accused of illegally voting in the 2016 presidential election.

Gabriela Guzman-Miguel, 26, and Jose Abraham Navarro, 42, both of Mexico, are accused to have voted despite lacking the legal status to do so, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina said in a list of defendants obtained by The Epoch Times. The list described both as aliens or immigrants.

A slew of other defendants were charged with falsely claiming U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote. Some also engaged in naturalization fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents relating to voter registration, officials said.

Defendants hailed from 15 countries, including Honduras, Iraq, and Canada. The charges date back to the fall of 2019, though the cases were just unsealed.

Those charged face jail time and fines of up to $350,000 if convicted.

Each defendant was charged separately and there are no charges of conspiracy, the prosecutor’s office said.

Robert Higdon, who headed the office until recently, had aggressively pursued illegal voting cases, subpoenaing records from the state board of elections, and 44 county boards in 2018.

The state board called the subpoena “overly broad, unreasonable, vague.” It advised North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, to quash the subpoenas.

Stein eventually directed the board to acquire records associated with approximately 789 people who had registered to vote—far less than Higdon, a Trump appointee, had sought.

Higdon in 2018 announced charges against 19 foreign nationals for voting in the 2016 election and last year another U.S. attorney in the state unveiled voter fraud charges against 19 others.

“The right to vote is a precious privilege available only to citizens of the United States. When a non-citizen votes in a federal election it serves to dilute and devalue the vote of American citizens and places the decision making authority of the American electorate in the hands of those who have no right to make those choices,” Higdon said in a previous statement.

An audit by the state board of elections after the 2016 election found 41 individuals had acknowledged voting despite not being U.S. citizens. Sixty-one others who may have voted illegally did not respond while another 34, identified in the audit, provided proof of citizenship.

“Information obtained from those who are not citizens illustrates the complexity of this work. A number of non-citizens said they were not aware that they were prohibited from voting. Interviews and evidence show that some non-citizens were misinformed about the law by individuals conducting voter registration drives or, in at least one documented case, by a local precinct official,” the audit stated.

“One registrant in her 70s has lived in the United States for more than 50 years and believed that she was a citizen because she had been married to a U.S. citizen.” Follow Zachary on Twitter: @zackstieberFollow Zachary on Parler: @zackstieberHelp us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.

The Biden Administration accidentally released tightly guarded plans for “immediate Federal action” in halting one of the most outrageous and unnecessarily violent, continued, and intentional killing of innocent lives” ever documented on US Interstate highways. Until today this unspeakable carnage has continued without any acknowledgement of its existence, much less a plan to investigate and stop the activity by the Biden administration which has only fueled further stories questioning not only the logic of, but the legitimacy of an administration which follows the most contested and suspicious election in US history.

“This escalating and violent activity against another species will be adequately addressed in the very near future by the “big guy himself” quipped a Biden spokesperson who evidenced a bit of “rabbit drool” meandering down his napkin tucked chin during the unscheduled early morning verbal exchange during a Bar-b-q on the White House south lawn yesterday morning.

“The chairman will no doubt give this matter all the attention he believes it truly deserves” belched the White House official while almost continually dabbing his mouth with a White House embroidered napkin. “Absolutely disgusting that such a transparent plan to slaughter nonviolent, innocent animals on sacrificial painted asphalt concrete highways can continue every single day. A death penalty for animals who were only seeking life-giving sustenance for survival. What sort of people devise such plans to unethically dispatch life like this? How has this been permitted to continue for this amount of time (since Biden Admin began) without some form of humanitarian challenge by the progressive Left Biden (burp) group” another bunny stuffed official gurgled while tongue churning a huge portion of rabbit stew within his often open mouth last Sunday morning.

“Apparently the designers, perpetrators and benefactors of this shocking activity expect the American public to believe they had no idea of the honorific consequences that would develop when placing abundant, open and easily accessible food supplies on the opposite side of non fenced and extremely busy multi-lane highways directly across from their permitted bunny breeding business. Bunny breeding facilities where hordes of these prolific animals are neither controlled or confined to the sprawling, and itself, exponentially expanding facility.”

“Yup, It’s not rocket science”, snapped another attendee at the impromptu feast while gnawing on a slightly overdone rabbit hindquarter, “they are just animals and will go anywhere they want <hiccup>, and where they want to go (when thirsty and/or hungry) is where the food and water is – and the food and water just happens to be directly across from those major highways with all the high speed vehicle traffic zipping back and forth like a high powered butcher’s saw blade. (The speaker rips another chunk of meat with his teeth from the hindquarter tightly held in his left hand and continues to talk with his mouth full of food as tiny particles of flying rabbit meat exit his mouth as he rambles on) How can anyone now defend such activity by complaining the results of such a 1 + 2 =3 sort of set up were somehow unforeseeable?”

“Remember the old Frogger video game?” (An unidentified commenter voiced from behind the elaborately decorated White House self serve table of various offered rabbit prepared dishes) “Well, just replace the frog with a rabbit and you have a good idea of what is happening right now on the highways within this country – but also remember those in power, whether the exercised power is legitimately acquired or not, and their family members, friends and associates are clearly benefiting in someway from such bloody chaos, well, (nonchalantly dabbing “rabbit-run dribble” from chin with WH napkin) you can bet your lucky rabbit’s feet nothing is going to change in the near future regardless of the traditional political rhetoric in response to public demands for accountable change <extremely loud gurgled belch> Ahhh there she is! Phew! That felt good!”

“No idea of the horrific consequences of their activity? Arguable, but I think not” still another attendee quipped while cleaning food stains from his shirt with a moistened WH napkin. “Please also understand and be cognizant of the fact there are many other players and spinoff industries and businesses radiating out from this, at first blush unnecessarily violent, unethical operation, that are of great concern to the Biden Family personally, <belch> in addition of course, to whatever concern they may or may not have for the country itself, <hiccup> the citizens, or further potential military deployments and/or other national security threat related domestic matters. <farts and fans posterior with one hand while holding on to what appears to be half a cooked rabbit in the other> “Emotional knee-jerk responses cannot be permitted to influence or stop this situation as they had in the prior administration.” <Casually farts again and side steps away while casting a disturbed look at another oblivious attendee – who when “gets the drift” collapses to the ground without assistance> Bunny Bootie Massage Parlors, The Hunter Tail Collection Museums, Rab-bit Restaurant chains, Floppy Ear Investigations, Virus Is Us, this and much more could be irrevocably and financially damaged if improper corrective action were to be instituted immediately and prematurely without careful consideration for the long term objectives and goals of the Biden Administration which is clearly moving at warp hip-pity hop-pity speed without a care in the world toward their anticipated and well earned reward of inconceivable massive wealth which is only awaiting for their forth coming arrival just beyond this portion of clear open stretch of Interstate (sudden outrageously loud blast from an 18 wheeler tractor air horn immediately overhead) “WHAT THE FUC …….” <loud thud and squishy noises from multiple tires quickly fades as the vehicle disappears into the stark horizon>

My best to you and yours, Lew

Those “green all electric” 18 wheeler tractor-trailer rigs sure are quiet aren’t they? lol

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks at the weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 3, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images) Congress

By Jack Phillips March 18, 2021 Updated: March 18, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) filed a resolution Thursday to remove Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) from the House Intelligence Committee following reports that he may have been compromised by a Chinese Communist Party spy.

“Swalwell engaged in a years-long relationship with a suspected Chinese spy, and his conduct makes clear he has no place serving on the committee in charge of America’s top secrets,” said McCarthy, referring to allegations that he was involved in a relationship with a woman—known as Fang Fang—accused of spying for the CCP.

McCarthy told Punchbowl media that “if an individual could not get a clearance in the private sector, they shouldn’t be on Intel,” referring to the House Intelligence Committee. Previously, he called on Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to remove Swalwell from the committee.

Last year, Axios reported that Fang helped in fundraising efforts for Swalwell, whose district encompasses part of California’s Bay Area, during his 2014 campaign.  Fang ultimately left the United States in 2015 following a federal investigation.

And, according to the report, Fang also allegedly targeted other Democrats in California. It was also reported that at the time of the Axios article, Swalwell’s family members were still Facebook friends with Fang.

“Rep. Swalwell, long ago, provided information about this person—whom he met more than eight years ago, and whom he hasn’t seen in nearly six years—to the FBI. To protect information that might be classified, he will not participate in your story,” Swalwell’s office told Axios in December.

But the resolution from McCarthy declared that Swalwell “has not denied public reporting that a suspected Chinese intelligence operative helped raise money for Representative Swalwell’s political campaigns” and “other troublesome elements of public reporting.”

Swalwell said Thursday that McCarthy’s resolution was a bid to “deflect” from McCarthy’s “support for QAnon.” McCarthy has repeatedly denounced the QAnon movement.

“Meet the New McCarthyism,” Swalwell also wrote. “Multiple sentences in resolution state ‘Swalwell has not denied…’ Yet fails to include multiple FBI statements of ‘no wrongdoing’ and did nothing but ‘cooperate.’”

Officials have not charged Swalwell with any wrongdoing, while he previously said he is no longer in contact with her.

When Pelosi was asked about removing Swalwell in December, she said, “I don’t have any concerns about Mr. Swalwell … In terms of Mr. Swalwell, in the spring of 2015, the leadership of the House and the committee were informed that overtures from a Chinese person were being made to members of Congress. When that was made known to the members of Congress it was over.”

The Epoch Times has contacted Swalwell’s office for comment about McCarthy’s resolution.Help us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.

A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen placed on a keyboard in this illustration taken March 25, 2020. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration) Censorship & Socialism

By Isabel van Brugen March 18, 2021 Updated: March 18, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

Facebook announced Wednesday that it has implemented a number of changes on the social media platform that seek to reduce the reach of, and in some cases ban, groups that violate its policies.

The tech giant said in a statement that it has taken action to curb the spread of “harmful content, like hate speech and misinformation,” and is making it harder for certain groups to operate or be discovered.

“When a group repeatedly breaks our rules, we take it down entirely,” the announcement from Facebook’s VP of engineering, Tom Alison, said.

As part of the changes, Facebook will notify users who wish to join a group if the group has previously approved posts that violate the platform’s “community standards.” Users can then opt to review the group before joining.

The social media platform said it will also remove political and civic groups from all group recommendations.

“While people can still invite friends to these groups or search for them, we have now started to expand these restrictions globally. This builds on restrictions we’ve made to recommendations, like removing health groups from these surfaces, as well as groups that repeatedly share misinformation,” the company said.

When a group begins to violate the platform’s community standards, Facebook will show them lower in its recommendations list, making it less likely that people will discover those groups, Alison said.

Group admins and moderators will also be required by Facebook to “temporarily approve all posts when that group has a substantial number of members who have violated our policies or were part of other groups that were removed for breaking our rules.”

Further, users who repeatedly violate platform rules in groups will be temporarily barred from posting in any group, and will be banned from both creating new groups, and inviting others to groups.

The changes come a week before Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to testify at a hearing on misinformation in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Facebook has come under increasing scrutiny over censorship of its users’ speech. Facebook has repeatedly claimed its platform doesn’t favor one political viewpoint over another.

Facebook whistleblower Ryan Hartwig, who lifted the lid on the social media giant’s pattern of censoring conservatives, told The Epoch Times’ “American Thought Leaders” on Feb. 28 that censorship at the company has become “outrageous.”

Hartwig, a former content moderator at a third-party company that provided services to Facebook, made news in June 2020 when he alleged that moderators were told to enforce the social media platform’s policies selectively to allow, under certain circumstances, content that demonized the police or white males.

“I saw that Facebook gave exceptions to, essentially, silence conservatives,” he said in an interview during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida.

Hartwig, who worked for nearly two years for Cognizant, a firm hired by Facebook to handle part of its manual content policing, said in the interview that Facebook provided guidance on a number of occasions that he said was biased in favor of left-leaning causes and perspectives.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said at the CPAC event last month that censorship by Big Tech is “probably the biggest problem that we face right now in this country, as a party.”

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.Help us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.

Benny Thomas, Global Planning lead – Creative & Experiential at Facebook, in a video released by Project Veritas on March 16, 2021. (Project Veritas/Youtube) Media & Big Tech

By Petr Svab March 17, 2021 Updated: March 18, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

Facebook’s drive to register 4.5 million voters swayed the November election to President Joe Biden, a Facebook executive opined in hidden camera footage.

The executive, Benny Thomas, expressed grim views of the giant tech company, but counted the voter drive among its positives while secretly being recorded earlier this year by reporters with Project Veritas, an undercover journalism nonprofit.

“This is the good side of Facebook. … We made a big difference,” he said in a video released by Veritas on March 16, explaining that Facebook exceeded its goal of registering 4 million people and could only accomplish the task because of its “sheer scale and reach.”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure we [Biden] won that way,” the reporter said.

“Yea!” Thomas replied, laughing. “Exactly!”

“What do you think?” the reporter jumped in.

“Exactly. I think so too,” he said.

Thomas’s LinkedIn profile describes his position as Global Planning Lead – Creative & Experiential at Facebook since September 2019.

Facebook didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

Thomas suggested to one of the reporters that Facebook needs to do more to control speech on its platforms.

“People are believing whatever they see, and it’s just causing a crisis,” he said in another video published by Veritas on March 15.

When asked about his views on solutions, he said, “The answer is just more controls, more safeguards. … To give people a guide to behavior.”

Behavior needs to be kept in check through surveillance, he suggested.

“That’s called democracy. Somebody is always watching you so that you behave well,” he said.

On the other hand, he acknowledged that Facebook’s judgments are necessarily biased, even when machine-driven.

“There’s always built-in bias because this is the myth that computer programmers told us, which is, ‘Oh, these are computers, computers don’t have bias.’ But guess what? Human beings wrote that code. And that human being has bias.”

Conservatives and some liberals have long complained that Facebook is censoring political speech based on vague, partly secret, ever-changing, and unevenly enforced policies.

Thomas also said Facebook and Google have grown so powerful, they need to be broken up.

“The government needs to step in and break up Google and Facebook. I’ll make less money, but it’s a better thing for the world,” he said.

Facebook needs to be stripped of its major subsidiaries, he suggested.

“Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, Oculus, WhatsApp. They all need to be separate companies. It’s too much power when they’re all one together,” he said.

“It needs to be broken up the way the telecom companies were broken up and the oil companies were broken up. But better than that, because those guys just came back together pretty soon after that. I hope we’ve learned from that. But that’s really the one thing, as you said, I would break it up, and I would remove Zuck [Mark Zuckerberg] as the CEO.”

Facebook’s power ceases to be innocuous, he said, “when you weaponize it as a politician and you go, ‘Tell me, show me people who are racist,’” such as when “a racist politician” is looking to target messaging to “several racists who will vote” for him.

When the reporter asked who would decide what makes one a racist and how would Facebook determine it, Thomas mused, “What would be a proxy for a racist?”

“Lives in all-white town, education, religious preference,” he said. “So you can triangulate three or four data points and say, ‘She’s likely to be racist.’”

Thomas also criticized Zuckerberg’s investment in gene-editing technology.

“It’s eugenics. I don’t know any way to stop it. I think the genie’s out of the bottle,” he said.

He worries the technology would lead to the development of a “superior race” of people and extreme polarization of society into “haves” and “have-nots” that goes beyond mere wealth differences.

“They have a thing that I can never have,” he said, describing the position of the “have-nots.”

When confronted by one of the reporters, Thomas refused to go on record and clarify his comments. Follow Petr on Twitter: @petrsvabHelp us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.

Border Patrol agents apprehend a group of illegal immigrants near downtown El Paso, Texas, on March 15, 2021. (Justin Hamel/AFP via Getty Images) Immigration & Border Security

By Ivan Pentchoukov March 17, 2021 Updated: March 17, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

Career officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned then-President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team that revoking President Donald Trump’s border policies would have “catastrophic consequences,” according to Stephen Miller, who served as Trump’s top adviser on immigration issues at the White House.

“Biden’s transition team was warned by career DHS officials that terminating our proven border security measures would lead to catastrophic consequences. … They ignored those warnings and voluntarily unleashed chaos,” Miller wrote on Twitter on March 17.

“By 2020—defeating a flood of meritless years-long litigation—we had in place the most effective, rock-solid, profound border security measures ever realized. Biden inherited an unbeatable system. He then immediately shredded it & created this rapidly-escalating emergency.”

Miller, who is now a senior adviser to Trump, made the remarks in response to a news report about Biden telling Central American migrants to stay in their communities and not make the trek to the United States to cross the border illegally.

“I can say quite clearly: Don’t come over,” Biden told ABC News.

The Biden administration is facing a surge of illegal border crossings on pace to be the highest in two decades. The influx coincided with Biden taking office and swiftly revoking more than a dozen key Trump immigration measures.

“Maybe nobody on his staff informed him, but Biden’s DHS implemented nationwide Catch-and-Release,” Miller wrote. “Illegal migrants from all over the world, in ever-growing numbers, will descend on the border until the Trump policy of Detain-and-Remove is restored.”

Trump criticized Biden’s border agenda in an interview aired on Fox News on March 16, particularly lamenting the decision to halt the construction of his signature wall on the southern border.

“They should finish it,” Trump said about the wall. “But they’re destroying our country. People are coming in by the hundreds of thousands.”

Biden said there’s been a surge of illegal immigrants over the past two years but agreed the current wave “could be” worse. The president said on March 16 that he doesn’t currently plan to visit the border.

Officials in border states have said some illegal immigrants are testing positive for the CCP virus but aren’t being forced to stay in quarantine, stoking concerns about them spreading COVID-19.

Biden sent a contingent of officials earlier this month to view the situation on the ground. He hasn’t offered a perspective on what they saw, and it isn’t clear whether he’s been briefed by them yet. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington on March 15 that the administration feels it has a handle on the border situation.

“We recognize this as a problem. We’re focused on addressing it,” Psaki said.

Bowen Xiao contributed to this report. Follow Ivan on Twitter: @ivanpentchoukovHelp us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a briefing at the White House in Washington on March 17, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Executive Branch

Psaki Stonewalls Queries on Press Access to Border Facilities

By Zachary Stieber March 18, 2021 Updated: March 18, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

The Biden administration has repeatedly championed its commitment to transparency, but won’t let reporters into facilities holding child immigrants near the U.S. border.

A growing surge of illegal border crossings, including a jump in unaccompanied minors, has led to intense scrutiny of the administration’s immigration policies. At the same time, reporters have clamored for access to facilities housing the child immigrants.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki has repeatedly stonewalled questions on when that access will be granted.

“We remain committed to doing that,” she told reporters at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.

The administration is working with the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, which oversee the facilities, to arrange tours, while “respecting the privacy and, obviously, the health protocols required by COVID,” she said.

Pressed on why the administration itself also hasn’t released images from the facilities, Psaki added: “We remain committed to transparency. I don’t have an update for you on the timeline for access, but it’s certainly something we support.”

Some reporters said they’d been denied requests to ride along with Border Patrol agents. Psaki deferred questioning on the matter.

“We fully support transparency, and I would encourage you to talk to the Department of Homeland Security about any requests you have for press access or what you’re looking to accomplish at the border,” she said.

The Epoch Times recently traveled with Border Patrol agents in Texas as they apprehended illegal immigrants.

The Biden administration’s reversal of key Trump era policies has driven the surge in illegal immigrants, according to experts, Republican lawmakers, and some Democrats. Among the reversals: ending Trump’s remain in Mexico policy and allowing unaccompanied minors to stay in the country, even amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Psaki defended the policies, saying, “We decided that we will be more humane about how we approach this” and that it will take time to deal with the higher numbers of child immigrants.

“Our policy continues to be: We’re not going to send a 10-year-old back across the border. That was the policy of the last administration. That’s not our policy here,” she said.

Asked if that amounted to incentivizing parents to send their kids across the border alone, Psaki pointed to how President Joe Biden said this week that people should not cross the border into the United States.

“And he believes, as he talked about last night, that no parent is looking and just trying to make a bet on whether their kid can, kind of, make it,” she said.

“This is a very difficult and treacherous journey. Most of these kids are fleeing very challenging circumstances. And his view is that there’s a number of steps we need to take and steps that he hopes he can work with Democrats and Republicans on. So that’s his goal.” Follow Zachary on Twitter: @zackstieber

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin looks on as President Joe Biden speaks, in the White House in Washington on March 8, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Republicans

By Zachary Stieber March 16, 2021 Updated: March 16, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

The top Republican in the House of Representatives on Monday called for a halt to what he described as politicization of the military.

“Uniformed service members recently criticized a private citizen for his First Amendment rights, & today a Dem lawmaker used soldiers in a political stunt against a GOP member,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) wrote in a social media statement.

McCarthy tagged Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before adding: “This sets a dangerous precedent. It must stop now.”

The military is forbidden from getting involved in politics while in uniform but multiple members recently criticized Tucker Carlson of Fox News after Carlson critiqued the military’s focus on including women, arguing that it would be best for it to spend more time combating rivals like China.

Additionally, on Monday Rep. Michael F.Q. San Nicolas (D-Guam) took uniformed National Guard members with him to confront Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) at her office, after Greene reportedly suggested last month that Guam was not a part of the United States.

Greene wasn’t in her office but San Nicolas asked a staffer to speak to Guard personnel. The staffer did so.

Maj. Gen. Esther Aguigui, adjutant general of the Guam National Guard, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that “we appreciate Congressman San Nicolas’ efforts to represent our culture of Inafa’ Maolek, or bringing harmony, practiced here in Guam.”

“We also thank Congresswoman Greene for ultimately helping raise awareness of Guamanians as citizens of the United States, and our rich tradition of service and sacrifice to our nation. As a non-partisan entity, the Guam National Guard is here to continue this legacy of supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States and the freedoms it provides. We will continue to be always ready and always there, to serve our great nation and contribute to a fair, prosperous, compassionate, and safe Guam,” she added.

The Pentagon declined to respond directly to McCarthy. The Department of Defense’s inspector general declined to say whether it was probing either situation.

Greene said via email that “It’s time for our great men and women of the National Guard to go home from Washington DC and be with their families.”

“The Democrats need to stop using them as political theatre and drama on Capitol Hill. Shame on Democrats for disrespecting our military,” she added.

The office of San Nicolas didn’t return an inquiry.

Other members of Congress have also questioned the military’s recent actions, which included issuing a press release that critics said distorted Carlson’s comments.

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The Pentagon alleged that Carlson “used his show to denigrate the contributions of women in the military and to say the Chinese military is catching up to the U.S. military because it does not allow women to serve in the percentage the United States does.”

Carlson during a recent show pointed to President Joe Biden talking about designing military flight suits and easing hairstyle restrictions in a bid to have women feel safe and respected in the military.

“It’s a mockery of the U.S. military. While China’s military becomes more masculine as it’s assembled the world’s largest navy, our military needs to become, as Joe Biden says, more feminine, whatever feminine means anymore since men and women no longer exist. The bottom line is, it’s out of control, and the Pentagon is going along with this,” Carlson said.

Attacks were lobbed by the Pentagon’s press secretary, a top Space Force official, and a number of other military members in return. Through the spokesman, Austin also expressed disdain for Carlson’s comments.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has said he requested a meeting with the head of the Marine Corps after the Marines joined in the attacks, telling one social media user to “come back when you’ve served and been pregnant” and using a pejorative against Carlson.

The Marine Corps later deleted the tweets.

Cruz told Austin in a letter that he’s “deeply troubled” by the situation, accusing the Pentagon of mobilizing “systematic, public attacks” against Carlson.

A Pentagon spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email, “As with all congressional correspondence, the secretary will respond directly to the author of the letter as appropriate.”

The Senate had to approve a waiver for Austin, a retired general, to serve as the defense secretary. During confirmation hearings, he told senators that he understood concerns they had and that “the safety and security of our democracy demands competent civilian control of our armed forces.”

“If you confirm me, I can assure you the Pentagon under my leadership will respect your oversight responsibilities. We will be forthcoming and transparent,” he added. Follow Zachary on Twitter: @zackstieberHelp us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.