Politics
Chinese spy balloon raises alarm bells over China buying up US land
A Chinese balloon craft floating over the northern United States has re-energized concerns among experts and lawmakers over China’s ongoing efforts to buy land across the U.S., with some voices observing a “pattern” of suspected espionage activities near American military sites.
China on Friday confirmed the balloon is Chinese, claiming it’s a civilian research craft that was blown far off course by prevailing winds. However, Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder described the craft during briefings on Thursday and Friday as a high-altitude surveillance balloon.
“Instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years,” said Ryder. “Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.”
The suspected spy balloon was spotted over Montana, home to one of the nation’s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
Map shows approximate path of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over Montana, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023.
(Fox News)
CHINESE SPY BALLOON OVER CENTRAL US, WILL BE IN US AIRSPACE FOR ‘A FEW DAYS,’ PENTAGON SAYS
U.S. officials have previously warned about Chinese companies, such as the telecommunications giant Huawei, purchasing land near critical infrastructure in Montana and potentially capturing sensitive information regarding intercontinental ballistic missiles under the direction of the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Base.
“Set against that destructive power is a completely serene and wide-open landscape. It’s just wheat fields and big sky country,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said in 2021 while describing a trip to the base two years earlier. “Except for one thing: There are cell towers all around those Montana missile fields that have been running on Huawei equipment.”
The Chinese surveillance balloon has prompted Montana lawmakers to push for a ban on Chinese agricultural land purchases in the state.
“This really shows that there are nations out there that want to spy on us. Senate Bill 203 prevents those adversarial nations from purchasing our ag production land and our critical infrastructure,” Montana state Sen. Ken Bogner told local outlet KTQV. “The Ag production land hits issues of food security — we help feed the entire nation. And the critical infrastructure is things like oil refineries, telecommunication facilities. So, it’s a plethora of things to make sure that we’re protected as much as we can be here in the state.”
More broadly, experts told Fox News Digital that the balloon is indicative of a larger Chinese espionage effort.
Gordon Chang told Fox News Digital that China is preparing its citizens for war
(Fox News)
CHINA EXPERT SOUNDS ALARM ON SPY BALLOON HOVERING OVER US: ‘IT’S VERY DANGEROUS WHAT THEY’RE DOING’
“China has stepped up its espionage activities against sensitive military facilities,” said Gordan Chang, author of “The Coming Collapse of China and The Great U.S.-China Tech War.” “This is clearly part of a pattern.”
Last summer, the Chinese company Fufeng Group, a food manufacturer, made headlines for purchasing 370 acres of land in Grand Forks, N.D., some 15 miles away from Grand Forks Air Force, a center for both air and space operations.
The Air Force this week denied Fufeng Group its building permits for a wet corn milling plant on the land, calling the project a “significant threat to national security.”
In Texas, meanwhile, a Chinese company owned by a former Chinese soldier with ties to the ruling Communist Party bought 130,000 acres near Laughlin Air Force Base, where pilots are trained.
Texas Republicans and Gov. Greg Abbott are seeking to ban Chinese citizens and businesses from buying property in the Lone Star State.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been outspoken about the threats posed by China’s strategic land purchases in the U.S.
(Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Florida and Virginia are among other states where leaders have been backed similar bans.
“Whether this is actually part of plan or not, these purchases are suspiciously close to sensitive military facilities and therefore shouldn’t be allowed,” said Chang.
He argued that until the U.S. gets a hold of these suspicious activities on agricultural land, the U.S. needs to institute a prohibition on Chinese land purchases.
“No Chinese entity should own farm or ranch land in U.S., full stop, including land involved in food processing,” said Chang. “Chinese parties that own this land should either have it expropriated with compensation or, if there was criminal activity, forfeiture statues should be used to take it away.”
Beyond the states, lawmakers at the federal level have also been pushing to crack down on Chinese entities buying U.S. land.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., has introduced legislation to bar China from purchasing U.S. farmland
(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
AFTER CHINESE BALLOON ENTERS US AIRSPACE, BIDEN SECRETARY OF STATE POSTPONES TRIP TO CHINA
In the Senate, Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) introduced legislation that would blacklist China and other “foreign adversaries” from investing in, purchasing, or otherwise acquiring land or businesses involved in agriculture.
In the House, Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Dan Newhouse (D-Wash.) introduced similar legislation to block China from purchasing American farmland.
“As more reports come in, it is becoming apparent the Chinese Communist Party is deliberately testing how the United States will respond to their provocative actions,” Newhouse told Fox News Digital. “This is yet another example of their alarming aggression. President Biden must act swiftly to confront this situation.”
“As a member of the House Select Committee on China,” he continued, “I am eager to further investigate the aggressive actions of the CCP and seek avenues to hold them accountable.”
Rodgers’ office echoed those sentiments and the need to remain vigilant.
“The situation unfolding is worrisome. The congresswoman believes that under no circumstances should an aircraft operated by the Chinese government be flying in American airspace conducting surveillance,” said Rodgers spokesman Kyle VonEnde. “She continues to monitor the situation closely and is grateful to the servicemen and women of Fairchild Air Force Base, whose swift response once again demonstrates just how vital their strategic mission is to keeping our skies safe from adversaries in the Pacific arena.”
Both bills were introduced this week not long before the Chinese surveillance balloon became public.
Several prominent Republicans called for President Biden to shoot down the Chinese balloon, while others demanded an intelligence briefing. Biden declined to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a trip to China following the controversy over the balloon
The Pentagon said Friday the craft doesn’t pose a military or physical threat to people on the ground but continues to track its movement.
Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chinese-spy-balloon-raises-alarm-bells-china-buying-us-land
Politics
A look at Donald Trump’s arraignment schedule ahead of Tuesday court appearance
Law enforcement officials have worked out the details of how former President Trump will be escorted to his alleged hush money scandal-related arraignment on Tuesday.
A source told Fox News that Trump is expected to arrive at the 100 Centre Street courthouse in New York City at around 11 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
The arraignment – which is expected to last 15 to 30 minutes – is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. before Judge Juan Merchan. The security detail will be extensive, with officials expecting to magnetically search everyone in the courthouse twice.
No other business will be done at the courthouse until the arraignment concludes. The entire building will be cleared and inspected to ensure safety.
TRUMP INDICTED AFTER MANHATTAN DA PROBE FOR HUSH MONEY PAYMENTS
Former U.S. President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower on Aug. 10, 2022, in New York City. (James Devaney/GC Images)
For security reasons, there is not expected to be a “perp walk” or public arrival by the former president. Trump will also likely not be arrested in handcuffs, as his legal team made an arrangement with the DA’s office.
Judge Juan Merchan, who previously oversaw the case and trial of the Trump Organization and its former CFO Allen Weisselberg, is expected to read Trump’s charges and ask him to enter his plea. Trump will be escorted out after.
The details of the indictment have not been released, as they typically remain under seal before the arraignment takes place. The charges are expected to relate to Trump’s 2016 alleged hush money scandal, which the DA’s office has been investigating for five years.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during the American Freedom Tour at the Austin Convention Center on May 14, 2022 in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
If the charges relate to the hush money scandal, prosecutors are expected to argue that the $130,000 sum given to Stormy Daniels and the $150,000 given to former Playboy model Karen McDougal were improper donations to the Trump campaign, which helped his candidacy during the 2016 election.
The former president has expressed his disapproval of the indictment by DA Alvin Bragg, saying it is politically motivated.
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District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference to discuss the charges against Steve Bannon in New York on September 8, 2022. (Alex Kent/AFP via Getty Images))
“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,” Trump said in a statement. “From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats- the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country- have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.”
Politics
House Republicans accuse NIH of ‘stonewalling’ on ‘supercharged monkeypox experiment’
House Republicans are pressing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for answers after the agency funded research experiments they say could result in a “supercharged” monkeypox virus.
In a letter to acting NIH Director Lawrence Tabak, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and two subcommittee chairmen are demanding that the agency turn over documents and information regarding a government-funded experiment that reportedly involves swapping monkepox genes with a deadlier version of the virus. The lawmakers want to know whether this project was approved by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) review board tasked with oversight of research involving enhanced pathogens that could potentially cause a pandemic.
This letter is a follow-up to an October 31, 2022, letter to which Republicans say the NIH never responded. GOP lawmakers accused NIH of “stonewalling” in a press release.
“Based on the available information, it appears the project is reasonably anticipated to yield a lab-generated monkeypox virus that is 1,000 times more lethal in mice than the monkeypox virus currently circulating in humans and that transmits as efficiently as the monkeypox virus currently circulating in humans. The risk-benefit ratio indicates potentially serious risks without clear civilian practical applications,” the Republicans wrote.
This image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) shows a colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in the laboratory that was captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. (NIAID via AP, File)
“Accordingly, this experiment would seem to involve risks reasonably anticipated to create, transfer, or use [potential pandemic pathogens] resulting from the enhancement of a pathogen’s transmissibility or virulence in humans. Thus, under the circumstances, we are interested in learning whether this experiment was reviewed under the HHS P3CO framework used to review research proposals posing significant biosafety or biosecurity risks.”
The project leader is Dr. Bernard Moss, a veteran poxvirus researcher at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. An article in Science magazine described his efforts to learn the differences between two variants of monkeypox virus: clade 2, the West African variant that caused a global outbreak last year, and clade 1, which is believed to be deadlier and has caused outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo for decades.
Moss’ research involves swapping the genes of the two variants, one at a time, to discover whether a specific gene in the clade 1 virus makes it deadlier. The Republicans want to know whether these lab experiments could artificially enhance the clade 2 variant.
AFRICA’S CDC HOPES MPOX VACCINES WILL ARRIVE IN ‘ANOTHER TWO WEEKS,’ AFTER MONTHS OF SEEKING DOSES
This 1997 image provided by the CDC during an investigation into an outbreak of monkeypox, which took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), formerly Zaire, depicts the dorsal surfaces of the hands of a monkeypox case patient, who was displaying the appearance of the characteristic rash during its recuperative stage. (CDC via AP, File)
Such research, known as “gain-of-function,” is highly controversial, because it involves extracting viruses from animals to artificially engineer in a laboratory to make them more transmissible and deadly to humans. Proponents say these experiments can help scientists understand the nature of viruses and develop new treatments and vaccines. Skeptics warn that gain-of-function experiments are one lab accident away from causing another global pandemic.
Moss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
FOX NEWS POLL: MAJORITY SAYS BIDEN TRYING TO COVER UP ORIGINS OF COVID-19
Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, led a letter to acting NIH Director Lawrence Tabak demanding answers on a government-funded project involving a manipulated monkeypox virus. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“Human disease associated with clade 2 or West African monkeypox virus infection is less severe and is associated with less than one percent mortality, whereas clade 1 or Congo Basin monkeypox infection has a 10 percent case fatality rate in unvaccinated persons,” the Republicans wrote. “Because of its significantly greater lethality, clade 1 or Congo Basin clade monkeypox viruses are regulated as select agents by the Federal Select Agents Program. Entities that possess, use, or transfer this agent must comply with the HHS Select Agent and Toxin Regulations unless there is an applicable exemption or exclusion.
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“Thus,” the letter continues, “under these regulations, it would appear the clade 1 monkeypox virus experiment is a restricted experiment that must be reviewed by the Federal Select Agent Program, and may be further reviewed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‘s (CDC’s) Intragovernmental Select Agents and Toxins Technical Advisory Committee (ISATTAC).”
The Republicans want NIH officials and employees to testify about Moss’ project and other related matters. They gave NIH an April 13, 2023, deadline to respond to their inquiry.
Politics
DeSantis targets Biden in swing state Pennsylvania, says Democratic Party ‘dead’ in Florida
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took multiple jabs at President Biden on Saturday during a stump speech in Pennsylvania.
DeSantis, speaking at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference 2023, called Biden a “floundering leader” and said the president’s poor performance contributed to Republican gains.
“We are in the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican candidate for governor has ever received in the history of the state of Florida,” DeSantis told the audience. “We were able to flip Democrat counties or urban counties like Miami-Dade County. And not only did we flip it, we won it by double digits.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference. (Screenshot/)
“It’s been a massive defeat for the Democratic Party,” the Florida governor said. “They did not want to see Florida go red. They threw everything but the kitchen sink to stop us. And yet, we have left the Democratic Party for dead in the state of Florida.”
The Florida governor has been walking a political tightrope for months as he refuses to officially declare his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
At the same time, he has butted heads with both the Biden administration and former President Donald Trump’s campaign — both of whom view him as a rival for the presidency.
TRUMP ALLIES STEP UP ATTACKS ON DESANTIS AHEAD OF 2024: ‘HE’S NOT READY TO BE PRESIDENT’
In speeches this year, the governor has pitched his numerous conservative policy victories in Florida as a roadmap for the entire nation.
Sources in DeSantis’ wider orbit have said that any presidential campaign launch would come in the late spring or early summer, after the end of Florida’s current legislative session.
However, the governor’s recent stops in the early-voting states of Iowa and Nevada and a trip next month to New Hampshire are sparking more 2024 speculation.
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President Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touring an area impacted by Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, in October 2022. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
DeSantis said earlier this week that his state “will not assist” in any extradition request by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg amid what he called “questionable circumstances” while slamming the charges against Trump as “un-American” and a “weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda.”
The former president and 2024 Republican presidential candidate was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday after a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
A look at Donald Trump’s arraignment schedule ahead of Tuesday court appearance
House Republicans accuse NIH of ‘stonewalling’ on ‘supercharged monkeypox experiment’
DeSantis targets Biden in swing state Pennsylvania, says Democratic Party ‘dead’ in Florida
Biden visits University of Pennsylvania campus for the first time since classified documents controversy
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