DeSantis doesn’t rule out using missiles against Mexico

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wouldn’t rule out launching missiles into Mexico to combat drug cartels if he’s elected president, saying that it’s “dependent on the situation.”

In a tense exchange with CBS Evening News’ Norah O’Donnell, the presidential hopeful was directly asked whether he would authorize an aerial attack inside the neighboring country. He began to respond, then pivoted.

“We would use all available — the tactics, I think, can be debated. If you have something you want to accomplish, people would brief you on the different ways you’d be able to do it,” DeSantis said. “So, that would be dependent on the situation.”

It’s the first time DeSantis, the most outspoken 2024 GOP presidential candidate when it comes to using military force at the border, has explicitly said he’d be open to using missiles against the southern neighbor. At the presidential debate in August, he said he would send U.S. special forces over the border — a statement that a campaign spokesperson later eased back to POLITICO.

O’Donnell challenged his response, noting that sending missiles and troops into Mexico is a significant difference in policy compared to only deploying the military to the southern border.

He dodged, asserting that cartels are “overrunning our border” and the president must take lethal action to stop them. DeSantis has repeatedly said he would authorize troops to use “deadly force” against cartel members.

When asked if troops would be allowed to shoot migrants crossing the border, the governor clarified who would be targeted. A woman carrying a baby, he said, would not be the focus.

“There’s not going to be authorization to just shoot somebody like that,” he said. “But when somebody's got a backpack on and they're breaking through the wall, you know that’s hostile intent and you have every right to take action under those circumstances.”

DeSantis served as a military lawyer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, which has drawn questions as to why the governor has stated shooting people crossing the border wearing backpacks is permitted by rules of engagement.

But taking such action, he said, would prevent future cartel members from crossing into the United States.

Alexander Ward contributed to this report.

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Unemployment fraud hit $100-135B during Covid, watchdog says

As much as $135 billion in unemployment insurance benefits may have been lost to fraud during Covid-19, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday, more than double an earlier estimate.

The federal watchdog estimated that fraudulent payments may have amounted to between 10 and 15 percent of the $900 billion spent on UI between April 2020 and May 2023, when the federal public health emergency ended.

Background: Last December, GAO estimated that roughly $60 billion may have been lost to UI fraud, but officials later concluded that figure to be a substantial undercount.

However, Tuesday’s report cautioned that the “full extent of UI fraud during the pandemic will likely never be known with certainty.”

How it happened: The report attributes the deluge of fraud to vulnerabilities in the state-federal partnership that existed long before the pandemic’s onset in early 2020 and were exacerbated by a series of emergency relief measures passed by Congress that sought to quickly help people who were put out of work during the pandemic.

The problem spanned both the Trump and Biden administrations, the latter of which has taken steps to crack down on fraud and other improper benefit payments.

The American Rescue Plan allocated $2 billion to help states modernize their UI systems and improve their safeguards, but the debt ceiling deal hashed out this spring between the White House and congressional Republicans chopped that funding in half after some conservatives took issue with which areas the administration was targeting funding toward.

House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said in a statement Tuesday that he was “extremely alarmed” by the report and that “immediate action is needed to recover as much taxpayer dollars as possible.”

Earlier this year the House passed Smith-backed legislation aimed at incentivizing states to recover misspent funds.

DOL pushback: The Labor Department took issue with the GAO’s methodology, arguing that it resulted in a higher share of UI expenditures to be categorized as fraudulent. Brent Parton, the acting head of DOL’s Employment and Training Administration, cast the findings as “best understood as an estimate of UI fraud risk, rather than a fraud estimate,” in a letter responding to a draft version of the report.

Still DOL’s inspector general in February estimated that as much as $191 billion had been improperly distributed, through fraud and improper payments.

What’s next: Parton said that the agency has “committed significant resources and taken concerted action to deter fraud and to assist law enforcement in holding perpetrators accountable while ensuring timely, equitable access to benefits” to address the issue.

The Justice Department in recent weeks has reiterated that it continues to pursue criminal charges into Covid-related fraud and that it has investigated more than $8.5 billion in allegations to date.

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Putin’s 4 hottest takes in Vladivostok speech

As Russian president awaits arrival of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s armored train, he delivers a scattergun address.

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Former NYC Buildings commissioner to surrender to law enforcement

NEW YORK — Former New York City Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich is expected to surrender at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office Wednesday morning and face indictment on charges related to accepting a deal on apartment and furnishings from a city contractor and for ties to illegal gambling.

Bragg’s office has told Ulrich to present himself at the Manhattan criminal courthouse sometime after 7 a.m. Wednesday, and he’s scheduled to be arraigned at 2:15 p.m., according to Ulrich’s lawyer Samuel Braverman.

But Braverman said he and Ulrich still haven’t seen the charges.

“I truly and honestly have no inside information as to what the charges are. Anybody who says they know are lying unless they are the DA or a grand juror. If I know what the charges are, I would comment,” he said Tuesday, but “it would be rank speculation” to comment before that.

Bragg’s office declined to comment.

Ulrich was charged earlier this summer, but the indictment has been sealed, The New York Times first reported. At least four other people are expected to be charged in relation to the same investigation, which has been ongoing for nearly a year.

Ulrich resigned from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration in November after his phone was seized by Bragg’s office. Others expected to face charges are brothers Joseph and Anthony Livreri, who own two Queens pizza shops and co-hosted an August 2021 fundraiser for Adams’ mayoral campaign. Mark Caller, a real estate developer, is also expected to be charged. He hosted a separate, lucrative August 2021 fundraiser for Adams’ campaign, the news outlet The City first reported.

Adams is not expected to be implicated in the case, and the charges are not expected to involve Adams’ campaign. In a separate case, six other fundraisers for Adams’ campaign were charged by Bragg in July and were accused of running an illegal straw donor scheme to curry favor with the mayor.

Ulrich, a Republican, previously served on the New York City council from 2009 to 2021. He crossed party lines to support Adams in his 2021 campaign, and he was named a senior adviser to the mayor when Adams took office. Months later, he was appointed commissioner of the department of buildings.

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Democratic lawmakers rev rhetoric amid UAW strike threat

Left-leaning lawmakers, lacking a formal role in ongoing negotiations between the United Auto Workers and Detroit automakers, are instead using their bullhorns to call out the companies and plug the union's demands.

"Despite what you might hear in the corporate media in the coming days, what the UAW is fighting for is not radical," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who also wrote an opinion piece in The Guardian supporting auto workers, said in a statement Tuesday. "It is the totally reasonable demand that autoworkers, who have made enormous financial sacrifices over the past 40 years, finally receive a fair share of the record-breaking profits their labor has generated."

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also weighed in, as negotiations reach a critical phase with a deadline for an agreement approaching. UAW President Shawn Fain has threatened a strike at possibly all of the Big 3 automakers if a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Thursday passes with no deal.

"Time and again, Democrats have delivered for America's auto industry ... Now the Big Three have the means and opportunity to invest in their workers," Pelosi said in a written statement, referring to Ford, General Motors and Chrysler parent Stellantis.

Lawmakers, especially Democrats, often call for negotiating parties to bargain in good faith and come together to make a fair deal. However, several in recent days have gone beyond that to openly criticize the auto companies they say have made outsize profits compared to workers' compensation, echoing the UAW's argument.

Auto companies are "being completely unserious," Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said in a statement Monday.

“If the Big 3 can find money in the couch cushions to bump executive pay by 40% over the past few years," Fetterman said, "they sure as hell can find the money to give hard-earned raises to the people who actually build the cars and trucks Pennsylvanians drive."

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) on Tuesday said "the Big Three have had their way way too often. ... The autoworkers made major concessions a decade and a half ago and they haven't been rewarded for those concessions.“

Representatives from UAW, Stellantis and GM declined to comment on the lawmakers' statements. A representative from Ford didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The White House and other administration officials have been more measured in their comments.

President Joe Biden early last week publicly predicted there would not be a strike, though the White House has spent much of the summer engaging both sides, appointing longtime Democratic adviser Gene Sperling as a liaison.

"Gene Sperling is engaged and they're doing their best. They're pretty far apart," Brown said Tuesday, adding that he talked to the White House on Monday.

But Brown has acknowledged there's little formal role for Congress.

“There's nothing really for us to do except to play out the negotiations,” he said last week.

A strike would be politically thorny for Democrats. Biden has championed a climate-friendly transition to electric vehicles that's disrupted the auto industry, while at the same time worked to prove his claim to be the most pro-union president the country's ever seen.

While the UAW has said it's not broadly opposed to electric vehicles, they've withheld an endorsement of Biden, citing concerns over the transition, including federal subsidies going to nonunion plants.

In a response to CNN's Jake Tapper about the lack of endorsement, UAW President Shawn Fain on Monday said "endorsements are going to be earned, not freely given.

"And actions are going to dictate endorsements, so we’ll see how things continue to play out," Fain said. "And we have a lot of issues to resolve."

Negotiators made progress working through the weekend, Fain said.

Hannah Pinski and Tanya Snyder contributed to this report.

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CDC advisers endorse updated Covid-19 vaccines

The CDC’s expert vaccine advisers voted 13-1 Tuesday to recommend anyone above 6 months of age get an updated Covid shot this fall. If the CDC director endorses their recommendations, the BioNTech and Moderna mRNA shots will be available in days.

The expert panel at the CDC also recommended that people who are immunocompromised get more than one shot, similar to previous recommendations. There had been some debate going into Tuesday’s meeting about whether the experts would recommend shots just for older adults and those who are immunocompromised, but they settled on advising everyone to get an updated Covid-19 shot to prevent severe disease.

Those in favor of a universal recommendation noted that it would be easier to communicate and implement, which could lead to higher uptake — especially as future case counts remain uncertain.

But other advisers noted that a universal recommendation could lead to fewer individuals getting shots, if they see it as business as usual. “We really want to emphasize those who are at risk of death,” said Dr. Sarah Long, a professor of pediatrics at Drexel University, who voted for the recommendation.

“In non-high-risk groups, I would favor a shared decision making [with health care providers],” said Dr. Pablo Sanchez, a pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and member of the committee who voted no, added.

However, a recommendation for everyone to get the shot means the cost of it will be covered by private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and White House efforts for the uninsured now that the public health emergency is over.

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Trump privately discussed Biden impeachment with House GOPers

Donald Trump has been weighing in behind the scenes in support of the House GOP push to impeach President Joe Biden, including talking with a member of leadership in the lead up to Tuesday’s announcement authorizing a formal impeachment inquiry.

The former president has been speaking weekly with House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, who was the first member of Republican leadership to come out in support of impeachment. The two spoke Tuesday, after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Republicans would be pursuing the inquiry, according to two people familiar with the conversation.

Stefanik has been a longtime Trump ally. She endorsed his comeback presidential bid before he made his official announcement and has been mentioned as a potential Trump VP pick should he win the GOP nomination.

On Sunday night, Trump had dinner at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), an ally of Trump and McCarthy. At the gathering, the topic of impeachment was discussed, according to a person familiar with the conversation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A Trump spokesperson did not comment. The former president has not been shy about his belief that Biden should be impeached. Late last month he wrote on Truth Social: "Either IMPEACH the BUM, or fade into OBLIVION. THEY DID IT TO US."

But the extent of his private involvement in encouraging House Republicans to plow forward with the process shows the influence he continues to wield inside the party as its likely presidential nominee. It could also spark further attacks from Biden’s camp that impeachment is being done merely to bloody him up before the election.

Trump was impeached twice by the Democratic-controlled House during his tenure — first, over his pressure campaign against Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Biden, and later for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Trump will be in Washington at the end of the week and is taping an interview with Megyn Kelly on Wednesday.

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