Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy clashed again with President Joe Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, during a briefing Wednesday over the issue of China.
Doocy leveled accusations at Biden, claiming that he had not taken any steps to hold China responsible for creating COVID-19 and for flying a surveillance balloon across US airspace in February. Jean-Pierre countered by assuring that the administration had effectively neutralized the balloon, probed the virus’ origins, and prioritized the safety of Americans.
“Why is President Biden afraid of China?” Doocy asked.
“The president is not afraid of China,” she replied. “Did you see the president last week when we went to Ukraine, to Kyiv, this is not a president that’s afraid of anything. There was an historic trip that many of you said was brave, so clearly this is a president that is not afraid to go to a war zone, he’s not afraid to go there when there’s no military presence on the ground. So there is nothing this president fears.”
“China flew a spy craft over the U.S., the president didn’t really do anything to China, and according to the FBI director [Christopher Wray], China may have created something that has killed more than 1.1 million people in this country and President Biden is not punishing them,” Doocy responded.
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| Law
Biden AG Merrick Garland admits FBI memo targeting Latin Mass Catholics was ‘appalling’
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday admitted to Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri that the leaked FBI memo directing surveillance of certain traditional Catholics deemed to share common ideological ground with white supremacist extremists was “appalling” and “inappropriate.” He couldn’t say whether or not there are currently any FBI informants operating within Catholic churches.
Garland made the comment during a March 1 Senate Judiciary Oversight hearing, in which Hawley demanded that the attorney general answer for his DOJ’s alleged targeting of Catholics.
After grilling Garland repeatedly over the the “SWAT-style” raid of pro-life Catholic sidewalk counselor and father Mark Houck, Hawley said he “notice[d] a pattern.”
“The FBI field office in Richmond, on the 23rd of January of this year, issued a memorandum in which they advocated for, and I quote, ‘the exploration of new avenues for tripwire and source development’ against traditionalist Catholics – their language – including those who favor the Latin Mass,” Hawley said.
Last month, former FBI agent turned whistleblower Kyle Seraphin released an eight-page internal document indicating the FBI field office planned to use informants to intercept “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” who they said had found common ground with “radical-traditionalist Catholic (RTC) ideology,” LifeSiteNews reported.
The FBI retracted the memo the day after the leak, saying the document had failed to meet its “exacting standards.” However, Seraphin says the memo is still being internally circulated.
In the March 1 Senate hearing, Hawley asked Garland whether his DOJ is “cultivating sources and spies in Latin Mass parishes and other Catholic parishes around the country?”
Garland denied the charge, but said he agreed with Hawley’s condemnation of the memo.
“The Justice Department does not do that. It does not do investigations based on religion,” he said, adding that he “saw the document” and “it’s appalling.”
“I’m in complete agreement with you. I understand that the FBI has withdrawn it and is now looking into how this could ever have happened,” he said.
Hawley pushed Garland to answer how the memo did come to be created and circulated, something Garland repeated is currently under investigation.
The Missouri Republican told Garland he could already give him an answer about how the document “happened,” pointing out that it “cites extensively the Southern Poverty Law Center, which goes on to identify all these different Catholics as being part of ‘hate groups.’”
“Is this how the FBI, under your direction and leadership, is this how they do their intelligence work? They look at left-wing advocacy groups to target Catholics? Is this what’s going on? I mean, clearly it is,” he said. “How is this happening?”
Though again agreeing the Richmond, Virginia memo was “inappropriate,” and “doesn’t reflect the methods that the FBI is supposed to be using,” since they “should not be relying on any single organization without doing its own work,” Garland argued that the “FBI is not targeting Catholics.”
As Hawley’s time came to a close, he asked Garland, “how many informants do you have in Catholic churches across America?”
The attorney general said he didn’t think there were any, but he couldn’t be sure.
“I don’t know, and I don’t believe we have any informants aimed at Catholic churches,” Garland said. “We have a rule against investigations based on First Amendment activity and Catholic churches are obviously First Amendment activity. But I don’t know the specific answer to that question.”
“You don’t know the specifics of anything, it seems, but apparently on your watch, this Justice Department is targeting Catholics, targeting people of faith, specifically for their faith views,” Hawley argued. “And Mr. Attorney General, I’ll just say to you: It’s a disgrace.”
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| Economy
Mortgage rates jump to 6.65%, up four weeks in a row
Buyers are facing drastically higher rates than a year ago.
Mortgage rates in the US increased this past week, further crimping affordability ahead of what’s usually the homebuying market’s busiest season.The average for a 30-year, fixed loan was 6.65%, up from 6.5% last week, Freddie Mac said in a statement Thursday.
Borrowing costs have been on a volatile ride since the start of 2023. Rates eased up in January, fueling a bigger-than-expected rise in the sale of new homes that month, but have since shot back up over the past four weeks.
That’s pressuring demand. Home-purchase loan applications are at the lowest level in nearly three decades.
“Now that rates are moving up, affordability is hindered and making it difficult for potential buyers to act, particularly for repeat buyers with existing mortgages at less than half of current rates,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.
Buyers are facing drastically higher rates than a year ago. For a $600,000 mortgage, a consumer would be paying $3,852 a month, compared to $2,782 nearly a year ago.
“While mortgage rates declined in January, giving many buyers hope that affordability may improve, they are on the rise again, and could even crest 7% again in the next couple of months,” said George Ratiu, a senior economist at Realtor.com.
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