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In God We Trust - Tom MacDonald, Adam Calhoun, Struggle Jennings & Nova Rockafeller
Here We Go… CNN Already Talking About Possible “Surprise” Results in Tonight’s Iowa Caucus (VIDEO)
Iowa Republican Strategist David Kochel went on with CNN this frigid Monday morning to discuss the Republican Caucus being held tonight in Iowa.
Kochel, the former chief strategist from the Jeb Bush campaign, told CNN there may be a “surprise” in the works tonight in Iowa.
CNN Host: I know I keep saying that there’s not so much suspense with Trump, but I have to say it does feel like, well, who knows? Maybe we are in for something of a surprise.
David Kochel: It’s not just cold, though. We talked about this last week. This is painful. This is dangerous. In rural counties where they don’t get ploughed as quickly. You go in the ditch, your car is not coming out, your battery might be dead. This is really different. So I think we’ll see something a little bit lower than we saw before, which might produce a surprise, which is kind of what Iowa is famous for anyway, so we’ll see if that works.
CNN Host: I know I keep saying that there’s not so much suspense with Trump, but I have to say it does feel like, well, who knows? Maybe we are in for something of a surprise.
-Jim Hoft, The Gateway Pundit
Kamala Harris Delivers Embarrassing Word Salad at MLK Day Event (VIDEO)
Kamala Harris on Monday delivered remarks at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in South Carolina.
Recall that the Democrats previously voted to remove Iowa as its first voting state and replaced it with South Carolina.
Apparently, Iowa is too white.
This move was championed by Joe Biden to ‘reflect the party’s diverse electorate.’
“The Democratic party looks like America, so does this proposal,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison of moving the first voting state to South Carolina.
Harris spoke at an event for MLK Day in South Carolina ahead of the state’s February 3 primary.
“Today, we celebrate the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — a visionary who saw what could be, unburdened by what had been,” Kamala Harris said.
WATCH:
This is Kamala Harris’ go-to line. She always repeats the same “unburdened” line.
WATCH:
-Cristina Laila, The Gateway Pundit
Explosions reported near US Consulate in Iraq; Iran claims responsibility
Several explosions were reported near the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Iraq, an Iraqi security source told ABC News.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps quickly took responsibility for the attacks, saying it was targeting the "headquarters of spies" and "anti-Iranian terrorist gatherings in parts of the region" with ballistic missiles.
Four people were killed, and six were injured in the attack, the Kurdistan Regional Security Council said.
There were no coalition forces or American forces killed in the bombing of Erbil, the Iraqi security source told ABC News.
"No US facilities were impacted. We're not tracking damage to infrastructure or injuries at this time," a U.S. official told ABC News.
Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Masrour Barzani condemned the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps attacks on Erbil, Iraq in a post on X.
"I condemn this cowardly attack on the people of the Kurdistan Region in the strongest terms. I urge the federal government in Baghdad to take a principled position against the flagrant violation of Iraq's and the Kurdistan Region's sovereignty," Barzani said on X.
The Iraqi government will hold a security meeting Tuesday about the "Iranian violation of Iraqi territory and Iranian non-compliance with the security agreement between the two countries," local Iraqi media reported early Tuesday local time.
Coalition forces also shot down three drones near Erbil airport in Iraq, the source said.
-Bader Katy, ABC News
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard deployed in Yemen
Image Credit: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
THE SCOOP
Commanders and advisors from Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are on the ground in Yemen and playing a direct role in Houthi rebel attacks on commercial traffic in the Red Sea.
The IRGC has stationed missile and drone trainers and operators in Yemen, as well as personnel providing tactical intelligence support to the Houthis, U.S. and Middle East officials told Semafor. The IRGC, through its overseas Qods Force, has also overseen the transfer to the Houthis of the attack drones, cruise missiles, and medium-range ballistic missiles used in a string of strikes on Red Sea and Israeli targets in recent weeks, these officials said.
The Houthis say that its military operations are designed to aid the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, which has been locked in a three-month war with Israel. On Monday, the Pentagon said the Houthis struck a U.S.-owned and -operated container vessel, the M/V Gibraltar Eagle, in the Red Sea, but caused no significant damage. The Houthis fired a second anti-ship ballistic missile into the southern Red Sea, the U.S. Central Command said, but it “failed in flight and impacted on land in Yemen.”
The IRGC’s overall presence inside Yemen is overseen by Gen. Abdul Reza Shahlai, a Tehran-based commander whom the Trump administration attempted to assassinate in a 2020 drone strike inside Yemen, U.S. and Mideast officials said. American intelligence believes Shahlai is deeply involved in Tehran’s overseas terrorist operations through his role as the Qods Force’s deputy commander.
This includes a role in overseeing an unsuccessful 2011 Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s then-ambassador to the U.S., Adel al-Jubeir, at a Washington, D.C. restaurant. Shahlai, who’s been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department, also helped oversee IRGC attacks against U.S. military personnel in Iraq over the past two decades. The Department of Justice offered $15 million in 2019 for information related to the commander’s operations and networks.
Last month, the White House declassified some information related to Iran’s backing of the Houthis, including the intelligence and targeting support. But it didn’t reference the IRGC’s on-ground presence in Yemen, or Shahlai’s role in the Houthis’ operations.
JAY’S VIEW
The IRGC’s ground presence in Yemen, and role in directing strikes against Western targets, risks fueling a direct confrontation with the U.S. as the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip grinds on. The Biden administration has to date voiced its intent on avoiding a military conflict with Tehran and preventing a wider regional conflagration. But the Pentagon and U.S. allies started directly hitting Houthi targets inside Yemen last week, raising the possibility of the U.S. also harming IRGC personnel.
U.S. and Mideast officials say Tehran began significantly ramping up its military support for the Houthis in the mid-2010s, when the Yemeni militia and political movement engaged in a war with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Houthis share Iran’s Shiite faith and antipathy to these regional Sunni powers, but had previously been a poorly funded and equipped military force. Today, it has an advanced armory of attack drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that have allowed the Houthis to seriously disrupt global traffic through the Suez Canal and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and attempt strikes on targets as far away as Israel’s Eilat port.
Current and former U.S. military officials say Iran has developed the Houthis into a central cog in Tehran’s regional alliance system, known as the Axis of Resistance, which includes Hamas in the Palestinian territories, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iraqi and Syrian militias. This system allows Iran to project military power well beyond its borders, while also providing some deniability of involvement in military or terrorist operations.
“Iran has the luxury of really fighting, what I would call, a hidden-hand operation, with various Iranians on the ground, Qods Force people, on the ground [in Yemen],” retired Gen. Kenneth McKenize, a former commander of U.S. forces in the Mideast, said last week at a forum on the Red Sea crisis. “First of all, they fought a major war against Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and now they’re choking world shipping in the Bab-el-Mandeb [Strait] at a very low, very low price for Iran.”
The question now is whether the price is set to rise for Iran. Current and former U.S. military and intelligence officials have described to me what is essentially a blood feud between Washington and the IRGC that stretches back decades. Shahlai has played a central role in this covert war.
The U.S. believes the IRGC oversaw Hezbollah suicide bombings on American diplomatic and military targets in Lebanon in the 1980s. And the IRGC is accused of training Iraqi Shiite militias in the use of roadside bombs, known as IEDS, that were the largest cause of U.S. military deaths in Iraq. The U.S. government has also claimed that Shahlai oversaw a 2007 IRGC operation in the central Iraqi city of Karbala that resulted in the executions of five American soldiers.
THE VIEW FROM TEHRAN
Iran has voiced its support for the Houthis attacks in the Red Sea, claiming that they’re part of the Resistance Axis’ support for Hamas. But Tehran has denied any direct role in either the Houthis’ operations or Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
“The resistance [Houthis] has its own tools… and acts in accordance with its own decisions and capabilities,” Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri, told Iranian state media last month. “The fact that certain powers, such as the Americans and the Israelis, suffer strikes from the resistance movement… should in no way call into question the reality of the strength of the resistance in the region.”
The Houthis have also denied relying on Iran to conduct its attacks. “It’s strange to attribute everything to Iran as if it were the world’s strongest power,” a Houthi spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal last month. “We have intelligence facilities that have proven themselves over the years of aggression against us.”
NOTABLE
Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute questions whether Iran is willing to risk “open conflict” with the U.S. to defend the Houthis’ operations in the Red Sea and Bab-al-Mandeb Strait.
-Jay Solomon, SEMAFOR
BREAKING: Iran Revolutionary Guards Attack Erbil, Iraq – Explosions Reported Near US Consulate, Airport
The situation in the Middle East took a turn for the worse with a reported major escalation by Iran that claimed responsibility for bombings near the American Consulate and Airport in Erbil, Iraq.
Arabic media is reporting 6 explosions using missiles and drones.
Reuters reported:
“Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they attacked espionage centers and ‘gatherings of anti-Iranian terrorist groups’ near Iraq’s northern city of Erbil with ballistic missiles, Iranian state media said late on Monday.
Explosions were heard in an area some 40 kilometers northeast of Erbil in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, three security sources said, in an area near the U.S. consulate as well as civilian residences.”
Two dead and five wounded civilians were brought to a local hospital after the explosions, and Air traffic at Erbil airport was halted.
“Ballistic missiles were used to destroy espionage centers and gatherings of anti-Iranian terrorist groups in the region late tonight,” Iran’s Guards said in a statement.
Iran has in the past sometimes carried out strikes in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, saying the area is used as a staging ground for Iranian separatist groups as well as agents of its arch-foe Israel.”
ABC News reported:
“Several explosions were reported near the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Iraq, an Iraqi security source told ABC News.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps quickly took responsibility for the attacks, saying it was targeting the “headquarters of spies” and “anti-Iranian terrorist gatherings in parts of the region” with ballistic missiles.
Four people were killed in the IRGC bombings, an Iraqi security source told ABC News.
There were no coalition forces or American forces killed in the bombing of Erbil, the Iraqi security source told ABC News.”
- Paul Serran, The Gateway Pundit
BREAKING: Houthi Missile Hits a US-Owned Cargo Ship in the Red Sea
Four days after the USW and UK first air-raided the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, the capability of the group appears to remain untouched, as the missile strikes on ships on the Red Sea have not stopped.
It now arises that a missile hit a US cargo ship in the vicinity of the Yemeni port of Aden.
Reuters reported:
“Houthi forces in Yemen struck the U.S.-owned and operated container ship M/V Gibraltar Eagle with an anti-ship ballistic missile, U.S Central Command said on Monday, although there were no reports of injuries or significant damage.”
Houthis control vast stretches of land on Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The group has attacked commercial ships in the area, saying they are linked to Israel or else bound for Israeli ports.
U.S. and British forces responded with dozens of air and sea strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, but that hasn’t stopped them.
“Earlier in the day British Maritime Security firm Ambrey said that a Marshall Islands-flagged, U.S.-owned bulk carrier was reportedly struck by a missile while transiting near Yemen’s port of Aden.”
It had been reported earlier that a ship ‘was hit from above’ by a ballistic missile while sailing 95 nautical miles southeast of Aden.
The impact caused a fire in a hold, but the reports state that the bulker remained seaworthy and suffered no injuries on board.
“Later on Monday an explosion was heard near Yemen’s Hodeidah airport, residents reported. Hodeidah is some distance from Aden, however, and it was not immediately clear what had caused the blast.”
The Houthis have vowed to continue attacks in the Red Sea and are aiming at military targets, too, including an American destroyer.
“The U.S. military said on Sunday a U.S. fighter jet shot down an anti-ship cruise missile that the Houthis fired towards the USS Laboon in the southern Red Sea.”
-Paul Serran, The Gateway Pundit
Arctic Cold Outbreak Spreading Bitter Cold Into South, East
An arctic cold outbreak will deliver record-setting, frigid air to parts of the country, including the Deep South through Wednesday. Daily records for mid-January could be broken from Oregon to the Gulf Coast. Another round of bitter cold will spread from the central U.S. into the East during the second half of this week.
When It Will Happen: The first plunge of cold air already surged south through the Plains. A reporting station near Chester, Montana, plunged to minus 54 degrees Saturday morning. Watson Lake, British Columbia, Canada, plunged to minus 57 degrees.
Dickinson, North Dakota, registered a minus 66 degree wind chill early Saturday morning. Even more brutal, Lupin, in Canada's Northwest Territories measured a minus 77 degree wind chill Saturday morning, with a 40 mph wind accompanying temperatures in the minus 30s.
(CURRENT MAP TRACKERS: Temperatures | Wind Chills)
The cold blast has pushed south through the Plains and Midwest and is making its way toward the Southeast and finally the East Coast by Wednesday. A second, less potent burst of cold air will arrive in the Plains and slide eastward in the later half of the week.
-Jonathan Erdman, The Weather Channel
DAVOS: Secretary Blinken Scrambles to Counter Mega Chinese Delegation and Their ‘Charm Offensive’
To say that Joe Biden’s State Department from Hell is overextended is an euphemism.
Wars in the middle East, in Ukraine, threats from North Korea, Iran… not to mention China’s displeasure over the Taiwan elections.
Along with all those emergencies, there is also the ‘normal’ activities permeating the diplomatic calendar of summits and meetings.
And Americans are scrambling to keep up with Chinese rivals. Besides the political confrontation and military antagonism, now a dizzy Blinken needs to counter the ‘charm offensive’ from Beijing during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Politico reported:
“U.S. diplomats have been so worried about the size and intent of a Chinese delegation in Switzerland this week that they’re trying to arrange a meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken with a Swiss official while he’s in the country for the World Economic Forum.”
It would be really bad if Switzerland doesn’t feel valued by the US delegation, right as China is making every effort to get close to them.
The Chinese delegation will also visit the Swiss capital, Bern.
Blinken will be in Davos only on Tuesday and Wednesday, will hold several meetings, and deliver a public speech to the business and political leaders.
“Chinese Premier Li Qiang, often described as the No. 2 to paramount leader Xi Jinping, is leading the delegation from Beijing. Beijing ‘will have 10 state ministers in attendance’, according to the State Department document, which is dated Jan. 12. ‘Their #2 will have a meeting with Swiss leaders. Amb. [Scott] Miller characterized it as a ‘pseudo state visit.’
The document goes on: ‘Miller believes it would be bad optics if [Secretary Blinken] doesn’t at least have a handshake with new Pres of Swiss Confederation, Viola Amherd, who has made herself completely available for a meeting’.”
For Blinken, Davos will be a hectic trip with ‘several different venues and moving parts’.
“A U.S. official familiar with the matter said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may meet Monday with Chinese officials in Bern. The official was granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.
The document states that, while in Davos, Blinken is set to meet with Zelensky; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen; and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, among others.”
-Paul Serran, The Gateway Pundit
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Addresses Blank Ballot Adjudication Concerns, Demands Release of Machine Audit Logs
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has recently taken significant action by demanding the release of machine audit logs, aiming to address the growing concerns over the adjudication of ‘blank ballots’ in the state’s elections, Creative Destruction Media (CDM) reported.
The request follows numerous open records requests across the nation, which have unearthed potential evidence of widespread election fraud.
The controversy centers on the practice of designating a large number of ballots as ‘blank’ by electronic voting systems and subsequently adjudicating them via software—a process that could alter votes,
A notable example occurred in Broward County, FL, during the 2020 elections, where up to 20% of ballots in some precincts were marked ‘blank.’
Efforts to obtain audit logs of election machines have been met with resistance. Many jurisdictions have refused to release the data, prompting speculation that the disclosure could reveal fraudulent activities.
In Florida, the concern over these revelations was so significant that the legislature passed a law, under the guise of an ‘election integrity bill,’ to block access to these crucial reports, according to CDM.
Upon becoming aware of these issues, AG Paxton issued a directive requiring the release of these logs within Texas.
According to the letter sent to Jessica Morrison, Assistant County Attorney:
You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the “Act”) chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 23-091394 (Ref. No. 2023-1117-PIA).
The Williamson County Attorney’s Office (the “county attorney’s office”) received a request for specified equipment manuals, audit logs, and communications.
You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. Additionally, you state release of this information may implicate the proprietary interests of Election Systems & Software, LLC (ES&S”).
Accordingly, you state, and provide documentation showing, you notified these ES&S of the request for information and of its right to submit arguments to this office as to why the information at issue should not be released. See Gov’t Code § 552.305(d); see also Open Records Decision No. 542 (1990) (statutory predecessor to section 552.305 permits governmental body to rely on interested third party to raise and explain applicability of exception in the Act in certain circumstances). We have received comments from ES&S. We have considered the submitted arguments and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information.
We note the submitted information consists of manuals and documents relating to the use of electronic voting equipment provided to Williamson County by ES&S. We note the requestor has a right of access to this information pursuant to section 123.008 of the Election Code. Section 123.008 of the Election Code provides, in relevant part, as follows:
(a) Each person who sells, leases, or otherwise provides an electronic voting system or equipment to a political subdivision shall also provide any user or operator manuals or other instructions or documents relating to the use of the system or equipment. The general custodian of election records for the political subdivision shall make those materials available for public inspection in the custodian’s office on the request of any person.
Elec. Code § 123.008(a): see id. §$ 1.005(13) (defining “political subdivision”) 121.003(1)-(2). (4) (defining “voting system.” “electronic voting system.” and “voting system equipment). Upon review, we find the requestor has a right of access to the submitted information pursuant to section 123.008 of the Election Code.
You can read the letter here.
-Jim Hᴏft, The Gateway Pundit
Yuval Noah Harari Makes Surprising Comments About Donald Trump
Yuval Noah Harari, one of Barack Obama’s favorite authors and a frequent speaker at Davos, made some shocking statements in an interview with Steven Bartlett, a British YouTuber who runs the channel The Diary of a CEO.
Harari frequently posits the idea that human beings are “hackable” creatures lacking true free will. In a past interview, he raised “the big political and economic question of the 21st century,” which is “What do we need humans for? Or at least, what do we need so many humans for?”
However, Harari seems to now acknowledge that globalist viewpoints, including his own, are becoming increasingly unpopular. When asked the question, “Are you concerned that Trump might be elected again shortly?”, Harari responded, “I think it’s very likely.”
What Harari said next raised even more eyebrows: “… and if it happens [Trump is elected], it is likely to be the kind of like the death blow to what remains of the global order.”
“And he [Trump] says it openly,” Harari added. He argued that figures like Trump and other politicians present a “false dichotomy” between nationalism and globalism, implying that both can co-exist at the same time:
“It should be clear that many of these politicians — they present a false dichotomy, a false binary vision of the world as if you have to choose between patriotism and globalism, between being loyal to your nation and being loyal to some kind of global government or whatever.”
The full interview with Yuval Noah Harari is available to watch via the video below:
-The Vigilant Fox
JUST IN: White House Swatted; Fake Caller Claimed Residence on Fire
Image Credit: The White House is photographed from the South Lawn. (Rudy Sulgan / Getty Images)
The White House was swatted after a prank caller claimed the residence was on fire.
Joe Biden is currently at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland. He is expected to return to the White House on Monday.
According to CNN, the call was traced to a fake phone number.
“The call, which came at 7:03 a.m., was determined by District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services and U.S. Secret Service personnel to be a false alarm.” The Daily Mail reported.
The Daily Mail reported:
Fire trucks and ambulances swarmed the White House on Monday morning after a caller told 911 dispatchers the building was on fire and someone was trapped inside in what appears to be a ‘swatting’ incident.
President Joe Biden was at Camp David when the call came. D.C. fire and emergency services dispatched 13 units in response.
But the call was quickly determined a false alarm. The White House now appears to be the latest victim in the dangerous ‘swatting’ trend that is sweeping the country.
The call was made around 7am on Monday morning, sparking a large emergency response, before it was determined to be a false alarm.
Lawmakers and high-profile officials have been victims of ‘swatting’ within the last couple of months.
Most of the swatting victims have been Republican officials or conservative reporters.
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jonathan Turley, John Paul Mac Isaac and others were swatted over the holidays.
Republican Senator and former Governor Rick Scott was swatted over Christmas. His Naples, Florida home was swatted in late December. After the Christmas attack Scott announced he was going to push legislation to ensure the “cowards” behind Swatting calls face real consequences.
The Boston mayor, Ohio Attorney General and several Ohio and Georgia state officials were swatted over Christmas.
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft posted on X that his home in Jefferson City, Missouri had been swatted.
-Cristina Laila, The Gateway Pundit
Thousands of German Farmers and Truckers Paralyze Berlin, Calling for Radical Left Wing Government to Step Down
Thousands of farmers, truckers, tradesmen, and other hardworking German citizens have descended on the capital of Berlin to paralyze the city, with many vowing not to leave until the Left-Green government steps down, that has run Europe’s biggest economy into the ground.
Approx 3000 trucks and 2000 tractors are currently blocking the main avenues up to the Bundestag, Chancellery, and Brandenburg Gate.
The Berlin Police were trying in vain to divert tractors from the downtown area and send them to the 1930 Olympic Stadium on the edge of the city instead.
The farmers are not complying.
Berlin police and firefighters were reported to be supporting the massive demonstration calling for the radical leftist government to step down.
-Richard Abelson, The Gateway Pundit
President Joe Biden to Establish First-Ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, To Be Overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris
New office will focus on implementing executive and legislative action, including historic Bipartisan Safer Communities Act signed by President Biden, to end the scourge of gun violence in America
Tomorrow, President Biden will announce the establishment of the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to reduce gun violence, which has ravaged communities across the country, and implement and expand upon key executive and legislative action which has been taken to save lives.
The new Office of Gun Violence Prevention will be overseen by Vice President Harris, who has been a been a key leader in the Biden-Harris Administration’s effort to end our nation’s gun violence epidemic. Stefanie Feldman, a longtime policy advisor to President Biden on gun violence prevention, will serve as Director of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, alongside leading gun violence prevention advocates Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox, who will join the Administration as Deputy Directors of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
Statement from the President: “Every time I’ve met with families impacted by gun violence as they mourn their loved ones, and I’ve met with so many throughout the country, they all have the same message for their elected officials: ‘do something.’ It’s why, last year, I signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to keep guns out of dangerous hands, and have taken more executive action than any President in history to keep communities safe. But as I’ve said before – while these are important steps, they are just the first steps toward what is needed.
“That’s why I’m announcing additional steps forward, with the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, overseen by Vice President Harris, to build upon these measures and keep Americans safe. The Office will include Stefanie Feldman, who has capably led my Administration’s gun violence prevention efforts and been a trusted aide for more than a decade, alongside leading experts Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox whose own lives and families have been touched by the tragedy of gun violence. They have turned their pain into purpose and dedicated their careers to being advocates for change – that important work will continue as they join my team in these new roles.”
“I’ll continue to urge Congress to take commonsense actions that the majority of Americans support like enacting universal background checks and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. But in the absence of that sorely-needed action, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention along with the rest of my Administration will continue to do everything it can to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our families, our communities, and our country apart.”
Statement from the Vice President: “Every person and every child deserves the opportunity to fulfill their dreams and live up to their God-given potential. Every family, in every community, should have the freedom to live and to thrive. We know true freedom is not possible if people are not safe. This epidemic of gun violence requires urgent leadership to end the fear and trauma that Americans experience every day. The new Office of Gun Violence Prevention will play a critical role in implementing President Biden’s and my efforts to reduce violence to the fullest extent under the law, while also engaging and encouraging Congressional leaders, state and local leaders, and advocates to come together to build upon the meaningful progress that we have made to save lives. Our promise to the American people is this: we will not stop working to end the epidemic of gun violence in every community, because we do not have a moment, nor a life to spare.”About Stefanie Feldman:
Stefanie Feldman has worked for President Biden for more than a decade. She currently serves as Assistant to the President and White House Staff Secretary, and will now add the role of Director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to her responsibilities. Previously, she served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the White House Domestic Policy Advisor, the National Policy Director for the Biden-Harris presidential campaign, the inaugural Policy Director for the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware’s Joseph R. Biden School of Public Policy & Administration. She started her career in various policy roles in the White House Office of the Vice President during the Obama-Biden Administration. After the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in December 2012, she was part of the team that helped then-Vice President Biden develop executive actions and legislation to reduce gun violence. She holds a B.A. from Duke University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
About Greg Jackson:
Greg Jackson will serve as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Greg has been a gun violence prevention leader for over ten years. A survivor of gun violence, Greg has led Community Justice Action Fund, a national, survivor-led gun violence prevention organization focused exclusively on the impact to Black and brown communities. Greg has testified before Congress and has regularly appeared in an array of media outlets including Time, CNN, Vice News, The Problem with Jon Stewart, The Washington Post, MSNBC and “Price of Freedom” HBO Documentary. Greg holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia.
About Rob Wilcox:
Robert Wilcox will also serve as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Previously, Rob served as the Senior Director of Federal Government Affairs at Everytown for Gun Safety. His tenure at Everytown has included advising policymakers at all levels of government, leading the organization’s federal advocacy efforts, and testifying before Congress. Previously, Wilcox worked at Brady, served on the Board of Directors of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, and practiced law at a firm in New York City. He holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from Northwestern School of Law. His work honors his cousin Laura, who was shot and killed at nineteen, and is inspired by the tireless advocacy efforts of his Aunt Amanda and Uncle Nick.
***
The Office of Gun Violence Prevention builds on historic actions taken by President Biden to end gun violence in our country: including signing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant legislative action in nearly 30 years aimed at doing so, and taking more meaningful executive action than any other president to make our schools, churches, grocery stores, and communities safer.
The Biden-Harris Administration has worked to implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun violence prevention legislation in nearly 30 years. This legislation is already saving lives by keeping guns out of the hands of individuals under 21 who are prohibited from purchasing firearms, empowering the Justice Department with new authorities to prosecute firearms traffickers, improving access to mental health services in our schools to help young people deal with the trauma and grief resulting from gun violence, and investing in community violence interventions.
The Biden-Harris Administration has announced dozens of executive actions to: keep especially dangerous weapons and repeat shooters off our streets; hold rogue gun dealers and gun traffickers accountable; provide law enforcement with the tools and resources they need to reduce gun violence; and address the root causes of gun violence. Most recently, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives – a critical leader in work to reduce gun violence – proposed a rule to reduce the number of guns sold without background checks and keep guns out of the hands of criminals.
President Biden continues to call on Congress to take additional action, including by:
Banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines;
Requiring safe storage of firearms;
Requiring background checks for all gun sales;
Eliminating gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability; and
Enacting his Safer America Plan, which would put more police officers on our streets for accountable, community policing and invest in gun violence prevention and intervention.
-The White House