Category: US

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

NFL executive Troy Vincent shot down the notion that players were given five minutes to warm up following Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s departure to the hospital after he suffered a medical emergency and collapsed on the field.

Hamlin’s incident occurred in the first quarter of the game between the Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals. After making a tackle on Tee Higgins, he got back to his feet and then collapsed to the field at Paycor Stadium.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Hamlin was down for several minutes as medical personnel attended to him. He needed CPR and an automated external defibrillator before he was put into the back of an ambulance and rushed to the hospital. As ESPN went in and out of commercial, the broadcast came back and players were seen trying to get back into game mode after witnessing the devastating scene.

It was said on the broadcast multiple times that players were given five minutes to warm up and get ready to play. NFL reporters caught the notion and Vincent, the senior vice president of football operations, dismissed the notion in a media availability early Tuesday.

DAMAR HAMLIN SUFFERED CARDIAC ARREST DURING GAME, HEARTBEAT RESTORED ON FIELD, BILLS SAY

“I’m not sure where that came from,” Vincent said. “Frankly, there was no time period for the players to get warmed up. Frankly, the only thing that we asked was that [referee] Shawn [Smith] communicate with both head coaches to make sure they had the proper time inside the locker room to discuss what they felt like was best.

“So, I’m not sure where that came from. Five-minute warmup never crossed my mind, personally. And I was the one. … that was communicating with the commissioner. We never, frankly, it never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play. That’s ridiculous. That’s insensitive. And that’s not a place that we should ever be in.”

The league postponed the game without any timetable for a make-up date.

The Bills said Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest after the collision with Higgins.

“He is currently sedated and listed in critical condition,” the team said.

​Read More 

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

There doesn’t seem to be any Democrats eager to take charge of the party’s Senate re-election arm.

The 2024 Senate map highly favoring Republicans next cycle casts a dark shadow over the Democratic Party’s already slim majority, leading some strategists to believe it is the reason why nominating a chair to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).

As the 118th Congress begins Tuesday, the Democratic Party has not made a nomination for who will head the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, despite both chambers on either side of the aisle filling other campaign chair positions.

Jessica Anderson, executive director for Heritage Action, told Fox News Digital that the delay is a reflection of the 2024 map that does not look promising for the Democrat Party.

DEMOCRATS’ INCOMING HOUSE CAMPAIGN CHIEF FACES NEW CHALLENGE: DEALING WITH UNIONIZED POLITICAL STAFF

“Conservatives are well positioned for a successful 2024 Senate sweep, so it comes as no surprise that the Democratic establishment is still unable to find someone to lead their efforts to cling to power. The Democratic Party is more radical today than ever before with moderates no longer welcome and dangerous leftist policies being advocated. Heritage Action, and it’s partner organization, The Sentinel Action Fund will work to ensure that all Americans know conservatives have a clear plan to win and govern for all Americans, and just how radical the Left’s policies are in the lead up to 2024.”

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., currently leads the committee, but recently said that he will not stay on for another term as chairman, raising the question of who will run the Senate committee going into the critical 2024 election.

DEMOCRATS RE-ELECT SCHUMER AS LEADER AFTER EXPANDING SENATE MAJORITY TO 51

“I wouldn’t call it a mystery per se as to why the pick is taking so long, but it’s more on the reality that Leader Schumer understands that the landscape for Democrats in 2024 will be tough,” Jose Aristimuño, Democratic strategist and Host of Americano Media, told Fox regarding the delay in a committee leadership nomination. 

“We are talking about 23 Senate Seats that Democrats need to defend. Three are in purely Red States while 5 are swing states. So it’s no wonder that no Senator is jumping at the opportunity, especially during a presidential election year.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is expected to select the next chair, but its unclear when he’ll make an announcement.

Despite no Democrats being eager to chair the committee given the high stakes of the next election, Aristimuño suggested the position holds beneficial opportunities for whoever the caucus decides to take charge of the committee.

“But with that being said — I think there are important opportunities for whoever ends up leading the DSCC. It will raise their national profile, expand their network of grassroots donors, and it will build support for any future leadership bids. Schumer served as chair of the DSCC in the past, and it has served him well. In addition, I think it’s fair to say that the same way everyone waited for a red wave that never came in this past cycle, Democrats will do just fine come 2024. But whoever Schumer ends up picking, they will have to hit the ground running. That’s for sure,” Aristimuño added.

​Read More 

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

Federal prosecutors in 2022 are wrapped up the fourth year of their investigation into Hunter Biden for possible tax and foreign lobbying violations, false statements and more.

Hunter Biden has been under federal investigation since 2018.

The probe was predicated, in part, by suspicious activity reports (SARs) regarding suspicious foreign transactions. Those SARs, according to sources familiar with the investigation, involved funds from “China and other foreign nations.”

Fox News first reported the existence of some type of investigation involving Hunter Biden in October 2020, ahead of the last presidential election. It became known then that the FBI had subpoenaed the laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden in the course of an existing money laundering investigation.

FOX NEWS POLL: BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR INVESTIGATING HUNTER BIDEN

Stories about the laptop were widely panned by Democrats and mainstream media outlets as Russian disinformation. At the time, then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe confirmed that the laptop was “not part of some Russian disinformation campaign,” but that claim was rejected by Democrats and many in the media.

Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook censored and limited the circulation of stories related to Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 presidential election.

Only in 2022 did media outlets like NBC News and CBS News begin accepting the fact and verified that the laptop did belong to Hunter Biden and did hold legitimate records belonging to the president’s son.

Twitter, under the new ownership of Elon Musk, released records surrounding the company’s decisions to block the circulation of the Hunter Biden stories – even though he had been under federal investigation at that point for nearly two years.

Hunter Biden confirmed the investigation into his “tax affairs” in December 2020, after his father was elected president.

FEDS WEIGH CHARGES AGAINST HUNTER BIDEN, OUTCOME OF YEARSLONG CASE COULD BE ‘IMMINENT’: SOURCE

In 2022, the investigation led by Trump-appointed Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss appeared to be nearing a critical stage.

Fox News reported in July that the federal grand jury looking into Hunter Biden’s business dealings wrapped up its latest term in June of this year and had expired. A source told Fox News at the time that no charges had been filed.

A former senior Justice Department official told Fox News, however, that the government does not need to have an active grand jury in order to file charges as part of a plea agreement.

Sources told Fox News this fall that federal investigators were weighing whether to charge Hunter with various tax and foreign lobbying violations, false statements and more.

The possibility of a false statement charge stems from the possibility that Hunter Biden lied during a gun purchase in 2018. Fox News first reported last year that police had responded to an incident in 2018, when a gun owned by Hunter Biden was thrown into a trash can outside a market in Delaware.

JOE BIDEN ‘WAS AWARE’ AND POTENTIALLY ‘INVOLVED’ IN SON HUNTER’S CRONY BUSINESS DEALINGS: WHISTLEBLOWERS

A source with knowledge of the Oct. 23, 2018, police report told Fox News that it indicated that Hallie Biden, the widow of President Biden’s late son, Beau, and who was in a relationship with Hunter at the time, threw a gun owned by Hunter in a dumpster behind a market near a school.

A firearm transaction report reviewed by Fox News indicated that Hunter Biden purchased a gun earlier that month.

On the firearm transaction report, Hunter Biden answered in the negative when asked if he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”

Hunter Biden was discharged from the Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine.

While the federal investigation is ongoing and does not involve the president in any way, congressional inquiries into Hunter Biden’s business dealings have sought to tie suspicious foreign ventures to Biden. 

Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who have been investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings since 2019, flagged to the FBI this fall that they were in possession of whistleblower allegations suggesting the bureau was in possession of “significant, impactful and voluminous evidence with respect to potential criminal conduct by Hunter Biden and James Biden” and related to Hunter’s work with Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings. 

BIDEN WISHES REPUBLICANS ‘LOTS OF LUCK’ IN PLANS TO INVESTIGATE SON HUNTER IF THEY TAKE THE HOUSE

President Biden has repeatedly denied speaking to Hunter about his business dealings. He has also denied, since the 2020 campaign, having any knowledge about or involvement in his son’s business ventures.

It is unclear whether Grassley and Johnson will continue their investigation into Hunter Biden in the next Congress, but Republicans on several House committees have vowed to launch new, and intensify existing investigations into Hunter Biden and his business dealings next year, when the GOP takes the majority of the House of Representatives and gains subpoena power.

After the midterm elections, President Biden wished House Republicans “lots of luck” if they follow through on their commitments to use a GOP majority to investigate his son. 

“Lots of luck in your senior year, as my coach used to say,” Biden joked. “Look, I think the American public wants us to move on and get things done for them.”

He added, “Look, I can’t control what they’re going to do, all I can do is continue to try to make life better for the American people.”

However, a new Fox News poll this month showed that voters across the political spectrum believe it is important for the Justice Department to investigate Hunter Biden’s business dealings with foreign governments. 

MUSK’S ‘TWITTER FILES,’ REVEALING CENSORSHIP OF HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY, IS A ‘DISTRACTION, WHITE HOUSE SAYS

Nearly three-quarters of voters (72%) think it is important for the Justice Department to investigate, unchanged from the 72% who felt that way in August. That includes majorities of Republicans (88%), independents (74%) and Democrats (54%).

Partisans disagree, however, on what investigations into Hunter Biden’s conduct will reveal. Republicans generally think Hunter Biden did something illegal in his business dealings with Ukraine and China (70%), and that President Biden committed a crime related to his son’s activities (63%). By contrast, very few Democrats think Hunter Biden (11%) or Joe Biden (8%) did something illegal.

Overall, 39% think Hunter Biden committed a crime, 31% say he did something unethical but not illegal and 19% believe he did nothing seriously wrong.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The numbers are fairly similar for President Biden: 35% say he committed a crime, 27% think he acted unethically but not illegally and 31% feel he did nothing wrong.

The FBI, among other law enforcement entities, has investigated Hunter Biden for tax-related issues. But voter trust in the FBI depends on the party affiliation of the voter.

Nearly two-thirds of voters (63%) are confident in the Bureau — but that is down from 70% in September. The decline comes primarily from Republicans (47% confident now vs. 59% in September). Most Democrats (84%) and six-in-10 independents (57%) are confident in the FBI.

Fox News’ Dana Blanton and Victoria Balara contributed to this report. 

​Read More 

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

As Jan. 3 approaches, it is vital for House Republicans to understand their situation.

Because of the narrow majority, a handful of House Republicans saw an opportunity to blackmail the rest of the conference and force their will by refusing to vote for the conference’s choice for speaker.

Eighty-five percent of the House Republican Conference (188-31) voted for Kevin McCarthy over the current leading critic.

Most of the non-McCarthy members (at least 21 of the 31) have already agreed that the majority must rule, and McCarthy is close to having the votes to become speaker on Jan. 3.

GOP FACES DELAY IN UNLOCKING FULL POWERS OF HOUSE IF MCCARTHY CANNOT CLINCH SPEAKERSHIP

However, it only takes five to cause chaos. That would mean five are attempting to coerce 214 other members.

In his first inaugural address in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln warned against the inevitably destructive precedent this behavior sets us. 

As Lincoln put it: “If a minority will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which, in turn, will divide and ruin them; for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER

This idea that any five members of a narrow majority have the moral right to use their practical power in an attempt to coerce more than 200 of their colleagues is inherently destructive and unsustainable.

The small hardline group needs to find some reasonable requests to allow them to end up supporting the House GOP Conference’s candidate for speaker. 

At the same time, Speaker-designate McCarthy and his team must be flexible enough to find a creative solution that brings the rebels back into the fold without infuriating the rest of the House GOP – and creating a different group compelled to flex their five-vote muscles.

There is plenty of opportunity to quiet the current noise and reasonably come together around a few legitimate changes.

Any other outcome is a disaster for the House Republican Party and for the United States.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM NEWT GINGRICH

For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com.

​Read More 

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has already claimed the choicest piece of real estate on Capitol Hill, having moved into the speaker’s office just recently vacated by Democrat Nancy Pelosi. 

But sadly for McCarthy, Pelosi is not the one who signs the deed. That right belongs to the majority of lawmakers who will convene Tuesday at noon and vote for speaker. And with perhaps more than a dozen Republicans refusing to sign on, McCarthy can measure the drapes all he wants, but he doesn’t hold title to the space.

Despite desperate last-minute efforts, including serving the entire caucus Chick-fil-A in the office he hopes will be his, McCarthy as of early Tuesday morning had not yet convinced enough of the holdouts to back him. If everyone is present, McCarthy will need 218 votes. Republicans will seat 222 lawmakers, so McCarthy can leave only four GOP minds unchanged. 

The conference will meet at 9:30 am, likely to hear McCarthy’s final appeal.

KEVIN MCCARTHY MAKES MAJOR CONCESSION TO CONSERVATIVES AS HIS SPEAKER BID HANGS BY THREAD

McCarthy has long been viewed with suspicion by some on the right. It was members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who caused him to stand down in 2015, when he was expected to replace John Boehner as speaker. They viewed McCarthy as a politician whose heart belongs to the Washington establishment, the ruling elite who for decades have defied conservative efforts to stem the relentless expansion of the federal government. It is lawmakers from the same Caucus who are literally barring the door to McCarthy’s ascension to power, despite years of effort by the Californian to prove he was one of them.

The course of events Tuesday could develop in a variety of ways, ranging anywhere from an orderly coronation, to a circus, to utter chaos. If the conservatives opposing McCarthy are bluffing and simply holding out until the last minute for all the concessions they can get, including the right of any single member to force a vote at any time to take down the speaker, then they’ll cave and McCarthy will glide to victory. Or, they could just make their point by denying him the speakership on the first ballot or two and cause some dyspepsia before relenting during a later ballot. 

Or, everything could fall apart. 

NEWT GINGRICH BLASTS REPUBLICANS WHO OPPOSE KEVIN MCCARTHY AS SPEAKER: ‘IT’S HIM OR CHAOS’

Some Republicans are threatening to join with Democrats if McCarthy doesn’t prevail and elect a “moderate.” McCarthy allies have held up the prospect of the Democratic candidate, Hakim Jeffries, sneaking in with a majority of the vote as Republicans devour their own. Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House GOP’s second most powerful lawmaker, could emerge as a widely acceptable conservative alternative. But he says he is supporting McCarthy, and some of the Californian’s backers say they won’t support a “spite” vote for Scalise. There’s even talk of lawmakers trotting in someone from outside the House to seize the gavel, since the speaker doesn’t have to be a lawmaker. But who could that possibly be?

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Though he may face humiliating eviction from the speaker’s office, as an elected representative, one piece of real estate McCarthy cannot be forced from is the House floor. And there he pledges to remain for the minutes, hours or even days it could take to decide his fate.

Kelly Phares contributed to this report.

​Read More 

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, 24, is in critical condition after collapsing on the field on Monday night during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Here’s what we know:

What happened: Moments after getting up from an open field tackle on Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, Hamlin fell on his back.

Within 10 seconds, Bills team trainers were treating the player. An ambulance was brought onto the field in under five minutes, footage shows, and Hamlin received CPR, according to an ESPN broadcast. He was then taken to hospital.

Hamlin’s status: The player suffered a cardiac arrest following the hit from the tackle, and his heartbeat was restored on the field, the Bills said in a statement on Twitter early Tuesday.

Hamlin was transferred to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center for further testing and treatment, where he is now sedated, the Bills added.

The game: Play was suspended at 5:58 of the first quarter, then the game was officially postponed. The NFL said more details on next steps would come at an “appropriate time,” adding that Hamlin’s wellbeing was the priority.

The team: Some of Hamlin’s teammates stayed in Cincinnati while the rest of the team travels back to Buffalo Tuesday morning. Buffalo is in New York state, near the US-Canada border.

Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs arrived at the hospital where Hamlin was being treated late Monday night, ESPN’s broadcast showed.

A bit about Hamlin: The 24-year-old Pennsylvania native joined the Bills in 2021 as a sixth-round draft pick from the University of Pittsburgh. He has played every game this season.

According to his Pittsburgh Panthers player bio, he was redshirted — meaning he sat out games while remaining on the team — in 2016 due to injury. The NFL site added that he also missed time due to injuries in 2017 and 2019.

source

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

Action sports legend Ken Block, co-founder of DC Shoes and Hoonigan Racing, died near his home in Utah on Monday at the age of 55 following a snowmobile accident. 

Block’s snowmobile landed on top of him when he rode on a steep slope around 2 p.m.

The news was confirmed on Hoonigan’s social media channels.

Block co-founded DC Shoes in 1984, before selling the skateboard brand in 2004. He then made the conversion from marketing executive to one of the most well-known names in Motorsports.

FORMER NASCAR OWNER ORDERED TO PAY $31 MILLION IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS: REPORT

He was a five-time X Games medalist in RallyCross.

Hoonigan’s YouTube channel became the most popular in Motorsports history, amassing over one billion page views.

F1 DRIVERS PREVENTED FROM MAKING POLITICAL STATEMENTS WITHOUT APPROVAL

Utah’s Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office wrote, “We are saddened to hear of the loss of Kenneth and our hearts are with his family and friends so deeply affected. We thank all of our first responders for their continued service.”

Hoonigan noted of Block; “Ken was a visionary, a pioneer and an icon. And most importantly, a father and a husband. He will be incredibly missed. Please respect the family’s privacy at this time while they grieve.”

​Read More 

BBC News world-us_and_canada 

<img src="” title=”[World] Timed Teaser: Who wanted a ‘top table’ seat for Putin?” /> 

​Read More 

source