Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said during an interview over the weekend that President Joe Biden and the Democrats in Washington, D.C., refused to use the levers of power at their disposal to stop millions of illegal aliens from entering the U.S. southern border because they “wanted this invasion to happen.” Cruz made the remarks during a Sunday CBS News interview on “Face The Nation” with guest host Major Garrett while talking about tariffs that Trump has threatened to enact against Mexico and Canada to stop the flow of illegal aliens into the U.S. Cruz said that the threat of tariffs against the two countries has “immediately has produced action.” “We’ve seen the president of Mexico stand up and promise that she is going to work hand in hand with the president of the United States, President Trump, to secure the border,” he said. “I will tell you, representing Texas, we’ve seen four years of an invasion at our southern border. Let me ask you, Major, why hasn’t Joe Biden done this? Why hasn’t Joe Biden actually stood up and used leverage to secure the border?” “And the reason is, Joe Biden and the Democrats wanted this invasion to happen,” he continued. “And I got to say, this is a promise that I believe President Trump is going to deliver on and deliver quickly. We are going to secure the border. This is about using leverage to get Mexico and Canada to cooperate.” Cruz noted that Trump’s threat of tariffs “was explicitly [about] leverage” and that leverage was how the U.S. got Mexico to agree to the remain-in-Mexico agreement, which helped secure the southern border. WATCH: .@SenTedCruz (R-TX) defends President-elect Trump’s vow to impose tariffs against Mexico and Canada, saying the threat itself “immediately has produced action.” “We’ve seen the president of Mexico stand up and promise that she is going to work hand-in-hand with the president of… pic.twitter.com/iuMdaSnM7x — Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 1, 2024

A top House Democrat asserted on Sunday he was not privy to any evidence that the FBI has been “weaponized” against any political party, which would include the GOP. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, dismissed the idea that Republicans believe they have been unfairly targeted by the bureau during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Kasie Hunt. .@RepRaskin when asked by @kasie if he's considering challenging Congressman Jerry Nadler as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee: "I'm not ruling anything out at this point."@CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/foV9NQTYjH — CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) December 1, 2024 “I haven’t seen what the proof is that the FBI has been weaponized against a political party, or the Department of Justice. Of course, this Department of Justice has brought charges against a Democratic U.S. senator in New Jersey, a Democratic congressman in Texas,” Raskin said, alluding to former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX). “And so some people just seem to think that it should go only in one direction, and, if it doesn’t, then somehow it’s politicized,” Raskin added. “And I think that’s what they mean when they talk about politicization and the deep state. I mean, the deep state, nobody’s ever defined it. Apparently, it just means anybody who doesn’t do the will of Donald Trump.” President-elect Donald Trump announced on Saturday evening that he would be nominating Kash Patel to lead the FBI, saying that his pick would strive toward restoring “integrity” to the bureau. Republicans allies hailed the selection as one that will lead to rooting out partisanship. “Listen, I don’t want a Republican Department of Justice. I don’t want a Democrat Department of Justice. I want a Department of Justice and an FBI that enforces the law regardless of party. And sadly, we haven’t seen that these last four years, ” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said during a “Face the Nation” interview on CBS. Raskin, who led the January 6-focused impeachment inquiry against Trump and member of the now-defunct January 6 Committee, is reportedly being talked about as potentially taking over as the lead Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, which is responsible for overseeing the Department of Justice — and the FBI. When pressed by Hunt whether he wants to challenge Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) for the ranking member position in the judiciary panel, Raskin said, “I’m not ruling anything out at this point. And we’re engaged in conversations, all with the purpose of creating a strategic focus and capacity within the Democratic members of the House, so that we’re going to be a really effective and muscular opposition.”

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Democratic attorneys waged legal war on former President Donald Trump on every level of government: federal, state, county and city. Now that he’s been reelected, all that legal wrangling is going to be curtailed. Biden-appointed special counsel Jack Smith had to fold his tent, and on Nov. 25, the networks offered live “breaking news” that just sounded like they were the broken ones. Start with ABC’s Jonathan Karl, whose third anti-Trump book was aggressively titled “Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party.” That’s a little embarrassing for Karl and his publishers now that the GOP controls the White House, Congress and 55% of state legislative seats. Karl decried the death of accountability for Trump: “He ultimately will not be held to account in the criminal court system for his actions to overturn the presidential election of 2020.” Karl is upset that the Orange Man isn’t in an orange jumpsuit. No jail, no justice! CBS reporter Scott MacFarlane, whose primary beat for almost four years now has been treating Jan. 6 as worse than 9/11, was also upset: “The historic case against Donald Trump for allegations he tried to conspire to overturn an election and the ties to that horrific attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, that case is dying with a whimper today.” This pro-prosecutor tone was not the MacFarlane spin when the Bidens were the ones being investigated. He overused the adverb allegedly” to describe pictures of Hunter Biden’s rampant drug use when he was on trial. He lamented special counsel Robert Hur “controversially” stated President Joe Biden would appear too doddering to be convicted in his classified-documents case. Who was whimpering instead of holding politicians accountable then? NBC’s Ken Dilanian, notorious for pushing the fake-news Steele dossier and associated Russian collusion conspiracies against Trump, lamented, “If the lesson of Watergate was that no one was above the law, the lesson of the Trump era is that a majority of Americans have decided that this principle no longer applies.” One “lesson of Watergate” that TV “news” people teach is that Republicans will eternally be slammed as the corrupt sleazeballs who need to resign, while the Clintons and the Kennedys can rape women or leave them to drown, and they’re still hailed by the Old Media as America’s royal families and the conscience of the country. Then there was the wailing on “The View” on ABC. Joy Behar tried to joke about Jack Smith closing up shop: “It shows you there’s no such thing as karma, doesn’t it? It’s like the Easter Bunny and affordable housing. It doesn’t exist!” It’s all very sad after they treated Smith like he was Eliot Ness (and Trump was Al Capone). In July 2023, CNN made a big deal out of Smith walking into Subway for lunch. Anchorman John King found deep meaning: “Donald Trump tries to intimidate people, he tries to bully people, he tries to scare you away. That was Jack Smith with no words and a simple $5 sub in his hand saying, ‘I’m not going anywhere.’” Now Smith is taking his lunch bag home, and all CNN anchor Paula Reid could do is express grave concern that Trump Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi “will try to weaponize the Justice Department.” After all this lawfare, that’s a sick joke. Ever since Watergate, the media’s coverage of scandals has underlined the most egregious double standards in political coverage. One side is presumed guilty until proven innocent, and the other side is eternally not guilty. There are no consistent media ethics when the topic is ethics. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Journalists Mourn That Jack Smith’s Probes Are Dead appeared first on The Daily Signal.

When the Ultimate Fighting Championship was nearly defunct, Donald Trump gave the organization a platform to display what would become one of the biggest sports empires in the world.Trump’s relationship with UFC President Dana White dates back to 2001, when the UFC was beloved by only hardcore fight fans.The organization had gained a cult following in the 1990s with names like Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Chuck Liddell, and Tito Ortiz headlining cards. Despite the company and those fighters being household names for fathers and sons who rented UFC tapes at their local video store, the company was running on fumes and nearing its end.Money had dried up so much that owner Semaphore Entertainment Group was unable to fund the DVD releases of its last seven events from 1999-2000; UFC 23-29 subsequently became referred to as the “dark ages” of the UFC.When Station Casinos executives Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, along with their business partner White, bought the UFC in 2001, all signs pointed to a failing business.'I had my attorneys tell me that I was crazy because I wasn’t buying anything.'White said in 2011 that at first, he and his partners were sports fans looking to invest in boxing. After attending a UFC event, however, the trio began taking jiujitsu classes and fell in love with the sport. This piqued the group’s interest, and with White managing fighters Liddell and Ortiz, they found the perfect opportunity to get their hands on the company.“It was going out of business,” White said of the UFC. “I called [the Fertittas] and said, ‘I think this thing’s in trouble, I think we can buy the UFC,’ and a month later we owned the company.”Lorenzo Fertitta recalled years later that when he bought the UFC, his lawyers couldn’t grasp the purchase, asking him exactly what he was getting in exchange for the large sale price.“I had my attorneys tell me that I was crazy because I wasn’t buying anything. I was paying $2 million and they were saying 'What are you getting?'" he told Fighter’s Only in 2009. The owner called the promotion a “never-ending black hole” that kept absorbing his checks as fast as he could write them.However, with the company now under their belt, White and the Fertittas began plotting how to get the business profitable and started their journey to get sanctioned in flourishing markets.The Trump Taj Mahal eraFor years, the UFC was seen as a barbaric and brutal sport not fit for regular consumption. Different fighting organizations had different rules that were deemed too violent by many jurisdictions.Visions of knee and soccer kicks to the heads of downed opponents were visions that the new owners had to erase from the minds of legislators.Therefore, legendary UFC referee John McCarthy worked as part of a group of experienced martial arts experts who met with different governing bodies to establish a set of rules.The tipping point was when the group teamed up with the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board to create unified mixed martial arts rules.'They couldn’t get a venue because of the danger.'As MMAWeekly noted, this took place in September 2000. By the time the Fertittas and White took over in January 2001, the UFC had already held one sanctioned event in New Jersey; UFC 28 on November 17, 2000, at the Trump Taj Mahal.Soon, two more events would take place at the Trump-backed arena: UFC 30 in February 2001 and UFC 31 in May 2001.Trump talked about the beginning of his relationship with the UFC owners in a 2023 interview with former UFC champion Matt Serra, who fought at one of the Trump Taj Mahal events.“I respected Dana a lot,” Trump began. “[The UFC] couldn’t get a venue because of the danger. People thought it was so dangerous — and they happened to be right about that — but they couldn't get a venue and I supplied them with a venue.”White said the same in 2016, telling the Republican National Convention that arenas refused to host UFC events, and nobody took them seriously.White and the Fertittas knew, however, that although their events were welcomed in New Jersey — and other smaller markets like the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut — they needed to get their shows sanctioned in Nevada under the unified rules.“It was perceived as being just like death,” Trump continued. “So a lot of the athletic commissions wouldn't do it, and owners wouldn't do it, and they couldn't get venues, and I gave them venues early on.” Donald Trump and musician Kid Rock at UFC 287 in Miami.Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesTrump provided what would become a launching pad for the UFC to prove, under the New Jersey unified rules, that the UFC could be mainstream, professional, and safe, and therefore become recognized by official governing bodies.The new rules helped the UFC’s image greatly. Fighters now had to wear trunks, specific gloves, and were not permitted to wear any other attire (UFC fighters used to be allowed to wear shoes, gis, and even shirts).New weight classes were also implemented, from flyweight (125 pounds) all the way up to super heavyweight (over 265 pounds). The latter has only been used once by the UFC, at UFC 28 at the Trump Taj Mahal.From October 2000 all the way until late June 2021, the Trump Taj Mahal was the only U.S. venue to put on a UFC event. During this time, the State Athletic Control Board of New Jersey held a meeting to discuss the regulation of mixed martial arts events. Nick Lembo, counsel to the SACB, recalled that the April 2001 meeting proposed uniform rules that were to be agreed upon by several “regulatory bodies, numerous promoters of mixed martial arts events and other interested parties.”All parties allegedly signed off on the uniform set of rules, with the anticipation of more regulatory bodies adapting them soon thereafter.Nevada was among the jurisdictions to subsequently adopt the unified rules, and by September 2001, the UFC was hosting its first sanctioned event in Las Vegas.UFC 33 marked a turn for the company, and while White said years later that “every fight” on the card “sucked,” the event sold out and returned to Pay-Per-View with 75,000 buys.Modern influence UFC President Dana White at the Republican National ConventionPhoto by Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesNow, despite over 200 events in Las Vegas, Trump is still sitting cage-side during many of the organization’s most monumental moments.His appearances at the events have become headline-makers in their own right, as outlets anticipate which personalities will appear in his entourage and what role their relationship may play in his politics.“I knew you were a fan,” Serra told Trump in 2024.Serra recalled that even though UFC 32 was held at the Meadowlands in New Jersey — not the Trump Taj Mahal — Trump was still in the audience.That love of the sport is not only felt by the fans but by the fighters, as well.Near limitless UFC athletes have voiced public support for the president in recent years, perhaps most notably Colby Covington, who adopted a “Make America Great Again” hat in 2018. That support has grown to the biggest athletes in the sport, including heavyweight champion Jon Jones, former “Baddest” UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal, and perpetual contender Michael Chandler.'Donald championed the UFC before it was popular.'White himself has explained that his fighters relate to the president for the same reasons Americans do; he is a person who uplifts himself and others around him, often persevering when odds are stacked against him.“Trump Donald was the first guy that recognized the potential that we saw in the UFC and encouraged us to build our business,” White said in 2016. “He dealt with us personally, he got in the trenches with us, and he made a deal that worked for everyone.”“Donald championed the UFC before it was popular, before it grew into a successful business, and I will always be grateful ... so grateful to him for standing with us in those early days.”The UFC now promotes Trump with his own entrance videos and has him walk to his seat as if he is about to fight. Broadcasts feature like-minded celebrities throughout the entire show as part of an ever-growing ecosystem of influencers that has been built between his two administrations.This relationship between the presidents of both the UFC and the United States appears to be mutually beneficial, but in terms of influence, Trump’s early adoption of the sport seems to be paying dividends.

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Former Democratic lawmaker Tim Ryan has called for a significant rebranding of the Democratic Party, highlighting that its current image has become “toxic” to many voters. In a recent interview on…