Sen. Rand Paul will take over the chairmanship of the upper chamber’s Homeland Security Committee starting in January after two years as the panel’s top Republican — and he’s told The Post he wants to uncover the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I chose to chair this committee over another because I believe that, for the health of our republic, Congress must stand up once again for its constitutional role,” Paul (R-Ky.) said in an exclusive interview Wednesday. “This committee’s mission of oversight and investigations is critical to Congress reasserting itself.”

“I think we’re on the cusp of, really, the beginning of uncovering what happened with COVID,” the 61-year-old added.

After years of subpoenaing government agencies about research grants and funding related to the origins of the coronavirus, Paul believes his newfound power — coupled with a sympathetic president in the White House come Jan. 20 — will help promote transparency.

“We are going to, hopefully, have a friendlier administration, and we’re hoping that there will be a friendly person at [the Department of Health and Human Services], and we’re hoping they’ll be friendly at [the National Institutes of Health],” he said.

Paul is also spearheading an effort to pass the Risky Research Review Act, which would pump the brakes on dangerous scientific work — like the gain-of-function research many believe created the virus which caused the worst global outbreak in a century.

“The biggest item of the COVID coverup is that for years, we’ve known there is this dangerous research,” said Paul, who added that he wants to ensure Americans are free to discuss such topics without fear of suppression by the government in tandem with social media companies.

https://nypost.com/2024/11/14/us-news/rand-paul-to-target-covid-cover-up-as-head-of-senate-homeland-security-committee/

By Steven Richards and John Solomon

Published: November 13, 2024 11:17pm

Cellular carriers have told Congress they possess intact phone usage data from the vicinity where two pipe bombs were planted during the Jan. 6 incident, directly disputing FBI testimony that agents couldn't identify a suspect because the phone data was corrupted, a key House chairman tells Just the News.

The revelations from Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., the chairman of the House Administration oversight subcommittee, adds new intrigue to a debate that has gripped Washington for nearly four years: Why can't the FBI with so much evidence and manpower identify the suspect who planted the explosive devices at the Democrat and Republican Party headquarters hours before the Capitol was breached.

“In the days and weeks following January 6, 2021, the FBI opened an investigation into the pipe bomber and attempted to identify the suspect by analyzing cell phone data linked to the area surrounding the RNC and DNC,” Loudermilk told Just the News.

“In June 2023, the former Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Steve D’Antuono, who oversaw the pipe bomb investigation, said that the FBI received corrupted data from one of the cell carriers and that it most likely contained the identity of the pipe bomber. Given the significance of this information, my Subcommittee sent letters to the three major cell carriers, asking them to respond to Mr. D’Antuono’s claim of corrupted data,” he said.

“Every major cell carrier responded and confirmed that they did not provide the FBI corrupted data,” Loudermilk said.

“Additionally every major cell carrier confirmed they were never notified that the FBI had any issues accessing the data. This contradictory testimony raises some serious questions about the status of the investigation into the pipe bomber and about why the case remains unsolved nearly four years later,” he added.

Last year, D’Antuono told the House Judiciary Committee that the FBI did not a receive complete phone data from telephone carriers because some of it had been corrupted.

“We did a complete geofence. We have complete data. Not complete, because there's some data that was corrupted by one of the providers, not purposely by them, right. It just – unusual circumstance that we have corrupt data from one of the providers,” D’Antuono testified in a transcribed interview.

“But for that day, which is awful because we don't have that information to search. So could it have been that provider? Yeah, with our luck, you know, with this investigation it probably was, right,” he said.

The concerns about the unsolved Jan. 6 pipe bombs have been heightened by evidence Loudermilk disclosed in the last year showing that then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was taken within 10 yards of one of the live bombs on the morning of Jan. 6 because the Secret Service did not do a thorough security sweep.

In addition, Loudermilk also provided security camera video footage and still photos of the suspect holding a device that lawmakers believe was a cell phone, further making the phone data a potential case-solving piece of evidence.

Loudermilk sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray this fall demanding to know whether D'Antuono's testimony was accurate and whether the bureau ever went back to the cell phone carriers to get a fresh set of uncorrupted data. Just the News obtained a copy of the letter.

https://justthenews.com/government/security/hldcell-companies-refute-fbi-testimony-j6-pipe-bomber-investigation-loudermilk

Several Republican lawmakers want Congress to strip the security clearances of dozens of former U.S. intelligence officials who worked against President Trump in 2020 by asserting that information in the laptop of Hunter Biden was likely Russian disinformation.

Republicans have called for accountability from the 51 intelligence officials who were accused of helping Democratic presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden, Mr. Trump’s opponent in 2020, by issuing a joint letter stating that the information in the laptop bore the hallmarks of an operation by Moscow.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said, “It should be an option” to yank the officials’ security clearances. Mr. Graham told The Washington Times that each official must be held accountable and that he plans on writing a letter to each one soon. He did not specify what the letter would say.

“I think we should scrub all the legacy clearances to see whether the people need to have them and for what purpose, and unless they’re working for a company in a role that makes sense, they should be taken away,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican. “Most on that list [of 51], I would include in that scrubbing.”

Rep. Andy Biggs, Arizona Republican, said the 51 intelligence officials “should all lose their security clearances.”

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance pledged during the campaign that the incoming Trump administration would strip the security clearances of the 51 former intelligence officials “who said that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation.”

The Trump administration could revoke security clearance without congressional action, but some Republican lawmakers said doing so through legislation would ensure the punishment is meted out and that no clearances are left untouched.

The co-signers include former CIA Director Michael V. Hayden, now an analyst for CNN; former Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, now a CNN contributor; former CIA head and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who now runs a public policy institute at California State University; former CIA Director John O. Brennan, currently an analyst for NBC and MSNBC; former National Intelligence Council chair Thomas Fingar, who now teaches at Stanford University; and Rick Ledgett, former National Security Agency deputy director, now a director at M&T Bank.

Mr. Brennan, Mr. Clapper and others have said they did not lie in the letter. Mr. Clapper said the signatories were merely “raising a yellow flag.”

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/nov/13/republicans-seek-revoke-security-clearances-ex-int/

The two patently political, unjust federal cases brought by Jack Smith against Trump, plus two New York and one Georgia cases will likely be dismissed. Trump’s election – God willing – ends that sad, perverse, abusive chapter in American history, election interference by prosecutors. Is that it?

The question – Is that it? – suggests thinking about how laws, practiced fairly, judiciously, and thoughtfully – are supposed to work. For every wrong, there is meant to be a remedy. These cases may wither, but what of the wrong?

The famous judicial philosopher Montesquieu noted, among many principles: “It is necessary from the very nature of things, that power should check power,” and that abuses should be deterred.

President Trump rightly resists perpetuating the use of courts for political gain. He never did that. Now, another question lies before his incoming Attorney General. If political candidates can be forgiven their overreach or tacit consent for “lawfare,” burying the old hatchet, what of the prosecutors?

And, getting down to brass tacks, what about a former Attorney General – bitter for losing “his” Supreme Court seat – and the federal prosecutor sanctioned by the Supreme Court (9-0) for political overreach, who persecuted a president? What of abusive local prosecutors?

The question is not political, but legal, and relates to the essence of the Republic, preserving the principles on which we were founded… Should abusive prosecutors who violated the canons of ethics, legal precedents, and oath – who abused power, perverting the fair administration of justice to maliciously prosecute a political foe, and interfering with an election, just be allowed to walk?

The most judicious answer to that question, removing this whole issue from politics while creating some lasting deterrence – stopping prosecutors from trying to throw elections – is a non-partisan commission composed of retired judges to assess whether charges should be brought.

In short, this Republic – founded on laws not men – depends on the fair administration of justice, and public trust in those charged with that duty. The Nation narrowly escaped having a presidential election thrown by a set of rogue prosecutors, a damning, first-ever, and very serious turn.

Needed at this juncture is a way, beyond presidential magnanimity on the part of the incoming 47th President, to ensure that this scary turn, abuse of prosecutorial power for political ends, and intentional election interference by a Department of Justice and local prosecutors, never happens again.

https://amac.us/newsline/elections/should-trumps-prosecutors-be-charged/

The main issue with Matt Gaetz is that he used his office to prosecute his political opponents and authorized federal agents to harass parents who were peacefully protesting at school board meetings.

Oh wait, that's actually Merrick Garland, the current attorney general.

7:51 PM · Nov 13, 2024

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6.7M

https://x.com/JDVance/status/1856862556628951435

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Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) has no path to victory. He’s going to lose to Republican Dave McCormick. Everyone, including Democrats, knows Casey lost. Yet, Casey refuses to concede because attorney Marc Elias is trying to steal the election. Those aren’t my words—The Wall Street Journal editorial board said as much about this fiasco occurring in the Keystone State.

“The Associated Press and most other media have called the Senate race in Pennsylvania for Republican Dave McCormick. But never fear, Democrats, lawyer Marc Elias is on the case trying to steal the seat for incumbent Democrat Bob Casey,” they wrote. “Did someone say ‘election denial’?”

Regardless, this contest is going to an unnecessary recount (via CBS News)

And would it shock you that Democrats want illegal ballots counted? No, of course not.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2024/11/14/sore-loser-dems-want-a-recount-in-pas-senate-race-heres-what-theyre-arguing-for-n2647774

>>21982719

By Charlotte Hazard

Published: November 13, 2024 6:44pm

Republican National Convention Chairman Michael Whatley announced Wednesday that the organization has filed two lawsuits in order to stop the counting of "illegal" ballots in the Pennsylvania Senate race.

"Tonight the RNC is filing two new lawsuits — in Bucks County and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court — to STOP the counting of illegal ballots. We have won this court battle several times already," Whatley wrote on the social media platform, X.

Also on Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt announced the state is conducting a recount of the Senate race between incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and challenger David McCormick because the results were within 0.5%.

McCormick was declared the winner by the Associated Press and is currently leading Casey by roughly 29,000 votes.

"Let’s be clear: @DaveMcCormickPA has won this race," Whatley said. "Bob Casey lost and Democrat officials and lawyers are trying to sow doubt in the democratic process. Our attorneys will not let it stand."

According to the Pennsylvania Department of State, Casey received 3,350,972 (48.5%) votes and McCormick got 3,380,310 (48.93%), CBS News reported.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/rnc-chairman-whatley-files-lawsuits-stop-counting-illegal-ballots