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Tag: tom cotton
Paul Whelan's Brother Says Biden 'Made Right Decision' On Briner Swap

Paul Whelan's Brother Says Biden 'Made Right Decision' On Briner Swap

Multiple Republican members of Congress on Thursday responded to the release of WNBA player Brittney Griner from Russian custody by blaming the Biden administration for not also rescuing veteran Paul Whelan, who is also being held in Russia.

Russia has alleged that Whelan is a spy and isn’t eligible for the same sort of prisoner swap as Griner.

Griner was arrested at a Russian airport in February and sentenced to nine years in prison for drug charges. The Russian government agreed to exchange Griner for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was sentenced to 25 years in U.S. federal prison in 2012.

Whelan was arrested in December 2018 and was accused by the Russian government of espionage, a charge he and his family deny. Whelan’s capture and detainment began while former President Donald Trump was in office, and his administration failed to negotiate Whelan’s release.

President Joe Biden explained why Whelan had not been a part of the exchange in a speech.

“We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan, who has been unjustly detained in Russia for years,” Biden said. “This was not a choice of which American to bring home. We brought home Trevor Reed when we had a chance earlier this year. Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s. And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up.”

Biden said that U.S. diplomats will continue to negotiate for Whelan’s release and called on Russia to ensure his health and humane treatment while he remains detained.

Whelan’s family members welcomed Griner’s release and noted the different circumstances of the two cases.

“The Biden administration made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen,” David Whelan, Paul’s brother, said in a statement.

Republican members of Congress on Thursday accused Biden of abandoning Whelan without noting that it is the Russian government under President Vladimir Putin — not Biden — who excluded Whelan from the prisoner exchange.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy claimed that the prisoner swap was “a gift to Vladimir Putin, and it endangers American lives,” and added, “leaving Paul Whelan behind for this is unconscionable.”

“Joe Biden’s prisoner swap with Vladimir Putin released Viktor Bout, the notorious ‘Merchant of Death’ who armed America’s worst enemies. And it left behind Paul Whelan, a Marine veteran who’s languishing in a Russian jail cell on trumped-up charges,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) wrote in a statement.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said freeing Griner was “weak and disgusting,” and added that “doing so while leaving Paul behind is unforgivable.”

“It is a bitter pill to swallow that Mr. Whelan remains in custody while we release the ‘Merchant of Death’ Viktor Bout back to Russia,” wrote Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) accused Biden of putting “celebrities over veterans” in securing Griner’s release, while Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) said Biden had left Whelan behind.

“I can’t help but think of Paul Whelan, who’s been ABANDONED by this White House,” wrote Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX).

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said Whelan’s ongoing detention was a sign of “weakness” from the Biden administration. Rep Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) said the swap was “another bad deal made by Biden.”

Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) called the swap “unforgivable,” while Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) said it was “unacceptable.”

The Biden administration has taken a more adversarial position with the Russian government than Trump, who downplayed concerns about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Biden signed an executive order in April 2021 imposing sanctions on Russia for “actions by its government and intelligence services against U.S. sovereignty and interests.”

Following Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine in February, the Biden administration has — in concert with other governments — imposed multiple sanctions against the Russian government in protest of that nation’s unprovoked aggression.

Additionally, the U.S. government under Biden has sent more than $30 billion in aid to Ukraine as it fights against Russia, along with military equipment like long-range artillery.

Biden has said the U.S. will “stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes” while calling on Russia to “end this unprovoked aggression immediately and remove its troops from Ukraine.”

Reprinted with permission from American Independent.

GOP Senators Stoke Irrational Hatred Of Nonpartisan Scientist Fauci

GOP Senators Stoke Irrational Hatred Of Nonpartisan Scientist Fauci

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet

Dr. Anthony Fauci, now 80, joined the National Institutes of Health back in 1968 and has worked with a long list of Republican presidents — from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush to Gerald Ford. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, he has become an object of irrational hatred in the far-right MAGA movement. And journalist Alexander Bolton, in an article published by The Hill on December 1, explains why that hatred has recently become even worse.

Fauci considers his work with the federal government apolitical, often stressing that his top priority is public health regardless of whether the president is a Democrat or a Republican — and he typically dodges overtly political questions during his frequent appearances on MSNBC and CNN. But Fauci deeply offended thin-skinned MAGA Republicans when, during a Sunday, November 28 appearance on CBS’ Face the Nation, he told host Margaret Brennan that his detractors are “really criticizing science because I represent science.”One of those Republicans was Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who claimed, “Tony Fauci is nothing more than a Democratic operative.” Cotton would do well to research his party’s pre-MAGA history; Fauci got along fine with President Ronald Reagan, President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush.

In fact, a June 19, 2008 press release from the George W. Bush White House stated, “Three decades ago, a mysterious and terrifying plague began to take the lives of people across the world. Before this malady even had a name, it had a fierce opponent in Dr. Anthony Fauci. As the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for more than 23 years, Tony Fauci has led the fight against HIV and AIDS. He was also a leading architect and champion of the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which over the past five years, has reached millions of people — preventing HIV infections in infants and easing suffering and bringing dying communities back to life.”

That press release went on to say, “Those who know Tony do admit one flaw: sometimes, he forgets to stop working…. For his determined and aggressive efforts to help others live longer and healthier lives, I'm proud to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci.”

Regardless, Cotton and other Republicans view attacking Fauci as a way to score cheap political points with the MAGA crowd, and no one is better at such pandering than former Donald Trump critic turned obsequious Trump sycophant Ted Cruz. The far-right Texas senator has slammed Fauci as “the most dangerous bureaucrat in the history of America” and made the ludicrous comment that Fauci should serve prison time for denying that the NIH funded virus research at a lab in Wuhan, China — which is where COVID-19 was first reported in December 2019.

Fox News’ Lara Logan, according to Bolton, has even compared Fauci to the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele of Nazi Germany infamy.

But one Republican who is calling out the far right’s anti-Fauci nonsense is Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah. Bolton quotes the 2012 GOP presidential nominee as saying, “A lot of politics today is performance politics, which is saying things which excite the bases of our respective parties. I look at Dr. Fauci as an expert in disease and viruses (and) respect his point of view. He’s not perfect; like all humans, he will make mistakes. Politicizing him is just par for the course these days in our highly politicized environment, but I respect him as a scientist.”

Tom Cotton

Cotton Falsely Claims Nation Had No 'Supply Chain Or Labor Shortages' Under Trump

On Monday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) claimed there were no supply chain or labor shortages in 2020 when former President Donald Trump was in office. But this is not true.

Cotton made his comments during an appearance on Fox News' Ingraham Angle hosted by Laura Ingraham.

"We've had this pandemic for two years, Laura, I don't remember inflation or supply chain shortages or labor shortages that we've seen this year in the first year of the pandemic," Cotton said. "What changed? Joe Biden and the Democrats took power in January."

But in a report his own office released in February, Cotton acknowledged supply chain problems that disrupted the distribution of personal protective equipment to doctors and hospitals.

Cotton's report, "Beat China: Targeted Decoupling and the Economic Long War," discusses actions taken by China to manufacture equipment for its virus response, which led to shortages elsewhere in the world.

"This move imperiled America's ability to procure personal protective equipment at the outset of the pandemic, likely costing American lives," the report said.


Supply chain problems became clear almost immediately after the pandemic began, forcing medical workers on the front lines of the response to reuse and ration equipment like N95 face masks. There were also more widespread supply-chain issues when Trump was in office, including shortages of groceries and consumer goods like toilet paper and diapers.

As the virus spread across the country, Trump refused to invoke the Defense Production Act to make more personal protective equipment for frontline medical workers.

"The federal government's not supposed to be out there buying vast amounts of items and then shipping," Trump told reporters in March 2020. "You know, we're not a shipping clerk."

On January 21, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to get American manufacturers to produce more medical equipment.

Labor shortages also predate the Biden presidency. The percentage of workers participating in the economy fell as the pandemic began in 2020.

In a report on labor shortages, the Wall Street Journal noted in October that the percentage experienced its biggest drop since World War II "in the early months of the pandemic." Some economists have attributed the ongoing problem to lingering concerns about the virus as well as retirement schedules being accelerated.

The U.S. economy has improved since Biden took office. More than 5.5 million jobs have been added since January, and the unemployment rate has fallen from 6.3 percent to 4.6 percent.

Nevertheless, Republicans keep using Cotton's misleading line of argument. In a Fox News appearance earlier this month, former Trump senior counselor Kellyanne Conway falsely claimed that "there wasn't a supply chain crisis" when Trump was in office.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

Republicans Use Waukesha Parade Tragedy To Push Anti-Semitic Politics

Republicans Use Waukesha Parade Tragedy To Push Anti-Semitic Politics

Conservatives have wasted no time in politicizing the recent Waukesha, Wisconsin, tragedy, in which a driver plowed his car into scores of people participating in a local holiday parade.

The most recent theory promoted by some Republicans is anti-Semitic in nature and suggests billionaire philanthropist George Soros is somehow responsible for what happened.

"The massacre in Waukesha is horrifying. It was also preventable," Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) tweeted Monday. "Soros prosecutors unleash havoc and violence when they take power. It is their goal. When we take back Congress, Republicans will take on the Soros prosecutors and stand up for the victims of crime."

Conservative lawmakers have specifically tried to blame the liberal donor for giving funds to local district attorney campaigns, to back bail reform, citing the fact that the Waukesha driver behind Sunday's incident had posted bond just over a week earlier, after being charged with reckless endangerment and skipping bail in a separate domestic abuse case.

The man in question had a long history of run-ins with police and had allegedly been fleeing the scene of another suspected domestic dispute when he struck multiple parade participants, killing at least five. The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office has since announced an inquiry into what it called the "inappropriately low" bail approved for the suspect earlier in November.

While Soros has poured money into such races across the country, it was not immediately clear whether he had given to John Chisholm, the Milwaukee County district attorney. A scan of finance reports from Chisholm's campaign committee, Citizens for Chisholm, did not immediately reveal any contributions from the philanthropist.

Republicans were quick to blame Soros regardless.

"He funds everything destructive to faith, families, and freedom. He hates America," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wrote. "George Soros should have his citizenship revoked and we should block his money from poisoning our great country forever more. It's simple. If you don't like our Constitution, we throw you out."

Invoking Soros' name in connection with conspiracy theories and global plots, as many on the right commonly do, follows a pattern of anti-Semitism that connotes Jewish control of society, according to experts. Soros is a Holocaust survivor who was born in Hungary in 1930, and made his fortune as a hedge fund manager.

"In far-right circles worldwide, Soros' philanthropy often is recast as fodder for outsized conspiracy theories, including claims that he masterminds specific global plots or manipulates particular events to further his goals," the Anti-Defamation League, a leading Jewish advocacy organization, states on its site. "Many of those conspiracy theories employ longstanding anti-Semitic myths, particularly the notion that rich and powerful Jews work behind the scenes, plotting to control countries and manipulate global events."

"Soros prosecutors" has become a canard on the right in the culture war fight around policing and tough-on-crime policies. Conservatives, for example, recently targeted a Muslim prosecutor in Loudoun County, Virginia, in the lead-up to the state's gubernatorial election, alleging that her connection to Soros resulted in a school sexual assault cover-up.

The more recent right-wing claims, including one from Ohio-based Senate candidate J.D. Vance that "the Waukesha terrorist is just one of many criminals that Soros-backed prosecutors have released into our cities" and that his philanthropy has created "death and crime across America," are the latest in a trend of GOP fear-mongering surrounding the incident.

Hours after the Sunday night incident, Fox News hosted Nigel Farage, a former British politician and Brexit leader, who connected the parade tragedy to the southern border and domestic terrorism, despite the case having nothing to do with immigration.

The attempts to tie the Waukesha driver to Democrats appears to be part of a broader attempt by conservatives to use crime as a cudgel against the left, alleging that high crime rates are a result of liberal policies to slash police budgets or admit immigrants and refugees into the country.

Crime has increased nationwide, but that rise has not been limited to Democrat-controlled regions. Numbers have ballooned in some cities that boosted police funding as well.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.