“Do you think Elon Musk is a threat to US national security?”

WASHINGTON — President Biden called Wednesday for a federal investigation of billionaire businessman Elon Musk, who recently purchased Twitter with a stated goal of restoring free-speech principles.

“Do you think Elon Musk is a threat to US national security?” Bloomberg reporter Jenny Leonard asked Biden at his third solo White House press conference. “And should the US — and with the tools you have — investigate his joint acquisition of Twitter with foreign governments, which include the Saudis?”

“I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at,” Biden answered. “Whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate, I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting that it’s worth being looked at.”

“How?” veteran journalist Brian Karem followed up.

“There’s a lot of ways,” Biden said without elaborating.

Musk, who also owns electric car maker Tesla and aerospace firm SpaceX, formally took over the social network last month.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has had a stake in Twitter since 2011 and his firm Kingdom Holdings currently owns about 4% of the platform, making him the second-largest shareholder after Musk.

Biden snubbed Tesla last year by not inviting the top-selling electric vehicle maker to an e-vehicle expo at the White House, apparently because it lacks a unionized workforce. SpaceX, however, receives large US government contracts.

The president urged an investigation of Musk while taking a victory lap after Democrats fared better than expected in the midterm elections — with control of the House and Senate still undetermined as vote-counting continues.

Note: These press conference questions were not spontaneous, they were pre-scripted.

More at: NYPost.com

SoCal: Orange County Republican Reps Young Kim and Michelle Steel Take the Lead in Their Races

Orange County, California – Republican Reps. Young Kim and Michelle Steel are both in the lead in their races in this year’s midterm election.

Young Kim

Republican incumbent Young Kim is ahead of Democrat Asif Mahmood in Orange County’s District 40.

Young Kim is at 59.2% with 101,128 votes to Democrat Asif Mahmood’s 40.8% with 69,779 votes with 57% reporting.

In 2018, the race was called for Democrat Gil Cisneros over Republican Young Kim who was up by 3 points on election night and was set to be the first Korean-American Congresswoman. The Democrats stole that race with ‘late votes.’

In 2018, Young Kim was up by 3,900 votes on election night with 100% of the precincts reporting according to AP and she ended up losing by 3,000 votes 11 days after the election.

Young Kim came back to fight against corrupt Democrat incumbent Gil Cisneros and won in 2020.

She is in the lead tonight!

Michelle Steel

Republican incumbent Michelle Steel is ahead of Democrat Jay Chen in Orange County’s District 45.

Michelle Steel is at 55% with 75,633 votes to Democrat Jay Chen’s 45% with 61,878 votes.

Michelle Steel flipped Democrat Harley Rouda’s seat red in 2020 and she’s in the lead tonight!

Recall, Orange County, a traditionally conservative enclave in Southern California turned all blue after Democrats found hundreds of thousands of votes post election day in 2018.

Ballot harvesting and mail-in ballots have destroyed California and now the entire country is watching in horror as the Democrats use the same strategy to steal races.

More at: thegatewaypundit.com

‘Third world countries count faster than that!’ Furious Arizona Republicans slam ‘national disgrace’ at the ballot box as 17,000 votes have to be RECOUNTED after tabulators failed

• GOP Arizona gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake slammed Maricopa County officials after they said they’d need to recount 17,000 votes 
• The county, the most populous in the state, said a printing mishap prevented vote counters from reading about 7 percent of ballots submitted 
• Joining Lake in the outrage were Mark Finchem and Abe Hamadeh, two GOP officials in other too-close-to-call elections 
• Maricopa officials apologized for the error and said the issue was being fixed and investigated, but offered no timeline on when all ballots would be counted 
• As of Wednesday, there were about 400,000 votes left to count 

Arizona GOP officials slammed officials in Maricopa County after they announced 17,000 votes would need to be recounted when tabulators failed on election night.

Officials in Arizona’s most populous county said about 7 percent of the ballots were affected by a printing mishap that prevented vote counters from reading them.

GOP gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake, who has been closing the election night gap on Democratic rival Katie Hobbs, said the situation in Maricopa was outrageous after initial reports from the county yesterday had her beating Hobbs 70.6 percent to 29.4 percent.

Speaking to Fox’s Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night, Lake said one of her first actions as governor would be to revamp the state’s voting process to avoid the current failures.

‘We need to get rid of these machines that are not reliable, and we’ve seen the kinds of problems they can cause,’ Lake said. ‘We’re sick of being the embarrassment that Maricopa County has made us become and we won’t do another election like this.’

More at: Dailymail.uk.co

Jonathan Turley – The midterms’ winners and losers — and why the ‘giddy’ White House should worry

The midterm elections proved captivating as one followed races district by district throughout the night. The true winners and losers, however, go beyond the individual officeholders.

Legally, there are both individuals and institutions that could see significant changes with the new division of power in Washington. While the White House was reportedly “giddy and gleeful” with the results, Democrats likely lost the House and could still lose the Senate.

Despite the rivaling predictions of red waves and blue walls, the night showed what was always abundantly clear: We are still a deeply divided country. Congress will reflect that division in terms of power distribution — and that may be a good thing.

WINNERS

Constitutionalism: The last two years have seen frontal assaults on constitutional values ranging from separation of powers to free speech. Democrats applauded, for example, as President Joe Biden unilaterally waived roughly $500 billion in loans owed to the American people. While courts repeatedly found Biden to have violated the Constitution, Congress remained conspicuously silent even as it joined the president in declaring Republicans threats to the Constitution.

In an August New York Times column, “The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed,” law professors Ryan D. Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale called for our founding charter to be “radically altered” to “reclaim America from constitutionalism.” It’s safe to say voters effectively reclaimed constitutionalism from such extremist voices.

Once again, voters preferred divided government with a Congress willing and able to challenge a president rather than remain a pure pedestrian in the exercise of governance. There’s now a moving part in Congress that’s been dormant for two years. As those institutional gears engage, checks and balances will again force greater accountability and exposure in the constitutional system.

The Supreme Court: For two years, the left has targeted the nation’s highest court with calls for packing it. Polls have long showed this movement was contained almost entirely within the far left. Yet attacking the court and its justices was an article of faith for many Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who called for raw court packing. While the attacks are likely to continue, the shift in Congress will put an end to such radical proposals.

LOSERS

The media: Outlets, in framing the election, consistently echoed Democrats’ narratives — yet failed to deliver them victory. The media now face the prospect of inquiries that could further erode voter trust. Congressional investigations will likely drill down on the Hunter Biden influence-peddling scandal. The media played an active role in burying that scandal and will face questions of how they could turn a blind eye to globe-spanning corruption that involved millions of dollars from foreign political and intelligence figures. They may also see an investigation into backchannels political and government officials used to enlist surrogates in the media and social media for censorship.

The Bidens: The election’s biggest loser could be the Biden family. After successfully avoiding any media or congressional scrutiny of their alleged influence peddling, time is up for the Bidens. Despite Attorney General Merrick Garland’s refusal to appoint a special counsel, they will face investigations launched with the full authority of the Oversight Committee. Garland will also confront demands to show the same aggressive prosecution of contempt of Congress when Biden associates are the subject of such referrals.

All this will add to whatever emerges from Delaware in the long-standing investigation of tax and other allegations against Hunter Biden. With the midterms over, the Justice Department will no longer be bound to avoid filings that might influence the election. Hunter could easily find himself under indictment as Congress ramps up a broad investigation into his foreign dealings.

There is one group that could be included on lists of both winners and losers: moderates. President Donald Trump pushed candidates that struggled or failed with voters who viewed them as too extreme. For moderates in the Democratic Party, the flipping of long-blue districts and other close races are evidence of a shift in independents and groups like Hispanics away from far-left policies. 

The problem is that so few true moderates remain in Congress. The result is that while the country remains moderate, Congress will again not reflect that broad center.

More at: NYPost.com

140 GOP ‘Election Deniers’ Score Victories in Midterm Races

More than 140 “election deniers,” i.e., Republican Party candidates who deny the results from the 2020 US presidential election won their races in yesterday’s midterms.

These are folks who support President Donald Trump’s voter fraud claims and have won their contests for federal or state office in the Senate, House and Secretary of State and other positions. 

‘Election Deniers’ Equals ‘Endorsed by Trump’

Ahead of Tuesday’s midterms, various reports by mainstream leftist media have estimated that between 200 and 300 GOP bidders for the state- or federal-level positions on the ballot are among the so-called “election deniers.”

Thus, the New York Times counted about 200 “deniers,” while a report by CBS News put their number at 308, or more than half of the 597 Republicans running for elected office in the November 8 vote.

With election results pouring in on Tuesday night and Wednesday, a report by Axios, which focused on 50 battleground contests for the US Congress, state governor, and secretary of state posts, involving “election deniers.”

It emphasized that the list of election deniers practically coincides with the candidates that former President Donald Trump endorsed.

As of Wednesday morning, it reported that seven of the 50 races were won by “deniers,” 16 were lost, and 27 remained uncalled.

Another report, however, discovered that at least 140 GOP candidates, who doubt the results of the 2020 presidential election, have won their races.

If the CBS News classification of 308 “election deniers” could be deemed correct, that would mean that half of them have triumphed.

A report by The Washington Post as of 11 am EST on Wednesday said 165 “election deniers” had won their races.

Positions to ‘Influence Future Elections’

The report calculating that “over 140” election deniers “won their races” was compiled by DW.com, an English-language pro-leftist public media funded by the government of Germany.

The report described the election deniers as candidates supporting “President Donald Trump’s election lies.”

It emphasized that the newly elected “deniers” have won seats in the US Senate, US House of Representatives, and other elected offices putting them in the position to “influence” the “outcome of future elections.”

While the report pointed out that pro-Trump “deniers” “lost pivotal races,” it dwelled on how more than 100 of them managed to score wins.