Author: Fox News

Connecticut U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy has tested positive for coronavirus, he said Wednesday.

The Democrat announced Wednesday that he tested positive for COVID-19 and reluctantly had to postpone his one-week “Walk Across Connecticut.”

“Argh. I was super excited to start my annual Walk Across Connecticut today, but I started getting some mild COVID symptoms last night. I tested this morning and I’m positive,” Murphy wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Will reschedule the walk for later this year. So bummed.”

DEM SEN. CHRIS MURPHY REBUKES LEFT FOR MOCKING ‘RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND’ SINGER OLIVER ANTHONY

Murphy, 50, began his annual walk in 2016 as a way to visit off-the-beaten path places and hear from constituents.

Sen. Chris Murphy speaks at the National Safer Communities Summit at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut, on June 16, 2023.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

DESANTIS’ RESPONSE TO VIRAL ‘RICH MEN’ SONG QUESTION GETS LOUD REACTION FROM CROWD

Last year, he walked 69 miles through 14 towns over four days, walking about 15 to 20 miles a day. Connecticut is about 110 miles wide, from east to west.

Murphy has said he will do the annual walk for as long as he is physically able.

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First elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, Murphy has said he plans to seek a third term in 2024.

Mexico’s Navy said Wednesday it is planning to expand the area where it sinks concrete blocks topped with metal hooks to snag gill nets that are killing vaquita marina porpoises.

The Navy began dropping the blocks into the Gulf of California last year, in hopes it may help save the world’s most endangered marine mammal.

The vaquita lives only in the Gulf, also known as the Sea of Cortez, where as few as ten vaquitas remain. They cannot be held or bred in captivity.

EXPERTS DOUBT MEXICO’S PLEDGE TO PROTECT ENDANGERED PORPOISE

The vaquitas are caught and drown in illegal gill nets set for totoaba, a Gulf fish whose swim bladder is considered a prized delicacy in China, worth thousands of dollars per pound. That is where the concrete blocks come in; the hooks catch on the expensive totoaba nets, ruining them.

That should supposedly discourage illicit fishermen from risking their expensive gear in the “zero tolerance area,” a rough quadrangle considered the last holdout for the vaquitas. It’s called that because that’s where the blocks are sunk, and where patrols are heaviest, and there is supposed to be no fishing at all, though it still sometimes occurs.

A vaquita porpoise is seen swimming. Mexico’s Navy said Wednesday that it plans to expand the area where it sets up traps to snag nets killing vaquita marina porpoises. (Paula Olson/NOAA via AP, File)

But a strange thing happened when scientists and researchers set out on the most recent sighting expedition to look for vaquitas in May.

They found that most of the 16 sightings (some may be repeat sightings of the same animal) occurred on the very edges, and in a few cases just outside, of the “zero tolerance” area that was supposed to be the most welcoming place for the animals.

MEXICO SETS OUT SEARCH TO FIND VAQUITA MARINA, THE WORLD’S MOST ENDANGERED MARINE MAMMAL

That lead to the Navy announcement Wednesday that it will negotiate with the fishing community of San Felipe, in Baja California state to start sinking blocks outside the zero tolerance zone.

“Once a consensus with the https://www.foxnews.com/category/science/wild-nature/fishmex has been reached, 152 more blocks will be placed in the freezone alongside the zero tolerance area, where there have been visual or echolocation sightings” of vaquitas, said Real Admiral Marco Peyrot Solís, the Navy commander of the region.

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The fishermen of San Felipe say the government has not lived up to previous promises of compensatory payments for lost income due to net bans in the area. They also say the government has done little to provide better, more environmentally sensitive fishing gear.

Experts estimate the most recent sightings suggest 10 to 13 vaquitas remain, a similar number to those seen in the last such expedition in 2021.

For the past few weeks, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has been accused of wanting to “defund” foreign aid to Israel, a characterization he categorically denied in an interview with Fox News Digital.

The firestorm began this month when he sat down with Rumble livestream host Russell Brand, who read a viewer’s question on whether the GOP hopeful would include Israel in his “defunding” spree of halting funds to foreign entities like Ukraine.

“Now, as that relates to Israel, my view is, I asked the question, there’s no North Star commitment to any one country other than the United States of America. So, what advances American interests?” Ramaswamy responded to Brand. “I actually do think our relationship with Israel has advanced American interests. I come out on the side of that. Here’s what I want to see happen, though. I want to negotiate – I’m a dealmaker, OK? I want to negotiate now Abraham Accords 2.0, get Saudi [Arabia], Oman, Qatar, Indonesia in there, get Israel on its own two feet, and I believe in standing by commitments that we’ve already made, so our commitments have, I think,$38 billion in aid, military support, etc., going in through 2028. I want to get Israel to the place where it is negotiated back into the infrastructure of the rest of the Middle East.”

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has been at the center of multiple media firestorms in recent weeks, one of them being about his comments on Israel. (Reuters / Jonathan Ernst / File)

“That’s good for Israel. It’s good for the rest of the Middle East. It’s good for us such that come 2028, that additional aid won’t be necessary in order to still have the kind of stability that we’d actually have in the Middle East by having Israel more integrated in with its partners,” Ramaswamy continued. “And I think that the Trump administration took the first step getting Bahrain and some other countries. I think we need Saudi, I think we need Oman, Qatar, Indonesia and others in there. And then I think that puts us in a position, and it’s everybody’s position, to say we don’t have to meddle.”

RAMASWAMY SAYS HE ‘WON’T CUT AID TO ISRAEL’ UNTIL ‘ISRAEL TELL US SO’ AS HE FACES QUESTIONS ON FOREIGN POLICY 

Ramaswamy’s comments, which he made Aug. 11, led to a slew of negative headlines both in the U.S. and overseas roughly one week later, predominantly from Jewish news organizations.

The New York-based Jewish Telegraphic Agency ran the headline “Vivek Ramaswamy says US should not give Israel more aid than to others in the Middle East.” Tel Aviv-based Haaretz ran the headline “Rising GOP Presidential Candidate Calls to End U.S. Military Aid to Israel as Part of Mideast Normalization.”

The Jerusalem Post printed “US must reduce aid given to Israel, Republican candidate Ramaswamy says,” and London’s The Jewish Chronicle went with “Israel shouldn’t get special treatment says US presidential candidate.”

“That was clearly guided by opposition research, right? So, it was not organically coming from those outlets, I think,” Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. 

Vivek Ramaswamy, chairman and co-founder of Strive Asset Management and a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during the Republican primary presidential debate hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee on Aug. 23, 2023. (Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In the days following the first Republican presidential debate, where he was bombarded with attacks on his Israel comments by former U.N. Ambassador and GOP rival Nikki Haley, Ramaswamy told multiple Israeli journalists he would not cut aid to Israel “until Israel told us they were ready for it,” a sentiment he reiterated to Fox News Digital.

“We won’t cut off our current aid to Israel unless and until we reach the day where Israel tells us they don’t need it anymore. And it’ll be a mark of true success,” Ramaswamy said. “And as a side note, people say, ‘Oh, that would never happen.’ That’s not true. I think good friends are honest with each other. [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi)], who I respect immensely and who I would greet to the White House in a way that Biden never had the courage to do, actually did in the ’90s, back when he was in charge, say something similar to that effect. So, yes, I think we have a deep relationship of trust and that’s what it looks like.”

CLIP OF 18-YEAR-OLD RAMASWAMY ASKING 2004 HOPEFUL AL SHARPTON ABOUT LACK OF ‘POLITICAL EXPERIENCE’ GOES VIRAL

Ramaswamy was likely referring to comments Netanyahu made in his 1996 address to a joint session of Congress, where he expressed his desire that his country would “achieve economic independence” from the U.S.

During his address to a joint session of Congress in 1996, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his goal was for Israel to “achieve economic independence” from the U.S. (Travis Heying / AFP via Getty Images / File)

“We are deeply grateful for all we have received from the United States, for all that we have received from this chamber, from this body. But I believe there can be no greater tribute to America’s longstanding economic aid to Israel than for us to be able to say: We are going to achieve economic independence. We are going to do it,” Netanyahu told lawmakers at the time. “In the next four years, we will begin the long-term process of gradually reducing the level of your generous economic assistance to Israel. I am convinced that our economic policies will lay the foundation for total self-reliance and great economic strength.”

‘Fan of simplicity’

There are “three critical elements,” Ramaswamy says, to his policy on Israel. One is making sure Iran never reaches nuclear capability. The second is “learning” things from the Jewish state to implement in the U.S., citing its border security enforcement and the American-funded Iron Dome that intercepts incoming rockets from hostile territory as examples.

But the third element, the one perhaps at the center of the controversy Ramaswamy has faced in recent days, is what he calls the “Abraham Accords 2.0,” an expansion of the Trump administration’s brokered diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab nations Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In virtually every media interview he has given while discussing Israel, Ramaswamy has cited Abraham Accords 2.0 as a pathway for Israel to no longer rely on U.S. aid and instead find streams of revenue from its news Middle East partners facilitated by his administration. He expressed confidence he could get this done by the end of his first term in 2028, when foreign aid to Israel is set to lapse. In other words, the money Israel would take in from Abraham Accords 2.0 would effectively replace the aid previously given by the U.S.

Vivek Ramaswamy said he hopes to advance the Trump administration’s Abraham Accords, the peace treaty signed in September 2020 by the leaders of Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. (Alex Wong / Getty Images / File)

Ramaswamy previously told the press that if Abraham Accords 2.0 doesn’t come to fruition, he will continue to provide aid for Israel. When asked by Fox News Digital if the U.S. will continue to provide aid to Israel upon Israel’s request even if the Abraham Accords 2.0 are brokered, Ramaswamy replied, “Yes.”

VIVEK RAMASWAMY RESPONDS TO RECENT MEDIA FIRESTORMS: ‘MY POSITION HAS BEEN CARICATURED’

The countries Ramaswamy has repeatedly cited for Abraham Accords 2.0, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Indonesia, are “quietly at the ready,” he asserts, pointing to recent reports about Saudi Arabia signaling interest in establishing diplomatic ties with the Jewish state. 

But as a “fan of simplicity,” Ramaswamy said he believes Abraham Accords 2.0 will be “easily achieved” in his first term by establishing bilateral trade agreements between Israel and other nations as well as a “common security infrastructure and a common commitment to making sure that Iran never becomes nuclear equipped.”

“Half the battle in diplomacy is literally just showing up, like most things in life is just showing up,” Ramaswamy said. “It undermines our ability to be able to stand for Israel when the U.S. president himself, like Joe Biden, refuses to have Bibi at the White House, right? And so I think that part of this is just the tone that we set.”

Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior White House adviser to then-President Trump, was heralded for his role behind the scenes in the creation of the Abraham Accords. (Reuters / Kevin Lamarque / File)

He continued, “And you know what? If those other nations want to be allies of the United States, there’s things that each of those nations want in terms of the access they’ll have to me as U.S. president, from their head of state, etc., from the kind of dialog and respect we provide them, we’ll say that, ‘Look, if you like us, you got to talk to our friend, too.’ And I think that alone is going to be half the battle.”

When asked whether he had anyone in mind who can help bring Abraham Accords 2.0 to life, Ramaswamy said there are “a number of scholars on Israel” who are “close friends” as well as “top business leaders in Israel” with whom he developed professional relationships as an entrepreneur.

He then name-dropped fellow “outsider” Jared Kushner, former President Trump’s son-in-law and top White House adviser who was widely credited for brokering the Abraham Accords in 2020.

“I also think it’s telling that Jared Kushner, who is an outsider, is actually the one who delivered and got it done,” Ramaswamy said. “And I’m a big believer in outsiders coming in with a fresh perspective but combined with existing relationships. And so I’ll be leveraging all of those relationships that I have in the U.S. and Israel and probably even bringing in some outsiders that can bring fresh perspective to get it done.”

Would a President Ramaswamy call Kushner to help broker the next installment of the Abraham Accords? He refused to say.

“I’m not going to go into specifics on this,” Ramaswamy said. “These are serious topics that I intend to execute on as U.S. president, but it gives you a broad foundation of how I will build on the Trump administration’s achievements to take our relationship with Israel to the next level, which will be the strongest level it’s ever been by the end of my first term in Israel.”

‘Beyond shameful’

During the interview, Ramaswamy took an unprompted moment to make a not-so-subtle dig at Haley, who has spearheaded criticism toward him on the subject of Israel in recent weeks.

“I think it is beyond shameful that establishment politicians who are threatened by my rise, instead of actually engaging in real debate on the substance, are literally making up things that I never said as a fundraising ploy,” the 38-year-old Ramaswamy said. “It’s really demonstrated everything that’s wrong with our politics and why it does take an outsider like me to get this job. And I’m just deeply disappointed by people who, you know, I still respect in some narrow sense and think highly of. I’m just deeply disappointed in some of the other candidates stooping to this level.”

Ken Farnaso, a spokesperson for Haley, told Fox News Digital, “The only shameful thing is Vivek’s eagerness to throw our ally Israel under the bus. He has changed his position on Israel five times in the last month and still hasn’t gotten it right. We need a president with moral clarity not moral confusion.”

FLASHBACK: RAMASWAMY’S ‘BOUGHT AND PAID FOR’ DEBATE ATTACK ECHOES SIMILAR LINE TRUMP WAS BOOED FOR IN 2016

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley tore into Vivek Ramaswamy over foreign policy at the first Republican presidential debate last week. (Win McNamee / Getty Images / File)

Ramaswamy isn’t just feeling the heat from his GOP rivals. Several members of the media, including conservative outlets like the Washington Examiner and the Washington Free Beacon, have accused him of being a flip-flopper on the issue, pointing to comments he made in June while responding to a New Hampshire voter who pressed him on whether he’d end aid to Israel.

“I think it would have to be part of a broader disengagement with the Middle East. So, I wouldn’t do it as an isolated policy,” Ramaswamy told the voter. “I would do it as part of also making sure that we’re not leaving other people we’ve also propped up, from Saudi Arabia to even Iran, in other ways over the years, right? So, it has to be part of a comprehensive strategy. That’s why I’m not giving you, like, ‘this one policy, yes,’ because it has to be part of a broader comprehensive vision for disengagement. That I do support.”

A spokesperson for Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital he wasn’t expressing an actual policy position with those comments and forwarded his response to the Free Beacon at the time, saying, “When someone asked about aid to Israel, I said we can’t narrowly criticize our financial aid to Israel in isolation when our other policies of engagement in the Middle East have indirectly contributed to the threats that Israel faces,” later adding he was in favor of providing aid to Israel.

Conservative news outlets have accused Ramaswamy of flip-flopping on his Israel stance, something his campaign rejects. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images / File)

The uproar over his Israel stance could have political ramifications. While Jewish Americans overwhelmingly vote Democrat in the general election, some of the biggest supporters of Israel in the U.S. are Evangelical Christians, a key voting bloc in early GOP primary races like Iowa and South Carolina. (The RealClearPolitics average of polls currently has Ramaswamy placing fourth in Iowa behind Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott; he places sixth in South Carolina behind Trump, DeSantis, Scott, Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.)

How will Ramaswamy be able to cut through the noise and earn the evangelical support? He answered, “With honesty and pointing out to them how broken the political system is.”

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“They’ve been lied to by the mainstream media. Now they’re being lied to by mainstream politicians. And I think that I trust the voter base in places like Iowa and elsewhere to cut through the lies, frankly, conversations with the media, the conversations with voters. I have to be candid,” Ramaswamy said. “But it is a shame. There are other candidates – shame on them for misleading voters to make poor choices based on their own desperate quest for personal power and likely enrichment. And that’s just the way establishment politicians play the game, not me.”

“And so it is a shame that I’m up against those who are willing to lie about my views when in fact, you know, I’ve been very clear about what those views are, but nonetheless, that’s how dirty politics is. And in some sense, if we’re going to fix that dirty game, it’s going to take an outsider to do it. Shame on those people for being the worst versions of themselves when they’re desperate to fundraise or keep themselves relevant in an otherwise floundering campaign. You know, these are the desperate tactics [they’re resorting] to, but our politics is broken, and I’m in this for a reason. It’s one more reason why it needs to be fixed.”

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The White House announced this week that President Biden will observe the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in Alaska, not any of the three attack sites.

On Monday, Sept. 11, Biden will travel to a military base in Alaska where he will mark the 22nd anniversary of the attacks in a memorial ceremony with members of the military and their families, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Monday. 

The White House explained that the president will travel to Alaska to mark the somber occasion after his Sept. 10 trip to Hanoi, Vietnam, where he will meet with Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and other leaders to discuss technological innovation and climate change in an effort to bolster the two nations’ relationship.

Simultaneously, while Biden participates in 9/11 ceremonies in Alaska, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will mark the occasion in a commemoration ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, according to Jean-Pierre. And First Lady Jill Biden will lay a wreath at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

GOP ANGER GROWS OVER BIDEN ADMIN’S POTENTIAL PLEA DEAL FOR SUSPECTED 9/11 ARCHITECTS

President Biden will spend Sept. 11 this year in Alaska in a departure from tradition. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden’s plans for Sept. 11 represent the first time since the attacks that a president has opted against observing the occasion at either the White House or any of the three attack sites.

Former President Barack Obama participated in a moment of silence on the White House lawn before traveling to Maryland’s Fort Meade in 2015, The Associated Press reported. In 2005, former President George W. Bush similarly participated in a ceremony on the White House lawn.

On every other 9/11 anniversary, presidents have traveled to at least one of the three attack sites in New York City, northern Virginia and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

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Sept. 11 also represents the date in 2021 that Biden announced he would order the Department of Defense to withdraw all remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan by. 

Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal ultimately ended in disaster in August 2021 after a terrorist attack killed 13 American service members protecting the Kabul, Afghanistan, airport where the U.S. and allies conducted a chaotic evacuation effort.

Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti was handed a major legal defeat Wednesday as part of the case in which he was convicted of attempting to extort sports apparel brand Nike out of millions of dollars.

In a 3-0 decision, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Avenatti’s conviction in the case and ruled against his claims that jurors weren’t properly instructed in the relevant statute. The appeals panel also rejected Avenatti’s argument that the evidence in the case didn’t support his charges of extortion and honest-services fraud.

“Avenatti’s sufficiency challenge to the extortion counts of conviction fails because the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, permitted a reasonable jury to conclude that he had no claim of right to a personal payment from Nike, let alone to a $15-25 million payment,” the Wednesday opinion stated.

“Avenatti advances several arguments in urging a contrary conclusion,” it added. “None persuades.”

MICHAEL AVENATTI’S BID TO BE SENTENCED REMOTELY DENIED: STORMY DANIELS QUIPS, ‘SEE YA THERE, B—-!’

Michael Avenatti speaks to members of the media after leaving federal court on Feb. 4, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

Evidence in the case included bank statements, text messages, emails and witness testimony.

In February 2020, a federal jury in New York City convicted Avenatti on three counts: extortion, wire fraud and transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort. The jury found that Avenatti, who was in substantial debt at the time of the attempted scheme, illegally tried to have Nike pay him up to $25 million to conduct an investigation of corruption in basketaball a year earlier.

MICHAEL AVENATTI SAYS COURTROOM MASK MANDATE INFRINGES ON CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO FACE ACCUSER

“Today a unanimous jury found Michael Avenatti guilty of misusing his client’s information in an effort to extort tens of millions of dollars from the athletic apparel company Nike,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said at the time. 

“While the defendant may have tried to hide behind legal terms and a suit and tie, the jury clearly saw the defendant’s scheme for what it was – an old fashioned shakedown.”

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels and attorney Michael Avenatti attend an event in 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)

Avenatti was ultimately sentenced to 2½ years in prison and ordered to pay $260,000 in restitution.

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In addition, Avenatti was also sentenced to 14 years in prison in a separate case in which he was found guilty of stealing settlement funds from clients and failing to pay taxes for a coffee chain he owned, The Associated Press reported. And he was sentenced last year to four years in prison for cheating his former client, adult film star Stormy Daniels, out of $300,000.

“I will forever be branded ‘disgraced lawyer’ and worse,” Avenatti said after his four-year sentence in the Daniels case was handed down.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Critics called out the White House on Wednesday, alleging they are continuing to “gaslight” the American people about President Biden’s competence and personal faculties – amid increasing gaffes and “brunch lids” when the president reportedly has little scheduled until midday.

The most recent conjecture arose after CNN host Jake Tapper challenged White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Biden’s acuity, citing a poll claiming 77 percent of adults are concerned with his ability to be president based on age and stamina.

Jean-Pierre bristled at the subject, as Tapper quipped Biden had been in politics since before the 49-year-old spokeswoman was born. She countered that it has been “hard for us to keep up with this president” as he reportedly is always actively governing.

Jean-Pierre was also challenged in the White House briefing room this week by a reporter who asked if such doubts had to do with recent “brunch lids” – when Biden would not have scheduled work before a certain hour in the morning – which the ombudswoman characterized as a “ridiculous assumption.”

RFK JR AGAIN CHALLENGES BIDEN: IF HE’S IN GOOD SHAPE HE SHOULD DEBATE

Biden (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Piers Morgan commented on Fox News that critics attacking Biden strictly based on his age, however, may be misguided, given the apparent spryness of other high-profile octogenarians.

Morgan told “The Five” of a recent encounter with Rolling Stones rocker Mick Jagger, also 80, at a recent England v. Australia cricket match. 

He described Jagger as someone who continues to hold action-packed, marathon concerts regularly at his age, adding that they had a very in-depth talk during which Morgan had quipped that the rock star could almost be president if he were born in America.

“He’s a guy who races around a stage for two-and-a-half hours a night, he never falls over, he never forgets the words of his lyrics,” Morgan said, adding that the octogenarian rocker was “whip smart.”

Morgan added that renowned naturalist David Attenborough is 97 years old, saying viewers of his programs “never hear him call a gorilla an antelope.”

JORDAN SAYS BOMBSHELL LETTER FROM BIDEN TO ARCHER PROVES CONNECTIONS TO HUNTER

Mick Jagger (Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

Morgan also contrasted Biden’s faculties with that of financial partners Warren Buffett, 93, and Charlie Munger, who is nearly 100. He said both investors are still very active and can give their annual addresses in great detail without issues.

“This is not about age – this is about [Biden’s] ability to do the job given the condition of himself mentally and physically. And we need to get this debate away from ‘he’s 80′,” Morgan said. “My dad is 83 and he doesn’t fall over every two minutes, and he didn’t forget [Queen Elizabeth II] actually died.”

Morgan had been referring to a June speech Biden gave in Connecticut, which he ended with “God Save the Queen, man,” despite King Charles III being the current monarch of Great Britain.

“The Five” also presented images of Biden appearing to fall asleep during a luncheon in Maui earlier this month, and another from 2021, where the president appeared to nod off at a Scottish climate summit.

Host Jesse Watters cited excerpts he read from a new book by Atlantic writer Franklin Foer, which he reported claimed Biden was proposing building “things like a parking lot”during the Afghanistan withdrawal.

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The New York Post also cited passages describing Biden’s demeanor during that time as showing a “swaggering faith in himself,” and as the paper put it, offering “unhelpful and impractical suggestions like the parking lot idea.

“Diplomacy, in Biden’s view, was akin to persuading a pain-in-the-ass uncle to stop drinking so much,” Foer said, according to the paper.

“It’s not a conspiracy theory that [Biden] is not in charge,” Watters said, to which Judge Jeanine Pirro agreed, saying the controversy is not about Republicans attacking Biden gratuitously about his age.

“KJP is gaslighting us – ‘it’s go go go we can’t keep up with him’,” she remarked, adding that while serving as a judge in White Plains, N.Y., she always advised those in court that “if someone has lied to you once, you don’t have to believe another thing they say to you during the course of this trial.”

The center of Idalia, which made landfall in Florida as a dangerous Category 3 hurricane, is expected to cross into South Carolina soon as a downgraded tropical storm after passing through Georgia. 

Per an 8 p.m. advisory from Fox Weather, Idalia was approximately 60 miles west of Charleston, South Carolina with 65 mph winds. 

In Goose Creek, South Carolina, strong winds lifted a vehicle off the ground as the National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed a tornado had touched down in the area. 

A dramatic video shows the car being lifted into the air by a strong gust of wind before crashing down onto another. 

Goose Creek Police Chief LJ Roscoe told local news that two people were transported to an area hospital with minor injuries. 

Earlier Wednesday, a falling tree was reported to have killed a man in Georgia who was clearing a blocked roadway as Idalia tore through Valdosta, Georgia, authorities said. 

Floodwaters from Hurricane Idalia devastate local businesses and homes in Crystal River, Florida on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. (Mayor Joe Meek/Facebook )

“The guy was out working on cleaning up a tree in the road, just a local citizen doing good things,” Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk told The Associated Press. “A big gust of wind came up and dropped another tree, killed him instantly.” 

A second person was seriously injured by the same tree and a sheriff’s deputy suffered minor injuries, Paulk said. 

A county spokesperson said 90% of its homes and businesses were without electricity Wednesday evening. 

Footage from Brendan Gutenschwager showed deteriorating conditions along Interstate 75 in Cook County. The county was under a hurricane warning as the NWS advised of a threat to life and property. Additional footage shows flooding and damage in the area of Valdosta, Georgia.

Georgia officials said Hurricane Idalia brought down power lines, resulting in scattered reports of buildings damaged by falling trees. Around 200,000 customers were without power in Georgia and more than 34,000 were without power in South Carolina, according to poweroutage.us. 

And nearly 189,000 people were without power in Florida, where high water levels continue along the Gulf Coast. Later Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the Department of Transportation was able to clear all state bridges – including the Cedar Key Bridge – in less than 12 hours. 

“This is an important step in recovery and will allow first responders, law enforcement, utility linemen, and supplies to come onto the island,” DeSantis said. 

Floodwaters from Hurricane Idalia devastate local businesses and homes in Crystal River, Florida on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. (Jenna Alves)

Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday that the storm’s impacts initially appeared to be less severe than 2018’s Hurricane Michael, which caused widespread damage in south Georgia. 

Multiple counties in Georgia saw winds between 70 and 80 mph, with some gusts up to 90 mph, Kemp said. Other areas were anticipating nine to 10 inches of rain. 

Floodwaters from Hurricane Idalia devastate local businesses and homes in Crystal River, Florida on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. (Jenna Alves)

Georgia Emergency Management Agency meteorologist Will Lanxton said storm surge would likely be limited by the storm’s speed, but there could be minor to moderate flooding around Savannah at high tide Wednesday evening.

In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster said for the time being that no state officers would be closed and there would be no mandatory evacuation. 

“This is not as bad as some we’ve seen,” said McMaster, who has ordered at least three coastal evacuations since taking office in 2017. 

FLORIDA HURRICANE IDALIA TRACKER: LIVE FUTURE PATH, WATCHES, WARNINGS, SPAGHETTI MODELS AND MORE

He said the state is ready to respond if the storm is worse than anticipated – and he encouraged people to stay home. 

Flooding could be the state’s biggest threat. Wednesday evening’s high tide in Charleston Harbor is forecast to be nearly 9 feet above normal sea level or about 3 feet above normal high tide.

Video footage from Fox Weather showed water from Charleston Harbor crashing over the sea wall, still two hours away from high tide and expected to pass 7 feet shortly. 

The city opened parking garages so people could park well above ground and gathered barricades to close off streets in the low-lying city, which frequently floods whenever tides are above normal.

Up to 5 feet of water is forecast to inundate portions of the South Carolina and North Carolina coastline, according to Fox Weather. Five to 8 inches of rain is expected to fall across the Carolinas with up to 12 inches coming down in isolated areas. Strong winds are whipping through the region and power outage numbers continue to climb steadily. 

Later Wednesday, a tornado was observed in Charleston County, South Carolina, as two waterspouts moved into land in Folly Beach, according to Fox Weather. 

“Multiple tornadoes have touched down in the Lowcountry this afternoon,” Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina tweeted. “Please pay close attention to weather warnings headed our way. Stay safe!” 

“I just spoke with Governor @henrymcmaster regarding Hurricane Idalia coming to South Carolina,” Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted. “The Governor said we could expect storm surges, heavy rains and strong winds. As always, he and his team @SCED are prepared to meet the needs of our state. I, along with the rest of the congressional delegation, will assist in any way possible.” 

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said the state is anticipating possible flash flooding across the Piedmont and coastal plain. Tropical storm warnings remain in effect for the entire coast. 

“If you’re in the affected area and you haven’t already, stock up on supplies now, listen to emergency alerts and stay off our flooded roads,” Cooper said. 

Tornado warnings were in place for Wilmington until 8 p.m. EDT and confirmed in Brunswick County. 

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The threat of flooding and dangerous storm surge is expected to continue into the Carolinas through Thursday before moving back out over the Atlantic.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Johnson & Johnson and Indian drugmaker Lupin will supply their versions of the tuberculosis drug bedaquiline at a significantly cheaper price in low- and middle-income countries, a global anti-tuberculosis group said on Wednesday.

The United Nations-backed Stop TB Partnership said J&J’s new price of $130 and Lupin’s price of $194 for a six-month course of the treatment represented a 55% and 33% price reduction, respectively.

Bedaquiline is one of the three new drugs developed against tuberculosis (TB) in more than half a century, and it is a key part of recommended treatment regimens for drug-resistant TB infections.

“This historic price reduction will broaden access to this life-saving drug and keep us on the path to end TB by 2030,” said Atul Gawande, assistant administrator of the United States Agency for International Development’s Global Health Bureau.

The drug will be available at the lower prices through the Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility, which is the largest procurer of TB treatments.

WARNINGS FROM RIGHT AND LEFT ABOUT JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE’S LINK TO RARE DISEASE

The Johnson & Johnson logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, on May 29, 2019.  (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo)

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J&J, which sells bedaquiline under the brand name Sirturo, reached an agreement with the Stop TB Partnership in July to allow the coalition to supply generic versions of the drug through the Global Drug Facility.

That agreement came after advocacy groups and author John Green criticized the healthcare conglomerate for its decision to enforce patents on the drug in many countries. J&J has said it is false to suggest its patents prevent access to the drug.

On Wednesday, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders said it welcomed the big price drop, adding that it “finally brings the price closer to the estimated generic price of $0.50 per day”. 

But J&J could further increase access to the drug by withdrawing its secondary patents on bedaquiline in all high-burden countries, said Christophe Perrin, TB advocacy pharmacist with MSF’s Access Campaign.

Florence Pugh is defending her right to choose – fabrics, dresses and whichever part of her body she wants to show off on the red carpet.

The 27-year-old “Oppenheimer” actress turned heads in Italy last year at the Valentino haute couture event when she stepped out wearing a sheer, neon pink dress that revealed her breasts.

Following the grand gown reveal, Pugh faced backlash for wearing the number, so she penned a lengthy Instagram post in which she told critics to “grow up. Respect people. Respect bodies.”

“When everything went down with the Valentino pink dress a year ago, my nipples were on display through a piece of fabric, and it really wound people up,” Pugh told ELLE UK in the October issue. “It’s the freedom that people are scared of; the fact I’m comfortable and happy. Keeping women down by commenting on their bodies has worked for a very long time.” 

FLORENCE PUGH TELLS CRITICS TO ‘GROW UP’ AFTER BACKLASH FOR SHEER DRESS: ‘WHY ARE YOU SO SCARED OF BREASTS?’

Florence Pugh addressed the sheer dress backlash from the 2022 Valentino show. (Daniele Venturelli)

Pugh’s neon pink dress featured layers of tulle draped across her chest with a halter neckline and nothing worn underneath. A bountiful skirt full of matching fabric was cinched at the waist and billowed down to the ground.

“I think we’re in this swing now where lots of people are saying, ‘I don’t give a s–t.,’” she said. “Unfortunately, we’ve become so terrified of the human body that we can’t even look at my two little cute nipples behind fabric in a way that isn’t sexual.”

‘OPPENHEIMER’ STAR CILLIAN MURPHY REFLECTS ON ‘PERFECT’ AND ‘POWERFUL’ SEX SCENES WITH FLORENCE PUGH

Pugh added, “We need to keep reminding everybody that there is more than one reason for women’s bodies [to exist].”

The “Don’t Worry Darling” star recalled feeling elated in the nearly naked number and also being able to share her excitement with other women.

Pugh said the infamous pink dress really “wound people up.” (Daniele Venturelli)

Pugh has since become an ambassador for Valentino and regularly wears design from the famed fashion house. (Vittorio Zunino Celotto)

“When I wore the [sheer] dresses, every woman I walked past would say, ‘You look like you’re having so much fun.’ And I was,” Pugh said.

“Women were drawn to the fact that I was completely happy. That’s been a massive aspect of my career and my life: Accepting who I am and not running away from it.”

While the “Midsommar” actress acknowledged one dress isn’t going to change the world, she’s doing her best to stay true to herself.

“I speak the way I do about my body because I’m not trying to hide the cellulite on my thigh or the squidge in between my arm and my boob. I would much rather lay it all out,” she said.

“I think the scariest thing for me are the instances where people have been upset that I’ve shown ‘too much’ of myself.”

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Shortly after Florence rocked the gown at the city’s famed Piazza di Spagna, she addressed criticism online for wearing the dress.

Pugh sits alongside Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. (Jacopo Raule)

Pugh recalled feeling “completely happy” in the sheer dress. (Vittorio Zunino Celotto)

“Listen, I knew when I wore that incredible Valentino dress that there was no way there wouldn’t be a commentary on it,” she wrote to her millions of followers. “Whether it be negative or positive, we all knew what we were doing. I was excited to wear it, not a wink of me was nervous. I wasn’t before, during or even now after.”

“What’s been interesting to watch and witness is just how easy it is for men to totally destroy a woman’s body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see. It isn’t the first time and certainly won’t be the last time a woman will hear what’s wrong with her body by a crowd of strangers, what’s worrying is just how vulgar some of you men can be. Thankfully, I’ve come to terms with the intricacies of my body that make me, me. I’m happy with all of the ‘flaws’ that I couldn’t bear to look at when I was 14.”

The Oscar nominee added, “I’ve lived in my body for a long time. I’m fully aware of my breast size and am not scared of it. What’s more concerning is…. Why are you so scared of breasts? Small? Large? Left? Right? Only one? Maybe none? What. Is. So. Terrifying.”

“Grow up. Respect people. Respect bodies,” she wrote. “Respect all women. Respect humans. Life will get a whole lot easier, I promise. And all because of two cute little nipples…. “

Pugh ended her post with a “free the nipple” hashtag.

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A Minnesota teen reeled in a catch worth thousands while on a fishing trip this summer — but he couldn’t fry this one up for dinner. 

Instead, he hooked a treasure that had been on the bottom of the lake for a whole year. He made a lifelong friend, too.

“I was shocked,” Connor Halsa of Moorehead, Minnesota, told Fox News Digital about the surprise he found on the end of his line while fishing with his extended family on Lake of the Woods over the July 4th weekend.

KANSAS MAN REELS IN BIG ONE DURING FISHING TRIP AT LAKE: A STOLEN JEEP FROM 1990

“We were doing some walleye fishing and then going out to an island on Lake of the Woods,” Halsa said. 

“It was pretty windy.”

Connor Halsa (2nd from left) was fishing on Lake of the Woods in July when he reeled in the unexpected. He’s pictured with his dad Dave Halsa (far left), Jim Denney (center), his sister Olivia Halsa and his mom Melissa Halsa. (Jim and Karen Denney)

Halsa said he had been fishing for about an hour without catching anything.

“I felt something on my line and I reeled it up,” he said. “I thought it was going to be a really big walleye — bigger than what we usually catch up there, by the way it felt.”

As he reeled it in, he said his cousin Brandon got a net ready to help him bring in the fish.

MICHIGAN WOMAN RETURNS $15,000 IN CASH SHE FOUND WHILE WALKING TO WORK

“But when my cousin pulled it out of the water with the net, I was really confused,” Halsa said. 

Everyone started going through it to try to find the dude it belonged to.

— Connor Halsa

“At first I thought it could have been a fish, I guess, because it was brown and slimy.”

But on the hook instead was an old brown billfold, covered in moss and muck. 

AFTER ‘LONG SHOT’ ATTEMPT TO FIND LOST RING, WOMAN OVERWHELMED BY ‘KINDNESS OF STRANGERS’

The family gathered around to inspect the catch and everyone on the boat was abuzz.

“Everyone started going through it to try to find the dude it belonged to,” Halsa said. 

Teen Connor Halsa found $2,000 in the wallet that he recovered from the bottom of a Minnesota lake. (Melissa Halsa)

“When we kind of got a general idea of what was inside, we put it in the console of the boat so it didn’t get blown out.”

Inside the billfold was a driver’s license, a few credit cards — and $2,000 cash. 

DIAMOND RING WORTH $40,000 IS FOUND ON A FLORIDA BEACH — AND RETURNED TO OWNER JUST MILES AWAY

Halsa said he and his family immediately knew they wanted to find the owner.

“It wasn’t my money,” Halsa said.

Connor Halsa of Minnesota was out fishing with some of his extended family when he reeled in the billfold. (iStock)

There was also an ID, but there was no phone number for him to use to reach the wallet’s owner. 

There was, however, a lone business card from a cattle rancher in Wisconsin named Sherry — who would eventually connect Conner Halsa with someone who lived more than 500 miles away from Moorhead.

Pocket was empty

In July 2022, Jim Denney, 75, and his wife Karen of Mount Ayr, Iowa, and some friends took a fishing trip to Lake of the Woods. 

SOUTH CAROLINA TEEN FISHES FOR CATFISH FOR THE FIRST TIME, REELS IN ‘EXTREMELY RARE’ FIND

On the last night of the trip, Denney said he went to pay his bill, but his pocket was empty.

Jim Denney had gotten back to shore after a fishing trip with friends when he discovered his wallet was missing. (Jim and Karen Denney)

“I reached back there and there’s no billfold,” Denny told Fox News Digital. 

“I was devastated. I just didn’t know what the heck to do. There I was, broke. So, the other guys floated me the money to pay up.”

TEENAGER BEFRIENDS ARKANSAS GRANDMOTHER WHO LOST WALLET AFTER TRACKING HER DOWN, RETURNING IT

The group had been out on the water all day and that’s when Denney said he had “a sunken feeling.”

“The water was just rougher than the dickens that day and flopping the boat around,” Denney said. 

Denney reached for the wallet in his back pocket, such as the one shown above, when he discovered it was no longer there. (iStock)

“I wear bib overalls and it was in the back pocket pretty deep anyway. I had never lost anything out of my pocket, but I was leaning against the edge of that boat. I reckon it just worked up out of there and when I was fishing it went and fell in the water.”

The fishermen went back down to the boat dock to look for Denney’s billfold, but they found nothing. 

AHEAD OF CHRISTMAS, HOME DEPOT EMPLOYEES TRACK DOWN CUSTOMER WHO DROPPED $700 CASH: ‘POSITIVITY AND KINDNESS’

“That’s a million-acre lake,” Denney said. “And you can’t see from shore to shore, it’s so wide. They said it’s 70-something miles long and 70-something mile wide.”

Denney said he accepted that his billfold — and his money — were somewhere at the bottom of the lake, which has an average depth of 27 feet but in some areas is more than 200 feet deep.

Denney recalled the waters being very rough and aggressively rocking the boat around on the day they went out fishing on the boat. (Jim and Karen Denney)

But on July 2, 2023, Denney was sitting in a Walmart parking lot when he got a call from a rancher he had hauled cattle for — and she wanted to know if he had been on any fishing trips recently.

“I told her I went fishing in Minnesota last year,” Denney said. 

“And I lost my billfold,” he said he told her.

NORTH CAROLINA ANGLERS GO SWORDFISHING, INSTEAD CATCH RARE SPECIES: ‘PREHISTORIC, ALMOST’

She replied, “Well, that’s kind of what this is pertaining to.”

After that, Denney got a call from Connor Halsa’s aunt, Christie Klipping, who said that her nephew “caught” Denny’s wallet from the bottom of the Lake of the Woods. 

After recovering the wallet while fishing, Conor Halsa was determined to find the owner of the wallet and return it to him. (iStock)

He couldn’t believe it.

“I said, ‘That’s impossible,'” Denney recalled, reflecting that it was nearly a year that his wallet must’ve been underwater. 

“And she said she was wanting to know how they could send it back to me.”

Denney said Klipping told her his billfold was “a terrible mess” and that it had “a lot of money in it.”

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“I said, ‘Yeah, I know,'” Denney replied. 

“I told the lady, ‘You guys keep the money. That money’s already been gone.’ And she said, ‘No, we’re not going to do that. We’re going to send it back to you.’ And they did. They had cleaned it up. That money looked like they had rinsed it off or something. Most of the slime was off anyway.”

They’re quite the family. I think we’ll stay in touch, no doubt.

— Jim Denney

Denney said he was very grateful to “the whole bunch of them.” 

But he couldn’t leave it at that — and insisted on driving eight hours to Moorhead to take the family to dinner.

“I told them, ‘I am coming to Minnesota to meet you folks because I’m going to take you out for the biggest supper you ever ate,’” Denney said. 

WWII LOVE LETTERS HIDDEN BEHIND WALL IN NEW YORK HOME DELIVERED TO FAMILY 80 YEARS LATER

“She wouldn’t say a lot, but she told me not to bring them anything or any money or nothing like that. ‘Because we won’t take it,’ she said.”

Jim Denney gave young Connor Halsa a customized Yeti cooler as a way of showing his appreciation for the young fisherman’s act of kindness. (Jim and Karen Denney)

The group decided on dinner at a Texas Roadhouse in nearby Fargo, North Dakota, and there, Denney presented Halsa with a special gift to show his appreciation to the young angler.

“A Yeti cooler,” he said. “I took it up to a local printer and they wrapped it with his name and a fish on it. So I took that up to him. And that way he had to take it.” 

Halsa said he never thought of keeping the money for himself — and said he would tell others to always look for the rightful owner first, if faced with the same situation.

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Denney said the act reminded him that there are still good people in the world.

Jim Denney and Connor Halsa believe they have become lifelong friends following an amazing recovery. (Jim and Karen Denney)

“He is the top of the line,” Denney said. “He said he knew I’d worked hard for my money. He and his dad both made that remark. They wanted to get it back to me.”

After dinner, the families went back to the campground where Denney and his wife were staying and sat around a campfire for a while longer.

“I told Connor, ‘I’d like to have seen the expression on your face when you brought it up out of the water and saw all the money,'” said Denney, laughing.

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“They’re quite the family. I think we’ll stay in touch, no doubt,” he added.