The prodigal great-grandfather returns: Democrats aren’t particularly enthusiastic about Joe Biden’s return to the national spotlight. The 82-year-old former president doesn’t seem to care, with the man sometimes referred to as “Sleepy Joe” delivering his first major address since leaving the White House at a conference hosted by Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled. Yes, you read that right. But hey, somebody has to support Hunter!
“It’s unclear if Biden was paid for his time. A former president would typically command a speaking fee in the low to mid-six-figure range,” writes our Andrew Stiles. “Biden’s talent agency, Creative Arts Agency, did not return a request for comment.”
“After shuffling up to the microphone nearly 30 minutes behind schedule, Biden immediately started talking even though his walk-on music—’We Take Care of Our Own’ by Bruce Springsteen—was still blaring at full volume. Eventually a technician cut the audio so the audience could hear Biden deliver a characteristically long-winded (and factually dubious) anecdote about how the civil rights movement inspired him to go into politics.”
READ MORE: The Geezer Returns: Joe Biden Shuffles Gingerly Back to National Spotlight
Posting through it: Harvard Law School published a blog post in mid-April featuring law student Ibrahim Bharmal fondly reminiscing on his time at something called the “Crimmigration Clinic,” a course that allows students to work on federal immigration cases. Bharmal, you may recall, is the former Harvard Law Review editor facing criminal charges for accosting an Israeli classmate during one of those “mostly peaceful” anti-Israel protests that took place in the wake of Oct. 7.
Harvard may be ignoring the case but the Trump administration isn’t, writes the Free Beacon’s Collin Anderson. A day after Harvard published Bharmal’s blog post, the administration sent the school a list of policy changes and reforms it wanted to see in exchange for keeping federal money flowing. They included the expulsion of Bharmal and his co-defendant, Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, both of whom have remained in good standing at Harvard.
“Harvard rejected those demands on Monday, and the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in Harvard grants hours later,” Anderson writes.
Getting the axe: Marco Rubio signed off on a fresh round of grant cuts on Tuesday, targeting $214 million in foreign funding initiatives.
The cuts, according to an internal State Department memo obtained by our Adam Kredo, specifically target funding for “media advocacy programming” abroad. “Axed grants,” Kredo reports, “include a $14.6 million program that supported ‘expanded newsroom sustainability and engagement’ in Moldova; a $5.2 million ‘media diversity’ grant that funded an ‘anti-disinformation program in the United Kingdom’; a $400,000 ‘Building Environmental Resilience’ grant in Armenia; a $1 million grant ‘channeling gig workers’ rights’ in Brazil; and a $750,000 grant for ‘building the migrant domestic worker-led movement’ in Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds sway over the government.”
“The move shows that the Trump administration is not yet done taking aim at foreign funding initiatives that it says stray from ‘life-saving aid and strategic and national security priorities.’ The administration paused nearly all U.S. foreign assistance earlier this year as the State Department conducted its review, which was delayed in February amid a court battle that is now resolved.”
Away from the Beacon:
- Obama 2.0? On Monday evening, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff teased a nuclear deal with Iran that sounded familiar. In a Fox News interview, Witkoff said the administration was open to a deal that limited Iran’s enrichment to 3.67%—the same number it was limited to in Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Oops. Witkoff cleaned up his comments on Tuesday, saying Iran “must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.” Around the same time, Trump held a situation room meeting on the negotiations.
- The White House will ask Congress to claw back $1 billion in taxpayer funds for public broadcasting, “a move that could ultimately eliminate all federal support for NPR and PBS,” according to the New York Times.
- Years after Joe Biden announced a Green New Deal dependent on Chinese production of electric vehicles, Axios is dinging “America’s escalating trade war with China,” arguing that …. “the U.S. can’t build EVs without China.” Who knew?
