Politics
New York Democrats in chaos with progressive left calling state party nearly as undemocratic as ‘North Korea’
Progressive New York Democrats have had enough of party leadership and are demanding the removal of the party chief and reforms to the entire apparatus after a disastrous 2022 midterm cycle for the state.
Four U.S. House seats in New York flipped from Democratic control in the 2022 midterms, greatly contributing to Republicans retaking the majority. But progressive activists see the problems as far deeper than one election.
“First of all, they have to run the party democratically,” George Albro, co-chair of Brooklyn Progressive Action Network, said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “The Democratic Party has to become democratic. Right now, it vies with North Korea in their degree of democracy.”
Much of the ire is directed at state party Chairman Jay Jacobs, who has faced numerous calls to step down as party leader since November.
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Members of the Democratic Party gather to protest against Jay Jacobs, the chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, outside city hall in New York. (Kena Betancur)
Jacobs has a history of separating himself from the far left, particularly those aligned with Democratic Socialists of America, but more moderate Democrats are joining calls for his ouster, according to Albro.
Albro’s Progressive Action Network originated in support of democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns and has grown into a nationwide grassroots organization.
More than 1,000 state Democrats, including dozens of elected state officials, signed a letter in November saying Jacobs, whom they see as indelibly linked to disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has to go.
“Here in New York, however, the State Democratic Party, led by Cuomo appointee Jay Jacobs, failed to commit the time, energy and resources necessary to maintain our deep-blue status: 4 Congressional seats flipped to Republican control, and Governor Hochul won by a slim majority — the smallest in two decades,” the letter states. “The writing is on the wall and has been for some time: Jay Jacobs is not fit to serve as Chair of the State Democratic Party.”
In a dig at Jacobs’ party operation, the Brooklyn-based Independent Neighborhood Democrats pointed out that the left-wing “Working Families Party seemed to have been the only party putting organizers in the field to support Democratic Party candidates.”
In a resolution calling for him to resign or be removed as party chair, the group also blamed Jacobs for losing three Democratic-held state Senate seats in his home county of Nassau, where he also serves as the county Democratic Party chairman.
Andrew Cuomo (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
Jacobs, who did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, has been open about his disagreements with the left wing of the Democratic Party and placed some of the blame for midterm losses on progressives.
“New York did underperform, but so did California,” Jacobs told City & State last year. “What do those two states have in common? Well, governmentally, we’re among the two most progressive states in the country.”
Jacobs vowed to never endorse a socialist Democratic candidate because he doesn’t agree with what they stand for.
“I will never endorse a DSA candidate running for office. I know what they stand for, and I totally disagree with many of those things. I’m not comfortable endorsing someone running on that platform, and I won’t do it as an individual and I won’t do it as a party chair,” Jacobs told Crain’s New York Business last week.
“I don’t hold any animus. I don’t believe anything other than they have every right and even obligation to represent their views as best as they can. I just wish there wasn’t so much rancor.”
In a 10-page report detailing why he believes Democrats lost seats in the midterms, Jacobs pointed out that the Republican Party’s emphasis on crime in the midterms was a winning message.
Members of the Democratic Party protest against Jay Jacobs, chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Jan. 3, 2022, outside New York’s city hall. (Kena Betancur)
“NY was one of the only states where Republicans, though unfairly, could point to a specific action taken by Democrats (“Cashless Bail”) as the reason for the spike in crime. Unfair and untrue as it may be, in New York, Republicans were able to successfully weaponize Bail Reform to a degree unmatched anywhere else,” Jacobs wrote In a 10-page report detailing why he believes Democrats lost seats in the midterms.
Albro views the insinuation that progressive policies cost Democrats at the ballot box as only part of the story. The issue was a “red herring” in the election, he said, since “crime is on the increase throughout the entire country, not just in New York.”
“The Democrats completely mishandled that issue [of crime]. They either tacitly agreed with it or didn’t respond to it,” Albro said, adding that he views Republicans as promoters of crime because of their stances on firearms and the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Chief among Albro’s complaints about his party’s operations is a proxy system that has rankled New York Democrats for years. In 2018, the system allowed a Brooklyn County party official to overrule a record number of meeting attendees over multiple votes because he held more proxy votes than the record number of Democrats who showed up to a meeting, The New York Times reported that year.
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul. (Riccardo Savi)
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul backed Jacobs as calls for his resignation mounted after the midterm elections.
“I think he [Jacobs] did a great job as chair, and he continues as chair. We’re not changing anything,” Hochul said.
Though Albro called on Hochul, as the top Democrat, to come out against Jacobs, he said changing the leadership of the party alone won’t be enough.
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“That’s necessary, but not sufficient. It has to be part of a reform movement that reforms the party, democratizes it, and gets young people involved,” Albro said.
At a state party meeting later this year, Albro said he expects “there’s going to be a movement to elect (someone) else.”
“I’m not sure who that person is yet,” he added.
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.
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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.
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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.
Politics
Biden visits University of Pennsylvania campus for the first time since classified documents controversy
President Biden on Saturday visited the campus of the University of Pennsylvania for the first time since a controversy over the discovery of classified documents at the Penn Biden Center in Washington D.C.
Biden and first lady Jill Biden stopped by the university to visit Maisy Biden’s senior art show at a university gallery. It marks the first time Biden has visited the campus since the emergence in November of documents with classified markings at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C.
Those documents were said to be from the Obama-Biden administration and were discovered “unexpectedly” by Biden’s personal attorneys. The emergence of the documents was followed by assessments by the FBI and Department of Justice.
BIDEN HAS ‘NO COMMENT’ ON TRUMP INDICTMENT
President Biden talks with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington Friday, March 31, 2023, before boarding Marine One. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
In January, the Department of Justice announced it was investigating the discovery of the documents, and Attorney General Merrick Garland said he was appointing Robert Hur as special counsel.
Attorneys also found batches of documents at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware. Four batches of classified materials have been found in Biden’s possession in total, dating from both his time as vice president and as a senator from Delaware.
DOJ SEARCHES BIDEN DELAWARE BEACH HOME AMID CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT INVESTIGATION
In February, FBI agents searched Biden’s vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for three and a half hours but did not find additional classified documents. The search was carried out on Hur’s first day on the job as special counsel.
Biden has addressed the controversy, saying his team is cooperating fully with the DOJ and suggested that his staff was to blame for not finding the documents when he left office in 2017.
WHITE HOUSE STONEWALLS FOX NEWS’ PETER DOOCY ON BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS: ‘WHY DID HE DO IT?’
President Biden delivers remarks during a meeting with Democratic congressional leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House Jan. 24, 2023. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“But one of the things that happened is that what was not done well is as they packed up my offices to move them, they didn’t do the kind of job that should have been done to go thoroughly through every single piece of literature that’s there,” Biden said. “But I’ll just let the investigation, you know, decide what’s going on, and we’ll see what happens.”
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House Republicans have promised to investigate Biden’s handling of classified materials, with Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., telling Fox News that “nothing that Joe Biden’s done with respect to mishandling these classified documents is normal.”
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.
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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