Latest news with #MikeHowell
Fox News
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Christopher Wray referred to DOJ over claims he misled lawmakers on Catholic memo, China probes
A Washington-based government transparency watchdog has referred former FBI Director Christopher Wray to the Department of Justice and the FBI, urging a criminal investigation into allegations that he had made false statements to Congress and obstructed proceedings in two high-profile cases. Oversight Project President Mike Howell told Fox News Digital that the group is specifically asking officials to examine Wray's congressional testimony on the so-called Richmond memo from the FBI office in Virginia that exposed an anti-Catholic bias there, and his testimony about a Chinese plot to disseminate illicit driver's licenses before the 2020 election. In July 2023, Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee on the FBI-Richmond memo that had labeled Catholics as potential domestic threats. "Well, what I can tell you is you're referring to the Richmond product, which is a single product by a single field office, which as soon as I found out about it, I was aghast and ordered it withdrawn and removed from FBI systems," Wray said. The Oversight Project alleges that statement was ultimately misleading or false. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., pressed Wray on the Richmond memo and so-called "Trump questionnaire," which was circulated at the FBI and asked about allegiance to the president and whether agents had attended any protests or rallies associated with the Jan. 6 Capitol Breach. "We keep hearing about these 'isolated examples' whether it's Richmond Catholics, this [questionnaire] -- isn't it a pattern?" Tiffany asked. The Oversight Project pointed to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley's opening remarks from a June hearing on Biden-era "cover-ups," in which Grassley said the Richmond memo "used the shoddy research of the radical Southern Poverty Law Center to accuse traditional Catholics of being violent extremists." "Based on records I released the other week, there wasn't just one FBI document that used biased anti-Catholic sources, but over a dozen," Grassley said. The referral also notes that this remark by Grassley belies Wray's testimony suggesting a one-off incident. "And more FBI field offices were involved than we'd been led to believe," Grassley, R-Iowa, said. A second Richmond memo similar to the first that went unreleased following the backlash was part of a partially redacted series of documents Grassley's committee transmitted to FBI Director Kash Patel in June. It stated that the bureau "assesses RMVE (Racially Motivated Violent Extremism) interest in RTC (Radical Traditional Catholic) ideology is likely to increase … in the run-up to the [2024] general election cycle." "Director Wray's testimony was inaccurate not only because it failed to reveal the scope of the memo's production and dissemination, but also because it failed to reveal the existence of a second, draft product on the same topic intended for external distribution to the whole FBI," the Oversight Project said in a separate statement. "That draft product was intended for distribution as a Strategic Perspective Executive Analytic Report ("SPEAR"). It was clearly a separate product." The Oversight Project specifically alleged violations of obstruction of proceedings before Congress, perjury and false statements. Fox News Digital reached out to Grassley, who also told Fox News' Bill Hemmer in June that he had found 13 other documents similar to the Richmond memo. Grassley said the documents had gone out and that "at least 1,000 people had access to information that … was telling people that the Catholic Church needed to be watched because it could be considered a terrorist organization." Fox News Digital reached out to a phone number connected to Wray but did not receive a response. Patel cited the CCP influence case in a June statement, declaring that "former FBI leadership withheld the facts and misled the public on China's 2020 election interference. And they did so for political gain. This FBI is exposing all of it and giving Americans the truth they deserve." Patel claimed the FBI in 2020 "buried" evidence "for political convenience" and thanked Grassley for helping the current FBI brass bring the topic to light. During September 2020 testimony, Wray told Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., that the FBI had "not seen historically any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether by-mail or otherwise." Wray added that the FBI had identified localized voter fraud and that his testimony was not intended to downplay the overarching threat. Howell's group argues those statements were belied by documents Patel gave to Congress in June that reportedly showed concerns in August 2020 that China had mass-produced such fake IDs to help former President Joe Biden. The criminal referral against Wray also cites a related August 2020 seizure of 20,000 counterfeit licenses by Customs and Border Protection in Illinois. A Chicago port official told Fox News at the time that the proliferation "can lead to disastrous consequences." It is unclear if any ballots were cast as part of the scheme. During a 2020 address to the Hudson Institute, Wray did warn of the CCP threat to the upcoming election and beyond: "China's malign foreign influence campaign targets our policies, our positions, 24/7, 365 days-a-year. So it's not an election‑specific threat. It's really more of an all‑year, all‑the‑time threat. But certainly that has implications for elections, and they certainly have preferences that go along with that," he said. The FBI and Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Fox News
30-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Fox Nation investigates Biden's controversial autopen use in brand new special
Who was actually running the country during former President Joe Biden's term in office? Conservative critics have asked this question since before President Donald Trump took the reins in January, but a sprawling probe into Biden's alleged use of an autopen to sign pardons and other documents has only invigorated the skepticism. The Oversight Project President Mike Howell's viral tweet declaring, "Whoever controlled the autopen controlled the presidency," was another catalyst. Howell joined the Fox Nation special "The Autopen President," which debuted on the streaming platform Monday, to offer his perspective in depth. "The autopen investigation showed how the White House could operate – did operate – without a president," he said. The 25-minute special investigates accusations from many in the conservative sphere who question whether Biden was aware of the presidential measures executed in his name. The saying goes, "the pen is mightier than the sword," but finding a pen mightier than one in the hands of a U.S. president would pose a challenge. The signature it creates can free some from prison or reduce their sentence, alter the lives of citizens across the country, impose actions that exert influence across the globe, or affirm the will of Congress. In this case, many, including President Trump, insist the validity of Biden's presidential signature is questionable given his alleged use of an autopen — a machine that physically holds a pen and features programming to imitate a person's signature. Though autopens have been used by presidents for decades, Trump says their use typically falls outside the scope of crucial presidential duties. Staffers may use them to respond to letters, for instance. Howell's team gathered images of Biden's signature, but when the documents came back, he noticed something unusual. "We realized this is a copied and pasted signature. This isn't a human hand signing these things," he said. The development sparked legality concerns, particularly since the Constitution requires the actual signature of the president to enact laws. However, a 2005 decision from the Justice Department (the Office of Legal Counsel) under former President George W. Bush complicates the situation. The OLC determined the president can legally sign bills and other documents with an autopen, meaning the president could authorize his staff to impose his signature using the device. Former President Barack Obama was the first president to reportedly use the measure to sign legislation with an autopen in 2011, but some argue concerns over Biden's cognitive health create lingering concerns. Biden has vehemently denied that others were executing the powers of the president during his tenure. In a statement responding to the Trump administration's investigation into his autopen use, he said the following: "Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false… "This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations." The full episode delving into the Biden autopen investigation is streaming now on Fox Nation.
New York Post
29-07-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Dems' failed makeover, ‘In-N-Out' of Cali and other commentary
Conservative: Dems' Failed Makeover Democratic leaders hoped to 'reverse the party's hard-left drift and reconnect with working-class voters' after the election, but Democrats instead ran 'straight back into the arms of their radical base,' marvels Mike Howell at The Blaze. They 'poured money and institutional support into the No Kings protests,' for example — and these 'weren't fringe outbursts. In fact, they revealed the party's core.' The Oversight Project compiled the Instagram activity of 'one key protest organizer, a group called 50501,' and 'tracked who its social media managers followed, and what emerged was a clear pattern of associations: communist, neo-Marxist, anti-American, and foreign-aligned groups.' 'These protests didn't bubble up from the grassroots. They were built from the same radical networks that have long tried to destabilize the country from within.' Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! West Coast watch: 'In-N-Out' of Cali Fast-food burger chain In-N-Out's owner, Lynsi Snyder is leaving 'deep blue California for the friendlier environs of red state Tennessee,' where her company is building a second corporate headquarters, reports USA Today's Nicole Russell. 'Snyder said she's leaving the West Coast for the Mid-South for the sake of her family and her business,' just as 'hundreds of thousands of regular people' and businesses like Tesla, Chevron and Hewlett Packard have done, seeking 'better lives and better business opportunities in other states.' California has 'pushed tax rates and the cost of living to ridiculous extremes even as residents' quality of life has declined.' 'People and companies are not just fleeing California — in many cases, they are relocating to red states with a drastically different approach to politics and policy.' It's 'another indicator of California's decline.' Tech beat: The Push for Unbiased AI President Trump's new executive order banning the federal government from buying 'woke AI' gives tech executives 'powerful incentives' to develop 'unbiased AI models,' argues Christopher Rufo at City Journal. All AI has 'ideological' formulas — some, including concepts like critical race theory, transgenderism and DEI — 'baked' into their code. 'The question is not whether an AI system will be built upon a set of values; the question is which set of values the programmers will select.' Yet Trump's EO stipulates that the government will purchase only software that is ''truth-seeking' and committed to 'ideological neutrality.'' The president and his advisers 'have shifted the direction of artificial intelligence away from woke — and toward a vibrant American future.' Keep up with today's most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters From the right: A Kamala Run Scares the Left 'California Democrats are rubbing their temples' at the thought of Kamala Harris running for governor, quips National Review's Noah Rothman. She'd be the heavy favorite, but the ex-veep might owe that 'less to her political acumen' than to 'California voters' bovine insouciance.' She'd have to defend Joe Biden and 'her role in the failed' coverup of his decline. And 'in the absence of any measurable charisma and 'notable risks' to the party overall, many Dems are attacking her. One state-level official even says she'd ruin the party's chance to 'win the House and hold on to three seats that we just flipped in 2024.' So 'Harris could get herself elected,' notes Rothman, 'while still serving as a net negative for her party.' Legal expert: Media's Russiagate Blinders Newly declassified material from the Russian collusion investigation reveals 'how high-ranking officials in the Obama Administration seeded' the false collusion narrative 'with the help of an eager, unquestioning press corps,' thunders Jonathan Turley at Fox News. Ex-CIA director John Brennan 'was the key figure insisting on the inclusion of the Steele dossier' in the Russian interference assessment. Ex-FBI director James Comey knew 'the Steele dossier was an unreliable political hit job,' yet he 'lied to a federal court to maintain' the investigation. 'The public is now learning about the real Russian conspiracy and its key players,' but 'the same media that pushed the false claims' are 'imposing a news blackout as they did with the Hunter Biden laptop.' — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
