Politics
Democrats turn on ‘joke’ candidate Marianne Williamson after she announces 2024 challenge to Biden
Spiritual adviser and bestselling self-help author Marianne Williamson is facing backlash from those within her own party after she announced over the weekend she would pose a political challenge to President Biden.
Biden has yet to declare whether he will seek the presidency for a second term in 2024.
“We know that this country is plagued by many challenges now, not the least of which is hatred and division, which is greater than any of us have experienced … It is our job to create a vision of justice and love that is so powerful that it will override the forces of hatred and injustice and fear,” Williamson said Saturday.
Speaking from her campaign kickoff event at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station, Williamson drew the ire of some in the Democratic Party who are more than willing to dismiss her candidacy and throw support behind someone else like Biden, who will be nearly 82 at the next presidential election.
Self-help author Marianne Williamson speaks to a crowd as she launches her 2024 presidential campaign in Washington, D.C., Saturday, March 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Democratic activist and American lawyer Aaron Parnas took issue with those attempting to legitimize Williamson’s candidacy, referring to Biden as one of the “most revolutionary” presidents in recent history.
“The media needs to stop legitimizing Marianne Williamson’s campaign for President,” Parnas wrote in a now-deleted tweet. “President Biden has been one of the most revolutionary Presidents in recent history and has the full support of Democrats across America. There is no legitimate primary. Biden is our nominee.”
Santiago Mayer, the founder and executive director of Voters of Tomorrow, also downplayed Williamson’s campaign announcement, referring to her as a “joke” with financial motive.
“Let’s be clear: Marianne Williamson is a joke,” Mayer wrote. “She’s a fundamentally unserious candidate running as a stunt to sell her books.”
“The best way to handle her is to not address her at all,” political commentator and former Biden delegate Lindy Li said on MSNBC after the announcement Saturday.
Some, however, voiced praise for Williamson’s speech — even if half-hearted.
“Marianne Williamson’s announcement is really quite compelling,” Steve Morris, senior producer at Recount Media, tweeted, along with a quote from the speech.
“I do get that this is how people fall into cults,” he joked in a later tweet.
Williamson did not mention Biden in her speech Saturday but said not electing former President Trump in 2020 meant America didn’t go “over the cliff.” She said “we’re still six inches away from it.”
BIDEN DRAWS FIRST DEMOCRATIC CHALLENGER IN 2024 SHOWDOWN
She painted a dark vision of America with “broken windows,” addiction, poverty and despair.
“Half the people in this city don’t even notice [despair],” she said, calling out leaders for lacking the “spine or moral courage” to fix the issues.
“Ladies and gentlemen, let me in there. I will,” she said.
Marianne Williamson poses for a photo with a supporter as she launches her 2024 presidential campaign in Washington, D.C., Saturday, March 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Williamson, who called for reparations and a Department of Peace as part of her unsuccessful long shot campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, becomes the first Democrat with a national following to challenge the 80-year-old president.
During the 2020 cycle, Williamson was an unconventional candidate who preached the politics of love. She emphasized “six pillars for a season of moral repair,” including economic justice. She proposed creating a Department of Children and Youths and a Department of Peace, and she pushed for reparations for the descendants of African-American slaves. Among her unorthodox acts was holding a meditation session while campaigning in New Hampshire.
President Biden speaks at the University of Tampa Feb. 9, 2023. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Most leaders in the Democratic Party from both the establishment and progressive wings say they will support Biden, who is expected in the coming weeks or months to announce his re-election campaign.
On the other side of the aisle, the 2024 GOP presidential candidates who have declared a run for the White House include former President Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy, a health care and tech sector entrepreneur.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Thomas Phippen contributed to this article.
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.
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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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